Chapter 1166
“Honestly, knights! They do not understand what is important at all!”
“Grrrk. (Agreed.)”
“Please lower your voice. This is the north, and we are even in the knights’ den.”
Among the dark mages who had come here, the most moderate faction was the Kalarogard dark mages.
Of course, if House Moradi sealed off the north for them, they also intended to join while pretending they had no choice and saying, “It cannot be helped.”
If the other side was going to seal off the north for them, would it not be rude for mere dark mages like them to step forward?
As mages, they naturally had to respect the knights of the north.
“How can we persuade the head of the house?”
“To seal off the north? Would that not be impossible...?”
“This is why I said we should not invite those Kalarogard bastards! You weak, soft young fools!”
“Grrrrk. (That is true.)”
The dark mages of the Empire were broadly divided into two types.
The first were the relatively normal kind. They were timid and unsociable, and although they muttered, “Why is the dark magic school unpopular and poor?” they did not cause much harm.
They occasionally dug up graves and stole corpses or created unauthorized illegal chimeras, but considering the average mage, that was not particularly bad.
The other type consisted of those who tried to carry on the tradition and spirit of ancient dark magic. They were timid and unsociable, muttered, “Why is the dark magic school unpopular and poor?” and also caused major disasters.
If the dark mages present were divided into groups, Kalarogard and the Obsidian Magic Tower belonged to the former, while the Descendants of Ahrak and the Legion of Oondorgu belonged to the latter.
Naturally, the dark mages in the latter group were displeased with the moderate words of the former.
Even if they united and pushed more aggressively, it still would not be enough!
“Actually, the Kalarogard dark mages are right. And please do not forget that whenever you cause trouble, we are the ones who clean up after you.”
“Hmph. Who ever asked you to take responsibility?”
“Grrrk. (Exactly.)”
“Ha. Someone who would cry and beg if told to rot in an Imperial prison for the rest of their life is putting on airs...”
“S-Say that again! I may have apologized in front of Gonadaltes, but I never cried. That is a false rumor! It is a false rumor spread by Gonadaltes!”
“Kekekek. (It is funny no matter how many times I hear it.)”
“Stop! Please, everyone, stop!”
Professor Taswan, who had led the Kalarogard dark mages here, waved both arms and stepped forward, trying somehow to stop the quarrel.
Taswan was not someone who would normally be treated lightly at a gathering of dark mages, but unfortunately, the situation was unfavorable.
All the dark mages here had far more experience than Taswan.
The Legion of Oondorgu, whose members were all undead, went without saying, and the Descendants of Ahrak were all monsters who had lived for over a hundred years...
“What do you mean, stop? Are you looking down on me, you brat? It is one thing if Gonadaltes does it, but even you are looking down on me?”
“Grrrk. (How insolent.)”
“Professor Taswan. They were the ones who behaved rudely without provocation. There is no reason for us to stop.”
“......”
In the end, the dark mages continued arguing for another twenty minutes.
After insulting and criticizing one another as much as they wished, the dark mages regained their reason like proper mages and returned to the main subject.
“So sealing off the north is impossible? Really? Do all of you understand that we absolutely must make contact with that devil hag? A blockade is essential for that!”
The Third of the Descendants of Ahrak—they distinguished themselves by numbers rather than names—spoke in a somewhat calmer voice.
However, there was not the slightest wavering in the attitude.
The determination to find what they wanted, even if it meant sealing off the north, could still be felt.
The exact name of the being the Descendant of Ahrak had just mentioned was “the Wisest and Most Eccentric Devil Hag.”
An other-dimensional being whom all the dark mages currently wanted to meet, and the being most likely responsible for influencing the current disturbances in the north.
“One of the devil hag’s possessions has clearly fallen somewhere in the north. Otherwise, these monsters and phenomena cannot be explained.”
Monsters flooding in at the wrong time and strange natural phenomena.
Outstanding mages could analyze the cause merely by looking at such results.
These monsters and magical phenomena were surely connected to the devil hag, who understood every form of the most mysterious and bizarre dark magic!
...Or a fugitive dark-mage criminal was causing trouble somewhere.
The dark mages present desperately prayed that it was the former.
With the former, they could ask about the secrets and wisdom of dark magic they desired, but with the latter, they were likely to be pelted with rotten eggs by the people of the north for being fellow dark mages.
“What if an ordinary person who knows nothing finds the token and leaves for another part of the Empire? How much damage would that cause? And in the absolute worst case, another mage might obtain it and ask the devil hag about the secrets of some other form of magic instead of dark magic.”
“......”
“......”
The dark mages from the Obsidian Magic Tower and Kalarogard decided to pretend they had not heard what had just been said.
Every time they heard something like this, they felt they could understand why the people of the Empire disliked dark mages.
‘Damn it! This is unfair. I dislike that person too.’
In an attempt to change the subject somehow, Taswan forced himself to speak.
“However, everyone. Have you prepared a way to ask the devil hag a question?”
As stated before, the devil hag’s exact title was “the Wisest and Most Eccentric Devil Hag.”
Among other-dimensional beings, many of whom were eccentric and strange by nature, one had to possess a truly eccentric personality to be specifically called eccentric.
When dealing with such a being, returning the lost token would not make the devil hag say, “How admirable. Ask what you wish to know.”
Finding and returning the token only granted the right to make contact.
After that, the dark mages had to use their own skill to persuade and appease the devil hag before asking what they wanted to know.
In truth, simply being able to make contact was already an extraordinary and rare privilege.
The devil hag generally did not permit audiences with mortals.
And if it were not an extraordinary and rare privilege, the dark mages of the Empire would not have gathered here to argue over whether the north should be sealed off.
