Chapter 114
Chapter 114 – The Powerful Close Combat Mage
‘Dragon Warrior’, ‘ Gryphon Knight’, ‘General of the Empire’ … these great titles and more collected by Michel Alex as he stood at the heart of the struggle between powerful winds and waves . Between the equally powerful brothers, his choice rested be the hammer blow that decided the winner of this struggle . Even the King himself would consider this young general’s choice seriously when it was time to select his heir .
As to the outcome of his choice, even a casual would be able to hazard a rough guess . There was no way that Michael Alex would ever stand on the side of the second prince . The military and the Magic Tower had a history of being at odds with each other for decades . Furthermore, the first prince had always shown favour towards the military, and was reasonably talented as a military leader .
With Michael in his camp, his chances to become the king would be all but assured .
“If that idiot hadn’t shown his hand so early, Michael’s final choice would still be uncertain . ” Mike tapped the pencil between the first and second princes’ names . From his memories, the second prince gave off a rather warm and friendly feeling . On the other hand, the first prince tended to be too warlike, a little short on intelligence and therefore did not seemed like a good choice for king .
Moreover, after that incident, the first prince’s actions left Michael Alex bitterly disappointed . The man only took advantage of the situation to further his own interest and did not even bother with the father-daughter duo’s safety . His original estimation of the man characteristic was not far off, inconsistent and lacks justice .
On the side of the elf race, the one pulling strings was most likely the elf queen . Otherwise, there was no way anyone would be able to snatch Amy from the elf princess’ hands . The high level magic executed by the elf that day was not something that anyone could just master .
As for demon race, they were probably there as scapegoats put there by the real string pullers to muddy the waters . After the incident, the whole matter was blamed on the demon race, majority of the demons who had been living peacefully within Lot City were rounded up and deported en mass . With the humans and demons shaking their swords and spears at each other, for some time it looked like another great war would break out . The demon race had suffered greatly in the wake of this scheme .
As for leaving Michael alive after breaking the nerves of his body and turning him into cripple, he probably had Amy and the yet unseen princess to thank for his life . As a royal elf, the princess’ status was even higher than the second prince . Even with the elf queen’s cooperation, he still needs to consider the future and offending the second generation royal by killing her blood child was too risky a step to take .
“She must still be in Windstorm Forest . Only, who knows whether she was confining herself, or was locked up by the people there . Unless a better heir candidate appear, her life should not be in jeopardy . ” Mike drew a circle around ‘elf princess’ .
Since Michael Alex’s strength had been reduced to such miserable status, it was only through many hardships and trials that he managed to escape those people’s eyes and came to this place . Therefore, there was no way he would straightforwardly reveal his own identity while searching for information . He’ll have to discreetly find out more about the elf race and seek out news of her whereabouts . Once he had more information, he would be able to decide whether to let Amy meet with her .
If Amy had no desire to with her mother, Mike would have avoided the whole drama like a plague . However, memories of Amy’s little pleading cries came to him . There was no way he could steel his heart to deny her wishes like this .
That little thing was so sensible, she had only asked Michael once abut her mother . When Michael had fallen silent, she never brought it up again . It looked like she hadn’t forgotten anything, only stuffed everything down the bottom of her heart .
“On the next rest day, let’s put on a disguise and pay some detectives to find out news about the elves . Since I have nothing in my memory, we’ll just have to meet as strangers again . ” Mike looked at the paper in his hand . He made an ‘X’ sign over Magic Tower, first prince, second prince, and elf queen . Though he was in no hurry to take revenge on behalf of Michael Alex, if an opportunity arises he would not hesitate to strike on behalf of the dead man . He still had memories of some people proposing to kill both Michael and Amy in order to eliminate all evidence .
“You lot better not let me get even a hint of opportunity, though I have no interest in the current king, I’ll definitely not let those two bastards off . I’d rather think it will be more fun to raise that carpentry obsessed third prince into power . ” Michael’s mouth curled in disgust . The piece of paper was torn apart, lit on fire and thrown into the dustbin . He watched as it was reduced to ashes, before making his way towards the kitchen .
