Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Mages
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Please take good care of it.
"Wait there. I'll report it immediately. I'll give instructions soon, so stand by in front of the crystal orb."
[Understood!]
The mage, Lattis, turned off the crystal orb and took deep breaths, trying to calm his mind.
Hoo, haa—no matter how many times he repeated it, the surging exhilaration didn't subside; instead, it swelled even more, flooding his brain with pleasure chemicals.
Finally unable to contain his ecstasy, he gathered air deep into his lungs and let out a fierce shout.
"Uwaaaaaaaaah!"
His roar filled the sealed room and was loud enough to echo outside.
Every crystal orb in the room seemed to tremble from the shout, creating an illusion of it.
Soon, concerned voices from outside and the sound of someone fumbling with the door handle reached him.
"Elder? Are you all right?"
"It's locked during communication, it seems..."
As they spoke from outside, Lattis extended his hand toward the door and unleashed a light telekinetic force.
The lock clicked open immediately, and two men in leather attire entered.
"Elder!"
"Don't act so rashly. The communication is over, so return to your posts. And take this crystal orb—I'll use it elsewhere."
At Lattis's cold and resolute attitude, the two men blinked in bewilderment for a moment before bowing their heads respectfully.
Lattis gave them a solemn nod and walked out of the communication room with a rigid posture.
He wanted to dash off, but as someone who had always emphasized dignity as the top priority for his subordinates, what would they learn if he failed to uphold it?
As Lattis passed by, he could feel them shivering.
Once out of the communication room, a fierce winter wind clawed at Lattis's face.
The winter at Sandas Citadel, the mages' holy site, was mercilessly cold, as if it could freeze time itself.
The sight of breath escaping his mouth and crumbling into the pale sunlight was striking.
Facing the cold wind cooled his earlier excitement a bit, so Lattis paused, drew in a breath, and inhaled the crisp air.
After a moment, the youthful voice of a boy who hadn't yet passed puberty called out from afar.
A boy around ten years old, dressed in neat winter clothes, ran up and grabbed Lattis's sleeve.
The boy wore an eyepatch over one eye and was missing four fingers.
"Elder Lattis!"
"Oh dear, I told you not to run! The ground is icy—you'll slip and fall."
In a tone so gentle and caring it was hard to believe it came from the same man who had just coldly scolded his subordinates, Lattis soothed the boy.
"I've mastered all the magic you taught me this time. Want to see?"
"Sorry, but I'm a bit busy right now..."
As Lattis tried to refuse, he saw the boy's face darken and cleared his throat, cutting himself off.
"Alright, let me see."
At Lattis's words, the boy beamed with excitement and raised both hands.
After concentrating for a moment, a thin beam of light rose from the boy's hands and circled around his body.
The light suddenly burst with a pop, scattering smaller lights that swirled around him.
"You've learned it perfectly. You're getting skilled at handling it now. You wanted to learn the sound transmission spell before, right? I'll teach you tomorrow."
"Wow! Elder is the best!"
As Lattis patted his head and praised him, the boy jumped for joy and raised both hands.
Looking at the boy's blinded eye and missing fingers, Lattis wore a bitter expression.
'I'm sorry, my boy. If only I'd saved you sooner.'
This boy, rescued from the citadel where they had recently settled, bore wounds from brutal abuse that would never fully heal.
All the citadel's residents had paid dearly for daring to abuse a mage, but that didn't bring back what the child had lost.
Lattis told the boy to go home because it was cold, then resumed walking.
Once he felt they were far enough, he activated a spell instead of continuing on foot.
It was a spell that sent his voice to the bell-ringer waiting atop the bell tower at one end of the village.
[Bell-ringer, this is Elder Lattis. Ring the elder assembly bell. And don't ring the emergency bell like a fool this time.]
Lattis heard the bell-ringer shout "Understood!" from atop the tower, then turned away.
The other elders would gather soon, so as the one who called the meeting, he needed to head to the conference room first.
A magical bell toll, audible only to elders with signaling devices, rang out from the bell tower.
* * *
In the conference room created by converting the castle lord's residence dining hall, Lattis had claimed a seat first and was waiting for the others.
The elders, who had been tending to their duties around the citadel, gathered one by one.
Once all five were present, Lattis raised his hand, stood, and began to speak.
"I requested this summons. Thank you all for gathering so quickly..."
"Hey, Lattis. You always drag on with useless talk. Why not get to why you called us? I have work to get back to."
Lattis scowled and glared at the elder with the long dangling beard.
This old man, Uman, who resented that Lattis—a young newcomer, not even an original member—had become an elder, always picked fights like this.
After a moment, Lattis composed his expression, cleared his throat once, and steadied himself.
He was certain his upcoming statement would turn the meeting room into a battlefield anyway.
"It's a confirmed fact from moments ago: the successor has been found."
The aftermath of Lattis's words exceeded even his expectations.
Clenching fists or cheering were the most restrained reactions; someone, unable to contain their excitement, pounded the conference table so hard it seemed it might shatter.
