Embracing Magic - E.M Chapter 185 (Part 1)

The words of the Tower Master of Bainus had been correct.

Marquis Rotten hadn’t chosen soul sealing just to hide and live. If it had been a mere choice for life extension, he could have found a way to flee even in the past.

“What do I gain from this?”

“You said you wanted to become a king, didn’t you? I’ll make it happen. I’ll arrange for you to obtain a throne somewhere suitable.”

“You speak as if you can give me anything I want.”

“I’m an 8th-circle mage. In Slavon, there are nineteen 7th-circle mages who are Elders. Including you, that makes exactly twenty. Well? Does it sound impossible?”

Marquis Rotten’s face stiffened. Nineteen 7th-circle mages—it was too unbelievable to be true.

But what if it was?

Toppling a country would be no great feat. The throne he had so long desired could be within easy reach.

“There are truly nineteen 7th-circle mages?”

“You don’t believe me?”

Marquis Rotten’s tone had changed. Subconsciously, he had acknowledged the Tower Master of Bainus as his superior.

“I believe you. Would it be alright if I came to find you a year from now?”

“Yes. Think of that year as a vacation I’m granting you. You’ve spent a long time in a soul state, so that much is warranted.”

“Understood. I’ll come find you a year from now.”

“Here, take this.”

Whoosh!

The Tower Master of Bainus tossed a small object. Marquis Rotten caught it midair and widened his eyes.

“What is this?”

“This is the item they were trying to hide, isn’t it?”

“Y-Yes, it is.”

What the Tower Master of Bainus had thrown was a pendant that hid a map using magic. Marquis Richmond had hidden it before coming here, and Slavon had retrieved it.

Slavon had been tailing Marquis Richmond and Tower Master Tamia from the moment they departed the Kantros Plains. Since Elder Osel, a 7th-circle mage, wasn’t enough alone, they had even summoned the Tower Master Bainus to aid in tracking.

During the process, they had witnessed the moment the pendant was hidden. They had also seen the battle between Marquis Rotten, Tower Master Tamia, and Marquis Richmond.

“Looked like a treasure map. Search it well.”

“You’re… not interested in it?”

“Treasure? We’re Slavon. We’re seekers of ancient traces. Do you have any idea how much treasure we’ve acquired so far, even without trying?”

“Ah!”

Slavon deliberately searched for ruins and relics. Because of that, they often obtained treasure without ever specifically seeking it.

“Well then, see you in a year. Ancient Dark Mage, Marquis Rotten.”

“Yes. I will come find you.”

The Tower Master of Slavon, Bainus, left Marquis Rotten behind and departed. The Elders quickly followed behind.

“Isn’t it surprising?”

“Excuse me?”

Once they had gotten some distance from Marquis Rotten, the Tower Master of Bainus stopped walking. The other Elders also lined up in formation.

“That it was a mercenary who discovered that Marquis Rotten was an ancient soul—wasn’t that surprising?”

“Yes. They say it was a mage who received the Platinum Badge.”

“We searched all the records in Slavon, and not once did we find anything about that. Yet some lowly mercenary mage figured out he was an ancient soul.”

Slavon had not known that the ancient soul had taken over Marquis Rotten’s body more than ten years ago. Granting a year-long vacation was based on the assumption that he had only recently obtained a body.

“He does seem to be a well-read mage.”

“What about a background check?”

“It’s hard to obtain information from after he entered the Mercenary Guild.”

“Hmm. The Mercenary King… He must be somewhere.”

The Mercenary Guild was, outwardly, an independent organization. If someone deleted a piece of information in the middle, there was no way for anyone else to retrieve it. It was the ideal decentralized system.

However, Slavon had learned centuries ago that someone was definitely giving orders within the Mercenary Guild.

Ever since then, Slavon had been tracking the Mercenary Guild, but they hadn’t discovered a single thing.

Even the branch leaders of the Mercenary Guild simply followed orders when they came, without knowing who issued them.

“What shall we do? Should we assign someone to shadow him?”

“Forget it. He’s a Platinum Badge holder, right? Do you think shadowing a 7th-circle mage will get us anything?”

“But that Rodin fellow only became a 7th-circle mage less than a year ago. If we use the Elders, we could track him from a short distance.”

“We don’t have the luxury of manpower to use Elders for that kind of task. Elder Osel, will you take this on?”

When it looked like the task might fall to him, even Elder Osel hesitated.

Trailing someone was boring and difficult. Even if successful, it didn’t add to one’s achievements.

“You see? You don’t want to do it either. Who’d want to assign such a task to an Elder? We need to focus on the Kingdom of Den.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

“I’d like to open the site before the end of the year, but why is there always so much to do?”

It had already been quite some time since they discovered the ruins of the Magic Empire in the Kingdom of Den. The research to open the site had also gone on for a long time.

But still, they had no tangible results. Strangely enough, the entrance remained unmoved, even when Bainus himself, as a descendant of the Magic Empire, used his magic.

“Shall we go now?”

“Hmm. I should go to the Kingdom of Den first. I need to visit the Eastern Continent too, but let’s push that back for now.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Casting a glance back in the direction of Marquis Rotten, the Tower Master of Bainus began walking again.

*

Rodin bombarded the oncoming magical beasts with large-scale spells. It was a spectacle designed to be seen by those observing from afar.

While Rodin attracted attention with flashy magic, Karis held back her power as much as possible, using only the strength of about a 5th-class swordsman. She even took moderate injuries and retreated to the rear.

“Well done.”

“It was nothing.”

“Go inside and rest. I’ll fire off one more spell and take a break too.”

He had already used about as much magical energy as a typical 7th-circle mage could. He still had a lot of magic left, but it was time to wrap up.

“Blizzard!”

A massive ice storm swept away the magical beasts. Once the storm settled, it was hard to find a single beast still standing.

Rodin entered the carriage, feigning fatigue. Then he focused his senses outside, waiting for the observers from afar to approach.

“Big Brother Rodin, how many enemies are there?”

“Excluding the magical beasts?”

“Yeah.”

“There are about twenty mages. One of them is a 6th-circle mage. Their forces are pretty strong. As for knights—about two hundred? That’s a considerable number.”

Hyung_Otaku2

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