Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor [EN]: Chapter 396

Swoosh-!

Zaira flew endlessly.

Higher, higher, even higher. Towards the distant moon.

A mage who accompanied her gestured as if there was no need, but the child kept her gaze fixed on the moon and continued to fly. It seemed more like she was going on a rampage to shake off her pent-up feelings rather than for reconnaissance.

The child ascended until she could see the entire Clifford capital at a glance, then slowly exhaled. The cold wind seemed to cut away at her heavy breath little by little.

‘Zaira, you will see a world farther than I have.’

‘Farther than Grandma? Why? Can’t we see it together?’

‘That cannot be. I have lived first to show it to you. Zaira. I am happy to show you this world. And I’m sorry. The distant world is unknown, so I cannot hold your hand.’

‘It’s okay. By then, I can walk well on my own.’

‘Yes. And the path you take will be taken by your younger sibling again. That is the life of a human.’

The child’s body spun once in the air as if swimming in zero gravity. Her grandmother’s voice continued to echo in her ears. It was so vivid that it felt like she was whispering right next to her, but Zaira was aware.

That the world she and her grandmother lived in was now different. That she had stepped into the farther world her grandmother had spoken of someday.

“Zaira!”

Swoosh!

The mage who had struggled to keep up shouted. He was warning her that there was no time for this, that such impulsive actions were not good for anyone.

Zaira tilted her head and then slowly withdrew her magic. Her swimming body immediately sank as if weighed down by lead, and soon she fell rapidly.

Swoosh!

Fires were lit in parts of the Clifford wall and throughout the capital, centered around the royal palace. Looking at it this way, it was like the night sky. Small stars twinkling in the darkness.

As the wall grew closer, Zaira unleashed her magic without holding back, spreading her energy.

Ziiing! Ziiing!

As if to let them know she was here.

King Eriphony had ordered her to return as secretly and clearly as possible. Zaira had sworn to obey, thinking of her younger sibling left in the royal palace, but everyone there had guessed.

Even if the Bariel mages were incapacitated, how could they not notice her approach? In the end, what the king wanted was information and her return. That was all.

Whoosh!

The moment she could identify the number of soldiers inside the wall, something suddenly flew up and blocked Zaira’s path. Flowing red hair and eyes that looked just like it. It was Berick.

In the brief moment their eyes met in the air, Zaira reflexively detonated a magic sphere, and Berick blocked it with his black sword.

Boom! Boom!

Clang!

“Ugh! What, what is it! All of a sudden!”

“There! There’s something in the sky! It’s an air raid! It’s too dark to tell if it’s a monster or what!”

“Stay calm! The magic swordsman will confront it! Soldiers, hold your positions and defend the wall!”

“Don’t panic! We are watching Burgos and Ruswenna!”

It seemed the soldiers were terrified by the sudden burst of magic in the middle of the night. They hurriedly moved to reorganize their ranks, and soon news spread throughout the camp that a magic swordsman had gone out to respond to the intrusion of a stranger.

Zaira slowly looked around while floating in the sky. She didn’t know where the guy who had just been knocked away had gone.

“…Did he die?”

“Who died?!”

Boom! Bang!

Then, Berick flew up again from behind. Since it was difficult for him to maintain his posture in the air like a mage, he had jumped off the wall again.

Zaira reacted quickly to the attack coming from behind.

“A fly! …But he’s a kid?!”

“…Are you crazy?”

“What’s this little brat saying!”

Crack! Clang!

Berick plunged his black sword into Zaira’s shield and hung there.

As the child frowned at Berick, he wiped his greasy mouth and grinned.

“Did you come alone?”

“Get out of my way. I don’t think I have any business with you.”

“We were in the middle of eating, and because of you! I’m like this!”

Ziiing! Ziiing!

Whoosh!

“I’m having a hard time! Answer me properly!”

Berick unleashed his magic and tore through Zaira’s shield. The child was startled and stepped back, and soon her robe was torn, and her hood fell off.

