The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 53

Azor was in an uproar over the recent Expert Competition incident, and the Twilight Council and the Immortal Guild were no exception.

“Hoo…”

Facio, the lord of Azor, was the one suffering the most from the turmoil between these two factions.

“The Ulkas Guild must be held responsible!”

“What responsibility? It’s a fact that he won the Expert Competition. Whether he used Class 1 or Class 2 magic, isn’t it still magic?”

“Would you have remained silent if the Immortal Guild had hosted this competition?”

The senior mages from each magic society gathered in Azor were all focused on Karil, but the positions of the two schools were starkly different.

‘Heh, serves them right. As if anyone doesn’t know. They’re just trying to get revenge for what happened to Tapio.’

The representative of the Immortal Guild heard the news that the host had suddenly disappeared the day after the competition.

Along with the participants’ refusal to compete.

All they could do was this, after Karil crushed even the promising prospect from the Twilight Council and confidently took the victory.

‘Typical. The Twilight Council is always busy disparaging the Immortal Guild with cowardly curses and whatnot, but they’re the ones doing all the dirty work behind the scenes.’

For the Immortal Guild, which didn’t have a good relationship with the Twilight Council, this situation wasn’t so bad.

The prize for the Expert Competition was just a Class 5 magic tome [a book containing spells and magical knowledge]. They had plenty of those in their base, the Ivory Tower, or the Anti-Hum Grand Library.

“Ahem…”

Their conversation seemed to be going nowhere.

Eventually, Lord Facio cautiously opened his mouth.

“I didn’t gather the esteemed members of the magic societies to have this kind of discussion.”

His voice was soft.

It was a tone that showed enough respect as a lord, but it contained a sharp anger within.

It was no wonder he was in a bad mood, as the investigation into the strange phenomenon a few days ago hadn’t been properly conducted, and now a free mage not affiliated with any magic society had won the competition.

“Azor was founded by the Seven Elders, who are said to have spread magic in the beginning. Therefore, it is a place where all mages can freely research magic, regardless of their school.”

The moment he, who had been silent until now, opened his mouth, a heavy pressure was felt in the conference room.

“It is not wrong for a free mage to win, but I gathered you to coordinate opinions on this matter, not to argue with each other.”

“Ahem…”

“Hmm.”

At his words, the mages cleared their throats.

“Don’t you know that the victory of the Expert Competition is not important? It’s what he said he wanted afterward.”

It was then.

“…!!”

“…!!”

A sense of oppression that felt like it was suffocating them.

The mages gathered in the hall felt their shoulders involuntarily twitch and slump.

They sometimes forgot, due to his round face and seemingly amiable demeanor.

Facio, the lord of Azor, was also a high-ranking mage.

Moreover, even with the title of high-ranking, not all high-ranking mages were the same. He was a high-ranking mage with magic power close to Class 7.

If it weren’t for his position as lord, he would have been capable enough to join the ranks of the archmages.

“Do you understand?”

The mages, realizing the gap between themselves and Facio due to his overwhelming magic power, fell silent.

“We can provide Class 5 magic tomes to free mages as much as they want. Many have obtained magic tomes that way.”

His words were no different from what other mages thought.

“The problem is.”

But the words that followed.

“After the Expert Competition, he expressed his desire to participate in the Master Competition along with the winner’s reward.”

“What?!”

“Is that true?”

“Seriously, just because he won a competition once… his arrogance is sky-high.”

“This is not a problem we can just ignore!”

As expected, the mages protested.

Facio slowly nodded, but he couldn’t avoid discussing the treatment of the troublesome winner.

“The reason why the Master Competition hasn’t been held for decades is to prevent bloodshed by stopping duels between mages of high rank or higher. This is an unspoken rule of the magic societies. Even the free mages of the guilds should know this if they walk the path of magic.”

At his words, the mages were once again indignant, but Facio raised his hand first to silence them before their noisy words could be heard.

“Some people may call it cowardly, but the biggest reason why magic has been stabilized until now is because we have minimized the friction between the two magic societies.”

Magic.

It is truly a contradictory existence.

Every citizen of the empire is born with at least a minimal amount of magic power, and even ordinary people have enough versatility to use magic necessary for daily life.

But conversely, it also possesses the power to kill on a massive scale, more than any other weapon.

A power that is insignificant to some.

Transforms into a power that can change the map in an instant for others.

“It is ironic that the mages themselves presented the dangers of magic and established the rules 250 years ago after Kaie Esir. But this is for the continent.”

Facio put strength into his voice.

“We cannot break the will that has been upheld for hundreds of years because of a mage from a small guild whose origins we don’t even know.”

Everyone agreed with his words.

The mages from the two magic societies, who had been at each other’s throats just a moment ago, instantly became allies as soon as a common enemy appeared.

The duplicity of these people was astonishing to ordinary people.

“What are you planning to do, Lord?”

“The prize for the Master Competition has been determined since the past.”

“Don’t tell me… you’re thinking of just handing over Azor’s treasures?”

The mages were startled by Facio’s words.

The three magic tomes that are stored beneath the spire honoring the seven mages after the magic city was built.

The First Magic.

The great magic was Azor’s symbol and their pride.

Even though no mage has ever mastered it.

“Of course not. I can’t easily hand over such a thing to someone like that.”

