Chapter 250
Chapter 250
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Beast in a Rabbit Mask (3)
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Lea pulled her uniform jacket tight, wrapping it around her exquisite figure.
And from her chair, she gazed indifferently at the elf boy sleeping soundly.
“Your Highness didn’t need to step forward yourself…”
Damian, who had been waiting outside, approached and said.
Lea tugged the jacket even tighter around her shoulders and replied.
“Even if he’s a half-elf, he’s still an elf. It’s not easy for just anyone to even get close.”
He frowned as he stared at the deeply slumbering boy.
Then, adjusting the frame of his glasses, he muttered.
“It really is remarkable. Elves tend to look down on humans…”
“It's thanks to the hypnosis orb. The closer you let them look, the stronger the effect.”
Lea smirked and clasped her hands behind her back.
With her uniform jacket buttoned firmly, she exuded an air of leisure.
“I’m sorry. I should have handled it myself…!”
Lea glanced at her subordinate.
Then, her expression softened into a warm gaze as she smirked.
“Well, it’s fine. While I was approaching, he just spaced out strangely.”
Lea narrowed her eyes slyly, mimicking a certain man’s expression.
Damian blinked in stunned confusion at her familiar cheeky tone.
“Yes…?”
Lea flashed a bright smile with her eyes.
Her advisor tilted his head at his lord’s peculiar words.
The frame of his glasses wobbled faintly.
“Damian, could you bring some tea while we wait?”
“I’ll fetch it right away.”
Damian led the now-debriefed boy out of the VIP room.
Meanwhile, the empire’s princess stuffed the rabbit headband into her taut back pocket.
「――――――」
Meanwhile, in the back alleys of Cornell.
Baal, a human but senior to Emil, hid in the dark shadows.
“It’s certain.”
Having reached one firm conviction, he let out a deep breath.
“They knew we were coming here in advance.”
The only one who clearly knew this information was Crown Prince Leon.
That was why, at the last moment of negotiations, he had cast a spell on him to bring him to the empire together.
But the information had leaked spectacularly, so escape was the only path to survival.
Of course, if he had fairly divided the medicine between the crown prince and the king of the south, there would have been no need for such sorcery.
But the only salvaged ingredients were enough for one dose.
He had no choice but to deceive the crown prince.
“Master is late too… What in the world is happening…!”
The imperial knights’ net was closing in tighter.
Even he, an elite sorcerer, felt a considerable sense of crisis from the pressure.
“No helping it…”
In the end, he made one resolution.
To return to the kingdom alone.
Baal sprinkled sorcery powder on himself to turn invisible.
He swung his wand to cast levitation spells over obstacles.
Using techniques starkly different from the empire’s magic, he slipped through the investigation net.
“Damn, I used too much technique…”
He pressed his forehead as his mana steadily depleted.
And finally, he stared up at the outer wall opposite where Emil had arrived.
“If I can just get over this…”
Baal released his invisibility, as if squeezing out his last strength.
The moment he was about to fly toward the wall.
「You’re too late.」
He flinched at the youthful woman’s voice echoing from afar.
“I was so bored waiting.”
Baal whipped his head toward the source of the voice.
There, a petite woman appeared with Eastern knights far taller than him.
“That Veil fellow. He said he could handle it alone, but what good is that if he lets the target slip away like this?”
Twin tails, but with sharp red eyes full of intensity—an imperial princess.
She wore a school uniform-style blouse and skirt, but under the moonlight…
“I’ll have to give him a ‘punishment’ later.”
The leopard-print outfit clinging to her curves became faintly visible.
Plus, black stockings that looked mature for her age.
The sorcerer stared blankly at the woman who had anticipated his arrival and lain in wait.
Then, he realized she was no ordinary figure.
“Capture that man.”
At the lady’s gesture, numerous knights emerged from the darkness.
All burly men who appeared to be from the East.
Each one had undergone rigorous training, radiating powerful mana.
“You dared to interrupt my time with him, so I’ll interrogate you myself.”
In the dead of night, Lydia’s red eyes gleamed.
She looked just like a nocturnal beast.
“I heard the capital’s knights were soaked in peace and political squabbles…”
The top sorcerer of the south assessed the situation alone.
The moment he turned his head.
He thrust his palm toward the menacing spear flying from afar.
Kaaang―――!!
“To block this—indeed, no ordinary sorcerer.”
Batsu gripped the spear with one hand.
He gazed impassively down at Baal, who had concentrated mana in his palm to form a barrier.
“Don’t get careless, everyone. The opponent is the south’s elite sorcerer.”
Eastern Knight Captain Batsu.
He was no longer arrogant or flaunting flashy techniques.
Just as he had been taught, he faced the enemy calmly.
“Urgh…!!”
Knights charging from all sides with spears at the ready.
Far from being dulled by peace, their spears rained down with venomous intensity, forcing Baal to hastily erect barriers.
But that was all he could do.
