Chapter 131, Foundation of Understanding (1)

Translator: Hedge

Editor: Lizzz

  

*Flap*

 

Euria was both the head of the Arcane Enclave and the head of Kalian’s exclusive information organization. Allan, who had been looking through the documents that Euria had handed over, opened his mouth.

 

“This is.”

 

He then closed his mouth again.

 

Allan had come to check the investigation results about the ‘black pebble’ that Kalian had asked Euria to look into.

 

‘Keep it with you. You will understand when the time comes.’

 

Those were Syspanian’s words. Whether it was as she said or not, there was no content about the black pebble found anywhere in any ancient texts. However, Euria had separately conveyed some rather interesting content to Allan.

 

Allan, who had been leaning against the sofa organizing his thoughts for a moment, asked.

 

“Did you investigate this alone?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Allan stared intently into Euria’s eyes. Seeing this, Euria asked with a somewhat tense expression.

 

“You have the face of someone who would say ‘You know too big a secret now, so die.'”

 

[Why is someone teaching kids making such an unfunny joke?] Allan’s face hardened as he looked at Euria while thinking this. But her face was not that of someone joking.

 

“Just what do you see me as to say such things?”

 

‘You’re someone who burns others to death without batting an eye.’ Euria was about to answer, but politely kept her mouth shut. She realized that among those around Kalian who knew how to use force, Allan was the one who had killed the fewest people.

 

“You are a very rational and compassionate Archmage. I misspoke.”

 

Allan chuckled and nodded at Euria, who had changed her words like this. Then he reached for the apple placed in front of him but stopped. It was because he saw that the apple’s skin was green.

 

Allan, who drank a sip of tea instead of the apple that was surely unripe, looked at Euria and said.

 

“Anyway, never speak of this matter outside.”

 

“What about to His Highness?”

 

“Not to His Highness either.”

 

Euria slightly frowned. She was reluctant to follow the instruction not to tell Kalian.

 

“Count Manasil. I do not exactly have a Master-Servant relationship with His Highness, but still, this is something His Highness had asked me to look into.”

 

[This second Kyrie…]

 

Allan clicked his tongue.

 

No matter if it was something Kalian ordered, whether it was Kyrie or Euria, they would not obediently keep quiet when told to do so for good reason.

 

Was Euria not the one who used to revere Allan like a living god? Yet now she readily voiced her displeasure.

 

“He shouldn’t know right now. I’ll tell him myself when the time comes, so you should just keep your mouth shut.”

 

“…Understood.”

 

“Don’t get involved in this matter anymore. You might really die.”

 

The title of Head of the Arcane Enclave was not for nothing. Therefore, in terms of personnel, Euria held a clear advantage over Arsene. However, knowing well what state ‘they’ had put Kalian in, she answered obediently without further argument.

 

“Yes. I’ll do that.”

 

Fortunately, at least this ‘second Kyrie’ listened better than the original Kyrie.

 

Having to consider this fortunate was so absurd that Allan unconsciously shook his head. Then he flipped the documents to the very front and began reading again from the first page.

 

“Divine Artifacts made by humans…”

 

A low murmur that could have been worry or fear flowed from Allan’s mouth.

 

* * *

 

Once, Kalian had thought this.

 

Not all Elves were bad.

 

And Rmain was now thinking this.

 

‘Why are all the Elves like this?’

 

Unfortunately, Rmain’s face remained coldly hardened, having never experienced a good Elf like Sia.

 

Were these not the Elves who not only tried to use the Third Prince of Cyries during the Roselita but also did not properly apologize?

 

An envoy of such Elves had visited to celebrate Rmain’s birthday. Therefore, Rmain did not permit their stay within the Royal Palace. He conveyed the message roughly as ‘If you really wish to stay in the Royal Palace, apologize this time and come again next time.’ Of course, this was a small detail that had not been mentioned at all when Rmain had permitted the Elves’ visit to Cyriesus.

 

In short, it could be called a big club named ‘Take back this hit that my son had received.’

 

The Elves could not immediately protest about this. It was because Rmain had kept postponing meetings using Kalian’s disappearance and the explosion incident in the Royal Palace as reasons. Thus, he was only now facing them.

 

“If you had conveyed the content to the Great Elder in advance, this matter could have ended well. Those who caused problems are now being punished according to our own rules.”

 

“Whether the Elves who caused the issue were punished or not—”

 

Since that was not the important part, Rmain answered in a cold voice.

 

“—Must I even consider it?”

 

Actually, it could be said that Rmain had endured plenty.

 

He had heard from Allan about something Kalian had not bothered to tell him. News that when he heard, he had barely managed to restrain the desire to immediately order the troops to be sent to burn down their entire forest.

 

“Tell your Great Elder to speak directly if there were any inconveniences. Of course, there should be an apology and gratitude before that.”

 

“Apology and gratitude? What should we apologize for and what should we be grateful for?”

 

“Apology for mocking a Prince of a nation. Gratitude for the Prince’s mercy in keeping them alive despite that.”

 

Rmain’s eyes gleamed coldly as he said this.

 

* * *

 

If only he had sent an attendant ahead, this would not have happened.

 

He knew it was already too late for belated regret. Yet he still had such thoughts and blamed himself because without doing so, the emotions he needed to hide seemed like they would show on the surface.

