The King's Proof

[Under the sunset where all evils live and breathe.]

Pernok stared at Yuliana.

“Do you think I came all the way here prepared with absurd words?”

Yuliana took out the 4th King’s blunt candlestick on the table.

And when she poured tea on the candlestick, hidden letters revealed themselves.

It was the same clue just shown.

‘All evils.’

Bamont had said a special power of Illumina was hidden in the first king’s tomb. Perhaps all evils refers to that.

But Pernok didn’t ponder deeply and roughly nodded.

Anyway, the clue served no more purpose than confirming how much Yuliana would cooperate with him.

Pushing the clue about the tomb aside, Pernok thrust out a contract.

“What’s this?”

“Can’t have problems after handing over the barony.”

He’d made a form detailing the 6 months’ advance military provisions and the conversation they’d shared in the past.

Yuliana looked at Pernok with an expression of disbelief.

“Do you have to go this far?”

“In the mercenary world, we don’t handle verbal contracts. Stamp your fingerprint below. Even better if you give blood.”

Yuliana bit her thumb to draw blood and stamped the contract.

When Pernok divided the contracts and tried to rise from his seat.

“Seems like minimum trust formed, but won’t you move to a more intimate relationship?”

At the sudden proposal, he turned around to find Yuliana smiling brightly.

“Not touching each other. Isn’t that degree enough?”

“In my view, if forces back you, you’d seem to easily crush Porla’s level?”

“So?”

“Be honest. You’re not interested in the throne, right?”

Pernok tried to overthrow Illumina and establish a new nation, but Yuliana misunderstood that he wanted to occupy a position.

“It’s like that continuing to just manage territories, and anyway with the guild alone it’s hard to do something on this massive board. Don’t you want to become Illumina’s number two?”

“What does that have to do with you?”

“I told you. I can also give you this nation’s military authority.”

“Military authority…?”

“I’ll add one more thing to that. When Tyr’s positions are established, I’ll mix Illumina’s soldiers there. I’ll entrust that place to you too.”

Pernok smirked.

“I don’t know where to place myself at such excessive treatment. But you shouldn’t casually propose what you haven’t obtained. Maybe Vans, but can you win the competition with Tyr’s power?”

When he mentioned Vans, Yuliana seemed provoked.

She let out a bitter laugh and said.

“You have ears, so you must’ve heard. The mage who eats Magi.”

“I heard Wanstein is desperately searching for him.”

“But do you think that’s all of Tyr?”

At the meaningful words, Pernok sat down.

“I think there’s nothing to see besides that.”

“Hohoho, you say that because you don’t know the Magician Killer.”

Pernok tilted his head as if to tell her to speak more.

“The Magician Killer is the royal family’s direct secret force. The mage who eats Magi is granted independent authority above that. And that power is counted on one hand in the world.”

“Even so, it can’t reach Vans.”

As if she’d waited for those words, Yuliana asked with shining eyes.

“People have feared Rakis since long ago. But what Tyr truly fears isn’t the 12 Magi Rakis boasts. As long as they’re human, they can’t match the Magician Killer.”

“Then?”

“The 13 Lords’ leader. The existence called the War God. Excluding him, Tyr can win against the remaining 12.”

Interest gradually surged at Tyr Kingdom’s secret weapon that Yuliana asserted.

“That’s quite an exaggeration.”

“If Duke Chris had been born in Illumina, our nation would be an empire now. I would’ve given up on the competition long ago too.”

Chris Van Astein.

Rakis Empire’s War God mentioned as the world’s strongest at an age in his late thirties.

Even jokes circulate that if the remaining 12 Lords all attacked together, they couldn’t even graze Chris’s hem.

“To the point that because his power is too strong, even Rakis’s ‘Hegemon Emperor’ granted Chris independent authority. Thanks to that, we came to think of opposing the Rakis Empire.”

“…?”

“It’s true the Rakis Empire cooperates with older brother Vans. But Duke Chris doesn’t directly intervene in other nations. He only moves in directions beneficial to his own nation.”

It was unfamiliar information Pernok heard for the first time.

“Older brother Vans was guided by Duke Chris and became a Magus. That means, fight directly and seize victory.”

