Ch.119Chapter 119: The Informant

The battle at Beltric Plains was concluded that way.

Leaving the plains scarred with a crater.

It would take quite a bit of work to restore this.

It’s not that Valt hadn’t thought about it, but that was a job for the people of this region.

What’s the big deal about a large crater anyway?

If it were Gerung, they could turn a crater like that back into plains within a week.

“Haha… So the heroes have arrived.”

Valt’s group was greeted by Lindhi from the Magic Tower and the commander.

The commander, being one of Grace’s close associates, seemed to know a fair bit about Valt.

“I heard you defeated the princess… You’re an even more incredible mage than I expected. A meteor spell? Are you an Arch Wizard, Prince Valt?”

The legendary Arch Wizard.

Currently on the continent, only the Master of the Magic Tower, one of the Seven Heroes, holds that title.

Even the Fairy Queen of the Fairy Kingdom is not an Arch Wizard. However, in terms of being able to freely use all types of magic, it’s said that a contest between her and the Tower Master would be difficult to judge.

This is something to discuss later, but this is the first time in the long history of the Fairy Kingdom that the Fairy Queen is not an Arch Wizard.

In any case, pleased by the mention of Arch Wizard, Valt plays it off.

“Heh, I appreciate the compliment. But I’m not an Arch Wizard. I’m just walking a different path of magic.”

Lindhi shows interest at the mention of a different path of magic.

“Oh? What kind of magical path is that?”

“Destruction magic.”

The answer didn’t come from Valt.

Lisa had playfully answered for him from the side.

“Ahem! Not destruction magic, but Matubeop, a new magical system.”

But Lindhi seemed fixated on the term “destruction magic” and didn’t seem to hear Valt’s explanation.

“I see… destruction magic. That’s why you can drop meteors like that.”

“No, not destruction magic, but Matubeop…”

Given the situation, Lisa asks the commander:

“By the way, why didn’t you respond to our communications? We tried to contact you many times.”

But the commander’s answer was strange.

“What? That can’t be. We’ve been maintaining the magic communication post continuously… Unless?”

A moment later.

As expected, after the commander checked, they found that magic interfering with magical communications had been set up in the area.

It seemed to have cleverly misaligned the coordinates.

With all the mages deployed in battle against the orc invasion, it had been difficult to notice.

“As I thought… I can’t deny it anymore. Such underhanded methods clearly point to the Shadow Society.”

“Yes, what we suspected is now certain.”

And this revealed one more piece of information.

“Well… this suggests there’s an informant, doesn’t it?”

Each city has its own magical pattern for communications. This information is classified and only accessible to relevant personnel.

The fact that someone knew this information and distorted the magic communication pattern to block communications means there’s a traitor within the territory.

This method is also undoubtedly a favorite of the Shadow Society.

Planting spies to extract information, that is.

“But there’s no way to identify the spy right now. While the communication magic pattern is classified, it’s a type of secret known to many people.”

It’s not even top-secret level, so hundreds or thousands of people might know it.

At this point, it can hardly be called a secret, but that’s the situation.

“Identifying the spy is a task for the territory. Do you know the status of the other two regions?”

Valt had expended considerable physical and magical energy to get here.

No matter how remarkable Valt’s endurance might be, he couldn’t be fine after casting a meteor spell.

He needed rest, even if briefly.

But the concern was that the orcs wouldn’t wait.

“We don’t have any information at the moment. We can only hope they’re holding out well.”

While orcs were attacking five locations, not all of them were territories of the Oscar Kingdom.

Three were territories of the Oscar Kingdom, but the other two belonged to different countries.

That’s why the commander wasn’t one of Grace’s close associates from the Oscar Kingdom.

The exchange of information itself could lead to military intelligence leaks, so both sides were being cautious.

“I think I need some rest for now. I’m a bit short on energy to go support other areas.”

It wasn’t just Valt.

Liris was the most exhausted.

She had to continuously create platform spells to get here and squeeze out every drop of magic to help create Valt’s Meteor Strike.

As a result, Liris’s already pale complexion had now turned completely white as paper.

“Hmm… looking at your companion’s condition, rest seems urgent. It would be best to go to the barracks and rest for a while.”

***

Valt’s group was assigned the largest space in the hastily constructed barracks.

Regardless of the process, Valt’s group were the heroes who had saved Beltric.

Of course, if Lindhi’s quick judgment and the barrier mages had been even slightly lacking, there would have been a major disaster, but it was better than being annihilated by the orcs.

Moreover, Lindhi had developed a deep admiration for Valt.

The reason was as follows.

Lindhi is a rare master of earth magic.

Perhaps the only devotee of earth magic on the continent.

And Lindhi had asked Valt something.

“If I may ask, what is the foundation of your destruction magic, Valt?”

Unique magics have foundations.

For example, vampires’ blood magic is a type of visualization magic that shapes blood.

Attributes like fire, ice, wind, etc., or forms like ropes are added to activate the magic.

Lindhi was curious about the foundation of Valt’s magic. It was something she couldn’t understand no matter how she looked at it.

“Well, there are several, but primarily earth magic and earth elemental magic. Oh, I also frequently use blood magic and wind magic.”

That answer was what made Lindhi develop a sudden admiration for Valt.

“T-then, are you saying that meteor was formed using earth magic?”

After thinking for a moment, Valt casually replied.

“That’s right. The elemental helped a lot, and the other friends here all contributed.”

Lindhi was shocked by this statement.

The most powerful spell she could use was Earthquake.

Even that only had the effect of making the ground shake.

In large-scale battles, unstable ground means difficulty maintaining stance.

So while it’s effective in such battles, it lacks real killing power.

But learning that Valt’s meteor was based on earth magic, Lindhi began to dream big.

“I-if it’s not too much trouble, could you tell me a bit more? Even just the formation method…”

To Lindhi’s plea, Valt casually replied.

“Well, it’s not that impressive, but I’ll tell you.”

“Th-thank you.”

Since the process itself wasn’t complicated, Valt explained it simply.

“First, the most important part is actually blood magic.”

“What? Blood magic?”

Blood magic is exclusive to vampires, and Lindhi showed disappointment at hearing it was the most important component.

“Yes, there’s a blood magic spell that allows you to stand in the air. That’s the key.”

“Do you mean a levitation spell like Fly?”

“No, just standing in the air. Strong enough to hold a massive rock.”

Valt’s words weren’t untrue.

Even though Valt was creating a boulder in the air and levitating it with magic, it couldn’t be completely weightless.

That’s why Liris had such a hard time. Valt was already heavy enough, but with an enormous boulder created above Valt’s head, she had to pour tremendous magic into the platform spell to prevent it from breaking.

“A-and then?”

“After that, it’s actually simple. Create a boulder through the elemental and strengthen it. Then throw it. Oh! You also need targeting magic since there might be errors when throwing.”

Valt’s explanation was as simplistic as describing how to put an elephant in a refrigerator—open the door, put the elephant in, close the door—leaving Lindhi dumbfounded.

There was just one thing she was curious about.

“D-did you say you threw it? That meteor?”

The formation of the magic might be possible. Despite the obstacle of needing an elemental, human magic systems weren’t to be underestimated.

But throwing it was a different story.

When Valt threw the meteor, he literally picked it up and threw it with an arm formed from magic power.

Lindhi couldn’t comprehend this.

“That’s right. I visualized an arm with magic power and threw it. It was a bit strenuous even for me.”

Would it have been better not to hear this at all? Lindhi fell into deep thought.

Later on, thanks to Lindhi, the Meteor spell would be classified not as a type of fire magic but as a composite earth magic.