The purpose of their visit hadn’t ended with just implanting the dagger into Ortus’ heart.
Though Ortus was already thinking about driving away these rude and insulting visitors, he never said anything out loud.
He silently began tidying up his room, setting aside the remains of the floorboards that had been deeply scored during their brief skirmish and also lifted up the desk that had been tipped over. Through these actions, Ortus was making a blatant show of his displeasure
“Allow me to help you,” Eugene offered, taking a step forward.
Ortus held up his hand to stop Eugene and said, “No, that’s fine, Sir Eugene. As you’re a guest, just sit there quietly.”
Although the emotions in his voice had been suppressed, as he looked up, Ortus’ eyes appeared dull and sunken, showing that he had yet to let go of his wounded emotions.
‘Indeed, it’s only natural,’ Eugene thought.
They had come looking for him of their own accord, struck him several times, knocked him to the ground, kept him subdued, and even stuck a magical dagger into his heart. Having only recently been subjected to such treatment, was it really possible for Ortus to have gotten over his anger in the short amount of time since then? If someone like that really existed, then Anise and Kristina should just hand over their title as the Saint to that person.
“By the way, Lord Ortus,” Carmen, who had been standing nearby, suddenly spoke up. Glancing at the papers lying strewn across a corner of the room, she continued, “When we entered, you were extremely focused on jotting something down… so what on earth were you writing?”
Ortus started, “Huh?”
“I’m talking about those papers over there,” Carmen gestured over to them.
This wasn’t just an idle question on Carmen’s part. When they had opened the door and entered the room, Ortus had indeed been writing down something on a piece of paper. Then, when Ortus had looked up to confirm their identities, he had reflexively covered the papers with his hand, trying to hide their contents.
Carmen thought that perhaps he might have been writing a missive to Iris at that time. Though there shouldn’t be any need to have any further doubts about Ortus now that the magic dagger had been inserted — Carmen still didn’t want to leave even the slightest trace of doubt in her mind.
“It has nothing to do with Iris,” Ortus insisted. “By now, there shouldn’t be any need for me to say that myself, right?”
Carmen shrugged, “Hmm if it did have something to do with her, your heart would have been shredded already. However, I still want to check their contents.”
“Damn it!” Ortus roared loudly with a flushed face. “It’s a diary! My diary! Damn you! Do I still need to get your permission even when I am writing my diary in the privacy of my own room?!”
Carmen tried to soothe him, “No… please don’t get too overwrought, Lord Ortus. I just thought that it might be evidence of some other form of corruption on your part—”
“Corruption!” Ortus burst out. “You’re accusing me of corruption?! Look here, Carmen Lionheart. I might respect you as a warrior, but I am not a vassal of the Lionheart clan! That means you have no right to judge me!”
Ortus’ shouts were packed with sincerity, but Carmen still seemed suspicious. Sighing in frustration, Ortus picked up the papers strewn across the corner of the room. Then, he held up the contents of the papers for all of them to see.
“Did you really think that I would be keeping a record of any acts of corruption? Or did you perhaps believe that I would leak information about the forces in the subjugation expedition to the enemy? Just how little, exactly, do you think of me?!” Ortus groaned painfully.
He had reason to feel aggrieved. The contents written on the papers really were from his diary.
What was written in there wasn’t something shameful that couldn’t be shown to anyone else either. It was just things like what the weather was like today or what he had done that day. He had also written about his nervousness and excitement regarding the upcoming battle with Iris, a dark elf who had lived for hundreds of years and bore the impressive nicknames of the Pirate Empress and the Rakshasa Princess.
It might have been better if he had been like Carmen, and it had contained a bizarre and delusional perspective that should never be shown to anyone… but the ordinary contents were actually causing Ortus to feel even more embarrassed. The other people in the room who had suddenly been exposed to Ortus’ diary also felt a similar sense of embarrassment.
“It seems… that I have made a huge error. My apologies,” Carmen awkwardly said with an embarrassed expression.
“No need for apologies,” Ortus hissed through gritted teeth.
He crumpled the pages that he had held out and stuffed them into a pocket.
“It seems that he’s finally arrived,” Ortus grumbled while turning to glare at the closed door.
They had been waiting for Maise Briar, the Chief of Shimuin’s Court Wizards and the sole wizard officially assigned to the subjugation force. After receiving a call from Ortus, he had just arrived at the door.
Knock knock.
