How To Live As A Third Son Of A Failure [EN]: Chapter 12

My knock had barely finished when the heavy door opened smoothly, as if it were an automatic door.

“Y-Young Master?”

The same chilling wind blew where Ruth and I stood.

However, inside the opened door was a massive Gothic-style cloister.

“Ruth, let’s go in.”

“W-Where is this place?”

“Don’t know.”

“Young Master!”

“So, you’re not coming?”

“Isn’t it dangerous!”

“Then don’t come.”

I was tired to death and didn’t feel like explaining everything.

I strode inside, and the cold disappeared, replaced by a warm atmosphere.

“Huh…”

Ruth reluctantly followed, his hand on the hilt of his sword, constantly looking around.

*Thud!*

The door closed completely once we were inside.

And so, Ruth and I found ourselves not in the Bolm Mountains, but in an unknown location.

Still in disbelief, Ruth spun around in place.

“This is impossible…”

Leaving the bewildered Ruth behind, I slowly walked towards the cloister.

The long corridor of the cloister was wide enough for a carriage to pass through, and the ceiling was so high I had to crane my neck to see it.

The walls and ceiling were covered in stained glass, depicting various races.

Dragons, humans, other races, monsters, angels, and demons.

Each was in conflict, shedding blood. It clearly represented the racial wars that occurred before Emperor Bellancus unified the continent.

“……!”

Ruth, who had hurriedly followed, also gasped at the sight.

“The Imperial Palace and here… which is more splendid?”

“……I don’t know.”

The appreciation was over.

I nodded and began to walk along the cloister.

*Whoosh!*

Each time, the lanterns on the wall lit up like modern streetlights.

Unlike me, who was used to it, Ruth flinched each time, his hand reaching for his sword.

‘This feels strange.’

Every time I passed the stained glass, it felt like the races depicted there were looking down on me.

Was this the intended effect from the beginning?

If the intention was to intimidate visitors, it was working perfectly.

“There’s a door, Young Master.”

Following Ruth’s words, I saw a luxurious door in the distance.

I couldn’t guarantee it, but I had a feeling she would be inside.

“Are you coming?”

“Yes?”

“You can wait here.”

Ruth’s eyes flickered for a moment, but he shook his head.

“I am your escort knight, Young Master. I will follow you.”

“Is that so? Then let me give you one warning.”

“What…”

“No matter what happens from now on, don’t say a word.”

Kerwyn Achen, a founding contributor to the kingdom.

Emperor Bellancus’s confidante and lover, and a great mage who had lived for hundreds of years.

But strangely, I wasn’t nervous.

I just wanted to finish this quickly and get some sleep.

*Knock, knock!*

I knocked neither too hard nor too softly.

A brief silence followed.

“Come in.”

A woman’s voice came from inside the door.

* * *

Upon opening the door, a magnificent silver-white hall appeared, grand enough to intimidate anyone.

The highlight was the throne in the center.

The Throne of Brilliance.

It was clearly the throne that Kerwyn had gifted to Emperor Bellancus, who unified the continent.

Magic seemed to have been added, as white and red light surged around the backrest, as if the chair itself were a living creature imbued with mana.

“Good heavens.”

Ruth, too, recognized the throne and knelt down involuntarily.

“The throne, the throne is here…”

When the Emperor died, Kerwyn declared that the throne was only for him and unhesitatingly took it back.

Since then, the throne’s whereabouts had been unknown, and it had been forgotten, but it was right here, in Kerwyn’s residence.

‘Shouldn’t have brought him.’

I hoped she wouldn’t kill Ruth to shut him up.

Worried, I slowly raised my gaze.

The throne was as massive as its reputation suggested.

The structure required climbing steps to reach a height of two or three stories before one could sit on it.

And on that throne sat a woman.

White hair that fell to her waist.

Her eyes were also silver, similar to her hair color. Her fair and delicate skin was full of elasticity, and her furrowed eyebrows gave her a stern image.

“I wondered if there were any of you still alive.”

“……”

“Jeff, Guerril, Hinde, Bishurar, Bashrun.”

A dry voice echoed in my ears.

“But I can’t find any of them in your face.”

The names of legendary heroes echoed, and Ruth, finally recognizing Kerwyn, involuntarily interrupted.

“C-Could it be the Great Mage Kerwyn Achen?”

Kerwyn was also a forgotten figure.

However, when the Emperor’s throne and her white-haired appearance were combined, it wasn’t difficult to recall her name from legends.

And the price for calling that name carelessly was terrible.

*Kwaaaang!*

As Kerwyn snapped her fingers, Ruth’s body flew away as if someone had struck him with a war hammer, and he crashed into the wall.

“Keuk……”

Ruth spat out a mouthful of blood and groaned as he collapsed forward.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like a fatal wound.

Even if he were dying, I could revive him sufficiently if I finished this negotiation.

Perhaps because of that, I wasn’t afraid, but I did find a level of tension that completely dispelled my drowsiness.

“Who are you?”

*Thump!*

I knelt. It wasn’t perfect, but if my knees were aching, I must have shown enough sincerity.

“Cain Lindayer, the third son of Count Lane Lindayer, the head of the Lindayer family, which has been in charge of the northern border of the kingdom for generations, protecting the kingdom, pays respects to the Lamp of the Kingdom.”

The Lamp of the Kingdom.

If the Emperor was the sword of the kingdom, Kerwyn held the title of the Lamp.

