The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 145

145.

“Yes, it’s the robe the Founder always wore during his adventures in pursuit of truth. Now it’s your turn to wear it.”

“Huh?”

As if brooking no argument, Father took the red robe, which gleamed quietly on the hanger, and draped it over my shoulders.

“Now, give me that baby dragon for a moment. Put your arms through the sleeves.”

“No, wait, Father?”

“Hurry before it wakes up. Didn’t you say it starts crying if it’s away from you for even a moment?”

Pushed into this sudden situation by my father, I slipped my arms into the robe’s sleeves.

Immediately, Seresiah, who had been exuding aristocratic beauty with a cool demeanor, adjusted the size of the robe to fit my body perfectly.

Perhaps because it was imbued with magic, the robe was as light as a feather yet warm and cozy. It felt pleasantly cool, as if it filtered the humidity of summer.

“Yes, it suits you very well. I guess it’s because you’re my son; you look good in anything.”

Father grabbed my shoulders, lightly smoothed out the robe, and gave a satisfied smile. That smile was too much for me.

“Father, I don’t think I can. How can I take the heirloom of the Magic House…?”

“What can’t you do? Just bring it back and put it here when you return. Anyway, if you don’t come back, the Ludwig family will collapse.”

“Pardon?”

“Brim will cry himself to death, and I’ll die of loneliness mourning your mother. Then Seri and Bran, who won’t be cared for, will also die…”

What cruel things was he saying? As I stammered, taking Aki back, Father gave a wistful smile.

“I’m saying, please come back. This is both a wish for your safety and a gentle curse to ensure you have no choice but to return.”

Then, he suddenly hugged me tightly and patted my back.

“It’s okay if you lose Seresiah during your journey. Just come back. That’s all I need.”

His warmth was so comforting… it was probably the first time my vision blurred because of my family.

“Please issue a gag order to the guards and servants about my visit here.”

“I will… Your school friends came to pay their respects. Five of the Eight Great Schools’ most promising students and even Crista Warden. Should I tell them too?”

Those guys came to pay their respects?

It was so absurd it was almost amazing.

At the same time, a nostalgic smile formed. School life with those guys… it was more fun than I thought.

“Yes. To no one.”

Now that it’s November, would the final exams be in full swing? Or would they be over?

Taking exams was also a fun experience… The memory of conquering the labyrinth with Logan quietly surfaced.

And Crista, who would crush clay, saying she would flatten my nose in every exam…

– Then let’s rejoin in our city when you go south, Rain! And Aki too!

Casena had said that when we parted in central Empire, but I couldn’t bring them along on this extremely dangerous journey. Now, it’s time for us to go our separate ways.

“Also, don’t tell Aunt Serina Elin. Grandpa might be okay, but… those two are too honest, so they won’t be able to hide it even if they try.”

“Seri and Elin too? Even so, shouldn’t your family know whether you’re alive or not?”

“I want to, but… if they know I’m alive, they’ll think they know where I am, and then they’ll be in danger.”

There’s no guarantee that there isn’t someone in the Black Church who is worse than Valencidi, who tried to gain a perfect victory by taking my family hostage.

I asked Raida to issue a gag order to the Imperial soldiers who saw me. There might be rumors because of someone with a loose mouth, but it would only be rumors.

For now, it’s important that the truth of my being alive doesn’t come to light.

“After I finish this journey and everything is settled, I’ll greet them in person.”

Father was silent for a long time. Then a sad smile mixed with a sigh returned.

“Okay… If Bran tells Seri that he saw you, should I say he was dreaming because he missed his brother?”

Not from Father, but from Mother.

Father and I turned towards the door of the secret chamber with surprised faces… and there was Mother, standing with a sorrowful smile.

She even had a basket containing Mirngardia. When Mother coughed, Father rushed to support her.

“No, why did you come all the way here in your condition?”

“I was worried Rain might forget to take this. He said it was very important…”

After handing the dragon egg basket to Father, Mother held my hand tightly.

