The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 174

Chapter 174

Touching my gums, torn and swollen from a rogue’s beating, I was abruptly reminded of the past.

“I told you, that’s not how you use your power!”

The headmistress’s voice echoed, crying after slapping my cheek the day I first tried to kill someone…

‘I should have done that to Tureina, too.’

I should have beaten her to within an inch of her life, explaining her mistakes and how to correct them.

Though she’s already dead…

In the refreshing night breeze that swept through the reeds by the water, I tilted my head back and gazed at the starry sky.

A quiet suburb of Aurelinople.

I was stroking Aki’s hair as she slept with her head on my lap when Valenciadis approached silently.

“What do you make of this?”

“It feels like a sloppy attack for Zerniques. Actually, it barely feels like an attack at all.”

“You think it’s a trap.”

“On the surface, it seems like they’re trying to provoke you into crossing the continent… but I suspect they’re trying to deter you from coming.”

“You mean they’re trying to dissuade me by making it seem like they’ve laid numerous traps?”

“Exactly. Our opponent is a thousand-year-old snake. If you think linearly, you’ll get burned. Why attack with such weak forces? What’s their real aim?”

A thousand-year-old snake… Several things definitely bother me.

The yellow city, Laptas. One of the seven major cities in the extreme southwest of the Adrion continent, quite close to Flame Ten Thousand Miles [a dangerous, fiery region], to put it simply.

‘Like stopping by on the way… does he know where I’m going?’

Could the immense danger of the Adrion continent that KarenDen spoke of refer to Zerniques?

If so, I don’t understand why he doesn’t confront me directly. Why is he giving me time to grow stronger?

‘Or is he plotting something in Laptas? Is that why he can’t move?’

Should I rush across the continent to stop him? No, scratch that.

KarenDen advised me to cross the continent as slowly as possible. Otherwise, I’ll die, whether at the hands of Zerniques or someone else.

“Let’s table this for now. How’s that guy doing?”

“His Manaheart [the core of one’s magical energy] and many Qi points [energy centers in the body] suffered Mana Deviation [a dangerous disruption of magical energy], leading to multiple crises. Without the Grand Witch’s help, he’d be crippled.”

“Zerniques did that. He infused strange magic into his Manaheart.”

“I suspected as much.”

The witch recently appointed as the Grand Witch of the Aurelinople Witch Association was a survivor of the Red Mountain Range incident, so we received considerable assistance.

If it had been another witch, a major uproar would have erupted before Juliana intervened.

Because my and Valenciadis’s involvement in the Red Mountain Range incident was classified as top secret.

“His physical wounds are one thing, but the wounds to his heart are beyond magical healing. He’s become an outcast overnight.”

The conversation paused.

I felt a tingling sensation inside my skull, constantly moving my tongue, which threatened to stiffen.

“About the Cheonhwa Sect… Did Tureina really do it?”

“Yes.”

“Are you certain?”

“Absolutely. I was there. I saved that woman.”

“Really?”

“Tureina had me erect a barrier around the area and orchestrated the massacres, wanting to conceal her power from the witches.”

“…”

“When I lowered the barrier and went in, only that woman was alive. I was ordered to kill Tureina, but I let her live. It seems that was the crueler choice.”

Valenciadis spoke with a self-deprecating, yet somewhat sorrowful, sneer.

“Even if I was following orders, I’m still an accomplice. This blood can never be washed away.”

“Hey, Valenciadis…”

“The Grand Witch prepared herbal medicine and porridge. You should have some. I’m not worthy.”

‘I’m not worthy either,’ I wanted to say. Because I’m the master of the one who led the massacre.

I knew Tureina was committing unspeakable atrocities behind the scenes. I knew it intellectually, but I hadn’t truly accepted it.

But as they say, what goes around comes around, and I never imagined the consequences of that evil would manifest so clearly.

‘Damn it…’

The nutritious porridge Valenciadis made was barley porridge with deer antlers and ginseng provided by the Grand Witch.

After Pipi went wild and I managed to spoon-feed him a bit, I carried Aki on my back and entered the cabin. The guy was awake.

