The reason I hurried back to Acrab was in the hopes of receiving some kind of correspondence from the Imperial Palace. I had to confirm that the epidemic wasn’t true. But this was terrible! I received no message from them. They must have sent the knights. There might be a massacre soon!
“Well… if you want to know,” said Angel. “I was really scared of the epidemic but the Archmage solved everything! People are praising you for bringing the right person to Acrab at the right time.”
“Really? Teacher?” Acrab was a large place. How did he manage to solve the problem in such a short amount of time?
“Yes! He said that he couldn’t ignore the matters related to his disciples. You are amazing! When did you become a magician?”
“Did Teacher really say that?”
“Yeah! Uncle Las said that if the Imperial Palace had sent the knights, we would have all been killed. We got contacted to prove that it wasn’t an epidemic. We could not answer. You were unconscious. We didn’t know what to do.”
“So? What happened?”
“The Archmage received it instead.”
“Oh god!”
“After receiving the call, he spoke really seriously. I was terrified. I was right next to him so I heard everything.”
I gulped and clenched my fist. I hoped everything was okay.
“Tell me what happened,” I said. “What exactly did Teacher say?”
Angel squared his shoulders trying to impersonate Kaichen. “Your incompetence to take care of the places in your own Empire, especially those plagued by the Momalhaut is astounding even to me,” Angel mimicked. “Instead of solving the problem, you intend to send knights to slaughter innocent people of the Empire? Even stupidity has its limit. This is tyranny.”
I looked at Angel dumbfounded.
“Do you think it makes a difference to me whether you know who I am or not? Send the knights if you want, they are fit for only this. This will be an opportunity to find out how idiotic your knights are,” continued Angel.
“Oh no…,” I mumbled.
“What is it to me?” mimicked Angel. “I am not a teacher who will turn a blind eye to his disciple’s critical situation.”
“Oh my god….” I covered my open mouth with my hand. This was shocking. Angel’s acting was excellent, obviously. He took over the role so passionately that I could indeed see Kaichen in him. He carried the role very accurately including the minute changes in facial expressions.
“So, what happened next?”
“He said he ‘got it’?” said Angel in confusion. “The person that he talked to on the other end seemed very flustered.”
“R-right.” Nobody would dare trigger Kaichen deliberately. Kaichen had revealed that he had taken a disciple while I hadn’t even been certified yet by the Magic Tower. It was a huge statement he had made brazenly willing to fight for me with the Imperial Palace, if need be.
No matter how important and powerful Kaicen was, even if he owned the top floor of the Magic Tower and earned the surname Tenebre, he could not go against the order of the emperor. And yet…
“I-Is he okay? Where is Teacher? I need to see him right now.” I struggled to get out of the bed but Angel rushed towards me and pushed me back on the bed gently.
“No, you can’t get up,” said Angel. “You haven’t healed completely. Besides, the Archmage told me not to let you get out of the bed even if you wake up.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He said you need to rest until he returns here.”
I looked at Angel in shock.
“My Lady,” said Angel with reluctance in his voice. “He said… that you were in a lot of pain. Why didn’t you say anything?” His voice was sad. I sat back on the bed, leaning onto the pillow and looked at him. “He also said that the poison that was used to make people of Acrab sick was first used on you by somebody. Someone targeted you first to get rid of Acrab.”
“That’s…”
“He also said that you drank and gambled to hide that because… if someone had known that the young ruler of Acrab was sick, then it would have led to bad consequences for the place. Acrab would have been in a worse state than now.”
“Angel…”
“The Archmage said so! He told us everything as he made medicine and handed it out to those with the ailment.”
“He gave a speech about it?”
“He didn’t really prepare a speech. He just informed everyone. I think he is really amazing!”
Maybe he did it with sound amplification magic. How many things happened this week? Did Kaichen finally go crazy? Is it the same Kaichen I know? The person I knew would never take such pain and effort. He wouldn’t have taken such drastic measures. It wasn’t even a matter related to Julius. But in the original novel, he wouldn’t have gone to such an extent even for Julius. He only assisted Julius when he needed his help but never initiated things in this manner.
