The Problematic Child of the Magic Tower
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 346: Wind and Lightning (5)
Pentarion’s gaze swept across his surroundings.
First, he saw pure white robes positioned throughout the forest—scattered everywhere, even perched atop tree branches.
The White Tower Master of level 8, three level-7 mages, and numerous level-6 mages beneath them.
“.......”
He turned his gaze.
The first thing he saw were the elite members of the Security Bureau gathered around the Black Sword, Walker Blackion.
Among them was also the level-8 Andre Bright, who served as the Chief Court Mage.
Naturally, the mages beneath him stood neatly in formation as well, dressed in the imperial uniforms.
“.......”
But none of that really mattered.
Most people would call it arrogance, but Pentarion truly believed he could put up a good fight even against them.
“.......”
Only one person standing before Andre was the exception.
Ludwig de Calderan, the Sun of the Empire and master of the continent.
Pentarion had never seen anyone who survived after going against his will.
After a long silence, he forced his dry lips open.
“Your Majesty... what brings you here?”
“A brief outing. Had you not been here, it would have been nothing more than an outing where I scolded the White Tower and left.”
Your being here is the mistake.
Having heard those words spoken so openly, Pentarion pressed his lips tightly together.
The Emperor clasped his hands behind his back and gazed at him, speaking calmly.
“I could overlook the fact that you blew up Ruan Airport out of jealousy. I could overlook that you used the Black Finger in the process. Even that you became entangled with the demon race during it... had you firmly denied knowledge of it, I might have been willing to overlook that as well.”
That was the very limit of how far the crimes of the Yellow Tower—who had rendered great service over many years—could be buried.
Hoo.
Ludwig let out a faint sigh.
Even his face, which was always cold and rational, now carried an unmistakably human expression that seemed to ask why did you do it?
“But the crime of betraying your allies and attacking them before the declaration of the end of the war, attempting to sever the lineage of a mage tower, cannot be overlooked so easily.”
Because it was not a matter that could be treated lightly.
At the time, it had weakened the Empire’s greatest military power—an act of betrayal not much different from treason.
“Yellow Tower Master, Pentarion Ereus. Hear this.”
The Emperor delivered his judgment in an utterly solemn voice.
“The price of that grave crime will be decided by the Supreme Court. The criminal shall wear mana-sealing shackles and quietly await the day of judgment.”
“.......”
Pentarion tilted his head back.
His hollow eyes stared up at the pitch-black night sky.
His head throbbed as if it would split, unable to figure out where things had started to go wrong.
‘So in the end... the White Tower.’
The past deeds he committed out of hatred for them had been exposed because of the present deeds he committed out of envy toward them.
Truly, from one to ten, they were nothing but useless bastards.
“Heh.”
Swallowing a dry laugh, Pentarion closed his eyes and sank into deep thought.
And when he lowered his head again, he faced the Emperor with the same emotionless eyes as always.
“Your Majesty, may I dare to say a word?”
“...Whatever you say right now will likely anger me, but I will hear it.”
“First, regarding the matter of Ruan Airport—it was a move made for the sake of the Empire.”
Ludwig’s eyebrow twitched.
“That act of terror was for the Empire?”
“One must keep friends close and enemies closer. I intended to form a friendly relationship with the Black Finger, infiltrate their ranks, and ultimately reveal the identity of their leader.”
“Hah. So you’re saying you foresaw the future twenty-one years ahead and staged Isel’s death in the middle of a war?”
“That is a separate matter. I also believed he was dead. But when he later returned alive... to be honest, I became greedy. I thought he could be someone who would handle the filthy and dark tasks in my stead. I will admit that I was greedy in that regard.”
Appropriate admissions mixed with stubborn denial.
At Pentarion’s shameless maneuvering, the Emperor asked in an unyielding voice.
“Do you have proof?”
“Your Majesty, as you know, such matters must not leave even the smallest speck of evidence.”
“So you have no means of proving your words.”
“Would not the achievements I have accumulated as the master of the Yellow Mage Tower support them? I have always lived for the endless prosperity of the Empire.”
The Emperor opened his mouth with an expression of disgust at that wordplay.
“We will discuss that matter separately later. And there seems to be one misunderstanding—you are not being arrested because of the airport terror, but because of your attack on the White Tower. Surely you do not have something to say about that as well?”
As if to say, Even if you had ten mouths, how could you possibly justify that?
Under that silent pressure, Pentarion nodded.
“Of course.”
For a brief moment, everyone showed confusion at that confident expression.
Then Pentarion made a bold request.
“Please turn a blind eye just this once.”
“...Ha, what?”
“I asked that you turn a blind eye just this once.”
“Do you think that’s possible?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
He frowned as if he truly could not understand.
“As Your Majesty knows, I am a level-8 archmage. One of the three greatest mages in the Empire, and the master of the Yellow Mage Tower. Would it not be a great loss for the Empire to lose me? Moreover, in the north a new Demon Emperor is uniting the demon race—even if they declared war today, it would not be strange.”
“...Ha.”
Ludwig let out a hollow laugh at the audacity.
But his expression soon hardened, and he spoke in a far colder voice than before.
“Pentarion Ereus, answer me. What is the difference between us and the demon race?”
“They follow the law of the jungle. The words of the strong become law. Even if the strong make mistakes, they pass without consequence.”
“You know well.”
Ludwig said firmly.
“But this is the Empire. They follow strength rather than law and ethics, while we humans follow law and ethics before strength. That is the greatest difference.”
“...Perhaps it was precisely because of that decisive difference that we were losing the war.”
