[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
Chapter 170
Court Mage Johannes.
A member of the royal family from the Kingdom of Akinsor, he was an unprecedented genius who reached the 8th Circle of magic at a young age.
Had it not been for Ernstine, everyone believed that a thousand years ago would have been his era.
During the Akinsor Kingdom's conquest, he clashed with Ernstine three times. Realizing he was outmatched, he surrendered to him.
Afterward, he became the court mage of the Meier Empire, playing a major role as Ernstine’s right-hand man and close friend.
‘After I unified the continent, he suddenly left, saying he wanted to discover a new continent.’
Even after the unification, there was still much for an 8th Circle mage to do, yet he abandoned his position as the empire’s court mage and left the country.
However, the talk of discovering a new continent was just an excuse.
Kaylen had a good idea of the real reason he left.
‘Because he was Baldrix’s uncle. He didn’t want to get involved in the imperial succession struggle.’
Johannes’s younger sister was Princess Bellania, the mother of the second prince, Baldrix.
To make her son the next emperor, she tirelessly sought support, and as her brother, the court mage, he was her most reliable backing.
She frequently visited Johannes, pleading for his support for Baldrix.
Begging him to help his nephew just this once.
‘Tired of his persistent sister, who wouldn’t take no for an answer, he eventually chose to leave.’
Johannes vanished, leaving behind nothing but a single letter stating he was going to find a new continent.
Ernstine made numerous efforts to track him down, sending people to investigate, but there was no trace of him anywhere.
So they assumed he had truly gone to explore a new continent or was immersed in some kind of magical experiment...
“What the hell happened to you? You, of all people, who loathed black magic more than anyone, have become a lich…?”
“Ha. This is all because of you.”
Johannes, his blond face still refined, shook his head slowly.
“You unified the continent. I thought you’d be a wise ruler who would bring prosperity to humanity. But you betrayed my expectations. You did.”
“Betrayed your expectations? What are you talking about?”
“Hah… Who could have known you'd turn into such a madman?”
“…Are you saying you know what happened a thousand years ago?”
“I do.”
At Johannes’s firm response, Kaylen urgently asked.
“What exactly happened?”
“How much do you remember?”
“I remember nothing after I abdicated the throne to Caius.”
“Hmm. You don’t even recall meeting me after your abdication?”
“…Meeting you? But you had already left the empire.”
Kaylen asked back in disbelief.
Meeting Johannes after the abdication ceremony?
There was no such memory.
“No matter what, your own son was being crowned emperor. There’s no way I wouldn’t have attended… In fact, I had planned to persuade you to join me on an expedition to explore the new continent.”
“…Is that true?”
“Of course. Why would I lie? Judging by your reaction, you don’t even remember asking me to teach you magic.”
Asking him to teach magic?
Kaylen felt a chilling sensation.
‘…If it was me back then, I probably would have.’
There was a time when he had thought about studying magic after stepping down from the throne.
That was why, when he entered this body, training in magic hadn’t felt unnatural.
If he had truly been relieved of all responsibilities after the abdication…
Johannes, who had suggested embarking on an expedition to the New Continent together, had likely heard plenty of requests to teach magic.
“…The impostor had quite the grasp of my behavioral patterns.”
“An impostor, huh…? To these great mage’s eyes, he didn’t seem that way.”
“He fooled even your insight?”
“Haha… Well, no matter. What you want to know is what happened a thousand years ago, right?”
“Yes.”
“A thousand years ago…”
Ssshh—
Johannes opened his palm and brought it up to his face.
As his hand brushed across his face, his skin and flesh vanished.
The true visage of a lich.
A blackened skull came into view.
In the sockets where his eyes should have been, eerie blue mana stones were embedded, radiating a sinister dark magic.
Upon closer inspection, cracks ran across his skull.
“You… made me like this.”
“…What do you mean?”
“My emperor, my friend… and my brother-in-law… personally shattered my skull.”
“What!?”
Johannes’s body smoothly slid backward, widening the distance between himself and Kaylen.
At the same time, he extended his palm toward the sky.
“The shield of humanity—Aegis, rise.”
Rumble…
The entire castle trembled.
The Winter Fortress began to break apart piece by piece.
Even the fallen undead scattered into fragments, merging with the disassembled pieces of the castle.
‘What is this…!’
As the fortress disintegrated—
Sixteen magic circles simultaneously appeared in the air around Johannes, lifting him into the sky.
He directed all sixteen magic circles at Kaylen.
Then, in a voice colder than before, he spoke.
“Ernstine, I must ascertain the truth.”
“Ascertain? What do you mean?”
“I will determine whether you are the traitor of humanity, Ernstine… or the hero to whom I once swore allegiance.”
“You think… I’m a traitor to humanity?”
“Are you not?”
The shattered fragments of the castle gathered before Johannes and fused together.
In an instant, the remnants of the fortress merged into the form of a colossal stone giant.
It was so massive and towering that it reached Johannes’s feet as he hovered in the sky, radiating an overwhelming dark power.
“A thousand years ago, during the Meier Empire… the human population was ten times what it is now. The land where humanity thrives today is less than forty percent of what it once was. The rest has been overrun by monsters from dungeon portals. That’s not all—
In the western continent, the Geysir Empire doesn’t even regard humans as humans anymore. They see them only as sacrifices…”
“……”
“If you hadn’t tried to become a Dragon God, none of this would have happened.”
“That wasn’t me.”
“Then prove it.”
