Ch 28

Elder Hera’s spear penetrated the former Great Elder Prometheus’ stomach.

- Kuahahha! The girl who couldn't even touch my hair the last time I saw her has grown up beautifully!

Elder Hera couldn’t form a response to the former great elder’s praises.

"Ugh! Uwack!" Prometheus coughed as he vomited out dark red blood. He had suffered severe internal injuries.

- If you hadn't been exhausted, I wouldn't even have been your match.

Elder Hera spat. "Tweh! Uhuhu. I am at a loss for words, being praised by someone I respect. I should say thank you to the small chief...”

As Elder Hera fainted and collapsed, the body of the former Great Elder Prometheus crumbled away. Now the number of former elders on my side was down to four, and the number of elders who wanted to catch me was ten. I shouted, strengthening the remaining former elders with various supportive spells.

“Okay! Keep it up a little more!"

When the former Great Elder Prometheus disappeared, I distributed my support magic evenly to the other four. The former elders seemed to regain a little more of their past strength.

- Hahahaha! Work harder juniors! You won’t be able to catch Small Chief like this!

- How can you call yourself an elder if you’re struggling against a body so weak?!

This was what a magician’s battle was supposed to be like. A solid vanguard ensured safety, while the magician assisted them with long-range attacks. That was an ideal magic battle.

"This is getting tiring, please just die, Father!"

- Hahahaha! I don't want to, Son!

The former elders used god-like skills to deflect the elder’s sword strikes as they steadily advanced. In such a short period of time, witnessing a battle like this with countless feints was truly an earth-shattering sight. This was not just a metaphor, the sky truly distorted and the ground shook in the aftermath of the battle between the former elders and the current elders. If a stranger had seen it, they would have thought the world was ending.

* * *

Hestia was stunned as she recalled a memory from a far, blurry corner of her mind.

"Mo… Mo… Mother?" she said confusedly, unsure how to react.

- You recognize me, my daughter.

Across from Hestia stood Anemone, smiling like a villain, with an unmistakable resemblance to her and Den. Hestia was filled with a mix of emotions.

- Awww, are you crying?

When Anemone spoke, Hestia felt the emotions fade as quickly as they had appeared.

- Huhuhu. This miraculous time is too precious to spend crying. I don't know much about magic, but I don't think it'll be easy to succeed again.

One person and one soul. They spoke about many things during their short time together. Looking at Anemone smiling playfully throughout the conversation, Hestia felt like she was talking to herself.

"Did I plan it wrong from the beginning?" asked Hestia.

Anemone shook her head.

- No, this was the best you could have done with the forces you had available. Exhausting his stamina, making him miss the window to run away by making him think it's better to fight, that’s not a bad method. The only problem was that your opponent was strong and intelligent enough to run away despite all that.

"So was there no way to win in the first place?"

- No.

Hestia felt slightly horrified by Anemone's firm answer.

- It seems to me that you already knew a guaranteed way to win.

"B-but…!”

- Yeah, it's impossible to use it. If implemented, you’d have to be prepared for at least thousands of casualties, and the Republic itself might collapse.

There were endless tactics that could have been used if Hestia had less sympathy for human life. From taking hostages to make use of Den’s humanity, to black magic traps. No matter how strong the opponent was, there were many easier ways to make them surrender. However, those methods were too much for Hestia’s conscience, and they couldn’t be used by someone within the Crow tribe anyway, as they had a diplomatic position to maintain. The Republic was not only an important business partner for the Crow tribe, but it also played an important role in relations with the Empire.

"Then is there a way to catch Den in this situation?" Hestia asked.

Anemone nodded without hesitation.

- Of course, it's always a small difference that can turn things around.

"Then…!"

- I won't tell you how. I can't take sides as a mother, can I? And even if I tell you, I think Den will find a way out again.

"Are you saying I'm worse than Den?” Hestia sulked.

- No, I think you're mostly ahead. Compared to Den, the only areas that you are lacking in are being able to change your thinking, and mental management. You tend to get anxious in unexpected situations, like now. Getting anxious narrows your view.

Hestia pouted, but to some extent she had to admit it was true.

- It seems like things are slowly coming to an end. To meet the little child in my memory all grown up now, I’m so happy. I had a great time.

"I had a good time, too. I should thank Den for at least letting me meet you, Mother."

- Say hello to your dad for me. Well, even though I am already dead.

Anemone smiled playfully and stroked Hestia's head.

* * *

"Ahhhhh! It's over!!" I shouted, laying down on the ground due to my broken leg. Towards the end of the battle, Achilles ahjussi had waited for me to let my guard down. He had found his opening, breaking my right leg with a single blow. I opened my pocket space using what was left of my depleted mana, took out a mana recovery potion and a healing potion, and drank them. I had tried to buy just enough time to drink these, but the elders were persistent in not allowing any gaps to form, so I had truly thought I was going to die. It made sense of course, since, as soon as I took these, the tense battle would begin to lean in my favor.

"Well, thank goodness I won, but that was close. Monstrous old men." I clicked my tongue and looked at the elders who had been sealed in various ways. I had underestimated the elders because of how I succeeded in running away from my father. Still, now that I had experienced a battle with the elders, if it ever happened again, I would be ready.

"Ughhhhhhh!"

