The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 221

The Rebirth of the Mythical Archmage-222

Somewhere in the mountains of Europe.

A dilapidated, old mansion that looked like it had been abandoned for at least several decades.

In the center of the messy room, Hermes and Shadow were looking at each other with meaningful expressions.

‘Using a Phase Manifestation as a disposable pawn. What are you doing?’

Shadow’s voice was quite serious.

Phase Manifestation was a key figure that the Magic Tower had been trying to recruit for 10 years.

To just consume such a person so easily.

Without even reporting it.

This was a clear overreach of authority.

‘The moment the first negotiation failed, Phase Manifestation was as good as useless. Was there any need to keep him alive and let him hinder us?’

Hermes smiled and answered nonchalantly.

‘You eliminated him in advance to prevent our information from leaking from Phase Manifestation’s mouth?’

‘Yes.’

‘That’s an excuse. If that was the case, there was no reason to make him kill Phase Manifestation.’

If it was for the sake of destroying evidence, they could have just killed Phase Manifestation and been done with it.

‘It was just a way to kill off someone who could be a hindrance at the same time.’

‘Even though it could raise suspicion?’

‘I thought it was a risk worth taking.’

‘Then how do you explain bringing Adela Sterett and Shin Ha-yul into this?’

‘Is there really any need to explain that? I was just trying to cut off the bud of a potential threat in the future.’

Hermes was relaxed from beginning to end.

‘Isn’t it great? We can get rid of a disposable pawn and deal with potential future threats at the same time.’

‘…….’

Shadow’s eyes narrowed slightly.

‘He’s a smooth talker.’

Hermes’s words were all lies.

Given Hermes’s personality, there was no way he would have caused such a big incident for such a reason.

If he was going to dispose of Phase Manifestation, he would have just dealt with Phase Manifestation and been done with it.

In the first place, if that was his intention, he would have reported it to the Black Magic King and handled it according to procedure.

That was how Hermes handled things.

But what about now?

He eliminated Phase Manifestation without reporting it, took the bold step of killing Phase Manifestation, and even took the unreasonable step of bringing in Adela and Shin Ha-yul.

It was unlike Hermes, who was known for his clean and decisive work.

And the reason was just to eliminate future threats?

To do such a reckless thing for something like that?

That couldn’t be it.

Hermes’s words were all lies.

There was clearly another intention.

‘Well, it’s meaningless since it failed. Sigh. I’m going to get an earful from the Black Magic King.’

Hermes stuck out his tongue slightly and smiled cutely.

‘I never thought Shin Ha-yul would be that strong…….’

‘I’m pretty sure I told you. Shin Ha-yul possesses a power so strong that even I can’t beat him. Did you just ignore what I said?’

‘I thought you might have been exaggerating a bit. It’s not uncommon for people to overpraise their opponents after losing, out of pride.’

‘……Indeed.’

Shadow frowned.

‘I had a feeling, but…… it seems like it’s true. You. You think I’m a traitor, don’t you?’

‘You’re quick on the uptake. Yes, I thought you had betrayed us and sided with Shin Ha-yul.’

Hermes smiled brightly.

‘It’s no wonder. Your recent actions have been clearly strange. You’ve been taking missions in China, which isn’t even your assigned area. You suddenly go incommunicado for 10 minutes at a time. Your reports are late…….’

The corners of his eyes slowly rose.

‘You even went to Korea without reporting it.’

‘…….’

He was genuinely taken aback by this.

‘You knew I went to Korea?’

Of course, that shock didn’t show on the outside.

Since his face was covered by a shadow, there was no chance of his emotions being revealed.

‘You also acted strangely at the Hwaelian Prison before. And when you talked about Shin Ha-yul, you hesitated, which was unlike you. I thought you might be making some kind of deal with Shin Ha-yul.’

‘…….’

‘And as expected, Parade was killed by Shin Ha-yul. And that happened in your presence. How could I not be suspicious?’

Hermes covered his mouth and smiled demurely.

‘So, are you saying that now as a final farewell before purging me?’

‘Oh, no. If I was going to purge you, would I have come alone?’

Hermes waved his hand.

‘Unfortunately, your suspicions have been cleared, so I can’t purge you.’

‘My suspicions have been cleared? What’s the reason?’

In fact, he already knew the reason.

But he couldn’t pretend to know.

Pretending to know would be proof that Shadow had betrayed them.

‘Earlier, you asked why I included Shin Ha-yul when using Phase Manifestation, right?’

‘Yes. And you answered that it was to eliminate the bud of a future threat.’

‘Actually, that was a lie. The reason I brought Shin Ha-yul in was to check his power.’

It was as Shadow had expected.

‘I knew from the beginning that it was a lie, but…… what’s the meaning of the rest of the story?’

But as he said, he couldn’t pretend to know.

Shadow pretended not to know again.

‘If you were a traitor…… if you were making some kind of deal with Shin Ha-yul, there’s no way you would report Shin Ha-yul’s information as it is, right? You would have given a false report.’

