Chapter 162
Chapter 162
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 162
Chapter Title: Palace Mage
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"Palace mage?"
"Yes."
Mazdari answered Basen Rakh Oran's question.
"A mage who works for the palace. His Majesty proposed it first, and I accepted."
Basen didn't dislike mages, but he wasn't entirely free from old prejudices against them.
Mazdari seemed to pick up on that and said,
"What do you think it'd be like to have a mage in a war?"
"Hm. Honestly, I have no idea."
"That's surprising. You've seen magic used a few times, haven't you?"
"But it was always for killing something. Impressive that one person can pull it off alone, sure, but if you concentrate your forces on a mage and lose them, the losses would be devastating."
Mazdari nodded in agreement, as it was a point he hadn't considered much.
Basen continued,
"Frankly, if the cost of one mage equals that of a gunner unit with similar firepower, I'd pick the gunners. Lose a mage to a single bullet, and you've lost an entire unit. With gunners, you only lose one man."
"Indeed."
Mazdari replied.
"But mages have more tricks up their sleeves."
"Like what?"
Mazdari held out his palm as if to say wait, then quickly sketched a magic circle on the ground.
Basen looked around.
Tione Itimo was checking with her sailors that no threats remained in the area, but with the manticore presumed to be the guardian, there were likely no more dangers.
Not far off, scholars peered into the ancient ruins, chattering away.
Mazdari said,
"Done. Now, this on top..."
Mazdari pulled a handful of silkworms from his pocket.
"You eat them?"
"What? No, no."
Mazdari scattered the silkworms over the magic circle. It glowed faintly, and the silkworms began wriggling.
Basen figured they were trying to escape the circle, but no.
The silkworms bent and stretched, stacking on each other to form letters.
Basen could read the silkworm script.
-Contact established with Basen.
"...What is this?"
Mazdari said,
"A sentence I made. Now watch what the next one says."
The silkworms shifted into another sentence.
-Any issues? Basen? Mazdari too?
Mazdari asked Basen,
"His Majesty is asking if everything's alright with you. How should we reply?"
Basen stammered in confusion,
"This is... His Majesty?"
"No, the silkworms aren't His Majesty."
"...I figured that much. But how does this work?"
Mazdari tapped the magic circle.
As the silkworms moved, Mazdari explained,
"It's one of the communication spells. You draw two magic circles and link them. Then control creatures on them to make them mimic the same movements. That's why we use silkworms—they're flexible and easy to carry in numbers."
"I don't follow, but it's impressive."
As Basen watched the silkworms quietly, they busily formed a conversation.
-Both are fine.
-Good. No changes to the orders...
-Understood.
The brief exchange ended.
Basen said,
"This has real value."
"You think so?"
"Strategy boils down to how fast orders get through. I'd need to think more on it, but..."
Mazdari scooped up the silkworms again.
"Glad it's useful. His Majesty wants more mages."
"Hm. Do you think that's wise?"
"I don't know. But..."
Mazdari understood Basen's concern.
"Some mages might get arrogant. If they can mimic divine power, why not play god? We'd need to weed those out in training. And our current mages would make fine teachers."
"And you?"
Basen asked. Mazdari fell silent for a moment.
Gazing at his left hand, Mazdari said,
"I had hatred. Grew up cursed, wanted to stick it to the smug ones."
"But don't you think Heukrin stole that chance? You could see it that way."
Mazdari laughed.
"Nah, not really. Not thrilled, but hatred doesn't mean I have to take it out on others."
He'd avenged his friends through the continental war.
The trolls had lost their power.
They still functioned as an autonomous state, but were just one territory in the Heukrin Empire.
His childhood pain was healing too.
Wasn't Yacheon the Descender who came to save them?
Basen patted Mazdari's shoulder and walked toward the scholars.
"Looks like you learned not just how to be a mage, but how to grow up."
"Maybe."
Over the next few days, the scholars pitched tents and continued excavating.
