Episode 49
* * *
“Did the drink not suit your taste?”
Marquis Yuris asked, sipping from the glass filled with blood.
“You, Yuris? What the heck is this… … .”
“What are you so afraid of?”
Elizabeth’s face turns pale.
“Are you afraid of death?”
“Please… … !”
“Oh, please don’t be too afraid.”
The bloody ball kissed Elizabeth’s struggling nape.
Kwajik!
Before he knew it, the sharp, blood-red fangs of the orb were exploring Elizabeth’s nape.
“Death is a blessing.”
After the kiss, Marquis Yuris distances himself.
“It’s like a flower petal that blooms gorgeously and falls beautifully.”
Suddenly, the one standing in front of the bloody ball was no longer the beautiful noble lady. Instead, a corpse, twisted like a mummy, was there.
“Compared to that, an immortal life without death… … .”
Leaving Elizabeth’s body behind, the Bloody Duke continued speaking.
“It is truly fleeting, empty, and full of meaninglessness.”
In an indescribable emptiness and distorted pleasure.
“Like a weed that will never bloom in its entirety.”
Alone, quietly. It was a very fleeting voice.
* * *
Some time later, in the Duke of Saxony’s office.
“Please send me to the zodiac.”
“It’s too dangerous.”
At Dale’s impudent request, the black ball quietly shook its head.
A message from the imperial family praising the achievements of the Duke of Saxony and the ‘Black Prince’ who fought against the great migration of demons, and inviting Dale to the Red Tower’s academy to promote exchanges between the two towers.
Without even looking, the red rooftop must have been touched by the breath of Marquis Yuris.
“Are you saying you want to walk into my house on your own two feet?”
“The son of Marquis Yuris also said that he would stay at the Black Tower for exchanges.”
The Red Tower’s proposal was a form of exchange that took place between two parties.
“Since we have the successor of the Red Tower as a hostage on our side… … .”
So Dale continued.
“The opponent won’t be able to move rashly either.”
“Have you already forgotten about the Purifiers’ attack?”
“If you were to lay a hand on the Black Duke’s successor in the Equator, and at the ‘Red Tower Academy’ at that… … the Blood Duke would also know the ramifications that such an action would bring.”
It will turn all of the Four Towers of Thought into enemies, and it will become the trigger for a war that will engulf the entire empire.
It doesn’t just mean that one of the Black Tower’s successors is dead, but that the rest of the Towers will also not be able to escape the threat of the Red Tower.
“Besides, the one the empire fears the most is not me, but my father.”
At least for now, that is the case.
“… … .”
There is some truth to what Dale said. No, it was an impeccable answer.
Even if it were an empire, it would not have the capacity to immediately eliminate Dale and launch a total war against the House of Saxony. Furthermore, if such a situation were to unfold, the princes who would turn their backs on the empire would not stop at the Duke of Saxony alone.
“Then how do you explain the Purifiers’ attack?”
“maybe…….”
Dale opened his mouth.
“If they really wanted to get rid of me, they wouldn’t have stopped at just the ‘Twelve Purifiers’.”
“Hmm.”
“The red tower is just testing me and my father.”
“It’s a test.”
The black ball burst into laughter as if it was ridiculous.
That is indeed true. Dale was the one who kept his cool and assessed the situation the whole time. As a father who was worried about his child, maintaining his cool was a separate matter.
“Then is there any other purpose you wish to achieve in the zodiac?”
“I want to see the country called the Empire with my own eyes.”
Not the fiefdoms or papal states in the north.
“And since the Red Tower is provoking us, we should respond appropriately.”
In the heart of the empire, in the Zodiac. Against the Red Tower, known as the ‘executor of the zeitgeist’ of the empire.
“… … I really don’t know what you’re thinking.”
At Dale’s words, the Duke of Saxony gave a small, bitter smile.
“I only think about my father, myself, and the House of Saxony.”
Dale opened his mouth in front of that bitter smile.
It was a conversation between two rich people just like any other time.
* * *
The imperial capital, and the red tower.
The Imperial Academy attached to the Red Tower had a meaning that was more than just an academy in a tower.
Its scale and curriculum cannot be compared to those of other magic towers, and it is a place where the best elites of the empire are trained, and where socializing and fierce behind-the-scenes fighting takes place among the children of nobles.
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Graduating from the Imperial Academy and becoming a magician of the Red Tower was a guarantee of success for the imperial aristocracy.
The empire’s elite, highly anticipated by all.
That is why the children of nobles with the best talents in the empire gather at the Imperial Academy, and the competition there is fierce. The process of graduating from the Academy itself is incomparable to that of other towers. Even if you reach the level of the 3rd circle, you cannot graduate from the Academy unless you pass the ‘graduation exam’ of the Red Tower.
And just a few weeks before the graduation exams.
It was around that time that the first genius of the empire, the young eldest son of the House of Saxony, arrived.