Shadow pretended to think.

‘So, is it like this? If it’s the opposite of what I reported, if Shin Ha-yul’s power is actually nothing special, that fact itself becomes proof of my betrayal.’

‘Yes. That’s correct.’

It was a plausible circumstantial evidence.

‘Does that count as evidence? You could have reported the truth to avoid suspicion.’

‘There’s no need to do that. We don’t know whether Shin Ha-yul has real power or not. We can’t know if you told the truth or a lie. In that situation, would you report the truth? Especially the top secret that Shin Ha-yul has a power that overwhelms you? You’re not that stupid.’

It was the right thing to say.

‘If I were you, I would have reported that he had no special power. No matter what you’re aiming for, revealing all your power is just a penalty.’

The report that Shin Ha-yul possessed an unexpectedly powerful force was itself proof of Shadow’s betrayal.

‘So, I was sure that you gave a false report. I thought you had exaggerated his power to protect Shin Ha-yul.’

It was the right thing to say, and it was the correct answer.

‘I knew he had excellent insight, but I didn’t know it was to this extent.’

Hermes was a more terrifying woman than Shadow had thought.

Cold sweat ran down Shadow’s back.

‘So, I checked it out. I used Phase Manifestation to kidnap Adela, who is important to Shin Ha-yul, and then threatened him to come alone.’

‘……If a friend is in danger, he’ll have no choice but to use all his power, no matter what he’s been hiding?’

‘Yes. There’s no one else watching. There’s no reason to save his power, right?’

‘What if Shin Ha-yul had brought reinforcements like Shin In-hyuk or Charles?’

‘Would he choose to put his friend in danger while hiding such a powerful force?’

‘……The fact that he called for reinforcements is proof that Shin Ha-yul has no hidden power.’

‘Yes. That’s right. It’s my design, but isn’t it quite perfect?’

Hermes erased his smile and made a sulky face.

‘Well, it was all for nothing.’

Then he gave a bitter smile.

‘Contrary to my expectations, Shin Ha-yul was really strong. At least 7th circle. Judging by the last magic, maybe 8th circle.’

‘So, my suspicion has been cleared?’

‘Yes. Since Shin Ha-yul has real power, all the hypotheses I made lose their meaning.’

Hermes’s logic was like a precise gear, and if one thing went wrong, everything else would go wrong.

The moment one thing went wrong, other suspicions would naturally disappear.

‘So, everything is back to square one. The probability that you betrayed us is back to 50%. It’s half and half now.’

‘It’s not 0%.’

‘Yes. There are still suspicions about your suspicious movements and your strange behavior at the Hwaelian Prison.’

‘……Indeed.’

She was a really difficult woman.

Shadow clicked his tongue inwardly.

‘But…… if all the suspicions have not been cleared, why are you telling me this?’

‘Guess. Why do you think it is?’

Hermes smiled meaningfully.

Shadow narrowed his eyes.

‘Is it a warning?’

‘That’s right.’

Hermes clapped his hands lightly.

‘If I warn you like this, you won’t be able to move rashly, right? And if you’re not a traitor, there’s no problem. Either way, it’s a win for me.’

Hermes got up from his seat and stood right in front of Shadow.

Then, he brought his face close and smiled brightly from close range.

‘So, if you are a traitor, and if you’re going to do more traitorous things in the future…… please be careful. I’ll be watching you closely from now on.’

‘If I were a traitor, that would be a terrifying warning.’

‘Of course. I’m a scary woman.’

Hermes covered his mouth and smiled demurely.

* * *

Two days had passed since the incident at the Shinbiwi family’s residence.

Currently, I was blankly staring at the sky at the entrance of Elder Phase Manifestation’s funeral hall.

‘……You were here.’

As I was staring blankly at the sky, Soon-chan approached me from behind.

Perhaps it was because I hadn’t slept much for two days. I looked terrible.

‘Where’s Adela?’

‘She fell asleep.’

Soon-chan gave a bitter smile and stood next to me.

‘She cried in her mother’s arms and then fell asleep as if she had fainted…… I don’t know what to say.’

Soon-chan’s lips trembled.

He looked like he was about to cry.

‘Why are you trying to cry?’

‘I don’t know. I feel like I’m going to cry for some reason.’

‘……You’re just too sensitive.’

Soon-chan chuckled.

‘Isn’t it better than not being sensitive?’

‘I guess so.’

I lowered my head and looked at Soon-chan.

‘Just in case, don’t ever make that face in front of Adela.’

‘……Do you think I’m an idiot?’

Soon-chan brought his fist to my chest.

It was a gesture that was no different from usual, but I couldn’t feel any strength in it.

‘You look terrible right now. Go get some rest.’

‘It’s okay.’

Soon-chan shook his head slightly.

‘I’m going to stay like this until the funeral is over tomorrow. I can’t sleep anyway.’

‘……Is that so.’

‘You should get some sleep. You haven’t rested properly since you came out of the training ground.’

‘I’m fine too. I can’t sleep even if I lie down.’

‘……You too?’