“Would a master ignore his own disciple?”

“Not at all. Only older brother claims that. No one sees older brother Vans as Duke Chris’s disciple. He’s very free-spirited, independent, and strong. He may have subordinates, but he doesn’t make disciples.”

“So it’s worth trying against Rakis if it’s not Chris?”

“We must draw the line precisely. We conduct a throne war where Chris doesn’t participate. And I judged it profitable to join hands with you who has a guild.”

“Unlike the rumors overflowing with military talent, you’re too positive.”

“It seemed I couldn’t work with you without sincerity.”

“Hmm….”

Yuliana has some degree of discernment for people.

She just doesn’t know precisely what Pernok wants.

The content about cooperating with Yuliana to check Rakis’s 12 Lords where Chris doesn’t participate was quite tempting.

Because it meant at least his northern territories wouldn’t be threatened.

“The evaluation isn’t bad. Certainly, depending on which force I join, the competition’s tide will change.”

“Hohohoh! You overflow with confidence.”

“Shall we try if you’re curious?”

When Pernok smiled coldly, Yuliana’s laughter cut off sharply.

“I’m a mercenary. My feet head toward whoever gives more reward.”

“Alliance. What more do you want besides that? I’ll do everything you need according to the contract.”

“I want to directly see the value of the weapon Tyr boasts and decide whether to continue the alliance.”

“You don’t mean….”

“The mage who eats Magi. I want to see it directly. Whether it has power that can encompass the 13 Lords.”

“That’s….”

“Whichever force we attach to, our guild fulfills its role. Everyone knows my power. But I don’t know older sister’s power. Shouldn’t you confirm whether I’m worth risking danger for to develop into a deeper relationship?”

“….”

“He’s your fiance, right? You can’t even introduce him to your younger sibling?”

Pernok leisurely drank tea and waited for an answer.

‘I know why you’re trying to drag me down deeper.’

It must be because Pernok’s wealth that easily gives half a year’s military provisions matches her plans.

Though she readily proposed because advancing to a relationship beyond alliance with Pernok would be great help in the future, she had to make their positions clearly understood.

That ultimately the urgent one is Yuliana and the side holding power is Pernok.

“The guild is merely a speck-sized organization in this world. Those with true power covet greater authority. Rezhen didn’t fear mercenaries. It’s just that even if they’re ants, if they gather and touch weak points, it becomes troublesome.”

“I don’t mind being a snake’s head.”

When Pernok spoke curtly, Yuliana smiled brightly.

“If we show our hand, you must go to the end. Even casual disclosure won’t be tolerated. Are you confident?”

“If I wasn’t confident, I wouldn’t have interfered in this board from the start.”

“Good. Then you show your clue too.”

Pernok moved the scale in a special way.

Then letters were carved in one corner of the scale.

[Radiance shall put all things to sleep.]

Yuliana turned her gaze to Pernok as if hoping for interpretation.

“My message isn’t about finding the tomb. It refers to a special space inside the tomb.”

“Radiance….”

“If we just find the tomb, we can very easily enter the space where the first king resides inside.”

This message is a lie.

He applied the scale’s special method to alchemy and created a new device.

Who would’ve imagined tampering with the king’s relic?

But Bamont said ‘it doesn’t matter’ and even encouraged using it well.

“Then is the talk over now?”

Pernok extended his hand.

“The alliance is only until we remove Vans and Porla. But remember it can break anytime if our purposes don’t align midway.”

“I like how ruthless you are. Bring the military provisions. I’ll let you see my fiance.”

Yuliana grasped Pernok’s hand and smiled.

Feeling the intense desire hidden in the smile, Pernok smiled back.

* * *

Rio finished the work of repackaging the military provisions stolen from Yuliana.

He divided and loaded sacks stamped with the merchant group’s seal onto multiple carts and transported them.

The path Yuliana taught didn’t even have Vans’s secret watchers follow.

And at the path’s end, Yuliana was waiting.

“Welcome. But why only this much?”

“It’s not the sea route, and on land routes, if attention concentrates from moving this much military provisions at once, it’ll be troublesome.”

“That’s true, older brother Vans’s watchers are attached too.”

