Chapter 473 Shaking Grip (End)

“Are you sure you are going alone?” Zina asked neutrally, hiding her worry.

She wouldn’t have hesitated to show her worry for her grandchild if the said grandchild was Iliana. However, the grandchild that she worried about was Basil the Fated Child. Although she still saw the young man as a grandson—following his request—she worried she might offend him by worrying about him. After all, it could be interpreted as her doubting his capability.

“I don’t want to have my feet dragged by anyone,” Basil replied bluntly.

Margaret and the other Maha Dmitras seeing Basil off winced. They were Ninth Circle Mages and yet didn’t dare to rebut Basil’s statement. They didn’t need to see him in action to tell he was not an ordinary Seventh Circle Mage. The amount of Mana surrounding him without his activating his Magic Circles was enough indication already.

Shrugging off Basil’s earlier remark, Margaret looked around. She was looking for Iliana, the lover of the amazing young man who was about to leave. She couldn’t find her which bewildered her slightly. She had thought Iliana would be late. She didn’t expect her to not come. It seemed to her Iliana was still upset about what Basil said the day before.

‘Though I can’t say Basil was wrong. Iliana would indeed only drag him down if she followed him,’ Margaret mused. Sighing inwardly, she muttered, “You could have sugarcoated it, though. What a straightforward young man.”

Basil quirked an eyebrow, prompting Margaret to shake her head faintly with a smile. Iliana’s absence didn’t perturb him in the slightest. He knew well how stubborn his lover was. He would have been disappointed if she had spent her time sulking at the moment; but fortunately, Iliana wasn’t such a person. At this moment, she was already training with Asia.

A smile slowly crept up his face, making the hearts of the young and vigorous female Pacifers flutter. Basil nodded his head as a farewell and patted Ione who was also there to see him off for the last time before turning his back on them. Then, without saying anything; he stormed off and disappeared into thin air.

The women’s eyes instinctively turned to the Obelisk on the west. That place would be where the fate of the Pacifer would be decided: whether they revive and prosper or get decimated once and for all.

….

Around the same time that Basil departed for the First Obelisk, the world was sent into an uproar. The unaffiliated Mages or what many people knew as Travelling Mages had disappeared from the world. In other words, they went into hiding which was something they would never do.

Although it was strange for them to do that, it wouldn’t have been something surprising under normal circumstances. However, given the current state of world affairs, their actions only meant one thing: they had picked a side. In the upcoming great war against Basil Pacifer, they would side with the ‘common enemy.’ Of course, this shocked everyone.

The rumours and the truth about the Pacifer Clan that Basil shared had never been aimed at the selected individuals inside the Kingdoms. Basil had released the information to pull Travelling Mages to his side.

He had expected some of them to join his side, but he would also be surprised when he heard that all of the Travelling Mages came to his side later (he still didn’t know around this time). More than half of the Travelling Mages were exiled from their Kingdoms for ridiculous reasons. Their resentment toward the Kingdoms was strong, therefore they joined his side.

“I guess saying all strawberries are sour because I tasted a sour one once is not fair to the other strawberries.”

“No one will blame you for that. Most people die without ever tasting a sweet strawberry in their lives.”

“A sad truth, indeed. Luckily, I have come across my sweet strawberry today.”

Outside of the Great Forest of Yitoupheo; Anthony, Alphonse and Manfred stood facing a bearded man in a ragged cloak with their army behind them. The three men looked at the bearded man with caution in their eyes while wondering why he looked extremely familiar.

As if aware of what they were thinking, the bearded man laughed raucously in amusement. The action baffled the King trio, but they didn’t do anything other than frown in confusion. When the bearded man ceased his laugh, he wiped down his face as if he was wiping a dirty window. Much to everyone’s surprise, his face changed.

The dusty face that made him look like a pitiful beggar was nowhere to be seen, replaced by the face of a fair-skinned mature man. The unkempt and curly long beard, as if it had been trimmed, turned into a short beard that framed his face, further enhancing his mature look.

The vigorous appearance of the man which was a stark contrast to his previous appearance wasn’t what surprised everyone. They recognized his face. They wouldn’t be able to forget it even if they wanted to. The man had done something too memorable to be easily dismissed.

“You are…”

“It’s been a long time, Anthony, Alphonse, Manfred.”

“Myles…”

Myles thu Arthean, the weakest Prince of the Arthean Empire who was thought to be dead had appeared before them. The competition in the Empire was harsh, especially in the Royal Family. Power was something crucial if one wanted to survive. Myles didn’t have that, so he was kicked out of the game first. It was something everyone had foreseen, therefore no one thought much about it.

