Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: The Truth of the Luin Church
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"Do you know of the Luin Church's existence, Your Grace?"
"The Luin Church?"
Alexar showed a reaction as if he'd never heard of it before in response to Jeon's question.
As if he'd expected as much, Jeon nodded.
"The reason the Silvermont mages left the family was because of them."
"So it wasn't some kind of quarrel?"
"There was a quarrel, yes. But the reason was a difference of opinion caused by the Luin Church."
Hearing the history of his own family—from the mouth of an outsider, no less.
The feeling was so peculiar that Alexar couldn't even muster a reply and simply focused on Jeon's words.
"The Luin Church is a group so ancient that even Merimuir, the founder of Silvermont, didn't know their origins."
"Older than the founder...? So they're at least a few hundred years old?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"What kind of group are they, exactly...?"
"They're a bunch who follow something. And for the sake of what they follow, they won't hesitate to use any means necessary."
"...They sound like a cult obsessed with some delusion."
"Pretty much."
According to the will accumulated by Silvermont's mages.
The Luin Church was a group closest to a cult, true to their name.
The problem was that, unlike what their name as a church suggested, they didn't worship any god—and their influence spanned the entire world.
"They were the ones who tried to sabotage the founding of the Langley Kingdom."
"What...? The founding history clearly mentions a hostile nation."
"They were the ones behind it. They don't want the world to stabilize."
A group seeking worldwide chaos and instability.
"What on earth is their reason for doing that?"
"Even Silvermont's mages don't know for sure. They just believe it's connected to the being they follow, called the Destroyer."
"The Destroyer...? Hah, to ignore proper gods and believe in something so hollow."
Alexar shook his head at Jeon's explanation.
As Alexar said, the gods of this world truly existed.
And unlike in Jeon's previous life.
They proved their existence through miracles.
For instance, in the Holy Church, the most prosperous faith in the Empire, the priests used mana just like mages—but they could wield healing magic that mages couldn't.
It was a miracle that only those chosen by the gods through faith could perform.
In a world where such gods existed, for the Luin Church to follow some unknown entity.
It was only natural that it seemed strange to ordinary eyes.
"But what exactly was the connection between them and the conflict in our family?"
Yes, but even assuming such strange people existed.
Alexar still couldn't grasp the link between them and what happened in his family.
Nor why the Silvermont mages had chosen to oppose them.
"After the Langley Kingdom was founded despite the Luin Church's interference, they next aimed to sow division within the kingdom."
"...Persistent bastards."
"And they chose Silvermont as their target. Excluding—or perhaps even including—the royal family, Silvermont was the most powerful house in Langley."
Just as Jeon said.
At the time of Langley's founding.
Silvermont's prestige rivaled that of the royal family.
At its center was Merimuir, a peerless mage who had saved Langley's first king from death's door countless times.
"Now Silvermont is called the sword guarding the royal family, but back then, they were the guardian deity protecting the kingdom."
A guardian deity that surpassed even the king.
Of course, Langley ultimately belonged to the Langley royal family, and Silvermont was merely a founding merit and ducal house.
But the effect of that image was immense.
"So the Luin Church provoked the Langley royals. To make them clash with Silvermont."
Of course, it wasn't easy.
Langley's first king and Silvermont's founder, Merimuir, shared a deep bond.
But that only lasted for their generation.
As the next generation—and the one after—came along, the conflicts stoked by the Luin Church began to surface.
"Under the royal family's constant scrutiny, many opinions arose within Silvermont. Some even suggested leaving Langley altogether."
"Hah... Even so, to decide to leave?"
"The reason they suggested it was because Silvermont's mages at the time had learned of the arrangements Merimuir left behind. They didn't know about the ruins, but they discovered the magic meant to hold the mages' will."
The runes of will, storage, and guardian.
It was a small contingency Merimuir had left in case the Luin Church caused trouble for future generations.
And a tiny part of those contingencies—the magic to store will—had been passed to Silvermont's mages.
Learning the truth, they argued to leave Langley entirely, end the kingdom's internal strife, and confront the Luin Church head-on.
"Of course, that wasn't enough to convince the whole family. The contingency magic left behind was still rudimentary then, and abandoning their established roots in the kingdom wouldn't make sense to others."
"Even so, if they clearly knew of the Luin Church's existence..."
