Chapter 23

(23)

“I will listen. Tell me.”

Sererassie said as she eased the electricity gathered in her hands.

The oddly softened tone felt awkward.

Valenciaunos lifted her off him and opened his mouth.

“Did you win a lot of money, sis? You didn’t exchange much, right?”

“Yeah. In this town, chips are often more convenient than cash.”

“That’s why the big shots who invested in the casino are feeling uneasy.”

“Why’s that?”

“If you suddenly ask to exchange everything in one day, they’ll all go down together.”

Sererassie nodded.

She was aware that she had earned a terrifyingly huge sum.

It was a sufficiently plausible scenario.

Suddenly, she felt the sweet, hazy energy that had been swirling in her mind dissipate.

It was about time for the drug’s effects to wear off anyway.

As she raised her mana, her clarity of mind returned even more rapidly.

“Right, I see.”

She looked up at the chips she had gathered.

There were dozens of bags collecting dust in the living room, unopened.

What was piled up in the inner room couldn’t even be counted.

She might have collected chips from the entire red-light district.

“So they’re coming to kill you, huh?”

Her mind calmed down.

Her keen intellect analyzed the situation calmly. It was a reasonably plausible story.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

No sooner had he finished speaking than the knocking sound returned.

As soon as the door opened, a baton and a spear would stab in.

Valenciaunos and Sererassie frowned, both aware of this.

Sererassie cleared her throat and said loudly.

“What’s going on?”

“There has been a fight inside the hotel. For safety’s sake, all guests are requested to gather in one place.”

Fights in casinos weren’t that uncommon, making it quite a decent excuse.

However, it was impossible to deceive the wizard who had already begun to suspect.

“I can protect myself, and my money is in this room, so I won’t be going anywhere. If you really want to protect me, then hurry up and suppress the fight.”

Sererassie shot a sharp look at Valenciaunos.

Gathering electricity once more, the genius mage lowered her voice.

“They’re here to kill me? Let them come. Do you think this is the first or second time they’ve sent someone? If that’s all they had to say, I wouldn’t even need to listen.”

Sererassie genuinely scoffed.

She was of royal blood, a genius mage who had entered the Ivory Tower at the age of seven.

No matter how skilled the mercenaries of the red-light district were, they were nothing but insects before magic.

“At least seven casino managers have formed a coalition. The hired mercenaries must be over a hundred.”

“Just a hundred? Even then, in front of my magic…”

“You have no staff or reagents. Get a grip. Your eyes are bloodshot right now.”

“…!”

“You’ve been high on drugs for quite some time. The aftereffects will come soon.”

Sererassie nodded again, having no choice.

Valenciaunos, already aware of this, continued in a decisive tone.

“Moreover, if a member of the royal family recklessly uses magic or draws a sword in the capital, that’s an issue in itself. You know it too. His Majesty is eager to find an excuse to dispose of us. Lose, and you die; win, and you’re still in a troubled position.”

Valenciaunos watched as the shadows over the wizard’s face lifted.

It was thanks to the blue electricity ebbing from her hands.

What’s going to happen now, he seemed to say, and he declared firmly.

“Without a staff, controlling the power is difficult as well. If you make a mistake, you could burn the entire street. If that happens, you’ll have no choice but to wander the empire as a third-rate mage, claiming to be a dropout from the academy—all while avoiding the church’s scorn for third-rate mages.”

“You.”

“Low pay and overwork, an old lecherous employer, and a suspicious wife…”

“No need to repeat what’s already been said.”

The light returned fully to her differently colored eyes.

Valenciaunos couldn’t suppress a satisfied smile.

Drawing out emotions was the first trick that compelled decisions.

“So what now? Do you mean I should just run away casually?”

“No. We need to make a proper escape. To the shadow bestowed by His Majesty.”

“Isn’t there anywhere else?”

“If there were, I’d want to know first.”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

This was no longer just knocking. The sturdy wooden door shook as if it would break apart, the hinges and locks creaked and screamed.

“Open it, break it!” the same voices clearly rang out.

At that moment, Sererassie stood up and raised her hands.

“Alright. What do I need to do?”

“First, calculate how much chips you’ve won. It wouldn’t hurt to pack a bag or so of expensive chips. Based on that, we’ll request an edict.”

“Edict?”

“His Majesty will receive the money you deserve on your behalf, and you will testify your loyalty by offering half of it.”

“And you receive a reward for recommending talent?”

“Of course.”

Sererassie laughed helplessly and said in a singsong voice.

“I’ve become a bird imprisoned in a cage.”

Valenciaunos echoed like a refrain.

“But even in that cage, you might still be able to sing.”

He couldn’t release Sererassie from the cage, but he could widen and decorate that cage for her.

Upon hearing that, Sererassie’s eyes grew wide like lanterns.

It was a line from a song her mother used to sing when she was young.

Words he couldn’t possibly know.

“Right. You can still use magic under the emperor.”

Sererassie collected her chips while steadying her mind.

Valenciaunos laughed inwardly.

He had heard that song once or twice when she was drunk, before her reincarnation.

Noticing her unwavering blue eyes and golden eyes, he turned his attention to the problem at hand.

“Open it!”

“When I count to three, I’ll break it!”

The creaking hinges finally gave way.

“If it were before, the influence of the red-light district should have significantly diminished after the Madame Laviecia incident. Although the ruler of the pleasure district fleeing abroad was an issue, having less influence in places like this is better in general.”

Calculating inwardly, Valenciaunos got up from his seat.

“One death of Rudi has changed the course of history. No matter how terrible the treatment, we can’t allow those who would attempt to kill a member of the royal family to roam freely in the capital. This is the perfect opportunity to diminish the power of the pleasure district to a similar level as in my past life. This would reduce potential variables, too.”