Even though she had considered being discovered, she didn’t want this kind of commotion. Zaira glanced at the Ruswenna camp and then gritted her teeth.

“I don’t go easy on anyone, even if they’re a kid. We each have one life, so it’s fair. Right?”

There was still no commotion in the right camp. Either the mages’ quarters were on the left, or the mages who had seen the incident hadn’t approached at all.

Whatever it was, Zaira quickly scanned the inside of the camp. Fire. The priority was to find out why the fires were lit.

“Hey! Are you ignoring me?!”

“Where is the Minister of Magic?”

“Ian? Uh-huh. Damn it, I get it. You came to avenge the dead Ruswenna mage, right? Then it’s even more of a no-go! He’s eating meat for the first time in ages!”

Clang!

Whoosh!

“So, he’s alive. And you killed my grandmother like that.”

“Why is Ian to blame for your grandma’s death? It’s because of your king. If you say that kind of thing in front of Ian, you’ll get a real royal smack on the head.”

“Are you close with the Minister?”

“You’re getting informal all of a sudden.”

Clang! Clang!

Boom!

Every time Berick attacked, Zaira created a new shield and easily blocked it. The child frowned with a look of contempt.

“If I kill you, will the Minister come out here?”

“If I die? Wouldn’t he come out? I guess?”

“Really? Good.”

Zaira put her hands together and then slowly spread them to the left and right. Then, a cold chill slowly gathered, creating a huge whirlwind.

“…Tell the Minister to come out. I have something to ask.”

“If you wanted to meet him so badly, why didn’t you come through the front gate? Go through the proper procedures politely. Then they would have let you meet him, but if you come like this, they’ll never show you!”

“I wondered if you were an idiot, but you really are an idiot.”

“What? Damn it, it’s hot for the first time in a while. Hahaha!”

Berick, who had fallen onto the wall, fanned himself with an absurd look. It was a face that hoped someone would say he wasn’t, but the soldiers had long since evacuated from the aerial battle. There was no one to take his side.

Zaira thought that even Berick’s laughter was idiotic and leaked a piece of information.

“We have one Bariel mage with us.”

“So?”

So? Did he just ask ‘so’?

Zaira felt the blood in her head freeze. Of all people, she had to run into such an idiot first. She was just too unlucky.

“…I can’t communicate with him.”

She had something to ask Ian.

But now was wartime. Moreover, with a Bariel mage as a prisoner, Zaira could not guarantee her own safety no matter how she contacted him.

So, she thought that causing a small conflict under the guise of reconnaissance was the safest and surest way to meet Ian.

Ziiing.

Zaira sharpened the wind in her hand and threw it at Berick.

But before it reached Berick, the attack scattered like dust. It was Commander Jayrut. He landed lightly and looked down at Berick, who was sitting in a mess.

“Oh, old man. What’s with that look?”

“What about my look?”

“You’re looking at me with the same look as that kid?”

He was talking excitedly about catching a fly or whatever. Look at him now. How could someone who stood on the ground face an enemy in the sky?

Berick got up, using his black sword as a cane.

“Ah, come on. I’m still okay, so go inside and have some tea with that old man Maxim.”

Thwack!

“Ouch!”

Jayrut, without realizing it, tapped Berick’s forehead as he had done in the royal palace. He had tried to maintain his dignity in a foreign country, but he just wouldn’t cooperate.

Jayrut raised his hand and summoned his magic sword.

Ziiing. Ziiing.

“Since a Ruswenna mage has crossed the line at this hour, it can be seen as a declaration of war. I will not pity you just because you are young. I will only pity your fate.”

“Who’s pitying who……”

Swoosh!

Thud!

Zaira frowned and activated her magic again.

Then, figures jumped out all at once from the darkness. It was the Royal Guard. They attacked from all angles, 360 degrees, with no way for the opponent to escape, just as they had against the black armor.

Zaira, surprised, quickly converted her attack magic into a shield, but someone’s sword had already grazed the child’s calf.

