The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 209

209.

Lavore Bridge.

A long bridge connecting Tashin Island, where [the story is taking place], and the Adrion Continent, served as the continent’s main gateway.

In the old Republic era, the bridge thoroughly screened out dangerous individuals through strict inspections. It was a dangerous land bordering the Abyss.

“That tradition has been maintained to this day, fiercely controlled by the Southern Republic’s Witch Association,” said Valencidi, the human warlock in charge of the team’s explanations.

“If you don’t get an entry permit here, your entire continental journey will be deemed illegal. You won’t even be able to stay in the city.”

“So what?”

“Someone with an uncertain identity… someone who’s been processed as dead, like you, will never be able to cross it.”

“Ah.”

“And this mute prince will be in danger too. I guarantee there will be one or two members of the Brigade stationed at the bridge.”

“I, I have a di, disguise ce, certificate.”

Prince Ovin Ligwind plucked at both index fingers and mustered the courage to speak, but only received Valencidi’s cold gaze.

“They’ll have already seen through that too. An assassin came looking for you, and you’re still spouting such ignorant nonsense?”

It was a cold and disrespectful reaction, unfamiliar to royalty… but Ovin gave a faint, apologetic smile.

That was truly strange.

I had seen Princess Grashan Ligwind on the front lines 300 years ago, and she was anything but arrogant.

“You speak as if you’re so great, but you’re a criminal too. With an unclear identity just like me.”

Then Valencidi pulled out six IDs and seven adventurer recognition tags with a haughty gesture.

“Hmph, unlike you incompetent lot, I can disguise myself as thirteen different people.”

“Wow! Is this guy completely insane?”

“Hey, I’m dying of sleepiness, how long are you going to keep talking about this? Hurry up and get to the point and let me take over.”

Rem’s yawn-filled voice came from directly above, from the mulberry branch. She was standing guard as an archer.

“Right, there’s no way you, Valencidi, would have told us this story without any solutions.”

“Of course, I prepared a solution when we left Tersh Island.”

Valencidi soon took out a scroll and three IDs from his chest.

With a shy smile, Miria, who was carefully comforting the sleeping Aki, was called over.

As the two of us stood side by side, Valencidi unfolded the scroll and showed us its contents… and for a moment, I doubted my eyes.

“It’s a marriage certificate, perfectly fabricated with the help of the Special Affairs Division at City Hall.”

“?”

“Your disguised identity is Ted, a 26-year-old adventurer who hasn’t been reported dead. The two of you got married six years ago and then had two children.”

“???”

“Eldest daughter Aki, second daughter, Aru.”

“??????”

“You kept saying Aru Aru, so I named her Aru.”

Nen, in my arms, made a pleasant babbling sound.

“Aru…”

Aru?

How could you give such a cute name…!

Come to think of it, Karenden gave me the name after I left the island.

“Anyway, this goblin woman has traveled back and forth between both continents, so her identity is certain. The only way to piggyback on that is through marriage.”

“!!!!!!!!!!”

“To summarize, when you two cross the bridge, you have to act like a married couple, no, a family with two children.”

Hmm?

Why is the story going this way?

Perhaps unable to speak from the shock, Miria opened and closed her mouth several times.

“Is there no other way?”

“No.”

“So I’m a married woman now? I’ve never even dated a guy before?”

“That’s right. What’s the problem? Rain Ludwig, that poor guy, is obviously a virgin, but he has two kids.”

Magic circle construction, 5 stars [out of 5] (成).

Runes forming. Fire (火), Field (場), Throw (投)…….

“It was a joke. Isn’t that the rune of Fire Burial Bloodletting? It looks like I’ll die for sure if I get hit, so I wish you’d stop.”

Miria glared at me with a dissatisfied look.

“Are you okay with this? Even if the story turns out like this?”

“I’m fine with it.”

“You’re okay with it?”

Perhaps my answer was perplexing, Miria wore a bewildered expression.

But it’s even more surprising that she’s so bewildered. Isn’t it just acting once when crossing the bridge?

It’s not like we’re becoming a real couple. And more than anything.

“It’s a chance to be Aki’s one-day mom, whom you like so much.”

Perhaps realizing that she had a blank expression as she looked down at Aki, Miria turned her body to hide it.

“That’s right. If that’s the case, I don’t mind. I refuse to be your wife, but I wouldn’t mind being Aki’s mom.”

