It was well-known that Alecto and Nickolai had almost killed each other in a duel, several years ago. The outcome was a draw, but with the perfect magic formation now in his grasp, Alecto was confident of winning if they fought once again. After all, the perfect magic formation not only decreased the casting time, it also decreased the amount of mana required in casting spells.
“If Nickolai passes by our city, I’ll be sure to give him a beating. I look forward to it.”
“But, brother, didn’t you almost lose when you fought him before?” Chryselle chuckled.
“It was a draw!” said Alecto in indignation. “And I was still young then. Now, even royal court magicians are no match for your brother.”
Chryselle tucked her hair behind her ear and wrapped her arms around her brother. She hugged him tight. “Thank you for keeping your promise. I’ll visit from time to time.”
Alecto placed a hand on her head and gently stroked her hair. “You would have ended up hating me if I didn’t do this much, right?”
Chryselle bobbed her head.
Alecto sighed. “Just promise me… Don’t get too attached to that Marcus brat.”
VOLUME 7: CHAPTER 6
[Kingdom of Elves—City of Aerith]
The moment the portal appeared above the Lake of Full Moon, all of the high-ranking priests in the Human Realm—humans, beastmen, elves, dragonewts, and dwarves—received a revelation from the God they served.
Priestess Siofra was among them.
She was on her way to the palace when suddenly, her vision turned white and she felt a warm sensation envelope her entire body. She heard a familiar voice, one she’d heard when she acceded the role of a priestess several years ago. It was a gentle voice, akin to that of a mother comforting her daughter.
God Gaia?
Priestess Siofra was certain that the voice belonged to the God of the Earth and the Forest. The God worshiped by the elven race.
“My child. As we promised, we shall give a revelation when the time has come. The demon sealed in the ice prison has been set free. Seek the help of the one who traveled through time. It is the only future wherein the elven race survives.”
The warm sensation wrapped around her body vanished.
The vision ended.
Priestess Siofra found herself standing at the royal palace’s entrance once again.
“Priestess, are you alright?” said one of her guards.
Priestess Siofra remained silent as she repeated the words uttered by God Gaia in her mind. According to the former priestess, the Gods would give the elven race a revelation when the portal to the Demon Realm opened once again. This was their promise to the mortals when the Magic Empire was ravaged after the Cataclysm.
“I have to see father!” said the priestess. Her whole body quivered as she realized the gravity of the situation.
The priestess briskly walked toward the throne room and barged in without notice. The ministers and the other officials of the kingdom stared at the unannounced visitor; their frowns turning to surprise realizing it was the current Priestess of the Kingdom.
“Priestess, what brings you here?” said the king.
Judging by the priestess’ pallid face and the beads of sweat on her forehead, everyone in the throne room realized that something of grave importance must have happened. They had never seen the priestess this flustered.
“I received a revelation from God Gaia,” said the priestess, huffing. “Father, the portal has been opened.”
Heavy silence fell. Eventually, the ministers and officials went into uproar. Buzzes and murmurs filled the throne room as the officials started voicing their thoughts.
“Is… Is this true, Priestess?”
“The portal has been opened?”
“Then, are the demons coming to this realm once again?”
“Y-Your Majesty! What should we do?”
“Why is the portal opening now, of all times!”
“Y-Your Majesty!”
The king snarled, “Enough!” His voice echoed in the throne room.
The panic-stricken officials shut their mouths.
“You are in the presence of the priestess,” said King Melandrach. He glared at all of the ministers and officials. “I will not tolerate any disrespect from here on out.”
King Melandrach stood up from his throne and bowed his head. “I apologize for the behavior of our officials, Priestess.”
Priestess Siofra was clearly uncomfortable seeing her father bow his head. “It’s fine, Father.”
“Would it be possible for us to know the content of God Gaia’s revelation?” said the king.
Priestess Siofra nodded her head. “Of course. That’s the reason I came.” She repeated the exact words uttered to her by the God of the Earth and the Forest.
The moment she was finished, everyone was stunned speechless.
Although they did not know who exactly the demon sealed in the ice prison was, they were certain who the latter part of the revelation was pertaining to.
Seek the help of the one who’d traveled through time. It is only the future wherein the elven race survives.
They were certain that it was referring to the so-called God of the Earth Scylla. Evander Alaester, the magician who lived during the Age of Magic.
“The God of the Border Region,” said King Melandrach.
It was a moniker given to him by the elves, considering the Earth Scylla had made the border of their kingdom its home.
“God Gaia is telling us to seek the help of that human.”
“I believe that we should seek an audience with him right away, Father,” said the priestess.
King Melandrach slowly nodded. “If it’s the will of God Gaia… This should be the correct path.”
“I will come with you, Father.”
King Melandrach knitted his brow. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have allowed the priestess to travel all the way to the border—where the monster had created its lair. But he knew that now was not the time for him to be overprotective of the priestess.
“Commander Khuumal, gather the royal guards,” said King Melandrach. “We shall depart for the border immediately.”
