The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 350

After that, we immediately began preparations to leave Italy.

“Are you sure it’s okay to go back like this?” Soohan asked during the preparations.

“We have to go back. There’s nothing we can do by staying here.”

We had obtained all the information we could from the Rid furniture factory.

There was no reason to stay in Italy any longer.

“I guess so, but…”

Soohan frowned.

He looked like he felt uneasy about returning just like this.

“Still, just in case, wouldn’t it be better to stay and prepare…”

I knew what Soohan was thinking.

To prepare for the cataclysm that would occur in six months, we needed to quickly deal with the mafia, who were nothing but a menace.

And for that quick resolution, wouldn’t it be better to stay here and prepare for what’s next?

He was clearly thinking along those lines.

However.

“It’s pointless.”

It wasn’t a particularly meaningful action.

“We’ve already gathered more than enough evidence. Just handing over this evidence will be enough for the mafia to deal with it internally.”

The hardliners within the mafia were practically finished.

The mafia’s side was as good as settled.

“Once the hardliners are dealt with, the Anti-Magia and Destroyers will also be taken care of.”

This too would be resolved once the moderates started to move in earnest.

In fact, the problems in Italy could be considered completely resolved.

“The only things that are concerning are where they got the dragon’s soul and whether they have any more, but those aren’t issues that can be resolved by staying here.”

They wouldn’t bring any new information here, as long as they had brains.

The information we could get here ends with what we’ve already obtained.

Therefore, there was no reason to stay.

“And even if there was something we could do by staying here, I would have chosen to return to Korea.”

“…Why?”

“The important thing isn’t resolving the problems in Italy right now…”

I finished my preparations and stood up.

“It’s preparing for the eclipse in six months.”

Only six months were left until Veil Stole’s resurrection.

Time was an incomparably precious resource for me right now.

Every single day was more valuable than anything else.

I didn’t have the luxury to worry about Italy right now.

“It’s best to just leave this to Commander Charles.”

“I guess so…”

Soohan nodded with a blank expression.

He looked like he realized he had been short-sighted.

That kind of honest straightforwardness was Soohan’s greatest virtue.

Knock-knock!

Someone knocked on the door then.

“Come in.”

There was no need to ask who it was.

I could clearly sense who was beyond the door.

“I’m sorry for being late.”

Adela came into the room carrying a suitcase.

“No, it’s fine. We just finished our preparations too.”

I took the suitcase from Adela and put it inside ‘Aeth’ [a storage space or item].

“Any traces?”

“I’ve erased everything.”

The suitcase Adela had just given me contained the luggage we had brought while posing as tourists.

Just in case, we hadn’t left any traces of our presence, but I had asked her to bring it just in case.

“While I was at it, I burned all the fallen hairs too. I also removed fingerprints with cleaning magic.”

“Fingerprints are one thing, but how did you find and burn the hairs…?”

Soohan asked with a surprised expression.

“I modified the dust removal magic to target even hairs.”

“…Modified?”

“Yes. Dust removal magic is a spell that targets small particles within the casting range, right? I slightly expanded the scope of the target to include hairs…”

“No, I’m not asking how you did it. I’m asking if you modified the magic formula to your liking?”

“Yes.”

Soohan looked at Adela as if she was some kind of monster.

“Why are you looking like that?”

“…Hehehehe.”

Soohan kept chuckling.

“They say you become like the people you like. Hehehe.”

He shook his head with a chuckle.

“You guys are monsters…”

Modifying a magic formula was an almost impossible feat that could only be achieved after decades of research.

…That was the common knowledge of modern magic.

I was the one who broke that common sense.

And now, Adela had broken that common sense too.

It was understandable why Soohan would look at us like monsters.

“Isn’t it that you’re the odd one out, not that we’re the monsters?”

“…That’s a new kind of nonsense.”

Soohan scoffed with a disdainful expression.

He looked like he was telling me to try and say something.

“If two out of three can do it, and one can’t, then it’s not that the two are weird, but that one is weird, right? So it’s not that we’re monsters, but that you’re an odd one out.”

Soohan snorted.

“Yeah~ I heard your nonsense loud and clear.”

He was so dumbfounded that he just kept chuckling, looking like his soul had left his body.

“If you have time for that kind of nonsense, prepare the Umbra [a magical transportation device].”

He was so dumbfounded that he didn’t even think about reacting.

