Chapter 56
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: A Scoundrel's Pretext
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Chris swallowed hard.
‘Wait, this mission.’
Only then did he recall what the Chatterbox of Darkness had told him.
It wasn't that she hadn't mentioned it.
The incident was so monumental that he'd found it difficult to connect it to this mission.
- Chris, what do you think was the most important event of the year 975 on the Continental Calendar?
The year 975 is now.
Five years before the first Great War.
The 'Chatterbox of Darkness', like the nine-tailed fox from the Dark Elf House that she was, spoke while swaying her tail bewitchingly.
- Perhaps sensing the coming storm, all sorts of major incidents began to occur across the continent. The coup d'état in the Blood Sword House, the Fall of the Star incident in Gold Cross, the downfall of the Karn Empire's crown prince, and so on. But I believe there was an even more important event.
- What was it?
- If you want to hear, you have to stroke my tail.
- ...No thanks. You're only telling me because you want to talk anyway.
- Nnngh, nnngh. Still, stroke it, pet me~! I love Chris's touch!
As Chris stroked her tail with a look of reluctance, the Chatterbox of Darkness giggled and said.
- The Demon's Amulet incident.
- ...What's that?
- It was a dispute over an artifact between the Dark Magic House and the Extreme Poison House, not well known to the outside world. In truth, it wasn't a big deal at the time.
Perhaps finding Chris's touch comforting, the Chatterbox of Darkness yawned.
- During the artifact expedition, the Dark Magic House's unit was annihilated, and the Extreme Poison House also paid a heavy price, shedding much blood. But that's about it. What's important is that this incident would later cause a massive butterfly effect.
- How so?
- A few years later. Because of this incident, the Old Lord of the Dark Magic House meets his end. At the hands of his son, Marquis Langham.
The Chatterbox of Darkness said with a drowsy expression.
- If not for this incident, if Old Lord Nordian had survived, the Demon King of Bloodletting wouldn't have been able to take over the Dark Magic House so easily. As a result, the Age of Ruin arrived much faster.
“!!”
Chris's eyes flew open.
This was definitely that incident!
‘I have to stop it.’
This wasn't just a simple struggle for an artifact.
It was Marquis Langham's plot.
Marquis Langham planned to sacrifice Chris and the others, then use that as a pretext to achieve his own goals.
Goals that would later bring about a fatal catastrophe.
‘What should I do?’
Chris pondered.
First, he had to participate in the mission. He had to dive in himself to foil the plot.
‘The problem is, it's not possible with my current abilities.’
He was only at the 3-Star level.
It was an incredibly rapid achievement, but to truly powerful individuals, it was nothing more than child's play.
‘Still... it's not like there's no way.’
Chris's gaze deepened.
Does Marquis Langham know?
What kind of abilities the Chris he's trying to use as a sacrificial lamb possesses?
Chris formed a plan.
‘First, I need to prepare. I have to go outside.’
He couldn't make preparations within the Dark Magic House.
‘But what excuse can I use to go out?’
Chris paused.
Leaving the estate suddenly without any reason would surely attract Marquis Langham's attention.
His preparations must not be discovered.
‘I need to find a way to go outside without raising suspicion.’
Just then, a subdued voice called out.
"You."
He turned his head to see a face he'd seen once before.
A girl with a cold impression.
It was the Second Princess, Jupien!
"Did you call me?"
"...Yes."
‘Why is she talking to me?’ Chris was bewildered.
She hadn't just called him over.
She was glaring at Chris with eyes full of hostility.
‘What's with that look? Ah, is it because of Roin?’
He had heard that Roin and Jupien were exceptionally close siblings.
A direct descendant who fails to obtain even a speck of Dark Magi during the Sacred Black Ceremony is no longer treated as one.
Because of Chris, her precious younger brother's future was ruined, hence her reaction.
‘Hmm. It's not like that bastard Roin was blameless.’
Wasn't Roin the one who started the fight with Chris in the first place?
Honestly, he deserved what he got.
Chris's tone naturally became less than polite.
"What is it?"
"...What is it?"
Jupien's eyes narrowed.
"I despise you. So much that I want to crush you this instant."
"......"
"But since we've been assigned the same mission, I'll endure it for now. Instead, you will follow my orders. From this moment on, I will not tolerate insubordination."
Chris let out a smirk, the corner of his mouth lifting.
‘How cute.’
The Second Princess, Jupien, had a youthful face.
She was in her late teens but looked much younger.
Her expression was so blank she resembled a walking doll.
Perhaps because of that, even when she tried to act intimidating, she didn't feel very threatening.
‘Not that I actually find her cute, though.’
Suddenly, a good idea occurred to Chris.
"Follow your orders, you say? I'd rather not."
"...What?"
"While it's true the Princess is my superior, I'm not so sure."
Chris shrugged.
Then, he put on the most obnoxious expression he could muster.
"I'm not sure if the Princess is truly qualified to give me orders."
“!!”
A chill fell over Princess Jupien's face.
Her already doll-like, expressionless face grew even colder.
"...You."
But Chris didn't stop his provocation there.
"Isn't that right? If you're the sister of that pathetic moron Roin... I can guess your level without even looking."
“!!”
