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Chapter 28: Aroth (3)
Although Gilead had offered him an escort, Eugene had vehemently refused. After all, wouldn’t it feel awkward being followed around everywhere by armed guards?
“It’s not like Aroth’s public security is that bad, and I’m skilled enough to take care of myself,” Eugene had argued.
All five of the Towers of Magic were located in the capital of Aroth. Since he was moving to such a bustling capital city and not some remote village, he wouldn’t need any guards.
Gion had backed him up, “With Eugene’s skills, he shouldn’t require an escort.”
Since even Gion had spoken up for Eugene, Gilead could only nod in agreement.
The two adults were well aware that Eugene had unbelievable levels of skills and experience for someone his age. On top of that, since he had also reached the Third Star of the White Flame Formula, they couldn’t treat him like a child any longer. At his age and skill level, Eugene needed to learn how to make his own decisions.
‘...Unlike Eward.’
Gilead washed down the bitter taste that this thought left in his mouth with a sip of wine.
The next day, everyone was there to see Eugene off as he headed to the warp gate in the outskirts of the estate’s forest. Gerhard, who had been smiling happily the day before, burst into tears at the sight of Eugene leaving.
“Make sure to eat healthily and don’t skip any meals.”
“Yes.”
“If you get sick, go find a doctor immediately.”
“Yes.”
“If things get too hard and lonely… don’t try to endure it and just come back, got it?”
“Yes, I’ve got it.”
Eugene responded to each of Gerhard’s reminders perfunctorily.
It was hard for him to look at Gerhard directly as the man wept in love and concern for his son. In the past, Eugene’s acknowledgment of Gerhard as his father had been faint, but strangely, the older he grew, the more he began to feel that Gerhard was truly his father despite having been reincarnated.
‘...He is my real father, after all,’ even as Eugene realized this, he said out loud, “Stop with the tears already. Do you really think I’m just heading out there to die?”
Gerhard paled, “Don’t tempt fate like that.”
“I’m just going to learn some magic. Maybe do some sightseeing in the vicinity of Aroth as well,” Eugene reassured his father.
“You’ve been living in Gidol for most of your life, and for the last few years, you’ve spent all your days at the main estate. As someone who hasn’t really seen the world, I’m just not confident that you’ll be fine living in Aroth all by yourself…,” Gerhard trailed off.
“I’ll be fine. So please stop crying. All the servants are watching,” Eugene said as he pulled out a handkerchief from his vest and scrubbed Gerhard’s cheeks.
“How about taking Nina with you at the very least?”
“Nina also arrived at the main estate when she was very young, so she’s just as ignorant of the outside world as I am. Besides, I’ve already told her to take this chance and go for a vacation to her hometown.”
“Thank you so much for your consideration, sir,” Nina cut in with a smile and a nod.
Eugene had personally requested the Patriarch to give Nina leave to go on this vacation. Thanks to this, Nina was able to visit her home with a heavy purse and an escort to protect her.
“I’ll be heading off now,” Eugene said as he handed the tear-soaked handkerchief over to Gerhard. “Although it won’t be often, I’ll write to you from time to time, whenever I remember to. So you need to remember to stay safe as well, father.”
Gerhard tried to speak, but all that came out was a sob.
“Geez, I told you to stop crying. Do you really think I won’t go just because you keep crying, father?” Eugene asked.
“Y-you’ll definitely still go—” Gerhard choked out.
“You know me so well. That’s why you should stop crying. Can’t you just send your grown-up son off with a smile?”
Finally, Gerhard stopped crying and put on a smile. But it seemed that Eugene had made a pointless mistake. Looking at Gerhard’s tear-stained face, Eugene felt like a nail was being pounded into his chest.
Still, Eugene didn’t change his decision. Accompanied by his father’s tearful smile and the farewells from the members of the main family, Eugene departed for the warp gate. He never looked back even once. Just like in his previous life, Eugene never changed his mind once he had decided to do something.
