Ch 24

An elder with her hair twisted with a binyeo walked forward. [1]

"When the chief first appointed Youngest Master, who had learned a bunch of tricks, as the small chief, I honestly did not feel that you were very reliable. But looking at the current small chief now, I realize I was worried for no reason."

I looked at her, holding a spear, and asked, "Elder Hera, are you leading the other elders?"

She nodded, "Yes, to my shame. Sir Weger asked me."

It was well deserved. I couldn’t think of someone better to lead those unruly elders. No matter what anyone said, she was a woman who was considered a candidate for the next great elder. Looking at the faces of the elders surrounding me, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe. The elders all had incredible achievements, but the elders gathered here now seemed to stand out even more. Elder Phobos had captured a disaster-grade spirit alive, and used it as a source of water for the village. Elder Hecaton had wiped out the den of a human faced spider that wielded poison that could kill even a dragon. Elder Python had hunted the king of dragons with dozens of his own. Elder Metheus had fought the ruler of Olympus Forest deer and bent its horn. When discussing sagas, it was Elder Hera, who stood out. She was famous for killing the swamp ruler, who people had failed to subjugate forty-seven times before and caused the deaths of dozens.

Elder Hera asked me in a calm voice, unlike the other elders full of fighting spirit, “Don't you think you've enjoyed your trip abroad enough for three years? Why don't you come back to the village now?"

I smiled. "I'm sorry, but I'm still lacking a lot. It's still too early to go back."

Elder Hera sighed when I refused, "Small Chief, you are stronger than anyone here. If the current chief was not the strongest ever, some would have already suggested that you succeed him as chief immediately. Who would dare to say that such a small chief is lacking?"

According to historical records, there were only three cases in which the elders mentioned succession due to the small chief being stronger than the chief. My great-grandfather and second-generation chief, Galak Blade, eighth-generation chief Helios Blade, and seventeenth-generation chief Arain Blade, were the small chiefs that were promoted. Surprisingly, my father, who was called the strongest of all time, never did such a thing when he was the small chief. He had hidden his power before becoming the small chief. In fact, my father had caused so many accidents before becoming the small chief that people were concerned about whether it would be okay for him to become chief.

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"Well, I'm definitely lacking a lot compared to my father."

My father was called the strongest chief of all time. He was a monster who was still in his prime and getting stronger day after day.

"In addition, my teacher, Elder Mirpa, said that the experience of being a magician is important. So wouldn't it be better to expand my knowledge for my future and for the future of the tribe?"

As I slyly dodged her offer, Elder Hera put strong aura around her spear.

"If you leave now, will you ever come back?"

"Well… the future is called the future because it hasn’t happened yet."

Elder Hera sighed once again. "I wanted to end this peacefully, with words."

"Me as well."

As Elder Hera took her posture, straightening her spear, the other elders also took out their weapons.

"Small Chief, you have a firm will, so we have no choice but to follow the rules of the village. A will that isn’t supported by strength is just an illusion! We will carry out our will with our own power, so Small Chief, you carry out your own will with yours!"

"That's what I was going to do from the beginning! Crash down, North Wind! Gather your valor, army of ice! The Great Ice Age has come to this earth! The Great Ice Age!"

My mana spread across the shores, and an army of ice formed on the battlefield. The thousands of ice army forces I controlled froze everything in the land with a sharp wind. The sea water along the shoreline was frozen solid.

"Amazing! Is this magic from outside the forest?"

"How thrilling! That’s our small chief!"

The elders surrounded themselves with strong protective aura to resist the cold. Eight elders wielding swords smashed through the ice army to clear a path to me. After that, twelve elders rushed at me, kicking through the air.

"At last, God's punishment rings out through the sky! Thunder God’s Spear!"

I scattered tens of thousands of thunder spears towards the elders, who were each approaching from different directions. Five of the twelve elders deflected the thunder spears back towards the ice army, and the other seven returned them towards me, as if reflecting them. I tried to control the thunder spears coming back to me and combine them into one huge stream so it couldn't be blocked or deflected. But Elder Hera had moved at some point and threw her spear wrapped in strong aura from my blind spot. I had no time to avoid it, so I changed the flow of thunder spears to collide with it. The aura surrounding Elder Hera’s spear exploded, extinguishing the thunder spears and burning away. Then, three elders ambushed me, using concealment techniques to their limit, looking for a gap while my attention was focused on the spear. They each plunged a sword into my body, but the blades went right through me with no resistance. The elders looked up at me in shock.

I grinned back at them. "I showed a gap on purpose, but I didn't think only three would take the bait."

My body became blurred and turned into a tree vine, wrapping up the three elders.

“Damn it!"

They tried to escape by gathering martial aura, but the druid magic tightened the more they resisted. Soon, they were each wrapped in a sphere of vines and fell to the ground. I appeared behind Elder Phobos in my real body, who was observing the situation with a sword in hand from the ruined port.

"Aren't you being too careful by gathering this many just to catch me?" I asked playfully.

Elder Phobos turned around without hesitation and swung his sword, but before the sword touched my body, Elder Phobos’ whole body froze as a huge pillar of ice formed around him.

"This makes four. You are mistaken if you think that the Great Ice Age was simply for making ice soldiers!"

This wouldn’t have worked if Elder Mirpa was present, but there were no elders here who were experts in magic. It was weird. There was no way Hestia noona wouldn’t have sent my senior disciples, who were elders too. To cope with my magic properly, they needed to have at least two of these elders among them: Elder Demeter, Elder Palson, Elder Chakram, Elder Caldra, Elder Judra. Or at least Trailon, Chakram, Anana, or one of my senior disciples. All I could think was that the thirty elders here were not all of them. Then, as if on cue, four elders waiting in the harbor rushed at me, swinging their swords and spears.

