The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 28

Having made some quick preparations for the black market, I left the Dellaiten school grounds.

The only unusual thing about my appearance was the bandages wrapped around my left hand, a necessity due to the constantly fluctuating runes of the Mental Imagery Barrier.

As I was enjoying the spring sunshine and the fragrant scent of flowers, that eccentric adventurer party appeared before me.

“What? Hey, uh, let go, will you? Hey!”

Before I knew it, I was grabbed by the giant I call a monster—though you might know him as Bart—and promptly kidnapped… all the way to the Adventurer Guild building.

“No, they’re giving out commendations for what happened last time, and it wouldn’t be right if you, the main character, were missing,” Rem explained, chuckling as he walked alongside Bart, who had me slung over his shoulder.

“I get it, so put me down first.”

“No, this is a human palanquin. We have to treat the main character with proper respect.”

“I don’t need it! Forget it, do I really have to receive this award?”

“It’s not just the branch office; the Alliance Southern Headquarters is involved, brother.”

“Headquarters?”

The Adventurer Guild branch was located in the Second District, where the lower-level government offices were situated. In front of the building, a stage for the main participants and a fence for the spectators had been erected.

Outside the fence, not only adventurers but also curious passersby and merchants had gathered, whispering amongst themselves about the commotion.

As Bart’s party arrived, the guild staff, full of smiles and jokes, escorted the four of us onto the stage, and uncomfortable gazes poured in from all directions.

“It’s Bart of the Black Iron.”

“The archer next to him is Rem, the Drunken Lion.”

“But who is that magician?”

“Black hair and red eyes… he looks noble, like the Ludwig family’s disaster-level genius?”

“Nah, would a successor of a prestigious family be crazy enough to be an adventurer?”

Ugh, what a waste of time.

Rain sighed in annoyance and turned to his party members.

“What was so great about that incident that they’re making such a fuss?”

“It was a great thing,” Rem replied, raising an eyebrow as if dumbfounded, clearly enjoying the public’s attention.

“Bart is a disciple of the One Star Seven Swords, and I’m a disciple of the Drunken Lion. But you blew away what the two of us were struggling with in one shot.”

“Is it possible that Rem is weaker than he thinks?” Rain asked, tilting his head with innocent eyes.

If Kies had been there, he would have pierced the Rat-Spider Queen’s heart and the black magic circle with a single arrow woven with mana.

Kyaaak, Sammy grabbed Rem, who was trying to kick Rain, and stopped him. Bart chuckled.

“It might look that way from your perspective. But neither Rem nor I ever felt lacking while ranking up to Silver. Until last time…”

Bart muttered in a bitter tone, his smile fading.

Almost simultaneously, a powerful presence swept through the area like a gust of wind, making the fine hairs on my skin stand on end. The spectators straightened their backs without even realizing it.

As the branch’s door opened, astonished exclamations rippled through the crowd.

“Wow…?!”

“That, that person is…?!”

“It’s Imperial Star Leoren…!”

The representative dispatched from the Alliance Empire Southern Headquarters was none other than Imperial Star Leoren.

The Empire gathers the best martial artists of the time under the Emperor, granting them immense power and honor while also tasking them with assisting the Emperor. They are called the Four Martial Stars Under the Emperor.

There are a total of four stars, listed as follows:

Sword Star, Spear Star, Bow Star, and Magic Star.

They are sometimes chosen from famous families or dojos, but they are often selected from among adventurers.

No, it should be said that there is no difference. Most of those who come out into the world from famous families or dojos become adventurers.

“Uh…?”

Rain, who had been watching the situation with a nonchalant attitude, couldn’t help but open his mouth the moment he saw Leoren’s features and equipment.

His hair, tousled as if he had just woken up, was green with a hint of verdant color, and beneath it, the eyes of a middle-aged man in his forties shone with vigor.

His beard was sparsely and messily grown, as if he only trimmed it occasionally, suggesting his lazy personality.

‘Kies…’

But those features and personality traits were too similar to Kies, Rain’s companion from 300 years ago.

Above all, the pure white bow on his back, with vines of life wrapped around it… it was clearly Kies’ White Iris Bow Serwebon, made from the branches of the World Tree.

As I stared blankly at it, Leoren, who yawned as if he was about to die from sleepiness, widened his eyes.

“Oh, who is this?”

On the other hand, Rem, who received that gaze, made a disgusted expression and desperately waved his hand as if telling him to go away.

“What, what is it?”

“This, this, this, what is our cutie doing here?”

“You’ve got the wrong person.”

“You ran out of the dojo, dyed your hair, and were living as an adventurer, hahaha! Are you going to imitate me? Did you get permission from your older brother—”

“—Ah, shut up, really. Get away from me!”

Leoren, who was holding his stomach and bursting into laughter, playfully tapped Rem’s head as if he understood, and turned to Bart.

“Hmm, I can tell just by looking. You’re the leader of this party.”

“That’s right.”

“I heard you took down that variant, and you certainly look strong.”

“……”

“That troublemaker must be bothering you a lot? Please take good care of him.”

“Rem is in my party. There’s no need to ask me to take care of him. We’re making up for each other’s shortcomings.”

“I like that even more. You’ll reach Platinum rank soon.”

Leoren patted Bart’s shoulder as if encouraging him.

Before being appointed as Imperial Star, Leoren was an adventurer who ranked as high as 6th in Platinum rank, so in a way, he was a great senior.

After briefly greeting Sammy, Leoren came to Rain and suddenly tilted his head.

“That’s strange, I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before.”

“…?”

“Not your face, but your impression, let me see some documents… Ludwig? Rain Ludwig? So that’s it! You’re that old man Scalzi’s grandson!”

