Chapter 60: Welcome Back, My Lord!
"Master Sylvester!"
Fio shouted in relief when she saw who had appeared! It was Sylvester, one of the great pillars of Andura, and the man who had accompanied the great hero Verati on his journey. As one of the pillars, Sylvester had at least enough power to be regarded as a Seventh Realm High Magus, so Fio was certain that Tiran no longer stood a chance in this battle!
The realms of power had very inconsistent gaps between themselves. The gap between the First and Second Magic Realms was almost nothing, and it was easy for people to move from the First to Second Realm, but the gap between the Second and Third Realms was almost three times larger than that! And as you went higher through the realms, the gaps only continued to increase! The gap between the Third and Fourth Magic Realm was almost five times higher, and the gap between the Fourth and Fifth Magic Realm was almost ten times higher! And this pattern remained consistent until you got to the Sixth and Seventh Realms!
The gap between a Magus of the Sixth Realm and a High Magus of the Seventh Realm was so great that it was like the heavens and the earth! It was extremely difficult for a mage to go from casting SS Rank Magic to casting SSS Rank Magic, so the percentage of Sixth Realm mages who managed to reach the Seventh Realm wasn’t even up to thirty percent! The Eighth Realm was even more difficult to reach, and it was common knowledge that this realm was only reserved for people who you would refer to as geniuses! The Ninth Realm was where most geniuses would have to train for an entire lifetime while being extraordinarily lucky just to reach it!
The Tenth Realm was something most mages didn’t even talk about because they all knew deep down in their hearts that they would never reach it. That realm was reserved only for those loved by magic, and there was no need to ask whether or not you were loved by magic. Because if a mage is truly loved by magic, then the mage would know it.
So right now, even though Sylvester was only two realms higher than Tiran, the difference between them was larger than heaven and earth, so Tiran knew that there was no way he could win this battle! And that was why Tiran didn’t even bother to wait and see what would happen. The moment he realized that he didn’t stand a chance against the person standing behind him, he immediately activated a teleportation circle and vanished.
Sylvester frowned in anger once he saw this. He didn’t think that Tiran would abandon his comrades so easily! It would appear that vampires didn’t have the same level of camaraderie as the soldiers in this world! Sylvester quickly told Fio to come and take the princess from him, and at the same time, hundreds of guards arrived at the door with their weapons at the ready!
"PRINCESS!"
The guards all exclaimed in worry, but Fio just glared at all of them angrily and shouted,
"What were you all doing!? You allowed an intruder to get past all of you! Secure the hotel now! One of them is still out there!"
Fio was absolutely pissed at that moment! Even with all these guards, four vampires were still able to sneak into the hotel and almost kidnap the princess! The guards were all going to be receiving serious punishment for what happened here! The guards all studied the room quickly, and once they saw Sylvester standing there, they understood that the princess had been saved by him, and they quickly went to do as Fio told them.
"I’ll go deal with the rest of the vampires. Make sure you don’t let the princess out of your sight."
Sylvester spoke up as he turned to leave, and Fio called out quickly.
"Master Sylvester! Thank you for helping us! I don’t know what I would’ve done if they took my princess. I’ll make sure the King knows what you’ve done here."
Sylvester glanced back for a moment before shaking his head.
"I’m not the one you should be thanking. If Verati hadn’t warned me about it, I wouldn’t have known either."
Fio’s eyes widened in surprise, and Sylvester flashed out of the room before she could ask him any more questions. Sylvester was also just as surprised by what happened here today as Fio was, and the only reason why he was able to do anything about the kidnapping was because Verati had come to see him earlier that evening.
Sylvester had actually arrived in the city the previous day, and the first thing he did was go and investigate the Time Displacement Paradox that Diana told him about. The valley behind Aquinas didn’t look like there was anything there, but after using his [Magic Scanner], Sylvester was able to figure out that an army had used illusion magic to hide their camp in the valley. Sylvester quickly sent a message warning the City Guard about the vampire army, and then Sylvester left to see whether the princess was okay, since that was the main mission he came here for.
But no one could’ve prepared Sylvester for what he saw that day! Princess Vivian was using a disguise to move around the city with Verati! Verati wasn’t wearing his mask or cloak, so he was able to move around the city without anyone knowing it was him, but even in his Percival persona, Sylvester could never forget his leader’s aura!
Sylvester had been so shocked when he saw this that he nearly ran out from his hiding spot to go and meet with Percival, but Sylvester knew just how much of a commotion that would cause! Sylvester was one of the most popular mages in the entire kingdom, so if he ran to go and greet an ordinary man, then there was no way people wouldn’t figure out who Percival was! So Sylvester controlled himself, and he simply watched the princess and Percival from a distance.
The date continued all the way into the night, and Sylvester stayed for all of it, and it wasn’t until Percival and the princess said their goodbyes that Sylvester prepared himself to go and meet Percy.
"You look like you’ve been doing alright, Sylvester. That’s good."
But before Sylvester could even get down from his hiding spot on a high rooftop, he heard Percival speak up from behind him! Sylvester turned around with wide eyes, and he saw his old leader standing there with his hands in his pockets.
"Lord Percival, is that really you?"
"Really, Sylvester? It’s been ten years, and that’s the first thing you say to me?"
Percival’s cheeky attitude and dry sarcasm reminded Sylvester so much of how things had been in the past that the giant cheetah man nearly burst out in tears! Sylvester charged forward and grabbed Percy into a tight hug while lifting him off the ground, and Percival just chuckled as he patted Sylvester on the back calmly.
"I can’t believe you’re back, my lord!"
Sylvester hugged Percival tighter as he felt a surge of happiness flowing through his heart, and Percival spoke with a calm smile.
"Alright, alright, that’s enough. You’re gonna hurt yourself if you hug any tighter."
Sylvester quickly put Percival back down, and he bowed his head to Percival respectfully.
"Welcome back, my lord! It’s an honor to be in your presence once again. How was your trip? Did you find what you were looking for?"
Percival smiled, and he nodded to tell Sylvester that his trip was successful. Sylvester beamed happily, and he asked if that meant that Percival would be staying in the kingdom from now on.
"Yeah, I plan to stay in Aquinas City for now. I just got a job down at the old library, and it’s been pretty nice."