Chapter 242

Chapter 243. Ruquer’s Friend-or-Foe Identification Method (1)

Chacole, the exclusive court mage of the Lilian Kingdom, was utterly baffled.

“The archer of Sephira is creating footholds with mana and jumping through the air? Huh, really!”

It sounds easy, but any mage knows how difficult that is.

Chacole is a 6th-circle mage. Although he ultimately gave up on breaking through the 7th-circle barrier, he is confident that his understanding of magic is on par with that of a Great Sorcerer.

“Maybe 5 meters above ground, but doing that nonsense thousands of meters in the air? Impossible.”

Mana is heavily influenced by the environment. Simply put, would water or ice magic work well under the blazing summer sun?

Mana changes depending on the environment. Even pure mana is no exception. Even mages who wield mana are fragile beings, severely affected by their surroundings.

Chacole took a deep breath. He was instructed to teleport, but the destination was thousands of meters in the air.

Teleportation is an extremely dangerous spell. That’s why it’s rarely used casually. Typically, a dedicated ‘gate’ is created for safe two-way travel.

‘Only I can do this, huh.’

Chacole focused his mind and thought to himself.

‘If they gave me false information just to train me like a dog, I’m really quitting this time.’

Lately, Chacole had been feeling like he was being sidelined in the royal palace. There was no concrete evidence, but he could feel it in his bones.

‘The food seems colder than usual, and the gazes around me are icy. I must be getting too old.’

Distractions are poison to a mage, but someone of Chacole’s caliber can split his thoughts. One part prepares the magic, while the other chatters away.

Zzzzzzzzz…

The teleportation spell was complete. Orange sparks swirled around Chacole, engulfing his body.

As soon as Chacole successfully teleported, he stretched out both arms and cast two spells simultaneously.

“Eagle Wing, Fly.”

Large, thick mana wings sprouted from his shoulders like an eagle’s, and the Fly spell was applied to his body, allowing him to float in the air.

Staying stable thousands of meters in the air required at least this much.

“Hmm.”

Chacole narrowed his eyes and looked around. He even checked below his feet.

“I don’t see them.”

Chacole, who had been ordered to find Sephira’s party jumping through the air and deliver a message to descend to the ground, wore a gloomy expression.

“Is this really pressure to retire…?”

Flap, flap.

Even the flapping of his wings to stay afloat seemed melancholic. Just as Chacole sighed deeply, a voice called out.

“Hang in there, old man!”

A woman passing by cheered him on. Chacole reflexively responded.

“Thank you, miss.”

The unexpected encouragement brought a tear to Chacole’s eye.

“Haha, I’m not so tough after all. Crying over a single word of encouragement. Well, even though I’m over eighty and couldn’t break through the 7th-circle barrier, if I can help my disciple surpass it… Ugh!”

Chacole, who had forgotten to flap his wings, plummeted rapidly. Thanks to the Fly spell, he had time to recover, but it was a close call.

Whoosh!

With a powerful flap, Chacole returned to his original position and looked around. Then, something he hadn’t seen before caught his eye.

Blink, blink.

Chacole rubbed his eyes.

They were really there. The lunatics jumping thousands of meters in the air. Including the woman who had encouraged him, there were six in total.

“W-what? Is this really possible?”

Since they would keep getting farther away if he just watched, Chacole followed them while observing.

Having seen a montage before coming here, he knew exactly who was who.

‘Amazing. The footholds created by Keter and Decameron are interlocked with mana, as if they were one. This means their mana synchronization is close to 100%, and they’ve maintained it not just briefly, but all day? Without even sleeping?’

As far as Chacole knew, Sephira’s party had been doing this since ‘yesterday.’

Meaning they had been running through the air for over 24 hours—

‘Running through the air for 24 hours is astonishing, but Keter and Decameron maintaining it are also abnormal. Even if you brought the kingdom’s greatest genius mage, this would be impossible.’

Chacole’s experienced eyes noticed something else.

Keter and Decameron had the ability to comfortably carry four people, including Hisop, if they wanted. Yet, they chose to make them run on footholds.

“They’re not just running to reach the royal palace. This is training! Good grief! Just by running, they’re simultaneously building endurance, courage, and agility!”

So shocked, Chacole blurted out loud.

“What kind of place is Sephira to practice such training methods!”

As he chattered beside Keter, Keter finally stopped.

“Aaaah!”

Haribo, who had been running semi-consciously, stretched his foot forward but found nothing to step on, flailing and screaming.

Catherine grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him up, finally calming Haribo.

“D-did we finally arrive?”

Looking around, Haribo asked, but no one answered. The party’s attention was focused on Chacole.

“Truly impressive, Prince Keter! Even after stopping while running, the mana arrangement of the footholds didn’t waver at all! Where are you from? Which magic tower do you belong to? Tell me your master’s name!”

Excited, Chacole flapped around Keter like a bird.

Keter grabbed Chacole’s wing as if catching a pigeon.

“Gasp! Amazing! Touching mana with bare hands!”

“Old man, who are you and where are you from?”

“I’m late to introduce myself. I’m Chacole, the royal court mage and a mage of the White Tower. Though I’ve been embarrassingly caught by your hand… Blink!”

Whoosh!

Chacole disappeared from sight and reappeared three meters away.

Short-distance teleportation magic, Blink.

A spell so dangerous among mages that it’s called a ‘dodge-and-suicide technique,’ but Chacole pulled it off effortlessly.

