Chapter 40
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Meeting
-----------------------------------------------------------------
'I have to run.'
Lilia's reason warned her coldly. This situation was the worst possible.
The bizarre behavior unfolding in the forest between the deposed emperor and the guard knight sent by her brother.
Just witnessing it meant she had already crossed an irreversible line. No, more than that, this was the deposed emperor's place of confinement, no longer part of the Empire's territory.
Lilia stepped back silently, muffling her footsteps. The wet soil squelched softly under her feet.
She turned carefully toward the path she had come from, making sure her boot heels didn't press into the ground with a sound.
But what entered her vision was not the familiar dirt path.
Black mist.
The fog, which had been faintly scattered when she entered, had now thickened into a wall, blocking the way.
Pitch-black darkness, impossible to see through even an inch, crouched there like a monster with its jaws wide open.
'This can't be.'
Lilia's pupils dilated. This was no natural fog. It was an artificial barrier shaped by someone's will.
She instinctively reached for her sword but stopped. Drawing it would make a sound they'd hear.
"Damn."
A soft sigh escaped her lips. It was a tiny noise, but in the silent forest, it rang out like thunder.
"Who's there?"
A sharp shout came from behind. It was Adella's voice.
Lilia squeezed her eyes shut and opened them. No escaping now.
She slowly turned, shedding her robe. As she stepped out from the tree shadows, sunlight filtering through the woods illuminated her face.
Adella was already half-drawing her sword, poised in alert stance.
Her eyes were sharp, but confusion was evident too.
The relaxed demeanor she'd had while playing around with the emperor moments ago was gone, replaced by the keen gaze of a knight.
And the man standing behind her.
Batanias.
He stared at Lilia, clad in shabby clothes with tousled hair.
Lilia released the sword hilt and raised both hands, a gesture signaling no hostility.
"Lady Adella, lower your sword. I'm not an enemy."
Lilia's voice was calm, but it trembled faintly at the end.
Adella's eyes widened.
"Lady Lilia?"
She hastily sheathed her sword and straightened her posture. But she couldn't hide her bewilderment.
Her expression screamed incomprehension: why was Argent's acting lord and the family head's sister here, alone of all places?
Batanias stepped forward slowly. He peered over Adella's shoulder, scanning Lilia.
Lilia didn't avoid his gaze. She couldn't. She lifted her chin, striving to maintain a noble poise.
But her heart pounded wildly. The unpleasant memory from the palace. The sticky, lecherous stare. She braced for that nauseating look if their eyes met again.
Yet.
The man's gaze was different.
His eyes started at her toes, traveled up her long legs encased in leather pants, her slim waist, the curve of her breasts peeking from under the navy cape, and stopped at her pale face.
It was blatant. But mixed in wasn't sticky lust—something else.
Curiosity?
Or admiration?
Like a child discovering a rare flower in the woods, or a museum visitor appreciating a beautiful artwork, he gazed at Lilia's appearance with pure wonder.
'Wow, she's really pretty.'
I let out an inner exclamation.
Lilia von Argent.
The face I'd only seen on the game screen was now alive and moving before my eyes.
Her golden hair gleamed softly even in the forest shadows, and her blue eyes stared back at me coolly yet deeply.
Her white skin looked smooth as porcelain, and her firmly pressed red lips seemed stubborn yet oddly tempting to pry open.
The leather armor she wore was a practical design emphasizing mobility, but that only accentuated her figure more.
The tight waistline and the curving hips below boasted perfect proportions.
The glimpse of ample bosom between the cape folds was surprisingly voluptuous against her slender build.
'Like a lofty flower.'
I scanned her from head to toe with pure admiration.
Now I understood why so many players in the game community stubbornly chose the Argent start despite its hellish difficulty.
Even though it was a route where you'd get swallowed by the abyss and wiped out in a month, I could see the feelings of those perverts(?) who repeated it just to see Lilia.
'She really is pretty. For real.'
I forcibly suppressed the smile tugging at my lips. She seemed to view me as an enemy. No, she probably despised me. Because of my antics at the palace.
