Chapter 248
Chapter 248
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Chapter 248 - 247. 토끼 탈을 쓴 맹수(1)
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Translator: crow
Chapter 247: A Predator in Rabbit's Clothing (1)
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“Clearly, the only Grandmaster was that boy Leonhardt.”
Lize's ears perked up with interest.
Her emerald eyes, reminiscent of great nature, curved into a smile.
“To think another one has appeared in the meantime. The Empire is truly blessed.”
I met the gaze of the woman peering straight into my power with a cold stare of my own.
In response, the southern sorceress gestured lazily with her hand.
“Sorry about that. Have I been talking too much on my own? I was just so amazed.”
To call Leonhardt “that boy” meant she was at least over a hundred years old.
I couldn’t help but be stunned by the vitality of a half-elf I was seeing for the first time in my life.
“So, what brings the chief sorceress of an enemy nation all the way here? Illegally crossing the border, no less.”
“You’ve grown quite sharp.”
Lize closed her eyes briefly and spoke calmly.
Then, she revealed the century-old golden mushroom she had procured from this very shop.
The medicinal ingredient emitting an eerie glow from within the glass vial.
“Doesn’t it look similar? To Leonhardt’s hair, I mean.”
The sorceress pointed alternately at the mushroom and the crown prince’s lock of hair, smiling.
It seemed she didn’t see me as an enemy just yet.
“This is an ingredient for an elixir of immortality. One that can only be found in the Empire’s territory.”
Lize shook the glass vial she held.
“That’s why I came here—to obtain it. To make the elixir, I have to visit the Empire and gather various ingredients.”
“What do you plan to do with that elixir?”
I asked the half-elf woman with an expression devoid of any amusement.
In response, she shook out her dress, which clung dizzyingly to the curves of her beautiful bosom.
Then, with the sly glint typical of elves in her eyes, she said,
“One for Leonhardt, and one for my kingdom.”
The crown prince cleared his throat.
He glanced at me, then replied in a solemn tone.
“I’ve been preparing this elixir to rebuild trust with my father. If he takes it and his lifespan extends, it’ll roughly prove I’m not after the throne.”
The sharp, blue eyes of the former alpha lion drooped somewhat.
As if he had lost his will to fight and become meek.
“You must have gone through a lot.”
“I heard from my mother about what happened between Father and me in her letters. There’s no need for anger or hatred anymore.”
Leonhardt lifted his head toward the empty air, looking utterly hollow.
It was as if the reason for his life had vanished.
“So, I plan to present the elixir to my father to convey my intentions.”
“What a good boy.”
Lize, who had been listening, chimed in.
She elegantly brushed her deep blue hair to the side and said,
“If it were me, my rage would have burned the Empire to the ground by now.”
Thanks to that, I now understood the kind of person this half-elf was.
The type who delighted like a child in the sorceries she studied, but erupted in fury if crossed.
That must have been why she had survived healthily for over a century—by venting her emotions freely.
“Is the effect of this so-called elixir of immortality truly guaranteed?”
“Hmm. Are you interested too? Well, it makes sense—you’d be frustrated to die young after reaching Grandmaster.”
Lize spoke with disarming frankness.
But when explaining the elixir, she fixed me with that peculiar, sensual elven gaze.
“It’s guaranteed. The kings of the south who took the elixir I made fifty years ago all lived nearly to a hundred.”
She spread her palm, forming the number five with her fingers.
“At the very least, it extends your life by five years.”
It wasn’t perfect immortality.
Even so, to let a human live nearly to a hundred...
I couldn’t help tilting my head at the unbelievable tale.
Lize pointed at my face and chuckled.
“What a suspicious fox you are. If you’d been born a girl, you could’ve ruined a whole kingdom.”
“Enough with the nonsense. So, have you made the elixir yet?”
As I crossed my arms alone and snapped at her, Lize let out a light sigh.
Her breath carried the fresh scent of grass, like a tree exhaling.
