9: What happened at the Ball (2)

The ball was being held in Regen, the largest commercial city in the East.

Regen was about a 7-hour carriage ride from Haiss, and Jamie was currently in the carriage, looking out.

‘It would’ve been nice if I could just teleport.’

Of course, he was thinking if it was him alone.

However, it would be difficult now.

Sarah, his little sister, was seated next to him, and his mother, Sears, was sitting on the other side.

Still, it was the carriage of the Count, so the ride was comfortable. Sleeping wouldn’t be a problem.

‘Compared to the old days, this is really good.’

How many people rode carriages back then?

Such things didn’t even exist in the era of myth, and even if they did, it was very rare.

The present era has blossomed into a civilization that is incomparable to the past.

Thousands of years later.

His heart would’ve hurt if the world didn’t progress.

‘By the way, I wonder how many years have passed. I looked for it, but I couldn’t find anything.’

He had read all the history books in his family library, but there weren’t many that talked about eras of myth.

What was certain is that around ten to twenty thousand years have passed.

‘A lot has happened since I died.’

Demons have invaded several times, and in severe cases, the Demon King descended.

The last few hundred years have been peaceful without such things, but the peace could always be broken.

Right. Perhaps Jamie would be the one to destroy the peace.

‘Maybe not, but most likely.’

The influence of the 12 Gods was enormous in this world.

Fortunately, they weren’t a unified force like in the past anymore.

Each country had a different religion, so if Jamie regained his initial strength, he could defeat them more easily than in the past.

However, bloodshed cannot be avoided.

Lives will be lost.

But Jamie didn’t care about that.

Because the only thing the Dark Magician had to do was get revenge.

Eventually, the carriage entered Regen.

The commercial city was as splendid as its reputation.

From small merchants to wealthy ones.

Huge markets with small and large crowds were on the roads.

“Regen is amazing!”

“Because this is the best commercial city in the kingdom. Even if the entire continent is searched, there aren’t many places where they get huge funds like Regen.”

It was said that the biggest cause of wealth in the kingdom was because of Regen.

Passing through the busy market, they entered a quiet street.

It was a commercial district with several branches.

After passing that, the realm of nobles who settled in Regan began.

“We are almost there.”

“My heart races at the thought of seeing Count Simon.”

“Oh my. Is my son’s heart pounding?”

When Jamie spoke childishly, his mother took him into a hug.

Despite struggling with suffocation, she didn’t let go.

The woman’s love for her son was truly breathtaking.

To the extent where Jamie wanted a life-threatening battle with the Gods in exchange.

For a long time, she kept saying ‘So cute! So lovely!’ and then she finally let him go.

“…”

For a brief moment, Jamie frowned.

Maybe she didn’t notice it. Sears patted his head.

“My son dreams of being a magician, so you admire Count Simon?”

“…Yes”

Since she would hold him again if he said something useless, he decided to keep the answer short.

Fortunately, Sears didn’t hug him.

“He is great, Count Simon. He is a Great Magician who reached the 7th class at a young age.”

Count Richter Simon, the Crimson Magician.

As his name suggests, his magic was reminiscent of a red lotus flower’s.

There were rumors that thousands of lives were lost when the red lotus bloomed.

Considering that he was in 7th class, the rumor wasn’t an exaggeration.

Above all, he, along with Count Welton, was the second head of the eastern nobles and the Lord of Regen city.

In other words, the person who hosted the ball was none other than Count Simon.

“What kind of person is he?”

“Hmm. He has red hair.”

“Hair is red?”

“Lightly.”

Sears thought of words that a child could understand.

She nodded as if she took the right choice of words.

“Something like blood.”

“…”

Jamie was speechless at the fact that his mother thought blood would make it easier for him to understand.

Jamie couldn’t help but think that his mother was amazing.

‘Was he called the Crimson Magician?’

He looked out the window and remembered things about Count Simon, whom he had never met before.

In fact, Jamie didn’t have an interest in 7th class.

What he was interested in was the attack power, which claimed to have taken and saved lives.

Any 7th class magician could kill thousands of people, but it wasn’t an easy task.

‘I want to talk with him.’

He regretted that he didn’t have a long conversation with Marquess Linmel.

Although Count Simon was inferior to the Marquess, he too was a symbolic figure among modern magicians.

He hoped to have a pleasant conversation with him.

The Simon family’s great mansion was as large as the royal palace, and was splendidly decorated.

Indeed this was the state which was providing the wealth to the kingdom.

A considerable number of attendants were busily preparing for the ball.

“Everything is out.”

Sears got her clothes out of the carriage with the help of her attendant.

And she carefully took Sarah, who was sleeping into her arms.

Jamie jumped off the carriage.

At that time, a servant of the Simon family approached them.

“Lady must be from Count Welton?”

“Exactly.”

A man came and confirmed the identity.

Actually, there was no identification.

The crest on the carriage was all they had to see.

