The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 278

That night.

Eight hours before returning to Korea.

Adela visited my hotel room.

“I’m sorry for calling you when you should be resting.”

She had rushed over at my message, saying she had something important to discuss and asking her to come to the hotel.

I was truly grateful.

“It’s alright. It’s not that far, and you don’t need to worry about it.”

Adela replied, looking completely unconcerned.

“So, what is this important matter you wanted to discuss?”

Adela asked me with a serious expression.

It seemed she thought it was quite a serious matter, as I rarely called her to the hotel like this.

“You don’t have to look so serious. It’s an important request, but it’s not dangerous or anything.”

“Ah.”

Adela’s expression immediately relaxed.

“There’s no need to beat around the bush with you. I’ll get straight to the point.”

I got up from my seat and picked up Miho, who was curled up and sleeping in the corner behind the bed.

“Could you look after Miho for a while?”

“…Miho?”

Adela asked back with a look of utter surprise.

She seemed to have never imagined I would ask such a thing.

“Yeah. About two days? Would that be possible?”

“Two days is doable, but…”

Adela tilted her head slightly, looking puzzled.

“Didn’t you say that Miho is connected by a special magic, so you can summon her freely?”

“That’s right.”

I had already told Adela about Miho’s summoning ability.

Since she had met my master and knew most things, there was no need to hide such trivial matters.

So, I just told her the truth.

“So, to entrust Miho to me…”

Adela’s expression turned serious again.

“Is it… am I in danger right now?”

“What?”

Suddenly?

“No, I just thought… maybe you were leaving Miho with me as a bodyguard.”

I roughly understood the train of thought that led her to that conclusion.

It was a plausible deduction.

But.

“No, that’s not it.”

That was not the reason at all.

There was no danger to Adela’s safety.

If anything, I was the one in more danger.

“I told you at the beginning, it’s not a dangerous issue.”

“Ah. That’s right. Then why…?”

“It’s just… I’m having some issues. I can’t reverse summon Miho right now. So, I’m asking you to look after her for a bit.”

“Ah…”

Adela let out a gasp, clearly thinking, ‘Such a secret…’

“It’s difficult to take Miho on the plane tomorrow, so you’re asking me to look after her in the meantime. Is that what you mean?”

“That’s right.”

The reason I could freely summon Miho until now was because of the Book of Mimir.

But now, the Book of Mimir had finished its role and completely lost its function.

Now that the Book of Mimir was gone, it was impossible.

“But then, what do I do when I go back to Korea? I can’t just leave Miho in France…”

“You don’t have to worry about that. Even if reverse summoning is difficult, summoning is still possible. I plan to summon her as soon as I get back to Korea.”

“Ah. So, long-distance summoning itself works without any problems. I understand.”

Adela nodded as if she understood.

“So, can I ask you for this favor?”

“Yes, of course. I’ll take care of Miho for two days.”

Adela looked at Miho, who was dozing off in my arms, and reached out her hand.

It was a gesture to ask me to hand Miho over.

I slowly passed Miho to Adela.

The moment Miho touched Adela’s hand, her ears twitched.

She showed a momentary rejection to the touch of a third party.

“Sorry, did I wake you?”

But the rejection was only momentary.

She soon realized that it was Adela holding her and made a languid expression.

She yawned widely, rested her face against Adela’s chest, and fell back asleep.

“She seems very tired.”

“Yeah. She must have overdone it a bit in the underground lab.”

Based on past experience, I thought she would probably just sleep like that for at least two to three weeks.

Maybe even longer.

After all, she had summoned my master’s spirit and possessed my body.

The aftereffects wouldn’t be easily resolved.

“What should I feed her?”

“You don’t have to feed her anything.”

“Miho… doesn’t eat anything?”

“Yeah. Miho is a divine beast that controls souls. She doesn’t touch anything material.”

Miho was sleeping in Adela’s arms with a blissful expression.

I gently scratched Miho’s head with my index finger.

Miho let out a purr as if she felt good.

“If you really want to give her something, give her some mana. Mana is her main source of energy. She likes condensed mana, so give her some during training.”

“Condensed mana. I understand.”

Adela looked down at Miho with a curious expression.

It seemed quite fascinating that she used mana as her main food source.

“But, will she like my mana too?”

“She will. If she didn’t like your mana, she wouldn’t have followed you in the first place.”

It’s a bit awkward to say it myself, but Miho has a very picky personality.

If there’s anything she doesn’t like, she will never open her heart.

The fact that she never opened her heart to Mimir was proof of that.

The fact that Miho had given her heart meant that she liked everything about Adela.

Her soul, her body, and even the nature of the mana she possessed.

It was probably related to the ‘Sol Lunari’ family’s constitution.

“Ah, right. I was going to ask you about that. Have you gotten used to the mana circulation method for the Sol Lunari family?”

“No… well, I did try changing my mana circulation method as you told me…”

“It doesn’t seem to be working well.”

“…Yes. It feels a bit awkward…”

Currently, Adela was training in a new mana circulation method.

It was a special mana circulation method tailored for the mana-bodied Sol Lunari family.

