Chapter 355: An Unexpected Encounter
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 355: An Unexpected Encounter
Before leaving the workshop, I went to find Baronet Sheffield.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Following the clear sound echoing from somewhere down the hall, I spotted his back as he swung a hammer relentlessly next to a furnace.
I stared blankly at the scene, a harmony of rhythmic forging sounds and sparks flying in every direction.
All this, despite the acrid smell stinging my nose and the intense heat that made sweat bead on my skin.
He might be a grumpy old dwarf on a normal day, but the moment he held a hammer, he fully embodied the Master Smith who had reached the pinnacle of his craft.
He didn't even seem to notice I was there.
I placed the makgeolli I’d brought as a gift on a table and quietly left the workshop.
Afterward, I returned to my hotel and rested on the bed for a while.
Even if my body didn't need to adjust to the time difference, that didn't mean I didn't feel fatigue.
“...Anyway, why don't people in this town use umbrellas?”
It had started raining while I was in the taxi on the way to the hotel, but not a single person was using an umbrella.
As if it were the most natural thing in the world.
As a Korean, it was hard for me to understand.
What are they going to do if they go bald from the rain?
“Is that why so many Westerners are bald?”
Of course, that was just nonsense.
I stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment before closing my eyes.
Perhaps because it was the first time in a while I’d had a moment to myself.
Thoughts I hadn't had the chance to organize began to fill my mind.
Among them, the faces that appeared most often were, naturally, those of my women.
The face of Iris, whom I hadn't seen in a while, flickered before my eyes.
‘I need to get to the Santala Kingdom as soon as possible to remove her restraints… Was agreeing to help Elisabeth me being too nosy?’
A considerable amount of time had passed since the Eustaff Empire, known as the hegemon of the North, had declared war on the Peledeia Kingdom.
The difference in national power between the two countries was like heaven and earth.
Moreover, the Peledeia Kingdom had little strength left to resist foreign invasion due to Resilia's long-standing tyranny.
In such a situation, the only one who could stop the war was Iris.
It was a moment when the power of an 8th Circle Archmage—an asymmetrical force capable of taking on a nation single-handedly—was needed more than ever.
‘But before that, I have to get Amelia back to the duchy safely.’
In Amelia's homeland, the Orsia Grand Duchy, a civil war had broken out. Several nobles had united to start a rebellion, taking advantage of the Grand Duke's collapse from an unknown illness.
Moving with Amelia, the target of the rebels, meant I could get entangled in troublesome affairs at any moment.
Even knowing that, my decision to accompany her was, in hindsight, an impulsive one. But I didn't regret it.
Leaving the scarred princess behind so coldly was something I just couldn't do.
Besides, while it was a bit of a hassle, the rebel army itself wasn't much of a threat.
From the rebels' perspective, they had to maintain their front lines, so they wouldn't have the luxury of dispatching skilled fighters to chase after Amelia, whose whereabouts they hadn't even confirmed yet.
‘An Aura Master was somewhere between the absolute peak and the Flower Realm, right?’
Even if there was an Aura Master-level fighter among the pursuers, I could handle it.
Besides, I had Sylvia, who was also an Aura Master.
But if I were to encounter a monster who had set foot in the realm of a Grand Aura Master, the wisest choice would be to run without looking back.
If not for my sake, then for my women.
‘...Still, I'm stronger than I was when I faced Old Monster Mangong. Maybe it's not entirely impossible?’
It might be possible if I bet my life instead of chips. Of course, I had not the slightest intention of doing so.
Fighting with your own neck on the line was something for those with nothing to lose.
‘Well... it's not like I'll run into a monster like that often. Iris said Grand Aura Masters are as rare as Archmages.’
I swallowed my worries along with a glass of cold water from the table.
Instead, another thought came to mind.
“...Anyway, I need to go buy a suit soon. Where should I go?”