Naturally, Maise didn’t just walk in without knocking on the door first.
Shooting an accusing glance at Eugene and the others, Ortus called out, “Please come in.”
Maise opened the door and entered the room. Like most other Archwizards, Maise also maintained the appearance of a middle-aged man, which was much younger than his actual age, through his magic.
“Lord Ortus, what on earth has prompted you to call me at such a late hour—” but Maise was cut off by Sienna before he could even finish speaking.
After being forcefully seated on a sofa, Maise proceeded to listen to the whole story in a half-dazed state.
Once they were done telling him everything, the very first thing that Maise asked was, “Are you truly the Wise Lady Sienna?” Then, shaking his head, he answered his own question, “No, my apologies for asking such a meaningless question. This intense mana… your ability to suppress my use of magic with a single wave of your hand, and the skill to disrupt my mana control… and your beautiful purple hair and your bright green eyes…,” Maise muttered to himself as he stared at Sienna with a look of fascination in his eyes.
Eugene felt a deep sense of dissatisfaction. Even though the one known as the Mercenary King of the present day didn’t seem to have the slightest respect for his seniors, why were the Archwizards of this continent, who should be more prideful than anyone else, so consistent in their displays of adoration whenever they saw Sienna?
“Please place a dagger in my chest as well,” Maise requested.
The conditions placed on that dagger would be the same as those on the one inserted into Ortus’ heart. However, unlike Ortus, Maise didn’t show any hesitation. He eagerly unbuttoned his shirt with his own hands and spread it open to reveal his chest.
Maise celebrated, “To think that the Wise Sienna, whom I’ve always admired… would actually cast a spell on me herself! I will be able to boast about this honor for the rest of my life.”
Sienna warned him, “That’s all well and good, but if you want to tell everyone about this, you have to do it after the dagger has been extracted, got it?”
“Yes, of course.” Maise hesitated slightly, “Ah… Lady Sienna, please listen to my request. Once the expedition is over and the time comes to remove the dagger, instead of extracting it, would it be possible to just erase the conditions and leave it in?”
The two conditions were to not disclose their information to anyone else and to not collude with Iris. So what would happen if those conditions were erased and only the dagger remained?
In that case, Maise would be able to say something like this for the rest of his life, ‘Hey, guess what? Right now, embedded in my chest is a magic dagger that was personally created by the Wise Lady Sienna herself. What? You’re calling me a liar? Haha, why don’t you take a look at it yourself?’
All the other wizards in the Royal Palace would surely be jealous if he told them about this.
“Fine then,” Sienna replied with a bright smile.
Since a junior who admired her had requested to keep it as a souvenir, she could allow him that much.
“Should I engrave it with my initials as well?” Sienna offered.
“Oh my god…!” Maise squealed as tears of joy welled up in his eyes.
Eugene, who was watching this scene with a sullen expression, deliberately cleared his throat loudly and said, “Ahem, master, since it’s late, why don’t we hurry up and finish things here so we can get going.”
Sienna chuckled, “Fufufu, is my cute little disciple jealous?”
“Hmph… jealous, as if…,” Eugene muttered sourly.
Giggling, Sienna inserted the dagger into Maise’s chest. The dagger went in without a hitch and pierced straight into Maise’s heart.
Only then did their discussion begin in earnest.
“Are you saying that you will drag the entire fleet along with your magic?” Maise exclaimed.
Sienna nodded her head, “Mhm.”
“That’s… is something so absurd even possible?” Maise said, even as he ran through the calculations needed to do so inside his head.
Was she really planning to accelerate a hundred ships using magic, enabling them to ignore all of the weather conditions and sea currents? Maise was also an Archwizard who had reached the Eighth Circle. If he really had to do something like this, he was capable of doing so. However, he didn’t have the confidence that he would be able to do so for very long. If he risked pouring out all of his mana until he was completely exhausted, he might be able to keep it up for about half a day?
“Of course, it’s possible,” Sienna quickly confirmed.
Only three hundred years ago, the main motive force that was used to propel most ships was manpower. As the sailors rowed their oars, the wizards would raise up winds and control the ocean currents.
However, in this day and age, almost all modern vessels used magical engines instead, running on mana that had been stored within them before their departure. The ship’s propulsion also relied partly on improved and rechargeable mana stones.
“I’ve also thought about improving the magic engines, but that would take too long. In that case, I have no choice but to use such barbaric and simple methods,” Sienna said decisively.