“I’m also a 6th-circle mage.”

It was a spell meant to intimidate Keter, but Keter simply wiggled his finger.

Tap, tap.

Chacole felt a sharp sensation on the back of his neck and reached back.

“What’s this… Huh?”

Fumbling around.

What was stuck to his neck was shaped like an ‘arrow.’ When Keter bent his finger, the arrow pressed harder into Chacole’s neck.

‘D-did he anticipate my Blink and preemptively place an Aura Arrow?!’

Chacole’s face turned pale.

Keter wiggled his finger not with his left hand controlling the arrow, but with his right. Chacole immediately understood what that meant.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Chacole flew back to Keter.

Keter grabbed Chacole’s wing again.

“I heard where you’re from and who you are. What’s your purpose?”

Chacole was speechless.

‘How insolent! I was ordered by the Crown Prince to explain additional rules about the Glory Road. From now on, flying through the air is prohibited. Lord Hisop of Sephira, I command you to descend to the ground immediately.’

He should have said that with dignity, but—

“Excuse me, could you please descend to the ground first?”

Meeting Keter made Chacole speak respectfully on his own.

* * *

Clang!

The white and black swords clashed, and the black sword soared into the sky.

The white sword was wielded by a beautiful woman with unusually dark skin and an exotic appearance.

“Prince. You’ve gotten rusty.”

Her words were in fluent common language.

The blond young man called ‘Prince’ slumped to the ground and grumbled.

“Lilie, when will I ever beat you?”

“You win in bed, Prince. Isn’t that enough?”

“That’s not winning with swordsmanship. And stop calling me Prince, call me Rakan.”

“I can’t casually use the Prince’s name.”

“You do it in bed.”

As Rakan grumbled and got up, he rubbed his butt.

Creak, creak.

A knight entered the training ground with heavy footsteps.

His size was absurdly large. Standing at 3 meters tall, his armor looked at least 30 centimeters thick.

The helmet covering his entire face emitted a menacing red glow, making him seem anything but human.

Pssshhh!

Steam erupted from the knight’s torso as he arrived before Rakan, and suddenly, his upper body split open.

Inside was a boy, about 160 centimeters tall, who stepped out of the ‘armor’ and bowed before Rakan.

“Prince. Crown Prince Rukan has mobilized the court mage.”

“Jix, can’t you stop wearing that armor in the palace? The footsteps are too loud.”

“I’ll research ways to reduce the sound of footsteps.”

“People from the Baen Kingdom are obsessed with research, huh? Anyway, what does our frail older brother want now?”

“It seems to be about Sephira.”

“Sephira? The archery family Sephira?”

Rakan had only learned about Sephira a month ago. He heard that Sephira had won the Southern Sword Tournament and became the Southern Palace.

“There’s a bastard named Keter causing quite a stir, huh? Enough to tickle our older brother’s nose hairs?”

“They say he’s been flying through the air. So, the Crown Prince has banned flying through the air.”

“Flying without tools or mounts? With magic?”

“It’s magic, but not magic. They say he created footholds purely with mana and jumped through the air.”

“Is that difficult? It sounds easy.”

“It’s difficult. The Baen Kingdom has mechanical devices that allow flight, but nothing that lets you fly thousands of meters in the air for 24 hours.”

“Hoh, and Sephira did it? Sephira is an archery family. When did they become a magic family?”

“Shall we investigate Sephira?”

“No, no. Investigating will only yield useless information. My gut tells me so.”

Having lost interest in the sword match, Rakan sheathed his sword and snapped his fingers. A large sofa appeared beside him.

As Rakan sat down, Lilie naturally sat beside him, and Jix continued his report.

“Judging by the Crown Prince’s reaction, it seems Sephira doesn’t support him.”

“Sephira was always a tough nut. Neither my brother nor I had much interest.”

“Recently, Sephira won the Southern Sword Tournament, and their reputation is growing daily. They’ve also made connections with Lord Krona of the West and Princess Iris.”

“Wow, what’s gotten into Sephira?”

“It seems to be Keter’s influence, as you mentioned.”

“Are you saying one person revived a family…?”

“It’s hard to believe, but…”

Jix, a knight and also an engineer, never asserts anything without certainty.

If Jix says, “Sephira was revived thanks to Keter,” it must be true.

Rakan’s eyes sparkled as he rested his chin on his hand. Lilie smiled, seeing Rakan’s interest.

When Rakan rests his chin, it means he’s intrigued. In other words, Rakan was now interested in Sephira and Keter.

“Shall we recruit them?”

Lilie said what Rakan wanted to hear, and Rakan jumped up from the sofa.

“No! Leave them be. If we recruit Sephira now, it’ll be boring.”

“Huh?”

“My brother has decided to interfere with Sephira, right? I’m curious how Keter will handle it.”

“Ah…”

“If Keter manages to complete the Glory Road and reach the royal palace despite my brother’s interference, then let’s meet him then.”

“Excuse me, Prince. If the Crown Prince decides to interfere with Sephira, Sephira will never reach the royal palace. Even if they do, wouldn’t the Crown Prince try to recruit Keter first?”

Jix spoke realistically, but Rakan shook his head.

“No, my gut tells me Keter will reach the royal palace and join hands with me.”

“That’s baseless.”

“It’s not baseless, it’s intuition.”

Tap, tap.

Rakan tapped his head with his finger and smirked.

“Crazy people understand each other, you know.”