Chapter 110
「We’re looking for a Matap event hero! Conqueror of the Secret Chamber! Archmage’s apprentice (planned)! Contact us now!」
The advertisements scattered by Matap covered the entire ecliptic. It turned the ecliptic upside down.
She could have gotten caught just yesterday, but she somehow managed to escape thanks to the clutter of the tower, as all the wizards of the Sky Tower descended on the place.
Then there was this ridiculous amount of flyers looking for her.
Aggro everywhere, so much so that even Mehen, who has no interest in such gossip, was intrigued.
“You won the lotto.”
“Did I?”
“That’s life-changing, and whoever it was, I’m sure it was good, but why did you hide?”
‘Because I don’t want to change my life.’
She just wants to be healthy, and she doesn’t want all this undeserved attention.
‘I must never let anyone know it’s me.’
Nervously, she stares at the front page of the Albrecht Times in Mehen’s hand, then looks down.
“He’s going out later.”
Breakfast time.
She nodded as she ate another well-balanced, healthy meal.
“The twins are taking me to see the auction house.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem if Sperom introduces you. I’d love to go with you…”
“I know, mom’s busy.”
Mehen smiled serenely. He looked like he had a lot to say.
“It’s really okay, it’s not just the twins going, Aaron and Pession are going too.”
“Well, I guess more is better.”
Mehen nodded.
“If there’s anything you want to buy, feel free.”
“Oh. Is that okay?”
“It’s not like it’s Arel’s fortune to spend.”
He smiled sweetly, and she laughed along with him. They laughed for a while, and then her gaze fell to the empty seat.
“But where’s my dad?”
Mehen shrugged with a vague expression.
“He seemed busy, looking for a singularity or something…”
“Singularity?”
“Yep. He’s been summoned to the Imperial Palace now.”
“Aha.”
Come to think of it, she thinks she saw the Emperor’s chamberlain coming out of the palace a couple of days ago, grabbing her father by the hem of his clothes and begging him to leave.
She’s sure it’s nothing. He’s not a child.
***
“The Great Steed of Lake Sharit has disappeared, and as far as we can tell, another ten or so sealed steeds have vanished without a trace.”
“Are you saying that the number might be higher if we count the other estates and provinces?”
“If the Great Demonic Beast Sealing Circle is in trouble, then there must be something wrong with the Imperial Palace’s crystals involved, but the Imperial Palace’s crystals are not affected?”
“Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the imperial circle was breached on the first day of the founding international.”
The imperial family had even set up a countermeasures center to deal with the anomaly.
“The only thing missing is the horse. It’s not like someone ate it, but does that make sense?”
At a time of festivals and auctions, the lack of security was devastating.
Emperor Edward shook his head.
“I was wondering why a big shot like the Archmage had suddenly popped up, but there was something going on under the water. I thought it was because of the last imperial court affair.”
He added one more thing.
“Look at this, too. There’s a letter from the Matriarchy asking for cooperation in the investigation.”
“Cooperate with what?”
“Mages are going missing, I don’t know the details, but it’s happening in other kingdoms, and they’ve even locked down some of the towers.”
“For the time being, I’ll be patrolling with the guard.”
Emperor Edward’s expression softened at the Duke of Mubisk’s reply.
The one man who had been dragged into the room, Valar, stood silent and unmoved by the bustle of the room.
Emotionless eyes scanned the report, but all that was running through Valar’s mind now was an anomaly.
‘What could it be?’
He’d searched all of Halbern’s secret libraries and found no information on the anomaly. This meant that it had not been observed in Halbern.
Nevertheless, Valar had a sneaking suspicion that something was changing.
‘Has anything like this ever happened before at this time?’
No.
‘Have wizards ever behaved this way before?’
No.
These were all new events. Nothing he had ever seen or experienced before.
Ah, that’s a bit of a contradiction in terms.
‘New, la…’
Rolling his tongue over the fresh sensations, Valar tugged at the corners of his mouth and smiled languidly.
At some point, Valar had been dreaming. It was a side effect of his powers.
Dreams of the past, present, and future that never existed, coming to him like lost memories.
The beginning of each fragmentary memory is always the same. When he receives a newborn child, Arellin, from his sister.
“Her name is Arellin.”
As if the naming was a trigger, Valar always returned to that moment and broke down in the same way.
Arellin dying, Mehen leaving, himself wandering and falling apart.
His childish vow to save his poor sister had morphed into an adult vow to save his sister’s daughter.
The purpose was a revelation, a gospel, and like faith, it was without reason. In the rush of memories, he always blindly tried to save Arellin.
He never succeeded.
No matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he struggled, no matter how much he changed the little things, the big picture remained the same.
Perhaps it was the learned helplessness and despair that had been burned into his brain as he repeated the act, that this future would not change, that this was his fate, ordained by the gods.
‘How different.’
In truth, Valar knew nothing of his daughter.
Arellin lived longer when he was away, and when he saw her again, she was always dead.
This was actually his first time being a real father. It was also the first time he realized that she had ‘the gift’.
[Your daughter’s fate is already written, accept it].
Eventually, he remembered the words of a dragon whose name he can’t remember.
Valar had been imprisoned in the northern castle partly to capture the dragon’s minions and partly to seal a deal with the dragon.
The most powerful creatures on earth, he thought they might know something.
[Your power will not change anything, mortal].
Faced with the curse-like words of a race of immortals who refuse to speak to humans, Valar made a choice he rarely makes.
It’s crazy to antagonize dragons, after all.
Still, it’s a dragon heart, so maybe feeding it would be different?
It’s a superlative realm.
The result was a failure, but he was unmoved.
Things were better in the here and now than in any of his dreams.
“Valar.”
The sound of his voice calling him snapped him out of his reverie and brought his purple eyes back into focus.
“What do you think?”
“I don’t know.”
Suddenly, they were alone in the conference room.
He lowered his gaze to Valar’s, dull and languid as ever.
“Send Idikels.”
A suggestion that might spill the beans on whatever was on Matap’s mind.
“He’s in the Empire, because of you.”
Emperor Edward made a face.
He was just resentful that he hadn’t been able to utilize his mastery of negotiation and diplomacy in time.
“Regent Locke’s eyes and ears are on you, and you’d better be careful.”
“Careful, me or him?”
Emperor Edward shrugged.
“You have no intention of reconciling with the Regent?”
Valar smiled. It was a dazzling, brilliant smile, and Emperor Edward nodded shakily.
‘I see.’
With an uncontrollable sigh, Emperor Edward pulled out something.
An urgent dispatch from the Duke of Idikels.
“Regent Locke has not been seen for several days.”
Valar’s expression hardened.
“If he’s moving so stealthily, he can only have one destination, right?”