But I didn't show any rejection toward Lilia. Instead, I took another step closer.
"Well, well. Surely the lady of Argent hasn't lost her way."
In the eastern magic kingdom of Theranos. In the sub-tower master's office just below the magic tower's top floor, all seemed quiet on the surface.
Only the sound of night wind billowing thick velvet curtains against the window frames filled the silence.
But beneath that quiet lurked tension taut as a string about to snap on a strung instrument.
Seria von Luminus.
The magic tower's sub-tower master and top candidate for next tower master sat at her desk, chin propped on interlaced hands.
Her platinum hair was neatly tied up, and the fitted navy robe accentuated her intellectual, composed aura.
Her slender frame held eyes that shone with intellect like a deep, clear lake.
But now those eyes wavered uneasily.
'Elder Sage Eldric.'
She pressed her lips tight.
The continent's greatest sage and the kingdom's spiritual pillar. The mentor she had respected and followed her entire life. But lately, his eyes weren't the same.
The light of wisdom had dimmed, replaced by murky shadows of greed and madness.
He was changing. No, he had changed.
Seria glanced once more at the report on her desk. The magically treated paper bore a red "TOP SECRET" stamp.
[Operation Name: Unknown]
[Location: Black Forest]
[Result: Total loss of combat capability for Magic Tower Direct 1st Mage Unit (All survivors' mana circuits destroyed)]
"Wiped out..."
She sighed. The tower's direct units were among the kingdom's elites.
For them to be unable to cast a single proper spell, have their mana circuits utterly destroyed, and be chased out of the forest—it was unimaginable.
She recalled the survivors' testimonies.
"Couldn't see it. It was a shadow. The moment a blade grazed my neck, my mana felt like it was sucked out... and when I came to, I was outside the forest."
"Not human. They were... darkness itself."
Seria tapped the paper with her pen tip.
'All attackers are master-class.'
The precision to strike and disable mages' mana circuits while sparing their lives. It wasn't mere power but a "mercy that's no mercy"—a warning only from those highly trained with overwhelming superiority.
"Whose doing is this?"
The Black Forest. Empire territory and den of magical beasts. No reports of master-class experts hiding there.
Imperial army? Roselia elite knights? Argent hidden guards? But none would spare the mages.
And a bigger question followed.
"Who sent them into the Black Forest?"
The unit doesn't move without the tower master's direct order. Eldric. He had issued it himself. Why? For what?
Seria stood. The chair creaked. She approached the window. The moon was hidden by clouds.
Eldric's office was right above. But she couldn't bring herself to go up. Lately, an alien aura emanated from him.
Like old mold or rotting earth—something ominous.
'Elixir of Youth?'
Rumors circulated. The old sage craving immortality, dabbling in forbidden experiments.
Seria didn't want to believe it. That noble sage, who devoted his life to the nation, walking a corrupt path.
But this operation report was irrefutable proof. He was hiding something. And it connected to the Black Forest.
Of course... the sage dreamed of something far graver, but Seria didn't know.
"I need to confirm."
Seria clenched her fist. Sweat dampened her palm.
If Eldric was on the wrong path, only she could stop him. As sub-tower master and disciple.
She opened a desk drawer. A small box sealed with magic. She carefully undid the seal.
Inside was a transparent crystal shard. "Memory Fragment." From the unit commander.
She gripped it and infused mana.
Fwoosh.
Faint light illuminated the room. The commander's memory projected into the air.
The Black Forest's dense darkness.
Red eyes glinting in the mist.
And far behind them, a dilapidated building.
"That..."
Seria's eyes narrowed. She magnified the image with mana.
A man stood before the building. Tousled hair, worn clothes. But the aura enveloping him...
'The Emperor?'
The deposed Empire Emperor Batanias. Why was he there?
The memory cut off. The crystal lost its glow and cooled.
Seria set it down. Her heart thumped.
Eldric was after the emperor.
Then the attackers were the emperor's protectors?
Puzzle pieces clicked. Eldric's change, the dispatch to Black Forest, the emperor's presence.
"This might not be simple exile."
She picked up her cape.
"I have to go see for myself."