Chapter 36
Chapter 36
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: -36
-----------------------------------------------------------------
```html
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: The Great Lords' Conference
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Emperor Deus sat upon the throne, furrowing his brows.
The letters laid out before his eyes.
These twenty-odd letters had all been delivered from Grand Duke Carlos's side.
Though the handwriting differed in each one, they all boiled down to the same message.
『What is your intent in sending Crown Prince Reinhardt to the north?』
On the day the spirit appeared, Reinhardt had vanished from the imperial palace.
He had headed north in a carriage with Germin, Edis, and Croft.
The truly incomprehensible part was Croft.
The overseer of the shadows and his loyal knight had followed Reinhardt without a word.
Why on earth—and to the north of all places, right in the midst of raging war?
'Reinhardt. What are you scheming there?'
There was no reason to set foot in that place, rife only with death unless madness flared anew.
No matter how much he pondered the intent behind abandoning the management of the Special Prison to head north, he couldn't fathom it.
The one clear thing was that he was acting beyond everyone's expectations.
He needed to uncover what Carlos and Reinhardt were plotting in the north.
The one clear thing was that he was acting beyond everyone's expectations.
'A variable has emerged in the northern campaign. It must be verified.'
He needed to uncover what Carlos and Reinhardt were plotting in the north.
He couldn't move personally.
'A variable has emerged in the northern campaign. It must be verified.'
He couldn't move personally.
However, he could send a reliable person to confirm the situation in the north firsthand.
"Summon the 1st Prince Raunel quietly."
*
Shan was the turning point.
The moment he shed tears in repentance, the faith of the watching shamans solidified beyond measure.
Now, no one dared question his divinity any longer.
The bringer of miracles.
What else could one call him but a god?
'Now even I'm getting confused.'
Watching the grand procession that had continued for days, Edis was gripped by turmoil.
Lords had come calling, shamans had received healing, and the holy land had brimmed with vitality in an instant.
The other lords and warriors might not know, but every shaman truly regarded Reinhardt as a god.
To them, who humbly awaited death, Reinhardt was like a savior.
'Is His Highness truly a god?'
Yet now even Edis was starting to waver.
The miracles Reinhardt displayed one after another couldn't be simply defined by the word 'genius.'
As Spirit Caliburn had said, he had initially assumed it was a contract with the Spirit King.
He had made what seemed a reasonable judgment: contracting with the Spirit King allowed spellcasting without incantations.
But the holy land was something else entirely.
That cursed mana devoured everything.
Even he would have a fifty-fifty chance of death if he entered.
Yet Reinhardt had strode in without hesitation.
He reached the heart of the holy land, emerged bearing a dragon egg, and even gained the power to lift the curse.
'If not a genius, nor a contractor of the Spirit King...'
Then what else but a god remained?
If word got out that an 8th-circle archmage was thinking this way, it would be a laughingstock.
But anyone who witnessed Crown Prince Reinhardt firsthand would realize this notion was no joke.
"Grandfather, what are you thinking about so intently?"
"The 8 Great Mysteries..."
Edis rendered his verdict.
Mages were beings who rendered verdicts, after all.
Reinhardt was a newly born member of the 8 Great Mysteries.
Kaichel tilted his head, then burst into laughter upon realizing.
"One of the 8 Great Mysteries? Ah, you mean His Highness?"
"Ahem. No. More importantly, what are you doing?"
Kaichel was mixing herbs gathered from the north and white powder inside a spherical iron device.
That round iron orb was a magitech device used by alchemists.
It was primarily for synthesis, a type of magic tool infused with spells.
"His Highness gave me a task, so I'm making something. I just finished the design."
"Using 'Devil's Death' for it?"
But Edis asked with worried eyes.
They had burned the Devil's Death, but not all of it.
A considerable amount had been hidden in the carriage and brought along.
If not for Reinhardt's orders, he would burn it all even now.
Fearing someone might inhale it by accident, Edis hadn't taken his eyes off the carriage.
Yet suddenly Kaichel had laid hands on the drug.
Kaichel replied nonchalantly.
"This stuff's purity is too low. Shoddy alchemists make this junk, and that's why all sorts of side effects pop up."
"No... What are you planning to do by increasing the drug's purity?"
In other words, Kaichel was currently refining the purity of the drug called Devil's Death.
His mind sharpened in an instant.
Was he turning Devil's Death into super Devil's Death?
Moreover, Kaichel was a true alchemist.
One of the top five in the alchemist world.
The real deal, who had first transmuted the Philosopher's Stone.
If she set her mind to it, there was nothing she couldn't transmute.
"How should I know? His Highness ordered it. Anyway, stop just watching and help out. I need a few more northern wild herbs to remove the impurities."
Once Kaichel got absorbed, no one could stop him.
That personality hadn't changed, but worry still flooded Edis.
'Surely he's not planning to gain divinity through drug use?'
There was such a thing.
An evil cult that expanded its forces at tremendous speed by using mind-altering, hallucinogenic drugs.
