Chapter 147

Episode 147

Arthur fell.

It wasn’t an easy battle. Although ‘Double Casting’ dealt a critical blow, the corrupted magical experiment subject displayed tenacious vitality.

However, he was ultimately defeated by our relentless attacks.

The monster’s body gradually shrank, leaving behind a mangled corpse.

“Phew… That was a tough battle.”

Selendis sheathed her frost sword. She had quite a few wounds on her body as well.

“It would have been dangerous without you. Thanks to your voice transmission, I was able to find his weakness. Good work.”

“It was an honor to fight alongside you.”

“What honor…”

I sheathed the Sword of Chaos as well. Arthur was gasping for breath, barely clinging to life.

“Haa… Hahaha… So this is how it ends…”

Arthur muttered with a self-deprecating expression. I didn’t feel any pity for him.

I shifted my gaze to the gem embedded in his forehead.

A small gem, flickering with a faint light.

If I broke this gem, the demonic energy would disappear. But that would also erase his existence, and I would lose crucial evidence.

“Unfortunately, I have no intention of eliminating you. Your body will serve as very important evidence.”

“…Muon won’t stay silent.”

“I don’t care. I’ll deal with him soon enough. If he comes looking for me, it’ll save me the trouble.”

“Keuk… Kukuku!”

But I didn’t think he would confront me directly. As I fought Arthur, I realized his magical experiment was quite unstable.

The next time he appeared, he would likely bring a more refined experiment subject.

And that would require time.

“My lord, what are you planning to do? If we break the gem, he’ll turn to dust and disappear like before.”

Back then, Nielsen possessed the ‘Dark Soul,’ so he didn’t disappear immediately. But I couldn’t sense that power from Arthur.

The option of him absorbing demonic energy wasn’t even on the table. That’s why I couldn’t prepare for it.

“It’s a bit risky, but we have no choice but to take him as he is. Selendis, fire a signal flare.”

*Whoosh!*

*Bang!*

A bright flame lit up the sky. Now we just had to wait for the knights patrolling the area.

I summoned Thunder, the messenger hawk, wrote a note, and sent it to Jericho.

Arthur was corrupted. If we could get help from a demon hunter as soon as possible, we could safely preserve the evidence.

“The terrain is rough, so it’ll take some time for reinforcements to arrive. Let’s rest for a while and treat our wounds.”

“Yes, I’ll prepare immediately.”

We built a bonfire and sat down.

We dragged Arthur’s collapsed body next to us. He was tightly bound with ropes soaked in holy water, making escape impossible for now.

Although his body had lost its vitality, the gem embedded in his forehead kept him from peacefully closing his eyes.

At first, he spewed curses, but he soon gave up and begged me to kill him.

“If I were going to grant your wish, I wouldn’t have fought you in the first place. You’ll be escorted to the capital as you are. You need to reveal your wicked true nature before His Majesty and all the nobles.”

“Shut up! Just kill me! Kill me!”

“No.”

If Jericho were here, he would have laughed heartily.

“You should have lived a quiet life. Whether you’re human, elf, or dwarf, knowing your place makes life easier. I guarantee you won’t rest peacefully.”

“You damn bastard! I’ll rip out your heart and chew on it!”

“That’ll be a bit difficult for me. Instead, I’ll chew on this jerky.”

We had a simple meal.

Of course, I made sure to talk to Arthur occasionally to keep him entertained.

“If you weren’t so greedy, you could have lived a life of luxury. How did you fall for Muon’s tricks?”

“…”

“The prince of the Empire reduced to a tool of an archmage. The authority of the Imperial Family will plummet. This incident will be recorded in the Empire’s history and remain forever. It will serve as a lesson for all princes and princesses.”

“I don’t know anything!”

“Denying it is useless. The marks on your body are conclusive evidence. You received a mana circuit transplant from an archmage, right?”

I activated Mind’s Eye and asked.

A murky black light flickered in his eyes.

“Nonsense! I’ve been sensing mana for a long time. I just learned magic from Muon. You’re falsely accusing me because you’re incompetent.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“…”

“It seems you’re scared of being remembered in history forever. Don’t bother. It won’t change the outcome.”

Selendis looked at me with concern. She was probably wondering if there was any point in provoking him further.

“Do you know why you lost? It’s because of two reasons. First, transplanting the archmage’s mana circuit was your downfall. It was a good attempt, but your vessel was too small and insignificant to handle it. You seemed to be overwhelming me, but you were overexerting yourself. And absorbing demonic energy on top of that must have made you even more unstable. If Muon were on your side, he would have advised you to transplant a lower-level mana circuit.”

“…”

“The other reason is that you met an opponent who was too strong. It wasn’t your fault, so let’s just say you were unlucky.”

Did I hit him too hard with the truth? Arthur, who had been running his mouth, fell silent.

Just then, I sensed aura from afar.

Soon, ten knights from our family arrived at the bonfire.

Ferguson, who was always reliable, saluted.

“My lord! We came running after seeing the signal flare. Are you alright?”

“I’m glad you came. As you can see, the battle is over.”

“Gasp…!”

The knights frowned at the sight of Arthur, covered in wounds and scars. Some even gagged.

“We’ll escort him to the main castle. Go down and prepare a stretcher.”

