Chapter 247

(247)

“Ha ha. Please give me a moment.”

Philius spoke with the high-ranking administrator and experienced military officers and knights.

“Absolutely not, absolutely not.”

“This means you want to economically subjugate us.”

“It is too fatal that a saint was born in the Empire. The Church might support this wholeheartedly, so we have to be even more vigilant.”

He came to the conclusion that if he agreed to that bandit’s demands, it could lead to the Doroysen Kingdom becoming the Doroysen Duchy.

‘I cannot let the country be ruined. I have to protect what Father His Majesty has passed on to me in order to face him again.’

However, if he did not agree to his demands, the 6,000 elite troops might be reduced to 600.

‘Even if that happens, it would ruin the country.’

Of course, if the knights and magicians of Doroysen gave their all, they could certainly kill Valenciaunos.

But everyone knew.

Behind Valenciaunos was the Holy Emperor Jeilliris.

“……”

To avoid seeing the Emperor, who allegedly led a revolt on his own, drop a meteor on the Doroysen Palace, he had to somehow conclude this meeting.

Philius struggled to grasp that he now held the throne he had long gazed at.

“First, bring Ezraja. We need to meet some of his demands immediately. I, too, am deeply enraged at him.”

“Yes. Your Highness.”

The knights bowed their heads and attempted to stand.

At that moment, Philius asked curiously.

“Am I still a prince?”

Ensis had reigned as king for over 200 years and was a symbol of the kingdom for the citizens of Doroysen.

Philius himself couldn’t even picture himself sitting on the throne.

However, the days of living as he was told had come to an end.

Now he had to live with his own deliberations.

The knights exchanged glances for a moment and then declared firmly.

A knight holding a spear adorned with a crescent moon was the first.

“Your Majesty!”

“Prince Philius!”

“We shall obey your commands, Your Majesty!”

Estherk, longsword, claymore, halberd… knights armed with various weapons knelt and bowed their heads.

* * *

Following the order of the new king, the knights rushed out.

“By royal decree!”

“If you revolt, we will cut you down!”

“Raise your hands above your heads and come out!”

They charged towards the magicians stationed with the soldiers.

Faced with the intimidating presence, the soldiers immediately parted left and right, creating a path, and the knights seized Ezraja.

“Chief Mage, you must come with us.”

He had a scorched brown face with vibrant purple eyes unique to southern people, a black goatee, and leaned on a crooked wooden staff.

His hawkish nose, wrinkles, and numerous warts gave him a face that, while rugged, appeared benevolently smiling, and although he looked to be in his 60s, he always seemed full of vitality.

The old mage willingly lowered his staff and raised both arms, following the knights.

“What kind of rudeness is this toward my master?”

The magicians protested reflexively, but they were already shaky.

Because it wasn’t solely due to the swords drawn by the knights, but because of the decaying body of Ensis.

‘The blue crystal is Cuith Az, and the black marks were clearly corruption.’

‘There’s no way my master didn’t know about that. He even served as the head physician.’

‘Is he really an infiltrator? But there are plenty of priests in the kingdom. He has even shaken hands many times.’

Ezraja had stayed in the Doroysen Kingdom for a long time and had earned the trust of the late king Ensis, becoming the chief court mage, but he initially came from the southern continent.

And the Amir Dukedom in the south was a nation that openly revered the past.

The magicians’ gazes were filled with distrust, and Ezraja smiled ruefully as he followed the knights.

“I apologize. Do not worry. I shall explain everything soon.”

He headed towards Philius, following the knights.

“Chief Court Mage Ezraja greets Prince Philius.”

One knight yelled.

“Call him Prince Philius!”

Ezraja immediately bowed his head, looking apologetic, and Philius waved his hand dismissively.

Finally, he spoke in a voice filled with sorrow.

“The Duke Valencius desires your presence.”

This was a measure to minimize the backlash from the magicians in case it was discovered that Ezraja was innocent.

* * *

Valenciaunos sat alone at the table in the meeting room, waiting for Philius to return.