Scalzi was the previous Magic Star, so he had a friendship with Leoren in his later years. Leoren laughed heartily and patted Rain’s head as if he was cute.

“Yeah, don’t just lock yourself in your room studying magic and losing all your hair. A man should know how to play outside too.”

“……”

“But are you hurt somewhere? Why do you have a bandage on your left hand?”

At that moment, Rain couldn’t say anything. He could only purse his lips and hold back his laughter.

To others, it looked like he didn’t know what to do with the Imperial Star’s praise, but that wasn’t the case.

‘If Kies could have spoken…’

Wouldn’t they have had this kind of conversation?

If Kies hadn’t lied in court to save a friend when he was a child and had his tongue cut out, becoming mute…

Then, thump, the White Iris Bow on Leoren’s back pulsed greatly and spewed out the breath of the World Tree in all directions, and Leoren grabbed the bow in surprise.

“Hey, why is this guy suddenly like this?”

The World Tree, one of the Three Divine Dragons, the Water Dragon Yeriserika, is famous as a tree capable of short-sighted thought and judgment after breathing in the breath of intelligence. The White Iris Bow, made from the branches of the World Tree, was no different.

‘It’s been a while.’

Rain greeted the White Iris Bow in his heart after 300 years.

‘Have you been well?’

Strange… Leoren tried to calm the mana by grabbing the bow, but the White Iris Bow only cried out even louder.

This had never happened before.

While people were whispering, “That’s the White Iris Bow Serwebon,” “Amazing,” “The bow of the Hero’s Party,” Rem shouted at Leoren.

“No, don’t show off your family treasure when you came to give us an award, just give it to us and disappear… please!”

Leoren eventually hung the excited bow on his back as it was and received the commendation from the headquarters staff.

“You took the initiative to stand up for your fellow adventurers in a sudden moment of crisis… why is it so long? In short, you did well, so the Adventurer Headquarters awards this party’s spirit of adventure with a commendation.”

Ah, that’s what it was.

It seemed that the reason for the commendation was Rem and Bart’s actions of desperately protecting the other adventurers at that time, rather than the fact that they had caught the queen.

And it seemed that they had made such a grand scene to encourage other adventurers to emulate that spirit of self-sacrifice.

“The reward is two gold coins, and each party member will also receive 500 Alliance Contribution Points.”

500 Contribution Points?

The adventurers clapped and whispered among themselves.

“That’s an incredibly generous reward?”

“How many Contribution Points was it for goblin extermination, which beginners often do? Isn’t it 3?”

“The condition for Steel rank to be promoted to Bronze is 400 Contribution Points.”

Sammy, who was standing next to me, let out a hollow laugh.

“Congratulations, brother. How long has it been since you became an adventurer, and you’re already putting on a Bronze badge again.”

Is this something to be congratulated on?

I have no intention of succeeding as an adventurer, so not really… but I guess it’s better than nothing.

“Is this enough? I have a lot of work to do. You guys take care of the rest.”

Leoren, who completely ignored the rest of the ceremonial procedures, put his arm around Rem’s neck and chuckled as he dragged him somewhere. Almost as soon as he did, several adventurers flocked to Bart and showered him with attention.

“You defeated the queen this time?”

“Come to our guild, Bart. I promise the guild master will treat you well!”

“With Rem also becoming a Silver rank with this Contribution Point reward, come to our guild with Rem. We promise you better conditions than anywhere else.”

Of course, no attention was paid to Sammy or Rain, who were playing the role of extras. It was natural since they knew I caught it using a scroll.

‘If I wait and say hello and part ways, they’ll bother me with after-parties and stuff…’

While watching Rem and Bart surrounded by guild officials, Rain quietly slipped into the crowd.

‘Let’s quickly get the book from the black market and focus on mana training. I need to have the mana to use the Mental Imagery Barrier.’

My heart was filled with excitement.

No, I couldn’t do anything at all since yesterday. Even when I tried to train my mana, I couldn’t concentrate…

Camitishia.

– Mental Imagery Barrier, Wandering Worldly One.

– Required Mana: 20,000 (Warning – Current User’s Mana: 12,564).

The Mental Imagery Barrier is the realm of the sage that only two people in this world have reached, so I can’t explain it perfectly either.

“Humans lack the enlightenment of truth and cannot rule the whole world like gods, but the story is different in the Mental Imagery World, where they are the creator.”

That was what the 2nd Sage Riot Warden, who reached Renpage (6-Star), left in his book, 『To Truth』.

He never reached Shinseiji (7-Star) like the 1st Sage Emitsa Page, but he was still a great person.

And now a similar power has come to me… my heart was beating faster on its own, and I couldn’t get rid of the smile on my face.

‘The 33% success rate and 66% increase in power are probably because it’s still a trial version. Things will be different when I really reach 6-Star.’

So quickly, let’s finish all the work as soon as possible and go to mana training… just as my steps were getting faster on their own.

“Rain Ludwig, you won’t be able to get to the black~ mar~ket if you go that way!”

Rain had to stop in surprise for a moment at the loud voice, as if everyone in the world was supposed to hear it.

Black market…?

That’s strange. No one told me I was going there, well, there’s only one person. Librarian Karen.

“As the ‘Golden Children’s’ movements have become more active, the people who ran the black market in this city have run away. It’s a temporary closure, that’s what it is!”

Who is it? Feeling the cold beating of my heart, I turned around, and there was a man.

The man was wearing a tattered ocher robe and an old fedora, and he smiled when his eyes met mine.

Then, he removed the megaphone he had made at his mouth and waved his hand affectionately, as if he was meeting a friend he hadn’t seen in a long time.

“I’m from the Magic Alliance. Do you have a moment?”