Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Ripples of Return
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While Ian was receiving the tremendous gift of Silver Moon Armor from the Grand Sage, Midas Alloin...
"Load it carefully!"
"Each one's an incredibly expensive scroll! If even one tears, you won't be able to cover it with that rat-tail salary of yours!"
"Hey, why do you have to be so damn strict about it?!"
The Heavenly Blaze Squad and Latent Dragon Squad had been bustling since early morning, preparing to depart Megalovria and return to the clan.
They had completed all the missions assigned by the clan, and the Mage Tower had acknowledged it.
There was no reason to linger in Megalovria any longer.
Thud!
"Phew... Ow, my back. Is that the last one?"
Crack!
Ryu An Pallkion stretched his back and wiped away the light sweat after loading the final reward item from the Mage Tower onto the wagon.
"Damn, looks like it. I wouldn't take any more even if you begged me."
"The Mage Tower lives up to its name... Their generosity is on another level."
Ralph Kalia shook his head as he gazed at the wagons lined up, stuffed to bursting with rewards.
The Mage Tower sold artifacts across the South Continent and throughout Agena.
Dealing with all of Agena, it had amassed unimaginable wealth befitting its reputation.
And just like that reputation, it showered the Martial Clan with an enormous quantity of rewards.
"With this haul, we won't have to worry about unit performance for a while... maybe even the whole year, right?"
Helena looked at the wagons with a satisfied expression.
It felt like her belly was full without eating a bite.
Of course, it was a joint mission with the Heavenly Blaze Squad, and the leader's share was disproportionately large.
Even so, she was confident no other low-tier strike squad had racked up merits like this.
"With spoils like these, we can finally get our hands on that legendary liquor back home... Heh heh..."
Ryu An clicked his tongue at Helena's dreamy expression as she stared at the wagons.
"Helena, you're a priestess, for heaven's sake. What kind of talk is that?"
"Ryu An, you're such an old fogey!"
As the Latent Dragon Squad members noisily prepared to depart...
"What's with all the racket?"
Ian joined them after his meeting with the Tower Lord.
"Hey, Leader! Where've you been? You didn't show your face all morning and now you pop up?"
"Hiding somewhere because you hate packing, right?"
As Ralph and Helena grumbled their questions, Ian tossed out a casual reply as if it were nothing.
"Oh, the Tower Lord called me in for a quick chat. I just went to see him. Oh, and he gave me a separate gift."
"......"
"......"
The Latent Dragon Squad members froze like statues at Ian's words.
"...Wait, hold on. What did you just say?"
A moment later, they snapped out of it and stammered questions at Ian.
"Hm? I went to see the Tower Lord and got a gift. Oh, and let me be clear—this is a personal gift I got separately. The spoils will be divided equally, no exceptions."
Ian nailed it down preemptively, anticipating complaints about the spoils.
Dane let out a shout at the sight of him.
"No way, you madman! That's not the point! The Tower Lord—Midas Alloin! You met the Grand Sage himself?!"
Ian instinctively stepped back at Dane's near-screeching intensity.
"Y-Yeah, that's right. But why's that such a big deal?"
'Seriously, is meeting one old geezer such a huge reaction?'
Ian had no idea.
Sure, Rozarto treated Midas with respect as his superior, but to Ian, Midas was just someone he'd synced with in the past.
Not even a proper enemy—just one of those tenacious leeches that stuck around till the end.
But that was only from Ian's perspective.
To Agena's youth of this era, the Four Heroes were objects of admiration, living legends incarnate.
If anything, they saw Ian's nonchalance toward a legend as the insane one.
"Hahaha... This guy's clueless."
"Like a pearl necklace on a pig."
"Damn, if you had any conscience, Leader, you wouldn't take any spoils this time... Gah!"
As the squad ribbed him, Ian lightly subdued Ralph, who was slyly trying to swipe an extra share.
Sophia Clonen, leader of the Heavenly Blaze Squad preparing to depart alongside them, and her vice-leader Leona watched quietly.
