Chapter 71

The office of Duke Sorelazie, adorned with brown wood and sky-blue flags, was tidy yet imposing.

Inside the office, there were one knight and one mage present; the knight was Roberos, the captain of the Purioaito family’s order, and the mage was Helein, the head mage of the Purioaito court.

Sorelazie entrusted the stump of his severed left arm to Helein.

Although Helein was a powerful blood mage capable of reattaching an arm at the very least, he could not regenerate it.

Thus, he focused on recovering the nerves as much as possible and connecting them to the prosthetic.

It was an incredibly strange and mysterious sight as white threads sprouted from the stump and entered the metallic arm.

Click. With the sound of the last nerve connecting, the gray steel left arm moved.

It felt like a gauntlet roughly the same size as a hand.

“It’s done, Your Excellency. You must refrain from drinking for a while. As you recover little by little, your arm will fully regenerate within five years, so please don’t worry too much.”

It was a soft, considerate remark not typically given to a mage, but the duke, with his light brown hair and blue eyes, shook his head resolutely.

“Worry? There’s no need for that. It was a necessary choice. That was the only way to drop Jeilliris into the magical realms.”

As the topic returned to the magical realms, captain Roberos’s eyes lit up with curiosity he had been struggling to suppress.

He relished the duke’s anxious expression after making such an explosive remark just before the treatment.

“Your Excellency. A dragon? What do you mean by that? Didn’t all the dragons leave for another world a long time ago?”

When the ancients began to transition into this world, all dragons departed for another world, and the last dragon who loved humans shared its blood with a human of its lineage.

A human blessed with the blood of a dragon stood at the pinnacle of all bloodlines and conquered half of the continent.

This was the founding period of the Silentalouon Empire; thus, it was common sense among all humans on the continent that the dragons had left this world.

“I thought so too. But it seems a slumbering dragon remains.”

The duke threw out a joke that seemed out of place.

“What kind of nonsense is that? …How exactly do you know there is still a dragon?”

Sorelazie replied with a reminiscence-like expression.

“I saw it myself. My grandfather found it, and my father inherited that secret. I inherited it from my father.”

“Is that the reason you haven’t developed the western mountain?”

“Indeed. If a dragon were to appear, all the provinces would be burned down.”

“Surely, you wouldn’t have mistaken it for a wyvern or drake?”

Roberos felt his heart racing.

The beings in the stories had a power that stirred excitement even in those who had experienced much and were well beyond forty.

“I’m certain it was a dragon. I’d bet my remaining arm on it.”

“Please, don’t.”

“Sure. Regardless, it’s evident that even the emperor cannot survive this.”

Roberos nodded, suppressing his anxious desire to confirm the existence of a dragon.

“It is clear that Duke Sorelazie is definitely stalling for time. He is taking advantage of our duty to be cautious during the flood of the magical realms.”

Sorelazie clicked his tongue lightly.

Though he was not a natural strategist, he was a man with the wisdom gained from living decades as a high noble in a harsh world.

“We can’t just wait idly. Helein. Start gathering mushrooms. We can’t leave the treasure vault unattended, suspecting it could burst at any moment.”

Helein offered a conflicted expression of joy and despair.

“I appreciate your words as a mage, but…”

“Hmm?”

“The date of the magical realms’ opening should be confirmed, shouldn’t it? If the sky were to rain down lightning, the province would suffer greatly.”

The duke responded irritably.

“Haven’t I just said there’s a dragon? Why hasn’t the magical realm flooded until now? Every time an anomaly approaches the house, the dragon kills them all. I don’t know why a core hasn’t formed, but the day a core appears will be the day the magical realms close.”

“Then the request to Duke Sorelazie…”

“To find out how long we can keep gathering the blue mushrooms. We need to prepare soon too. Of course, we can’t kill the duke; he must become my wife or daughter-in-law.”

Roberos and Helein bowed deeply, impressed.

The duke softened his stubborn expression as he anticipated the day he might become the husband or father-in-law of the emperor.

‘Sigmairin.’

Considering what he had lost, he needed to obtain at least that much.

* * *

Jeilliris fiercely attacked, temporarily driving away the sky jellyfish, and we continued to move downward.

After about 30 more minutes of walking, the blue mushrooms began to disappear from sight.

The ceiling was getting lower, seemingly under 50 meters in height.

