TYHL 155

~Chapter 155~

Delkan Ruins, underground.

“Damn it!”

The Mage King was breathing hard, exploding with magical power.

The fortress, tangled like an ant nest, shook loudly.

“Calm down, please. If you keep this up, the whole place might collapse…”

“This isn’t all of it?”

In a huge chamber deep underground, when the black magic substance was cleared away, a magic circle drawn in blood was revealed, covering the floors, walls, and ceiling.

When the Mage King first saw this, he thought his wish had finally come true.

By reviving the dark mage and taking that power, he could start a new war in this land.

Then, everything that defied him would be destroyed, and he would become the absolute ruler of the world.

“But it’s incomplete!”

But that wasn’t going to happen so easily.

There was something missing in the magic circle.

No matter how much power he poured in, there was a fatal flaw that couldn’t be filled.

“I’ll move this magic circle to the royal palace. We’ll use the knowledge of all the top magicians and elders to complete the last formula, no matter what—”

The Mage King grinned nastily and grabbed the senior magician by the neck.

“No, no, that’s not it!”

His eyes glowed with madness.

“There’s a faster way than that.”

“What do you mean?!”

The sweet fruit he wanted was right in front of him, but now that he realized he couldn’t have it, his reason disappeared and he was filled with unbearable rage and impatience.

But he knew the fastest way to solve it.

“I was going to wait for the stigma to grow… but I can’t anymore.”

He needed to capture the Seventh and somehow force them to complete the magic circle.

Just one.

He only needed one more formula!

The Mage King licked his lips nervously.

“Right now… I need to go to Bamilon.”

“What? No, it’s too dangerous! If the Emperor of Bamilon finds out, the alliance will be in trouble. Shouldn’t we move the magic circle first? Just moving it will take a lot of time—”

Smack. The senior magician’s face was slapped hard.

The Mage King smiled gently with cold eyes.

“If you keep saying such stupid things, it makes me sad. Do you really think I’d get caught by those bugs so easily?”

His eyes shone with insane light.

“…”

“Call the Second. That child is best at organizing these kinds of records. Leave it to them, and the rest of you follow me.”

“…Y-yes, sir…”

The senior magician said he’d send a message to the royal palace and retreated.

Left alone, the Mage King moved his fingers.

If only I had carved the stigma perfectly into the Seventh, I wouldn’t have had to do all this useless work.

The power inside that child’s body.

It was always a problem.

Of course, he’d managed to take it, and with time, it would all be his, so he’d been relaxed.

“How dare you run away.”

Runaway mages were nothing new in the kingdom. But most were worthless, so the Mage King hadn’t cared much.

The stigma was a symbol of absolute obedience to him.

But using the stigma to steal a mage’s mind or control them was another matter. It took a lot of magic power.

“So far, the tracking mages have always caught them, or they’ve just died from exhaustion while running away.”

But among his “children,” the Seventh was the first to escape.

If it were any other “child,” he would have used the stigma and accepted the loss of magic power to capture them… but he couldn’t do that with the Seventh.

Because of the power that child had.

“I shouldn’t have waited for the stigma to grow.”

Grinding his teeth, the Mage King was lost in thought for a moment when the senior magician returned, looking uneasy.

“What is it?”

“Um… from the Second in the royal palace…”

The Mage King tilted his head.

“There’s no response.”

“No response?”

“It seems the Second isn’t in the palace…”

“…”

“Did you send them on another mission?”

A strange light flashed in the Mage King’s eyes.

“Your stigma, it’s growing, isn’t it?”

Second spoke as if she knew everything.

“Father searched through ancient magic and carved a completely different kind of stigma into you.”

Normally, the elders or senior magicians of the palace engraved the stigmata.

It wasn’t hard to do, and the Mage King hated wasting his own magic.

“But when your stigma was carved… it was like some huge power was getting in the way. It wasn’t easy.”

“…”

“So, in the end, the best he could do was make it slowly grow and spread.”

Of course, I thought of Vigeria.

The Mage King’s power was too strong for Vigeria to block the stigma completely.

Anyway, he’s the strongest mage in the kingdom.

“Okay, I’ll transfer it.”

Second hesitated, then touched her finger to a blank piece of paper.

The ancient letters engraved below her collarbone floated down her arm and appeared on the paper.

She handed the parchment to me.

“Here…”

“Oh, thanks!”

I snatched it right away.

“I got it. But you need to go back! What if the Mage King finds out?”

I thought she’d come here on his orders… but if this was Second’s own idea, it was different.

