The Age Of Arrogance

“It’s quite a splendid greeting for guests, but this is the last straw the High Priest has prepared.”

 

Carlyle nodded at Asha’s subdued voice.

 

“Of course. Even the abandoned lands don’t infinitely produce barbarians.”

 

“I’ve thought about that magic circle several times since ‘that day’ at Pervaz Castle.”

 

Asha deftly dodged the axe swung by an approaching barbarian, thrust her sword into its back, then swiftly returned to Carlyle’s side.

 

“Such a thing must require a considerable amount of magical power. Whether it’s something Gabrial has or he’s utilizing someone else, there must be a source of this magic.”

 

“How did you know that?”

 

Carlyle asked after handling two monsters and two barbarians.

 

“I asked the elders of Pervaz. They’re like living libraries, the right people to ask.”

 

Having recovered, Asha convened the elders of the territory to the castle to ponder over the identity of the magic circle.

 

Living near the border of the abandoned lands, they were quite knowledgeable about magic and sorcery, and they echoed similar sentiments.

 

[It seems like an incredibly powerful mage. And it looks close to dark magic.]

 

[It’s difficult to wield such power within oneself. There must be a source of magic, like a magical stone or something.]

 

And at the mention of “dark magic,” Asha’s eyes flashed.

 

“Though it’s known that the only way to rid someone of magic is to expel it with divine power…”

 

Carlyle abruptly turned and struck down a barbarian charging towards Asha.

 

Though blood splattered on her hands and arms, Carlyle paid it no mind. Asha felt a chill at what she was about to say.

 

“A dark mage may absorb magic as a means of treatment.”

 

Silence fell around them.

 

Gabrial had claimed he could perform divine healing, but even if he were a dark mage, he could have healed Asha. And that was even more unsettling.

 

“A devotee of the gods… dabbling in dark magic?”

 

“It’s not certain, of course. But he admitted it himself. That it was his doing.”

 

“Whether he himself is a dark mage or at least commands one under him. The High Priest is dabbling in demonic powers…”

 

Suddenly, the memory of Gabrial trying to label him as “Karakash’s servant” came to mind.

 

‘He had easy access to Karakash, being so close by.’

 

It was absurd and horrifying.

 

Even more horrifying was the thought that the depths of the crazed Gabriel Knox might not end here.

 

“Be cautious. He might hold a grudge against you.”

 

“His grudge wouldn’t be greater than mine. Never.”

 

As Asha replied, she moved away from Carlyle and resumed cutting down the barbarians.

 

No matter how many she cut down, her anger didn’t dissipate, and Carlyle’s unease only grew with each passing moment.

 

* * *

 

Gabriel looked at the black magic circle he had moved into the palace.

 

‘It was worth it to have been steadily gathering strength all this time. No mage in history would have been able to create a magic circle of this level.’

 

The war waged by the Igram tribe did play a big role, but he also sacrificed his life whenever the opportunity arose.

 

Most of them were believers who came to the ‘Prayer Meeting for the Poor’, and he often sacrificed his own errand boys and servants.

 

The first victim was the errand boy who buried the dove he had killed with black magic. He was an orphan, so no one would have looked for him if he died.

 

The beginning was difficult and he was caught on, but once he succeeded without being suspected, everything was easy from then on.

 

‘The problem is how to use this power.’

 

If he wanted to, he could take over the palace as a powerful black mage.

 

However, Gabriel had never wanted such a thing. All he wanted was to establish the Holy Empire that would glorify the holy name of God.

 

And he had to sit on the throne as a perfectly holy servant of God.

 

In other words, he had to use this power only as a tool, and at the same time, he had to make sure that no one found out about it.

 

‘How should I use it…? A way to deal a fatal blow to Carlyle while making people admire me more than anyone else……’

 

As he pondered and stroked the pendant of the Tree of Wisdom, he suddenly thought of the Tree of Wisdom hanging in the prayer room of the Pervaz Castle. He also thought of Asha’s side profile as she looked at it.

 

Asha with her black hair that seemed to melt the night, and the black magic circle that seemed to burn black.

 

He thought they seemed to go well together.

 

“Yes……. She is the one whom Libato led me to.”

 

TL/N: Bruhhh… give her a break?!!!

 

A vessel that fits perfectly, to be infused with black magic and made to look like the incarnation of Karakash.