She would cast an acceleration spell on the entire fleet. The spell would divert all nearby ocean currents to aid them as well as create winds that would push the fleet from behind. Sienna intended to use all possible methods to get there faster.
Sienna’s Eternal Hole still wasn’t as stable as it had been in the past. So, if she used powerful magic on this scale for an extended time, she might cause further damage to her Eternal Hole. Naturally, Sienna was also wary of such a possibility and had prepared a plan for that eventuality.
She would use the Dragonhearts.
Both Akasha and Frost carried one each. The total amount of mana that could be supplied from these two magic staffs was theoretically infinite.
If Sienna were to supply the spell with mana from the staffs instead of the mana generated by her Eternal Hole, the consumption on her should be within reason. On top of that, she could also receive help from Eugene, Mer, Raimira, and Maise.
Maise pledged his help eagerly, “It would be my honor…!”
To be part of the subjugation of the Rakshasa Princess Iris, that alone could be considered a legendary feat, but if the Wise Sienna and the Hero Eugene Lionheart were also part of the expedition…. Furthermore, Maise would get the chance to cooperate with them from the very beginning of the expedition, becoming a part of the winds that would drive the subjugation expedition forward.
Maise was trembling in joy, but Ortus’ expression was shaking from a different set of emotions.
Stroking his chin in silent thought for a few moments, Ortus suddenly said, “I don’t really know much about magic, but… what you proposed to do just now, Lady Sienna, it is so absurd that even an Archwizard would claim that it was impossible, is that correct?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Sienna nodded.
Ortus frowned, “But Lady Sienna, you and Sir Eugene also want to keep your identities hidden until we’ve finally reached Iris. Is that right?”
“That’s right,” Sienna repeated.
“Um… in that case… how exactly should we explain what’s going to happen?” Ortus asked plaintively.
Ortus couldn’t help but imagine what a headache that could cause. As the commander, something like the expedition’s schedule was well within his authority, but how was he supposed to explain such an impossible event to the many people who were part of the expedition?
“You can just say that it’s because of a Dragonheart,” Eugene said with a calm expression. “Lord Ortus, currently, you have a fragment of a Dragonheart embedded into your Exid, and as far as I am aware, the royal family possesses two more such Exids.”
These were Shimuin’s national treasure, three Exids that had been created using a Dragonheart. One was currently used by Ortus, while the remaining two were usually stored in the royal treasury.
“If the royal family is truly serious about subjugating Iris, then the remaining two Exids that have been valued as national treasures should have also been entrusted to Lord Ortus… though they may have been issued to someone else. Isn’t that the case? To Princess Scalia, perhaps,” Eugene guessed.
“That’s… indeed a possibility,” Ortus admitted. “Sir Eugene, as you have said, His Majesty the King has lent an Exid to Princess Scalia for the duration of this expedition. And also… I am safeguarding the remaining Exid for now.”
“Safeguarding?” Eugene parroted curiously.
“I haven’t decided who to entrust it to yet. I’ve thought about giving it to my son… Dior, but I feel that that might seem too nepotistic. So, I’ve been trying to decide who among the elites participating in the expedition I should hand it to,” Ortus confessed.
Eugene had naturally thought that Ortus would be saving the Exid for his son, so he found this admittance surprising.
Eugene cleared his throat, “Ahem… what about Lord Ivic? I’ve been told that his skills are exceptional.”
Eugene had made this suggestion with a slight probing intention, but Ortus immediately replied with a straight refusal, “He is a mercenary. He is not someone that can be trusted.”
Eugene easily switched tracks, “If that’s the case, then what about Lady Carmen?”
Eugene may have been the first to suggest Ivic, but he had no reason to go to bat for that man. Carmen, who had been biting on her cigar with a relaxed expression, widened her eyes in surprise at the sudden nomination.
“Me?” Carmen asked in surprise.
Eugene nodded, “Yes. If it’s Lady Carmen, then you can be sure of her skill, and she’s also someone you can trust, can’t you?”
Carmen asked, “By that, do you mean to say that you also trust me, Eugene?”
Eugene was taken aback, “No… why ask something so obvious…? Did you think that I didn’t trust you, Lady Carmen?”
“I also trust you,” Carmen said with a bright smile as she put down her cigar.
Well… so what if she did? Eugene blinked in confusion before just bowing his head in acceptance.
