Chapter 86 - A Wrong Encounter (3)
“Mmm? Did I leave the fire on at home?”
“My wife is nearing the end of her pregnancy. I shouldn’t be going to the pub right now.”
“The war shouldn’t affect this place, but there is no downside in being careful…….”
The surrounding people were slowly vacating the street. The people had not sensed the grave mood of the party. They weren’t exiting, because they were being courteous. A powerful magic had taken control of their perception. A powerful suggestion was being hammered against them. It said, ‘If you don’t immediately go into a building, something really bad will happen.’
It was basically akin to a.s.sa.s.sinating the will of hundreds, maybe thousands of humans. It wasn’t something a normal human could pull off. Even an Archmage over level 300 would have a hard time accomplishing this spell. Yes, it was a show of power that suited the Demon race.
However, the magician that created such a grand sight didn’t pay attention to the retreating humans.
She glared straight at Artpe. She was on guard against him.
“You are powerful. You possess an authority that cannot be resisted against…… What is your purpose in coming to this land?”
The small girl’s face slightly crumpled when she felt Artpe’s magical energy. However, she didn’t retreat. Instead, she asked him a question. There was fear and a slight hostility towards him. The weakest emotion he could feel was curiosity.
Somehow, he had to establish an amicable relationship with this girl. However, Artpe had no idea how he would be able to achieve this. A sigh automatically slipped out. If the amount of times he sighed corresponded with his wealth, he would probably be ranked as one of the richest man on this continent.
Why did he have to achieve his goal as soon as he came ash.o.r.e? Moreover, it happened in the worst possible way! In his past life, this girl should have been in her tower at this point in time. She should be in her room spending her day in a tedious and boring manner….
However, this only applied to the girl from his previous life. The flow of history was running in a completely different direction now. He was already well aware of this fact. She was the ultimate reason why he had stepped onto this land, so it shouldn’t have been strange to see the Archmage Regina reside in this port city.
“Oppa, are you sure it is this kid? She’s really small.”
“······she is small. Is she perhaps another rival? No, Artpe said I should grow quickly…. What should I do? I’m so confused!”
Sienna and Maetel started to prattle on to their heart’s content. However, their words didn’t reach Artpe’s ears. It wasn’t visible, but he was too busy competing with the girl with Mana.
Up until now, no one had been able to compete with Artpe in terms of how much Mana one possessed. The fact that she could contend directly with him in terms of magical energy meant he didn’t even need to bother gauging her ability. She was one of the best.
‘Yes, her abilities were already complete to a certain degree at this point in time. That is why I wanted to join up with her as soon as possible…...’
In his past life, the magician Regina was in charge of AOE damage dealing within the hero’s party. When the hero’s party invaded into the Demon King’s castle, she still possessed her small physique.
She was currently wearing a similar robe to Artpe. The black robe covered her entire body, and the hood was covering her face. No matter how much one tried to look at her face, one could only see her golden eyes. A normal person would not have paid attention to her. She looked like a small kid wearing a musty robe.
However, it was different for Artpe. In front of his eyes, no one could avoid his observation.
He could see her. He could see the magician Regina. Her face, slender body, Record and her nature was revealed to him.
[Name : Regina De Patreta Elocants Rodelrote]
[Cla.s.s : Winter Magician]
[Level L 250]
[Strength : 125 Agility : 125 Stamina : 125 Magic : 1,750]
‘She has 1,750 Magic at level 250. It is immense even after seeing it once before.’
Of course, Artpe has reached level 280, so his Magic was close to 2,300. It was too simplistic to say that he was much stronger than her. Artpe possessed the special magical energy of a Hero Cla.s.s, and he had learned numerous skills. He had also inherited the Mana characteristics of a Demon. This was why his magical energy had experienced such overwhelming growth compared to other magicians.
If he was to get to the point, Regina’s magical energy status had reached a high rank territory that no other humans had ever reached in the past. The past hero’s party was able to carry out such acts of brutality, because she possessed an idiotic amount of magical energy.
