The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 217

167. Summons Magic (1)

“What…?”

Pacio stared at him, dumbfounded by his brazen attitude.

“You don’t seem to remember. I won the Expert Competition. I just haven’t had a chance to peruse the Summons Magic yet.”

“You crazy bastard! Whether you’re the competition winner or the King of Tatur, what the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

Pacio Han shouted, glaring at Khalil.

“I heard the King of Tatur was coming, but I didn’t expect to meet you like this. Pleased to meet you.”

The envoy, dressed in silk robes unique to the Eastern Kingdom, stood out among the mages.

“W-what is it?”

Serica frowned as she looked at him.

The reason was that the envoy’s voice sounded like two voices mixed together, neither male nor female.

‘Concealed by secret arts.’

Khalil already knew that all the envoys from the Eastern Kingdom had such androgynous voices, so he wasn’t surprised, but he still frowned slightly, finding it hard to get used to.

He placed one hand on his navel and bowed.

Thud- Thud- Thud-

However, Khalil ignored him as if he didn’t exist and walked past the envoy again.

“…….”

Thud-

At that moment,

Khalil stopped walking.

“You better unclench your fists and raise your hands. Unless you want your face to be blown away along with your mask.”

The envoy, who was bowing, did not respond to his words.

Placing a hand on the navel and bowing was not simply a sign of courtesy.

There were very thin needles densely packed in the belt. It was a hidden weapon mainly used by the assassins of the Dark Shadow [an elite group of assassins].

Naturally, all the envoys were from the Dark Shadow, so their skill in handling needles was second to none.

“Haha… What are you talking about?”

The envoy smiled awkwardly and raised his back.

Of course, in this situation, he, who had been trained as an assassin, would not openly use hidden weapons or bring his hand to his belt.

However, Khalil was deliberately warning him that he had even grasped the hidden meaning behind the envoy’s actions with that one word.

“Greetings are fine. I don’t care if you whisper behind my back or act up in front of me. Even if it’s not here, we’ll meet on the battlefield if our paths diverge anyway.”

The atmosphere turned cold at Khalil’s words.

Mikhail had an ‘I knew it’ expression, and Serica looked at him with fascinating eyes.

Israfil’s already pale face was now so white that it looked like he was about to faint.

“So, please don’t interfere?”

“It seems to me that it is His Highness Khalil who has committed the discourtesy, not us.”

“Your Highness… Now that I think about it, it’s the first time I’ve heard that word from someone who isn’t a colleague. It sounds quite nice, so say it again.”

“…Pardon?”

I couldn’t see the expression on the envoy’s face because of the mask, but I could feel the embarrassment just from his voice.

“Go on.”

“Y-Your Highness…?”

Khalil took a step towards him as soon as he finished speaking.

“…!!”

“Yes. I am the king of a country, and the one you serve is only a lord of an island. Even your master is of a different class than me, so do you think the word ‘discourtesy’ can be established?”

It was only one step.

Even though the envoy was five steps away from him, the envoy felt suffocated, as if Khalil was grabbing his neck and speaking.

“T-that’s…”

“The discourtesy is that you are here in a place where the lord and I are talking.”

Only when Khalil withdrew his momentum did the envoy finally let out the breath he had been holding.

“Today’s events will be reported to the Eastern Kingdom.”

“Do that. If you’re going to tell them, tell Simon Coden to come himself. If you send an envoy, I’ll pack his head and body separately and send them back.”

“…….”

The envoy unconsciously stroked his neck.

Even though the momentum had disappeared, he still vividly felt the feeling of being strangled a moment ago.

“The king of a country? The way you act is no different from the head of a gang of thugs. Even the emperor of the empire would not cause such a ruckus in the Lord’s Manor of Azor!”

As expected of the lord of a magical city, Pacio was not intimidated even in front of Khalil.

Even though he looked like that, he was also a high-ranking 6-class mage.

Moreover, thanks to the attribute stones that had been traded suddenly in recent years, it was not a dream to become a 7-class mage, so his nose could not help but be high.

“How could I forget? King of Tatur? Hmph, here you are just the winner of the Expert Competition.”

