Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: Even a Treacherous Subject Has Their Uses
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‘But will this be enough? There are still two left... One, this is the best opportunity, better than any other time. If I cause another commotion and run away...’
"What's this? Why is it like this?"
"Hey, Yanma! Calm down!"
Neighhhh!
Just as she was thinking of creating a disturbance to escape, the horses suddenly began to act up.
The soldiers and knights were too busy trying to calm the horses, and as the situation flowed even more favorably—almost as if the gods themselves were blessing her—Princess Zelcy felt that if she didn't escape today, she might never get another chance.
"Fi, fire! There's a fire! The supply wagon is on fire!"
"Wh, what is this?"
"Why is there suddenly such a big fire? Put it out quickly!"
‘Is this... truly divine guidance?’
The possibly-artifact light, the horses starting to rampage, and now fires breaking out all over. As accidents convenient for escape happened one after another, she was almost astonished.
It was suspicious to the point where she thought that if coincidences piled up too much, it became inevitability, but she wasn't one to let this chance slip by.
"Your Highness, please don't worry too much... Urk!"
"I'm sorry."
First, she knocked out the lady-in-waiting by her side, then immediately tore the skirt of her dress, took the boots the lady-in-waiting was wearing, and put them on to make moving easier.
Then, after observing the movements of the imperial knights—the ones she needed to be most wary of—she carefully opened the carriage door, pulled up all her aura in one go, and threw herself under a different carriage.
‘I've already grasped the composition and supplies of each carriage. So...’
Having toured the camp and each wagon under various pretexts, she had no problem establishing her location and escape route.
She wanted to hide in the forest as quickly as possible, but she couldn't rush headlong.
She needed to gather the minimum necessary items for travel, so while moving, she started setting fires to wagons or stabbing horses to make them rampage, increasing the chaos, and gathering her things.
‘It's a real relief there are so many torches.’
Since fires were lit all around for night watch and to ward off monsters and animals, she could easily amplify this chaos while conveniently gathering the bare minimum of items.
Dagger, sword, light armor, boots and leather armor, large and smelly but wearable undergarments, etc. As she gathered the items, she tried to slip away quickly.
And at the same time, the main culprits of this chaos, Selina and Heidi, rode on Alterio, circling the procession, setting fires, causing disturbances, and focusing on keeping things tumultuous.
Especially in causing this uproar, the griffin Alterio and the mage Selina's powers were significant. When Alterio roared sincerely, the horses thrashed in instinctive fear, trying to flee, and Selina's magic could easily start fires without needing to prepare separate torches or oil flasks, making it effective.
"Hohohot! Let it all burn!"
"You're quite different from last time."
"There's a huge difference between having things memorized in advance and not! Moreover..."
"Understood, please speak less. You'll bite your tongue! Alterio!"
Screech!
Dashing swiftly through the forest and setting fires with magic, Heidi inwardly admired Selina's skill, which showed precise magical control.
She was a woman who ticked her off by being snippy with the heavenly Lord Beonald, but mages were rare beings to begin with, and she did have skill.
‘Well, if she had no skill, Lord Beonald wouldn't have kept her by his side from the start.’
Beonald seemed gentle, but that was limited only to those who entered his 'garden'.
Those who weren't were either enemies or objects of complete indifference. He treated them politely, but that was the end of it; he didn't seek any further relationship.
In that sense, Selina was a candidate who could enter Beonald's 'garden'.
Thinking so, Heidi continued to gallop through the forest with Alterio, causing confusion, and recalled the next instruction Beonald had given.
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeng!
Meanwhile, the four imperial knights heading towards the artifact that was still creating a giant pillar of light were completely unaware of the chaos unfolding at the main camp.
As they approached the pillar of light stretching into the sky, a vibration that pressed heavily on the air occurred along with a wave that prickled their skin, and with the loud noise added, their voices couldn't reach each other.
‘The light is annoying enough! Damn this noise too! It's prickling my skin! What on earth is inside? The light is too strong to even open my eyes... Damn it!’
For ordinary people, it would be natural to retreat, unable to withstand the intense stimulation of this colossal light and sound, but these were imperial knights through and through—each an absolute powerhouse who had reached the level of a high knight. Wrapping themselves in aura and exchanging opinions via hand signals, they advanced.
‘Aside from this light and sound, there seems to be no other threat. That's fortunate, I suppose? But we mustn't let our guard down. With artifacts from the past, you never know what might happen.’
The knight currently leading this escort team, not losing his composure, cautiously took step after step, heading towards the center of the light.
Even though there was no threat, he couldn't relax his tension, so the pace was quite slow. Due to the overwhelmingly intense light, he had to close his eyes, and because it was so noisy he couldn't hear other sounds, he had to advance solely by sensing the presence of the box ahead with his 'aura'.
‘We're here. Fortunately, there's no sign of anything. I sense magic power from the box. It's definitely a magical tool.’
The leader carefully picked up the box, and to find a way to make this light disappear, he felt around it here and there.
But amusingly, not long after he lifted it, the light suddenly began to weaken, and the prickling sound that had been pressing on the air was no longer felt.
"What? What on earth... is this?"
"Captain! Did you succeed?"
