Margrave’s Bastard Son Was The Emperor [EN]: Chapter 178

Kwaang!

An explosion echoed from the magic department. Beric, who had been running ahead, stopped abruptly, causing Acorella to bump her nose. She adjusted her glasses and exclaimed irritably,

‘That hurt! What is it?!’

‘Something happened at the magic department.’

‘Of course, Marib took the soldiers there! The Third Imperial Palace will be in the same mess soon, so move quickly.’

‘Ugh. I shouldn’t have come. Is Ian alright on his own?’

Acorella scoffed at Beric’s muttering. It was Ian Hielo, the head of the magic department, no less. Ian Hielo, who had appeared like a comet and seized the fourth position in the great Bariel Empire!

‘Who’s worrying about whom? And ‘came along’? There’s a difference! You were ordered to be my escort.’

‘By the way, hey. Do you know me? You’ve been bothering me since earlier.’

‘Hey? HEY?! I am Acorella! The head of the mana stone management department!’

‘But isn’t your boss Ian? I’m the same.’

‘Both of you, please be quiet!’

Tomi, who had been watching the front from the air, couldn’t hold back his scolding. Woof woof woof. He had expected a combination of mad dogs, but it was more tiring than he thought. The smoky air already made it hard to see, and they were making it even more chaotic.

‘It seems there’s a fire near the Third Imperial Palace. Even if we consider the soldiers, you said we’re bringing a painting. It’ll be a problem if the fire spreads, so stop the chatter and hurry.’

‘It’s not chatter, it’s establishing discipline!’

Acorella shouted again, but Beric just stuck his tongue out and ran towards the Third Imperial Palace. Or rather, he was following Tomi’s shadow.

Tap tap tap!

‘Tomi! How is the magic department?’

‘I can’t see well from here.’

The portal cutting through the sky obscured half of the magic department. Judging by the explosion, something had definitely happened, but Tomi barely swallowed a sigh as he looked at the devastated scene.

‘Just a day.’

It had only been about 24 hours since the events had started the night before. How could he not have known that the product of hundreds of years of history could be destroyed so futilely?

Did Marib and Gale know what they were doing?

‘Beric. I see Marib’s soldiers over there.’

‘Shall we kill them on the way?’

‘No. It seems we’ll arrive first. It’ll be tough for them when we take the painting out.’

Tomi pointed out the flags of Marib’s soldiers approaching. Instead of answering, Beric swung his black sword and pushed off even more forcefully.

Taat!

‘Let’s go together! You guys!’

If it weren’t for Acorella’s shout, they could have run even faster. As soon as she arrived at the Third Imperial Palace, she leaned on the ground and dry-heaved. Wasn’t it too harsh of an exercise for a researcher who mostly lived in the lab?

‘Ugh.’

‘Ugh, gross. You said we only need to take one painting? Okay, okay, pick one. There are so many.’

Building guides, geometric wall decorations, a portrait of the person who seemed to be in charge of the Third Imperial Palace, and flower paintings placed side by side next to a huge window. Paintings from the hands of artists were hung everywhere the eye could see.

Acorella wiped her mouth and muttered,

‘It wouldn’t be one of those.’

‘Then what?’

‘Not long after the liquistone [a rare and powerful type of mana stone] was taken out, paintings with mana stones became popular among high-ranking nobles. The imperial family probably led the trend to hide the secret passage of His Majesty the Emperor.’

Then it would be faster to find what the high-ranking nobles enjoyed.

‘The larger, more ornate, and sacred-looking paintings are more likely. I’ll go around and check the paintings one by one, and Beric, you go the other way and take down similar paintings. Tomi, you protect me.’

It was an order to minimize time. At Acorella’s words, Beric immediately ran to the left corridor and shouted,

‘This way?!’

‘Yes. Take them down and pile them up here.’

Tap tap tap!

Watching his back disappear like the wind, Acorella released her mana. As the senses of her whole body became acutely heightened, her face naturally contorted. Her head was spinning, and she felt like she was going to throw up again.

‘Are you alright?’

‘Yeah. Let’s go.’

‘Will we be able to distinguish the liquistone? Even if it’s mixed, it’ll be a very small amount, and it’ll be a problem if it’s mixed with other lower-grade mana stones.’

She pushed up her glasses, which had a smudge from Beric, and smiled slightly. She was curious about that herself.

‘Let’s see. Hehe.’

She touched, felt, and tasted mana stones every day. It felt like she was testing her half-life in the lab. As she chuckled softly, Tomi paused and stepped back.

‘…That smile, it’s the one she makes when she experiments with potions on mages.’

Just as he was wondering if he should switch places with Beric, Beric was roughly scanning the paintings as he ran down the corridor. Large, ornate, and sacred-looking….

‘Huh?’

At the end of the corridor, a painting that was much taller than a person suddenly caught his eye. A dozen angels smiling brightly. Beric crossed his arms and let out a groan of contemplation.

‘Hmm. This is too big.’

How would he carry it? No, he could carry it if he had to. It would be twice or three times more of a pain than carrying Dilaina on his back.

‘Pass!’

He only needed to take one painting anyway. Beric turned around with a clear voice. At the same time, the eyes of the angels moved again.

‘No!’

Beric suddenly turned around, and stopped. He was pursing his lips, not knowing what he was thinking.

‘If I bring a really big one, they’ll give me more meat for my hard work, right?!’

Beric giggled and approached the painting again. He reached out to take it down, but he felt something strange.

‘……?’

