A week ago, Eward had left the Red Tower of Magic and returned to the main estate. Eugene hadn’t seen him off, nor had he held any desire to watch Eward depart. Whether that stupid eldest son would get his head screwed on straight because of this incident, or if he became even more twisted and turned into a true asshole, Eugene no longer felt the need to care about it.
That would be Tanis’ job. Since she had decided to separate from Gilead and take her son with her to her maternal relatives, she would be the one responsible for furthering her son’s education.
In any case, it was true that the Red Tower of Magic and Lovellian himself had been left in a difficult position because of this affair. Lovellian had continued to harbor Eward, despite the complaints and ridicule of his fellow wizards, only for Eward’s true ugly nature to be revealed to all the citizens of Pentagon.
Though there had already been many rumors of Eward’s poor behavior since a while back, having his crimes directly publicized instead of simply remaining as rumors had created a whole new set of problems. Thanks to Eward, a large-scale crackdown on drugs had also begun on Bolero Street, and the allowance made for the black wizards belonging to the guild and, of course, the demonfolk had become even stricter.
But the truth was that the greatest victim of this whole affair was the Lionheart’s main family. The honor that had been passed down from their ancestor, the Great Vermouth, now had sewage smeared all over it because of the fact that the eldest son Eward had tried to make a contract with an incubus.
‘I did the right thing by not having any children,’ felt Eugene.
When he had first arrived at the Lionheart Clan’s main estate, he had felt regret and had told himself that he should have left some descendants in his previous life.
But now, he no longer held such regrets. If someone calling himself Hamel’s descendant had done something as stupid as Eward…. Just imagining it was terrifying.
‘If it were me, I would have broken my coffin and crawled out of the grave to teach him a lesson.’
While thinking such thoughts, Eugene reabsorbed the mana.
“Did you come all the way here just because you were worried about me?” he asked Hera.
Hera stammered, “N-no, I mean, yes!”
“Are you saying that I’m wrong or right?”
“Although I was a bit worried… I’ve also come here because of a different matter.”
“What would that be?” Eugene asked.
“F-for now… please put on some clothes,” Hera said as she once again turned her gaze away.
It was only then that Eugene realized he was currently topless.
“Ah, sorry about that,” Eugene apologized. “As I was training, I was sweating too much.”
“I-it’s fine,” said Hera.
Thanks to that, she got to see something good. As she recalled the memory stored within her head, Hera licked her lips. She suddenly remembered a memory retention spell. A refreshing smile spread across Hera’s face as she thought about extracting this memory later on and saving it as a video.
Hera continued, “The Head Wizard asked me to fetch you, Sir Eugene.”
“Are we going up to the top floor?” Eugene confirmed.
“No, the Head Wizard is actually away from his office right now.”
“Then where are we going?”
“To Akron,” Hera revealed with a wide smile.
These words caused Eugene to smile just as broadly.
* * *
Within the capital city of Aroth, Pentagon. In the center of the five-sided shape drawn by the five Towers of Magic, there lies the royal castle of Aroth, named ‘Abram.’ Built at the heart of a great lake, Abram can not be entered without riding a boat to get there. Even the aerial carriages that fly freely in the skies above Pentagon are not allowed to get close to Abram’s airspace, and it is impossible to cross the lake with the use of magic.
This was because Abram and the lake surrounding it were completely covered by a Magic Sealing Formation.
Three hundred years ago, the Wise Sienna developed the Magic Sealing Formation as her trump card. This formation blocked the use of mana in a specific area while still allowing her own mana to be used.
The Magic Sealing Formation that covered all of Abram was offered as a gift to the Royal Family by Sienna, and even now, after hundreds of years had passed, it was still working as perfectly as ever.
They were currently at the Royal Library Akron. Its majesty did not fall short in comparison to Abram, which could be seen in the far distance. Eugene alternated between looking up at the tall clock tower of Akron and over the lake at Abram.
‘That’s just crazy,’ Eugene remarked internally.
Thanks to the fact that he had recently been diligently studying books on magic, he had reached a general understanding of magic. According to Eugene’s newly developed ‘common sense,’ it definitely didn’t seem possible to cover all of that huge lake and the royal castle within a Magic Sealing Formation.