“Understood, My King!”
With the help of the wind spirits and elks, the king and his entourage arrived at the border region in just a week. They travelled over the newly created stone road on their way to the Scylla’s castle. A road wide enough for five carriages to pass side by side. Although several trees had been cleared upon the creation of this road, the occasional elven oaks they passed by along the way were left untouched.
“They created this road in just a couple of weeks,” muttered one of the royal guards. “Incredible.”
The road already spanned more than ten kilometers, and it pierced through the deeper parts of the Endless Forest while avoiding all of the elven oaks.
It was hard to imagine that it didn’t exist in this forest several weeks ago.
“Priestess, Your Majesty,” said Commander Khuumal. “We’ve arrived.”
At the end of the road was a half-kilometer large clearing. The elves could feel the massive amount of mana oozing right out of its center. Looking carefully, they could see the small distortions in space. This was definitely where the illusion barrier was located.
“Your Majesty!”
“Priestess!”
The five elves who’d been tasked with helping the Earth Scylla to create the road greeted the King and the Priestess. Then knelt on one knee and lowered their heads.
“You’ve done a magnificent job in creating the road,” said King Melandrach. “Good work.”
The leader of the five elves shook his head. He carefully said, “We’re unworthy of the praise, Your Majesty. We hardly… contributed to the creation of the road, you see.”
It was just as King Melandrach had expected. There was simply no way for these five to create a road that big in such a short period of time.
“Is that so?” sai
d the king.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” said the leader of the five, a bit ashamed that they’d hardly contributed to the creation of the road. He looked up and added, “May I ask what brings His Majesty and the priestess here?”
The king gazed at the small distortions in space before them. “We’re hoping to meet with God Evander. But it seems that the Earth Scylla is still unaware of our arrival.”
The elves tasked to help with the creation of the road looked at each other. Judging by their troubled expressions, it seemed that the Earth Scylla already knew that the king and his entourage were coming. It simply hadn’t bothered to open the illusion barrier.
“We’ll… we’ll try to talk to Lord Blackie and inform him of your arrival, Your Majesty.”
For some reason, the five elves seemed terrified of the thought of speaking to the seven-headed monster. Their leader went to the center of the clearing and to the king’s surprise, prostrated himself on the ground. He was stunned to hear the words that came out of the elf’s mouth.
“Lord Blackie, the mighty and loyal Scylla of the Forest Border,” the elf said in quick succession, as though he’d memorized all of these words beforehand. “The creator of the Grand Road, protector of God’s Castle, servant of God Evander. Please grant these elves an audience.”
One of the five elves went to King Melandrach and said in a low voice, “Please understand, Your Majesty. This is the only way for that proud Scylla to initiate contact with us.”
The king and his entourage realized that this wasn’t the first time this had happened. It seemed to be a common occurrence, judging by the five elves’ reaction.
A deep, domineering voice was heard, “Loyal servant, creator of the Grand Road. That’s right.” The voice sounded pleased.
A rift opened, revealing a portion of the colossal castle hidden by the illusion barrier.
“It’s good that the puny elves understood. Very well. We shall allow five elves to enter the sacred ground.”
King Melandrach and the priestess locked eyes with each other and nodded their heads. They dismounted, and together with Commander Khuumal and two royal guards, entered the rift in the illusion barrier.
They saw the same castle as before. Although King Melandrach wasn’t certain, it felt as though the carvings on the castle walls had become more intricate. He could also see a newly built fountain, a maze garden, and a stone pavilion.
The Earth Scylla was lying right in front of the castle’s entrance. Five of its heads had their eyes closed, as though they weren’t interested in the newly arrived visitors. As for the two remaining heads, one of them was gazing condescendingly at the king and his guards, while the other one looked at the visitors with curiosity in its eyes.
The third head spoke, “What brings you here, King of Elves?”
King Melandrach clasped his hands together and lightly bowed his head in greetings. “Our priestess recently received a revelation from one of the Gods.”
The priestess grabbed the hem of her dress and made a light curtsy.
“We would like to speak with God Evander regarding this revelation, if possible,” said the king.
The first head snorted, and the seventh head opened one of its eyes.
The third head replied, “I’m afraid that is impossible as of this moment, King of Elves.” It looked at the priestess then added, “We cannot state the exact reason, but we cannot grant you an audience with God Evander.”
King Melandrach nodded in understanding. He hadn’t expected for things to proceed smoothly in the first place.
“I see. Then, is it possible for us to at least leave a message for God Evander?”
“A message,” said the third head. “Depending on its contents, we may grant your request.”
VOLUME 7: CHAPTER 7
Like wildfire, the news regarding the revelation of the Seven Gods quickly spread throughout the kingdom. Rumors and speculation regarding the sealed demon and ‘The One Who Traveled Through Time’ spread among the masses. People were frequently heard discussing it inside taverns.
King Alvis issued an order for all of the nobles and officials of the kingdom to gather at the capital to discuss the revelation by the Seven Gods.