Jupien glared at him fiercely.
*Clang!*
She drew her sword.
"...Take that back, right now."
"It's a fact that Roin is a pathetic moron, so what is there to take back? Ah, are you blinded by sibling loyalty? The way he whimpered when I beat him was quite a sight. If anything, shouldn't the Princess apologize to me for failing to discipline her younger brother?"
The air around Jupien grew impossibly cold.
"...You'll regret this."
"Will I? I wonder."
"...Brace yourself."
A Black Sword manifested from the sword she held.
A stable materialization of Magi.
It was a sign that her level was at least mid-3-Star or higher.
*Fwoosh!* The Black Sword flew toward Chris.
However.
Chris extended his hand.
Toward the incoming Black Sword.
“!!”
Jupien frowned.
‘What?’
This wasn't just a sword; it was a Black Sword materialized from Magi.
The moment it touched his hand, it wouldn't just cut him—his palm would explode and be torn off.
But she didn't stop.
Unlike her doll-like appearance, she too was a Majin.
If he got hurt through his own foolishness, that was his responsibility. There was no reason for her to hold back.
But then Chris did the unimaginable.
"As expected from the sister of a moron. You're nothing special."
His palm grazed the side of her sword.
It didn't touch.
A hair's breadth away, a perilous distance.
It was the moment Chris's palm slid past her sword, almost but not quite making contact.
Something unbelievable happened.
“!!”
Jupien's solidly materialized Black Sword trembled violently!
As if trying to revert to its original form of Magi.
Chris had exerted his dominance over Dark Magi to disrupt hers!
‘So I can use it like this, too.’
Chris cheered inwardly.
He'd tried it thinking it might work, and it had succeeded.
Chris moved again.
Jupien froze for a moment as she felt her core violently shake, and he reached for her Black Sword, which hadn't yet dissipated.
He exerted his dominance as before,
*Fwoosh!*
The Black Sword completely disintegrated!
Of course, he hadn't used dominance alone.
Jupien's level was higher than Chris's, so there was a limit to what he could accomplish with dominance alone.
Instead, Chris had targeted the 'structural' weakness of the Black Sword.
For Magi to materialize into a Black Sword, it must form pillar-like cores. He had precisely identified those supporting points and interfered with his dominance.
It was like a magic trick.
"...How?"
Jupien's face turned pale.
Though not on Chris's level, she was still a remarkable talent of the Dark Magic House.
She realized what an insane feat Chris had just accomplished.
‘Impossible.’
But this was no time to stand around dumbfounded.
Chris counterattacked.
His hand shot toward her neck.
She tried to dodge back, but her body abruptly stopped.
Chris had cast a 'Binding' black magic spell on her.
‘How dare he.’
Chris wasn't the only one who could use black magic.
Jupien had studied black magic as deeply as she had swordsmanship.
She unleashed three black magic spells in rapid succession.
'Curse Release' to break free from Chris's spell.
'Momentary Paralysis' to halt Chris's movement.
And at the same time, the destructive black magic 'Rusted Skin' to make Chris's hand rot away.
It was a combination of spells that would impress even a professional warlock.
However.
Just before her black magic spells could materialize and take effect,
*Fwoosh!*
Her black magic was simultaneously canceled.
It was because of Chris.
Chris had interfered with her black magic.
This wasn't done using dominance.
He had used counter-magic to cancel her spells at the materialization stage.
It was a technique only a professional magician with a vastly superior understanding of magic and incredibly fast calculation abilities could pull off.
To do such a thing in the middle of a physical exchange?
‘Well, interfering with a magic swordsman's shoddy magic is simple enough.’
To classify her, Jupien was a magic swordsman who practiced both sword and magic.
No matter how high her proficiency in black magic, her expertise was bound to be inferior to that of a dedicated warlock.
Chris, on the other hand, had no such limitations.
He could master both the sword and magic to the highest levels.
*Thud.*
Chris's hand touched the nape of her neck.
She had lost.
Unexpectedly.
"You... you."
Jupien's eyes widened as if they would tear.
For someone who rarely showed any change in expression, it was an extremely intense reaction. That's how shocked she was.
She wasn't the only one. The Majin watching their fight from the sidelines also wore looks of astonishment.
Christian won a direct confrontation with Princess Jupien?
Chris gave a deliberately obnoxious smirk.
"To be this pathetic. I don't think there's any need for me to listen to you, Princess."
“!!”
Jupien's face flushed red.
But she couldn't say a word.
Because she had lost.
Of course, Jupien had excuses she could make.
She hadn't been using her full strength. She'd been caught off guard before she could do anything.
She hadn't even had the chance to use her specialty, Illusion Sword Art, which combined illusions with the sword.
If she had gone all out from the beginning, she wouldn't have been defeated so easily.
But a loss was a loss.
"I'll handle the mission on my own, so don't try to interfere with me from now on. And don't bother looking for me. I'll be out in the city for a few days."
"...The city? What for?"
Chris said nonchalantly.
"I'm going to go have some fun."
“!!”
"The mission is going to be tough, so I need to have my fill of fun before we leave."
The excuse Chris had come up with to go outside.
Was to act like a scoundrel.
Since he was originally a scoundrel, it suited him well.