"...The clan will be in an uproar, Leader."
The Birch Forest expedition had gone well, so no one dwelled on it deeply, but the mission had been incredibly dangerous.
Sophia might be one of the clan's stars, but the Black Rock King was a troll that had survived against Iron Face, one of the Great Cataclysm's top monsters.
Even injured and unable to wield half its prime strength...
It had resisted to the point of wearing down its own body, making it no easy foe for the clan's young warriors alone.
'...Well, the Eldest Young Lord might be different.'
Still, if the Heavenly Blaze Squad had handled it solo, total annihilation wouldn't have been surprising.
Thanks to Ian, they'd minimized casualties and wrapped it up.
Ian, leader of the newly formed low-tier strike squad, Latent Dragon Squad.
Once the truth spread through the clan, it would surely stir a massive storm.
The evaluation of them as a decent squad that took down the Crimson Death Squad would shift to "one we must recruit at all costs."
And then...
"Leader, I don't know how this will sound..."
"No need. I think the same, Leona."
Having spent time together, they shared the same thought without words.
Right now, the Heavenly Blaze Squad held an edge over any other unit.
Beyond mere information advantage—in this moment of returning alongside Latent Dragon Squad.
Those who could build ties with Ian and his squad were none other than themselves.
"Bickering out of jealousy is for idiots with pasta for brains instead of gray matter. Someone like the Second Young Lord, rising so fast, is best walked beside for now."
"Wise words."
If you can't bring them under you, walking side by side is the next best thing.
The Lichtenauer Martial Clan was no easy behemoth one could summit alone in lofty isolation.
Even in the dead of night when all slept, the Martial Clan's skies twinkled with stars.
Under the beautiful night sky, the audience chamber of Alex Lichtenauer, leader of the Tiger Cloud Unit, remained lit long into the hours.
Today.
He'd received intelligence that the Heavenly Blaze Squad and Latent Dragon Squad had completed their Birch Forest mission and begun their return.
-The anomaly in Birch Forest stemmed from the revival of the Black Rock Tribe's chieftain, Black Rock King Attila... (excerpted)... The Second Young Lord and Sophia Clonen repelled Attila... (excerpted)... The remaining Black Rock Tribe will be handled by the Mage Tower, it seems.
...Crumple!
Alex's hand finally crushed the report paper mercilessly as he read to the end.
'...This doesn't sit right.'
Since when?
Plans that always unfolded as he envisioned had started veering off, bit by bit.
The four geniuses scrambling to catch up behind him.
Alex had seen this mission as a golden chance to utterly crush Sophia Clonen—one of those annoyingly persistent ones, if not frightening.
And his judgment had been spot on.
Black Rock King Attila.
Having traded blows with Iron Face and survived, he was a powerhouse who could claim dominion over a region even in the Great Cataclysm.
No matter that she was of the Clonen family, Sophia couldn't handle that.
'Anyone but me, and that wench Sophia couldn't possibly manage it.'
Yet the crumpled paper from the Shadow Corps flatly stated Attila had fallen, mocking Alex's prediction.
"Young Lord, in my view, this is..."
"Yes. I think so too, Jodiac."
Like his aide Jodiac, Alex saw only one possibility.
"We can't rule out Sophia cleverly hiding her true power. But I would've noticed. So, more plausibly... it's because that damn brother of mine shone."
Ian Lichtenauer.
His brother, once a halfwit used to highlight Alex's own virtues—a mere prop.
No rival, just a tool. But after the Gate Opening Ceremony, he'd changed like a different person, starting to stand out.
From the circumstances, Alex deemed it highly likely Ian had been the star.
The boy once his tool had become a pesky obstacle grabbing at his ankles in this short time.
"Wanna go all the way, huh? Hah... Fine, this is getting interesting."
After a brief flare of anger at plans unraveling...
A few breaths to calm himself, then Alex closed his eyes in thought.
Jodiac held his breath, careful not to disturb his liege's contemplation.