It was a very short time.

Only a few seconds.

But why did it feel like something had changed? He couldn’t figure it out. Beric frowned and took a step back.

Was it because he had a pure, unbiased view? Instead of giving meaning and interpreting, he saw things as they were.

‘Oh!’

The angels were all looking down at him, or rather, at the person admiring them, and smiling. Except for one angel on the left.

Beric snapped his fingers as if he had an epiphany.

‘Why are this one’s eyes like that?’

Beric went closer and examined the angel’s face. The eyes were….

‘Blink?’

It blinked! Short and fast, as if it had lost a staring contest! Beric was so surprised that he unknowingly yelled and struck the angel’s face.

‘Kkyaaaaaaak!’

Kwaaang!

‘…Shit. Shit, what, what is that.’

‘Beric! Beric! What happened?’

Tomi, who heard the commotion, ran over first. Beric, who was unusually pale, looked at Tomi, panting.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘The painting, its eyes move!’

‘What?’

‘It moves! It just blinked!’

‘That doesn’t make any sense….’

Tap tap tap!

‘Tomi! I told you to protect me!’

Acorella ran over, carrying a piece of art that was as big as her upper body. As if to make her efforts meaningless, she threw away the small one and approached the angel’s painting.

Ziiing. Ziiing.

And she called out her mana more strongly, looking for traces of liquistone. The power of the mana stone was felt through her sixth sense, beyond her five senses. Acorella rubbed her face against the painting, unable to hide her excitement.

‘Ahaha! This is it! This! It’s definitely liquistone!’

‘T-that’s it?’

‘It’s definitely it. My 10 years as a rookie in the mana stone management department, 3 years as a deputy head, and 5 years as a head are telling me! 210 grams of liquistone, 15 grams of Alatum, 150 grams of Coridosia…!’

Tomi pushed Acorella aside and lowered the painting. The alloy frame alone would weigh over ten kilograms, so he and Beric held it tightly from the front and back.

‘If it’s certain, let’s go without delay. Beric, hold on tight.’

‘Okay! Shishishibal!’

‘…It’s ‘cooperate’.’

The three of them carefully, but as quickly as possible, left the Third Imperial Palace.

As they came outside, a smoky smell hit them, as if the nearby fire had spread. Acorella adjusted her glasses and looked up at the sky.

‘Why isn’t there a portal?’

‘Huh?’

At her question, the two men also looked up. The sky was clear and blue. There was no trace of the black moon. Beric frowned as if he didn’t understand.

‘Where did the black moon go? Does it disappear this quickly?’

‘…It either activated, or the magic circle disappeared.’

Tomi’s voice was full of bewilderment. Whether it was the former or the latter, it was clear that something had happened to the mages.

‘A-are we sure we can go back to the magic department building? If the portal is activated, the mages have evacuated as a group, and if the magic circle has disappeared, it means they’re all dead-‘

Acorella realized how terrible her words were and covered her mouth. At that moment, Beric dropped the painting he was holding and grabbed his sword.

Saaak.

Mana was drawn from his core without hesitation. A purple aura swirled around the black sword.

‘Beric! No! If something happened to the mages, we might be their last chance!’

Acorella desperately grabbed him, but Beric calmly brushed her hand away.

What did he care? Last chance or whatever, that was a value set by Ian’s judgment.

What Beric had to do was save his master.

‘I’m going first.’

Taat!

‘There they are! There, the mages!’

‘Catch them! You can kill them!’

Tap tap tap!

At that moment, Marib’s soldiers found the three of them and rushed towards them. In the short moment that Acorella reflexively deployed a shield, Beric swung his sword widely and jumped into the formation.

Chwaaaak!

Kwajik!

‘Ugh!’

‘Don’t back down! There’s only one of them!’

‘Crazy, ugh! Save me! My eyes! My eyes!’

‘Is he a magic swordsman? Keep the formation!’

‘Attack at once! At once!’

‘Waaaaaak!’

It wasn’t swordsmanship. It was just slaughter. He indiscriminately stabbed the faces and necks that were not covered by armor, unleashing attacks solely for the purpose of killing.

The only difference from usual was that Beric wasn’t enjoying it.

‘I’m busy-!’

Peok!

‘I’ll kill them all.’

Even Tomi and Acorella couldn’t get close to Beric. It was a force that wanted to break everything that was in the way, regardless of friend or foe.

Chwaaaak!

‘Haa, haa…….’

‘Hwik!’

The soldiers ran away after seeing their comrades torn to pieces. He hesitated for a moment whether to chase them, but Beric grabbed his black sword and ran back towards the magic department.

‘Ah, shit, really, what if Ian died?’

‘Why would Ian die? He’s practically the only one who can solve this situation!’

‘I don’t know! I’m really going first!’

‘You idiot! Take the painting! Aish!’

Acorella punched the back of Beric’s head. But Beric disappeared in an instant, and only the groans of dying soldiers filled the area.

‘He’s the subordinate of such a crazy guy, why would he die? Ugh, idiot.’

She had no choice but to grab the edge of the painting instead of Beric. It was huge, and the weight was enormous.

‘Tomi, is there any magic that can help move this?’

‘Transportation is Nakina’s specialty. Shall we try?’

‘…No. It’ll be a problem if the mana stone reacts. Haaa. I’ll lift it. One, two, three! Ugh!’

Acorella frowned and shook her hands. The imperial palace was already vast, but the magic department seemed particularly far away today.

Just as Acorella was taking a difficult step.