Suddenly, memories from my childhood, which I hadn’t remembered or thought about until now, resurfaced in my mind. The warmth of my mother, who had always warmly embraced my small, delicate hands until they grew large.

“I’m sorry, Mom. You must have had the hardest time, but I got angry out of the blue…”

“No, it’s my fault. Well, I’ll write letters often this time so you don’t worry too much. Of course, I’ll have to send them under a pseudonym, pretending to be an acquaintance or a subordinate.”

I hated writing letters so much when I entered the school, but this time I’ll do it myself…

Brim was proud of his son’s growth and felt his heart ache at the thought of having to send such a son away again.

The boy scratched his head awkwardly for a moment before stepping forward and hugging his mother’s emaciated body.

“Mother, I’ll be back. Please get well soon, so I can be a good son when I return.”

If there was one regret from my past life, it was not saying a proper farewell when I left the school.

I should have said it properly, Headmaster, thank you so much for everything until now… Why did I think I would definitely come back then?

I’m going to make a promise that I couldn’t make then and couldn’t have kept even if I had made it this time. So that I don’t regret it again, so that I don’t shed tears again.

“Yes, okay… my son… always dress warmly in cold places, and don’t catch a cold. And sometimes sleep in an inn, because if you only sleep outside, your body will be harmed…”

“Seresiah is taking care of my clothes, so you don’t have to worry. I’ll take plenty of money with me. I’ll stop by an inn from time to time as you said. …You should eat well and rest well to get healthy, Mother.”

My mother finally burst into tears again at my words, which I said with some embarrassment.

Next was Father.

I had already said goodbye before Mother came, but perhaps, just perhaps, this might be the last time like in my previous life…

“Father.”

As I approached, Father suddenly lifted Seresiah’s robe and brought the dragon egg basket to the inner pocket.

Then what is this…?

The shape of the basket reflected in my retina seemed to be refracted here and there, and then it disappeared as if being sucked into another dimension?

“What is this, how… what’s going on?”

As I blinked, bewildered, Father smiled quietly.

“It’s one of Seresiah’s hidden functions.”

“Hidden function?”

“You can use the subspace created by the Founder’s magic. It’s not that big, probably about the size of that basket. Fortunately, it fits perfectly.”

How could there be such a function…?

The era of Ryuken Ludwig was when the research of space-time teleportation technology, called ‘Magic of the Gods,’ reached its golden age, so it wasn’t incomprehensible.

However, as strong as the light was, so was the shadow, and mages who had fallen into the abyss appeared one after another, so ironically, the Holy See banned the research.

To think that an artifact from a thousand years ago is working so perfectly… Even if they are excavated, they are extremely rare, but most of them are broken or lost.

“It’s going to be a long journey to the South Pole, and I was worried that my son’s shoulders would be bent if I kept making him carry it.”

Father gave a wry smile, then hugged me tightly and patted my back as if to hide it.

As if wanting to hold onto this moment a little longer, the hand patting my back slowed down, slowed down, and slowed down again.

Now, it’s farewell again… I had to bite my lip to suppress my emotions as much as possible.

“Father, I’ll be back. Please live a long and healthy life.”

As I left the mansion and was about to mount the fine horse carefully selected by the guardian knight Swan, Pipi, full of corn, flew down and landed on my head.

“Don’t tell anyone. Not even the guys who are off duty today. Especially not Aunt Serina Elin. Got it?”

“Yes, Young Master. I will definitely keep them quiet.”

“Take care of my parents and siblings.”

“Don’t worry, Young Master.”

Our always reliable guardian knight… I nodded and was about to turn the horse’s head when Swan said in a voice mixed with a hint of trembling.

“I’m so glad you came back alive, Young Master. Really.”

At that moment, I had to turn around to look at Swan with surprised eyes. When Swan smiled, the other guards raised their hands in salute with excited faces.

“We’ll be waiting for the day you return, Young Master!”

“Good luck, Young Master!”

“Please come back safely, Young Master! You said you’d help me buy a house! I’m counting on you!”

Oh my… With a burst of laughter, I raised my thumb. With that as the last, I kicked the horse’s side hard.