“…….”

Khalil barely suppressed a scoff at his shouting.

‘His magic power has increased, and he can’t see anything anymore.’

Of course,

He had no idea that those attribute stones were being provided by Khalil through Baron Beril.

“Yes. The emperor wouldn’t do this. He would have pushed away anyone who tried to stab him in the back without any room for conversation. You should be grateful that I am not yet the emperor.”

“…What?”

Pacio was dumbfounded by Khalil’s words.

He had heard rumors about him.

He was the rising King of Tatur, but he was still only the lord of one city.

It could not be compared to his Azor, and besides, the master of the Eastern Kingdom was in front of him.

He couldn’t stay like this.

“Speaking of you, how dare you come back to me again, you thief. Do you think I don’t know that you stole that sword from the Gray Order!”

Pacio shouted at Khalil with enthusiasm.

Clang-

Khalil loosened the belt with the ice claws attached.

As his arm moved, Pacio flinched his shoulders without realizing it.

“Take it if you want. But the guy inside is not ordinary, so you’ll have a hard time handling it. He hates humans a lot.”

“…What?”

Pacio somehow felt like he could see faint black smoke rising from the blade that was emitting cold air.

“It’s not cursed… It’s amazing. Is it a soul sword? Can you even talk to it? Isn’t the Ego Sword a relic-level weapon even on the continent?”

“I clearly told you not to interfere if you’re of a different class, didn’t I?”

“…….”

The envoy shut his mouth at Khalil’s words.

“But you can see this. Anyway, the secret arts of the East have a lot of strange things. Do you want to hold it if you’re curious? See what happens.”

“…No, thank you.”

At Khalil’s words, the envoy straightened his back a little more this time and answered.

“Even if I concede a hundred times, there was no one in Azor who could properly handle this sword anyway, and it would have ended up in the warehouse if I had it. On the other hand, I handed over everything from the magic addiction to the ancient books with detoxification methods for various diseases that mages are prone to?”

Khalil said as he put the ice claws back on his waist.

“Even if it’s the emperor, what’s the point of a person who explores magic putting a weapon that he can’t even use in the warehouse? Is he going to admire it?”

“Keuk…”

“Summons Magic is the same. If you can’t handle it, you should give it to someone more useful.”

“How can you prove that? There’s no guarantee that you won’t do something stupid with it either.”

“Aln.”

It was then.

Khalil called that name without any care.

But there was no response.

Then he let out a low sigh and called the name again. With much more force than before.

“Aln Zaviuz.”

Whoosh…!!

At that moment, black smoke rose like flames, and a black wraith wrapped in magical bandages appeared.

[Tsk- You always make things like this happen.]

“Th-that… that…”

Pacio couldn’t speak at his appearance and froze with his mouth open.

“N-no way…”

Pacio muttered in disbelief.

It was the same reaction as when Nine Darhon saw Aln.

It couldn’t be.

All the magic on the continent eventually came from the Council of Seven Elders.

Who was the one who reigned at the top of it?

‘Why is he doing that…?’

The envoy from the Eastern Kingdom tilted his head in confusion as he watched Pacio, who was trembling like an aspen tree.

‘Where did that monster come from…’

The reason why he could be calm even in front of Aln Zaviuz was that he had the lowest magical achievement among those here.

This was a matter of birth or origin.

Mages instinctively knew in front of their source, and the closer they got to the top, the more clearly they could feel it.

[Why aren’t you bowing?]

“…!!!”

It was then.

As soon as Aln finished speaking, his surroundings turned black, and a magical storm erupted around him.

“Cough, cough… !”

The envoy could not breathe and knelt down as he was.

Only after seeing the direct power did he realize.

‘M-monster…’

The saying that a puppy doesn’t know how scary a tiger is was exactly what he was referring to now.

“Ah, I told him not to bow too much. Because he was trying to do something else.”

[Don’t talk nonsense.]

Khalil chuckled at Aln’s answer.

“What are you doing?”

Then he said to Pacio, who was prostrating on the floor as if he was bowing.