Ssshhhh—
The sixteen magic circles around Johannes dispersed across the sky.
The magic circles grew larger, spreading in all directions before expanding once more…
In an instant, they filled the sky.
“Draw the Six Swords.”
“Johannes, are you trying to fight?”
“No. I’ll be the only one conducting an experiment. You just need to summon the Six Swords and defend.”
An unreasonable demand—to only defend without attacking.
Yet Kaylen did not object and simply accepted it.
“Alright.”
“You’re complying so easily.”
“Johannes, because you’ve always been right.”
Johannes, the court mage.
The most powerful Grand Mage of the Meyer Empire. The one whom the emperor sought out whenever a troublesome matter arose.
And yet, when the empire was unified, he refused any territory, declined a noble title, and left the nation.
A man without personal ambition, he was one of the people Kaylen trusted most.
If he was insisting this much, there had to be a reason.
“Hmph. After all, you’re the one who shattered my skull.”
Johannes let out a small laugh at Kaylen’s trust before speaking.
“Summon the Six Swords.”
Ssshh—
As Kaylen summoned the Six Swords—
The magic circles filling the sky reacted all at once.
“Confirm it.”
At Johannes’s command—
The magic circles activated simultaneously, releasing mana toward the Six Swords.
Light mana surged toward the Dark Sword.
Earth mana was sent toward the Wind Sword.
Each sword was being pressured by its opposing mana, suppressing the Six Swords.
‘He’s grown even stronger… Johannes.’
Feeling the intense mana pressing against the Six Swords, Kaylen thought to himself.
Even in the past, Johannes was the strongest among the 8th-Circle Grand Mages, standing in a league of his own. But he still had the limitations of a human…
After becoming a lich and living for a thousand years—
Those human limitations were gone, and his magic had grown exponentially stronger.
‘But this level is nothing to me.’
Perhaps because it was only a test—
The opposing mana suppressing the Six Swords wasn’t too overwhelming.
“It seems this much isn’t affecting you. I’ll push harder.”
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However—
As Johannes increased the pressure—
The Six Swords began to change.
The Light Sword, which contained the Holy Sword Astella, and the Fire Sword, which housed Dragonflame, remained unaffected.
But—
The four swords infused with Infinity by Marquess Helmeier, Kaina—
They began to tremble slightly.
“Ernstine, how is it? Do you feel a change in your Six Swords?”
“Yes. The Infinity that Kaina infused is reacting. This is…”
An attempt to transform the Six Swords into the Six Demon Blades.
“You’re aware of it, then. You’ve realized it.”
Ssshh—
The colors of the magic circles floating in the sky shifted.
Until now, they had been of various colors, but now they all turned green.
Every magic circle was infused with the mana of wind.
“Well then… this is the final test.”
Swoooosh!
From above, wind mana poured down onto Caylen’s Earth Sword.
A distinct, intense pressure unlike before.
As the Earth Sword clashed with mana of its opposing attribute—
The Infinity that Kaina had implanted within it began to react even more vigorously.
‘It’s trying to break the sword’s form…!’
Did it see the Earth Sword’s suppression as an opportunity?
The Infinity, which had only been stirring slightly until now, started actively trying to transform the sword into the Six Demon Blades.
Caylen attempted to suppress the troublesome Infinity—
But it wasn’t as easy as he had expected.
‘Tch. It won’t obey…!’
The Infinity, which formed the very foundation of Caylen’s mana—
Seemed to believe that the Six Swords should naturally take the form of the Six Demon Blades.
He couldn’t control it as freely as usual, and for now, all he could do was keep the Earth Sword from losing its shape.
Was this why Kaina implanted Infinity in the first place?
To break the Six Swords and reconstruct its mana into the Six Demon Blades?
As Caylen reached a near certainty about that thought—
“To resist falling into the Six Demon Blades and instead maintain the sword… You truly are ‘Hero’ Ernstine.”
Ssssshhh—
The magic circles in the sky suddenly vanished.
Then, light burst forth from the ground where Caylen stood, revealing a new set of magic circles.
They were completely different from before.
Instead of wind mana—
Now, earth mana surged toward the Earth Sword all at once.
“Use my mana. I’ll lend you strength to maintain the sword.”
Had his experiment concluded?
Earlier, Johannes had tried to suppress the Earth Sword—
But now, he was supporting it.
The Infinity that had been shaking the sword’s form hesitated as the powerful earth mana pressed against it from the outside.
And in the end—
Chiiiiik—
For a moment, smoke rose from the Earth Sword, then its form solidified even further.
Infinity’s attempt had failed.
“Has the force disrupting the sword disappeared?”
From atop the stone giant, Johannes asked.
His voice was softer than before.
“…No. It’s merely buried deep inside. It could resurface at any time.”
The Infinity parasitizing the Earth Sword hadn’t vanished.
It had only hidden itself deep within the blade.
Hearing that, Johannes nodded.
“As expected.”
“Johannes… it’s as if you anticipated all of this. How do you know about this?”
“Because your son—my nephew—told me.”
Caylen’s son, Johannes’s nephew.
There was only one person who fit that description.
“…Baldrix?”
“That’s right. Now that it’s certain you are the ‘Hero,’ you can meet him.”
Rumble…
The massive stone giant collapsed and reformed into something entirely different.
At its center, a colossal gate appeared—
And within that gate, a portal, dyed in darkness, had emerged.
“Ernstine, let’s go. Baldrix has been waiting for you for a long time.”
[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]