"Other than connecting to Merimuir's will through the contingency magic, there was no way to know of them back then. Plus, the internal family conflict that arose might have been instigated by the Luin Church too."
For those reasons.
Most of Silvermont's mages left the kingdom.
That resolved the conflict between the Langley royals and Silvermont ducal house, but in exchange, the mages had to spend their lives opposing the Luin Church outside the family.
"Hah, does that even make sense?"
Alexar, having heard Jeon out, shook his head with an expression that still found it hard to believe.
But he couldn't dismiss it either.
Because the one saying it was none other than Jeon.
Jeon, who naturally wouldn't know Langley's history or Silvermont's—yet he knew not just the histories inside out, but even the hidden backstory.
Unless he'd truly seen the will left by Silvermont's mages, as he claimed, it was impossible.
"...So, what do you plan to do? Even if you've met the will our ancestors left, you have no obligation to follow it."
As Alexar said.
Jeon had encountered the will and received their message.
But he had no reason to follow it.
Jeon's blood wasn't Silvermont's.
So he could cherry-pick the benefits and ignore the rest.
"Maybe. But the Luin Church isn't targeting just Silvermont. To them, Silvermont is barely a blip."
"Barely a blip?"
"The unresolved mastermind behind the recent Celleron cult party terrorist incident is connected to the Luin Church too."
"Hah!"
Alexar let out a hollow laugh at Jeon's words.
Not just Langley Kingdom, but the Empire as well was one of their targets.
"But all that is just a part of their grand plan for the Destroyer they follow."
"So the whole world is their target."
"Exactly."
Even Silvermont's mages hadn't fully grasped what the Destroyer the Luin Church followed was, or what their grand plan entailed.
But since they sought chaos.
If their goals were achieved, worldwide turmoil was inevitable—and Jeon, living in this world, would surely be affected.
'And now that I've seen their will... it feels wrong to ignore it.'
Besides, Jeon had directly absorbed their will.
In the process, he'd faced their experiences too, so he couldn't simply turn away.
"So you're saying you'll walk the path of our ancestor mages?"
"Yes. More precisely, I plan to help them."
"...So the Silvermont mages who left the family back then still have descendants?"
"Yes. Their descendants are still around, though they hide their Silvermont identity."
"We couldn't find any trace of them anywhere... They must have hidden thoroughly."
"That's because everyone searched under the Silvermont name. They've abandoned it and settled across the continent."
"No traces at all... and they've even settled down."
Not just Alexar, but previous family heads too.
Had periodically tried to find the Silvermont mages who left.
Unable to find any traces, they'd assumed their line had nearly died out after failing to adapt on the continent—yet they'd settled.
"Yes. The White Tower on the continent. That's where Silvermont's mages established themselves."
"The, the White Tower?"
Hearing Jeon's answer, Alexar finally showed a startled expression.
But seeing Alexar's reaction, Jeon inwardly raised a question mark.
'...Is that such a big deal?'
Mage towers held prestige and status, sure.
But was it worth that much surprise?
Of course, it wasn't nothing to be surprised about either, so Jeon quickly dismissed the question in his mind.
"Then, in that case... the Foxkin mage who taught you secret magic, was she from there too?"
"I didn't know at the time, but I learned recently. My master is from the White Tower as well."
Jeon answered Alexar's quite shocked question with a brazen expression.
Since he'd always claimed to have learned secret magic from a Foxkin mage he'd met outside, he'd prepared this answer in case the question came.
"I see... In that light, maybe it wasn't coincidence but fate that you discovered our ancestor mages' will."
Seeing Alexar react so earnestly to his lie, Jeon felt a slight pang of conscience.
And perhaps because of the barrage of shocking stories, Alexar looked several years older as he composed himself, making it worse.
"Still, thanks to you, I've learned all these details, and it puts my mind at ease. I'd always wondered about our ancestor mages' whereabouts."
"I'm glad to hear that."
"So... you're heading straight to the White Tower?"
Though his face looked far more fatigued than usual, Alexar definitely seemed more at ease, as if a weight had been lifted.
"No. The situation isn't so urgent that I need to go right away... I plan to write some magic books here and build my own strength a bit more first."
"Good, then take your time."
"Thank you."
He'd gained the new runes of 'Will' and 'Storage' from this ruin.
Even so, Jeon knew he was still sorely lacking.
Especially the feats he'd shown in the ruins relied on fully understanding Silvermont magic and using their unique mana.