“As you command!”

At dawn, with the help of the knights, we were able to leave the rough terrain of Alpheon and reach the plains.

Arthur’s body gradually withered. After a few days, all the moisture had evaporated, and he resembled a mummy. But surprisingly, his mouth never stopped moving.

“I’ll curse you forever, even in death! House Walker will fall, and you’ll all become slaves!”

The world of magic is truly fascinating.

How was he maintaining his life? Was it because of the red gem?

I had a mountain of questions. I wanted to take him to Sommelier at the Lucius Club and study the principle behind it.

I stopped the procession for a moment.

“Sir Ferguson, could you gag our esteemed prince? He’ll be exhausted from talking so much in this hot weather, so please take good care of him.”

“Understood.”

Ferguson rolled up a towel around a stick and stuffed it into Arthur’s mouth. Finally, silence.

“Let’s continue.”

As we were about to leave Alpheon, a familiar face appeared in the distance. It was Jericho.

“My lord! I came running as soon as I received the message! It seems things went well, seeing you safe and sound!”

“Yes, we captured Prince Arthur. His condition is a bit precarious. Could you take a look?”

“Leave it to me!”

Jericho ran to the cart behind us. He already knew about Arthur’s corruption from the messenger hawk.

“But why is his mouth gagged?”

“We did it to prevent His Highness from collapsing from exhaustion.”

“Hahaha! I can roughly guess what happened. Then let’s see…”

Jericho unleashed the power of the Tulu family.

*Flash!*

A brilliant light burst forth, enveloping Prince Arthur. He struggled as if he were burning.

“Hmm, his condition is a bit dangerous. If his demonic energy runs out or the gem breaks, he’ll disappear immediately. It doesn’t seem like he’ll last long.”

“How long can he hold on?”

“A week at most.”

“First, restrain him securely. Use the power of the Tulu family. Can you cast a protection spell on the gem?”

“No problem.”

Jericho summoned a celestial whip. The whip, as if alive, tightly bound Prince Arthur.

A white light swirled around the small gem embedded in his head.

“It’s done. Oh, and I heard on the way here that Prince Karma is coming to the main castle. And Duke Kalisto should have arrived by now.”

It seemed impossible to take Arthur to the capital.

But since Prince Karma was coming, I could conclude the investigation at my castle. It was a blessing in disguise.

“Then let’s hurry.”

“Can I ride in the cart? I’d like to investigate how the circuit was implanted in advance.”

“Do as you please.”

We rode for three days straight and arrived at Walker Manor.

Many people came to greet us.

“What is this white rope? It seems magical. Is it your work?”

Duke Kalisto asked, and I replied, “No, it’s Jericho’s binding spell.”

“Sir Jericho is an agent of the Inspection Unit, isn’t he? I didn’t know we had two magicians hiding their power in our territory.”

To be precise, it was one magic swordsman and one magician, but since Prince Karma was also present, I let it slide.

“I apologize for not informing you in advance.”

“It’s alright. I’m glad you returned safely. Lucia told me it wouldn’t be an easy fight.”

Lucia, who was standing to my left, smiled beautifully.

My fatigue vanished instantly.

Prince Karma was on the Duke’s right. He looked displeased. He must have hoped that everything about Arthur was a lie.

“I greet the Empire’s little sun.”

I knelt on one knee and continued my report.

“Your Highness, I’ve prepared Prince Arthur’s body as evidence. The basic investigation is complete, but he won’t last more than four days. I’d like you to conclude the investigation personally.”

“First, I commend you for your hard work. This matter will be thoroughly investigated under His Majesty’s orders to uncover the truth. Also, I order you to no longer refer to the criminal Arthur as a prince. He is no longer a member of the Imperial Family.”

“As you command.”

Thanks to Prince Karma, Princess Beatrice, and Duke Kalisto personally taking charge of the investigation, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

While I was resting in my room, Selendis visited me. Her armor and cloak were spotless.

“My lord, I have something to tell you. I think I made a slip of the tongue.”

“A slip of the tongue? What happened?”

“Well…”

She explained that Jericho had asked about the battle. So Selendis told him everything she had experienced.

The problem was that she had mentioned my use of ‘Double Casting’ to Jericho.

“I barely managed to stop Sir Jericho from rushing over to demand the truth.”

“Why would he make a fuss over that? You just told him what you saw.”

“To be honest, I was curious too. It’s difficult enough to use magic, but I couldn’t believe you could use two different spells simultaneously.”

I believed my ‘Automatic Combat’ skill had leveled up.

It was frustrating that I couldn’t explain it.

“I think I gained enlightenment in the heat of the moment. It happens to knights too, right? Sometimes their skills improve unexpectedly.”

“That’s true, but…”

“The important thing is that you provided crucial help. Thanks to you, we were able to discover Arthur’s weakness and the limitations of Muon’s magical experiment. This will be a great help to us.”

My words seemed to ease Selendis’s expression.

That evening, after returning to the main castle, Lady Lucia personally invited me to dinner. I donned my Inspection Unit uniform for the first time in a while and entered the dining hall.

But Lucia wasn’t alone.

“Welcome, Aubrey.”

Another person who could call me by my name, Princess Beatrice, was also present.