novelraw Chapter 130 : One Experiment (2)
Chapter 130 : One Experiment (2)
Chapter 130: One Experiment (2)
Dear Livia.
Contacting you through Mob would have been easier, but I deliberately chose to convey this by letter.
How about we gather as fellow alumni and have a meal together for once?
We learned magic under the same master and shared hardships and joys, eventually becoming heads of our families, yet at some point we ended up living so far apart that we nearly forgot each other’s faces.
How long must we continue living in such a disconnected state?
I am writing this letter because I wish for us all to gather, enjoy a warm and lively meal, and reminisce about old memories.
Alfric and Tresha have already expressed to me their eagerness to dine together as well.
I would like to invite Tyrant too, but since he is bound at the top, isn’t that unavoidable?
At least those of us whose bodies are free should do it.
Then, I will await your reply.
P.S. Since I suggested that we all gather for a meal, it would naturally be proper for my family to host it…… however, by an unfortunate coincidence, my family has suffered an unexpected accident and is not in a condition to do so. If you permit it, I would like to be hosted by the Lamic Family instead. Would that be acceptable?
“Is this guy insane? No, did one of the Ed Family brats die or something? There’s no way he’d send a letter like this otherwise.”
Kabir said so after reading the entire letter.
She, who had been hastily summoned by Livia, wore a dumbfounded expression.
“A guy who lived his entire life in hiding has, these days, really been doing nothing but outrageous things.”
Livia likewise could not read Etar’s thoughts.
Especially the postscript that adorned the end of the letter.
Etar said that his family had suffered an unexpected accident.
There was no way Etar himself would not know, so he had written it that way on purpose.
And yet, on top of that, the absurd suggestion of enjoying a banquet at the Lamic Family.
Just what kind of confidence he was relying on to act so thoughtlessly was utterly beyond comprehension.
“It seems like he coordinated things with Alfric and Tresha from the very beginning.”
That was Kabir’s remark.
Livia automatically nodded.
“Alfric and Tresha. Those two have been attached to Etar since long ago, unlike us.”
“That’s true.”
It was a tale from a very long time ago.
It was not long after the era of Arkis Aimer had ended.
Tyrant, who had become an Archmage, was bound at the top, and Etar summoned five people, including themselves, to one place.
At that time, Livia was slightly surprised upon seeing Etar’s appearance.
His legs had clearly been fine, yet now he appeared in a wheelchair.
But the words that came out of Etar’s mouth were even more shocking than that.
Tyrant had killed our master and plundered the position of Archmage.
He said he had tried to stop him, but ended up reducing his legs to this state.
Therefore, we should combine our strength and pull him down from that position.
This was clearly wrong.
Only by the rest of us correcting what was wrong could we show proper respect to our master.
Upon learning the truth of their master’s death, Tresha and Alfric were greatly enraged and looked ready to rush up to the top at any moment.
However, Kabir, along with Livia, wore expressions devoid of emotion and tightly shut their mouths.
At that moment, Livia could be certain of one thing.
‘Kabir, that one thinks the same as I do, doesn’t she?’
By common sense, the position of Archmage was the leader and commander of Magical Society.
The highest position a mage could attain.
As long as Arkis Aimer, a Flewd Elementalist, remained intact, a single-element mage could never become an Archmage.
Moreover, although Arkis Aimer had not established a family of his own, there was no telling when he might change his mind and do so.
And what if he even had children?
Then the position of Archmage would naturally become something the Flewd lineage inherited generation after generation.
Even if it was through Flewd, the gap between being able to handle all seven elements and handling only a single element was one that effort could never close.
Upon hearing that news, Livia thought this.
‘I don’t know what kind of trick Tyrant used to kill Arkis Aimer, but this is great. If a single-element mage like Tyrant became an Archmage, doesn’t that mean I could too?’
There was no elemental compatibility between the Dark Element and the Water Element.
Livia’s greed was stirred by this.
She had lived her entire life under the shadow of Arkis Aimer, a Flewd Elementalist, so was there any reason to do so even now, when the era had changed?
Adapting to a changed era and carving out a new position.
That, she thought, was development.
Those bound to the past like Etar, Alfric, and Tresha were things with such miserable talent that they could never develop.
As that thought began to dominate her mind, the three of them no longer even seemed worth considering.
At the very least, Livia did not want to crawl back under that shadow again.
‘I’ll cling to Tyrant and pretend to support him, build trust, and then I’ll snatch that position away. Now then, does that mean my only competitor is Kabir?’
Already at that moment, Livia had drawn up her own plan.
That was how she began maintaining her relationship with Kabir as well, keeping her goal hidden and staying close.
“What are you going to do, Livia?”
Kabir asked in the middle of Livia’s deep recollection of the past.
“What do you mean, what am I going to do? If he’s asking to meet in person, is there any reason to avoid it? Only by meeting can we find out what he’s thinking.”
“So the moment you received the letter, the answer was already decided?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you call me? Wasn’t it to discuss things?”
“It’s written in the letter. He said to do it together with you.”
“Such a sly girl, honestly.”
Since Etar had said fellow alumni, Kabir was included as well.
She was someone he would have invited anyway, so he had merely used this letter as a pretext to summon her in advance.
“At least I don’t want to hear that from you.”
Livia immediately activated Mob and sent a message to Etar.
It was a Mob that allowed branch heads to contact one another.
Tyrant had made it long ago, but today was the first time it was actually being used.
“What did you send?”
“Why drag it out? I told him to come to my family tonight, the three of them together.”
“That’s going to be a blood-soaked meal, isn’t it?”
