Chapter 92

The empty room was engulfed in a blinding light that made it impossible to open one’s eyes. More precisely, it swallowed Aitor. The light that flashed and surged covered Aitor, and as the ground beneath him wavered, soon a hard floor touched Aitor’s feet.  

When the light disappeared, Aitor slowly raised his closed eyelids.  

“Welcome.”  

The first to greet Aitor was Tristan’s hoarse voice mixed with a metallic tone.  

“Tristan.”  

Aitor called Tristan softly. Then, a giant man stepped forward from beside Tristan, who exaggeratedly raised his arms.  

“Ah. Just a word of advice for coming all the way here to meet me, it’s best not to use magic.”  

Tristan pointed around Aitor with his index finger as if he were doing him a favor. Aitor bit his lower lip as he saw what Tristan was pointing at.  

A magical device that reflects attacks back when magic is used—Speculum—was installed. Tristan’s lips curled into a vile smile, seemingly pleased with Aitor’s expression.

“Judging by the fact that you came all the way here, it seems the Crown Prince didn’t tell you about Caspian’s death.”  

Tristan laughed and raised his eyebrows. The wrinkles that formed made his laughter look even more sinister.  

“Tell me immediately how my father died.”  

“Oh dear. Being so impatient.”  

Tristan clicked his tongue and sat down with a groan on a nearby chair.  

“My body hasn’t fully recovered yet. I apologize for being rude in front of a guest.”  

Tristan’s back was hunched as he sat. His sunken cheeks seemed to confirm his claim of not having fully recovered.  

“First, my demand.”  

“I have no intention of listening to your demands.”  

When Aitor growled, Tristan chuckled and pressed his eyes.  

“I should rephrase. To be precise, it’s not my demand but Inferna’s.”  

At Tristan’s words, Aitor’s brow furrowed.  

“I tried to pull some money and avoid the Mage Tower’s surveillance, but since that’s out of the question, I’ll have to get something else. That’s how the calculation works out.”  

Seeing Tristan rubbing his bony, wrinkled hands together, Aitor swallowed a curse.  

“What does Inferna want?”  

When Aitor asked, a glint shone in Tristan’s gray eyes, as if he were looking at prey caught in a trap.  

“We want you to help with what we’re doing now.”  

“What you’re doing?”  

“Yes. If you help with that, I’ll give you the Emperor’s decree that I have.”  

When Tristan waved his finger in the air, a light flashed, and an envelope fell from the space.  

“This. It’s what you’re looking for, right?”  

Aitor glared at the envelope stuck between Tristan’s fingers.  

The envelope bore the lark-shaped seal the Emperor used, as Vivian had described.  

“That look. I like it.”  

Tristan, smiling with one corner of his mouth raised, shook the letter envelope.  

“How can I be sure that letter contains the answer I want?”  

“I may look like it, but I don’t lie.”  

At Tristan’s words, Aitor snorted and rubbed his chin, staring at him.  

“Alright. What does Inferna want from me?”  

When Aitor asked, Tristan’s face suddenly lost its smile.  

“We’re going to replace the Emperor.”  

Tristan’s expression was serious as he spoke of this incredible plan in a monotonous voice.  

“What nonsense…”  

“We’ll remove Henry Lindez Tapeullon and establish a new Emperor who will get along with the Mage Tower.”  

Aitor had been brought to a place where it was impossible to tell whether it was night or day.  

It was a sealed, magically created space with no windows, where even the air seemed to have stopped, and a heavy silence loomed.  

“Haha!”  

The silence was broken by Aitor’s laughter.  

“Ah. Sorry. You were serious, but I was too rude. I tend to laugh when I hear nonsense.”

Aitor turned his head, covering his mouth with his hand. Tristan watched him without any reaction.  

After holding back his laughter for a while, Aitor tilted his head.  

“Do you think that’s possible?”  

“Why wouldn’t it be?”  

“I didn’t know the Emperor’s safety was so easily manipulated by Inferna.”  

At Aitor’s sneer, Tristan’s eyebrow twitched.  

Aitor took a step closer to Tristan. Then, the giant man guarding him blocked Aitor’s path.  

“Move. I have no intention of harming him right now.”  

Aitor’s icy gaze pierced the giant.  

“Step aside.”  

At Tristan’s command, the giant man stepped aside with a disgruntled expression and stood next to Tristan.  

“Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that you have the capability. But why make such a demand of someone like me, who was admitted to the magic school on the Emperor’s recommendation?”  

Standing arrogantly with his hands in his pockets, Aitor moved only his ocean-blue eyes to look down at Tristan seated in the chair.  

“He’s the one who killed your father. Yet you want to work for him? That’s why they say not to take in black-haired beasts.”  

Tristan sneered and shook his head.  

“Drop that ridiculous plan and hand over that damned letter.”  

As Aitor took another step toward Tristan, Aitor’s shadow engulfed him.  

