< Chapter 103 - System #2 >
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Since time was of the essence, I couldn’t stay at Kaplan’s mansion for a long time.
A couple of hours after Leon and Lucas’s duel to test each other’s skills, the group packed up and left Kaplan’s mansion.
“Then I will go separately. I will meet you at the Academy.”
Kaplan chuckled as he spoke, and Caesar tilted his head.
I don’t understand why we had to go separately when we were both going to the same island, even if Kapla’s destination was somewhere else.
‘Is it because you’re afraid of attracting attention if you go out with a group of people?’
Although he tried to think of a possible reason, Caesar soon shook his head.
If that was really the case, then rather than just going to Kaplan, the group should have split into at least two or three people.
There are already so many, how noticeable would it be if one dwarf were missing?
Lucas tilted his head as if he had similar thoughts to Kai’sa, but Uther and Cordelia did not.
Uther smiled awkwardly, and Cordelia pursed her lips with an apologetic expression.
“I hope nothing happens on the way. I’ll see you later.”
It was an empire, not a wild land where you never knew when or where you would encounter monsters, but that didn’t mean Kaplan’s power(?) would go anywhere.
It was right to go separately, as there was a possibility of a minor accident occurring on the way to the island.
“Still, don’t you think your expression has improved compared to before? Your shoulders aren’t hunched anymore.”
“Yeah. I think so.”
It seems that the various events in the wild land had a positive effect on Kaplan.
Uther and Cordelia stood there for a moment, watching Kaplan walk away, and without a word, they recalled their memories from the wild land.
Back then, just like now, Kaplan took the lead and followed behind.
And fishing for named monsters.
Warm memories of the three of us together.
‘Hmm… It’s not that warm.’
Anyway, it was good because it was good.
The group that had left Kaplan first prepared to return to the island.
A coup d’état had effectively taken place within the imperial family, and the borders were sealed off, creating chaos, but martial law had not been declared throughout the empire.
So, it seemed best to just take a carriage and drive like we did from Asain Pass to Manaplu.
“Well… Just in case, should I give it a try?”
Unlike the foreigners Yuder and his party, Leon and Sarah, who were royal knights, were somewhat shy about walking around openly.
In Leon’s case, he was a famous person, even to Kirara, who had only lived in the Empire for about a year.
“I don’t think a complete transformation is necessary, let’s just change it a little.”
It was when Cordelia said that and lifted Moonlight.
[I agree. Even a slight change in hair color or skin color can make a big difference in one’s impression. Especially in the case of people, facial features can look completely different just by millimeters.]
Although it was a bit of an unexpected intervention, Melissa’s words somehow felt desperate(?).
It was a surprisingly long explanation.
“Oh, okay.”
Cordelia, who had given a reasonable answer, swung Moonlight around to cast a spell on Melissa, who seemed to be about to say something more.
Partial change magic, as you yourself declared.
It was a witch’s spell, a magic spell that was really just for disguise.
“Oh, okay.”
Kaisa, who originally had black hair but then turned blonde, smiled with satisfaction, and Lucas, who also turned blonde, looked quite pleased with his appearance.
‘Hehe, it’s a couple.’
Cordelia, who had filled her selfish desires in this way, continued to use magic. Cordelia herself changed her hair color from red to black, Uther changed his hair color from black to gorgeous platinum blonde, and Kirara changed his hair color from black to silver.
‘As expected, I knew it would suit you.’
Yuder with gorgeous blonde hair.
If the original Uder was a black jewel that seemed to absorb light, the current Uder was like a brilliantly shining diamond.
Should I say that he’s like the male protagonist from a pure romance comic? If it’s a fantasy series, he’s like a prince or a duke.
It increasingly seemed like Cordelia’s selfish desires were the goal, but it was still a disguise put on out of necessity.
So Juder looked back at Leon and Sarah and asked.
“Would you please allow me to cast a spell on you both?”
“Okay. Sarah?”
“Yeah.”
Perhaps because he had seen the group’s hair color change right before his eyes, Leon agreed without much resistance.
Sarah also carefully took off the helmet that she had been wearing since they first met, and at that moment, Kai’Sa was impressed.
“Ohhh.”
Sarah’s hair was pink.
Although it wasn’t as long as a knight would have you believe, it was a bob cut that still gave off a voluminous feeling, so the pink really stood out.
Moreover, as expected from a playable character, she was a beauty – and a very innocent-looking one at that.
With the synergy effect of the pink hair, it was impossible to think of him as a knight just by looking at his face.
“Wow······.”
Lucas unconsciously let out a sigh of admiration upon seeing Sarah’s face, and Kaisha reacted in that moment. Her eyes sharpened slightly, and she quickly poked Lucas in the side and asked teasingly.
