Chapter 124: The Great Work Crumbling

Step. Step.

It was a dark, long corridor.

I walked quickly across it, and my expression—Alito Kright’s—was filled with deep unease.

“Where exactly did the plan start to leak? No one should have been able to know!”

It was a grand undertaking that I had prepared over many long years.

Yet it began to twist bit by bit, and now every piece of news that reached me reported nothing but failure.

Just moments ago was no different.

From the Dagger of Darkness I had placed near the Great Hall of the Royal Capital, word of Aspar’s death had arrived.

“This cannot be the end!”

After continued strides, I reached a massive door.

It was a hidden chamber beneath the royal castle—long forgotten through the ages, now passed down only to the heirs of the Kright family.

“I must leave this place and go to the Kingdom of Rozarin… From there, through the Kingdom of Edina, I shall reach the Empire…”

Boom…! Guuuuuuu!

As the door’s secret mechanism disengaged, it began to open.

Inside was a vast space containing nothing but stone statues of kings from generations past and a table.

“…Why is no one here? Where has Elina gone!”

By now, Feian and Elina should have been here ahead of me, accompanied by the Dagger of Darkness.

Yet there wasn’t a single person—nor even the faintest presence.

Only my voice echoed through the empty space.

“Feian! Elina!”

My call resonated throughout the chamber.

Then—

From the opposite side of the secret passage came the sound of footsteps.

Clatter. Clatter.

It was the sound of armor striking against itself.

I turned my head and met someone’s gaze.

“Duke Alito Kright. I truly did not expect you to carry things this far.”

The man who stepped forward was King Laskan Canel of the Canel Kingdom.

King Laskan wore golden armor engraved with the lion’s head—armor he donned only in times of war.

“How did you…?”

“Is it so strange that I am here? A secret chamber said to have been prepared by the 6th king. I, too, had not known of it.”

“You came personally to sever my head?”

“I had no intention of simply sitting at a feast already laid before me. But with things as they are, I cannot let this pass quietly.”

I had moved the knight orders without the king’s command, and even involved numerous nobles and order commanders.

It was clear treason.

Yet my expression did not change in the slightest—if anything, a cold grin spread across my face.

“Ke-ke-ke!”

“What is so amusing?”

“Kuk! I thought everything had fallen apart, but to think you would come here yourself.”

“What did you just say…?”

“Frace!”

The moment I called the name, flames flew in from an empty space.

Whoooosh—!

“What is this!”

Laskan quickly drew his sword and struck the flames aside.

He regained his stance and searched the surroundings.

Yet no one was visible.

“I had wondered why you hadn’t been seen for days. So you truly joined hands with the Duke! Royal Mage Division Commander, Frace Therondia!”

No reply came.

Instead, I opened my mouth.

“Did you think I would come here without any safeguards?”

“Kh…! To think you joined hands with Frace Therondia.”

“Your Majesty would not have come alone either, would you?”

There was someone who always accompanied King Laskan.

As if responding to that, Trine Diego emerged slowly from behind a pillar.

He had been waiting for an opportunity but was discovered.

And if he could not locate the position of Frace, hiding was meaningless.

“My apologies, Your Majesty.”

“No—it is only because Duke Alito is formidable.”

Even now, no one knew when another spell might fly in.

But unless they were hiding far away, preparing a spell array meant high-circle magic would be impossible.

“Sir Frace has become the greatest asset of my life.”

“You think you can escape from this?”

“It is not impossible. More importantly—where is my child?”

Instead of Elina, King Laskan and Trine Diego were here.

That meant the two of them had done something with Queen Elina.

“She is being safely kept in a secure place, so worry not. You will soon be joining her.”

“If I alone disappear, you cannot do anything to that child.”

All evidence of the treason pointed at me alone.

Even between father and daughter, one could not harm a queen of the kingdom without evidence.

I intended to use that fact to plan my next move.

Of course, King Laskan could guess my intentions.

Which was why he judged that he must never let me escape from here.

“That will never happen. All involved will pay the price for this.”

“Will they, truly?”

“Trine, I will handle Frace. Restrain Duke Alito at once!”

“But Your Majesty!”

“Obey my order!”

“…Understood!”

The decision had been made.

Trine Diego drew his sword and charged toward me.

At that moment, from another direction came the blade of the wind—the 2nd circle spell ‘Wind Cutter’.

Shuaaaaak! Cha-chang! Chang!

Laskan stepped in front of the spell, swinging his treasured sword to block it.

With spell formulae inscribed upon the blade, it was easily possible.

But another attack shifted its direction and rained down on Trine Diego.

Crackle-crackle!

“Ghh—! Was the Royal Mage Division Commander not acting alone?”

It came from a completely different direction.

At the same moment, the air rippled—and another mage revealed himself.

It was Berkrun, the 4th circle mage and right-hand man of Frace Therondia.

At Berkrun’s appearance, King Laskan’s brow tightened.

The battle began from that moment onward.

Shuaaaak! Cha-chang! Chang!

Laskan and Trine deflected the spells flying toward them in a frenzy, standing back-to-back.