Whoosh!

“Aaaah!”

Zaira screamed briefly and fell down, and soon the soldiers who were waiting pressed the child’s limbs down with Iddgar spears [a type of spear]. Numerous swords were thrust around her neck.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

“Ah, really……”

Things had gone wrong. She was confident she could return alive, but it would be a disaster if she came all this way and couldn’t meet the Minister.

Zaira looked up at the full moon and racked her brain. When she had seen them earlier, there were about a dozen magic swordsmen. Since the mages hadn’t come out yet, it was clear that their forces were on high alert.

“Hey, are you crying?”

Then, Berick’s upside-down face popped into Zaira’s view. Berick was sniffling and looking at Zaira. He was grinning, which was annoying.

“I’m not crying? Are you blind……”

“Damn it, you’re really rude! Hey! Let’s fight again! I didn’t fight properly! I’ll-”

“Berick.”

Berick. Just calling his name had an unusual power. It was like a flowing glass bead in the quiet dawn.

Zaira turned her head to look at the source of the sound. A young man with blond hair and green eyes was leaning against the railing, looking down at them.

Ah, it was him. The one who had faced her grandmother earlier that day.

“Ian!”

“It’s too noisy for someone who was told to continue eating.”

“Did you finish eating? Is there any meat left?”

“Enough.”

Whether he meant he had eaten enough or there was enough left, Berick smiled contentedly and ran to the building where Ian was standing.

Zaira’s eyes met Ian’s, who was upside down.

“Minister of Magic of Bariel!”

Ian rested his chin on his hand and tilted his head.

From the moment she had approached without hiding her magic, he had thought she had a separate purpose. When he realized the opponent was a child, he had wondered if it was just a mistake.

But even surrounded by soldiers, she had such spirit, so it was clear she had a separate intention.

“I heard that Bariel has a Ministry of Magic in the royal palace, and that even within it, there are detailed specializations. With a deep history that has continued since the beginning and the solidarity of numerous mages, its development is said to be unmatched in the Gaia continent.”

“You know it well, child. But it’s too rude for someone who came to praise Bariel.”

A faint smile flickered on Ian’s lips. His tone was gentle, but his voice was chilling.

Jayrut and the magic swordsmen swallowed hard and continued to watch Zaira. What if this child also used forbidden magic like the old man? That would be truly troublesome.

“I came because I have something to ask. My grandmother told me that the Minister of Magic of Bariel is the pinnacle of Gaia’s mages.”

“Asking is your freedom, and answering is also my freedom.”

“Is there a way to save a mage who used forbidden magic?”

Ian paused.

The mages who had followed him also murmured, discussing what kind of nonsense that was. A way to save a mage who had fallen into the abyss? There was no such thing.

“Ruswenna brat! Don’t talk nonsense! There’s no such thing! You do know what forbidden magic is, right?”

“Those below, step back! I’m asking the Minister!”

“Look at that, so brazen. Wow, she’s just like Berick.”

“Forbidden magic, is there a way to reverse it!”

A single tear fell from Zaira’s eye as she tilted her head back.

Ian was silent for a moment and then stated definitively. If there was such a way, how wonderful would that be? If everything could be reversed, he could endure even going to the abyss twice.

But, reality was reality.

“There isn’t.”

“There isn’t? Really?”

“Yes. There isn’t. Forbidden magic is the truth and the end in itself. There is no way to reverse it.”

Zaira finally shed tears. And she asked back loudly, as if possessed by evil.

“There is no such thing as truth, my grandmother said that was the only truth! I’ll ask one last time! Is there really not? It’s not that you don’t know?”

“That, that’s going too far, to Ian-nim!”

Everyone was upset and added a word, but Ian was still standing still as if time had stopped, looking down at the child. If he stated definitively that there wasn’t, it would feel like there really wasn’t, so he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

Zaira sobbed and grabbed the dirt.

“Say there is! Then I’ll do whatever it takes to save my grandmother! Hurry up and say there is!”