Chapter 186

If you were to ask who the greatest figure of the old slums was, everyone would point to the one-legged girl politician Konel.

However, if you were to ask why Konel was considered the greatest figure, no one would be able to answer properly.

Terms like redevelopment association chairperson or politician were merely used to fit her intangible power into the Empire’s system in some way.

“Someday, a warrior’s death.”

“Someday, a warrior’s death!”

If one were to write down the name of the power Konel held, it would likely be that of a priest of the Amon Church branch in the capital.

The wolf and warrior god Amon worshipped in the north.

The girl with the warrior’s heart was honored to be chosen by Amon to raise a warrior.

Die was the boy chosen by that girl.

“Lady Konel, I’ll be going out for a few days as I mentioned last time.”

“Do as you please, Die. But be careful. After all, it’s a rough time… You’ve heard the stories about the mad mage, right?”

“Don’t worry. There’s no way I’ll run into that bandit Valencius, right? Hahaha.”

“It could happen.”

With light brown hair and light brown eyes, he was 16 years old, the same age as Konel, and had been in the Amon Church for eight months this month.

However, he had grown quickly, joining the battle group in a short time, and had now become a full-fledged warrior.

“I’ll be back safely.”

Die left the old slums and ran through the streets.

In the hot August, it was quite a distance, but for the followers of Amon, it was a sin to take a carriage to a place they could reach by running.

In a little over an hour, Die arrived at the Street of Learning.

He wiped his face and neck with a towel soaked in water from a drinking fountain by the roadside and looked around the bustling surroundings for the meeting place.

‘It’s always so chaotic here.’

There were a lot of people in the slums, but it was different.

This place had the atmosphere of academy students with the future open before them, a strange sensation where anticipation and fear for tomorrow intersected.

He longed for it but hated this place.

“Have you heard about that mad mage? They say he’s really an infiltrator.”

“What? Is that even plausible?”

“They say it’s true! They’re hiding it because Duke Valencius would go crazy if they revealed an infiltrator.”

“I heard it was Duke Valencius’s scheme. They say he set fire to control the area between Magic Street and our Street of Learning and then pinned it on us.”

“That could be true. Since this place is so cramped, we fight every day, yet nothing changes.”

“Hey. Hey. Look, the constables are coming. Watch your mouth.”

Die briefly tuned into the students’ conversations before stepping into a café.

As expected of the Street of Learning, rumors spread quickly.

Even though the academy was on summer break, the café was crowded with students struggling with their graduation assignments.

In the midst of it all, Die found the people he was supposed to meet.

* * *

At the table, four people were already gathered, excluding Die.

A blue-haired martial arts student with a bold impression and a longsword strapped to his side.

A black-haired magic student with a gloomy demeanor leaning on a wooden staff.

A seminarian in a school uniform with a kind expression and a headscarf.

A middle-aged man with a stern but righteous look, wearing glasses.

A moment of silence lingered between them, and the black-haired magic student spoke up.

“I am Odely. I’m studying magic at Saint Serenade Academy. Can I call you Die?”

“Yes, Sister Odely.”

Odely lowered her voice slightly.

“As you may have heard, I believe the recent explosion incident was caused by an infiltrator and not the mad mage.”

Die nodded, and Odely continued.

“A while ago, there was an accident near the Street of Learning. A green explosion occurred, and my neighboring room was completely destroyed. Fortunately, I survived, but the flames burned my grimoire to ashes.”

“…Oh my.”

Die vaguely understood the significance of a grimoire to a mage.

As he mentally expressed a bit of mourning, the blue-haired martial arts student spoke.

“Nice to meet you, Die. I’m Christian. Just like Odely, there was an explosion, and a friend of mine was severely injured. He received treatment from a priest, but there were so many wounded that he couldn’t be fully healed.”

After that, Die listened to the seminarian and the merchant’s stories.

The seminarian spoke out of pure indignation, while the merchant lamented how expensive goods had burned in the explosion.

“Die, how did you end up here?”

Christian asked, and Die made eye contact with each of them as he replied.

“As you might know… I came from the slums. You probably know how dangerous it was there.”

“Right.”

“Thanks to Lady Konel, I got a chance to revive. Big workshops have opened here and there. But because of the explosion, one workshop had to close. Many people were injured and died, and the losses are significant. The compensation we were supposed to receive is no joke. Lady Konel begged for it to be postponed, but if things go wrong…”

Die trailed off, and Christian spoke with a determined expression.

“Die. All of us have suffered losses because of that ‘infiltrator.’ Let’s join forces and reveal that it’s not the mad mage but an infiltrator. We need to report it to the constables and the Church.”

Die pretended to hesitate as he asked.

The world had turned the boy into an adult, and he knew that becoming a hero came with a price, a price that sometimes fell on the people around him.

“Is there a way to find them?”

Odely nodded.

She stammered slightly as she spoke.

“Infiltrators draw power from the ancient ones. But there aren’t many ancient ones that wield green flames. If we first identify what ancient one it is, we’ll have a way to track it down.”

The seminarian blinked his innocent eyes and spoke up.

“I have a copy of the forbidden book list.”

* * *

“Aini. The ancient one holding the green torch. This must be it.”

“It seems likely. An ancient one emphasized in green like this is rare, and they’d have enough firepower to burn down a city or castle.”

The seminarian’s forbidden book list was useful, and Die, a follower of Amon, along with the magic student Odely, quickly found a solution.

Christian asked Odely.

“Odely, so we can find it now? That easily?”