* * *
The Capital of the Magic Kingdom of Aroth was called Pentagon. The five Towers of Magic formed the corners of a pentagon with the Royal Palace at its center.
Eugene stared down at this scene in awe. Although he had been to Aroth in his previous life, the landscape he saw then was far different from the landscape he was looking down at now.
“...Wow….”
The five majestic and grand Towers of Magic were far more eye-catching than the palace. It couldn’t be helped. The towers were both the symbol of Aroth and the source of its power. Unlike most kingdoms, the king had almost no ruling power. Aroth was instead governed by the prime minister of the parliament.
“Whoa….”
From up here, Eugene had a great view of the sprawling city.
Pentagon’s warp gates opened up in the sky, contained within large floating stations. Among the various kingdoms, Aroth was the only one to have its warp gates located in the sky. Each floating station was held aloft due to the multiple bits of magic that had been cast on it, and they were a symbol of the pride of Aroth, which called itself the Magic Kingdom.
‘They didn’t have anything like this in my last life.’
For them to have raised a piece of land this size into the air and fixed the coordinates so that it could be used as a warp gate…. In addition to showing off just how great their magic was, they were also marketing its convenience and quality.
Thousands of people wanted to travel to Pentagon’s floating stations just to take in the sprawling capital at a single glance.
“Isn’t it amazing?” a high-pitched voice said to Eugene. “This view could even be said to be one of Aroth’s cultural assets. There are as many as fifteen floating stations all around Pentagon, and all of them were created by the Wise Sienna.”
“...Wow,” Eugene awkwardly exclaimed.
The voice continued its spiel, “To go from this East Gate station, which Sir Eugene is currently at, to the Royal Palace, it would take at least half a day even with the help of a carriage. However, just by warping from one floating station to another, we can dramatically reduce the traveling distance....”
Even a blind person could understand what this meant.
“Also, there are aerial carriages assigned to each floating station! With these carriages, even those suffering from warp motion sickness can head to their destination while enjoying this view of Pentagon as comfortably as if they were lying in their own bed.”
“...Are those also something that chick—I mean, that Lady Sienna came up with?”
“Of course they are! Ah, but there’s no need to worry too much. Although they were constructed using magical techniques from hundreds of years ago, they have been continuously improved and repaired, so the annual rate of accidents is very low.”
But that meant there wasn't a zero chance of accidents.
“...Hm…,” Eugene hummed consideringly.
The man standing next to Eugene, chattering away as he gave out explanations, was a guide who worked for the East Gate floating station. Due to the large number of tourists, many guides worked at each floating station.
Most of them were young, inexperienced wizards who hadn’t been able to enter a tower and instead worked as guides to cover their living costs and tuition fees.
‘It was a mistake to wear these clothes here,’ Eugene thought with a frown as he looked down at his chest.
He was wearing the official dress of the Lionheart clan, which had the Lionheart sigil embroidered on the left chest. Thanks to this outfit that he had worn without much thought, a guide had been attached to him the moment he stepped out of the warp gate.
“The tourist attractions in the Pentagon are—”
“Just one moment,” Eugene interrupted the guide to open a tourist brochure.
After taking a few moments to check the tourist attractions listed in the brochure, Eugene nodded.
“...I would like to hire you just for today,” he eventually decided.
“If you sign up now, I can give you a discounted price of four days for the whole week,” the guide offered.
“It’s fine. Let’s just sign the contract now.”
For now, there was only one place that Eugene wanted to go to. After visiting that location, he had decided to head straight for the Red Tower of Magic to see Lovellian.
As if he had been waiting for this, the guide pulled out a contract. After Eugene signed the contract using the pen that had come with it, he pulled out a cheque for a million sals from his wallet and handed it to the guide.
“Whoah!” the guide exclaimed in excitement.
Eugene explained, “This is the hiring fee for today, plus any other expenses that might crop up.”
“I’ll do my very best to show you around.”
“For now… I would like to visit the mansion that belonged to the Wise Sienna.”