The flow of mana was also normalizing; the sensation on my skin felt different.

We might soon be able to exit, but the magical realms were a place where one should never let their guard down.

“Your Majesty. Something feels odd.”

“What is it?”

“The magical realm is much smaller than I expected. The magical realm earlier couldn’t be this small if there were that many anomalies.”

Jeilliris’s golden eyes glinted sharply.

“It seems you know quite well about the magical realms. As far as I know, you’ve never even stepped outside the capital.”

“!”

I was momentarily flustered by such a minor detail.

I awkwardly stretched out my right leg and hand while walking, barely managing to pick a convincing answer.

“I heard it from the paladins while meeting someone from the church. They’re the ones who go around closing the magical realms, after all.”

“Hmm.”

She smirked like a carnivore, nodding.

“Well, it’s settled. You indeed possess unexpectedly broad knowledge. In any case, this means we can soon return to a world where my magic functions properly, correct? Then what is there to worry about?”

“Indeed.”

“Well then, no matter what you say, let’s drop about thirty ‘Lances of Wrath’ on the duke’s castle. We’ll think about what comes next after that.”

Once we exit.

My previously tense body swayed slightly, and suddenly a topic I hadn’t considered before came to mind.

“Your Majesty, what if the duke takes Duke Sorelazie hostage?”

Jeilliris clicked her tongue in realization.

“Do you think I lack in judgment to that extent?”

Preparing myself for bloodshed, I asked.

“I apologize for asking again. Which would you prioritize: your revenge or the safety of your party?”

Jeilliris wore an unusually serious expression.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen you so agitated. Very well. I will spare all three of them, even if it means giving up my revenge.”

“!”

I hadn’t expected to receive an answer so easily.

“Why do you look so surprised? I know. Lady Trentia and Duke Sorelazie are great talents, and that maid is your leash, isn’t she? I shall be an emperor who values talent.”

“Thank you.”

“…Hearing you say that makes me glad you’ve followed me. They wouldn’t have suspected the duke wanted to kill both you and me after all.”

“I would assume so, but they likely won’t rashly seek revenge.”

“If you hadn’t followed me, both you and the duke would have died, and he would have sought to kill the three of them as well. At the very least, Lady Trentia and that maid would have been dead.”

Thinking that way felt like a bucket of cold water being dumped over me.

The thought that those three could die at any moment made my steps quicken.

“It seems you have grown rather attached to those you call bandits.”

Jeilliris laughed sadistically.

I skillfully brushed off that attack.

“I think the primary condition of a bandit is favoritism and discrimination.”

“That’s true. In fact, the condition for a tyrant isn’t much different.”

“Your Majesty is a wise ruler!”

The second attack could not be deflected.

The further I walked, the more the blue mushrooms distinctly began to dwindle.

As the mana gradually normalized, the visibility diminished.

I began to think about lighting a fire soon.

“Hmm? Stop.”

At that moment, Jeilliris furrowed her brow toward the darkness.

“What?”

“Someone is coming.”

Someone?

“Can you recognize them?”

“No. But they are definitely not human.”

“WHAT?!”

* * *

Not human.

Valenciaunos regained his composure sooner than expected upon hearing those words.

Before returning, he had met dwarves, elves, lizardmen, vampires, ogres, merfolk, and various beastfolk.

In hindsight, he and all the nobles were far from pure humans, so an encounter with a non-human entity was not that strange.

However, the man walking out from the darkness had an aura unlike any heterogeneous race he had encountered before.

He had slightly curly dark red hair and red eyes, and his face had a hard and cold beauty reminiscent of a granite sculpture.

His cheeks were slightly sunken like Valenciaunos himself, and his eyes were slanted upward, giving him an arrogant appearance.

He wore a patterned shirt that had been fashionable aeons ago, but the hem was still in tatters as if it were yet to be transformed.

“It’s been decades since a human set foot here. You don’t seem to be Purioaito, but you’re a lot more mixed than them.”

Valenciaunos thought that the man’s low, resonant voice resembled Jeilliris’s.

Though the tone was entirely different, the confidence of an overwhelming powerhouse radiated through.

Naturally, he became accustomed to thinking of the worst first.

Valenciaunos subtly distanced himself from Jeilliris.

If a fight were to break out, the two of them shouldn’t be targeted at the same time.