Soon-chan smiled bitterly.

‘Hoo. Then I’ll go back down. You get some more fresh air.’

‘Okay. Call me when Adela wakes up.’

‘Okay.’

Soon-chan patted me on the back and went back down.

I stared blankly at Soon-chan’s back.

‘You guys are both too nice, aren’t you?’

At that moment, Commander Charles appeared behind me.

‘Were you watching?’

‘Huh? Didn’t you know? I was openly nearby.’

‘……Yes. I didn’t notice.’

‘I guess you’re not feeling well. Usually, you find me no matter what I do.’

Commander Charles looked at me with a pitiful expression.

She wanted to comfort me, but she didn’t know what to say.

‘More importantly, what’s going on?’

The atmosphere was getting too heavy, so I changed the subject first.

‘Ah, I got a call from Gloomy.’

Gloomy.

It was a kind of slang term for Shadow.

‘Hermes hasn’t shown any movement yet. It seems that the suspicion about me has decreased somewhat. However, since I’m still under suspicion, I won’t be able to contact you as often as before. That’s what he said.’

‘That’s not bad news.’

‘Yeah. It’s not good either.’

The goal of reducing Hermes’s suspicion had been achieved.

That was a relief.

‘Oh, and Shin In-hyuk was doing an internal investigation of the Shinbiwi family and found a ledger left by Phase Manifestation.’

‘……A ledger?’

‘Yeah. It’s a ledger of money transactions with the Black Magic Tower. It not only contains Phase Manifestation’s transactions, but also the transactions he mediated for other people.’

‘That means…….’

‘It means we can deal with other spies within the Shinbiwi family at once.’

Commander Charles grinned.

‘Does it match the list we have?’

‘Yeah. It matches the list we got from Gloomy 100%. With this, we can eliminate the spies in the Shinbiwi family without hesitation.’

‘That’s the best news I’ve heard in a while.’

It was the luck I had been hoping for.

‘There’s more. The name of an elder from the Magic God family also appeared in the ledger.’

‘An elder from our family in Phase Manifestation’s ledger? Is it a name on the list Shadow gave us?’

‘Yeah. It’s a name on the list. I think he was trading the rights to sell illegal modified AI separately from Phase Manifestation.’

My face contorted.

‘An elder from the Magic God family is doing something like…….’

Selling illegal modified AI chips.

I was furious.

‘Hoo. Anyway, that means we can use that ledger to catch the elder as well.’

‘That’s not all. We can use that elder as a starting point to connect to other guys like a string of sausages.’

‘Would the elder have left evidence like Phase Manifestation?’

‘Well, I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter even if he didn’t keep a separate ledger.’

‘Ah.’

I understood what she meant.

‘Since we already have the real list, we can use that list to create a fake ledger or use a fake to induce a confession.’

‘That’s right. If the elder’s name hadn’t appeared in Phase Manifestation’s ledger, it would have been a different story. But since it did, it’s not a big problem to connect them all.’

‘And if we connect them in that order, it won’t harm Shadow either.’

‘That’s it.’

Commander Charles snapped her thumb and index finger together.

‘If we connect them little by little like this, we might be able to find out the spies from other families as well.’

‘……It depends on how well we make the fake ledger.’

‘Leave that to me. We have an expert in our mercenary group.’

‘I’ll leave it to you.’

It felt like things were progressing quickly.

‘It would be great if we could find all the spies on the list like this…….’

Commander Charles clicked her tongue in annoyance.

‘That would be difficult. There’s a limit to how many fake ledgers we can make.’

‘Yeah. If the tail is too long, it’ll get stepped on.’

A string of sausages also has an end.

If you connect them infinitely, problems will inevitably arise.

If we were to make a fake ledger, it shouldn’t exceed three.

If it exceeds that, the Black Magic Tower will definitely become suspicious.

‘Sigh. I just want to take them all down at once, regardless of Shadow’s safety.’

‘……I really want to do that too.’

‘I don’t know what kind of deal you have with him. Can’t you get the other information soon? Then there wouldn’t be any problems.’

The reason we were worried about Shadow’s safety was just one thing.

It was because Shadow still had value to us.

If Shadow shared all the remaining information, there would be no reason to worry about Shadow’s safety.

‘Well, after sharing all the information, Shadow will probably escape from the Black Magic Tower.’

Whatever the case, the reason to worry about Shadow’s safety would disappear.

‘I’m planning to proceed as quickly as possible.’

‘How long do you think it will take to proceed as quickly as possible?’

‘About three months at the longest.’

In order to hear the remaining information from Shadow, we need to remove the curse that Shadow has on his body, Umbra’s Shadow, first.

And in order to remove Umbra’s Shadow, we need to clear the prerequisite conditions first.

‘Obtain the Mythical Magic, Ignis.’

The compatibility that I accidentally learned thanks to Helios’s Heavenly Demon.

Mimir had already finished the research on the relationship between Umbra and Ignis.

‘If I get Ignis, I can definitely remove Umbra’s Shadow.’