Chapter 69

Duke Sorelazie and the knights of his household charged at the Emperor.

The brown plated armor, a magic tool, and the red cloak fluttered elegantly, with sword after sword igniting with mana blades like flames.

I watched the fight while engaging with one of the Duke’s knights.

The Duke relentlessly swung his sword, pressing Jeilliris back.

However, Jeilliris didn’t even draw the sacred sword “Yurimirror,” instead deflecting his attacks with a branch wrapped in aura.

Clang, clang!

With each clash between the sword and the branch, the Duke’s blade was taking damage instead.

“Jeilliris!”

The Duke struck down like thunder.

“Weak!”

Jeilliris’s golden eyes shone, and her branch quickly pierced through the thigh armor, stabbing deeply into his leg.

“That was quite a convincing lie. If you had simply abandoned your ambition, I would have believed you.”

The posture of Sorelazie faltered as his sword hit the ground.

Thud!

The stone floor cracked, and snow and stone dust fell beneath the rocky crevice of the magical realms.

“Are you trying to win with swordsmanship when you’re not even a sword master?”

She sneered, delivering a sharp retort.

The nine knights of the Duke raised their swords as if to charge in, but Jeilliris released her hidden momentum.

Swoosh!

A chill more frigid than the midwinter wind paralyzed the limbs of the knights.

Even though they were pulling up their mana to resist, all they could do was endure with their eyes wide open.

I had experienced this many times even before my return, but still, I needed to catch my breath and create distance from the knight.

“Don’t you see that I’m speaking with your lord?”

Jeilliris’s voice echoed clearly in the valley.

Sorelazie gritted his teeth and lifted the sword he had slammed down again.

“Ugh, ha!”

His sword swung upwards and diagonally downwards, while he pulled back his right foot and kicked off the ground, aiming to thrust his blade at Jeilliris’s chest.

But she remained unbothered, accepting Sorelazie’s attack without even raising an eyebrow.

She deflected the first blow with the branch, dodged the descending sword above her, and caught the final thrust with her palm wrapped in aura.

Gold aura enveloped her white hands, adorned with joint rings on each finger, and sharp sword tips shattered with a crisp sound.

Crack!

Jeilliris firmly pushed Sorelazie’s sword away and asked him, “Did you wish to become Emperor, or to be the king of an independent state? Did I demand you to send an hostage? Or did I raise taxes? I don’t recall you doing anything to offend nobles like you…”

She trailed her words, letting out a sadistic laugh.

“Why on earth would you invite your family’s downfall?”

Thud, thud, thud!

Three punctures struck in succession against Sorelazie’s brown plated armor.

That armor, which was undoubtedly reinforced with magic, felt like clay being molded.

The Duke shouted as he pushed Jeilliris against the rocky crevice.

She remained unflustered and, while swinging the branch upwards, aimed to trip Sorelazie and throw him into the crevice beneath.

To be honest, at that moment, I felt relieved.

I could endure against this knight, and Jeilliris seemed to know it too.

Furthermore, she was toying with the Duke, who was at the level of a high Sword Expert, without even drawing her blade.

The moment she decided to get serious would be the moment when the Duke and the knights would all fall.

“Ugh!”

Duke Sorelazie spun on his right foot and narrowly escaped the magical realm.

Jeilliris, grinning sadistically, stretched out her left hand and seized his left wrist.

With a loud crack, the plated armor contorted to her hand’s shape.

“Now!”

At that moment, the nine knights of the Duke plunged their swords into the ground in a crescent formation.

The mana blades flared up brightly, and the earth split.

I was taken aback and shook off the knight before rushing over there.

“Jeilliris!”

I called her name without restraint.

These maddened fools.

Did they intend to kill even the Duke?

The split earth was already filled with the mycelium of the blue mushrooms that spread from the magical realm.

Weakened compared to when it was solid ground, the earth would collapse entirely with just one strike from the mana blade.

Boom! The Duke stomped hard to the ground, and Jeilliris plunged the Duke’s arm down with him.

“Tch!”

In an instant, her body shook as if she were about to cast flight magic.

Duke Sorelazie had retreated to where the ground had safely settled after collapsing.