“No. I’ve gathered all the ingredients, so now I just need to go make it.”
Lize replied soon after in her century-old, intellectual tone.
As she rose from her seat, the two robed sorcerers waiting outside entered.
“Vail Mikhail. There won’t be any of the troubles you’re worried about, so rest easy.”
The half-elf tucked the golden mushroom vial neatly into her robe’s inner pocket, as if to say she harbored no ill intent.
“Leonhardt is reflecting this deeply, isn’t he?”
The crown prince pulled his robe back over his head.
He glanced at me.
Eyes as gentle as Leah’s, with an intense gaze.
But now, his face was downcast, as if regretting his actions.
In response, I decided to show some leniency.
“Very well. I’ll trust you on the immortality part or whatever. But I have conditions.”
No matter how good the intentions, there was one thing I, raised on the front lines and streets, could never trust.
Telling me to trust you on your word alone.
Normal people prove it with actions first.
Or they don’t even create situations that invite suspicion.
“Make the elixir here in the Empire. And prove it’s harmless to the body by drinking it yourself in front of me.”
I rose slowly from my seat as well.
Looking at the sorcerers about to escort the half-elf to the door, I said,
“It’s such a beneficial elixir for the body. Surely you can test it by taking a sip?”
At those words, a heavy silence fell over the crow’s nest shop.
Only the faint meow of a cat outside could be heard.
“How rude! Even a Grandmaster should show respect to the Chief Sorceress!”
“She’s lived decades longer than you!”
The sorcerers barked.
But such behavior didn’t faze me in the slightest.
Especially when it invoked “authority.”
“Is she your chief sorceress? Is she mine too?”
I said calmly, hands clasped behind my back.
From sneaking in late at night to procure a beneficial elixir ingredient.
To the chief sorceress personally coming to gather it herself.
“It’s suspicious as hell.”
“If she’s so great, she can make the elixir here in the Empire too.”
“Wouldn’t you agree, Chief Sorceress Lize?”
Lize returned the sly smile she had given me.
Unlike before, the sorceress’s face was now expressionless.
“...”
As I pressed her relentlessly, even her long ears, which had been perked happily, stood rigid.
“Lord Vail. She’s a trusted figure. I’ve known her for a long time, and she’s even acquainted with my father.”
The crown prince tried to mediate, persuading me.
But seeing him like that only deepened my suspicions.
“How long have you known her?”
I asked, staring into his unfocused eyes.
“Your Highness spent less than two weeks in the south.”
I silently watched the robed figure.
This verbose persuasion was unlike the usual alpha lion leader.
“To befriend an enemy nation’s magic chief and lead an illegal entry in that short time...”
I alternated glances between Lize and Leonhardt.
With each look, the half-elf’s eyes grew colder.
“It’s not like the famously ill-tempered Crown Prince.”
Delivering the finishing blow, I smirked.
In return, Lize chuckled and retorted,
“You’re just barely twenty, so you wouldn’t understand, but humans change to survive after great events.”
The chief sorceress spoke as if she had watched humanity for ages.
She shrugged, meeting my sharp gaze head-on.
“To not understand a son’s desire to reform and regain his father’s approval—how tragic.”
Lize pulled her robe over her ears again.
Leaving only her red, soft lips visible, she said,
“With the crown prince’s guarantee, what could be clearer? That should be enough to let us go.”
The chief sorceress tried to brush past me leisurely.
But at that moment.
“...!!”
“Chief!!”
I seized her slender wrist.
The sorcerers hurriedly gathered mana in their palms in shock.
“No, I’m fine.”
Lize calmly soothed them.
Then, from the shadow of her robe, her green eyes—filled with pure knowledge—flashed as she said,
“Fine, Mikhail. So what is it you want to say to me?”
In response, I pointed at Leonhardt.
At his soulless blue eyes.
“While we’re on good terms, lift the sorcery on the Crown Prince.”
