The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 94: The Archmage of the Allied Forces (1) (Part 1)

At my words, Iliana flinched and trembled.

“Wh-Who are you…?”

She looked around nervously, her eyes darting side to side.

Then, right at that moment—

“Do you know her?”

Kai suddenly asked me.

“But why are you suddenly standing at attention like that?”

“…Huh?”

Looking down at myself in response to Kai’s question, I found that my body had instinctively snapped to a rigid attention posture.

…And I hadn’t even realized it.

In other words, it was a reflex.

A leftover habit from my days in the Allied Forces.

And it made sense—Iliana was the Commander of the Mage Corps.

She outranked me by far, as I’d only been the leader of the Special Forces’ Black Ops Unit.

Even when I first met Isolde, we ended up fighting immediately, but if we’d met like this, it probably wouldn’t have gone much differently.

I consciously relaxed my stiff posture.

“…Ah, my apologies. You just reminded me of someone I knew.”

But I couldn’t stop myself from speaking respectfully.

Iliana looked so young and fresh at a glance.

She was actually younger than me.

But to me, she was still the Commander of the Mage Corps.

Kai, of course, didn’t know that, and his expression twisted into something bizarre.

“B-But how do you know my name…?”

Iliana asked warily, clearly on high alert.

As expected of an Archmage—her instincts were sharp.

Forget it.

“Is the potion ready?”

I deflected her suspicion with feigned ignorance.

No matter how hard I tried, I could never beat Iliana in a game of logic or words.

“Y-Yes…?”

“Didn’t you create the potion at my request?”

“I did receive a request for a potion, yes…”

Iliana glanced sideways and flinched again.

She seemed uncomfortable under the gazes of the three men.

Sure enough, she answered in a barely audible voice.

“I received the request… from the Merchant Guild…”

“This fine gentleman here was the one who commissioned it from us. We’re just subcontractors, you see.”

Adelon jumped in, reading the room perfectly.

“W-What?”

Iliana’s small shoulders flinched again.

“T-Then…?”

“You can hand the potion over to Sir Adrian here.”

“…Adrian?”

Iliana repeated my name, muttering as she fell into deep thought.

She tilted her head repeatedly, as if trying to recall where she’d heard it.

“No way! You’re that guy who sells monster meat?!”

She exclaimed, eyes wide.

It seemed the rumors had even reached Langrid Magic Tower, after spreading through the Holy Kingdom.

“That’s me.”

“How did you remove the madness from the monsters?!”

Her eyes sparkled with curiosity, completely forgetting her earlier hesitation.

“I did a ton of research on it myself, but the best I could come up with were a few loose theories!”

Yup, Iliana was still Iliana.

Her magical curiosity was as strong as ever.

“For now, could I receive the completed potion?”

“…Ah? Y-Yes, of course.”

She looked slightly regretful as she responded.

Then she stretched her hand into the air—

Fwip!

Her hand disappeared into the void.

Spatial magic.

It might seem commonplace because of inventories, but spatial magic was still high-level magic.

No apprentice mage should have been able to use it—but Iliana handled it with complete ease.

“Let’s see, where did I put it… Ah! Found it!”

When she pulled her hand back—

A crimson vial emerged, clutched in her hand.

A potion glowing red, like condensed flames.

“I designed it to alleviate the symptoms listed in the request as much as possible…”

Iliana began explaining the potion’s effects.

But then—

“By not neutralizing the side effects of the herbs, the principle involves reversing thermal energy deficiency to grant heat resistance, and—”

…I had no idea what she was talking about.

It was obvious from the way she spoke that she had made it herself.

‘Well, then it must be effective.’

Because she was Iliana.

An alchemist leagues beyond someone like Avarus, and not just that—she was a master of all magical disciplines.

There was a reason she was known as the [Mage of Truth].

“—and that’s the full effect of the potion.”

As if on cue, Iliana finished her long explanation and took a breath.

I hadn’t caught a word of it, though.

“Adelon.”

When I called his name, Adelon, who had been spacing out, snapped to attention.

Then he shuffled off to a safe, pulled out a large box, and returned.

“Here’s the remaining payment—500,000 gold.”

Iliana cautiously approached the box and stored it into her spatial inventory.

“Then… I’ll take my leave now.”

She turned to leave the shop.

“Just a moment.”

Creak—!

But when I called out to her, Iliana froze mid-step, holding the door.

“You need to leave the potion behind.”

“…Ah! R-Right!”

Flustered, Iliana rushed over and carefully handed me the potion she had been hugging tightly.

Then she gave a small bow.

“Th-Then… goodbye.”

She turned and left again.

“Wait a second.”

Creak—!

Once again, she stopped.

“If you have time, would you like to try some monster meat?”

“…H-Huh?”

“You were curious how I removed the monster’s madness, weren’t you?”

“T-That’s…”

“One observation is worth more than a thousand theories.”

It was something Iliana had said in her past life.

“Uh, well…”

Iliana hesitated for a moment, then finally spoke.

“I… don’t have any money…”

…No money?

I hadn’t planned to charge her anyway, but still.

“Didn’t you just receive the commission fee?”

A whole 500,000 gold, no less.

Enough to feast on Rex meat for a month straight.

And yet she had no money?

“That wasn’t… my money…”

…Fair.

The request had come from the Tower’s Chair Mage in charge of her.

Still—

‘Something’s weird.’

Something felt off.

The potion looked like it had been made directly by Iliana.

If so, shouldn’t she have received some bonus or commission for it?

“I won’t charge you. I just want to treat you as thanks for making the potion.”

“R-Really?!”

Iliana’s blue eyes went wide in surprise.

She pretended otherwise, but her magical curiosity toward monster meat was clear.

“Then…!”

“Would you mind heading over to the Predator Restaurant in the central square of Frecce first? I’ll join you shortly.”

“Ah, yes! I’ll go ahead!”

Iliana answered energetically and dashed out of the store.

I quietly watched until she was completely gone before—

“Adelon.”

“…Yes?”

“Good job.”

“…Sorry?”

Adelon tilted his head, clearly confused about what he’d done right.

“Uh… You mean I did something good?”

More than good.

“You did great.”

By commissioning the potion through the Chair Mage in charge of Iliana, he had created a situation where I could naturally interact with her.

If I had tried to meet Iliana directly, how much money would I have had to spend?

Millions of gold, most likely.

And I’d probably have had to bow and scrape at Langrid Magic Tower to even get close.

But Adelon made this happen for just a million gold.

It really was “nice” work.

Though Adelon didn’t seem to expect this level of praise—

“Heheh, I’m honored!”

He just grinned, happy to be complimented.

Translatin_Otaku

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