Chapter 154
There was a commotion in the mansion today.
“What’s wrong?”
Yuni asked as she took a pill, and Lena, who was organizing her books next to her, answered.
“Apparently, the wizards are here today.”
“Wizards?”
“Yes, His Excellency is entertaining them.”
“Really?”
What reason would a wizard have to come to Halbern?
She shook her head, then stopped in her tracks as a thought flashed through her mind.
‘Is he looking for me?’
She remembered playing in front of the rampaging wizards, though it was buried by the kidnapping. And their reaction.
‘They must have realized I have Ethel.’
So much had happened that she’d forgotten, and now the wizards were looking for her with flyers.
“Oh, how I owe you.”
When will there be peace in her life?
Poof.
“Ethel, it’s because of you.”
While she was closer to the truth than anyone else, Yuni and Lena made their own guesses at the reason for the wizards’ visit, based on the limited information they had.
“Since the famous mages of the Sky Tower are here, I wonder if it’s about your health?”
“Ah, yes, the mages of the Sky Tower might know something about your illness.”
“Uh, do they…?”
Arellin looked at Yuni and Lena’s beaming smiles, full of hope, and stammered, “I don’t think so,” she replied.
Besides, she already has a jack-of-all-trades in her hands.
[Cooldown until next question: 11 days, 20 hours].
The next question was preordained.
She is going to ask about the information she was blocked from when she asked ‘how to live longer’ before.
‘I’m also curious about the remaining lifespan.’
By simple math, it would be about [D-482], but for some reason, she felt that being knocked out would have an effect.
Because it really hurt when she fell down.
“I hope you wizards can figure something out!”
“Right, Lady?”
***
‘They said that somehow things get easier!’
Hege, a star wizard, a five-star elder among elders, broke out in a cold sweat at the crisis that greeted her upon arrival at Halbern Mansion.
“So, why are you looking for my daughter?”
They had come to the tiger’s den to catch a tiger, and now something worse than a tiger threatened them: a hundred-year-old imugi.
‘I forgot.’
A single Star Mage of the Sky Tower was usually treated like the ruler of a kingdom.
There were a hundred such mages.
Mages who had never been treated with respect anywhere before had rushed in without a second thought.
But they had something to say, too.
The hope that they could finally throw off the shackles of doom they’d been stuck in since they’d been chosen by the stars. How could they not?
“Why do you want my daughter?”
He’s clearly smiling,
Why does he get a chill down his spine when a perfectly sculpted beauty that can be seen from the sky tower is smiling at him…?
“Is everyone’s mouth glued shut, why no answer?”
The wizard Hege drooled.
How had he forgotten, Halbern…
“Or are you hiding something you don’t want to tell me?”
That their nemesis lived.
“Not that, not that…”
Of course it is.
To a wizard, the Gifted are their natural enemies.
It’s a little-known fact that the Tower of the Sky and Halbern have never been at odds, but mages have an instinctive aversion to the Gifted.
‘They are the only ones who can interfere with magic.’
In essence, magic is a discipline that has been organized over a long period of time and manifests phenomena with laws and rules.
On the other hand, psychic powers were forces that had not yet been identified and could be manifested without laws or rules.
In other words, while wizards spend a long time exploring and paving the way to a certain “destination,” psychics teleport you there.
How a power that can bypass the process and summon a specific outcome at the push of a button?
‘And Halbern is the head of the Gifted.’
On top of all that, the Gifted could influence magic. Which meant they could interfere with magic.
Naturally, the lesser wizards cringed like rats in poison.
‘Damn it, we’re in trouble.’
‘Why is Archduke Halbern here? Shouldn’t he be on the border?’
‘I don’t know, I don’t know!’
For when all the Star Wizards were confused, there was one Star Wizard who was confused in a different way.
The red-haired Robert looked at Valar with a bewildered expression.
‘How is that man still alive?’
‘He was the man I met at the Imperial Palace at the Founding Ball. I went bareback into the Otherworld to pay my respects to the deceased.’
The man was alive.
And he was the Archduke of Halbern?
‘No wonder he’s alive.’
As Hege and the other wizards of the Star Wizards ponder whether they should return to Valor’s power.
One of the mages took something out of his arms.
“*Searching for someone*!
We’re looking for the mastermind of the Matriarch Event, the conqueror of the Chamber of Secrets, and the Archmage’s apprentice (planned), contact us now!”
The very same flyer that had once caused the streets to buzz!
Hege’s eyes immediately lit up.
“That’s right, Your Excellency, we’re here because your daughter is the heroine of the Matriarch Event, the Conqueror of the Chamber of Secrets, and we have a duty to raise Halbern Youngest to be a mage of some consequence!”
“Right, right!”
Valar’s eyes rolled back in his head.
“Funny, more of that.”
“Your daughter must have used her exceptional magical powers to break through the enchantments on the tower and enter the secret chamber, a talent that comes along only once in a thousand years…”
“To the point.”
Valar pulled a smile at the corner of his mouth at Hege’s desperate pleading.
“Uh, the point is…”
“I don’t think that’s really why the Sky Tower moved.”
Hege crossed his arms and stared lazily at Valar, and realized.
‘You know all about it, you bastard.’
Halbern was like a ghost, or something.
How in the world he knew the wizards’ oldest secrets was beyond him, but there was no point in talking back.
In the end, the wizards went first.
“Does the Archduke know anything about the power of purification?”
“A little.”
“We have come to seek it out.”
“I see.”
Hege’s eyes gleamed sharply.
“I must ask you something first. Is the power of purification one of Halbern’s?”
“No.”
“Then…”
“There is no such pure and cute talent in my family’s bloodline.”
So you’re saying that there are plenty of powers that aren’t pure and cute?
Hege stopped thinking. The thought alone was terrifying.
“I’ll be honest with you, the Sky Tower needs Lady Arellin.”
“What are you going to do with my daughter?”
“That, of course…”
“You don’t think I don’t know about the mage clan?”
The star wizards drooled.
Several of the stabbed Star Mages winced.
‘Actually, if I had the chance, I’d like to research the Purifying Power…’
‘Probably not.’
A rare opportunity to see mages, who were always the favorites, squirm in absolute submission.
Valar’s mouth twisted in a slow smile.
“I like my daughter.”
“…?”
Of course you do.
“So if she gets hurt, or sick, or anything, I honestly don’t know what I’d do.”
Is this… a threat?
“I want to stay on good terms with Mr. Matap. I have a great deal of respect for the archmage.”
That’s not a respectful attitude!
The mages’ eyes twitched. There were many things they wanted to say, but they desperately stuffed them down their throats.
“Of course you do.”
“Haha.”
“… We just need to avoid the runaway.”
The star mages who had come this far all belonged to the healthy axis. Those who were truly at risk of running away were quarantined in the highest part of the Sky Tower.
And there is one thing that makes their minds even more urgent…
Hege admitted to himself that he had been too impatient, but he promised Valar.
“I will endeavor to ensure that no harm comes to Lady Arellin.”
Valar shook his head as he wordlessly scanned the faces of the mages, who were appearing more low-key and eager.
“Not just try.”
His dark purple eyes flashed eerily, like the eyes of a predator upon its prey.
“It is the way of man to repay a favor when it is done.”
That’s true, that’s obviously true, so why does it sound so different…?
“So, what do you have to offer?”
There was silence.
Blinking and sweating, the wizards tried to make sense of what was going on.
He mean, now.
‘… Are we getting ripped off?!’