Alex, the Eldest Young Lord and Tiger Cloud leader, always found a breakthrough in such moments.
...Rustle!
A moment later, Alex slowly opened his eyes and asked his aide.
"Jodiac. In the Great Cataclysm frontlines, where are we being pushed back right now?"
The Lichtenauer borders rarely buckled much.
But lately, the clan's top strike squads had been heavily deployed to one area.
"...I've heard the northern front is unstable. Urgent reports of monsters following the Earth Dragon awakening from long hibernation are coming in more frequently."
"I see."
Tap, tap!
Alex pondered slowly.
Lately, the shadows he'd been weaving behind the scenes weren't coming together nicely.
The flow wasn't favorable.
'...Clinging to the same methods when things stall is foolish.'
Obsessing over a snag was third-rate behavior.
Thus, Alex drew a different solution.
"The north, eh... Yes, it's time I moved myself."
Patriarch Paon, his father, always disapproved of Alex's scheming from the shadows.
It lacked the dignity required to lead the clan like a towering mountain.
But he didn't see Alex as merely a plotting schemer.
Swish!
Alex, lightly armed, spoke to Jodiac.
"Jodiac, prepare the Tiger Cloud Unit. I'll go pay respects to the Patriarch."
When schemes kept tangling, sometimes shaking off rust and showing his prowess to the retainers was necessary.
No matter what anyone said, the Martial Clan's Patriarch was the strongest and most respected.
"Understood."
Snap!
Jodiac saluted crisply.
As he turned the doorknob to leave, he paused and asked offhandedly.
"Ah. But what about the royal invitation?"
Alex's freshly serene face twisted at Jodiac's tactless question.
"...For the clan's rightful heir, is there anything more urgent than holding the Great Cataclysm at bay? Just make an excuse and decline!"
Jodiac hurriedly bowed at Alex's rare sharp tone.
"F-Forgive my impertinence."
"......"
"Then I'll prepare as instructed."
Creeeak! Click!
In the sealed room, alone now, Alex pressed a hand to his temple as if a migraine struck.
"Ugh... Yeah, actually works out better. Time honing myself rolling in the north, and some distance from that madwoman too."
Meanwhile, it wasn't just Alex receiving reports.
"Ian defeated the troll Attila... huh..."
And it wasn't merely that.
"Heh heh heh, who would've thought that tightfisted Tower Lord would bestow Silver Moon Armor on the Second Young Lord. This is a pleasant surprise beyond expectations."
The Patriarch—no, the Patriarch and one elder knew even details Alex couldn't touch.
"Midas, that shut-in hermit, not only met the boy but handed over Silver Moon Armor."
Paon tilted his head slightly as he spoke with Nedyr.
"Curious, very curious."
Ian had chosen the black-white twin swords from the Weapon Orb at the Gate Opening Ceremony.
Its true name was the Twin-Headed Blood Serpent, a quadruple blade, but few in the Martial Clan knew that secret.
Not just exquisitely crafted—they weren't roused by just anyone.
Those haughty serpents revealed their true faces only to those who grasped their secrets and backed it with matching skill.
'I first thought he was just hiding his abilities.'
In the current Lichtenauer Martial Clan, was there anyone wielding a quadruple blade?
Even if so, could they handle it as deftly as Ian?
'And the gift from that old coot Midas is none other than Silver Moon Armor.'
Though they pursued different paths and Midas was now a reclusive outcast...
His sage's eye that pierced essences was genuine.
Silver Moon Armor.
That it went to Ian, inspired by one man's martial prowess among Midas's treasures, implied much.
'Quadruple blade, Silver Moon Armor...'
Two seemingly unrelated weapons shared a commonality.
Chains.
Paon knew better than anyone the warrior who reached Agena's pinnacle with such rare arms.
Lucas Alexei.
The only one who claimed the top with sword, saber, spear, and chains dominating Agena.
Was all this mere coincidence?
"...Looks like it's time to look into this."