I can’t let the Mage King find out I have these documents.

I hurriedly memorized the contents. There was a lot.

“You know I know Father’s every move best, right? He’s too busy with the ruins now. He won’t call me for weeks. But… you’ll keep your promise, right?”

“Hmph!”

That was the reason Second brought these documents to me.

“When you complete the magic circle to break the stigma, erase mine too.”

“What?”

“I… I don’t want to die like the Fourth did, not even knowing why.”

She looked about twenty years old.

She’d always stood to the right of the throne with an emotionless face—a magician who was just part of the palace’s scenery.

“Wow, you’re really shameless. You stayed safe in the palace all this time, and now that you’re scared of the Mage King, you want me to break your stigma?”

Even with my sharp words, she only bit her lip.

“Sorry, but that’s how I survive. Not everyone can always make the right choice… Not everyone is special like you…”

“Acting all pitiful…”

Bwoo, bwoo—

The angry elephant horn I had hit Second’s cheek over and over.

“Forbidden!”

Wow, I realized my lung capacity got better when I was mad!

“You’re just selfish!”

She followed the Mage King out of fear, not loyalty—like a parasite clinging to a strong host.

Now she just wanted to cling to me instead.

So annoying!

But the materials Second brought were actually useful.

I need to send her back quickly.

My eyes moved fast over the document.

The ancient document explained how to carve and break the stigma.

The sentences were in code, but as long as my eyes were glowing red, I could read them.

“The circle to break it… is similar to the one that carves it.”

Make the shape of the World Tree, then erase it.

But the last formula was different from the stigma’s circle.

Instead of info about the last formula, there was a list of names.

What is this? Are these names?

“Bamiles?”

One word looked familiar. Then, maybe these aren’t names…

Places?

Is the last formula in one of these places?

“But this is really…”

But soon I exploded.

“The writing is too small! What the heck!”

“Sorry… I compressed it as much as I could to steal it.”

Ugh, my eyes are going to fall out.

Wasn’t there a magnifying glass anywhere?

Sadly, no.

Then I had an idea.

Come to think of it, isn’t there an office full of random stuff in this library?

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Huh?”

“You go back for now!”

“What about our deal?”

“Ugh, you leech! Go!”

At my shout, Second flinched.

“You’ve gotten kind of mean…”

Anyway, I dragged Second out of the archive.

After closing time, there was no one in the lobby. Liam was out on a date with the biology professor.

As I closed the archive door, I glanced at the documents in my hand.

To erase something, you need a stronger power…

Maybe that’s why Vigeria didn’t teach me the spell to break the stigma yet.

Maybe my body still isn’t strong enough to handle that kind of force.

I looked at my small hand.

I’d grown because I ate well and played hard in the north.

Of course, the stigma grew with me, but the bigger it got, the more determined I became to break free from it.

“Vigeria, what do you want me to do?”

Just then—

“Ugh.”

Suddenly, Second grabbed her neck and collapsed to the floor.

“What, what’s wrong with you all of a sudden?”

At the same time, I heard static, like a communication channel opening.

Khalid?

I thought we weren’t supposed to use the comm channel at the academy?

[ Ruby! Where are you? The Mage King… ]

He sounded like he was running, and something kept cutting his voice off.

Hello?

[ …, …! ]

What’s going on?

To make it worse, Second’s breathing got rougher as she sat on the floor. A strange feeling came over me.

“…Second, are you…?”

“Why is it so hard to breathe? Is it because I’m out of magic power…?”

She pulled down her collar, muttering.

As I watched, I repeated Khalid’s last word almost unconsciously.

“Hey, the Mage King…”

My voice trembled.

“Where is the Mage King right now?”

At that, she lifted her head quickly, like she’d been waiting.

“Here.”

“…What?”

“On this continent.”

It felt like someone had hit me on the back of the head.

The Mage King was a man who never went to war himself. I thought he’d be locked up in the palace as always.

“Delkan. The ruins. Ugh.”

She scratched at her now red stigma desperately.

Then, her stigma burst into a dark red flame.

Something totally different from before flowed out of it.

That was…

“No way…”

I stepped back without thinking.

Instinctively, I used magic to erase the writing from the document in my hand.

I tried to run away at once.

“Ugh!”

But my arm was grabbed hard.

Blue veins on Second’s hand moved like living things.

A crushing grip.

Her blurry eyes glowed with a strange light.

“Ow, ow…”

“Found you.”

At that moment, it felt like the whole world stopped.