“What, does our Lucas like having an innocent older sister?”
“Oh, no. That’s not it······.”
As Lucas continued to babble, Kaisa, feeling even more annoyed, poked Lucas’ ribs even harder, and Cordelia smiled brightly at the sight.
[Yuder, Yuuder. What do you think? Doesn’t it seem possible?]
[Okay, let’s hurry up and talk. Sarah is embarrassed.]
She was already shy and wore a helmet all the time, but when a fight broke out in front of her, she didn’t know what to do.
“Okay, then I’ll walk.”
[I think brown would be good.]
Cordelia nodded and changed Sarah’s hair color to brown as Melissa interjected again.
Because it was a rare opportunity to express one’s opinion, I wanted to listen to it.
‘Leon is dark blue, so it would be better to catch him in red.’
Because the goal was to completely change the image.
That was when I cast a spell that changed the hair color of everyone in the group and even slightly deceived their facial features.
“Wow······.”
Kirara, who had been standing blankly and watching the group’s appearances change, suddenly had her eyes light up.
‘Master, you are truly amazing! You are truly a god!’
It wasn’t the disguise magic itself that surprised me.
I was surprised to learn that Cordelia could also use disguise magic.
Most people tend to mistake wizards for omnipotent beings, but each wizard has their own specialty.
For example, specialization in attack magic, specialization in support magic, and specialization in recovery magic.
But as I’ve been traveling these past few days, it seems like there’s no magic Cordelia can’t use.
If you listen to the story of Kaiser, she was a full-on attack-specialized magician, but she also knew how to heal, and like now, she could disguise herself. She even summoned spirits.
But, since he was also skilled in using various auxiliary magic, he was truly a wide-area magician – no, he was close to an omnipotent magician.
“Ahem, our Cordelia.”
When Uder sensed Kirara’s gaze and said that, Cordelia blushed and then pulled on Uder’s sleeve slightly and said.
“Why are you so embarrassed? It’s nothing special.”
“Okay, okay. Let’s stop here. Then we’ll exchange glances again, and then we’ll start kissing again.”
Kaisa, who had blocked out any unnecessary skinship in advance, grabbed Cordelia’s arm and immediately spoke to the group.
“Then let’s go, let’s go!”
[Good idea.]
“Let’s go.”
With Melissa and Lucas agreeing, the group quickly left Manaple.
&
The journey to the island was surprisingly smooth.
As expected, martial law had not yet been declared, but there was a more fundamental reason.
‘It’s money after all.’
That’s right.
money.
That’s a lot of money too.
Although the border closure order had been in place for only a little over a week, the kingdom’s gold coins were still in circulation within the empire.
In the first place, what was important was the gold itself, rather than the person’s face on the gold coin.
Unlike modern currency, where social conventions are more important than the materials used to make the currency, in civilizations like the Pleiades that used gold or silver coins, the value of the currency itself was important.
The gold and silver coins were literally gold and silver.
In any case, Uther and Cordelia were wealthy, and their wealth was widely used even in the empire.
Two sturdy and expensive carriages.
Two skilled coachmen to lead the party to the island.
A toll to pay along the way and a small bribe to slip in.
At this point, there was nothing to worry about. The only thing that could be considered an incident was that he would just sit in the carriage and come out to eat when the time came.
That’s why Yuder didn’t let this rare moment pass by in vain.
I closed my eyes and fell into meditation, suppressing the urge to take a leisurely trip with Cordelia.
I thought back to the question that Belencia had raised.
The reason why Yuder himself fights.
Giving Uther the will to fight.
living.
Duty.
Since I’m alive, I want to keep living.
I don’t want to die.
I want to protect my surroundings.
I want to protect Cordelia.
I want to protect Maia, her father, her brother, and the Count’s family – those close to her.
I tried to think of an answer as it came to mind.
And soon I fell into thought again.
Because I felt like something was too vague.
‘It seems like it was a topic that was raised because of enlightenment.’
The enlightenment needed to open the Seventh Gate of the Nine Heavens and the Seven Gates.
It seemed like he was suggesting a topic to discuss, breaking his initial statement that he would not intervene since he himself had no idea what was going on – but unfortunately, nothing came across clearly.
Because it was something so obvious from the beginning, as if it were one of the answers I came up with on my own.
Because I’m alive, I live.
Try to keep living.
How obvious this is.
Could it be that we are supposed to gain some enlightenment through this obviousness?
It’s not really about just exploring the reasons for fighting, but something else – like the way the world works.
‘Just give me a math problem instead.’
I still don’t know, even after thinking about it.
Honestly, I felt like I didn’t even know what I was thinking right now.
A feast of nonsense.
A mind map that spreads out in a chaotic manner.
“under.”
Uder finally opened his eyes.