 

She already possesses great power, so if he were to add black magic to that, no one would be able to stop her. Except for Gabriel, the master of black magic.

 

‘I will use the magic-possessed Countess Pervaz to kill Carlyle, and then use everyone’s fear of her as a pretext to establish the Holy Empire.’

 

Of course, there was no such thing as a zero percent chance of failure.

 

If Carlyle used his ability to eliminate Asha, it could also lead to an increase in people’s loyalty to him and an image of him being chosen by God.

 

However, Gabriel shook his head after thinking carefully.

 

‘In any sense, Carlyle thinks of her as special. So if the countess possessed by magic rushes at him, he can’t help but hesitate.’

 

Because of that hesitation, Carlyle would die at Asha’s hands.

 

‘And then I’ll show up when she’s going berserk and stage a scene where I subdue the demon with the power of God.’

 

Gabriel smiled with satisfaction.

 

It was a surprisingly perfect plan for something that had come up in such a short time.

 

‘I’ll have to set a trap and lure Asha Pervaz in.’

 

He began to draw a magic circle on one wall of the room he was standing in.

 

* * *

 

“Asha! Asha!”

 

Following behind Asha, who fought with a ferocity as if possessed, Carlyle called out to her desperately.

 

No matter how loudly he called, she didn’t turn back, so he leaped ahead of him and swiftly dealt the surrounding savages.

 

“Your Highness…?”

 

Asha, who almost hit him, looked at Carlyle in astonishment.

 

“Finally, you look at me.”

 

“What on earth are you talking about?”

 

She frowned, halfway spitting out a curse.

 

Sweat-soaked strands of hair clung to her cheeks as she breathed heavily.

 

“I’ve been calling for a while.”

 

“Ah… I didn’t hear.”

 

“Well, seems like it.”

 

Carlyle sighed, roughly wiping his sword on a dead savage’s clothing.

 

“I understand you might be feeling a certain way, but please take care of yourself.”

 

“My feelings… do you know them?”

 

Carlyle realized he made yet another arrogant mistake in his words.

 

Despite losing numerous subordinates on the battlefield himself, he couldn’t understand Asha’s feelings, not even by claiming he did.

 

“Let me correct that. I can’t gauge your feelings, but please, preserve your life.”

 

“I’m not risking my life recklessly.”

 

The path she had taken was littered with the corpses of savages and monsters. Surely, she seemed entitled to speak so confidently.

 

But Carlyle’s anxiety was at its peak.

 

“If Decker saw, he’d probably slap you and drag you away, no matter what state you’re in now. Do you know how you look from behind?”

 

“What do you know?”

 

Carlyle, about to say she looks like someone who’s thrown everything away and wants to die, found himself speechless.

 

Asha wasn’t oblivious to what Carlyle was trying to say.

 

“We made a promise.”

 

An earnest voice slipped out unintentionally. But Asha, seemingly indifferent, merely clenched her teeth with no response.

 

“You promised with your father’s name. Are you going to tarnish Amir Pervaz’s name?”

 

“I wouldn’t… do that.”

 

“Or is a promise with someone like me not worth keeping?”

 

“Someone like you? I’ve never thought of you like that.”

 

Asha answered sullenly, and a monster rushed in from the side.

 

Carlyle pulled out the dagger that was hanging from the barbarian’s waist and plunged it into the head of the flying monster. His expression was full of annoyance that the conversation had been interrupted.

 

“You’ve never been in love? But that’s what you’re doing.”

 

“I don’t think this is the time to be arguing about this.”

 

“It’s important to me.”

 

It was important. It was more important than anything else.

 

Carlyle, who realized that Asha Pervaz was holding his heart, felt a chill run down his spine at the sight of Asha recklessly jumping into the enemy lines.

 

And Asha was a little confused by Carlyle’s behavior.

 

‘Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?’

 

Wasn’t his role already over?

 

Carlyle had said that it would be better for people to see her alive until the end of the contract, but dying here wouldn’t be so bad either. It would also make his remarriage more clean.

 

‘Of course, I don’t plan on dying here.’

 

To be honest, she had actually thought that ‘if I can only get revenge, I don’t mind dying.’

 

But that thought disappeared after she saw that Gabriel had drawn the same magic circle here as the one at Pervaz Castle.

 

[Do you think I’ll let it fall to the will of such a despicable human?]

 

Sometimes, anger may be the most effective cure for apathy.