Lista said.

That as I kept looking back at the magic tower that was gradually disappearing over the horizon, I liked that magic tower and my schoolmates.

– Rin, that’s exactly what liking is.

Then now, even though I thought I had left without any regrets, if you saw me constantly looking back, you would have said the same thing.

Rin, you like that mansion, the people there…

Then I would have answered you like this, unlike then when I couldn’t be honest at all.

Yeah, that’s right…

* * *

On the ceiling of that old corridor, the world of creatures that had been submerged in the abyss in the prehistoric era was painted with chilling starkness.

On the floor, which had been eroded and worn by the ravages of time, profane letters and numbers spread out in geometric cracks, and in the center stood a man and a woman.

No, should I say one person… The other one was asleep inside a blue ice. For 300 years.

The old bamboo hat shaman, Toureina, who had been staring at the boy in the ice with deep eyes for a long time, suddenly turned her head back.

Darkness rustled from that side, and soon a man with a swaggering smile walked out.

“Ahem, still not enough?”

“Get lost.”

“Come on! I, your teacher, came all the way here to give you some great information, but you’re making me sad.”

Toureina’s subordinates know him simply as ‘Number 7’… but the reality was different.

A creepy magical energy with thousands of snakes coiling around his body and flicking their tongues, and an eerie amount of magical power….

He wasn’t Toureina’s subordinate, and receiving the number 7 itself was actually an insult to him. He had repeatedly refused, but they just arbitrarily gave him a number and left him alone.

“You’re not my teacher.”

When I struck the arm of the guy who was subtly approaching and reaching out to hug my waist with my smoking pipe, his hand was engulfed in blue flames.

Flames of the abyss….

Everyone should scream in the excruciating pain of flesh rotting and burning at the same time, but he was still grinning even as his hand melted.

“Sigh, I taught you magic so hard, but you only look at that kid with all your heart, then and now, so your teacher is so sad.”

“I said get lost.”

“I’m telling you, I’ll teach you how to make that kid unable to move on the bed when he wakes up.”

‘Number 7,’ who never directly interacted with other members, always changed not only his face but also his body itself.

It’s not that he’s a master of reverse use or reverse engineering. He just keeps changing the body he controls. To be exact, he should be called a master of possession.

His identity was Zernix, one of the six great mages who became a great mage at a young age about a thousand years ago and disappeared, causing a stir in the world. He was a senior figure to the 11th Great Mage, Rin.

Such a person is now one of the three pillars of the Black Church. He is also the person who taught Toureina magic and black magic.

“Let’s stop joking around and give my cute disciple some good teachings today. You need more dragon blood to wake that guy up, right?”

“I don’t need your teachings.”

“Hmph, will you say that after you hear it? The baby dragon’s guardian is coming to southern Empire. He’ll cross the Republic border soon? It would be perfect to take the baby dragon from him then? It’s a True Dragon, no less.”

“The baby dragon’s guardian…?”

I knew that a huge commotion had occurred in Harbardonia and Trident Point.

I also knew that Zernix was reprimanded by the first pillar of the Black Church because he made some mistakes in the process (I know because he came and talked about it on his own).

Does that mean he’s such a great person that he calmed down all those situations and made a contract with the dragon?

“Doesn’t your mouth water? With your skills, you can kill him without leaving any special wounds on his body, so give that guy’s body to your teacher as tuition.”

“Why don’t you do it yourself with your great skills?”

“As you know, your teacher has something to do in the South Pole right now. That guy, as expected of my damn teacher’s descendant, is quite good at magic. I can’t win in a possessed state.”

Toureina put her smoking pipe in her mouth for a moment and pondered.

A True Dragon’s baby dragon….

If it were a True Dragon in its adult state, I wouldn’t even dare to think about hunting it, but if it’s a juvenile, the story is different. If I can use that infinite power, I can wake up my teacher and still have power left over.

Toureina, who had finally finished assessing the situation, blew out the smoke she had deeply inhaled and provocatively raised her eyes.

“So who is that guy?”