In the meantime, Duke Alito had disappeared.

“Damn it! I cannot let him get away like this!”

“Your Majesty—! Allow me to handle this place.”

Whenever high-circle spells shot toward them, the two coated their swords in aura and blocked them.

Had they not been Swordmasters, they would have already been defeated.

And now the magic was pouring in only from one direction.

The rapid chain casting of a 4th-circle mage’s tactical lower-circle spells was terrifying in its own right.

“That will not do!”

“But we cannot afford to let Duke Alito escape!”

They had prepared countermeasures on the opposite side of the passage as well.

But if Alito escaped together with Frace through the corridor, it was impossible to predict what would happen.

Pa-pak! Cha-cha-chang!

They struck aside another incoming ‘Wind Cutter’.

In that gap, King Laskan made his decision and moved to step forward.

“Your Majesty! It is dangerous!”

Perhaps Frace had been waiting for that exact moment.

Frace had not moved together with Duke Alito earlier.

He had instead been preparing a high-circle spell aimed at the two of them.

As a result, a pillar of fire rushed toward them from the front.

It was ‘Fire Storm’, a 5th-circle fire spell.

Trine saw it and judged he would not be able to dodge in time. He spread his cloak wide and moved to cover King Laskan.

“Sir Trine!”

“Please stay still!”

A 5th-circle spell was nearly impossible to block with aura alone.

Flames surged upward to the ceiling of the secret chamber, wrapping around both of them.

Duke Alito, who had been hiding to one side, revealed himself.

He wore an evil expression, believing that the long-failing grand plan was finally showing signs of success.

“Ke-ke-ke! You underestimated me, yet this is how it ends!”

The flames raged for quite some time.

Then, together with the illusion spell concealing Frace Therondia’s form—whose mana was now nearly depleted—the fire dissipated.

I thought everything had ended.

But as the flames vanished into the air, the expressions of those nearby stiffened.

“My, my. Had I been a little later, my master would have scolded me.”

“You are…?”

Laskan and Trine slowly lifted their heads and found Caldein Flavan standing before them.

Caldein was holding up his staff, spreading around them a water-attribute defensive barrier—an application of the 5th-circle spell ‘Rain Boom’.

“I am Caldein, the personal mage of the Third Prince.”

“How did you come here…?”

“It was believed that Duke Alito would surely move together with Division Commander Frace, so I hurried here after concluding my tasks above ground.”

With those words, Caldein dispelled ‘Rain Boom’.

Frace Therondia and Berkrun, watching this, distorted their expressions.

“You were transferred from the 13th Mage Division to become the Third Prince’s instructor in magic theory…”

He was someone they scarcely remembered.

Yet he had single-handedly blocked the full power of the 5th-circle fire spell unleashed by the Royal Mage Division Commander.

“It has been a while, Division Commander Frace Therondia. And Sir Berkrun is here as well, I see.”

“Impossible! You’re the man known for doing nothing but studying magic theory your entire life!”

Frace let out killing intent as he rapidly completed a spell formula.

Lightning surged around the staff he held, and the 4th-circle spell ‘Thunder Breaker’ erupted forth.

But Caldein was not idle.

“My, my! You are far too hasty.”

Before anyone realized it, the formula Caldein had completed conjured a 4th-circle defensive spell—‘Energy Curtain’—that surrounded them.

Crackle-crackle-crackle!

Failing to hit its mark directly, ‘Thunder Breaker’ clashed against the ‘Energy Curtain’—and soon dissipated from running out of power.

“It seems you wasted much strength fighting His Majesty and Sir Trine earlier.”

“Kh…! How! How can a mere 2nd-circle worm block my magic!”

“How could I block it? It simply means I have reached your level!”

This time, Caldein’s spell completed first.

In front of the staff gripped in his right hand, pure white crystals of ice formed and concentrated.

“N-no way—that spell!”

“It is my first time using this in live combat, so you should be careful.”

It was ‘Frozen Nova’, a 5th-circle ice spell.

The rapidly expanding sphere of ice radiated chilling cold in all directions.

Of course, Caldein maintained a separate ‘Energy Curtain’ to avoid harming himself.

“To think it has such power!”

Frace and Berkrun hastily cast defensive spells, yet the biting frost made their barriers tremble violently.

Unable to withstand the cold, the barriers finally shattered.

Crack—! Chwaaaak!

“Guhk!”

“Kh—! D-Division Commander, are you all right?”

“Forget me—watch that man!”

Frace and Berkrun coughed blood and collapsed to the floor under the spell’s impact.

Had they not expended mana while fighting Laskan and Trine, they might have been able to fight evenly.

But because they hadn’t, the situation had turned out as it had.

Everything now seemed to have returned to the beginning.

Duke Alito rapidly worked his mind over the unexpected turn of events.

“Sir Frace! Is there no method left?”

“Do not worry! Even like this, I can still hold on!”

Laskan and Trine were not unscathed either.

And though Caldein showed no signs outwardly, it was obvious he had consumed a considerable amount of mana when he appeared so suddenly.

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