The sun was setting behind the Doroysen forces, and dusk gradually crept over the basin.

The sky above the rocky mountain where Sorelazie, Tenitia, and Marcus were was already dark.

Flicker, flicker.

Perhaps it was a light signal sent by Sorelazie, signaling all was well.

A few servants approached and set up braziers and torches around the meeting area.

“I apologize for making you wait, Your Grace.”

Philius returned with the administrators and the old mage.

“This is the chief court mage of the kingdom, Ezraja.”

Valenciaunos scanned the old man with black hair and deep-set eyes from head to toe.

“I am Ezraja. Duke Valencius, I hear you wish for my presence,” he said, bowing politely.

As expected, no aura of corruption was felt.

As he observed Ezraja’s polite demeanor and formal robe, he appeared much more normal than the maniacs of the Royal Magic Guild or the Ivory Tower.

Perhaps he had genuinely used the pieces of Az as medicine to help the decaying Ensis.

“……”

Valenciaunos inferred the thoughts of Philius and Ezraja.

‘It’s more troublesome when someone comes in this polite. Right. Philius, you’re also worried about what to do if he wasn’t an infiltrator. You can’t just let someone as talented as the chief court mage go for free to the Empire. The Church of Radiance can’t just disregard him either.’

He smirked and spoke.

“You might feel a little pain.”

‘But I can do it!’

Valenciaunos summoned the power of flame and spirits.

Swaaah—!

His golden pupils glowed orange and split vertically again.

With a thud, a dragon horn burst from his temple, and fire spirits surged up, circling around the meeting room and conjuring a storm of flames.

Fwoosh!

Kwahahaha!

The diameter of the storm reached 500 meters, leaving only the area around the table where Valenciaunos, Philius, the administrators, and Ezraja stood unscathed.

Once again, the ground turned red and molten, the few surviving plants caught fire, and both parties were shocked, drawing their weapons.

“Your Majesty!”

Philius’ magicians summoned a water giant, and the knights tried to leap into the flames.

“Valen!”

Sorelazie summoned thunderclouds, and Tenitia attempted to rush down the rocky mountain again.

Philius watched in terror as the firestorm surrounded them.

It was as high as the city wall, and the opposite side was obscured from view.

Valenciaunos, who immediately cast the spell, showed no signs of fatigue.

“Ezraja.”

His fiery, flickering gaze fixed onto the two.

An overwhelming aura of fire pressured their minds.

“From now on, if you say even one lie, I will burn you alive.”

“Why are you intimidating an old man with so few days left to live?”

Valenciaunos did not provide a spoken answer.

“Look. You lied. An old man with only a few days left to live? Oh, is that the truth?”

Following his gestures, flames slithered toward Ezraja, enveloping him.

“I will incinerate you!”

Fwoosh!

The robe caught fire, the black beard ignited instantly, emitting choking smoke and a rancid smell into the air.

“Ugh!”

The old man flinched as he suppressed a scream, but ultimately, he did not fight back.

His expression, grinding his teeth in pain, even evoked images of a noble martyr.

“……”

And nothing happened.

Valenciaunos’ flames burned the old man’s body to a crisp, leaving only charred bones and a handful of ash behind.

“What have you done!?!”

Philius exclaimed in shock, while Valenciaunos shamelessly chuckled and shrugged.

“Hmm. It seems he wasn’t a typical infiltrator. What a pity.”

* * *

Philius raised his hand, about to strike him.

This was no longer about diplomacy; it was about a person who had burned the court mage of another kingdom alive.

No matter how powerful the opponent was, his image could not show weakness here.

Valenciaunos smirked and stepped on Ezraja’s bones.

“However, it seems Ezraja was indeed a pawn of the Church of Corruption.”

Crack.

Inside the shattered bones lay a blue crystal.

It was a fragment of Cuith Az.

Philius gaped in shock, while Valenciaunos picked up the fragment with a grin.

“There is a shared power within Az’s fragments. He must have used this fragment to borrow various magics and the power of corruption when needed. He wasn’t even from the Ivory Tower and yet was remarkably versatile, wasn’t he?”