The sorcerer was solely on the defensive, unable to mount any resistance.
“Heh heh… As expected of a court sorcerer, holding out well.”
Lydia approached leisurely with her hands behind her back.
She peered down intently at Baal, surrounded by Eastern spears.
“Resistance is futile. You dared enter the heart of the empire—there’s no one to help you.”
The sorcerer gulped deeply at the petite woman’s devilish smile.
“No, you’re the ones in danger.”
Lydia tilted her head at the unexpected retort she hadn’t anticipated.
Her twin tails tilted curiously as well.
“What do you mean by that?”
“The southern reinforcements have arrived outside the walls right now. All those stationed in the empire have gathered, so it’s a considerable force.”
Lydia smirked upon hearing him.
She shrugged and shot back.
“Hmm— So that means all the enemy spies hiding in the empire have gathered together?”
The empire’s Third Imperial Princess gazed at the walls as if she had been waiting for those words.
As though imagining the enemies beyond.
“That means if we capture everyone gathered here today alive, we’ve wiped out all the southern spies, right?”
Baal furrowed his brow, unable to comprehend Lydia’s words.
However, he soon grasped her intent.
――――――.
The walls of Cornell city they both gazed upon.
Atop them floated the silhouette of one woman.
Demurely seated on a long staff, wearing a massive hat.
She looked just like a grand witch.
“Lady Mago. Have you handled the outside?”
“Yes, Your Highness. I handled them together with Her Highness Irina’s knight order.”
She had already taken care of the assembled remnants too.
Baal’s jaw dropped at her words.
“But Veil told you not to come out… Is it really okay for you to step forward like this…?”
“Heh heh, thanks to that, your homeland is safely protected too.”
Lydia praised the petite woman with twin tails like her own.
Mago muttered with a shy expression.
“I’m not a ‘lady.’ I’ve heard sorcerers aren’t well-regarded in the empire…”
“That’s only for those who cause trouble.”
The youngest princess pointed at Baal, the culprit behind the incident, with a fierce glare.
Then, smiling brightly again, she patted Mago’s shoulder.
“I’ll submit a petition so the empire recognizes upright sorcerers from now on, so don’t worry.”
“Th-thank you, Your Highness…”
Mago beamed with joy at receiving official recognition of her skills from the imperial family for the first time in her life.
The very reason she hadn’t pushed herself forward to Veil was her status as a sorcerer.
Lydia’s ambition to help her—a potential rival in love—naturally put her heart at ease.
“Now we just wait for that boy to return.”
Mago found it amusing how Lydia called Veil “that boy,” even though he was a year older and much taller.
She couldn’t help but smirk, seeing her like a cat on hind legs trying to appear bigger.
“What is it?”
“No, it’s nothing, Your Highness.”
At first, the princesses had seemed intimidating.
But as their warm, human sides gradually showed, Mago began to feel at ease.
“For now, let’s hold this one until Veil returns.”
However, Lydia was a cold imperial princess toward enemies.
Arms crossed alone, she kept her eyes fixed on the sorcerer surrounded by spears.
“Don’t entertain any vain hopes—your successor has already been caught too.”
Baal was speechless upon hearing even his quick-footed junior had been captured.
With the ingredients he had supplied seized as well, he had lost all gains.
“I won’t resist…”
With no escape left, he fell into despair.
“I surrender.”
Under the brilliant full moon, Baal, who failed to breach the final wall, surrendered meekly.
And inwardly, he prayed his master Lize had escaped safely.
「――――――」
Both disciples’ wands had been shattered.
With the two powerful mana signatures in Cornell gone, Lize’s green eyes gleamed as she pressed against the wall.
“No way…”
Another powerful mana presence was detected, but it wasn’t Baal.
It felt like an imperial sorcerer on par with him—or stronger.
“Something must have gone wrong.”
I grinned at Lize, beads of clear sweat forming like dew on her forehead.
At that, she realized the fox-like man before her had uncovered all her plans.
“Who the hell are you…?”
Her intellectual curiosity as a grandmaster had long vanished.
Instead, her survival instincts surged, and she grew increasingly fearful of me.
“Just your average imperial defense knight.”
An average imperial knight.
Lize furrowed her delicate brow at the words.
From the emperor’s gifted sword, Hector.
To the rosario gifted by Irina.
An Eastern-style butterfly tie pin.
And the foreign blue mana nestled in his chest.
The great sage Lize—who pierced through others’ memories—realized who the man before her was, and her lips parted.
Her elven instincts made her legs tremble at the fact that he had tamed the empire’s beast.
“How could someone like you… emerge from the empire too…!!”
「Time to end this.」
I raised my twin swords toward the startled Lize.
Irina’s sword and Hector simultaneously.
「They’ll get mad if I’m late.」
I enveloped both eyes in brilliant white mana.
And charged at the woman—be she the continent’s greatest sorcerer or the south’s great sage.