It was the same for Artpe too.
“h.e.l.lo. The weather is great, right?”
“There is a snowstorm forming right now. Majority of humans try to avoid such weather.”
“Your response is quite dreary.”
In his past life, she had reached a territory that should have been close to impossible for a human to reach. A girl, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, had reached it.
She wasn’t like Artpe, who had returned to the past through his special Innate Ability.
How was this possible!
The answer was simple.
She wasn’t human.
[Race : Demite]
Demite was the highest of Artifacts that possessed its own will. It could gain level and Cla.s.s. She was a golem that was made out of Demite. This was the Archmage Regina’s true ident.i.ty.
If one didn’t have the Read All Creation ability, no one would have never been able to guess this.
A golem was made with the priceless Demite!
Moreover, the golem developed into becoming an Archmage!
If he had been a normal hero, he wouldn’t have known what she was. He would have adventured with her over the long years. Initially, she would be unable to express herself emotionally. However, he would notice her heart slowly change over the years, and when he realized this fact, he would be happy. Then he would start to dig in into the truth about her. He would find out her buried past or her secret, and he would despair. Despite her being a golem, he would accept her even though she was a golem. Their relationship would advance, and he would take another step in becoming a true hero…….
It would have been a great opportunity of growth for the hero.
However, Artpe possessed the Read All Creation ability. He didn’t have to go through all that. He had seen through to the truth from the start.
This was why his relationship and mental att.i.tude towards her wouldn’t grow. He wasn’t moved nor inspired by her. Regina was just a golem. Artpe simply acknowledged the fact that a golem had appeared in front of them. That was it.
He probably had to tell Maetel and Sienna about her, so they wouldn’t be shocked by this fact.
So what if she was a golem? It didn’t matter if she wasn’t a human. Artpe treated everyone in a fair manner in thought and action. They were either his enemy or his ally. If possible, he hoped Regina would be in the latter category.
.
“Mana response detected. Search…. Unadvisable. Resistance…. Unadvisable. Recalculate possibility of running away. Unadvisable.”
Did she detect his use of the Read All Creation ability? After suddenly spouting such words, Regina slightly lowered her head. She looked crestfallen. Artpe smirked as he raised boths hands.
“You already know this right? We hold no hostility towards you.”
“If that is true, you should reveal your ident.i.ties. Why are you using a camouflage Artifact?”
When asking for another person’s name, one had to reveal one’s name first. He wanted to point this out, but it was true that he had come here camouflaged. He decided to lose on this argument. Artpe wondered how he should proceed, but he decided to act as usual.
“It isn’t as if camouflaging oneself is illegal. So why are you holding us up? Why are you posing as an interrogator?”
That’s right. He went for the shameless approach. Regina had been silent, but when she was accused of being a fraud, she glared at him as she spoke.
“I am carrying out a secret mission given to me by my country.”
“So we are getting in the way of you carrying out that secret mission? Is that right?”
“······.”
At that moment, the position of advantage had switched. Regina quickly closed her mouth. She realized she had given away information about herself. Still, this didn’t mean she did anything to rectify it. She stood frozen absent-mindedly.
It seemed she was puzzled as to how she should proceed. It was understandable.
Whenever she hadn’t been able to solve her problems with words, she always somehow solved the problem with a show of power.
However, she couldn’t win against any members of Artpe’s party. Obviously, this was the first time she had faced such a situation. On top of that, she hadn’t dealt with any complicated problems that wasn’t related to magic. Of course, she would become panicked in such a situation.
“I······.”
At that moment, she once again opened her mouth. She was trying to say something. Artpe patiently waited for further words from her. In the end, his patience bore fruit.
“What should I do?”
“Why are you asking me that!”
She was another one that would give him a headache! Artpe reacted instinctively to rebuke her. Then he let out a sigh as he opened his mouth.