Hmph, pitiful girl.

You’re only a one-day mom, but I’m going to be her dad forever. …Until I reach [the end of my journey].

Bart, who was doing strength training with a dragon bone spear in the open space over there, opened his mouth.

“How are you going to get Ovin across the bridge?”

As if in response, Valencidi’s entire body made the sound of bones colliding, and his body began to change femininely.

“I also have a disguised identity as a witch.”

And ridiculously enough… even that voice changed into a beautiful woman’s voice. Even the skin tone was tanned like a Republican [referring to the people of the Republic].

Is this what a master of reverse engineering is like?

Valencidi glanced at Ovin and concluded.

“Witches sometimes take orphans as disciples. In that case, the witch’s identity becomes the disciple’s proof of identity. I’ll pretend to accept a disciple. I’ll start teaching reverse engineering from now on.”

* * *

Sun City, 바라 [Barra].

The kingdom’s high-ranking officials gathered in the inner palace, which was used as the Solond royal palace.

A five-year-old princess sat on the throne, with Regent Predal and High Priest Lamesa standing on either side of her.

“Prince Ovin’s divine energy has been cut off. He must have suffered an accident somewhere. Or he has escaped out of the continent.”

At Lamesa’s words, the officials’ faces turned pale. Regent Predal frowned.

“He was never qualified to be a prince in the first place. As soon as the kingdom’s survival was threatened, he stole all the property and ran away.”

“Even if you are a regent, how can you say such vile things to the first in line to the throne!”

The voices of those who supported the prince and those who did not began to mix, but Lamesa soon raised his hand to mediate the commotion.

“What’s important now is to discuss how the kingdom should move forward. I propose to advance the Taeseongjin (台星陣) [Great Star Array] plan.”

It was a plan that had not been implemented because it had not been approved by Prince Ovin, who had been the de facto king until now.

Elamas explained it as a magic circle to prevent the spread of the Wraith Plague, but its true meaning was hidden in the Abyss.

As the Wraith Plague gnawed at the kingdom from the inside and out for four years, Lamesa’s faith in healing miracles was high.

“As a regent representing the will of the king, I agree. What do you think, Your Highness the Princess?”

There was no way a five-year-old baby could know what was going on here.

The reason the princess is sitting here now is because she is the only surviving direct descendant of the royal family.

All the young princess had learned was not to cry in front of her subjects. So she bit her lip and held back the tears that welled up from fear.

Remembering the back of her brother, who had promised to return someday and left.

“It seems that the princess doesn’t care much about what happens. If you have any objections to the High Priest’s plan, please state them now.”

* * *

“We will now begin the immigration screening practice.”

Rem cleared her throat and asked Rain first.

“Where did you two first meet, and what impression did you leave on each other?”

“At the Adventurer’s Branch. The crows were really noisy. The corpses with their hearts eaten out were being controlled….”

This time, she asked Miria a question.

“Which place did you two travel to before you got married that left the deepest impression on you?”

“Goblin Tunnels?”

Rem’s forehead furrowed.

“Where did you two eat together for the first time?”

“”Goblin Tunnels.””

It was the answer that came back at the same time.

Rem closed her eyes tightly and suddenly tore up the screening practice documents that Valencidi had created.

“Damn it! Screw the screening. It would be faster to just burn down the Lanoa Bridge. What country are lovers who eat and date in Goblin Tunnels from!”

In the first place, the two of them had no dating experience, so this pure answer was a natural result…….

“No.”

Bart (the party’s only sane person) shook his head.

“Rather, assuming they met as adventurers, this kind of natural question and answer wouldn’t be bad. I think it’s honest.”

“No, no matter what… you think it’s weird too, right Aki?”

Then Aki was startled and raised her head, answering with a mechanical nod.

“Abut, Abutabut.”

“?”

“Abubububut.”

As if it was a brilliant idea, Rain blushed and proudly stroked his mustache.

“I told Aki to pretend she couldn’t talk.”

“What is she, a monster! Aki looks about seven or eight years old, how could that possibly work, huh?”

“Can’t it?”

“Besides, you said she spoke well at the World’s Best Martial Arts Competition! What if they find out about that?”

“Ah.”

“Abut?”

“Intelligence, intelligence, intelligence.”

There were loud voices, but it wasn’t the type of bickering that would offend each other.

No one was in a position to complain in front of Ovin, who was being educated by that rude Valencidi.