From Barons to Dukes, from administrative officials to lords—even the nobles and officials who didn’t belong to any factions were summoned by the crown. All of them were directed to come to the capital straightaway.
“Your Grace, we’ve arrived,” said the coachman.
Duke Drakus pulled open the window of the carriage and looked outside. A beautiful maze garden filled with flowers. A large stone fountain. Over a hundred royal guards were patrolling the area.
They’d arrived at the gates of the royal palace.
Looking at the palace, the duke was once again reminded of the awarding ceremony, after their victory against the Empire. Even now, he couldn’t believe that that devil had managed to amass all of those achievements. He still couldn’t understand how his exiled son had managed to lead his troops to victory.
For the past several months, Duke Drakus had been asking himself if exiling that intemperate, vindictive demon had been the right decision.
“Lui,” the duke said to the young man sitting next to him. “What do you think of your brother?”
Lui, who’d been mostly silent throughout their journey to the capital, was surprised by the words of his father. It was the first time in several years that the duke had used the word ‘brother.’
A smile slowly formed on Lui’s face. “He’s changed a lot. My little brother has grown up.”
“I see.”
Duke Drakus knew that brat had indeed changed a lot, although he didn’t know what had caused such a massive change to such an incompetent individual.
Was it the alleged ‘master’ he’d heard about?
No, even if he had the late Algrove Aria as his teacher, it was impossible for someone so incompetent to become that proficient in magic and the sword. Moreover, based on his intel, it seemed that his son born from a concubine was also knowledgeable of curses—going as far as contributing to the lifting of the curse of the royal family.
How did he learn all of these things? Who taught him? And how did he manage to gather all of this knowledge and incorporate it into battle?
He had a lot of questions, and even with his information network, the duke couldn’t arrive at an answer.
The two of them disembarked from the carriage. Two royal guards approached and escorted them inside the royal palace. Upon entering the throne room, the noisy chatters of the nobles present inside dwindled. They all looked at the opened door, particularly at the two renowned figures of the kingdom that had just entered.
Looking around, Duke Drakus realized that the king wasn’t here yet. But Duke Youchester—the youngest duke who rarely attended gatherings—was present.
Lancaster Kelvin openly glared at Lui Marcus, while Kalavinka Kelvin—the genius of the navy—was looking at the floor, avoiding the gaze of other people. It was as though he wanted to leave as soon as possible.
‘Even Kalavinka was invited by His Majesty, it seems?’ thought the duke. He found it quite peculiar.
A brown-skinned middle-aged man greeted the duke. “It’s been a while, Duke Drakus.”
“Indeed, Lord Chase.” Duke Drakus, with an air befitting his rank, nodded. “I heard that Golden Wheat City had an abundant harvest recently.”
Lord Chase smiled. “Now that there’s no longer any fear of the Black Famine, we’ve proactively started expanding the lands for cultivation,” he said. “As long as the Goddess of Harvest permits it, I expect our yield to grow more and more as years pass by.”
Now that he’d thought of it, Duke Drakus remembered that it was his wayward son who’d come up with the method of dealing with those pesky swarms.
The number of achievements he’d amassed last year could no longer be counted in one hand.
“I heard that even the Empire started employing the
same method our kingdom used to cull those insects. As expected of the Emperor. His information network even reaches deep within our kingdom,” said Lord Chase.
“The Emperor planted several spies among our ranks. You heard what happened to Lancaster Kelvin, right?”
Lord Chase and Duke Drakus glanced at Lancaster Kelvin, who was currently boasting about his recently-fortified rock castle to the members of the Kelvin Faction.
“I remember the tragedy that befell him. The spy planted by General Rizel.” Lord Chase nodded. “To think that his trusted right-hand man was a mole from the Empire.”
“We’ve been weeding out all possible spies in our duchy after we heard what happened to Lancaster. I suggest that you do the same, Lord Chase.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Lord Chase noticed the nobles belonging to the Marcus Faction approaching them from a distance. He politely smiled and lightly bowed his head. “Then, I’ll have to excuse myself, Duke Drakus.”
Unlike Duke Drakus, who valued talent over lineage, most of the members of his faction held disdain over those of common origin. It was understandable that Lord Chase, a commoner who rose to the rank of lord of a major city, did not wish to associate with them.
After Lord Chase left, Duke Drakus soon found himself surrounded by the nobles under his faction. A bunch of yes men who incessantly flapped their mouths in their attempts to cajole him.
After Duke Kelvin was imprisoned in the dungeons, the balance in power among the factions tilted to the other side. Nobles started leaving the Kelvin Faction one by one.
Right now, the strongest faction in the kingdom was undoubtedly the Royal Faction, followed by the Marcus Faction. Although the nobles under Duke Youchester were incredibly loyal, they numbered less than a dozen and held very little military might. Furthermore, Duke Youchester apparently held no desire for the throne; he even declared that he would unconditionally support whoever won the competition.
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