At the very time when the most intense competition is taking place within the academy.
* * *
Several years have passed since the Emperor went into seclusion, not making any public appearances.
So when the young eldest son of the House of Saxony arrived in the imperial capital, a procession led by the Saxon night ravens crossed the imperial capital’s streets, and those who greeted Dale were, after all, the emperor’s representatives.
“Oh, welcome. I’ve been waiting for you.”
The imperialist nobles, led by Marquis Yuris, all have an ugly appearance that makes them smell like lard.
“Your Majesty the Prince of Saxony, you have truly taken such a difficult step!”
A disgusting, sickening laugh and flattery.
Between the snake’s tongue, a handsome man with red hair is looking at me. How could I forget that sight?
“… … Marquis Yuris.”
“I have been waiting for you, Your Highness the Prince of Saxony.”
A man who reigns at the top of the Red Tower and has earned the nickname of Bloody Ball.
Dale’s father, the greatest red magician on the continent, comparable to the Black Knight.
“It is an honor to meet you.”
“What an honor! I am grateful that you have accepted my unreasonable offer.”
“I am deeply grateful to the Lord of the Red Tower for his invitation.”
“I have heard of the great efforts that Confucius made in fighting the great migration of the demon tribe.”
Dale nodded blandly, and Marquis Yuris smiled again.
“Not only did he pursue his studies as a scholar, but he also volunteered to become a fighter on the battlefield himself! It is a truly glorious tale of bravery that is known throughout the empire without end.”
“… … .”
But Dale did not answer right away, but simply remained silent. He remembered the twelve Purifiers who had attacked Dale’s cavalry that day up the Saxon River.
This is the man.
This man, in league with the Demons, infiltrated the Purifiers of the Red Tower… … and led Dale and the Night Raven Knights of House Saxon right into the flames.
That day, he thought of his knights who had collapsed in the flames and turned to ashes.
Biting his lips lightly, Dale tried to maintain his composure, hiding the hatred in his heart in the cold air.
“Every time I hear the tale of the Black Prince’s exploits through the winds of luxury, I can’t help but feel truly amazed.”
“People’s stories are always exaggerated.”
“Oh, that’s impossible.”
Marquis Yuris smiled as if it was nothing, revealing his white, thin teeth.
“The talent that is called the greatest genius in the empire… …! I am already looking forward to the talent that His Majesty will show at the Academy.”
“Dale of Saxony, I humbly greet the imperial people.”
Dale bowed his head respectfully, leaving behind Veil Lord and the elven wizard Sepia, who were standing by as usual.
Underneath the guise of an innocent 11-year-old child, he is filled with malice that could devour Dale at any moment.
* * *
The young eldest son of the House of Saxony was invited to the Imperial Academy in the Red Tower for the ‘Interchange of Red and Black’.
The shock felt by the noble children of the Imperial Academy at the fact that they were to be taking classes at the ‘Top Department of the Third Circle’ just a few weeks before their graduation exams was indescribable.
Dale, the youngest son of the Duke of Saxony.
At the age of only 11, he reached the level of the 3rd circle and broke through the 20th floor of the tower test. Furthermore, the talent of the ‘Black Prince’ was not limited to magic. He was the greatest genius of the empire, leading the Black and White Rotation to victory, stopping the great migration of the Demons, and possessing the wisdom and strength to defeat the Orc Warboss.
They were also well aware of the reputation of the Black Prince, which the rich and famous were talking about so much that they were sick of it.
No, that’s why I couldn’t stand it even more.
The highest department of the Imperial Academy. It is where the most talented noble children of the Empire gather, and the starting point of their path to success as elite magicians.
For that reason, the pride that the students of the Imperial Academy had was indescribable.
And from their perspective, Dale’s reputation was nothing but exaggeration and inflated nonsense.
Even if he is the successor of the Black Tower, he is only an 11-year-old child. And would someone from the Black Tower in the northern remote area really have reached the level of the 3rd Circle? Even if he is the 3rd Circle, is it really a ‘circle built up through training’? How fast can the circle rotate? It probably won’t even reach 100rpm.
The same would be true of the Tower Test. He must have received special treatment simply because he was the son of the Black Tower Lord. Furthermore, the story of the Black and White Rotation victory and the suppression of the Demons’ great migration were actually victories achieved by the knights of the Saxon family.
It is definitely a false reputation that was intentionally inflated to boast and show off the ‘fame of the House of Saxony’.
That was the thought of most of the undergraduates at the Academy. No, it was the only way they could think.
To those arrogant people, Dale’s talent was like a truth they did not want to accept.
Conversely, if we assume that the talent of the ‘black prince’ that the rich people are talking about is true… … their lives are completely denied in front of the talent of a mere 11-year-old child.
The pride of being the best elite in the empire.
Therefore, affirming the talent of the ‘Black Prince’ was tantamount to denying their worth, and it didn’t take long for their pride to be shattered.