“I’ll divide the military provisions among several merchant groups and sequentially enter the capital.”

“You seem skilled at this kind of transaction.”

“It’s not for nothing that I made slush funds.”

Pernok answered glibly and led the merchant group.

Following Yuliana’s secret path, he arrived at Tyr Kingdom’s capital Barad.

Tyr, where the land is fertile cultivating all sorts of crops, and even developed culture based on abundant food.

Though recently experiencing difficulties in crop cultivation from drought, the capital still seemed beautiful and ignorant of poverty.

Befitting words about a nation of art and culture, all sorts of sculptures and waterways cutting between them boasted splendor.

“Someday I want to bring Tyr’s culture to our nation.”

When Yuliana proudly spoke of Tyr’s excellent scenery, Bamont puffed his cheeks on Pernok’s shoulder.

[A king must be strong!]

As if showing his prestige from life, Bamont placed hands on his waist and shouted proudly.

[If it’s something I don’t have, I should think to conquer and steal it!]

“What are you going to do making enemies everywhere?”

[You’re also making enemies.]

“If your legacy has power to match those things, won’t it become a fight with sufficient chances?”

[Legacy… right!]

Bamont’s torn lingering thought doesn’t remember the legacy.

But as if carving only that glory into his soul, he answered overflowing with confidence as always.

[Only one who’ll truly become king can have it!]

“I look forward to it.”

Because if it’s useless, there’d be no reward for coming all the way here.

Swallowing the following words, Pernok looked at Tyr’s magnificent royal palace.

This nation’s Magi, the duke and marquis, all left their positions for association matters.

Even so, he feels it.

The sign of a beast crouching in the royal palace.

‘A mage… level 5 at that. But is it watching me?’

Mana that wouldn’t even reach the royal guard knight order’s toes is now directed at Pernok.

When Pernok felt the beast, the beast was also looking at Pernok.

The royal castle’s tower, its very top.

‘A peculiar guy.’

Feeling the gaze of unusually prominent weak mana, Pernok entered the royal castle.

* * *

The blue earth Pernok sought existed in a place even Yuliana found difficult to easily approach.

“Blue earth? You don’t mean the sanctuary?”

“I heard this royal castle was built upon blue earth.”

“Hohoho, well, it’s content not well known except by this place’s royals.”

Yuliana pointed to a specific area full of strict guard.

“Beyond that boundary, there’s a special place that forbids entry except for this place’s royals. That place is entirely covered in blue soil, and this place’s king calls it the sanctuary.”

“I’d like to see it once.”

“Even royals find it difficult to easily enter the sanctuary. To them, the sanctuary is like faith that started from the kingdom’s birth. Even if Rakis Empire’s Duke Chris came, they wouldn’t open the sanctuary. If you try to forcibly trespass on the sanctuary, they’ll even go to war.”

“Didn’t you say this castle itself was built on blue earth?”

“That’s just words recorded in history books. Actually, the sanctuary’s size isn’t wide enough to be called earth. Think of it as garden-sized.”

“You speak as if you’ve seen it directly when you said you couldn’t even get entry permission.”

“I heard. From my fiance.”

She must mean the mage who eats Magi.

“Does he have free access to the sanctuary?”

“Because he’s the most special even among royals. Even the sanctuary’s guardians don’t block his entry.”

Pernok nodded and felt the sanctuary’s numerous signs.

High-level mages guarded the surroundings densely, and it was a structure where the moment you stepped into the sanctuary, an alert activated and all defense forces rushed over.

‘It won’t be easy. But where exactly does it mean?’

It was when Pernok looked at Bamont on his shoulder.

Suddenly that lingering thought began scattering intense colors.

[Ah… ahh… ahhhhhhh!]

A special phenomenon that appears when a lingering thought faces an object or life form related to itself and receives back part of torn memories.

In the Netherworld, this is called the awakening of residual lingering thoughts.

[Th-there!]

When the light cluster flowing from the garden touched Bamont, an unexpected awakening phenomenon occurred.

[My treasure is there!]

The place Bamont pointed to like a scream.

In a corner of the garden the sanctuary’s guardians protect, a faint light that only those who see spiritual power can know was flowing out.