Replicating that power alone was still impossible.
'I need to get stronger.'
Jeon, who had directly inherited their will, knew better than anyone how formidable the Luin Church was.
And to help Silvermont's mages fight them, he needed to grow much stronger.
'To go to the White Tower, I need to be at least 3rd Circle.'
4th Circle, which required enlightenment, was tough.
But considering his unique traits, 3rd Circle would let him provide meaningful help.
"Anyway, you did well. Really, good work."
"No, it was only possible thanks to your support, Your Grace."
"Hearing you say that makes me grateful too. Go rest now."
"Yes. I'll take my leave then."
They'd covered everything.
As Jeon turned to leave the study.
Alexar called him back, as if something had occurred to him.
"By the way, hold on a moment."
"Yes?"
"You said you don't have a hometown, right?"
"Yes, that's correct."
Calling him back just for a sudden question about his hometown.
Jeon tilted his head, wondering what this was about.
But Alexar's next words brought a wave of unease crashing over him.
"Good. Then no childhood promises or betrothed waiting for you."
"...Pardon?"
And the anxiety he'd dreaded became reality.
"How about marrying my daughter?"
Oh, please no.
The very thing he'd feared had finally come up.
A place shrouded in deep darkness.
In darkness so profound that even a tiny light was absent, making it impossible to tell if one's eyes were open or closed.
Around a dozen people sat in a circle.
"It's been a while. Good to see everyone's faces like this."
A greeting rang out incongruously in the pitch-black darkness.
"Indeed. Especially those three over there—it really has been ages."
"That's just because you rarely show up, Kris."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Even in the jet-black darkness, they exchanged greetings as naturally as if they could see each other.
"So, what’s the reason for suddenly calling us all here?"
Amid this, one of them addressed the man sitting alone at the center of the circle where the dozen sat.
"...Good question."
The man, who had remained silent through the greetings, slowly spoke.
"One of the forces binding Him has been severed."
"Is that true?"
"That's great. Doesn't that mean only a few are left?"
Those around him brightened at his words.
"Not necessarily. If it broke so suddenly, someone might have inherited the power left by our enemies."
"Nah, no way. Those things didn't budge for centuries at least. Last time something similar happened, it turned out to have been completely destroyed."
A particularly high-pitched voice among the seated responded to the man.
"...Maybe."
"You might be worrying too much."
As he said, the man was the worrying type.
As the oldest among them, having lived through the most events, he was especially sensitive.
"Yes, I was just speaking hypothetically."
Of course, he too didn't think a binding and contingency from centuries ago had suddenly been passed to someone.
The ones who placed each binding were figures rare even in world history—those who had reached transcendence or the equivalent.
Taking their bindings and contingencies wasn't easy.
"Besides, we've taken measures on anywhere remotely suspicious near those things."
And as another said.
Fearing someone might claim those contingencies.
They'd destroyed any suspected ones outright if possible.
If not, they'd ensured no one could approach them easily.
The number of such destructions and measures numbered in the hundreds.
The man was that cautious.
But precisely because of that.
The casual responses from those around him grated.
"...Fine, maybe I am being overly cautious. But failing to kill the Fifth Prince this time—wasn't that due to a lack of caution?"
"..."
The circle fell silent at his probing question.
In the ensuing quiet, the high-pitched voice cautiously spoke up.
"This time... Celleron's second daughter handling it pushed too hard. The plan hit an unexpected variable too. We only failed to kill the prince, but everything else we targeted succeeded—including installing our puppet as Celleron's lord."
"...Tch."
The man clicked his tongue instead of replying further.
From their perspective, it was such a minor matter.
Reprimanding those present over it would look ridiculous.
"The day He shatters everything—even the bindings—is near. No variables can be allowed."
"Understood. We'll keep that in mind."
"And to be safe, investigate what binding vanished."
"Yes. I'll find it for sure."
The suspected bindings and contingencies they'd acted on numbered over a hundred easily.
Scattered across the continent and even small islands.
Just checking them was no simple task.
But the man with the serious voice who replied wasn't one to speak lightly.
Gazing briefly in that direction, the man nodded.
"Good. How's preparation for the other matters?"
"Proceeding as planned. We'll ensure no failures this time."
"Then we're done. Dismissed."
With that, the presences in the jet-black darkness vanished as if they'd evaporated.