Chapter : 71
“Ryder, this is all the information I’ve gathered.”
Akilan handed Ryder a crumpled sheet of paper filled with the notes and instructions he had compiled over time.
“By the way, Great Mage… have you met the princess?”
“Princess? What princess?”
Ryder’s cautious question made Akilan tilt his head in curiosity.
‘I thought Princess Victoria was busy with relief efforts in Terma…’
Since Princess Victoria couldn’t use magic like Princess Aria, this was probably the best method she had come up with: finding a pretext to connect with Duke Stern through Terma.
Still, it seemed impossible that such a proud princess hadn’t encountered Akilan even once. Surely, she would have sought out the Great Mage even to declare her intentions.
“Do you mean Princess Aria?”
“……I mean Princess Victoria.”
It appeared that he hadn’t even realized Princess Victoria existed.
Akilan tended to focus entirely on one thing at a time, often missing everything else. But Victoria would hardly forgive or understand that.
“Well, anyway, I’ve written down the instructions. Read them carefully.”
As expected, Akilan’s full attention remained focused solely on resolving the current situation.
‘I guess there’s no way around meeting an extremely angry Princess Victoria.’
Ryder squinted as he read Akilan’s instructions, letting out a small sigh. There were many directives, but the most important mission immediately caught his eye:
“Observe the temple’s situation.”
Ryder now understood why Akilan was so concerned about Terma.
“I’ll do my best.”
Ryder bowed his head. Akilan nodded and moved along with the search party, including Ryder. Normally, teleportation required careful preparation with magic circles, but in Akilan’s hands, it seemed as natural as breathing.
“Well then, that’s it.”
As soon as Akilan teleported the search party to Terma, he quickly left to head toward Deshua. Watching his figure prepare to teleport, Ryder let out a small sigh.
‘How foolish of me to even think of “dating” for a moment when all he ever thinks about is the mage tower.’
Still, he wondered if Themis was doing well. He had read about her exploits in the newspaper. Even while applauding her decision to leave Akilan’s protection, he couldn’t help worrying.
‘Is this what a mother bird feels when she leaves her chick outside the nest?’
Ryder silently wished Themis good fortune and began issuing instructions to the search party.
The next morning, we went to the gate again to exterminate the monsters.
Only a night had passed, but the number of fish monsters affected by the gate had increased dramatically. Some were unusually large and ferocious, seemingly acting as intermediaries, turning nearby sea creatures into monsters. If the gate hadn’t opened in the sea, it would have been a literal hell.
Aria’s spherical light source, now with finer brightness control, not only lured the monsters but kept them immobilized, making it much easier for us to exterminate them.
Even so, we gained a small reward. Against all odds, pearls began appearing from the bodies of the defeated fish monsters. Their pure white luster was breathtakingly beautiful.
“Even though I’ve sold many accessories during mercenary work, these are top-tier.”
Jed remarked in awe. They hadn’t even entered a dungeon yet, and already pearls of this quality were appearing—how formidable must these monsters be?
“We may need to reorganize our strategy.”
Jed, Mitchell, and Everett said this in unison.
“There might be more than one boss-level monster.”
Monsters usually formed dungeons individually, but such a large-scale influence might be an exception. In any case, it was clear this would be a very challenging dungeon.
I resolved, boarding the carriage back to James’s castle:
‘I’ll have to go into this dungeon instead of Master.’
And so, the plan for Master began once again.
I wasn’t entering the dungeon out of selfish desire to grow stronger.
‘In the original story, there was mention of a dungeon opened underwater, just like this.’
It had been a dungeon Master briefly mentioned in his recollections. Everett and Aria hadn’t gone there, so it wasn’t a major focus in the book.
An unusual underwater dungeon. A massive horde of fish monsters around the gate. And, most importantly, Master’s uncharacteristic behavior.
Putting all these clues together, I realized this was the dungeon Master had referred to in the original story.
‘It was mentioned during my conversation with Aria.’
Perhaps that’s why I had been blind to it until now—jealousy may have clouded my awareness.
“I don’t really like that sea dungeon.”
Still, I remembered every word of Master’s line.
“It makes me sad.”
He never spoke about his feelings to anyone, but here, he finally opened up to Aria. This was the moment he revealed a long-hidden story.
“I fear I might encounter my dear friend.”
Why Master’s friend appeared in the dungeon, or why he didn’t want to meet them, was never explained. By then, Aria had already realized her feelings toward Everett and had kept her distance from Master.
“I cannot comfort you, but I sincerely hope a good person appears for you.”
She only wished for someone who would listen to him. This time, things would be different. I would enter the dungeon, and the one to listen to Master’s words would be Aria.
As I thought this, the carriage stopped at the gates of Lord James’s castle. Exhausted from continuous fighting, we disembarked with our weary bodies.
“Ah, thank you for your efforts! I’ve prepared a banquet inside. But what’s this…?”
James, waiting at the gate, noticed the pouch in Mitchell’s hands. When Mitchell opened the entrance to show him, James’s eyes sparkled at the sight of the luminous pearls.
“These came from the monsters we defeated.”
“I see. But… the sea is also part of Deshua, and it’s my duty to tax everything produced in the territory.”
“So that means…”
Sensing trouble, Mitchell quickly closed the pouch, but James was already reaching for it.
“Of course, you’d need to pay tax on this as well…”
“Stop.”
A firm voice cut James off.
“If you insist on taxing this, shouldn’t I also receive a comparable amount for personally coming here to exterminate the monsters?”
Aria wasn’t about to let James ramble.
“Consider this: the princess, Great Mage Akilan, his sole disciple Themis, the future minister Everett, and even skilled mercenary Jed and knight Mitchell. Adding up all our contributions, the amount you’d charge would be far too high.”
“…My apologies, Princess.”
James immediately retreated in the face of Aria’s argument. Where did she learn to speak so convincingly? Even mentioning each of us individually was impressive.
“Now, go inside and rest.”
James silently led us to the dining room, where a lavish spread awaited.
After a hearty meal, we were guided to our rooms.
Everett seemed to want to say something to me, but I was distracted by James standing behind him. James was staring unusually intently at Aria and approached as if to speak, causing Aria to quickly turn and leave. James hurried after her.
‘Something’s off.’
I remembered James’s death for one reason: Aria had been in this territory at the time of his murder. That’s why she had temporarily taken charge of Deshua.
‘If he could escort Aria to the royal palace, he must have had some significance. Why then did he die so pointlessly?’
James was not a main character in terms of appearance, personality, or presence. But the manner of his death was certainly questionable.