"Emergency escape!"

I teleported to the frozen sea to escape their attack.

Boo-boo-boom!

The area they attacked exploded, caving in the ground for dozens of meters. The sea water that hadn’t frozen yet surged into the deep cavity to fill it.

"Since I already got rid of the most annoying one, Elder Phobos, it seems I'm one step ahead."

It was not that Elder Phobos was the strongest among the elders here. However, as someone who had good enough knowledge to even capture a live disaster-class spirit, he was the type of warrior who I was most reluctant to deal with as a magician. To put it in terms of chess, I had started the match by catching a knight.

"Oh, you won't be able to come out for at least three days, so it's better not to try unnecessarily to unseal it."

If they could have been killed like this, they wouldn't have been given the title of an elder. There was no need to worry about the sealed elders.

"And if you're going to call reinforcements, call them now. Otherwise, you might not get a chance.” I said provokingly.

The elders burst out with martial aura and laughed vigorously. "That remains to be seen, Small Chief!"

They rushed me again, with Elder Hera in the lead.

* * *

"Are you saying that Representative Cheldeg tried to kill us? Cheldeg is a senior member of the North Party like my father, so how...” said Cain with a look of disbelief.

“Even if you don't believe it, it's true and it's already over. If the Republic protects that Cheldeg guy, all that remains is the war between the Republic and the Crow tribe." Tristan said coolly.

In the past, the Holy Kingdom had eventually been destroyed by the war with the Giant tribe, so this kind of thing wasn’t new to Tristan. Although, he himself died at the hands of the Giant King and didn’t actually see the fall of the Holy Kingdom. It could not be said that the Holy Kingdom was as powerful as the combined powers of the Holy Empire, the Imperial State, and the Republic. However, the Holy Kingdom, when it was at the verge of collapse, was not inferior to the Empire, which was currently considered one of the world's leading powers. Nevertheless, since it was destroyed, there was no way that the Republic, whose national power had been halved a hundred-and-twenty years ago, could wage a proper war against the Crow tribe.

"I see..."

If it was his father, Zubian, he would have taken advantage of this as an opportunity to try to sway the North Party and the congress, but young Cain had yet to process the shocking truth.

Booom-!

Suddenly, a huge explosion sounded in the harbor far away, and a huge clash of powers could be clearly felt. Ordinary citizens who were enjoying the night market grew anxious, wondering if something had happened.

"It seems that Master has finally begun to fight in earnest. Our Sir financier should go back to the mansion and stay there. It likely won't happen, but don't get hit by debris and die while snooping around on the battlefield."

Tristan sent Caesar a small bird-like alchemic life form that he controlled.

"You follow this bird, Caesar. The bird will be like a radio. And you'll need this, so take it." said Tristan as he handed Caesar a pouch full of mana stones.

Caesar nodded. "All right, I'll move as fast as I can."

As Caesar moved along with the chirp, Tristan caught Perseus by the back of his collar.

“Where are you trying to run away to?”

“Ahaha… Heup!”

Feeling uneasy, Perseus was trying to sneak away and attempted to rebel, but was quickly overcome and chained up by Tristan.

"I'm someone who’s fought all my life alongside those called the battle race. If I was going to get done in by a young man like you rebelling, I would have died on my first battlefield.” Tristan said coldly.

Perseus felt goosebumps form along his arms. "W-why are you trying to take me? To use me as a hostage?!"

"I don't know, either. I guess Master still has a use for you." Tristan answered playfully, carrying Perseus on his shoulder. He didn't know if the ‘use’ would be anything good.

* * *

Palson, one of the four great madosas, a disciple of Mirpa Ainsmall, and an elder of the Crow tribe, secretly moved along the back alleys of Milion.

"Here’s one too. Den, how many magic circles did this kid install?"

Palson felt the road with his hands, sensing the faint reverberation of mana.

"Sword of execution that cuts through lies, cut the blindfold of delusion."

With Palson’s incantation, a complicated line traveled along the side of the empty road, revealing another magic circle. As the mana of the hidden magic circle spread all over the place, Elder Caldra, who had been searching elsewhere, approached Palson.

"Did you find another one, senior?"

"Yea, this is the sixteenth one. How many did you find?"

"I found thirteen."

"Our youngest junior must have been tight on time, but he did well to have prepared this many."

Mirpa hadn't had a new pupil since Denburg, so Denburg was like a cute younger junior disciple to them. Although Palson said ‘junior’, Den felt more like a grandson to him, as he was the same age as Palson’s grandson.

"If that clever guy had installed these himself, they wouldn't be this easy to find. The guy following the small chief must have installed it with a magic scroll prepared by the small chief."

"It seems so. His name... Was it Lancelot? Elder Sigurd's great-grandson.”

While chatting, the two lifted the magic circle that Denburg had installed. They did it as if it was easy, but for an ordinary magician, this process was complicated enough that if you tried to mess with it, let alone dispel it, you’d vomit blood due to the backflow of mana. If they had tried to dispel it alone, they wouldn't have been able to do it so leisurely.

"Oh? You two seem to be relaxed.”

They flinched at the sudden voice from behind.

"Oh, no! What do you mean relaxed! Isn't this a magic circle set up by a great madosa?!"

"O-of course! We're working hard, so don't be angry, Leader!"

The two blurted out excuses when they saw the rider on the cerberus wearing an identification tag with ‘Blackie’ written on its neck.

"If so, that’s good to hear. We can't lose him again this time, can we?" Hestia said, smiling.

1. Binyeo is a traditional Korean ornamental hairpin. ☜