“That’s an excellent choice,” the guide praised with a smile. “If you visit Pentagon, the three things that you absolutely need to see are: the Wise Sienna’s mansion, the Towers of Magic, and the night view from the floating stations.”
“I’ll get a chance to see the night view later. Right now, I just want to take a walk in the mansion by myself.”
“Did you say that you wanted to go in by yourself?”
“That’s right.”
“As you wish,” the guide bowed his head and turned to lead the way.
‘...So this is Eugene Lionheart,’ the guide considered the name written on the contract as he headed towards the warp gate. ‘But why has he come to Aroth? Is he trying to learn magic like the eldest son? Or could it be that he’s come to pick up that dunce?’
The name Eward Lionheart was also quite famous in Pentagon. Especially among those poor and young wizards who were forced to cover their living and tuition expenses by doing odd jobs such as guide work, Eward’s name was an object of envy.
‘...If he was born to a martial family, he should just learn martial arts. Why act like such a know-it-all and come here to learn magic without having already learned shit-all in the first place?’
Even though he didn’t have much talent in magic, Eward was someone who had been able to enter a Tower of Magic by relying solely on his personal connections. Although he hadn’t become a disciple of the Red Tower Master, this had still enabled Eward to learn magic from one of the Tower Master’s subordinates.
To these poor, young wizards, he was known as a dunce, a fool, and a son of a bitch.
Having gone through the warp gate, the guide pointed out of a window, “The Wise Sienna’s mansion is there, below us.”
As the mansion was such a famous tourist destination in Pentagon, a floating station had been specially assigned to it.
As they rode down in an aerial carriage, the guide continued to chatter, “Three hundred years ago, after returning from the Devildom of Helmuth, Lady Sienna was the youngest person in Aroth’s history to rise to the position of a Tower Master. In the square at the entrance to the Green Tower of Magic, which Sienna was once in charge of, you can find a statue that perfectly reproduces her image.”
Eugene continued to stare at the view outside the window without any reply.
“This mansion was the last place that Lady Sienna was ever seen. Two hundred years ago, Lady Sienna left a message in this mansion, saying that she was going into seclusion and then disappeared.”
“I’ve heard that story as well,” Eugene, who had been listening silently, turned his head and said. “Isn’t it still a mystery where Lady Sienna went after leaving that message?”
“Yes, that’s right. Lady Sienna thoroughly erased all of her traces. Many of Aroth’s wizards, and even Lady Sienna’s own disciples, attempted to follow her tracks, but no one has been able to find out where Lady Sienna went into seclusion.”
“Weren’t there any speculations or rumors of her whereabouts?”
“Of course, there were a lot of unconfirmed stores. Some say that she went to the Devildom to slay the remaining Demon Kings. Others say that she wandered into Samar Forest, the sanctuary of the elves….” After wracking his memories for a moment, the guide continued speaking. “...There were even rumors that she had caught an incurable disease from somewhere and went into seclusion to die peacefully.”
Eugene stayed silent, “....”
“It’s impossible to know how much truth these rumors hold. What is clear is that Lady Sienna hasn’t been sighted even once in these past two hundred years.” The guide lowered his voice with a sad expression, “The lamentable fact is that the day Lady Sienna disappeared also happened to be her birthday. Just what on earth could have happened to her… that she decided to go into seclusion instead of celebrating her birthday? This might just be my opinion, but I believe that Lady Sienna may have gone to the Devildom.”
“Why do you believe that?” Eugene asked.
“If it was two hundred years ago, that would be the hundred-year anniversary of Lady Sienna’s return from the Devildom of Helmuth. A hundred years since she was forced to return, leaving behind the body of her comrade, the Stupid Hamel…. On the eve of her birthday, Lady Sienna may have recalled the fate of her long-dead comrade and….”
“...,” Eugene was speechless.