“Can’t you even do this?”

“We would have provided the best education in the kingdom, but did you waste that time?”

“How are you still so unskilled? Is my explanation that difficult?”

What was surprising was that Ovin, who had only received the best treatment, kept bowing his head and asking for guidance without making a single whining sound.

He was quiet, shy, and most of all, he seemed like a pure child.

That’s why it wasn’t a very pleasant sight for others to see.

“Huh.”

Rem, who had glanced at it, shuddered and took a sip of the gourd’s liquor.

“That guy, he’s just pretty, but even if he dates a girl, he’ll be dumped soon. I hate that kind of neurotic type.”

Strange. Rain thought.

Even though he was a dark-hearted guy, he was so kind to others when he was in school.

Is there no need to act like that anymore?

“…….”

It was then that Aki, who had been staring intently at Ovin’s back, committed an act of madness.

Suddenly, she grabbed Ovin’s hand and started running away from Valencidi!

As everyone watched blankly, Rem whistled and clapped her hands.

“Yeah, a love escape! That’s what real lovers are like. Better than mom and dad.”

Love? Aki’s love?

Is Aki going to marry some dirty guy? So she’s leaving my side?

I can’t see that happen even if dirt gets in my eyes. Instead, I’ll just get dirt in that thief’s eyes.

“Magic circle construction, 5 stars…… Island Fire Heaven Piercing Cannon.”

No sooner had a ray of light been born on his palm than Miria slapped Rain on the back of the head and shook her head with a sigh.

“What are you really doing……. You should pay attention to that over there.”

Valencidi was where Miria’s chin was pointing. He was looking at Ovin’s back with displeasure.

“What exactly do you dislike so much?”

At Rain’s question, who went to his side and stood side by side, Valencidi raised his chin slightly.

“Everything. Identity, talent, and history.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t like the fact that he’s royalty in the first place. Do you know that the monarchy used by the current empires and kingdoms is the way of the old kings in the age of the Abyss?”

“Well, that’s…….”

To be honest, I don’t know why the gods allowed humans to have empires or monarchies. Why did they let the dragons lead the republic?

“But I don’t think you’re the one to say that, since you’ve reached into the Abyss for power.”

“The reason I turned to black magic was to fix that twisted order. Because in order to break the foundation of a world that was already so firmly established in that way, I needed strong power.”

Rain didn’t ask what kind of life Valencidi had lived while reaching that conclusion.

“In short, you’re being so harsh just because he was born into royalty?”

“That could be the case.”

“Valencidi, you’ve really never met royalty.”

Instead, in the dawn that began to reflect the dew of the forest, the corners of his mouth curved softly.

“If Ovin was the kind of royalty you think he is, he would have gotten angry at your dog-like, rude education a long time ago, you idiot.”

“…….”

“If he really only thought about his own safety, would a young prince who had lived in a monarchy with the utmost respect have gone on a journey to find the flute himself? And is he trying to go back now?”

Rain paused for a moment, turned to look at Valencidi’s face, and said.

“Hmm, I know what your terrible problem is. You need to raise a disciple.”

“Disciple?”

Perhaps it was an unexpected suggestion, Valencidi’s eyebrows, which rarely showed surprise, trembled.

“That’s ridiculous. I’m not qualified to teach a disciple. I don’t deserve it. How can I raise a disciple?”

“There’s no such thing as a perfect teacher from the beginning, Valencidi.”

At that time, I might have been thinking the same thing as Valencidi.

To teach someone, you must become a great person.

But now that I’ve guided Tureina and taught Aki, I can understand that teaching for sure.

“When you teach someone, you grow with your disciple…… that’s what my teacher told me.”

Ah, yes.

That’s exactly what you said, ma’am.

“Did Tureina tell you that?”

“No. Someone greater.”

Someone greater than Tureina?

It was around that time that Ovin came back to Valencidi.

With an apologetic smile, his lowered gaze roamed the floor.

“I, I’m sorry. P, please teach me again. I’ll study hard.”

Perhaps because he had heard what I had just said, Valencidi seemed to be feeling quite confused by Ovin’s attitude.

“You…….”

I gave his back, his heart, which seemed to be hesitating somewhere, a strong push as if to push him forward.

“Just teach him, even if you don’t believe it.”

To a junior 300 years later, conveying the realization that an old senior had reached.

“It will be an experience you can’t trade for anything in your life, for sure.”