Odely struggled to provide a simple answer.

Shrinking into herself, she glanced around before turning her body toward Magic Street.

“Well… it’s hard for me to find it myself. I don’t have any books or reagents…”

“Then?”

“But I know someone who knows how to find it. It’s someone in Magic Street… Hoze. We shouldn’t report that person.”

The seminarian wore a calm smile on his innocent face.

“Since I’ve already obtained the forbidden book list, why would I hesitate? If what I’m doing contradicts the will of the God of Radiance, I would have been informed already.”

Her eyes sparkled with determination and madness, and for a moment, Odely and Die swallowed hard.

Odely led them to a deep alley of Magic Street.

A three-headed cat chased a five-tailed rat, a snake walked its owner, and a place where the smoke of reagents and mist of unusual colors lingered.

Hoze glanced around before speaking cheerfully yet firmly.

“You all look like you’ll be executed.”

Christian couldn’t easily deny it.

“Odely. It seems we can get good information here, but I doubt we’ll meet good people.”

“Y-yeah. I think so too.”

Odely entered a house that didn’t even have a sign.

Inside the house, the smoke of reagents was thick, and Die felt a more ominous energy from the old mage in the rocking chair who was half-asleep, similar to Konel or the senior battle group members.

Die, Christian, and Hoze looked at Odely, who seemed burdened by their gazes and shuddered before hurrying to converse with the mage.

Though Die couldn’t hear the details clearly, the old mage suddenly woke up, suggesting Odely must have said something significant.

The old mage swung his staff and shouted.

“I can’t do it! I won’t! None of you can put me at such risk!”

At that moment, a middle-aged merchant moved.

The merchant looked around the shabby house and then pulled out a large leather pouch from his pocket, plopping it down on the table.

With a clattering sound, silver coins, half-silver coins, and copper coins spilled out.

The merchant displayed a gold crown and flicked a half-silver coin with a sly grin.

“Even if we can’t, can’t these kids do it?”

Greed glistened in the old mage’s eyes.

Yet, the old mage still didn’t approach them.

“…It’s too risky.”

Die recalled the people from the old slums at that moment.

He remembered the words Konel used to say.

This street had succeeded through the power of the slum people, who believed they couldn’t do it and never thought to try; all I did was plant the hope that they could.

You have to try.

“Mage.”

“Kid, go back and just sleep with your mother.”

“My mother is dead.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Die calmly spoke.

“What you’re saying is right, Mage. It’s dangerous. But it’s also necessary.”

“…”

“The infiltrator is roaming the capital. People are getting hurt and dying, and the hope of the streets is about to be crushed, yet the Emperor, Duke Valencius, and Head Barbatos, as well as the provincial high nobles, are doing nothing. We can’t just sit still. Mage, please help us. Magic is a miraculous power.”

The old mage and Odely shook their heads.

“Magic isn’t a miracle; it operates under meticulous calculations and laws.”

However, the old mage began to continue.

“It seems the mage’s heart has moved. An ancient one named Aini, right? Yes. Just wait for about two hours.”

The old mage went upstairs with Odely.

Two hours later, they came down, and the old mage was bleeding profusely from his nose, eyes, mouth, and ears.

Christian immediately stood up to support him, and Hoze prepared healing light.

But the old mage shoved Christian away and turned his back on Hoze.

“This is a mana circuit problem! Remove that light. If you force it to heal with divine power, I may never be able to use magic again! Remove that light!”

“Yes, yes!”

“Odely. Now you get lost. Don’t come near me again!”

* * *

The five hurriedly left the mage’s house, and Odely was holding something precious in her handkerchief.

She whispered a spell softly.

“The line of light and blood will lead me.”

Something gleamed and faded within the handkerchief.

Odely took out a glass vial filled with red liquid from her bosom and recited the spell again.

“The line of light and blood will lead me!”

Once more, green light flickered from the handkerchief, and Odely blinked at the air.

Die, Christian, and Hoze all knew that it was a line visible only to Odely.

“Let’s go!”

‘Lady Konel, I will find the real culprit. Then the insurance for the infiltrator will pay out.’

‘I will take revenge with my sword.’

‘O God of Radiance.’

The five ran for a long time, and Odely, panting, stopped in front of a four-story stone building.

It was shabby for a hotel and overly luxurious for an inn.

“Here… the line has stopped.”

Odely leaned against the wall, nearly out of breath, and Christian cautiously approached the entrance while the merchant checked the back door.

At that moment, Die instinctively looked up at the sky.

It reminded him of the training he had done with his seniors.

“Above!”

Someone was running on the roof.

Hoze clasped her hands together and shut her eyes, then opened them as she shouted.

“Light of banishment and discernment!”

A bright divine light burst forth, and the figure in the hood was unveiled.

“!”

At that instant, Die clearly saw it.

The face of a boy about his age.

The sumptuous platinum hair, a symbol of the royal family.

‘Didn’t almost all of the royal family die months ago?’

Die chased after him and shouted.

“Christian, follow me! Hoze, report to the constables!”

* * *

“Constable! An infiltrator has appeared over there!”

“What? Where?”

“Infiltrator?”

The seminary uniform gave a strong impression to anyone wearing it.

Hoze ran around, informing all the constables and guards she encountered about what she had seen.

As she looked back, a man in a uniform similar to that of the constables muttered.

“Infiltrator… They said it was just a mad mage. Your Excellency will certainly be pleased.”

The uniform of Marcus, the Ironblood Party leader, was remarkably similar to that of the constables.