Of course, not everything one perceives is the truth. Some lucky individuals knew how fearsome Myles truly was. Amongst them were Anthony, Alphonse and Manfred who got close to him during their days of training and facing dangerous events together. They knew the reason why the other Princes were trying their hardest to kill Myles the weakest Prince.

Therefore, when Myles was declared dead during an Exploration, the three of them were shocked. They knew what Myles was capable of. The supreme genius shouldn’t have died so easily in a measly Dungeon. They knew, of course, why that Myles fell—his siblings. That day became the last day they ever befriended someone from the Empire’s Royal Family.

“H-How?” Anthony asked, still shocked.

“Those bastards will never be able to kill me,” Myles answered with a smirk before combing his red hair to the back with his fingers. “I ‘killed’ myself. The Exploration was just a farce to kill the people my father assigned to monitor me and unshackle myself from my father’s shackle. Ku-Ku-Ku. It was the best decision of my life.”

“Your body…I saw your body being cremated. How was that possible?” Alphonse commented.

“Ah, you still can use your eyes back then. You mustn’t have noticed it.” Seeing a confused look on Alphonse’s face, Myles explained. “For a genius like me, do you think it will be hard to make a hyper-realistic human body with Magic?”

“The emperor was also there. He should’ve noticed,” Anthony pointed out.

“He did. Though, he did nothing.”

It was a day after his cremation that Myles was faced with an event that made him think he would die for real. His father who barely lifted his bum off his throne met him in his hide. His father came silently without any announcement. He couldn’t register his father’s presence despite sitting in front of him. His father looked no different from an illusion but he was indeed his father, the emperor.

His father remained silent throughout the ten minutes he spent looking at him. He sat on the corner of his hide. His face was half-covered by the shadow, so he couldn’t make out the expression his father made. He also didn’t exude any Mana, so guessing what he was thinking about was also impossible. His father remained himself no matter where he was.

He had expected himself to meet his end, but the end never came. After ten minutes of silence, his father stood up and turned his back on him as if challenging him to stab his back.

“I see you have made your choice. What a waste of talent.”

Those words kept ringing in his head whenever he recalled his father. He didn’t know what his father meant by that. What he could tell that day was how truly powerful his father was. That day, he figured out the reason why humans became the leader of the five races.

Pulling himself out of his memory lanes, Myles’ face turned solemn as he gazed at his friends. “I would like to meet your leader, but I know he is not here. I don’t know where he is, but if he was here, he wouldn’t let you greet me. He must know how dangerous I am.”

Anthony and his fellow Kings nodded their heads in agreement. They didn’t need to be Basil to tell how powerful Myles was. He was hiding it very well, but his presence couldn’t lie. He was just as domineering as Basil was whenever he stood on the frontline.

“The rumour has it that Basil Pacifer is an extremely powerful individual. I won’t deny that, but I want to know how strong he is.” Myles frowned. A gleam of fear could be seen in his eyes. “Although he had killed two powerful Ninth Circle Mages, we can’t be complacent. That man…my father is different. I don’t know why he is satisfied with only Arthean with that much power.” 𝗈𝑣𝓵xt.𝗰𝑶𝔪

“We must prepare.”

Everyone had the same thought. Basil was unbelievably strong but he wasn’t invisible. He would be even stronger when he became a Ninth Circle Mage, but there was no guarantee that the Emperor couldn’t do the same thing when he was at Basil’s level. As ridiculous as it might sound, they couldn’t dismiss the possibility. After all, Myles’ judgment shouldn’t be faulty.

Putting the worry for the future aside, the three Kings focused on the matters at hand. They quickly welcomed Myles and asked him to come with them. It was the moment when Myles revealed he brought companies. The ground lit up as tens of thousands of Magic Circles appeared on it before revealing the Travelling Mages who had suddenly vanished from the world.

Everyone’s face beamed. The Travelling Mages were glad that they finally had the chance to end the Empire’s farce, meanwhile, Anthony and the others were happy that they could strengthen their forces again.

As the footing of Basil’s faction became more stable, the hold that the Empire had over the people was getting weaker. This was further exacerbated by the thesis that Chester published: “The Origin of Magic and The Lost History.” It talked a lot about the not-so-amazing history of the Empire and the not-so-beautiful true faces of the Four Heroes.

As everyone questioned their worldview, the Empire’s grip was shaking. It had to decide whether to strangle its people or let them go.