And another, shocked beyond measure, clutched their chest and collapsed.
"Elder Tia!"
"Elder Tia, breathe, breathe!"
"Hahk, heuk..."
After the storm passed, they all fired questions at once, without leaving anyone behind.
Is it true? Who? Where? As the questions poured in, Lattis clapped his hands and cast a sound amplification spell.
The sharp clap echoed thunderously through the room, silencing them all.
"For now, I don't have the details yet. I gathered you all because I couldn't receive the report alone. Mizraf, dispatched to the southeastern Belluan Territory, found him. Connecting the crystal orb now."
With everyone's agreement, Lattis placed the crystal orb in the center of the conference table and infused it with mana.
The other side had been waiting for the signal, and a response came within seconds.
[This is Mizraf. Is that you, Elder?]
"We're all here. Report. Information on the final target?]
[He's a knight named Arsen. Age... late teens to early twenties, with blond hair and purple eyes as distinguishing features.]
"Purple eyes. Rare color among easterners."
"And a knight, of all things?"
Lattis nodded silently in agreement with the other elders' mutterings.
After a moment, everyone's faces hardened at the additional information.
[The estate lord's daughter here is also a mage, and they seem extremely close. Close enough that calling them lovers wouldn't be awkward.]
Mizraf's report continued after that, but there was nothing substantial.
What Mizraf had uncovered was all information gathered by the Azure caravan master anyway, and since the master had met Arsen just recently, detailed info was unlikely.
Naturally, as he reported, Mizraf conveniently omitted that the caravan master had collected the information.
"For now, stay longer and gather sufficient information on the target. Next orders via crystal orb."
[Understood!]
Before Mizraf's response even finished, Lattis stopped infusing mana into the orb.
After the connection cut and silence fell for a moment, complaints arose from the elders.
"The estate lord's son-in-law? Damn it..."
"This is trouble. If he weren't a knight or was some fringe knight in a citadel, we could handle him easily."
"A mage wouldn't miss a chance with the successor, obviously. And the successor wouldn't refuse the estate lord's daughter unless she was utterly hopeless. Headache."
As the grumbling continued, Lattis cleared his throat to draw attention.
Confirming the elders' gazes on him, he spoke.
"For now, let's discuss our approach. We can't afford mistakes with the successor we've finally found after fifteen years. We must bring him here."
"Why not persuade him somehow and bring him in? We can offer him so much. Approach as collaborators..."
"Nonsense! Would a man about to become the estate lord's son-in-law associate with a suspicious group like us? And if word gets out that we can create and control knight-subjugating artifacts, he'll betray us—whether out of fear or greed! Risk that? Tia, you're old enough to know the world isn't a flower garden. Mages must always assume the worst of others!"
"You're being too negative, Uman. Subjugating knights was only to protect ourselves. We can just hide the controlled knights while cooperating with him. He's the successor, not just any human. He won't be unreasonable like ordinary knights."
"Meet a knight without a single escort? That's insane! Think about why we're seeking the successor in the first place. Hand over the library to a knight and expect him to do what we want? Successor or not, he's a knight, not a mage!"
As the elders debated fiercely, Lattis watched silently, deep in thought.
The moderate Tia proposed cooperation laced with light deception, while the hardliner Uman insisted on outright abduction.
Both arguments had merits.
As Tia said, posing as 'benevolent collaborators' and attempting cooperation could yield a highly valuable ally if successful.
As the estate lord's son-in-law, he'd be half-recognized as part of the lord's bloodline, and if his mage partner became estate lord, he'd be her husband.
They might even secure a proper base instead of their current nomadic life.
The problem was that if the target tried to exploit and discard them or saw them as a threat and eliminated them, their position would be overwhelmingly disadvantageous.
The knights they controlled numbered around a dozen on average—numerous, but not overwhelming.
Most estates could muster twenty to thirty knights if they went all out, including the castle lord knight, not to mention squires and soldiers.
If such a force ambushed them, the mages would be slaughtered helplessly and scattered, just like their miserable past.
Adopting Uman's method had issues too.
A non-knight or even a citadel knight could be kidnapped by raiding the citadel, but attacking an estate knight meant assaulting the entire estate—an extreme measure.
Frontally attacking an estate teeming with over ten knights, dozens to hundreds of squires and soldiers was madness. Their numbers were similar, and with more mages, victory wasn't guaranteed, but they'd suffer near-annihilation.
After sorting through the situation in his mind, Lattis saw the debate devolving into personal attacks and slammed the table loudly to halt it.
"We have two opinions split evenly, so let's vote. Those for contact first. Those for direct measures first."
The four elders' votes split evenly.
Moderate Tia and her ally Elder Arman raised hands for contact; Uman and Elder Berg for abduction.
"Two each?"
"Elder Lattis, the choice falls to you."
As the four elders looked at him, Lattis opened his mouth and stated his opinion.
Two elders' faces brightened, while the other two darkened.