For me, who always calculates and looks at any problem first, enlightenment was a very abstract concept.
“Should I clean the dora as well?”
Yuder muttered softly in a dazed state and glanced down. Cordelia, who had been with him for some time, was leaning against his chest and sleeping soundly. Kirara was also snuggled up next to Cordelia, dozing off.
So, Uther very carefully stroked Cordelia’s head.
He looked out the window, gently caressing Cordelia, who was leaning closer to him as if responding to his touch.
It’s been four days since I left the Academy City Manaplu.
The party arrived at the island.
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The capital of the Argon Empire, Elasium – commonly known as Isle of Isle – was renowned as the largest city on the continent, but unfortunately the party did not have the luxury of sightseeing there.
As soon as the group passed through the gateway to the system, they were amazed by its grandeur and walked towards the outskirts instead of the center, and soon entered a small commercial building located near the slums.
“Leon! Sarah!”
As soon as we passed the servant guarding the door and entered, three knights greeted the group.
They were all Royal Knights, and were somewhat familiar to the rotten ones, Uther and Cordelia.
“Hans and Jean?”
“I’m out gathering information. I’ll be back shortly.”
A knight with a large body and a warm expression who naturally makes you think of a bear answered Leon’s question.
“What about these people instead?”
“Ah, these are the two people of destiny and their companions.”
Having said that, Leon introduced the knights inside the house to the group.
There were two men and one woman, and their names were Vine, Mine, and Jane.
‘It seems a bit insincere.’
It’s a naming method that really gives the feeling of a supporting role.
However, Yuder, who only thought about it to himself, soon introduced himself along with the rest of the group.
“Your Majesty’s words were true. That’s fortunate.”
“I have believed from the beginning that the Empress Dowager is always right.”
The big knight – Jane said with a confident face at Vine’s words.
In any case, the highly unrealistic idea of meeting someone from a kingdom that isn’t even an empire in the academy city of Manaplu actually happened.
‘A heavenly voice.’
A mysterious being who gives advice to the Empress Dowager.
And he or she may have a deep connection with Crown Princess Daphne of the Kingdom of Cailun.
“Has anything changed while I was gone? Has there been any new communication from the Empress Dowager?”
A knight who looked to be in his mid-30s, Mine, answered Leon’s question.
“There aren’t many changes, but there are a few things that concern me. Let’s start the conversation as soon as Hans and Jean get back.”
According to what Leon had first said, the royal family would be moving in two days.
Perhaps because there wasn’t much time left, the faces of the knights all turned dark when the topic of work came up.
And after about an hour.
As soon as Hans and Jean returned, the real meeting began.
&
[what do you think about it?]
[pitfall?]
Cordelia answered Uther’s question, and Uther nodded again.
pitfall.
This movement of the royal family was likely a trap.
Actually, I had guessed it when I first heard it from Leon, but after hearing Hans and Jean’s story, I was even more certain of it.
‘Is the goal to eradicate the Royal Knights?’
Listening to Hans and Jean’s story, it turns out that the five Royal Knights currently active and holding their breath aren’t the only ones here.
All of the leaders capable of leading the group, including the absolute knight Sir Galahad, were imprisoned, but there were quite a few knights like the five here who were trying to escape the palace and wait for an opportunity.
Pleiades – Especially the Royal Knights, the imperial guard, each and every one of them could be considered superhuman, so it would be foolish to ignore them as a number that is less than ten people.
‘Using the movement of the royal family as bait to lure the royal knights.’
Of course, they wouldn’t be moving the royal family just to use them as bait. Right now, the situation is chaotic and the borders have just been sealed, but if some time passes and a war really breaks out, the superpowers of the kingdom, led by Kamael, could infiltrate the empire.
So, the plan was to move the royal family to a safer place before that.
‘The Royal Knights cannot afford to miss this opportunity.’
A trap that you must fall into even though you know it.
But there was one thing that was fortunate.
‘This is a real Royal Knight.’
The trap’s target was the Royal Knight. It was limited to super strong players like Galahad, and targeted strong players like Leon.
[A lion doesn’t get caught in a mousetrap.]
Just then Cordelia spoke.
He looked back at me with a grin as if he knew what Uder was thinking.
A trap prepared for the Royal Knight.
But if the one caught is something greater than a Royal Knight, the trap itself will break.
[But Cordelia.]
[Yes, Yuder.]
[Even a lion can fall into a mousetrap. What about people?]
[Huh? Really?]
[Really, really.]
[Well, then… Oh, right. Elephants don’t get caught in mousetraps.]
Cordelia, who had quickly fixed herself, spoke with a slightly proud expression, and Uther smiled.
And two days later, at nightfall.
The operation to rescue the royal family has begun.
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< Chapter 103 - System #2 > End