While it was possible he had been kidnapped or threatened after becoming the chief court mage, Valenciaunos chose not to say that.

After all, truth wasn’t what mattered.

Philius nodded with a bewildered expression, and Valenciaunos raised his dominance to resonate with the fragment.

Perhaps it was a signal, as black energy began to seep from the fragments of bone.

“AAAH!”

“Fall back!”

The ordinary administrative officers screamed, and Philius shielded them as Valenciaunos smiled coldly.

“Now, let’s see that illustrious face of his.”

Clack, clank.

Ezraja’s bones reattached, and a skeletal figure rose.

White skeletal armor grew over his slight bones, his size inflating as black feathers sprouted.

Valenciaunos remembered the group that had tried to steal the relics at the Alchenversa Monastery.

‘They worship the same ancient things. It’s highly likely they’re from the same order. Indeed, an organization straddling the entire continent exists.’

His jaw twisted, a beak formed, and black feathers wrapped around him like formal wear.

He had grown to nearly 4 meters tall.

Valenciaunos chuckled as he attempted to manipulate the storm of fire.

‘There is a specific reason why I killed him in front of you.’

Philius was undoubtedly doing everything in his power to avoid accepting his terms.

In such a situation, the infiltrator would provide a good justification for the Empire to send heretic inquisitors to Doroysen.

‘Now I only need to let him suffer a bit before incinerating him. It will show that even powerful bloodline royals like me can struggle against a strong infiltrator. And… why is the eastern sky already brightening?’

He glanced back and spotted a being illuminating the night sky with a golden glow.

“Valenciaunos!”

The Holy Emperor Jeilliris soared above the clouds, leaving a meteor-like trail behind.

Thanks to the amplification magic of his voice, he could be heard booming even from that height.

“Ensis! Where are you!”

At that moment, Valenciaunos realized she was unaware that Ensis was an infiltrator.

‘Ah.’

In the next moment, the clouds parted, and golden circles decorated the air.

Sorelazie chuckled from the rocky mountain, watching the spectacle.

‘Does that make sense? Surely, Your Majesty is no mere mortal.’

Marcus also stared in shock, wide-eyed.

“Sorelazie, the very concept of circle magic involves creating rings from within the heart and colliding those rings to amplify power. The key point is how skillfully one can control the recoil and how many rings they can create, correct?”

“Isn’t that the case?”

“Then what should we even call that? He created rings outside of his body using incantations, so such a feat is possible.”

“Does it even make sense to question it? He could expand it as he pleased.”

Giant golden rings were enveloping the sky like a web.

There appeared to be dozens, hundreds, perhaps thousands of them.

“Each intersection of those rings doubles their power, then?”

“Correct. Six circles amplify it by a bit over 4,000…”

Sorelazie struggled to keep her mouth shut as she observed the circles extending from the eastern sky to the western sky.

“We need to act quickly. Before His Majesty turns this land into a lake.”

Just as Ezraja’s skeletal form was about to rise again, it collapsed once more.

Valenciaunos chuckled and shot a spear of flame into the sky.

Jeilliris began to change direction as she noticed the red streaks.

“Welcome, Your Majesty!”

Philius looked back and forth between the Valenciaunos wrapped in a storm of flames and Jeilliris descending, painting the night sky with golden light.

“Ha ha, ha ha.”

It was a sight that stripped away all fighting spirit.

The twins’ faces showed joy and relief, yet the world he saw was pitch black.

Valenciaunos thrust a quill toward Philius.

“Now, sign here.”

Philius received the quill with a dazed gesture.

‘Oh God. Why have you given such power to this twin?’

It was nothing but despair.

In that instant, he realized a bizarre truth.

A thought flashed in his mind.

‘Is he genuinely pleased about the survival of his older brother, who is ahead of him in the line of succession?’

That meant.

‘The relationship between the Bandit Duke and the Holy Emperor may be far more intimate than we had grasped.’

It was the possibility of a new duke.