Aitor, staring at the slightly frightened Tristan, raised his right hand. As a whirlwind began to form from his raised right hand, Tristan’s eyes widened.  

“You crazy fool. If you use magic here, you’ll die.”  

“Are you sure about that?”  

Aitor curled one side of his mouth up sharply.  

For a moment, Tristan thought Aitor standing before him looked like a mad guest from the underworld.  

‘Boom!’  

The wind gathering in Aitor’s hand rushed toward the Speculum.  

Then, the Speculum emitted a tremendous light and collided with Aitor’s magic.  

The light emitted by the Speculum swallowed Aitor’s attack in an instant and swelled up. The Speculum seemed ready to spit out the attack it had swallowed back at Aitor.  

“That won’t do.”  

Aitor spread his arms and began chanting a magic spell. In the fierce gale, the giant man lifted Tristan onto his shoulder and fled to the farthest place from Aitor.  

As soon as Tristan left, an enormous energy burst forth from Aitor. Then, the light of the Speculum began to undulate as if it had found a delicious prey.  

‘Crackle. Boom!’  

Aitor’s energy engulfed the light, and the light swallowed it whole, growing massive as if it had absorbed all of Aitor’s energy.  

The light, which had been humming pleasantly, began to tremble.  

The Speculum, having absorbed Aitor’s magic to its heart’s content, began to crack.  

“Unbelievable.”  

Tristan, watching the Speculum break apart, gaped as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have. The giant man beside him blinked rapidly and swallowed dryly.  

‘Crack.’  

With a small sound, the Speculum shattered helplessly.  

Aitor picked up one of the broken Speculum pieces from the floor and slowly turned his gaze to Tristan.  

“Max!”  

Tristan called the giant man’s name and hid behind him. Aitor, who had been watching with a sneer, waved his finger in the air.  

“Move aside.”  

Then, the giant man was effortlessly pushed against the wall.  

“Ugh!”  

Max, kneeling in pain, couldn’t get up easily.  

“I told you. In this world of brilliant wizards, it’s survival of the fittest. The magical tools created by wizards are no different. If you suppress them with overwhelming power, that’s it. Did you think you could bind me with such a crude magical tool?”  

Aitor tossed a piece of the Speculum at Tristan’s forehead.  

The Speculum piece hit Tristan’s sweat-drenched forehead and rolled helplessly to the floor.  

The Speculum, which Tristan had painstakingly prepared, had been shattered.  

Tristan, who thought it would be enough to protect himself from Aitor’s threat, felt hopeless.  

Tristan, trembling and staring at Aitor with shaking eyes, closed his eyes tightly as he saw Aitor’s hand reaching for him.

“Ugh!”  

Aitor grabbed Tristan’s neck and slammed him against the wall.  

“Hand over the Emperor’s decree quietly, now.”  

Tristan’s eyes, filled with fear, struggled as he clutched Aitor’s hand. His face, flushed red with blood rushing to it, looked pitiful.  

As veins popped on his forehead and blood vessels burst in his eyes, turning them a reddish-gray, Tristan’s face showed signs of resignation.  

“Let’s stop here.”  

Aitor’s body was suddenly pushed back by a tremendous force. As he staggered backward and barely regained his balance, Aitor squinted to see the man who had entered with the light.  

“Lord Robert!”  

Tristan, who had been sitting on the floor clutching his neck and gasping, looked at the savior-like figure with sparkling eyes.  

Robert?  

No particular wizard named Robert came to Aitor’s mind.

As Aitor’s eyes adjusted to the light, a man came into view.  

“You are…”  

The man was the middle-aged person who had handed Aitor a key at the casino.  

He had an ordinary appearance. The kind of face you’d forget even if you met him on the street, or would hesitate and ponder over if introduced to someone.  

With the same smile he had shown at the casino, he nodded to someone who followed him in. Then, three burly men entered, lifted the fallen Tristan and Max, and supported them.  

“Whoever you are, you’re leaving that guy behind, right? I have business with him.”  

When Aitor pointed at Tristan, the man named Robert approached Aitor.  

“It seems I underestimated you. I apologize.”  

Robert extended his right hand to Aitor.  

It was a very clean hand.  

A hand that seemed never to have worked hard, with no calluses, looking soft.  

Recalling another hand that contrasted with it, Aitor put his hand in his pocket.  

Seeing the clear rejection of a handshake, Robert laughed and took a step closer, extending his right hand again.  

“I was rude. Let me introduce myself first. I am Robert Fame, the leader of Inferna.”  

At the mention of being the leader of Inferna, Aitor’s eyebrows raised slightly.  

Robert, opening and closing his still unaccepted right hand, lowered it regretfully.  

“From now on, you’ll be dealing with me.”

Robert turned his head and spoke.  

“Treat our esteemed guest with the utmost respect.”

The beautiful woman who had been standing behind him, the same one who had been with him at the casino, bowed politely to Robert.