With one hand on his sword and the other igniting flames.

* * *

“Brother, the door won’t break.”

“Still, we’ve made it strong enough with steel plates to be a hotel.”

“Got it. Step aside.”

The action leader of the “future” moved the mana within himself.

The mana raced through his blood vessels, surrounding every muscle fiber.

“If you’re not in the mood for negotiation…”

He smiled grimly.

There was no business in front of the numbers, and a member of the royal family, known to be hostile to his majesty, meant nothing.

He imagined the curvy figure hidden within the cloak of the ‘Nightmare of Gold.’

Just the thought of that indifferent figure’s eyes twisting brought a shiver from his lower half.

Bang!

As the action leader kicked the door, the doorknob shattered.

The terribly bent door fell from its hinges.

“We’ll come in.”

The action leader said so, lifting his mace.

His confidently moving body suddenly froze.

“I was just about to go out. You’re so rude, not even waiting for a lady to finish dressing up.”

A man with white hair wearing a paper mask stood in the entrance.

Holding a blazing fireball in his left hand.

“Magic?”

The action leader vaguely recalled the tales passed down from “Hope.”

– A man likely of royal descent burned everything down with fire.

– It’s presumed he was permitted to learn magic.

“Thank you. I will purify your base vulgar nature with this heat.”

The raging flames shot out.

The action leader jumped back like a frog and flew backward.

“Get out!”

“Yes? What?”

“What do you mean get out? Aaaah!”

About six mercenaries who had been clustered at the door were engulfed in flames.

With the explosive heat wave spreading outward, more than ten mercenaries were knocked back.

“It’s hot!”

“Aaaah!”

The six that were directly hit rolled on the floor, their bodies ablaze.

“It won’t go out! It won’t extinguish!”

“Someone help me!”

A few of those with deep ties and camaraderie cautiously removed their outer garments to pat down the burning bodies.

However, the flame holding onto the mana wouldn’t easily extinguish.

“What the hell is this!”

“Why won’t it go out?!”

“Move! You can’t put that out. Give up.”

“Brother!”

The action leader shoved his panicking subordinates away.

He had seen wizards use magic numerous times while working as a mercenary for a long time.

Once hit, it was certain death.

“Take a few steps back. Once the flames die down, we’ll surge in. No matter how much a wizard, they can’t keep spitting fire.”

However, the fierce flames roaring at the door showed no signs of extinguishing.

Fire soared like a curtain, engulfing the room.

The mercenaries gathered in the hallway stood holding their weapons, bewildered.

“Isn’t it better to jump in?”

Someone bravely suggested that.

However, everyone had just seen the fire that wouldn’t go out after once catching.

No one was willing to risk burning to death.

Had three minutes passed?

The action leader heard a cough, hack.

The wooden floor burned, emitting black smoke.

The already dim corridor grew darker faster.

“Black smoke? Wasn’t it white before?”

The action leader thought, clutching his mace.

For some reason, he was out of breath.

“Come to think of it, was there a vent in the corridor?”

A couple of his subordinates put their hands on the walls.

Gasping breaths mixed with coughs echoed from various places.

“Crazy.”

The action leader muttered a short curse.

He was attempting to suffocate them all.

“Get in! Get in, I said!”

“Yes?”

“Brother, the fire isn’t going out.”

“Why the command?! I’m not your subordinate.”

The other mercenaries from different casinos didn’t heed the action leader’s words.

The action leader swung his mace and smashed the head of one of them before tossing him into the flames.

“I’ll break the heads of those who hesitate myself! Get in!”

The mercenaries stood before the flames with anxious expressions.

Their Adam’s apples bobbed up and down, hands and feet trembling.

They were brave or ruthless mercenaries, but beating up a problem and diving into flames to fight a wizard were completely different matters.

Finally, one closed his eyes tightly and moved.

‘Whether I die in flames or get crushed by a mace, it’s the same.’

But what took his life wasn’t the flames but the sword.

The blade that broke through the flames grazed his neck sharply.

Though it wouldn’t normally be deep enough to cause a fatal wound, the blade precisely cut the artery in his neck.

With each beat of his heart, blood gushed forth from the man’s neck.

He reached out, seemingly pleading for help, but before anyone could grasp his hand, his knees buckled and his vision tilted.

“Aaah!”

“Hiik!”

“I can’t do it.”

His morale had already fallen to the ground.

The first wave attempting to reverse that flow transformed into a cold corpse. The mercenaries recoiled from the flames in horror.

“What’s going on! Get in! Get in, I said!”

No one dared to advance, despite the action leader’s shouts.

At that moment, Valenciaunos stepped out, dispersing the flames.

It was with an air of finality.

As sparks flew in all directions, the gold embroidery on his shoulders and chest shone brightly.

His white hair waving in the heat, the sword stretched out, and even the paper mask was extraordinary.

“What’s that? What is that!”

“Why is that guy not burning!”

The paper mask he wore was ignited in flames.

Like fog lifting, his face was revealed.

A pair of golden eyes shone brightly.

“…”

He did not speak and merely looked around at the gathered mercenaries.

Each time he turned his head, the mercenaries lowered their gaze and murmured.

No one noticed how labored his breath was, no one noticed the pallor of his face, no one noticed his knees trembling from the depletion of mana.

He was the worst of bandits, fully aware that breaking people down wasn’t a matter of force but of atmosphere.

“Duke Valenciaunos declares: those who retreat willingly shall be forgiven.”

And that was the end.

Like parting seas under the motions of an old magician.

The mercenaries split left and right in the corridor, clearing a path.