Chapter 176
Of course, if he said that thought out loud, everything would spiral into chaos, so Do-Jin kept his mouth shut. He simply nodded and pretended to listen respectfully to the self-proclaimed master’s lecture.
“Did you understand me?” Sion’s long-winded sermon finally ended. She was really committed to that “ancient Archmage with a long white beard” act today. According to her, if he followed Grand Duke Tirund around just because that old fossil handed him a few presents, he might catch his old-man disease.
They are definitely not enemies.
Do-Jin honestly had no idea what the hell happened between those two or how they used to interact to get this kind of reaction. It felt closer to an old coworker or senior-junior relationship with way too much emotional baggage.
“I will keep it in mind.”
“Good. You should.”
He could practically imagine her nodding on the other side of the Magic Circle.
“Then I will take care of what you asked for.”
“Thank you.”
Sion seemed completely absorbed in playing the role of “master.” Even her farewell carried unnecessary weight. As the communication circle faded into nothing, Do-Jin stared at the empty air for a moment and shook his head.
Then he turned around. “Wait... who was that? Sion... something?”
His party members stared at him with blank confusion. They had no idea who he had been talking to or why that person had suddenly appeared.
“Elthomagia’s head,” Do-Jin answered simply.
Theresa frowned. “Elto... magia?”
Seeing her absolutely clueless expression, Tanto offered a more detailed explanation. “They are a mage order. I heard about them once when we did a quest. They are supposed to be the most powerful magic tower in existence.”
Theresa’s eyes flew wide open as she turned to Do-Jin. “You know the leader of that place? How?”
Do-Jin didn’t feel like explaining the whole story. He showed them the Elthomagia emblem he carried. “I am part of Elthomagia. She is just looking after one of her own.”
Even Theresa, who didn’t know what Elthomagia was, could tell that wasn’t the whole story. Tanto clearly thought so too, judging from the look on his face behind his mask. Only Soso, the resident spoiled heiress, reacted with a nonchalant “That could happen.”
“That aside, you said you want to handle this yourself. How are you going to do that? Is there anything I can help with?” Theresa was convinced she held a big chunk of responsibility for this situation because the whole mess started after she streamed from the Floating Continent. She kept looking for ways to contribute, but unfortunately, she had no role in this part of the story.
“You heard her. Until I know what is going on inside the Celestial See and who is worth talking to, I cannot do anything. I need information first,” Do-Jin said, then added for Theresa’s sake, “If things get too rough, I can always hide behind Elthomagia.”
He hoped it wouldn’t come to that. He tried to put his tangled thoughts in order, but the uneasy feeling wouldn’t leave.
While Do-Jin was struggling internally, Karin was still trapped inside the glowing cage Sion created, looking utterly miserable. She had been quiet, maybe because she heard the voices, but she looked like a kicked puppy.
Eventually, the Grand Duke, who had been watching the situation from afar, sent a wave of black mist that dissolved the barrier and let Karin out. Do-Jin could practically see the Grand Duke shaking his head in his study with tired eyes.
It is official. The old man is not the childish one here. The other one is the problem.
The irony was rich. The so-called monster who had long since stopped being human was, somehow, the most reasonable person among all the mages Do-Jin had ever met. The future of the magic world looked very grim.
***
A few days later, Do-Jin received a tightly bound folder that had flown through the sky. Right before it reached him, he could feel a foul-tempered wave of Sion’s mana. It was probably her irritation at the Grand Duke’s barrier interfering with long-distance spatial jumps again.
Whatever pissing match those two Archmages were having was none of his business. What mattered was that he got the information he wanted much faster than expected. Maybe it was because Sion Grace issued the order. The documents were so obsessively neat that he wondered if the people who compiled them had been ground down to the bone.
The list of individuals was perfectly organized, so tidy it bordered on pathological. Just looking at the clean layout made him imagine how many poor mages got spiritually murdered while putting this together. The top of the list, of course, explained the current situation. He didn’t remember much about the man named Hattesta. The name was vaguely familiar.
I mean, the guy died before I even started the game. Why would I bother remembering every Holy-Emperor-equivalent who rotated in and out after that?
By Do-Jin’s memory alone, he had seen three different Holy Emperors during the course of his past life, and that wasn’t counting the shift caused by Hattesta’s death.
Fine. The old man is irrelevant.
The important part wasn’t the Holy Emperor dying. It was the political implosion happening with him at the epicenter. The documents laid out the sudden collapse of the hierarchy, leaving the Holy Emperor’s faction dangerously unstable. Hattesta hated sharing power with a near-religious obsession, and that paranoia was now detonating in real time.
So the current power in the Celestial See is the Cardinal faction. These bastards were hiding under a rock while the Holy Emperor was strong. Their leader is...
Do-Jin frowned the moment he read the name, Birman.
This is where it starts? Seriously?