The crown prince was under a spell.
At those words, the subordinate sorcerers flinched from afar.
But Chief Sorceress Lize was different.
“What are you talking about? Leonhardt made a deal with us of his own free will.”
“Indeed, Mikhail. A spell on me...!”
Leonhardt cried out with an indignant expression.
Seeing that, my conviction solidified.
“Sorry, but Crown Prince Leonhardt has a foul temper and can’t pull off an innocent face like that.”
I chuckled, roughly lifting Lize’s robe.
Her beautiful green hair scattered.
Amid those strands, her green eyes churned.
“Especially since he has plenty of grudges against me.”
I tapped my neck with my finger.
Then, with fox-like elongated eyes like hers had described, I smiled faintly.
“The reason His Highness was demoted was because of me. How could he make such a foolish face?”
“...”
I activated my white mana.
Lize winced at the brilliant glow.
Perhaps realizing I wouldn’t let them go easily now that I’d drawn my aura.
Lize lifted the corner of her red lips slyly and murmured,
“Indeed... I clearly lacked research on the crown prince...”
She snapped her fingers.
At that, Leonhardt staggered as if his soul had fled.
He collapsed alone onto the table.
But I didn’t approach to support him.
Lize looked at me incomprehensibly.
“What, a royal collapses and you don’t even help?”
“Yes. Honestly, I don’t like him much.”
I said, still gripping one of her arms.
She swallowed deeply.
As if, in over a century of life, this was the first time she’d encountered such a resolute and persistent human.
“I can overlook most things, but I extremely hate troublesome incidents.”
I squeezed her wrist harder.
“Ugh...”
“So, don’t cause any trouble and get out of the Empire. Chief Sorceress.”
Lize swallowed deeply again.
She glanced back, exchanging looks with her minions.
At that instant.
“Emil, Baal! Retreat first!!”
The half-elf thrust out her remaining hand in an instant, casting a spell.
A green flash that obscured vision.
“...!!”
Even in that situation, I stubbornly held her arm.
Thanks to that, I didn’t lose Lize, but in the meantime, the half-elf tossed the ingredients she carried.
To her two disciples.
“Go first—I’ll catch up soon!!”
“Yes, Master!!”
They deftly caught the glass vials.
Then, they scattered in opposite directions and fled.
“Where do you think you’re going.”
I drew my longsword with my free hand and unleashed a sword beam.
The beam chased one like lightning.
But at that timing, Lize extended her other hand.
Violet mana pursued and canceled my sword beam.
Kaaang!!
Of course, it couldn’t fully overcome the Grand Aura-forged beam.
It merely deviated its trajectory.
“Hehe... What are you looking at, holding me like this?”
Lize pulled me strongly so I couldn’t focus on her disciples.
Close enough that her ample bosom pressed against me.
“Now that it’s just the two of us as you wanted, shall we play a little more interestingly?”
The half-elf lifted the corner of her mouth, delighted at the chance to resume her pure research on sorcery.
“I’ve been curious just how far my spells work against a Grandmaster.”
That look was far from a noble elf’s.
Her gaze was sensual and lewd, as if utterly honest about pleasure.
“Your disciples must have had it rough.”
I chuckled in response.
Infusing white aura into my eyes, I said firmly,
“Having such a sorcery-obsessed master.”
I slammed her gripped arm against the wall.
A thick moan escaped the shoved half-elf.
“Ahh...!!”
Having lived over a century, this was perhaps her first time being pinned like this by a man—she swallowed deeply.
“Hey, is it okay to keep just me pinned? My disciples are as swift as rabbits.”
Fresh greenery bloomed from Lize, pressed so close.
But I paid it no mind.
“Who knows. In the past, maybe, but I’m not alone anymore.”
I merely gave the arrogant elf a leisurely smile.
“Even if I tell them not to come, they’ll find ‘some way’ to show up anyway.”
The half-elf furrowed her brow at my meaningful words.