The origin of Devil's Death!
It was the reason the empire sentenced all handlers of Devil's Death to death.
So Edis desperately prayed it wasn't that.
*
Seven lords had gathered around the long, round wooden table.
Shan, wearing the mask of a black bear, and the remaining six lords all stared at me simultaneously.
Behind each stood their most trusted warriors, their presence formidable enough to surprise even me.
'They had this much power and just sat idle?'
Combining all the warriors outside could rival Grand Duke Carlos.
With this much latent power, they hadn't united.
They had simply watched as the holy land was attacked.
Why?
'They don't all get along.'
Hostile.
They weren't just wary of me—they eyed each other with suspicion.
To the point of reluctance to gather even in a place they ought to defend.
Without me, they never would have assembled here.
"You can heal the shamans?"
The 1st Lord, a massive hulking warrior, spoke.
The one who commanded the largest faction in the north.
He exuded the rugged, manly spirit of the north.
Not a shaman, but one who had reached a higher realm through pure skill.
And fundamentally, all lords were strong.
The strongest in their factions became lords, after all.
Not every outstanding warrior became a shaman, it seemed.
Of course—a lord had to rule, and a shortened lifespan would be problematic.
I chuckled and said,
"Faith alone will save them."
"...Enough nonsense. What do you want? Gold and jewels? Women? I'll give you a vice-lord position. Cooperate with me."
To heal shamans.
That was, in the long term, strengthening a lord's power.
If he could extend the lifespans of shamans in his faction, eliminate side effects when creating them—how mighty a legion would form.
"Do you have the authority to give me that?"
I asked softly.
The 1st Lord replied boisterously.
"Of course! Just say the word if you want something."
I let out a small sigh and shook my head.
"That's not what I'mean. You're no lord, are you?"
"......"
The 1st Lord fell silent.
I didn't even glance at him, turning my gaze to the one behind.
"No matter how I look, you're not lord material. You're too weak for it. Maybe the one behind you."
I didn't know all the northern lords.
But I could clearly distinguish the amount of nanomachines they harbored.
The hulking man calling himself the 1st Lord was far too weak compared to the others.
His nanomachines were meager too.
But the warrior right behind him could encompass them all.
No comparison.
If lords were decided by the law of the strong, that warrior behind was lord material.
"......Impressive. I didn't expect you to see through it at a glance."
As expected.
This was a kind of test too.
The true 1st Lord spoke to the hulking warrior seated there.
"Step aside."
"S-Sorry, my lord."
The hulking warrior rose, sweating profusely.
In his place, the true 1st Lord sat anew.
Slim build. Thick eyebrows. Black hair.
Looked young, but wasn't.
'Mana Shower.'
The 1st Lord had rejuvenated via Mana Shower.
No other explanation for that quantity and quality of nanomachines.
As he sat, the lords fell into chaos.
"What?"
"......Hold on. You're the 1st Lord?"
"I thought he died and it was succession."
No one knew, it seemed.
He had faked death after rejuvenating via Mana Shower.
The power emanating from him surpassed even Edis or融.
He'd put up a good fight against Croft.
The 1st Lord shrugged.
"As you see, aside from my two direct subordinates, no one knew I was the true lord. At least I acknowledge you have the eyes befitting one who calls himself a 'god.'"
Leisurely.
The leisure of a true powerhouse.
And he had the qualifications.
He was genuinely strong.
"Let's start over."
Ignoring the other lords.
Staring only at me, he said,
"I'll give you half the north. If you want, I can hand over even more."
As if he had the right.
Confidence that he could just shove aside the other lords.
I understood he had the power, but...
'Ha.'
Now I got it.
Why the north's formidable power had crumbled so quickly before Grand Duke Carlos.
If Shan's problem as the 7th Lord was hatred for the holy land,
The 1st Lord's problem was that very confidence.
The confidence he could devour it all alone.
The mad confidence that Carlos wasn't his match!
'These idiots.'
Then, my task was
to shatter that confidence.
"Croft."
I called Croft softly.
He, standing behind, replied quietly.
"Yes."
"Who do you think will win?"
"I will."
Immediate answer.
Yes. If Croft said so, then it was so.
The 1st Lord, understanding our exchange, tilted his head.
"You mean he's stronger than me?"
"You heard right."
"......"
"Croft is my other self, my apostle. His victory is my victory, his defeat my defeat. So if you defeat Croft, I'll heed your words."
"Ridiculous."
The 1st Lord eyed Croft.
Seemingly ordinary, yet harboring an extraordinary aura.
One blessed like himself.
However, the 1st Lord's power went beyond. He was confident no one under heaven could match him.
"Conversely, if Croft wins, you'll heed mine."
"You don't think I'll accept this absurd fight, do you?"
"Lacking confidence?"
Crude provocation.
But the 1st Lord thought.
Give nothing, just win the fight, and gain this divine being.
Win, and it's a huge profit.
"......Fine. I accept that provocation."
[ ]
```