Kabir spat out words that sounded as if she were hoping for a battle.
“So what if blood spills? I can just wash it away with my water.”
Even if bloodshed were to occur, Livia was not afraid.
Because she believed that over the past 300 years, she had become far more powerful than at least those three.
That evening.
As scheduled, a lavish meal was laid out in the dining hall of the Lamic Family.
Chrrrrrr.
Was it meant to represent a Water Element family?
Along the edges of the dining hall stood various sculptures.
Statues holding gourds and jars poured out water, which flowed along artificially carved channels like gentle streams.
Ed Etar.
Rus Alfric.
Ramus Tresha.
Mirne Kabir. And Lamic Livia.
An unusual scene unfolded, with the heads of five families gathered in one place.
Naturally, Livia, the host of the family, sat at the seat of honor, with Kabir alone to her right.
Facing Kabir, Etar, Alfric, and Ramus sat side by side.
“Huhu, this is truly shameless of me. I was the one who proposed it first, and I’m grateful you permitted it, but to even prepare such a lavish feast.”
While everyone bent their bodies like predatory beasts assuming hunting stances, probing one another with nothing but their gazes, Etar broke the silence.
His voice did not sound resolute, nor did it feel like he was hiding some scheme.
It was incongruously cheerful.
“First, let’s eat.”
Livia took control of the situation.
When she picked up her cutlery first, the others followed suit, each taking the food they wanted onto the plates set before them.
However, if there was one peculiar thing, it was that their gazes were not directed at the food.
All of them continued a quiet yet cold battle of nerves, watching each other’s faces.
Etar picked up a steak and brought it to his plate, cut off a piece, put it in his mouth, swallowed, and then spoke.
His expression was dissatisfied.
“It’s not cooked the way I like it.”
Then Etar manifested his magic toward the steak.
“……What are you doing, Etar?”
Naturally, the one most on guard was Livia.
Her nerves were on edge at the suddenly manifested magic.
“Why are you so sensitive? Are you afraid I’ll attack you with this fire?”
“…….”
The steak engulfed in Etar’s fire initially gave off a delicious aroma, but soon that smell began to change.
It gradually turned into the stench of burning, and only after all the juices had been drained away and it had turned into a hard lump of charcoal did Etar withdraw his magic.
It was no longer something that could be called a steak.
It was more accurate to see it as a small lump of charcoal.
Etar picked up his fork and lightly tapped the charcoal-like steak.
All the moisture had evaporated, turning it into a steak that could not even be pierced by a fork.
“Is that the doneness you like, Etar?”
“It is.”
‘How ridiculous.’
That was now food that could not be eaten.
And yet he called it his preferred doneness?
Livia knew there had to be a reason behind such an action.
Soon, Etar put down the fork, picked up the steak with his hand, and brought it to his mouth.
Though the steak had become so hard it could barely be chewed, Etar stared straight at Livia as he chewed it.
Then he began to speak words whose meaning was not immediately clear.
“Livia, isn’t there a saying that even dogs don’t bother someone while they’re eating?”
It was about the Ed Family.
At the time, the Ed Family mages had been in the middle of a meal.
It seemed Etar was trying to bring up that saying now.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s simple. I’m asking whether you know that saying.”
“Of course I do.”
“I see…….”
Etar paused for a moment and continued chewing the hard steak.
“If it were me, Livia. If someone were to bother me while I’m eating…….”
As Etar spoke again, he pointed at his own mouth with his index finger.
It looked like he was pointing at the steak inside.
“I’d not only turn them to ashes with my fire, but I’d chew them up just like this.”
“…….”
Livia felt it clearly.
I’ll make you like this.
Just not today. Be careful.
He had come all the way here personally just to deliver that warning.
“Well, it looks like your jaw would dislocate before you finish chewing.”
But Livia was not afraid of Etar at all.
From the outset, the elemental compatibility favored her, and even during their time as Disciples, she had never once been outmatched by Etar.
It was also a warning that I am not someone who can be swallowed by the likes of you.
“Ptooey!”
Etar spat the steak he had been chewing onto the floor.
The charcoal-like steak, tattered and mixed with saliva.
Now it had lost all semblance of food and had clearly become garbage.
“Isn’t steak a high-class food, an object of envy that even commoners, not to mention low-ranking mages, want to taste at least once no matter what?”
“Why bring that up all of a sudden?”
“It means it’s an object of envy.”
“And?”
“Now then? Looking at that, Livia, do you feel like eating it, or do you feel any envy at all?”
Livia did not answer.
“How about you two, Alfric, Tresha?”
The two shook their heads.
Alfric, in particular, even added, “Who would want to eat trash?”
All of it was being said by turning the words back on her.
“That is the natural order decided by the world. Things that were once admired can, due to some trigger, become trash that no one even wants to look at. Conversely, trash can become an object of admiration.”
Etar once again looked straight into Livia’s face.
Etar’s unspoken thoughts.
Livia could understand them.
He was likening the once-admired food to the current Lamic and Mirne Families.
After all, those two families were ones that all mages in Magical Society envied and admired.
They were all results obtained by clinging to Tyrant.
On the other hand, Ed, Alfric, and Rus.
These three families were evaluated as trash.
What Etar was saying now was that the Lamic and Mirne Families, the admired families—
would soon become trash like that charcoal steak.
And that they themselves would become the admired families.
It was a hidden message that such a thing would soon come to pass.
“I’ve eaten well. Let’s meet again next time.”
As Etar turned his wheelchair around, Alfric and Tresha also stood up and left without even looking back.