Jeilliris remained standing on the crack, yet held onto Sorelazie’s arm tightly.

With his broken sword, Sorelazie aimed to slice Jeilliris’s wrist, but it would only ruin his blade further.

“Gah!”

A sense of determination appeared on his stubborn face.

Damn!

I was startled as drops of blood fell onto the snowy ground.

I thought Jeilliris was bleeding, but it was Sorelazie’s blood flowing.

“Uh?”

Rumble!

The ground collapsed, and Jeilliris’s body fell into the rocky crevice toward the magical realm.

For the first time, her face contorted, and in her left hand was Sorelazie’s left arm gripped firmly up to the elbow.

“Jeilliris!”

I reached out my hand towards her.

Slap.

The ring at the tip of my finger caught, then slipped.

Below, I could see the huge mushrooms and electrical jellyfish.

Thud.

This time, I successfully grabbed hold.

But my feet lost contact with the ground.

Jeilliris cried out.

“You foolish bandit!”

* * *

“I will gather a search party to rescue His Majesty the Emperor and His Grace the Duke. Moreover, for the safety of the Empire, I will send my knights to bolster the defenses of the capital Silentalouon,” the Duke’s herald proclaimed in the square outside the lord’s castle.

“To compensate for the loss of power, I will hire free knights and wandering magicians. A noble assembly will be convened in case the search fails and the throne remains unfilled for a long time, and a regent will be decided in that meeting. I will commence conscription to protect our provinces from the magical realms…”

The mercenary leaders and cheerleaders clapped, and the clueless nobles joined in.

However, the educated intelligentsia hurried back home, beginning to pack their belongings.

“Mom? Where are you going?”

But their hands didn’t move for long.

Where would they go?

To foreign lands where the magical realm floods almost daily?

To territories no different from Purioaito’s?

Perhaps to battlefields for the high nobles?

Yet they couldn’t remain in peace either.

Rumors of the tyrant and kin-killer emperor had already spread across the continent.

They were not ignorant scholars who wouldn’t realize the trouble their Duke had caused for the Emperor.

If the Emperor was dead, they would likely be dragged into the imminent territorial war, and if he was alive, they would face an enraged Emperor.

Would she only hold the Duke’s family accountable?

The Emperor who had slaughtered his own kin?

The scholars felt helpless, sighing deeply.

Sererassie returned to the castle’s room granted to the guests, watching those people.

A knight who had followed her spoke at the door.

“His Majesty the Emperor is surely alive. He must be worried since both of his half-brothers have gone missing, but please find out the timing of the magical realm floods and the creation of the core. We need that information to devise a rescue plan.”

“Understood.”

“And by any chance…”

“By any chance?”

“Will you attend the dinner banquet this evening? The Duke’s second son wishes to meet Your Grace Duke Sererassie.”

Sererassie smiled brightly and nodded.

“I understand that during such times, capable individuals must unite to put an end to the chaos. I willingly accept.”

“Thank you.”

Once the knight left, Tenitia and Rudi looked at Sererassie.

The golden and blue fabric flared with rage, burning brightly.

Electricity surged within her clenched fist.

“I can’t wait to see what I’ll wear,” she murmured with a coy voice as she picked up paper and pen.

[I didn’t expect it to come to this. The countermeasures against eavesdropping magic.]

“If he’s from the Duke’s house… can we at least discuss magic?”

[If both of them do not return, I am the official first in line for succession. Marrying me will make you Emperor or regent.]

“!”

Rudi and Tenitia’s eyes widened.

Sererassie continued her written conversation with trembling hands.

[His Majesty and that fool Valen will certainly return safely. That guy is not someone who will die easily. Until they come back, I’ll measure the flow of mana in the magical realm to buy us time. Everyone needs to keep their wits about them and hold on.]

Tenitia, the gallant knight with red hair, nodded, his jaw clenched.

Surely, his lord had predicted all of this and had placed her next to Sererassie.

‘Surely, His Majesty wouldn’t have thrown himself into danger for His Grace. Valen must have thrown himself to save His Majesty. It is a most knightly and noble act. I too will carry out the last task you entrusted to me.’

As she tightened her plated armor, she made a vow.