“I’ll pass that message to Mimir as it is.”

“…Why is that being delivered to her?”

“Preparing the Umbra isn’t my job, it’s Mimir’s. So, telling me not to talk nonsense and prepare the Umbra is something you’re saying to Mimir, right?”

“…Huh?”

Soohan’s eyes trembled with bewilderment.

“I’ll tell her exactly what you said when Mimir comes back after finishing the choker check. That Soohan thinks you’re a fool who just talks nonsense.”

“No, hey, that’s not what I meant. No, in the first place, I wasn’t talking to Mimir!”

Soohan shouted in a flustered tone.

“That’s how it sounded to me?”

“You bastard…”

Was my expression that unpleasant?

Soohan clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.

“Oh, how scary. I might get hit at this rate?”

I made an even more unpleasant expression and gesture.

“This is so scary that I might tell Aslan about how you said his personality was bad.”

“Hey! That wasn’t me, that was you!”

“You agreed, so it’s the same thing.”

“No, that’s…”

Soohan looked around, trailing off.

He couldn’t deny it from his memory.

But he couldn’t agree either.

That was the kind of expression he had.

“…Hoh.”

Then, as if on cue, Aslan woke up from his sleep.

“Bad personality. So that’s what you were thinking.”

Soohan’s face turned pale.

“A, Aslan-nim…? That’s not it…”

He turned his head with a bloodless face, as if he had seen a ghost.

It was like a broken robot turning its head.

“I understand. If that’s what you were thinking, then I don’t need to worry about you.”

Aslan’s smile deepened.

“I’ll revise the training plan.”

“A, Aslan-nim?”

“Don’t worry. You won’t die.”

Aslan’s smile became even brighter.

“No, you might die.”

“Ah…”

Soohan collapsed to his knees.

He looked like a death row inmate who had just received his sentence.

“Successor. The preparations are all…”

Mimir and Elena appeared next.

“What’s wrong? Why is he like that?”

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“…Okay?”

Mimir stared at Soohan for about three seconds, then turned her gaze back to me with a look of disinterest.

“Anyway, the preparations are all done. I could have finished it sooner, but Aslan woke up in the middle, so I had to briefly explain the current situation, which took about two more minutes.”

“Ah. So he didn’t just wake up?”

“Yeah. No.”

“…So, whether he caught you or not, you were planning to increase the training intensity to the maximum.”

“Ah~ Aslan is increasing the training intensity?”

“Yeah.”

“Tsk.”

Mimir turned her gaze back to Soohan.

She looked like she felt sorry for him.

“It’s a shame. He’s a young and talented friend.”

She even offered a prayer and a moment of silence.

“…Is it that bad?”

I was surprised by her reaction.

“Aslan’s training intensity?”

“Yeah. I was wondering if it was something you’d react to like that.”

“Look at his condition later. Then you’ll know.”

Mimir shook her head.

“This is my personal request, but please be nice to him. If you don’t, he might actually commit suicide.”

“…”

I started to genuinely worry about Soohan.

“Still, well, you don’t have to think about it too seriously. If Aslan said he’s going to train him at the highest intensity, it also means that he has considerable talent. If he can endure Aslan’s training…”

Mimir’s lips curved into a crescent shape.

“Maybe he’ll become as strong as Adela Sterett, if not as strong as the Successor?”

She looked like she was genuinely looking forward to the future.

* * *

After that, we used the Umbra to return to Korea.

I dropped Adela and Soohan off at their respective homes.

Then, I returned to my family home.

“I’ve heard the story.”

My father knew almost everything about the current situation without me having to say anything.

Commander Charles must have relayed the situation over the phone.

“Yes. What do you plan to do from now on?”

My father looked at me with a serious gaze.

The cataclysm that was six months away.

How would I prepare for that cataclysm?

That was the meaning behind his question.

“I plan to use the remaining time to become as strong as possible.”

“You’ll focus on training?”

“Yes.”

My father’s eyes narrowed slightly.

He looked like he was feeling skeptical about my answer.

“Veil Stole. I heard that the origin of the black magic that will fully resurrect in six months is the 9th circle of original black magic. A monster one level above the Black Magic King.”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

“And you think you can defeat such a being by training for just six months?”

My father’s eyes were becoming sharper and sharper.