Noticing his movement, Jeilliris smirked and addressed the dark-haired man.

“Since the situation is urgent, I won’t hold your bloodline against you. If we go down like this, can we exit this place?”

“There’s no way. The end of this cave leads deeper underground.”

“!”

Valenciaunos clenched his teeth, and Jeilliris clicked her tongue.

“Then we’ll have to blow it up.”

“I don’t know if we can do that, but I wouldn’t recommend it. This place runs deeper than you think, and there are layers of sediment between the rock layers. No matter what kind of magic you use, before you can break the ceiling and go outside, the sediment will pour down first.”

Valenciaunos recognized that the other party was trying to take the conversation’s lead.

“Then how do you plan to get out?”

He threw out the question at an opportune moment, seizing the dark-haired man.

The man clicked his tongue and replied.

“I too have been unable to exit for several months. We need to break the core of the magical realm and go up to where you descended, but strangely, the core hasn’t formed.”

Valenciaunos cursed inwardly.

He was someone who had amassed all knowledge about the magical realms using the church’s wisdom and his own experience from the world before his return.

‘Several months? Has he really been stuck here for months? Damn it. Now I understand why the magical realms haven’t flooded or formed a core.’

The magical realms are a process by which the ancients transform the surrounding environment into one suitable for their existence.

For a flood to occur, the magical realm must fill with anomalies enough to charge it with energy, allowing for the core to attract the ancients.

However, because this man had spent months killing the anomalies in the magical realm, the energy necessary for the core to form and for the ancients to cross over had not gathered.

Regrettably, it was not something to be discussed or argued about now.

Jeilliris narrowed her eyes and said.

“There’s a gap at a high point in the cavern. I’ll widen the gap, so you hold off the sky jellyfish.”

“How can I trust that you will do it?”

“If you survived for several months down in the magical realm without doing that, then you really must be something extraordinary.”

The man lightly mocked.

“How frightening. Platinum hair, golden eyes. Are you from the Silentalouon?”

Jeilliris squinted, and Valenciaunos was mentally calculating the identity of the opponent before him.

“Do you know about our family?”

“I know. Still powerful, huh? Collecting all the good stuff and greedily hoarding it, ruling while suppressing side effects with side effects. Are you still standing?”

Jeilliris glared coldly.

“If you continue to speak, I’ll accuse you of contempt against the imperial court.”

“With your laws, you cannot bind me.”

“I am the law itself; what are you saying?”

“How arrogant for a fabricated monster.”

In an instant, Jeilliris’s pale face became rigid as if it had gone cold.

Her yellow eyes blinked, and the color drained from her lips.

The once arrogant and confident empress returned in that moment to her fourteen-year-old self in the lowest secret laboratory of the imperial magic guild.

“It seems you’ve lived long enough that your life isn’t a bother. To still chatter on after knowing I am a monster.”

However, she was the type to become sharper and firmer rather than crumble upon being shocked.

A murderous aura overflowed from her.

Even someone with considerable fortitude would die of a heart attack upon approaching her within a hundred steps.

Valenciaunos hurriedly stepped in between them.

“Your Majesty. Please hold firm. Exiting is our priority. There will be time for questions after we get out. You also shouldn’t provoke Her Majesty any further! You wouldn’t want to die along with the collapse.”

He then turned to Jeilliris and winked his right eye once.

Jeilliris clicked her tongue, suppressing her murderous intent.

“Very well. If you’re within my territory, you’re my subject. There is no need to get angry no matter what you say.”

She extended her white hand adorned with ringed fingers forward.

“Shall we see about going outside first?”

The man with dark red hair glared at Valenciaunos.

“You have quite the forked tongue.”

His voice alone sent chills down one’s spine.

With a snap, he took Jeilliris’s hand.

Crack!

And then Jeilliris squeezed his hand tightly, pulling it forcefully.

The grip was powerful enough to crush the steel gauntlet, inscribed with dozens of incantation circuits.

The man’s large hand was crushed as though hit by a hammer.

He couldn’t even scream, trembling in agony.

“Die, you false dragon wretch!”

Valenciaunos seized the moment and unleashed the third stage of the Empire’s swordsmanship, Zariiita.

The mystery of the afterimage activated from his hand, and a sword surrounded by golden mana drew a crescent arc as it struck the man’s neck.

“Did we take him down?”