They would simply have prepared sacrifices and gone to find the devil hag themselves...
“We have prepared.”
“Grrrk. (Is that not obvious?)”
“We have prepared as well, at least.”
“...?!”
Taswan and the Kalarogard mages were flustered.
What?
‘Are we the only ones who did not prepare?!’
The reason they had not prepared was simple.
It was because of something the Skull Principal had told them in the past.
-You want to know how to ask the devil hag a question?
-Yes.
-Do not ask.
-......
-You were planning to prepare offerings diligently and gain favor, were you not?
-Yes... We were.
-Do not do that.
-......
-I am being serious. Do not do that. She would not meet fledglings like you anyway. But if you ever happen to become involved with her, behave politely and respectfully. Do not grow arrogant and start throwing questions at her. Only a mage like me kindly answers stupid questions. Not every great mage does.
-Ah. Yes. Yes.
-Say yes only once. I will place a curse on your soul that makes you sneeze every time you speak.
-...I apologize.
Separate from how unpleasant the Skull Principal was, he never gave incorrect advice regarding magic or dimensional matters like these.
That was why the Kalarogard mages had come intending only to return the token lost by the devil hag, without even considering negotiation...
When the students looked at him with confused eyes, Taswan shook his head.
“Do not allow yourselves to be shaken. Not only is there no need to prepare for negotiations before we have even found the token, but the devil hag is not a being one can meet so easily. We must first focus on finding it.”
“The brat is not only lazy but also pathetically weak.”
“Grrrk. (I do not understand why someone like that became a dark mage.)”
“Would it not be better to start preparing even now?”
“......”
Taswan suddenly wanted to forget about cooperation, storm out, and return home.
Dark mages, honestly!
“Wait. Come to think of it, did they not say guests had arrived from Einroguard?”
“Guests may arrive. So what?”
The Second Descendant of Ahrak replied brusquely.
“Could they be Einroguard dark mages? They may have arrived late...”
“No.”
“Why not? They may have changed their minds after receiving the invitation.”
“The Einroguard dark mages did not receive an invitation.”
“......”
“......”
“Grrrk. (What kind of bullshit is that?)”
The dark mages present could not hide their bewilderment at the words of the Descendants of Ahrak.
What in the world did that mean?
“Y-You clearly said that you sent them an invitation...”
“That was a lie. I did not.”
“Why in the world did you tell such a lie?!”
Taswan shouted with a grave expression.
This was not something that could simply be overlooked.
The Imperial dark mages were poor, cursed at, and occasionally fought among themselves, but compared to other schools, they cooperated rather well without deceiving one another.
And yet this person had broken that unity through such a petty method.
No matter how much one coveted the devil hag’s wisdom, this was unacceptable.
What would the Einroguard dark mages think?
“That bastard Mortum does nothing but boast about his student!”
The Second Descendant of Ahrak shouted in a furious voice.
“I definitely contacted him to inform him. But all that bastard did was talk about how impressive his student was and how comfortably he had been living lately thanks to that student. How could I not become irritated? He can stay at Einroguard and study dark magic with that precious student of his! We will meet the devil hag ourselves!”
The atmosphere instantly became solemn.
Surprisingly, the others sympathized with this to some extent.
“Grrk. (Mortum has been rather excessive lately.)”
“E-Even so...”
“Be honest, brat. You belong to a magic school too. Have you never felt jealousy boiling inside you while listening to Mortum? Have you never wondered why you do not have a student like that?”
“I have n-never! Everyone, do not misunderstand!”
Taswan quickly reassured his students.
The students standing behind him looked at their teacher suspiciously.
Had that answer not come a little late...?
***
“The head of the house will receive us soon, so everyone should rest for a while.”
Giselle said that and tried to leave first.
Then, as though something had suddenly occurred to her, she turned back and spoke to Lee Han.
“Wardanaz, do not wander around. I especially recommend avoiding contact with the knights.”
“It is not my fault that the knights are becoming stronger through Einroguard methods...”
“Moradi already left, Wardanaz.”
Lee Han grumbled as he entered the lodging.
House Moradi’s fortress, with its facilities densely arranged atop a massive, sharply rising mountain, always presented a spectacular sight to those who stayed there.
This time, however, there was no time to admire the scenery of the north.
Lee Han took the stone tablet out of his backpack.
Caten, who was sharing the two-person room with him, looked over with shining eyes.
“Are you planning to conduct magical research?”
“Ah. Yes. That is correct.”
“May I help?”
“It would be an honor.”
Lee Han had taken out the stone tablet partly to make use of his limited time, but also because he was curious.
Baquantalana was such a great mage that even Lee Han knew the name, so why had Baquantalana gone out of the way to study dark magic?
‘Wait. That was terribly rude. Senior Diret would be saddened.’
Lee Han shook his head and reflected on his behavior.
As a member of the dark magic school himself, he needed to abandon the habit of naturally looking down on dark magic.
“Could you tell me which characters here you can read?”
“Baquantalana’s... dark magic.”
“...Those are the words I wrote.”
There were few people who could not read the standard Imperial script.
“I do not believe there is anything else...”
When Caten’s ears drooped, Lee Han hurriedly shouted.
“That is all right! I will interpret it, so please watch from behind, Senior.”
Seeing Caten smile brightly again, Lee Han felt a sense of déjà vu.
‘For some reason, this feels like when I taught Gainando his assignments...’
Can... y... h... ar...
“?”
Lee Han looked around.
He felt as though he had heard a faint auditory hallucination.
Like the voice of an old woman...
‘Was it my imagination?’