Chapter 97
<Wasn’t this a strategy game? Chapter 97>
Patriar still had a curious expression about why Kiris was so relaxed.
Asmun had gone off to the capital looking for Silverstone, while Kiris was just lounging in his castle for days without any movement.
“The Emperor has decreed that we must find Silverstone somehow. You know his character, right?”
Of course, Kiris knew. He was well aware of the Emperor’s tenacious nature, once he said something it was difficult to change his mind. So the solution was simple.
If you couldn’t change the words, you had to change the person.
“Yeah, I have a plan.”
“What kind of plan?”
Kiris casually twirled the cup he was holding and replied with a laid-back tone.
“I can’t disclose that just yet. Anyway, you’re a candidate for the heir, aren’t you?”
Patriar let out a hollow laugh at those words. It was a laugh tinged with embarrassment and disappointment.
“Brother, I’m really hurt. Don’t you trust me? If I were after the throne, I’d be long gone from the capital like Asmun right now.”
Kiris didn’t deny that and let out a small chuckle.
The very fact that he was sitting here chatting with Patriar proved that he wasn’t unnecessarily coveting the throne.
Patriar was quick with his instincts and had disliked pointless fights since childhood. Once he matured a bit, he stopped tormenting Asmun altogether.
Thus, even a brotherly bond like Kiris didn’t feel the need to harm Patriar.
“I will become Emperor even without Silverstone, my dear brother. That’s all I can tell you, so trust me and wait. I won’t let some nobody take my place.”
Meanwhile, deep inside Mavellios, Chediak was on the run from someone.
‘Damn it, have I been discovered?’
It was so meticulous that he couldn’t understand where he had slipped up.
Just an hour ago, there hadn’t been a hint of suspicion!
But there was certainly an enormous magical power pursuing him.
‘I can’t get caught by them!’
Panting heavily, Chediak dove behind the thick trees and simultaneously concealed himself.
A few seconds later, two figures appeared where Chediak had just stood.
“He’s vanished. Must have teleported.”
Chediak held his breath as he heard a woman’s voice, tinged with disappointment.
The large branch he was precariously perched on shook slightly, sending chills down his spine.
“No. He’s still here.”
A calm and casual voice added from behind.
Damn, they realized I’m still here!
‘One woman, one man… wearing robes. But those aren’t their clothes.’
Chediak held his breath and peeked down.
“Really? Is he here?”
“Yeah. I set up a barrier.”
‘Those damn bastards…!’
Only then did Chediak realize why he couldn’t move anywhere else. At that moment, an overwhelming sense of unease washed over him.
Chediak had pride in his magical abilities, feeling he was as good as anyone else. Yet that man was somehow binding his magical power like a child’s plaything.
‘Is there even someone like that…?’
Feeling threatened by the astonishing magical power, Chediak, who had been keeping his mouth shut, suddenly heard.
“Found you.”
A low voice muttered indifferently.
At that moment, the camouflage magic Chediak had cast was undone.
“Gah…!”
Realizing he had been completely discovered, Chediak tried to flee quickly, but an invisible force seized his ankle.
“Aah!”
Chediak instantly found himself hanging upside down, floating in mid-air. His humiliatingly flipped body drifted right into the sight of the two below.
“It’s real!”
Through his spinning, disorienting vision, he saw a woman and a man looking at him. The moment his eyes met the woman’s, she kindly smiled.
“Are you Chediak?”
At those words, a chill ran down Chediak’s spine.
They already figured out my real name?!
“W-what are you doing?!”
His question was filled with suspicion as Eden confirmed that the red-haired man in front of her was indeed Chediak.
‘Wow… This is insane.’
Eden looked at Hagen’ti with awe.
Hagen’ti had managed to find Chediak barely an hour after entering Mavellios, yet he bore no sign of pride or excitement, simply staring at Chediak with a calm expression.
‘…This is really a cheat code.’
Of course, getting caught so quickly was also Chediak’s fault.
“A mage’s name is imbued with magical power. Just track that power.”
This echoed the many mages he had heard say that they used aliases, merely serving to explain the situation.
‘I thought it was just bravado.’
As curiosity struck Eden while asking Hagen’ti why he didn’t use an alias, Hagen’ti replied nonchalantly with a remarkable answer.
“There isn’t a mage who can follow my magical power.”
It was an immediately satisfying response that made everything clear.
Thus, getting caught was Chediak’s fault. Unfortunately for him, he lacked the magical power compared to Hagen’ti.