He was barely leaning against the headboard, but his eyes, filled with deep sadness and anger, were so fierce they made me uneasy.

His name was Celine.

“Will you kill me?”

Celine, with sharp features and thick eyelashes that gave her a striking appearance even without makeup, asked out of the blue.

“What?”

“I heard from the Grand Witch that you dealt with the fake Tureina. So I should be grateful instead.”

I didn’t deal with her.

It was too late; I had no choice but to let others handle her.

“You took that bamboo hat as a trophy… It was confidential, so I won’t tell anyone, don’t worry.”

And it’s not a trophy.

It’s originally mine. My disciple cherished it for 300 years.

Celine sighed hollowly and tilted her head back.

“Now that that woman is dead, I have no reason to live.”

“…”

“I know apologies are meaningless. I have no money or wealth to offer as compensation. All I have is this body that hasn’t died.”

So do whatever you want.

Kill me, take my limbs or organs, or sell me as a slave in the Southern Republic slave market.

After saying that, Celine gazed at the moon reflected on the water’s surface through the wide-open window.

“I want to ask you something first.”

I asked, placing the bowl of porridge on the side table.

“Do you remember what the man who came with you was like?”

“Not exactly. He said he’d give me the power to kill Tureina, and if I accepted, he’d tell me her location.”

Was that the one who parasitized my Manaheart back then?

Zerniques, the more I see of him, the more sinister he seems. Can he manipulate magic so freely?

That magic seemed to cause me to hallucinate and mistake me for Tureina. In other words, this guy was also a pawn.

“What will happen to the Cheonhwa Sect if you’re tricked by a stranger and get into trouble? Do you realize you almost died?”

As if the question was absurd, ridiculous, a bitter, sneering smile appeared.

“What kind of answer do you want? That I’ll rebuild the Cheonhwa Sect single-handedly? By myself?”

Why was I even asking that?

“We’ll immediately lose our status as a major sect in next year’s World’s Best Martial Arts Competition, and we won’t even be able to join a small or medium-sized sect, let alone a mid-sized one.”

“…”

“I can’t even train newcomers at the dilapidated old dojo. Who would come? We’ve become a laughingstock, a sect destroyed by a fake shaman.”

As if the world was mocking her, Celine, smiling weakly in her broken state, coughed up phlegm mixed with blood.

“Ha… I’m sorry, I’m not in my right mind… I should be apologizing to you, not venting my anger…”

“It’s okay.”

“I’m alone, I’ve become alone… In just one day… I’m not alive… I don’t know if you can understand this, but…”

Looking at Celine, who buried her face in her hands, fighting back tears, I unconsciously replied,

“I understand.”

The vast sense of loneliness that suddenly overwhelms me…

I thought I had barely escaped the ice, but I can’t help but understand the helplessness of being left alone in a world where all connections are severed.

All my friends are dead, and my old disciple waited for me endlessly, only to be consumed by darkness. I burned him with my own hands and buried him.

All that remains are the traces they left behind, that vague and immense world of loneliness.

I know it better than anyone.

So I can understand.

“You understand?”

Celine glared at me with a hint of animosity, but after a few seconds of eye contact, she slumped against the headboard.

“Piana or Jema should have survived instead of me… Pia was the smartest, and Jema had the strongest will; she would have rebuilt the sect somehow…”

I could sense a hope, a fleeting daydream, in that sobbing voice.

“Why me? Even if I survive… They should have survived…”

Is it because I’ve lived through such anguish and sorrow repeatedly? I knew immediately.

This rogue, Celine, wants to rebuild the Cheonhwa Sect.

But the sorrow of life is too great to bear alone, and the pressure of reality is suffocating.

– I’m sorry, I’m truly sorry.

Was it a product of my unconscious mind that the memory of the distant past surfaced now, or did the headmistress want me to do this?

– I will definitely educate him, so please be lenient…

That was the day I took the rank test for the first time. The day I achieved 1, 2, 3, and 4-star ranks all at once.

– Osarius School?

At that time, I completely crushed the young master of the Serman family (one of the ten noble families under Count Blado), who had always thought highly of himself.