Rudi took out a leather belt filled with arrows from his travel bag and strapped it to his thigh and waist.

Feeling the weight of two crossbows underneath her maid outfit, she gritted her teeth.

‘I will grow stronger. So when such a thing happens again, I can set out to find him.’

* * *

Kugugugu!

I woke up to a loud sound.

“Ah.”

The feeling of waking up from fainting was always unpleasant.

First, I manipulated my mana to check if all my limbs were fine.

Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any serious issues as I slowly rose and looked around.

Seeing that I was alive, I concluded that this magical realm wasn’t toxic.

“Ha…”

Yet, since it was a magical realm, I sighed deeply upon witnessing the scene unfolded before me.

The entire joint rock wall was densely covered with luminescent teal and blue mushrooms, ranging from the size of a palm to over 10 meters tall.

Using the light emitted by the mushrooms, I looked up, estimating the chamber height to be over 300 meters.

Above, there were giant electric jellyfish, resembling the big ones I had seen earlier.

The larger ones were approaching 20 to 30 meters in torso length, and with their tentacles, they seemed to exceed 100 meters in full length.

Conversely, the smaller ones didn’t seem to exceed 5 meters in length even with their tentacles.

At that moment, I sensed a presence behind the massive mushroom ahead.

I hurriedly stood and drew my sword.

In a place where anything could come out, it was the magical realm.

“Awakened, Duke?”

“Your Majesty?”

“It seems you’re not seriously injured, thankfully.”

Emerging from behind the mushroom was my Emperor, Jeilliris.

Her platinum hair was tied back as it had been, indicating she had either just returned from battle or was prepared for one.

She took off the fur shawl she had draped over her black dress and spread it on the floor before sitting down.

Her unnatural golden eyes still shone vividly, providing me with great comfort.

“Aren’t you hot? You should sit as well.”

Remembering then, I noticed sweat dripping from my forehead.

I took off my coat, raised my hands, and felt the air around, discovering that it was warm near the mushrooms.

It seemed they were releasing heat.

“Your Majesty, have you regained your magic?”

Jeilliris nodded.

“It seems the mana seal does not affect this underground area. Thanks to that, I was able to catch you before you fell to the ground.”

“Then why haven’t you gone back up?”

“I was just about to head back up, but it was frustrating.”

She spat out irritably.

“When I tried to fly up, swarms of large and small jellyfish flocked around. Their electricity was quite strong, and I couldn’t break through while getting hit.”

For Jeilliris, its ‘quite strong’ would be deadly for me.

“Reluctantly, I had to use a large technique, resulting in surrounding stones collapsing right above your head.”

That was probably the collapse I had heard.

The chamber narrowed sharply as one ascended.

No matter how powerful Jeilliris was, it would have been difficult to push through that enormous amount of rubble.

“So then I climbed against the wall. However, the swarm of jellyfish came approaching just the same. Moreover, the mushroom mycelium made the entire wall easily crumble, so I nearly fell several times along the way.”

“Then…”

“Exactly. For now, there seems to be no way out. I considered using magic to blow the mountain away, but gathering such a large amount of mana in a place as unstable as the magical realm did not quite appeal to me.”

Indeed, I could feel the unstable fluctuations of mana.

She clicked her tongue in annoyance.

The image of the inhuman Emperor, with platinum hair and yellow eyes brimming bright under the pale light as she sat hugging her knees, resembled a painting.

She then asked me,

“Why, exactly, did you follow me?”

I carefully chose my words to answer.

“I thought it was safest beside your Majesty.”

It seemed she couldn’t deny it either, as she nodded with an “Mm.”

At that moment, I quickly offered advice.

“Your Majesty, I sense a passageway below. It seems difficult to fly out; what if we go down instead?”

Jeilliris nodded and stood up.

Unconsciously, I muttered a curse.

“Damn traitor Sorelazie.”

Jeilliris chuckled slightly.

“Oh, my apology…”

“Sounds good. Do keep it coming.”

“A fool who must be thrown into a beehive with honey spread all over him in the summer. A fool who should be tossed into a canal with lead weights attached. A fool who deserves to be tied to a rock and subjected to the punishment of being pecked by eagles for ten years.”