Chapter 35 Guest (2)
They seemed to have been well-prepared after hearing the news about Damian and Silveryn spread from Weisel.
They knew that to capture Damian, they would have to deal with Silveryn.
The likelihood that they had caused the river to swell and diverted us to the outskirts of the Empire appeared to be part of their plan.
If they held power within the Empire, orchestrating events within its borders would simplify cleaning up afterwards.
“What do you plan to do with Damian?”
“He dies here.”
“… What crime has he committed?”
“Don’t interfere any further.”
Silveryn felt pity for Damian.
What a tragic fate. Just how twisted must one’s life be to become an enemy of these magicians at such a young age?
Before meeting Silveryn, Damian had been nothing more than a feeble and impoverished boy. It was only natural for him to have no contact with high nobility.
Had it not been for her, Damian might have vanished without a trace, dead and forgotten.
Silveryn quietly observed the icicle blades.
They belonged to a mid-level magic category, but their sheer overwhelming quantity gave them the force of a high-level magic attack or greater.
Moreover, these spells complemented the attribute magic primarily used by Silveryn. It seemed their whole strategy had been designed with her in mind.
Most magicians would be torn to pieces by these blades.
But that was all it was.
Perhaps the warm southern capital had never heard tales of those in the cold north who lived with the constant threat of death.
No matter the numbers, no matter the attribute; Silveryn remained unaffected.
She was curious about their intentions.
Had they resolved to risk complete annihilation just to seize Damian?
Or was it out of an arrogant confidence that they could easily dispose of someone like Silveryn?
“Quite an impressive magic. I must admit I’m surprised.”
“…”
“Now, I’m curious about your master.”
“He is someone of a different caliber than you.”
“Who might that be?”
“The king of magicians.”
Silveryn shook her head as if disgusted by the claim.
Hearing this answer confirmed her assumption; it had to be the latter.
There were countless individuals in the world who proclaimed themselves the greatest of magicians.
Fools who deluded themselves into believing they were chosen by gods and sought power without restraint or conscience.
Those who faced the limits of their power and ultimately dabbled in black magic for resolution often met their downfall—these were such people.
The possibility of ending this with words seemed nonexistent.
“I have no intention of abandoning my disciple.”
“So it seems you are not intent on resolving this peacefully.”
It appeared Silveryn wasn’t interested in drawing out the encounter.
Magical energy began to coalesce around her.
“Yes. We will discuss this after you’ve heard.”
“You too will die here.”
Silveryn’s hair began to float as if gravity had ceased to exist.
Then, as if an eclipse had descended, everything plunged into darkness.
Flames began to rise from beneath Silveryn’s feet, completely engulfing her.
The encircling magicians started to show signs of unrest.
A torrent of magical pressure the likes of which they had never encountered weighed heavily upon them.
This was a density of magical power that far exceeded human capacity.
Despite most of them being intermediate level magicians, they could not withstand the pressure and one by one, they collapsed, foaming at the mouth.
Their gaze wasn’t fixed on Silveryn.
As her magical power erupted, an unknown entity manifested in the sky.
The magician facing her shouted.
“Fire towards the sky!”
That overwhelming presence in the sky continued to exert pressure on them.
The icicles shifted direction, surging into the dark heavens.
“Do it again!”
The magicians desperately held themselves up as they recited spells.
Thousands more ice blades appeared in the sky, slicing through the black void.
Yet, they did no damage to the entity above.
The magical pressure grew stronger.
The magician facing Silveryn could no longer stand and fell to his knees.
Witnessing magicians collapsing under magical pressure was quite an unusual sight.
Soon after, two eyes, as large as houses, appeared in the sky.
Those eyes, burning fiercely enough to redden the whole world, peered down at the earth with discernible anger and malice towards terrestrial beings.
Even those attempting to flee fell to the ground, overcome by the magical pressure.
***
One minute felt as long as an hour.
I know nothing of magic, and without a direct confrontation, I have no means of response.
I must accept it—I’m not yet skilled enough to face a magician.
The best course of action is to trust Silveryn and wait.
I kept my eyes on the carriage window.
Slowly but surely, the fog began to lift.
As my sight cleared, a strange movement started to appear from the trees beside the carriage.
Someone was there.
They had moved toward our carriage while Silveryn was gone, coming out of the forest.
Those in robes and masks were the same figures I saw in my dream.
They began to form a circle, slowly closing the distance with the carriages.
“Damn it.”
Liria and the maids were in danger too.
As I was about to open the carriage door and step out, Silveryn’s words echoed in my mind.
‘The safest place is inside the carriage.’
Had Silveryn anticipated this turn of events?
As I hesitated,
Shadows flickered over my head as if the sun had been obscured.
This cycle repeated several times until it was as dark as night.