The auction I was scheduled to attend, 'Walpurgis Night,' had a dress code.
Men had to wear suits, and women had to wear dresses.
Fortunately, the design and color were up to us, so the dress code wasn't particularly strict.
The problem was that the auction was scheduled for tomorrow evening.
There was absolutely not enough time to have a suit tailored.
‘...If I'd known, I would have read the instructions carefully before leaving the country.’
Sigh.
A belated regret slowly reared its head.
“There are so many.”
Searching on a map app, I was slightly surprised to find that there were as many tailor shops as there were cafes in Korea.
There were over twenty shops near the hotel alone.
The problem was that not a single one of them sold ready-to-wear suits.
They were all strictly bespoke, and by appointment only.
“Tsk, I guess I have no choice but to go to a department store...”
Ring-ring—
Just as I was about to call a taxi with the app, the phone in my hotel room rang.
I picked up the receiver, a veritable antique from who knows when.
“Hello?”
—"My apologies for disturbing your rest. A gentleman has arrived in the lobby who wishes to see you.”
“...A gentleman?”
Puzzled by the hotel staff's sudden call, I got dressed and went down to the lobby.
Just as the staff member had said, an elderly gentleman who looked good in a fedora stood there, dressed in a stylish suit and coat.
Based on his appearance alone, I would have believed him if he'd said he was a high-ranking noble.
Though it was our first time meeting, he approached with a faint smile as if he recognized me.
“Are you Mr. Kang Hyun-woo?”
“Who are you?”
No matter how much I wracked my brain, I had never met this quintessential English gentleman before.
“Pardon me. My introduction was late.”
At my question, he removed his hat and bowed his head politely.
“My name is Colin. I am a butler.”
“...A butler?”
His words sparked a question in my mind.
No matter how I looked at him, he didn't seem like the type to be a butler.
“I apologize for the rudeness of visiting so suddenly without notice. If it is not an inconvenience, might I ask for a moment of your time?”
He looked toward the main entrance of the hotel as he spoke.
To be precise, he was looking at a limousine parked near the road.
“My master wishes to see you, Mr. Kang Hyun-woo.”
*
Following the gentleman who introduced himself as Colin, I left the hotel and stood before the limousine parked on the road.
The windows were so heavily tinted that I couldn't see inside at all.
Moreover, whatever they had done to it, I couldn't sense any presence or magic from within.
“Master, I have brought Mr. Kang Hyun-woo.”
He lightly tapped on the window to announce our arrival, and a faint ripple of magic flowed from inside the vehicle.
Click—
As if that were some kind of signal, he skillfully opened the car door.
Watching him, I climbed into the car with a sense of unease. A feeling of anxiety had been tapping at the back of my head for a while now.
‘...Fuck.’
As I'd feared.
As soon as I got in the car, a familiar face came into view.
The brutal scar running across his face, a frame a full head taller than mine, and crimson eyes that seemed to burn.
“...It's been a while, Grandfather.”
“Who is your grandfather, you bastard.”
Sitting in the back seat was none other than Choi Hyena's maternal grandfather, the Duke of Rutland.
He glared at me with a ferocious expression, as if he wanted to kill me.
It felt like he could kill a person with his gaze alone.
‘...Come to think of it, she said he had to return to England early for some business.’
I cursed internally.
They say the unexpected always happens, but I never thought I'd actually run into him.
“Haha, I never imagined I'd see you in a strange land so far from home, Grandfather.”
“Don't smile.”
“Yes.”
I'd felt it since last time, but this old man was just itching to tear me apart.
What did I do wrong?
Sure, I was the thief trying to steal his precious granddaughter, and a playboy surrounded by women, but I had never once been disrespectful.
‘...Okay, he has every reason to hate me.’
I nodded to myself and straightened my back.
The veins bulging on the back of the Duke of Rutland's hand had been bothering me for a while. It wouldn't be strange at all if he decided to punch me right now.