Three hundred years ago, there wasn’t anything resembling a lake surrounding the royal castle. This lake was also part of Sienna’s gift. In less than a week, she had constructed that enormous lake and moved the entire royal castle from where it used to be into the center of that lake.
“Isn’t it amazing?” Hera pointed to Abram with a bright smile and said, “Even the Tower Masters aren’t able to use magic when they’re at Abram. The only ones allowed to use magic there are the royal family and the court wizards who have sworn absolute obedience to the royal family.”
“If that’s the case, does that mean that the Tower Masters haven’t sworn absolute loyalty to the royal family?” Eugene asked.
Hera found this difficult to answer, “Ummm… Although they have sworn loyalty, you can’t expect them to obey even the most unreasonable orders unconditionally, right? You could describe the relationship between the Towers of Magic and Aroth to be more along the lines of mutual cooperation… rather than a relationship based on fealty and obedience.”
The king didn’t have much involvement in the politics that governed Aroth.
“The ones that the Towers of Magic hold a deep connection with isn’t the Royal Palace, but rather the Parliament. Since the Royal Palace has a Court Wizards Division, the wizards of the Towers of Magic are considered the matching power base of the Parliament. However, that doesn’t mean that our two wizard organizations are in conflict with each other.”
Aroth was at peace. There was no threat of civil war, and there were no enemies outside the kingdom either.
After the end of the war three hundred years ago, the whole continent was at peace. It wasn’t like there weren’t a few civil wars or wars fought between small countries, but there had never been a war as great as the one from three hundred years ago.
“Do you want to go and visit Abram?” Hera tilted her head and asked upon seeing Eugene continuing to gaze over at Abram.
“I’m just staring because it’s so amazing,” Eugene explained. “After all, it isn’t a place I can visit just because I want to, right?”
“That’s just how it is. Because only great nobles and Tower Masters are allowed to visit Abram…. Ah, but if it’s you, Sir Eugene, you might be able to go there.”
“Because I’m a Lionheart?”
“That’s part of it, but if you do receive permission to enter Akron, you may also receive a summons from the Royal Palace. I’ve never been there myself, but I’ve heard about it from Head Wizard Lovellian,” as she said this, Hera led the way forward. “It’s not my place to tell you about it. You’ll probably hear all the details regarding that from Lovellian later today.”
Together with Hera, Eugene entered Akron. As an attraction of such significance, it should have been crowded with tourists, but the area around Akron was empty without a single tourist to be found.
This was because of the massive entrance fee. It was also impossible to approach the vicinity of Akron without obtaining prior permission. This permission also only allowed access up to the first floor. From the second floor onwards, it was impossible to even step foot in them without an entrance pass.
“Well then, I’ll be heading back now,” Hera stated.
Hera did not possess an entrance pass. Since she was unable to lead him any further, she just nodded her head at Eugene.
She encouraged him, “Sir Eugene, don’t be too nervous…. Good luck!”
“Yes, I’ll do my best,” Eugene accepted her good wishes.
Eugene grinned as he pumped his fist in response to her cheer.
This was the Royal Library, Akron. Although the Red Tower Master and the Black Tower Master may have written him letters of recommendation, the other three Tower Masters had questioned Eugene’s qualifications to earn an entrance pass into Akron.
He might be a member of the Lionheart clan left by the Great Vermouth, but no matter how great the hero’s descendants were, in the end, wasn’t Eugene just a young man without a firm grasp of magic?
Akron was not such an easy place to allow you entry with just a letter of recommendation. This was the place where Aroth’s magical history, as well as the Wise Sienna’s distilled wisdom, was kept.
“My name is Eugene Lionheart,” he declared.
He was in a spacious room on the first floor. As soon as Eugene entered, he bowed his head deeply.
Lovellian and Balzac, along with the rest of the five Tower Masters, stared down at Eugene.
But they weren’t the only ones. Both the Chief of the Royal Palace’s Court Wizard Division and the Guild Head of the Wizard’s Guild were there as well.
“Raise your head,” a voice called out.
A young man who was only a few years older than Eugene was sitting calmly amid all these giant movers and shakers of Aroth.
“Since a few years ago, your name has often reached my ears. I had hoped that I might be able to meet with you at some point, but I truly didn’t expect that we would meet in a place like this.”
Honein Abram, the Crown Prince of Aroth, smiled down at Eugene.
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