It seemed she was having some difficulty mastering it.

Since mana circulation was something that was completely ingrained in the body, it was not easy to change.

It was natural that Adela was having difficulties.

“I roughly understand the situation. But I’ll hold off on saying anything for now. Giving vague advice before seeing it directly could be more harmful.”

When giving this kind of advice, the one giving it needs to be more careful.

“Let’s talk about this after we return to Korea. It would be better to do this while looking at it directly.”

“Yes. I’ll ask for your help then.”

A light flashed in Adela’s eyes.

She looked like she was already looking forward to returning to Korea.

* * *

The next morning.

I boarded the plane I had booked and headed back to Korea.

I had moved as quietly as possible, so there weren’t any crowds or anything.

I safely boarded the plane and arrived at Incheon International Airport.

Fortunately, I didn’t attract much attention in Incheon either.

I took the opportunity to leave Incheon International Airport as quickly as possible.

“Tsk. How boring.”

On the way home.

Commander Charles yawned with a bored expression.

“There were no attacks during the flight. No airport attacks either. How boring.”

“Why would they attack me? They don’t even know I’m involved in this.”

“You never know. Considering who they are. They might already know that you’re Luan.”

“…I can’t deny that.”

The opponent was the Black Magic Tower.

Among them was ‘Hermes,’ a cadre with the ability to access all the information in the world.

As Commander Charles said, it was possible that my information had been leaked.

“Anyway, it’s a relief, apart from it being boring. The fact that it’s so quiet means that they really don’t know that you’re Luan Palatia.”

“Yes.”

With this, even the slightest possibility had disappeared. The Black Magic Tower had no idea about my identity.

I could now let go of the last bit of worry.

“Haaam. Then I can now comfortably prepare for the plan.”

The plan.

It referred to the plan to wipe out the spies before attacking the Black Magic Tower’s headquarters.

“How much progress has been made in the preparations?”

“About 20%?”

“Already? That’s really fast?”

“Well, Madam is preparing while cutting down on her sleep. The Red Magic Tower Lord and the Green Magic Tower Lord are also very cooperative. It seems like it will be ready within three months at the latest.”

“Three months. That’s perfect.”

“Right. Well, to be honest, I’d like to speed it up by a month…”

Considering that the Black Magic Tower would have completed all its preparations, it would be better to deal with things as quickly as possible.

“Haste makes waste. There’s no need to be so impatient. Three months is fast enough.”

But that was greed.

Dealing with things quickly was the same as doing things somewhat carelessly.

If that happened, there was a higher chance that our information would leak somewhere.

Then everything would be for naught.

It was better to play it safe.

“I know. Do you think I’m stupid? I’m just saying it’s a shame.”

Commander Charles put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his seat.

“Anyway, please take care of the preparations on the Korean side.”

“Shouldn’t you be asking that of my father, not me?”

My father was in charge of the preparations for the spy eradication plan on the Korean side.

He should be saying that to my father, not me.

“Forget it. I don’t want to talk to that old man. How can he nag so much? Ugh.”

Commander Charles shuddered as if he didn’t even want to imagine it.

“Seriously, that guy is a completely different person when you’re around and when you’re not? I’ve decided this time. Shin Inhyuk. When I talk to that old man, I’m going to bring you with me no matter what. Otherwise, we can’t communicate.”

“It’s true that the Lord is a bit soft on Young Master Hayul.”

Mr. Seokhyun, who had been silently focusing on driving, chuckled and added a word.

“My father?”

“Yes. You might not think so, Young Master, but he is definitely unusually soft on Young Master Hayul.”

Mr. Seokhyun replied firmly.

“It’s not just soft, it’s like a persimmon that’s about to rot.”

Commander Charles also clicked his tongue.

If those two were saying it together like that, it must be true, but…

…I don’t really know.

“You’ll probably find out soon. You have a good eye for things, Young Master.”

“It’s true that he has a good eye for things, but well. He’s terrible at this kind of thing. He’ll probably never know?”

Commander Charles glanced at me with an expression like he was looking at a cute nephew.

“Ah, and kid, about what you asked for… Ah.”

Commander Charles stopped talking and glanced at Mr. Seokhyun.

He looked like he was thinking, ‘Should I not say it here?’

“It’s okay. I was planning to ask Mr. Seokhyun about it anyway.”

“Ah, is that so?”

Commander Charles let out a sigh of relief as if he was glad.

“Then I’ll just say it. About the independent researcher you asked for. There’s one person who perfectly fits the conditions you mentioned.”

“…Perfectly?”

“Yeah. Perfectly.”

Those were quite difficult conditions. And there was someone who could perfectly meet them?

“You’ve probably heard of her name. Terun.”

“If it’s Terun… are you talking about Terun Sitrea?”

“That’s right. You know her.”

My eyes slowly widened.

“Are you talking about the first developer of AI? The one called the mother of AI magic…”

“That’s correct.”

A genius among geniuses.

The person called the best in the world when it came to AI.

Terun Sitrea.

No, the late Terun Sitrea.

“That person… is alive?”

A legendary researcher who was known to have passed away 63 years ago at the age of 106.