‘Is that a human fist or a boulder?’
It felt like his fist was twice the size of mine.
I even controlled my breathing so as not to get on the nerves of this monster, whose physical prowess was said to rival that of an 8th Circle Archmage.
‘But who is that person?’
The Duke of Rutland wasn't the only one in the limousine.
A young man was also with him.
“A pleasure to meet you. I am Edward, the Duke of Rutland's executive secretary.”
“...I'm Kang Hyun-woo.”
I shook the man's hand.
—?!
The moment I did, the back of my head throbbed.
Normally, I would have dismissed it as simple stiffness, but I couldn't this time.
Something was strange.
To be specific, it was a trivial sense of wrongness, like the humidity being just a fraction higher than usual.
Despite that, my instincts were constantly sending me a silent signal, trying to tell me something.
Ignoring my instincts had never ended well for me, so I turned my gaze back to the man.
He was staring at me with a meaningful smile.
Normally, I would have been put off by the goodwill of a man I'd just met, but not this time.
I subtly controlled my magic, just enough for the Duke of Rutland not to notice, and coated my eyes with it.
Vwong—
And for a moment, I saw a faint aura of magic surrounding the man.
I couldn't hide my bewilderment.
Just a moment ago, he was a normal person with no trace of magic, wasn't he?
“Ho ho, you saw that, did you?”
“...?”
As I stood there stunned, the man made a strange sound and laughed like an old man.
Immediately after, his appearance began to change.
Wrinkles formed on his once-smooth skin, and a seasoned look entered his once-naive eyes.
His neatly slicked-back hair turned pure white and became disheveled.
My hand began to tremble slightly as I watched the man's transformation.
‘That, that person is...’
Drip, drip—
The moment I faced the man who had become the spitting image of an old man, a cold sweat trickled down my spine.
The blue robe and the staff that emitted a blue radiance—everything was his symbol.
“...Duke Winchester?”
I uttered the name without thinking.
Duke Rupert Blake Winchester.
As the Lord of the Blue Magic Tower, known by the epithet Merlin, he was one of only three 8th Circle Archmages in the entire world.
“You, did you just see that? To think a lad not even thirty yet could see through my Polymorph magic!”
He slapped his knee with a satisfied smile.
My sense of reality began to rapidly fade.
“So all that complaining day in and day out about how you didn't like your grandson-in-law was just a deception, was it?”
“...Shut up.”
“Ho ho!”
Duke Winchester looked at the Duke of Rutland and burst into delighted laughter.
As he stroked his white beard, his golden eyes, fixed on me, shone with an unconcealable, intense curiosity.
“It is an honor to meet you. I am Kang Hyun-woo, a 2nd Grade Elementalist from the Gray Magic Tower.”
I quickly straightened my clothes and greeted him as politely as possible.
If the Duke of Rutland was a cranky old man with an absurd amount of strength, Duke Winchester was a living legend in the world of magic.
It was no exaggeration to say that there wasn't a single mage who didn't respect him, the man who had led the innovation and development of magic for the past several decades.
If there were any, they would only be black mages.
“Yes, Kang Hyun-woo, you said? I don't know Korean, so I don't know the meaning, but it sounds like a fine name.”
“Thank you!”
He then extended his hand to me.
In that instant, a thrill ran through me from the depths of my heart.
I bowed my head and respectfully took his hand with both of mine.
I felt bad for Shin Yuna, but a wave of emotion even greater than when I got her autograph washed over me.
“I still remember her. Her name was Han Lael, I believe. I thought a talent surpassing that child's wouldn't appear for the next thirty years... You must be a blessing bestowed upon humanity by God.”
“You praise me too highly.”
“Ho ho, so about that.”
“?”
Duke Winchester leaned slightly closer to me with a meaningful smile.
My instincts, sensing danger, began to prickle the back of my neck.
“By any chance, would you be interested in meeting my granddaughter?”