 

“Deputy Commander of Cyries’ Valkan Mage Order, Arsene Hertz. I greet the Crown Prince of Secritia.”

 

He had briefly stopped by Arpia Palace, Rmain’s office palace, to meet Allan. But hearing that Allan was absent due to something outside the Royal Palace, he was coming out of Arpia Palace when they encountered each other.

 

From memory, it was a slightly younger face with slightly longer hair. Still dignified, still polite, still coldly rational attitude. Chase briefly brought his hand to his chest. Then he forced a quiet smile and answered toward Arsene standing before him.

 

“So we meet like this.”

 

At Chase’s response, Arsene bowed his head once more. He felt that this was different from his usual greeting of ‘pleased to meet you,’ but Knight Taillan stood behind Chase without saying anything else.

 

How could he not feel resentful? How could he put it all aside and accept it?

 

Even just recalling memories of those things he had not experienced shook him this much, yet Kalian…

 

Because his thoughts would not clear, Chase briefly closed and opened his eyes. Then he stared at Arsene still standing before him and opened his mouth.

 

“Deputy Commander Hertz. I’ve heard your name often. That you’re following Prince Kalian.”

 

The eyes of Arsene, who had an expression wondering why the Crown Prince of Secritia was concerning himself with another country’s affairs, and Taillan, who had an expression thinking ‘High Highness is mentioning secrets that spies have found out again,’ briefly met.

 

After exchanging such wordless emotional eye contact with Taillan, Arsene opened his mouth.

 

“Valkan follows His Majesty.”

 

Like this, Arsene Hertz, Deputy Commander of Valkan, answered that he only followed Rmain.

 

The fact that Arsene Hertz, who used Magic well, did not back down from fights, and enjoyed explosions, only listened to Kalian’s words, technically was not content worth informing a foreign Crown Prince about.

 

Whether that served as an answer or not, Chase just nodded silently.

 

Chase, who had nearly lost his composure for a moment due to encountering Arsene without preparation, opened his mouth again.

 

“The matter related to the Queen’s Palace is regrettable.”

 

Arsene briefly bowed his head. It seemed like he had heard those words hundreds of times by now. Though he had prepared himself, he had not expected even a foreign Crown Prince to say such things.

 

“It was an old building, but you showed no hesitation.”

 

This comment from Chase was quite unexpected for Arsene.

 

Arsene looked into Chase’s violet eyes.

 

For someone who did not know the inside story, the tone was excessively relaxed.

 

“What could be more foolish than being bound only to past time and missing more important things?”

 

Therefore, Arsene answered like this.

 

He considered adding that such buildings were everywhere in Cyries, but stopped. No matter how much of an ‘Arsene’ he was, he was not the type to pick a fight with a foreign Crown Prince.

 

“I see.”

 

Chase smiled slightly.

 

Arsene had caused trouble without even knowing what the ‘more important thing’ Kalian was referring to. He smiled because he knew this.

 

The reason Chase asked such a question was because Arsene was a Mage. Chase knew well how important a place where Syspanian had stayed was to a Mage. Therefore, he wanted to check whether Arsene had brought down Heisia Palace without a moment’s hesitation just because Kalian wanted him to. He wanted to know if Arsene had that level of faith.

 

He learned that Arsene believed that if it was Kalian, he would have ordered the work for something more important than that building, and committed such an act based on that belief.

 

Chase quietly nodded.

 

‘I’m really sorry.’

 

From that day, the last words Arsene had given suddenly came to mind.

 

* * *

 

“Have you met Marquis Beurisen?”

 

Though it was a sudden question, Plants answered without even turning his head.

 

“Not yet.”

 

“Alright.”

 

The conversation between Kalian and Plants was still like this. The length of their conversation was short and the words exchanged were few.

 

Since the day Sillike had held that dagger, the Princes’ breakfast had completely ceased. Still, until then, they had been brothers who shared meals together punctually in silence, so having these few conversations was not particularly uncomfortable for Plants.

 

There was only one uncomfortable thing.

 

“Why do you keep coming?”

 

Just that his younger brother sat in front of him at every meal.

 

He let it slide for the first two days. He knew Kalian was not the type who would climb up to the 4th floor to have meals thinking of him, but since he was not unaware of the reason, he just quietly let it pass.

 

So for two days he ate meals without much complaint.

 

But Kalian kept coming.

 

“Isn’t it nice to have someone to talk to?”

 

“Barking again.”

 

At that shameless answer that did not contain even a trace of sincerity, Plants spoke in an irritated voice. Kalian, who had been peeling a banana as if he was not full even after eating all that bread, meat, and salad, waved what he held in his hand and said.

 

“Have you finished eating already? You haven’t even touched the fruit.”

 

“Stop interfering, answer.”

 

“I’ll teach you swordsmanship.”

 

Kalian answered with a smile. Without caring whether that could really be an answer to why he kept coming, he continued in a tone as if it was nothing special.

 

“You’re tall but weaker than expected. You need to eat well and grow strong enough to learn swordsmanship. That’s why I keep coming.”

 

[He just keeps on barking.]

 

That attitude of acting as if he was never given any choice from the very beginning was annoying. However, learning swordsmanship was not something Plants disliked. But, knowing that he would welcome it was also the reason Kalian was acting so confidently.

 

“Get out.”

 

“Sure.”

 

Only at times like this did he listen well, which ultimately made Kalian all the more irritating.