“Then how?”

At that moment, Facio smiled softly at the mages’ questions.

* * *

“Kuhahaha!!! He has every reason to be confident!! And he’s lucky too. The mages suddenly dropped out as a group. They must have been scared by your fighting.”

The day before.

Bargo, who had no idea that Karil had already taken action, held up his winning trophy and shouted as if the inn would collapse.

“The Ulkas Guild has really been blessed! Don’t forget. You signed a contract with the guild.”

Bargo took out the contract and showed it to him. A foolish greed that seemed like he would die of happiness was visible in his sly smile.

The material of the contract was not ordinary paper.

The surface was rough and had a bluish tint that seemed to have not been properly bleached.

You might think it was because they used cheap materials, but it was actually the opposite.

The Oath of Words.

Words have always contained power.

That is why incantations exist in chanting magic and casting spells.

“Do you know how to make a contract?”

Karil nodded at Bargo’s question.

“Good. Then it’ll be easy.”

The method is simple.

The contractor holds the contract in their hand and reads their conditions and collateral aloud.

Then those words are recorded in the contract, and if they break it, they will pay the price set by the contractors.

Even if that is death.

‘He even brought something expensive. Even the Kyo-do Mercenary Corps doesn’t use that for contracts.’

Karil looked at the contract.

The contract, which is said to be from the Magic Era hundreds of years ago, was a rare item that could not be mass-produced even though it had been improved by mages.

Bargo’s will could be felt from it.

No.

It should be called greed.

A desire to obtain Karil even by using this, which was such an expensive item.

In a way that he could never escape.

‘Keke… it starts now. I’ll make you work very hard.’

A contract is about anticipating dozens or hundreds of possibilities before signing and creating conditions that will be most beneficial to oneself.

Bargo Sira, who was from a merchant background, was a man skilled in such tricks.

He thought that deceiving a mere twelve-year-old boy with his silver tongue was nothing.

“Let’s hear the conditions.”

Karil said to Bargo nonchalantly.

“From the moment this contract is completed, Karil must belong to Ulkas for the next five years and perform requests. In return, the guild will endeavor to provide the magic tomes that the contractor, Karil, desires for his growth.”

It sounded good, but nothing could be more ambiguous than this.

Endeavor.

If you think about it the other way around, it was a word that could be abused as much as possible. Karil chuckled at the petty wordplay.

“As a condition for that, Karil must participate in at least three requests per quarter. In return, the guild will provide magic tomes of Class 5 or higher every year.”

“Good.”

Karil nodded without protesting.

Bargo cheered inwardly at his appearance.

‘As expected, a kid is a kid.’

After that, he recited the clauses he had prepared one by one.

There were so many clauses that it was headache-inducing to listen to, but Karil didn’t say a word and accepted all of his conditions.

After the clauses were engraved to the point where there was no space left on the contract, Karil quietly added one word.

“I want to add one more clause.”

“What is it? Anything.”

Bargo said as if he was doing him a favor after setting dozens of clauses.

“I, Karil, will abide by all the clauses as long as the Ulkas Guild exists.”

“Hahaha! That’s a clause that I should be asking for instead.”

He laughed heartily at Karil’s words.

“Good. Good. I agree to that as well.”

Karil’s words were engraved on the last line of the contract as if it were burning.

‘Once I get what I want…’

Karil smiled coldly as he looked at him.

‘Anyway, you and your guild will soon disappear.’

What use would these clauses be if the guild didn’t exist?

Bargo Sira, who had no idea what he was thinking, looked delighted.

The biggest reason Karil approached the Ulkas Guild.

Wooden Cloud.

Their work was not just killing Kwell’s sons.

‘Rather, that work is only a small part of what they did.’

It’s not that he takes his brothers’ lives lightly, and the imperial knight families were shaken by the incident, but in the end, Olivon unified the continent.

‘The problem is after the Revelation.’

Wooden Cloud, a secret organization of the duchy, existed even after the duchy was destroyed.

And that existence influenced the dark parts of the continent in a twisted way.

They knew how to handle ordinary people well.

In the form of a cult [a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object].

After the Revelation.

Rather, after that incident, they called the monsters that burned the continent the true messengers.

It may sound like crazy talk, but surprisingly, many people followed them.

Fanatics.

Of course, that’s how it looked to ordinary people, but they accepted it as a blessing from God.

‘Wooden Cloud has since instigated numerous conflicts and even named the city of Ygg, located in the northeast, as the Holy City.’

Hundreds of thousands of people were sacrificed in the fight against the cult, even though it was already difficult to fight the monsters.

‘No matter what, I have to completely eliminate their roots this time.’

It was a preparation for that.

Karil smiled sharply at Bargo Sira.

Creak—

It was then.

The guild door opened and people wearing brilliant robes entered.

“Hmm? Who are those guys…”

Bargo Sira frowned as he hurriedly put the contract with Karil in his arms, worried that it would be discovered.

‘They’re here.’

Karil recognized who they were at once without hearing an explanation.

The lord’s subordinates.

As if they had been waiting, they said to Karil.

“The lord is looking for you. We will escort you.”

Karil nodded at his words.

He would be able to hear the answer to his proposal there.

‘Good. Facio, let’s see how much that old fox has been scheming.’