“So this is entirely Chediak’s fault. Why do you use your real name?”
Those words left Chediak completely flabbergasted as he looked at Eden, who had been using his mage name for the past 20 years.
Does that mean they figured out my real name without knowing my mage name?
That was kind of strange. No matter how skilled they were…
“W-who the hell are you?!”
“We’re here to help you, Chediak.”
What? Chediak’s face turned an outrageous shade of red as he hung upside down.
“Oh, sorry for being rough. Chediak kept trying to run away.”
Eden offered a sincere apology and whispered something to Hagen’ti. Then, Hagen’ti gestured at Chediak.
At the gesture, Chediak’s blood rushed to his head again as he was turned back upright.
“Hah…”
Chediak shook his head to clear the spinning vision and opened his eyes wide to look at the two.
Once his blurry sight stabilized, he finally saw Eden and Hagen’ti’s faces clearly. They were unfamiliar.
‘What is this? They don’t look like villains.’
Still, Chediak remained tense and on edge.
Regardless of whether they were or weren’t enemies, he desperately wanted to run away, but it felt like he was bound with transparent ropes, completely unable to move.
It seemed like this was the work of that man.
“We’re really here to help you, Chediak.”
Eden flashed a gentle smile to ease his guard and glanced at him from the side.
Given that she was a mage involved in an operation with “quest” attached to it, Eden had expected someone older or with a sharp and ambitious air, but Chediak was the exact opposite—he looked thin and weak.
He appeared to be in his late twenties, tall but other than that, nothing special stood out.
The robe he wore looked old and worn out, making him seem far from wealthy at first glance.
“Do you mind telling us what you were doing here?”
Yet Chediak’s guard remained firmly up. He suddenly shouted.
“Why should I tell you that! You’ve got me tied up like this!”
“That’s because we’re afraid you would run away if we let you go, so please understand.”
“No way! What do you want to do with me?!”
“It’s not what we want to do; we’re here to help. You must have been plotting something, right?”
Chediak’s face turned beet red again at those words.
‘This guy is incredibly transparent.’
Contrary to the expectation that there must have been some grand plan unfolding, Eden found his bumbling demeanor oddly perplexing.
What was he even up to?
“I can’t tell you everything, but I have a mission to help you, Chediak. So please, tell me, what were you doing here?”
“Nothing, that’s what!”
As Chediak continued to struggle, Eden felt her irritation rising. Finding him had been easy, but now the next step was proving to be a challenge.
Of course, she could understand that Chediak didn’t trust her—still, saying she was the new Saint of Hesmor and had received the divine mission to help him was out of the question.
She had no Holy Stones left, and even though she appeared in the quest, she couldn’t be sure about completely trusting Chediak.
“Oh dear, I guess you really don’t want to talk. Choco, give the ‘helicopter’ back. Just leave him. Being a mage, I’m sure he can escape on his own.”
At that, Hagen’ti faithfully complied and gestured again. Chediak’s body flipped upside down once more, and his face went pale.
“Well then, we’ll be on our way.”
Eden and Hagen’ti turned to leave without looking back. Soon after, a scream-like voice echoed behind them.
“No, wait! Don’t go!”
Eden’s steps halted abruptly, and Hagen’ti paused as well.
Eden turned slightly back.
“Have you changed your mind?”
“F-first, about how you knew who I was…”
“Oh dear, not yet, huh? Let’s go, Choco.”
As Eden shifted to turn away again, Chediak blurted out urgently.
“Damn it! Fine, just give me that back!”
Eden signaled Hagen’ti, who returned what was taken from Chediak. With a bruised face, he gasped for breath.
Eden patiently waited for him to calm down.
After a long time, once Chediak regained his breath, he glanced at Eden and asked.
“But… is your name really Choco?”
Choco was the name of a puppy Eden had raised when she was a child.
The name Hagen’ti was so unique that even if no one could chase him, he couldn’t just use that name anywhere.
While pondering what alias to give, she remembered Choco, who had stayed by her side during the scary nights with busy parents.
So she had temporarily given that name to Hagen’ti. And upon reflection, the eyes resembled those of the puppy.
“Do you have a problem with that?”
“It’s not really a complaint, but…”
“Why are you making a fuss over someone else’s name?”
“I… I might have been rude. That wasn’t my intention, Choco.”
Chediak politely apologized, but Hagen’ti neither looked at him nor replied.
It seemed he had no interest in how Chediak thought about his name; he was just waiting for this tedious back-and-forth to end.
“Let’s put that aside. Just tell me what you were doing!”