“Six months is a short time. You can see that from your achievements over the past two and a half years. From the 7th circle to a 7th circle master. If you think about it normally, it’s a very fast achievement, but…”

That was it.

In two and a half years, all I had done was raise my circle by about half a circle.

What could I possibly do in six months?

My father’s eyes were saying that.

“There are two things. You’re misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding?”

“Yes.”

I looked directly into my father’s eyes and spoke.

“First, about my achievements over the past two and a half years, I haven’t been fully dedicated to magic during that time.”

For the past two and a half years, I had been focusing on Mimir’s resurrection rather than my own magical achievements.

“If I had fully dedicated myself to improving my magic over the past two and a half years, I would have at least reached the threshold of an 8th circle master.”

“…How can you be so sure?”

“It’s simple.”

I placed my hand on my chest and spoke slowly.

“Even now. Even without focusing on magic, I can see the 8th circle right in front of me.”

My father’s eyes widened.

“Even though I spent nearly two years of the two and a half years developing a new AI, I still reached the threshold of the 8th circle. If I had spent the entire two and a half years solely on improving my magic…”

I would have easily crossed the threshold of an 8th circle master.

“That’s the first misunderstanding. It’s not that I ‘couldn’t’ raise my circle, but that I ‘didn’t’.”

I hadn’t only raised my circle by half a circle in two and a half years.

I had simply focused more on other things, so I had stayed at this level.

“…Then.”

My father glared at me with an even sharper expression.

“If that was the case, why…”

Why did I waste two and a half years?

“If you had put everything into improving your magic…”

The situation would have been different now.

I might have reached the 9th circle in six months.

That’s what my father seemed to want to say.

“First, to correct you. I didn’t waste time for two and a half years.”

But that wasn’t true.

“I didn’t ‘waste’ time, I ‘invested’ it.”

My two and a half years were more valuable than anything else.

“As you said, if I had focused solely on magic, I would be an 8th circle master by now. I might have even reached the 9th circle in six months.”

“Knowing that…”

“However.”

I cut off my father’s words firmly.

“That’s all.”

“…That’s all?”

“Yes. That’s all. I would have only succeeded in reaching the 9th circle. No matter what I did, I wouldn’t have reached the 9th circle master.”

“…”

My father didn’t answer.

It was probably because there was no room to refute my words.

“And with just the beginning of the 9th circle, I can’t defeat Veil Stole. He’s a monster that even my master, who was a 9th circle master, couldn’t defeat.”

I might have been able to fight a little.

But that was it.

The result would still be defeat.

There was no possibility of us winning.

“So I invested two and a half years. To evolve the Byte-ner style [a specific fighting style], to leap even higher. I decided to stop for a moment.”

“…I understand what you’re saying.”

My father closed his eyes for a moment.

He seemed to be organizing my words.

“Your two and a half years were an investment for the future. There’s no argument against that. However.”

When my father opened his eyes again, they were shining coldly, incomparably more so than before.

“That investment failed.”

Failed.

“If Veil Stole had resurrected at least three years later, as you said. Then your past two and a half years would have ended as a great investment. However, now. With his resurrection six months away. Your investment is as good as a failure.”

My father’s words were piercing the core of the situation.

“You can’t fully achieve that evolution in six months. Compared to two and a half years, six months is too short.”

To open the possibility of a new evolution with two and a half years of investment.

And to fully achieve that evolution with three years of harvest.

That was my initial plan.

Since this time distribution was broken, my investment was as good as a failure.

With only six months of harvest, two and a half years was an overinvestment.

That’s what he was saying.

“Although the variable was big, this is a very painful mistake. You were thinking too far into the future.”

I was looking too far into the future.

That was true.

This was my mistake.

I should have looked at the near future and acted.

I had to reflect on the fact that I hadn’t considered the variables, no matter what anyone said.

However.

“No.”

That was it.

I just had to reflect a little.

“My investment was a success.”

My investment was undoubtedly a success.

“You only got six months with two and a half years of investment. How can that be a success?”

“That’s the second misunderstanding.”

I paused for a moment and slowly opened my mouth.

“The value of time is not equal.”

I poured my conviction and confidence into my words, and spoke my ambition.

“My six months now far surpasses the value of the past two and a half years.”

Now that I had Mimir as a supporter.

The density of my time had increased beyond words.

“In six months. I will become strong enough to overwhelm Veil Stole.”

I was confident that I could do it.