“What did you say?”
That remark sounded as though it could shake the very foundation of the Empire and defend the system of the demon race.
Pentarion continued speaking.
“Your Majesty, I too understand that the law and ethics you speak of are the pillars that support the Empire. But when war actually broke out, did those pillars protect us?”
The forest fell silent.
The hands of the Security Bureau knights unconsciously moved to their sword hilts, and the mages began warming up their circuits.
To them, those words sounded like treason—or sophistry.
Yet Ludwig only calmly looked at Pentarion.
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
“Your Majesty, at the very least, you must show leniency to someone like me.”
Ssss—hoo.
Ludwig released the breath he had been holding.
With eyes full of disappointment, he glared at Pentarion.
“How much, until when, and to what extent must I show leniency! Do you not think I have endured enough already, and that you have crossed far too many lines?”
“.......”
Pentarion remained silent.
His emotionless face, revealing nothing of his thoughts, looked as though he did not agree with those words at all.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Weary of that attitude, Ludwig opened his mouth.
“That is enough. Make your detailed rebuttal at the Supreme Court. Take him away.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
A knight of the Security Bureau bowed his head and approached Pentarion holding mana-sealing shackles.
At that moment, a fierce surge of mana rose up, threatening the knight.
“Remove that. How dare such a trivial thing attempt to shackle me without fear.”
“Yellow Tower Master.”
“Your Majesty, there are many eyes watching. Will you truly have such a trifling creature humiliate me by placing shackles on me?”
“...Then perhaps this would be better.”
The Emperor strode forward, snatched the shackles from the knight’s hands, and approached Pentarion.
Startled, Andre hurriedly stepped in front of him.
“Your Majesty, isn’t that too dangerous?”
“It’s fine. At the very least, he will not cross the final line.”
When the Emperor personally brought the shackles, the Yellow Tower Master finally extended both hands politely.
Letting out a breath as if he had laid everything down, he asked:
“...What will become of me now?”
“As I said earlier, you will face the judgment of the law. Even if it does not go so far as execution, you will have to step down from the position of tower master.”
Step down from the position of tower master.
Pentarion’s eyes grew complicated.
Looking at the Emperor, he spoke one final time.
“Your Majesty should not do this to me. Even when the demon race secretly offered me naturalization, I rejected it out of loyalty to Your Majesty.”
“Did you?”
At that indifferent attitude, Pentarion’s eyebrows twitched.
But before he could say anything, Ludwig spoke first.
“The previous White Tower Master received the same offer dozens of times a day and did not even pretend to hear it. Even when the front lines were collapsing and rumors that the Empire would lose the war had spread throughout the streets.”
At those words, the Yellow Tower Master pressed his lips tightly shut.
At the same time—
Clack!
A shackle snapped shut around his right wrist.
Because of the shackles that sealed the flow of mana, half his body stiffened as if paralyzed.
“Pentarion Ereus. Quietly accept the judgment of the law.”
Just as the Emperor reached for the remaining wrist to place the other shackle—
Pentarion, who had been staring at it, suddenly pulled his free hand back.
“...What do you think you’re doing!”
When the enraged Emperor shouted, Pentarion replied quietly as if possessed by something.
“Your Majesty, it seems I may have been thinking somewhat incorrectly.”
“What?”
“It appears I valued power a little more than convenience.”
Now that losing it was all but certain.
The weight on the scale in Pentarion’s mind tipped to the opposite side.
“Then now that I am certain to lose that power, is there any reason for me to remain in the Empire?”
The moment those words ended—
Flash!
A blinding light burst forth, bright enough to steal everyone’s sight.
As the lightning bolt falling from the pitch-black sky was engraved upon Ludwig’s upturned retinas—
“Your Majesty!”
Oscar, folding space, hurriedly snatched his body away.
KWA-RRRRR-RRR-BOOM!
The tearing thunder roared a beat later as Oscar and Ludwig rolled across the ground.
“Gweh—!”
Having taken the lightning with his bare body, Oscar vomited blood and fragments of shattered organs.
He had defended with magic, but the difference in sheer level between them had been far too great.
‘What about the old Emperor?’
Even amid the chaos, Oscar forced himself to stay conscious and looked toward the Emperor.
The Emperor, already unconscious, had his entire left arm charred black.
“Damn... it...”
Considering Oscar himself had high mana resistance and ended up like this, it was almost inevitable.
The fact that he survived at all was fortunate.
But even that was not a stage where they could feel relieved.
“Mad Fiend! Stop him from removing the shackles!”
At that shout, a black wind sliced across the field of vision.
KWAANG!
In an instant, the Mad Fiend crossed the distance through space and grabbed Pentarion’s left arm, clinging to it.
“Let go, trivial thing.”
KRRR-RRR-BOOM!
Pentarion lightly stamped his foot.
With a lightning strike created using only half of his mana circuits, the Mad Fiend was blasted away.
“Kill him! It’s a rebellion!”
“Protect His Majesty!”
Of course, all kinds of attacks immediately rained down upon Pentarion’s head afterward.
“Curtain of Thunder.”
A dome-shaped barrier spreading out from Pentarion blocked every single attack.
Inside it, Pentarion calmly tore off the shackles on his wrist.
Clang—the heavy shackles fell to the ground.
“.......”
“.......”
Looking over the crowd filled with anger and tension, the Yellow Tower Master, Pentarion Ereus, slowly opened his mouth.
“I will show you. Just how futile those pillars called law and ethics are when faced with overwhelming power.”
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]

Comments

Loading...