“What is this…?”
Had something happened to Silveryn?
Then, a fiery blaze erupted alongside the carriage.
Kwaah!
In the blink of an eye, it surged towards the sky with terrifying force, forming a curtain of fire around the carriages.
“Teacher…?”
The flames were so fierce; it seemed anything that got too close would turn to cinder.
Moreover, enormous balls of fire were descending from the sky.
Bang! Bang!
They struck the ground mercilessly, causing explosions.
Through the roar of the flames, agonized screams echoed from beyond the fiery barrier.
“I can’t put out the fire!”
“Aaaagh!”
“My, my body!”
“Retreat, everybody retreat!”
In a moment, the quiet forest path transformed into a chaotic inferno.
***
The village was filled with the smoldering stench of burnt flesh.
All the magicians surrounding her were dead.
Every last one of them laid prostrate as if in worship before a deity, all reduced to blackened heaps of ash.
Silveryn grabbed the hair of what seemed to be their leader and dragged him along as she walked somewhere.
Propping the woman against one side of a brick wall, Silveryn removed her mask.
Beneath it was a woman in her 30s with long silver hair and laugh lines etched into her face; she was the figure probably seen in Damian’s dreams.
Silveryn spoke in a tone devoid of emotion.
“How does it feel to truly face a king?”
The woman bit her lip.
She was stricken with fear.
“…”
“Words seem futile.”
“Do you intend to torture me?”
“…”
“You won’t find any evidence.”
They were exceedingly cautious. Upon Silveryn’s investigation, all the magicians brought by this woman were hired mercenaries.
This woman was the only one presumed to have a direct connection, and she had undoubtedly been rigorously trained to reveal nothing.
From the outset, Silveryn sensed that extracting information through torture wouldn’t be straightforward.
“I do not resort to such archaic methods.”
Silveryn pulled out a ring set with a green gem from within her robe and slipped it onto her finger.
The Eye of Nielgra.
A high-caliber artifact capable of dominating the mind of the target and extracting deep truths.
Previously, she had pondered using this very artifact on Damian.
It was not an artifact that could be used indefinitely, closer to a consumable, but she was more than willing to employ it now to unearth truths about Damian.
“…!”
Recognizing the identity of the artifact, the woman attempted to bite her tongue, but Silveryn quickly activated it.
Her ring reacted to the magic and emitted a green gleam.
Controlled by the Eye of Nielgra, the woman’s eyes rolled back, revealing their whites.
“Ughgg, gugk.”
However, the woman’s response was unexpected.
Her body began to convulse and grind her teeth as if experiencing a rejection reaction.
Silveryn was able to confirm her suspicion.
‘It’s definitely a magician’s family.’
Only magician families embed mechanisms in their vassals and kin to induce a reaction against mind-control magic.
Under these circumstances, getting the answers she wanted was impossible. If the interrogation wasn’t concluded swiftly, the woman would die from the rejection response.
Silveryn went straight to the heart of the matter.
“Are you a hired magician?”
“Gugk, no, t’isn’t.”
“What’s your name?”
“Eldre, ris. Pft, ughgk.”
The woman didn’t manage to say her surname properly. Sensing something was off, Silveryn switched her line of questioning immediately.
“What’s the name of the master you serve?”
“Th-the k-king of magicians.”
‘As expected.’
Predictably, she had been conditioned not to directly answer any questions concerning her family.
“Why did you attempt to kill Damian?”
“Ughgk, a threat, element, gugk, he came too close, all, lies.”
“What’s a lie?”
“Th-the Ma-master’s con-control, gugk.”
Silveryn found the woman’s words difficult to understand. Was she indicating the Masters’ Class? Damian was too difficult for them to control?
“What’s Damian’s relation to you all?”
“Gugk, a t-threat, element.”
“A threat element?”
Damian was a threat to them, and uncontrollable once part of the Masters’ Class?
Or was there another meaning?
Silveryn pondered for a moment.
“Is someone from your family in Eternia?”
“Gugk, ughgk, gugk.”
The woman’s rejection response intensified. Foam began to bubble from her mouth, and her limbs twisted violently.
There was definitely something there.
A question then crossed Silveryn’s mind.
The magician’s family, and the transfer of magical power.
There was a significant correlation between these two factors and Damian’s abnormally rapid recovery of magic power.
A magician’s family searching for Damian.
A powerful bond.
And someone in Eternia.
The pieces of the puzzle were fitting together.
Finally, Silveryn felt she could grasp the full scope of the crisis.
A heavy weight settled in her chest.
And then, Silveryn asked her final question slowly.
“What is Damian’s relation to… the child at the academy?”
The woman collapsed as she couldn’t resist the artifact’s influence, and her head burst.
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