"What in the world is this?"
As the light and sound vanished, the imperial knights gathered around him, all touching the suspicious box here and there, trying to uncover its identity, but they couldn't figure it out at all.
And while they were bewildered, the flames from the moving procession had already grown fierce enough to illuminate the night, and from afar, a scout on horseback was approaching to find the four imperial knights.
At the same time, in the secret warehouse of the Darren Trading Company.
Beonald, who had completed the remodeling of the place into a research facility to some extent, was happily dismantling or appraising antiques, even losing sleep over it.
He was so passionate that he even found the time to go to the bathroom a waste, placing separate containers for feces and urine, but for Darren, who had to change those and bring meals and drinking water, it was hellish work.
As he placed the newly changed waste container, Darren suddenly asked Beonald a question that had occurred to him.
"Now that I think of it, Lord Beonald."
"What is it?"
"That artifact you gave Miss Heidi and Mage Selina. What exactly is that item? I just thought of it and became curious."
"That thing? Ah... it's not particularly valuable."
"If it were valuable, you would have surely said we must bring it back. But I'm curious about what it's used for. If it goes to Her Highness the Princess, then that..."
Darren looked at Beonald with a displeased expression, and Beonald answered as if he had no choice.
"It's really nothing special... If you're curious, well, I'll tell you. That thing... is a 'light'."
"Huh? A light?"
"So... do you know the Light magic? The magic that creates a small magical tool that emits light? It's a box made so that even if you don't know how to use magic, it operates just by inserting a magic stone. When you put it in, it emits light."
"Is that what it was? But why did you give that to Miss Heidi..."
"That can also become a weapon if you adjust it sometimes. For example~ if you raise the output of the emitted light to shoot an intensely bright light that dazzles the eyes, etc. Even items that seem to have little value can show different possibilities with a little modification."
Beonald recalled when he discovered that lighting magical tool.
Its original purpose was a lighting apparatus used in the 'grand theater', 'performance hall', 'banquet hall', 'lecture hall', etc., within the Benofis territory, to illuminate the night or provide spotlight.
‘Really, if our family crest wasn't engraved on it, I might have passed by without knowing.’
When Beonald discovered it, the magic stone that was originally inserted inside was missing, so it existed merely as a suspicious box-shaped object. Seeing the Hydra crest and fiddling with it here and there, he recalled its purpose from his memory.
And Beonald personally modified it, increasing the mana consumption but raising the light output to transform it for a new purpose.
‘I didn't even need to directly touch the spell formulas; it was a very simple modification, just changing a few positions after inserting an expensive magic stone. The additional idea was good too...’
Not just for light, but for sound, he detached parts with spell formulas from another sound-related magical tool he found and reassembled it to complete it. He succeeded in modifying it into a magical tool that emits an intensely bright light and noise for a very short time.
‘Anyway, whether Heidi and Selina return safely is one thing, but I wonder what choice Princess Zelcy will make...’
Actually, in Beonald's scenario, her absence from the capital wasn't a major hindrance.
If she was there, he would proceed accordingly; if not, he would follow the scenario he had envisaged. But even so, a situation where one is unilaterally swayed by a father's coercion and domination, like his own, was heartbreaking.
‘Truly... it's something to look forward to.’
Whether she would seize the opportunity he gave her and carve out her own destiny, or meet the result of simply falling into Baron Vani's arms, never spreading her wings again and dying inside a cage. Beonald thought either was fine and continued appraising the items.
Princess Zelcy was already out of the carriage procession, running hard through the forest.
Thanks to learning mana breathing techniques and her usual training, she was able to run at a fast speed.
Her heart swelled with the liberating and exhilarating feeling of finally seizing freedom, but it wasn't time to relax yet.
‘I did remove the gems attached to my dress, but I have nowhere to exchange them for money. And...’
Knowing the capabilities of the imperial knights well, she burned her aura to run faster and farther, even if just a little.
Thinking to go to a river to cut off her trail, she recalled the map she saw in a nearby village and kept running towards where the river flowed, when she sensed something from behind.
‘What is it? Have they already come after me?’
"As expected, this aura energy is... Princess Zelcy's... Ah! Found her! Here! Over here! Your Highness! I was sent by Lord Beonald!"
Heidi, riding Alterio, was circling the perimeter of the formation when she barely managed to spot a person emitting the light of aura, dashing outside the formation.
Chasing that presence, she quickly realized it was the princess and immediately began carrying out Beonald's instructions.
‘...A griffin missing one wing? Really?’
Hearing Heidi's words and looking back, Princess Zelcy saw the figure of a beak and feathers gleaming in the dark moonlight.
Having heard of the incident on the Imperial Academy's entrance day, where Beonald made a grand entrance riding a griffin, she could tell it was Beonald's griffin.
She stopped running and waited for the griffin. Heidi immediately dismounted, paid her respects, and delivered Beonald's message to her.
‘Good heavens...!’
Realizing that Beonald had recognized her will and sent someone in advance, a shudder, delight, and joy swept through Princess Zelcy's entire body.
Of course, if she hadn't run away, it would have just ended as causing chaos, but still, she was moved once more by Beonald, who saw her potential and considered her will as a person.