However, just in case, since no one knew what could happen, they checked.

Simon’s servants led them to their assigned rooms.

“Count Simon seems to have taken special care for us.”

Sears looked at the huge bedroom with a satisfied expression.

This was the nicest place in the mansion, and there was no better place, except for the bedroom which Count Simon shared with his wife.

“Young master, this way.”

Sarah would be sharing a room with her parents, and Jamie was given a single room.

‘This one seems sensible.’

If he was asked to sleep with his parents, he would have been really embarrassed.

“Unpack and come to us.”

“Yep!”

The room given to Jamie was mediocre, but still, it was large for a 7-year-old boy to sleep in.

Still, it was insignificant compared to his own room, but he could use this too, as size didn’t matter for him.

‘It only matters that I get to sleep alone!’

That was the most important thing!

After the preparations were done, he went to Sears.

She and Sarah were being helped by the attendants.

“Here?”

“I will sit down.”

“Sure.”

As the lady and hostess of the eastern nobles, Sears was in a state of elegant dress up.

Maybe that was why, despite being beautiful, she looked spectacular today, even Jamie was shocked.

In a pale yellow dress with a luxurious white shawl over her shoulders, she looked as if she was the idol of dignity.

The make-up she had was displaying that she was of the nobility.

He always thought of his mother as a friend, but now, she looked different.

“Woah.”

“Hehe. Is your mother pretty?”

“Yes!”

Jamie answered with the brightest face.

Sears tried to hug him.

“Lady. Please don’t do it today. Your makeup will get ruined.”

“… is that so?”

Fortunately, he was able to survive.

Jamie sighed.

“The young lady is ready too.”

Sarah had a ribbon in her hair and was in a cute dress, as pretty as a doll.

However, she didn’t seem to like it.

It was her first time being dressed up like it, so Jamie could understand it.

Jamie, too, was quite irritated that he was made to dress up a lot, more than he did on his birthday.

“My daughter is cute too!”

Only Sears looked happy.

The maid approached and cautiously said.

“We should go.”

“Huh. Yes.”

The three of them headed to the ballroom.

The ballroom was so glamorous that it was ridiculous to believe.

It was so impressive that calling it a noble’s ball seemed disrespectful.

“I see that Count Simon gave importance to this too.”

“Yes. I was shocked.”

They sat down at the assigned table, which was at the top.

Because of their status, it was a natural thing.

As soon as they sat down, the nobles around began to approach them.

“Oh, Mrs Welton, you are so beautiful!”

“OH my. Your make is so well done!”

“Look at the dress. You are indeed Count Welton’s wife!”

“It was a coat prepared in our estate, and I prepared to wear it for the winter.”

“This tea is from our estate. Please drink it. It is very refreshing!”

Everyone wanted to look good to her.

Jamie clicked his tongue as he watched that.

Somehow, the people seemed to be wanting to build a bridge connecting them to the Welton family.

Such people seemed to have continued to exist even at this age.

‘Disgusting!’

He looked at Sears.

With a smile on her face, she calmly listened to all their words.

Even though it was annoying, she was good at coping with it.

“Thank you. I’ll taste it well. I’ve never had this tea. The Count occasionally drinks some tea. He might like it. Haha. That is a beautiful jewel. The craftsmanship is amazing.”

Jamie thought that Sears was a light person, but Sears Bell Welton was greater than he thought.

And today, he saw a new side of her.

Indeed, the lady of the Bell family.

She could only cope with this because she must have been trained since childhood.

“Ahh. Can you hear me?”

Someone walked up to the podium and spoke into a strange-looking rod.

The sound was amplified and resounded through the ballroom.

People’s eyes turned to it at once.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, my distinguished guests who attended today’s ball hosted by the Simon family. I am Riole Ban-Hur, in charge of administration in Regen estate.”

The nobles clapped their hands at the brief greeting.

“The curtain of the ball is going up. Everyone, please take your seats and welcome Count Simon and his family, who will be arriving soon.”

And then, he pointed to the bottom.

Someone started to climb the podium.

The first thing Jamie saw was red hair.

As Sears said, it looked like blood.

A thick cloak of indigo blue, with thick fur covering the shoulders and neck, the coat was sweeping the stairs.

His hands were empty. However, powerful Mana could be felt, like he was holding something.

The sound died.

It was noisy before, but now the ballroom went silent.

Just his appearance was enough to silence the crowd. It wasn’t magic. He just attracted all their attention.

A presence that overwhelmed the audience.

Was it the 7th class?

Bullshit.

‘Similar to Marquess Linmel. Maybe even a little higher.’

Count Simon stood in the centre.

There were a few other people, but their presence wasn’t that known.

Complete control.

He spread his hands. The sound of the cloak flapping echoed in the silent ballroom.

“It has been a long time, everyone. Welcome to the ball.”

Crimson Magician.

A lot more than what Jamie had expected.