“If it’s Lord Carmen… then I truly should be able to trust her,” Ortus eventually said after giving it some serious thought.
His son, Dior, was still lacking in skill, and Ivic, a mercenary, also couldn’t be trusted. To be honest, even setting aside the matter of trust, Ortus just wasn’t willing to lend the Exid to Ivic.
However, if it was Carmen Lionheart, then he could trust her.
Was it possible she might try to run away with it after getting her hands on it? In the first place, as a national treasure, the Exid had been thoroughly embedded with anti-theft magic, and while other people might not be so certain, there was no need to worry about such concerns with Carmen.
“In that case… let’s just lend it to Lady Carmen…,” Ortus paused. “But no, we were discussing something else right now, weren’t we?”
“Isn’t that already enough of an excuse?” Eugene argued. “We can claim that Maise, an Archwizard and the Commander of the Royal Court Wizards, used the power of the Dragonheart from your two Exids to strengthen his spells. The only other wizards participating in this expedition are the battle wizards belonging to the Slad Mercenaries, and as far as I’m aware, the most skilled wizard among their number is only at the Sixth Circle. If they’re only at that level, they shouldn't have any reason to feel suspicious of our claim.”
“Even though my innocence has been proven, I still feel the need to be cautious. What if someone in this expedition really is colluding with Iris? What if they have some means to convey the movements of our subjugation expedition to Iris?” Ortus asked with a serious expression.
What would Iris do if she learned that the speed of the subjugation expedition had suddenly increased and that unknown magic was involved in the process? For now, they could still spread the excuse that Eugene had prepared, but wasn’t there a possibility that a potential traitor might still feel suspicious and send this information to Iris?
“We’ve prepared something for that,” Sienna said with a bright smile. “By shrouding the entire fleet in my magic, that will mean I can keep an eye on everything that happens in the fleet. In other words, if they want to try communicating with Iris, they would first need to somehow evade my eyes. And there’s no way that that would be possible, right?”
Among all of the spells that Sienna had independently developed, there was also a spell that allowed her to search the memories left in traces of mana.
While a limitation of the spell was that it was impossible to read the memories of artifacts that went past a certain age, like Agaroth’s Ring, the reason that Sienna had developed such a spell in the first place wasn’t to read the memories left within an item.
Her intent had been to read the memories of spells themselves.
In a battlefield churning all sorts of attacks, there were a lot of spells that could be cast secretly. This included a variety of curses. Sienna’s spell was intended to read the traces of memory left in the mana infused into such spells, enabling her to track down and kill the black wizards hidden on the battlefield.
So what if someone within the fleet tried to use magic to communicate with the outside world? Their attempt would immediately be intercepted by Sienna. From there on, things would be simple. Sienna could trace the spell back in order to find the hidden spy, and then — they could either kill the spy if needed or just block any further messages from the spy if they wanted to keep the spy alive.
‘Iris’s power might be ridiculously convenient, but it still can’t be used for things like this,’ Eugene thought gratefully.
Could Iris really create a small darkness portal that could be hidden in her subordinate’s pocket and maintain it for several months, allowing her to communicate with her subordinate by sending letters through the portal? No matter how much Iris’ abilities may have evolved over the past three hundred years, something like that was impossible.
Once everything that needed to be discussed had been brought up, Eugene stood up along with Sienna and Carmen.
Before leaving, Eugene gave one last apology, “Please forgive us for looking for you so early in the morning.”
Ortus muttered sarcastically, “You really are quick to apologize… but where exactly are you returning to?”
“Where else would we return to? We’re heading back to our ship,” Eugene replied.
Ortus frowned, “Your ship…? The Lionheart’s?”
“That’s right,” Eugene casually replied.
However, Ortus couldn’t help but think about the implications of Eugene’s answer.
The ship… the Lionheart’s ship….
Apart from Ciel, Carmen, and Dezra, the only other people accompanying those three were…..
“My god!” Ortus’ eyes widened in shock as he realized he had touched upon the truth.
Those three servants. Those three women.
“Eugene! Were you hiding as one of those servants?!” Ortus accused.
Eugene was struck dumb.
Ortus exclaimed, “My god, oh my god! You, a Hero like you, the Eugene Lionheart, you cross-dressed as a woman to secretly board a ship?!”
“Shut up,” Eugene gritted out, his face twisting into a demonic scowl.