“Aren’t you going to bring it?”

* * *

[This is it. It’s terribly crude… Well, it’s usable considering it came from that Gustav’s head.]

Aln sat in a chair, read all three magic books, and then gave his impressions.

Pacio Han emptied the entire Lord’s Manor for Khalil without saying a word.

He could hear the envoy from the Eastern Kingdom, who had been suddenly kicked out, saying something to him, but it was only for a moment.

“How is it?”

In the unexpectedly empty hall, Khalil asked leisurely while drinking tea.

“I don’t know at all…”

Then Israfil said quietly with an expression that he didn’t know why he was sitting here with them.

Because he was receiving and reading the Summons Magic book that Aln had read and handed over.

“I hope you’re interested.”

But unlike his words, Khalil knew that Israfil’s eyes were sparkling.

“Pardon?”

It was an ancient book made 1,000 years ago, not a book from 250 years ago.

Moreover, it was magic that did not exist now.

There was no way that he, who had been holed up in the library, would not be interested.

“I’m not the only one learning. Israfil, you will also learn Summons Magic.”

“…Pardon? Pardon?! M-me, the ‘Superior Eye’ [Israfil’s epithet, referring to his exceptional insight and knowledge]?”

Israfil looked at him in surprise at Khalil’s words.

“No. It may take me a long time to learn it, but you have to learn all three. What’s the point of just leaving the rest? There’s no one else who can learn it. Besides, I think you’re the only one who can learn ancient magic no matter how much I think about it.”

Khalil pointed to Serica, who was yawning boredly on one side of the Lord’s Manor, and Mikhail, who was on guard with a very nervous look.

“But how can I…”

Israfil recalled what Aln had said before and looked at the Ein Trigger [a magical artifact] embedded in Khalil’s back.

The Summons Magic remaining in the magic city was spirit magic created by Gustav, one of the Council of Seven Elders.

“Don’t worry. It’s not like there’s only one spirit.”

Khalil seemed to have noticed his thoughts and turned around with a strange smile.

“Isn’t that right, Aln?”

[…….]

Aln looked at him with eyes that seemed to say he was dumbfounded.

[Spirits only contract with one person.]

“Who said to make a spirit contract?”

Khalil smiled at him, who was glaring, and tapped his temple with his finger.

[…Did you look it up in the meantime?]

“Isn’t that what you gave it to me for?”

Aln Zaviuz, the original owner of the knowledge repository that was passed on to Khalil, immediately realized what method he was thinking of.

‘As you know, unlike me, he has talent. He’ll be able to learn Summons Magic faster than me. My enlightenment is important, but finding the Demon Nest is more urgent than that.’

Khalil spoke in his heart.

[I know what you’re thinking, but is that even possible? Besides, now that I know the alias ‘Awl,’ I refuse. I don’t like that guy either.]

He had a contract with Duat, but Aln was still in a soul contract with Khalil, and as his dark power strengthened even more, he could see Khalil’s memories more clearly than he had ever seen before.

Even the past of Israfil that Khalil knew.

But Israfil, who did not know the meaning of the awl, could only tilt his head.

‘Well. You want to clear the stigma of being a traitor, don’t you? I think it’s the same for him. In my opinion, completing Gustav’s magic is necessary for both of them.’

Khalil looked at Aln.

‘Besides, maybe through you, he won’t get the alias ‘Awl’ in this life.’

The two people’s expressions were subtly different.

Only Israfil looked back and forth at each other as if he still didn’t know what it meant.

[You’re always a guy who likes to exploit others.]

Aln muttered quietly.

Fsssss…!!

At that moment, his body disappeared like smoke and began to bloom around Israfil like a cloud.

[Young boy, I’ll explain it simply. From now on, I will cover you with my power. It’s a kind of trick. That way, you will be able to use Duat’s power through me, albeit weakly.]

“Pardon? …Pardon?! W-wait a minute…!”

Israfil shouted in embarrassment as he watched the black smoke that began to cover his entire body from his toes to his head.

[Yes, yes. You don’t have to say thank you.]

Aln said quietly in the smoke.