As the broken bone fused back together, I felt a burning pain shoot through my leg as if it was being welded by a hot iron rod. At the same time, as my mana recovered, my overworked mana circuit screamed. I felt I should refrain from using magic for the time being. I caught my breath and sent a red light signal to Arwen. All the elders had collapsed or been sealed, and the magic circle, which had been barely holding on, collapsed. The surroundings became quiet.

"Ssp! It seems I overdid it."

I had suffered too much damage. My fatigue and damage from the battle with my father hadn’t even fully recovered.

"Is it over?” Uncle Hermes asked as he walked towards the destroyed port. Behind him, soldiers of the Republic followed and surrounded me with frightened faces.

"Aigo, my body. What? Do you want to go for another round?” I asked, looking up at my uncle.

Uncle Hermes chuckled. "I think I would win if we did that now."

That was exactly right. I was on the brink of fainting, so if I fought with my uncle, who was in peak condition, I wouldn’t stand a chance.

I took a gas mask out of my pocket space. "Gas! Gas! Gas!" I shouted, before immediately pulling the pin on fifteen tear gas bombs at once and throwing them at the soldiers.

"Cough! Cough! Uwack!"

"W-what's this?! My eyes! Can’t breathe!”

The soldiers were distressed by the acrid smoke, tears and snot streaming down their faces.

"Magicians! Use wind magic to blow the smoke to the sea so it doesn't spread!" Uncle Hermes cried out.

The magicians among the soldiers began to blow away the tear gas. As they got to work on clearing the gas, two men ran towards me wearing gas masks. It was Caesar and Tristan.

"Are you okay?" asked Caesar.

I laughed helplessly. "Do I look okay?"

"Hmm… You don't look good, which is rare. I saw some of it from afar, but you are really strong."

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My uncle was dumbfounded watching Caesar carry me on his back.

"What? You don't seem to have the strength to even hold a spoon. Do you think something will happen if you join forces with them?"

I answered Uncle Hermes proudly, "Of course not."

My physical condition was so bad that I knew I would have to recuperate for a few days, even if I was healed by Hillis’ divine power. I couldn’t fight my uncle in this state.

"That’s why I prepared something special.” said Tristan, smiling. He pulled out my struggling tied up cousin from a bag that was hanging from his back.

"You…!" exclaimed Uncle Hermes, who seemed to know what I was about to do.

"Here! Take your son!" I shouted back.

Tristan grabbed Perseus' leg and threw him far away, in the opposite direction of my uncle. Seeing his son flying hundreds of meters in the air, Uncle Hermes felt conflicted for a moment. Perseus wouldn’t die, even from a fall like that. He was young, but he was still a Crow. Now, even a Crow would die if they fell from that height with their bare bodies, but if they did their best to protect themselves with martial aura, they would just end up in a bed for about half a year. It was only right for my uncle to prioritize capturing me as a member of the Crow tribe. However, after some time, he closed his eyes tightly and shouted, "Damn it! What father can stand by and watch as his child is about to be hurt!"

His statement rang so true to me that I wished my father could have heard it. Uncle Hermes ran towards his son, shouting at us that he’d get revenge later. That was the right thing to do as a father. As expected, it would have been strange if he had ignored his twelve year old son to catch a dragon. From afar, I saw Lancelot driving a spare yacht towards the shore.

"Let's run!" I shouted, still on Caesar’s back.

Caesar and Tristan jumped far across the beach and landed directly on the yacht. The yacht took off, quickly parting through the sea. I activated the last magic circle I had carved on the yacht, firing a purple signal into the sky. This brought down the last blockade that Hestia would have prepared, and completed the final move that she would be powerless to stop.

* * *

The gentle sea breeze, the distant cry of seagulls, the warm sunshine, and the luxury cruise liner deck pool. I laid on a sunbed under a parasol and relaxed.

"Mmm~! The weather is nice."

It had already been about three days since we had left Milion. Arwen had summoned another Kraken upon receiving my signal, lost the elders, and retreated. Then, I had made dozens of illusions of my yacht on the sea and pretended to pass through the sea blockade. Naturally, the elders who had been waiting for me at sea were busy dealing with the Kraken and chasing my illusions, while I hid back in Milion with my group.

After hearing those elders’ reports, Hestia would have figured out that I had gone back into hiding in Milion, but it was impossible to free the elders who had already been sealed by me without Elder Mirpa. Of course, if Elder Mirpa came to Milion, the situation would have been reversed again, but I was willing to bet my freedom that that wouldn’t happen. From the safety of the yacht, I had sent information on the condition of Wayne, the Witch of Pride, to Elder Mirpa, so that she couldn’t divert her attention anywhere else. Anyone who knew magic would be interested in the Witch of Pride, so the Elder Mirpa I knew would probably have left everything else aside and headed straight to the Demon’s Territory. More than a hundred-and-twenty years ago, Wayne and Grandpa Galak had been in a relationship, so I felt like Elder Mirpa probably knew her. I was still in hiding, but not long after, it seemed that my prediction was correct. I heard news that Hestia noona had left Milion with the sealed and unsealed elders. She likely had a lot of things to take care of since we had turned the port to dust. Once the blockade lifted, I casually left the Republic with a ferry ticket, one of the rewards I had received from Cain.

"As expected, being free is the best." I hummed.

Hillis, who was sunbathing next to me, replied, “I know, right?"

This was the beginning of our vacation.