Upon hearing that title, her expression softened, as if she found it unexpected.

“Lindayer?”

“……”

“If it’s Lindayer, isn’t that the family that leeches off the Bolm Mountains and enjoys power?”

Leeches?

The Count, called the lord of the north, is a parasite?

“Why, do you feel insulted?”

“……No.”

“That’s just the truth. Protect the kingdom? What a joke. If it weren’t for my power, your flimsy walls would crumble to dust in a single night.”

Kerwyn’s power? Without it, the northern walls would crumble?

What does that mean?

Is she suppressing something? What? From what?

This is a setting I don’t know. Is this related to the latter half of the novel?

Sensing something unusual, I engraved each of her words in my mind.

“Anyway, that’s a meaningless story. The important thing is how you found this place.”

She looked down at me with a nonchalant attitude.

It was a question that seemed to lack interest, concern, or even a shred of doubt.

However, if I didn’t answer that question properly, I would end up like Ruth.

*Gulp.*

I swallowed once and began to unravel what I had organized in my head.

“I had a dream.”

“A dream?”

“It was the Emperor’s dream.”

Of course, it’s a lie.

It’s just a build-up to sell magic and make money.

The woman who had been resting her chin on her hand straightened up.

The nonchalant reaction disappeared, replaced by dried-up anger.

Controlling the strength.

She almost killed Ruth for interrupting her. It’s better to avoid reckless bluffing.

“His Majesty commanded me to meet you.”

“Why?”

“He said it was for the promise he made on the Celodian Plains.”

Her eyes regained their calm.

The promise made on the Celodian Plains.

Before charging into a horde of ten thousand orcs with a small group of knights, the Emperor promised her.

“Even if I die, I will never forget you.”

With a wistful look, she nodded.

A promise between her and the Emperor.

The fact that I knew it proved that there was a connection with the Emperor.

But we live in different eras.

However, there was definitely contact. This can only be explained by a supernatural phenomenon called a dream.

She was a smart woman, and it didn’t take her long to realize that. Also, as wise as she was, she trusted her convictions.

“But it’s strange. Why would you, whom I’ve never met, have such a dream?”

“He simply used the gray hawk as a messenger pigeon.”

Knowing that the Lindayer family’s crest was a hawk, I made it up on the spot. Fortunately, a small smile appeared on her face.

Of course, it wasn’t because the joke was funny, but because her heart was shaken by the thought that it was a messenger pigeon sent by the Emperor.

“But why didn’t the messenger pigeon bring even a small handwritten letter tied to its leg?”

“Of course, I have it.”

I’ve spun the yarn, so now it’s time to sell the medicine.

I opened my bag and took out the magical ingredients that I had carefully brought from the territory.

Things that I had cherished more dearly than my own body.

“What are those?”

She’s a great mage, so she must know what they’re for.

If she’s asking about their uses, then the main game is starting.

I took a deep breath.

“I believe everything in the world has value.”

Her eyebrows furrowed.

“The messenger pigeon can even talk.”

“The wild hawk has been trained as a messenger pigeon.”

“I might crush its beak.”

“Don’t you need the Emperor’s message?”

“You’re audacious. Are you threatening me now?”

“Forgive my rudeness. What would a hawk born and raised in the wild know? It’s not a threat, but it’s just that it’s come a long way and is hungry, so it needs a little feed.”

It was a bit of a Zen-like conversation, but I thought this kind of thing might suit her taste.

She leaned back on the backrest.

“Shining treasures must be your feed.”

“That’s right.”

“I’ll pay after I see and judge.”

Someone of her stature wouldn’t break a promise.

I nodded and began to gather the ingredients and mix them little by little.

There’s no need to explain the process. If it’s Kerwyn, she’ll remember it forever just by seeing it once.

‘What if this combination is wrong by any chance?’

Ruth and I would both be forgotten as frozen corpses in Maneloph.

But there’s almost no chance of it being wrong.

It was one of the most touching episodes in the novel, so I replayed it several times.

The magic is very simple.

The magic tower lord of the kingdom who lost his beloved.

He had created a formula after decades of research.

Dream Caster.

A name given because it visualizes what humans desperately desire.

Because he was a magic tower lord who couldn’t formalize the spell, creating scrolls using these materials was the limit.

‘Well, she could probably make it with magic.’

Rather, that might stimulate her curiosity.

I mixed the combined ingredients with purified water, took out a blank piece of parchment, and poured it on top.

Then I drew a very simple magic circle.

The problem is that it’s hard to remember the ingredients, but once you know them, it’s very easy to make, as you can see.

However, the mana required for the magic to manifest was beyond imagination.

The scroll only serves as a medium, and the caster is solely responsible for the mana.

“Here it is.”

As I presented the scroll I had made, Kerwyn gestured.

*Whoosh!*

The scroll, as if it had its own will, floated in the air and was caught in her hand.

Tear!

Then, as if she wasn’t even curious about how to use it, she tore the scroll in one go.

*Saaaa…….*

The light emitted as the magic manifested filled the magnificent hall.

‘Ugh.’

When the whirlwind of light disappeared, what appeared was a figure.

A sturdy physique, golden hair, an infinitely upright impression, and firmly closed lips.

It was the same appearance as the portrait I saw when I first came to Midland.

It was obvious who it was.

‘Emperor Bellancus.’

The founder of the kingdom.

The hero of the era, the alpha and omega of the Midland Saga, had appeared.