"Master, are you going there yourself?" A flash of surprise flickered in Jircniv's eyes, but it vanished almost immediately. He understood Fluder Paradyne well, a crucial pillar of the Baharuth Empire and his teacher. The old man was a magic fanatic, willing to sacrifice everything to pursue higher magical knowledge. Fluder often complained about not having a strong teacher to guide him in his youth, even growing jealous of his own students.
Thanks to Fluder's guidance, the best students of the Imperial Ministry of Magic learned Fourth Tier magic faster and at a younger age than when Fluder himself had learned it. However, the magical abilities of those students were not actually as good as his own.
"If only I had a powerful teacher to guide me, perhaps I could have entered an even higher tier instead of wasting my time on Sixth Tier magic," Jircniv had heard similar complaints from his old teacher before.
Thus, it would have been strange if Fluder had remained calm after hearing about a powerful Magic Caster in E-Rantel.
However…
Jircniv picked up the report in his hand and read it again, a hint of hesitation. Fluder yearned for high-tier magic. If there truly was a Magic Caster stronger than him in E-Rantel, and he were allowed to go there, it would be incredibly difficult to bring him back to the empire. Even if he were driven away with a stick, Fluder would surely beg to stay.
If E-Rantel were an Imperial city, the situation wouldn't be so dire, but unfortunately, it was part of the Re-Estize Kingdom.
"...Very well, old man, you may go there then," Jircniv finally agreed to Fluder's request with a faint smile, an inevitable decision.
It was impossible to refuse. Apart from Fluder's immense contributions to the empire and their personal relationship, simply based on his powerful ability to use Sixth Tier magic, refusing his request and sparking conflict would be a very unwise move.
"Thank you very much, Your Majesty," Fluder thanked Jircniv respectfully, then sat back in his chair, his eyes ablaze with anticipation.
At that moment, another figure standing across from Jircniv suddenly brought up a new topic. "Your Majesty, I can accompany you, right?"
Jircniv turned his head. It was a young woman in full body armor of polished steel. Her golden hair was long, her bangs covering half her face, but the other half looked perfectly neat, like a doll, concealing something mysterious.
Her name was Leinas Rockbruise. She was the only woman among the Four Imperial Knights, a special position Jircniv had created for the four strongest knights of the empire. Their duties were twofold: guarding the emperor and executing imperial commands. Their power and status were equivalent to that of Templar Knights generals.
However, the selection of the Four Imperial Knights did not consider identity, character, or loyalty, the sole criterion was strength. Among the four, Leinas was the most peculiar. Her loyalty to Jircniv was probably the lowest. Their relationship was more like that of an employer and a mercenary than a king and his subject.
This was also related to Leinas's past. She was the daughter of a Baharuth Empire noble, a heroic woman capable of taking up arms and sweeping away monsters in her family's territory. However, in a battle against monsters, she was cursed by a special monster before it died. The right side of her face was disfigured and constantly oozed yellow, pus-like fluid.
Her family, concerned with their reputation, cast her out. Her engagement to her fiancé was broken off, leaving her a wanderer with nowhere to turn. Then, she rose to the position of Four Imperial Knights with her extraordinary martial skills, and relied on Jircniv's power to take revenge on her family and fiancé.
After that, Leinas's sole obsession was to remove the curse from herself. Jircniv had reached an agreement with her: he would use the empire's resources to help Leinas find a way to lift the curse, and Leinas would provisionally accept the job, continuing to serve the empire as one of the Four Imperial Knights.
Now Leinas proposed going to E-Rantel with Fluder. She must have been interested in the "God of Destiny" who had suddenly appeared and wanted to find a way to lift that curse.
Knowing this, Jircniv shrugged and agreed. "Very well, then you can go with the old man."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Leinas saluted Jircniv by touching her chest. Compared to before, her greeting this time sounded more sincere, carrying a genuine note of gratitude.
"May this not be the last time we meet," Jircniv glanced at her, the thought suddenly crossing his mind, a strange premonition.
E-Rantel.
In a luxurious house in the aristocratic district, Kael lay soundly asleep in a plush recliner on the sofa. On the table next to him, there was a delicious magical beverage and a magical music box playing popular tunes. Soft melodies echoed in the room, soothing his mood.
The reason he was so relaxed was that his next plans were already in motion, and he didn't need to personally work on them for now. This was a rare opportunity to rest, so of course he wanted to enjoy life in this New World, albeit with a few minor inconveniences.
His only regret was that the city was undergoing reconstruction everywhere, and the specialty shop he frequented had unfortunately been destroyed in this incident. He didn't know when it would reopen.
"Ah, why is there no internet in the New World? My hands are itching to play games," Kael reached out, picked up the magical beverage on the table, and took a sip. He rocked the recliner back and forth, letting out a small, human sigh.
At that moment, he heard a "beep beep beep" sound from his magical device. Someone was contacting him via a magic message.
Previously, he had sent two reconnaissance adventurers to the capital of the Re-Estize Kingdom, Royal Capital Re-Estize, and the capital of the Baharuth Empire, Arwintar.
Because the distance between these two capitals and E-Rantel wasn't short—it might require several days of continuous flight to get there—he was too lazy to go back and forth himself.
When the reconnaissance adventurers reached their destinations, he only needed to use Sixth Tier magic [Greater Teleportation] to teleport to those two cities, then record their spatial coordinates. That would make it very easy for him to travel back and forth in the future.
The person contacting him now using the magic message was the reconnaissance adventurer heading to Arwintar.
"Hey, how are you?"
"..."
"Alright, I understand. Don't take any action for now. Just stay there."
After ending the communication magic, a faint smile appeared on Kael's face. The reconnaissance adventurer reported that Fluder and the imperial convoy had left Arwintar, and their destination seemed to be southwest of the imperial capital, a piece of news that piqued Kael's interest.
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