– What is that trashy school name? The headmaster must be a worthless trash magician if they don’t even have a name?

I didn’t care about being looked down upon.

But he insulted the school and classmates who had taken me in when I had nothing, and the headmistress.

So I blew him away with all my might.

If the damage mitigation and restoration barrier hadn’t been in place, he would have been torn to pieces and died miserably.

– I saw earlier, Ken Serman, you were insulting that child’s school…

It was incredibly lucky that Ulan Page, the leader of the Magic League, happened to be watching the test. Perhaps it was divine intervention.

– Osarius was a close friend of the five great magicians, RyuKen Ludwig, in his lifetime. Ken, you are now insulting the Ludwig Count family.

When the best magician of the time began to mediate, the Serman side had no choice but to relent.

They had to be satisfied with the headmistress apologizing so profusely that her back was bent.

After the matter was barely settled, I followed the headmistress out of the test site with an expression that I had done nothing wrong, and I was slapped for the first time.

– I told you not to use your power recklessly!

I had never been hit before. Even if I couldn’t do magic, even if I couldn’t work… That was the first day the headmistress hit me.

That guy insulted the headmistress and the school… I tried to lift my head rebelliously and argue, but I was soon speechless.

– Rin, you shouldn’t use your power like that. Power is so addictive that once you start using it violently, you’ll make all sorts of excuses and abuse it…

Because it was the headmistress’s tears that shimmered affectionately in the last sunlight. The headmistress suddenly hugged me tightly and said,

– Your power, that innate power, shouldn’t be used to harm someone like this. The gods gave you the power to protect and care for others…

I don’t know the exact details, but I have a feeling that my meeting with Rista was arranged by the headmistress.

From that day on, until Rista came to the school and I said I wanted to follow her, the headmistress always wore a worried expression.

“Aki, wake up.”

This is it. Just like the headmistress did back then, I’m apologizing on behalf of my disciple.

I should have slapped Tureina and told her those words. That she has to become an adult, that she shouldn’t use her power recklessly.

But now my old disciple is already dead. What dwells in the dragon egg is not memory but soul.

“Aki, I’m so slee-ee-py.”

I can’t give her teachings, but I can do as much as I can to apologize instead.

“This guy is my younger brother… He was born with Cheonmujiche [Heavenly Martial Body], an old rogue told me a long time ago.”

Cheonmujiche means the body of martial arts given by the heavens.

It’s a body with transcendent magic power, law power, spiritual power, and divine power, allowing one to learn all martial arts and use them several times more powerfully than others.

It’s a legendary body among rogues, and Ryu Minique, who was very active under the alias Mucheon (舞天) [Dancing Heaven] during the turmoil 300 years ago, is a prime example.

Strictly speaking, Aki’s potential surpasses even that lecherous Ryu Minique.

Because he possesses magic power, law power, spiritual power, and divine power that a mortal body can’t even approach.

“Cheonmujiche, that’s nonsense… I know he received the blessing of fire.”

Cutting her off, Celine’s eyes widened as she placed her hand on Aki’s head, who was sleepily staggering.

“What is this… This unrealistic power? Equal to the sect leader, no, maybe even greater…”

I’ve read about it in a book.

The World’s Best Martial Arts Competition has four categories: youth, adolescent, adult, and senior, and the members of the Six Great Sects are determined based on their performance.

This means the composition of the Six Great Sects could potentially change every year, unlike Ilseong Chilgeom [Seven Swords of One Star].

Of course, it rarely changes because the Six Great Sects have such high-quality human resources.

“Teach Aki the Cheonhwa Sect’s martial arts by next April so he can compete.”

“What…?”

“I have to leave soon, but I believe he can dominate the World’s Best Martial Arts Competition’s youth division.”

It’s too inadequate to call it an apology, but if rebuilding the sect is her last remaining dream…

I want to help, even a little.

Not out of benevolence.

It’s just that it’s a master’s job to correct the mistakes of their beloved disciple… That’s what the headmistress said back then.

“If you win in the adult division with your skills and Aki wins in the youth division, the Cheonhwa Sect’s prestige will definitely be revived. What do you think?”