“‘I want to avenge Hamel…,’ it may have been such a desire that made Lady Sienna leave. You should have heard about this as well, right, Sir Eugene? It seems that Hamel had a crush on Lady Sienna. Like a bratty young boy, he couldn’t confess his feelings to Lady Sienna, so he instead teased her throughout their journey…. Then shortly before he died, Hamel confessed his love for Lady Sienna—”
“Stop your fucking bullshit!” Eugene suddenly shouted, unable to restrain himself.
“Huh?” the guide reeled back in astonishment at this sudden outburst.
Eugene stammered as he tried to come up with an excuse, “Ah, no…. Um…. That was….”
“Ahah…,” after blinking in surprise for a few moments, the guide made a noise of enlightenment as he concluded with a wide smile. “It looks like Sir Eugene is very against Hamel’s romance with Lady Sienna.”
“...Well, yes, but….”
“I often argued with my friends about this when I was young. I’ve always claimed that Lady Sienna’s romance with Hamel was canon, but my friends insisted that Lady Sienna and the Great Vermouth were truly in love. That’s why you were so angry, right?”
“...,” Eugene couldn’t find any words.
“Well, that would still be a pretty interesting story. The Stupid Hamel… who was constantly frustrated by Vermouth, even lost his love to the hero… but in the end, he still threw himself in front of the blow meant for Vermouth and confessed his love as he was dying…. Ah, I really like such tragic stores as well.”
Since Eugene had given him a million sals, shouldn't it be all right for him to slap the guide across his mouth just once? Eugene seriously began to consider such an idea.
“In any case, that’s just what I believe. Lady Sienna left Aroth and went to Helmuth alone to avenge Hamel… but in the end, she failed to get her revenge… and her eyes closed for the last time in Helmuth….”
“...It seems that you really like tragedies,” Eugene commented with some difficulty.
“In Aroth, there are a lot of novels that have been written about Lady Sienna. If you are interested, I could bring you a selection of them.”
“That’s fine…. However… about Lady Sienna heading to Helmuth, that’s just a wild guess, right?”
“It’s not entirely unfounded. It’s quite the famous story, but Lady Sienna hated both black magic and the demonfolk, and until she went missing, she continued to oppose the erection of the Black Tower of Magic.”
It had been two hundred years since the Black Tower of Magic had been raised in Aroth.
This meant it was built shortly after the Wise Sienna’s disappearance.
“...Some have argued that the radical black wizards who were promoting the construction of the Black Tower of Magic may have assassinated Lady Sienna, but—”
“There is no way any black wizard could assassinate Lady Sienna,” the tone with which Eugene spit out this objection was so cold that he almost couldn’t believe it belonged to him. “Even the Demon King of Fury was unable to break through Lady Sienna’s magical barrier. So how could mere black wizards break through a spell that even stopped a demon king?”
The guide exclaimed in amazement, “Wow, you really know your stuff! Yep, that’s what I think as well. Even the wizards who made up the Black Tower of Magic two hundred years ago stubbornly denied this assassination theory.”
Despite Eugene’s denial, a corner of his heart was still stained in darkness. Black wizards might not be able to assassinate Sienna, but what about the Demon Kings? Helmuth’s two remaining Demon Kings had poured enormous amounts of support to construct the Black Tower of Magic.
Eugene turned his head to look at the Black Tower of Magic in the distance. The lofty tower was shorter than the other towers of magic, but its extravagant splendor was so obvious that it could even be seen from such a distance.
To this day, Helmuth was still keeping an eye on Aroth through the Black Tower. That was why they had given such great effort to have their pawns, the black wizards, become part of Aroth. So from the perspective of the Demon Kings, Sienna, who continued to oppose the construction of the Black Tower of Magic, must have been a thorn in their eyes.
So much so that they even wished to kill her.
‘...Sienna,’ as the aerial carriage landed on the ground, Eugene hopped off the carriage and immediately looked towards Sienna’s mansion. ‘Are you really dead?’
But the place was so packed that he couldn’t really appreciate the view. Too many tourists were crowding around the mansion for him to get a good look.