Right before everything had gone to hell in Lostania, the one sitting in the Holy Emperor’s seat had been Birman. Even though Do-Jin had no real connection to the Celestial See in his past life, he knew at least this much. Birman had been one of the loudest contributors to the Celestial See’s transformation into a circus full of incompetent clowns.
It made sense, given that this fiend’s cause of death had been sexual overexertion. In Earth terms, he ranked just below a literal “Holy Emperor,” yet he died huffing and puffing on top of a girl before keeling over. It would’ve been one thing if he’d died quietly inside the Celestial See. Instead, he died in an ultra-luxury brothel, and the story tore through the magic world like a plague.
According to the report, he’s a hardliner and a fanatic, and he’s the one who filed the report directly with Elthomagia. He’s not someone I can reason with.
Just reading his profile made that obvious. The bastard was an extremist to the core. The fact that someone like that died from coitus was hilarious in the worst possible way.
The magic world is not the only thing in shambles. No wonder the world was heading toward destruction. Next is the Saintess, Mariola?
He barely remembered her. Just like the Holy Emperor, the role of the Saintess rotated often, so he rarely bothered memorizing their names. Still, after digging through his memories, he retrieved one detail.
She also died from overexertion, but during a ritual.
Since she couldn’t hear or interpret the Star’s will, she forced a ritual far beyond her ability and died. They called it a noble sacrifice and martyrdom, but from a mage’s perspective, she simply overloaded her mana circuits and blew up like any exhausted novice. Even so, dying that way probably made her the most genuinely devout among them.
Below her name, a description was written.
Installed by Holy Emperor Hattesta to maintain his power. The Saintess herself possesses no political ambition. Currently in a very unstable political position due to the collapse of the Holy Emperor’s faction.
Her faith was deep, which was normally a giant minus. There was nothing more exhausting than trying to have a rational conversation with someone who genuinely believed. But someone who was politically cornered always had plenty of weak points to exploit.
If she forced the ritual not because of faith but because she was pressured politically...
That gave him something. It wasn’t just her. The entire Holy Emperor faction was suffocating. The logical group to approach was the Holy Emperor’s side.
The people who held the Holy Emperor’s seat after Birman are not listed.
That made sense to Do-Jin. Birman’s public disaster scattered the power structure everywhere, and whoever grew out of that chaos took the next seat. It wasn’t strange that none of them were notable yet.
“Seriously. I wanted to push this political bullshit to the bottom of my to-do list.”
He had no issue using his brain to learn new dungeons or game theory. This kind of problem-solving, however, felt like actual studying, and it left his head aching.
“Maybe if someone up there had given me even one skill, this would not be so damn hard. Right, Bella?” Do-Jin grumbled at the sky, though he doubted she was listening.
First step is making quiet contact with these people...
It would’ve been tough alone, but it was a walk in the park now that he could throw around Sion Grace’s name. Do-Jin flipped to the final page of the folder to see a sheet of white paper. It was an old-fashioned magical communication sheet that could transmit whatever was written on it to the other side. He took his time to write, “I want to meet members of the Holy Emperor’s faction. As quietly as possible,” then sent this request to Elthomagia in real time.
***
Saintess Mariola was anxious. She had lived her entire life as the public face of the Celestial See. Whenever there was an official event, her job was to show up, smile brightly, and say nice things. When foreign guests visited the Celestial See, she appeared there as well, carrying the title of “Saintess” like a ceremonial accessory.
But recently, those duties had begun disappearing one by one. At first, it was subtle enough that she barely noticed. Then the omissions grew obvious. Now she could clearly feel how many places were excluding her.
They are already preparing to get rid of me...
The moment the thought sprouted, it grew like a weed that refused to die. She needed somewhere to turn, but the Holy Emperor’s faction had no power left to protect her. Every member of the faction was too busy protecting their own necks to help anyone else, and she doubted a single one of them would bother sticking their head out for her. Although she also wanted to hunker down and hide, keeping her head down wouldn’t even guarantee safety for a Saintess.
In the middle of her turmoil, someone from the Holy Emperor’s faction quietly approached her with news. “Saintess, a message arrived from Elthomagia. They said a person connected to vampires is one of their Mages. They also said he is Sion Grace’s disciple.”
He added that Birman’s side was probably losing their minds, then explained Elthomagia’s proposal. “They wish to speak with us discreetly. If we agree, they will officially request mediation through the Celestial See and designate you as the mediator.”
The Saintess felt fear clutch her throat the moment she heard it. If she got involved in something that looked like defying Birman or the Cardinal faction, would they mark her for death even faster?
“Mediation or investigation, there is a lot at stake. I believe it is better to hear them out,” the Saintess concluded. “If we manage to build a connection to Elthomagia, it will never be a disadvantage for us.”
It was a polite way to say they were in no position to be picky, but the argument sounded reasonable. Even while trembling with unease, the Saintess nodded. Doing what others told her had always been her role in the first place.