The finds had value, but fell short of expectations.
Seeing the large golden slab strapped to Hwesa's back, Basen said,
"Kalonba golden slab? Aren't they stacked in the Oran palace warehouse?"
Tione said,
"Not like this one."
It was a slab recounting tales of the great empire 'Kalonba,' said to have boasted a brilliant civilization before the gods departed.
The ruins seemed part of the Kalonba Empire too, proving its influence reached this distant southern continent, not just one.
Mazdari eyed the golden slab and said,
"Still, the content's intriguing."
"You can read ancient script?"
"What do you think mages use for magic circles?"
"Letters?"
Tione poked Basen's side in embarrassment.
Basen glanced sideways at the elf jabbing the imperial prince's ribs without hesitation.
Ignoring Basen, Mazdari said,
"Even I've seen the ones in Oran's palace. Those boast about Kalonba's splendor. Like showing off. But this one's different."
"How so?"
Mazdari narrowed his eyes and said,
"This describes how the Kalonba Empire fell."
Choi Seong-un peered at the golden slab with more interest than Mazdari.
He wasn't alone.
All the players gathered once the slab was fully excavated.
Wisdom rummaged through his interface, then closed it and said,
"Not in the database. Completely new artifact."
Seong-un said to Eldar,
"Eldar, what do you think?"
"Me?"
"You're the expert."
Eldar looked around at the players puzzled.
They all nodded as if it were obvious.
At some point, Eldar had become the go-to for Lost World's lore and setting.
"So, my take is..."
"Say it downstairs."
"...Yes."
Eldar hurried down the stairs to Meeting Room 1 and took the podium.
Eldar said,
"My take? It's a very important artifact."
"Why?"
"Lost World had missing links. Like when and why the gods left. Not a big deal for most players—games like this gloss over it fine."
Jangwan said,
"But not for us."
"Right. Not us."
Eldar opened a shared drawing board and scribbled away. Beautiful handwriting.
"Evil gods, theorized as ancient evils from lore like Absolute Rain and Shacha, actually showed up. Now we're facing uncertain victory conditions. Worst case, it's one big conspiracy."
Runda raised a hand.
"Question?"
"Not really, but can you give specifics?"
"Well... What if Aldin didn't bring us here just for a game? What if for something else? No reason to reward 'playing well' with godhood."
Krampus summarized,
"...So the lore gaps could be clues to the conspiracy."
"Yes. Exactly."
Eldar drew a long timeline on the board and said,
"Anyway, based on this slab, Kalonba survived after the gods left. Seemed happy about it even. But that was an ancient evil's plot, and the empire fell after. The cause this time? Fun one."
Eldar drew a mushroom cloud. Great artist too.
"Massive explosion. In Lost World, only way for that scale is..."
"Nuclear?"
Seong-un said.
Eldar nodded.
"Yes. Magic has similars, but fallout description screams nuclear war. Post-blast climate's like nuclear winter. Warmer, though."
Wisdom said,
"They call it nuclear autumn. Theory says even full surface nukes wouldn't freeze Earth—just prolonged cold, not dramatic winter."
"Probably that. Nuclear autumn. Kalonba didn't vanish overnight but declined sharply. Key? This slab's a whistleblower. Names the culprit who tricked them into nuking each other."
Eldar wrote the name.
-Ashurada.
Runda raised her hand again and said,
"That Ashurada our Ashurada?"
"Dunno for sure. But dragons have infinite lifespans in lore, so possible."
"If he had that knowledge back then, why leave his Rakshasas as is?"
"Kalonba was Earth-level civ. Dragons in lore exist within causality—no faith needed to use knowledge freely."
Seong-un said,
"Eh... Not that crucial. We'll know when we crack his skull."
Wisdom, eyeing his system window, said,
"Speaking of, good news."
"Good news?"
"Pavi Union and allies are mobilizing. Advancing with massive spiral wings."
It was exactly the news Seong-un had been waiting for.