“We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves from other people, so we are maintaining the camouflage. As you can probably see, our powers doesn’t look common. Right?”
He didn’t plan on telling her everything, but by observing her state, Artpe thought she would back off if he cooked up a somewhat believable story. The most important thing right now was the ‘secret mission’ she was carrying out. He had to make her believe that his party had nothing to do with her mission.
“Do you have intentions of attacking civilians or soldiers?”
“If I had such intentions, wouldn’t I have gone after you first?”
“······your line of reasoning sounds plausible. I’m drawing a conclusion that you aren’t an enemy or an ally. You are a third party.”
Afterwards, her expression turned peculiar.
“You aren’t an ally or an enemy, so you shouldn’t be on this land.. ······Where did you come from?”
“You think in binary terms about as much as me. I’m not sure how you can come to such a conclusion….. Wait a moment.”
Artpe stopped Regina from speaking her absurd words. He raised his head. As a precaution, he had been setting up Mana Strings infused with his Read All Creation ability. He had been worried another magician would intrude on their conversation. He had worried it would make the current situation more complicated.
At that moment, something had disturbed his Mana Strings.
“You said you are on a secret mission?”
“That’s right. It is a secret mission, so I can’t reveal the details. If you are going to forcefully extract the information from me, you will be considered an enemy. In that scenario, I will run away.”
“I don’t plan on extracting the information, so you don’t have to bounce.”
Artpe’s eyes turned calm and bottomless. It happened when he was about to use his magical energy for real. The powerful Mana reaction caused particles to become concentrated in his eyes. It was the result of ambient Mana being drawn in from the air. Maetel always liked Artpe, but she like this Artpe the most.
“However, it seems I’ll soon find about about it whether I like it or not. What do you think?”
“······acceptable.”
“Artpe, I also know what you are talking about.”
Maetel ignored the question and answer session between Artpe and Regina. She spoke with a cold voice that was like iron. Her hand was already on the sheathe of her longsword
“There are idiots, who are letting out murderous intent, coming towards the city.”
It wasn’t just one or two people. There were around 100 of them. Moreover, the murderous intent was coming from normal knights. They were the elite of the elites.
It seemed they weren’t coming to fight someone specific. It didn’t matter if one could or couldn’t feel their murderous intent. Their movement indicated that they would indiscriminately kill everyone.
He planned on taking a leisurely tour of Aedia. He planned on seeing some sceneries, and he planned on visiting all the magic towers to inquire about magic books. However, Artpe could smell the blood that was about to be shed in the coming battle. His face crumpled in a wretched manner as he mumbled to himself.
“This shouldn’t happen unless there is a war going on. That means…....”
“I believe that you guys are a third party.”
At that moment, Regina’s vigilance against Artpe’s party was completely lowered. She gave an explanation.
“Magic Kingdom Aedia is in its fifth month of war against the allied forces of the Daiatan kingdom and the Duchy of Tiata. If you are humans from this land, there is no way you wouldn’t have known about this.”
“Yes, thank you for informing us.”
“By the amount of power you all possess, I judge that you guys came from across the ocean. You didn’t want to draw attention to yourselves, so you chose the option of camouflage. Excellent decision.”
“Yes, thank you for acknowledging it.”
“I would like to make an offer to the third party.”
It seemed she was unable to pick up on Artpe’s sarcastic remarks. Regina’s voice had been cold and hard. However, there was a bit of relief in her voice as she spoke to them.
“This is from the magical kingdom of Aedia. We would like to extend an offer for you all to join as wartime mercenaries. The reward will be high, and you will gain rank. If your war record is excellent, you will be promoted to commissioned officer. You may be appointed to a branch manager. You’ll feel great.”
“Where did you get that manual you are reciting? Why don’t you give me a straight answer?”
“Secret.”
He had no idea who had inserted those suspicious words of invitation into her.
Even if she tried to convince him with a sweet offer, Artpe had only one answer.
He immediately turned down the offer.