A brand new miniature soybean grinder was waiting for him next to the kitchen stove, as well the second oven he’d bought yesterday . Luckily the [System] had the foresight to assign a large space for the kitchen when the first magical renovation happened . Even with all the random kitchen appliances popping up, the kitchen still looked quite spacious . Moreover, the appliances were not fixed in place and could be put away when not needed .
Mike headed over to the refrigerator and glanced through its contents . The soybeans as well as ingredients for accompanying condiments were already there . As always, the [System] was quite reliable in this respect .
As for the price, Mike was not too worried . The cost of ingredients had to be twice or three times higher than normal ingredients, it’s all fine as long as he charge the customers more than what he paid the [System] .
He measured out enough beans for two person’s worth and left them soaking in a large bowl, after sone hesitation he added a few more handfuls of beans into the bowl before switching off the kitchen light, and headed upstaris .
… …
“Master Klaus, are you sure you wish to build a magical workroom in Chaos[1] City?”
In a plain room lit by a single oil lamp, a thin, middle aged looking man looked up from the middle of sketching some complicated diagram to stare incredulously at Klaus . On his chest was a black medallion etched with the image of a tower, the symbol of Lost Empire’s Magic Tower .
“That’s right, Arthur . When you return to Lot City tomorrow, make sure you get those people to pack up all the things I’ve requested, and also those sealed chests, just get them to send it over without disturbing the seals . ” Klaus said, not looking up from his pen, when he finally looked at Arther, his face was grave . “By the way, tell those old farts in the tower, if a single item in my belongings goes missing, I’ll destroy one level of the Magic Tower . If 36 items or more goes missing, Lot City will no longer have that landmark called the Magic Tower .
“Yes!” Arthur shivered, quickly looking away from the Klaus’ chilling expression . When he next sneaked a peek over, Klaus was busying himself, drawing some kind of diagram seemingly lost in his own world . He had been serving Klaus for over 20 . It’s possible that not many people remember this white haired mage at all — the legendary wizard who dared do to battle against a dragon armed with only a magical staff . A great mage whose strength was said to make even the winds themselves swayed into obedience .
He entered the Magic Tower at 18 and was now over a 120 years old . Arthur’s own grandfather had served this man, and from the old man’s stories, Klaus stayed on the 18th floor of the Magic Tower not because his power was rank 18 among the wizards who resided there . It was purely because he liked the number 18 that he had remained there, had he wished to, he had the right to live on the 36th floor .
A hundred years ago, his reputation could rivalled the legendary General Alex . In fact, a good part of the Magic Tower’s reputation was thanks to his achievements and daring deeds in his youth .
Only, as a hero past his prime, Arthur was the only follower who came with him in his southward travel to find a suitable disciple . He had no idea why his master had chosen to settle here in his old age, and even now his heart remained complicated with this inexplicable decision .
“Go now, be sure to prepare a carriage for me early tomorrow morning, I wish to visit Mickey’s Restaurant . ” Klaus said shortly .
“Yes . ” Arthur replied, and quietly left .
Alone in his plain and dimly lit room, Klaus spent a long time drawing up the plans for his new magical workroom before finally setting down his pen . A smile etched upon his old wrinkled up face . Klaus stood from his desk and strolled over to the window, a few stars peeped out behind some clouds, sparkling valiantly against the dark . He sighed into the night sky and said, “ That Irina brat used to say that if she ever has a daughter, she’ll want me to teach her spawn the most powerful of magics, that only the best looking workroom is worthy of her daughter . However, my old body can’t wait any longer . Just as well I found this interesting little girl, I wonder if that brat will like her…”
[Translator’s Note: Oooh, a Named One, you all know what that means, right?] [My interview have been rescheduled to Monday, I’m not sure whether to be grateful or not…]
[1] Chaos City – originally Sin City, but aside from being the wrong translation, the imagery invoked by Sin City was actually completely out of step from Chaos City, ie melting pot of various races rather than a city of drugs, sex and violence .