Chapter 63
Chapter 63
Ordinary mages tended to aim for higher places.
That was why, in the Imperial Palace magic tower as well, the higher one’s rank and realm, the higher the floors they resided on—but there was exactly one man who took care of his lodging and meals in an underground warehouse.
After finishing my conversation with the tower master, I headed there without hesitation.
Unlike the splendid appearance from the entrance, lavishly decorated with high-class ornaments, the underground level of the magic tower had a bleak atmosphere.
A chill brushed past my toes.
“Is it there.”
Among the warehouses where items used for the tower’s operation were stored, there was one place that alone had a signboard hanging on it.
As I stood in front of it and knocked on the door, the movement from inside abruptly stopped.
“I know you’re in there, so open it.”
Perhaps trying to pretend he wasn’t there, he stopped moving entirely, desperately even holding his breath.
But senses nearing those of a Sword Master could feel, even without seeing, that someone was awkwardly standing beyond the door.
“Are you planning to play dumb to the very end.”
I hadn’t thought things would proceed smoothly.
The desires and stubbornness of a twisted genius wouldn’t be easy to correct with half-baked attitudes.
That was why I lightly clenched my fist and swung it with force.
Bang-!
The warehouse door’s hinges shattered, and the whole thing blew outward.
As I stepped forward with a refreshed expression, the interior scenery came into view.
Glass jars containing unknown lifeforms, countless books, and trash scattered everywhere—it was filthy enough to make one doubt whether a person truly lived there.
The stench was enough to sting the nose, but having grown accustomed to it while fighting monsters, it didn’t repel me too badly.
Even so, a physiological disgust arose, and as I nudged the trash aside with my foot and stepped inside, the room’s owner went into a fit and shouted at me.
“W, what are you doing! This is clearly my laboratory, and to trespass like this without permission……!”
A bushy beard, unkempt and filthy hair.
Grime streaked down his face, and his clothes looked as though they hadn’t been changed in months.
I casually shoved him aside with my foot and turned my gaze to the table.
“I’ll call people! To commit such violence against an imperial court mage……!”
Seeing him spout nothing but nonsense without grasping the situation made irritation well up.
Since the room was dark and he seemed unable to see my face, I poured mana into the ignition stone on the table.
Woooong-
“…Huh?!”
A red light illuminated the dark interior.
Gawain’s gaze became fixed on my brilliantly shining blond hair, and he couldn’t utter a word.
Regardless, I brought my hand over the table.
Pajijik-
“…A protective spell?”
A repelling force that hadn’t occurred when lighting the ignition stone pushed my hand away.
At the crackling sparks, I glanced at Gawain, but he was still not in his right mind.
‘Looks like this will need a bit of shock therapy.’
Blue mana bloomed over my hand.
Though Gawain recoiled in fright at the flames that chased away the lingering darkness, I brought my hand down toward the table without the slightest hesitation.
Kang-!
Along with the sound of glass shattering, the barrier that had wrapped around the table shattered into pieces.
Then, atop the table where there had been nothing just moments ago, something about the size of a fist revealed itself.
“A, ah……!”
As if he had never imagined the barrier would break, Gawain panicked and rushed at me.
Then, shielding the table with his own body, he desperately spoke to me.
“Y, Your Highness! I apologize, but this is the result of my research! I do not know why you have come to such a wretched place, but if you grant me just a little time, I will tidy up and then attend you, so please……!”
By the end, he was outright begging.
And that was understandable—the thing he had hidden even using his own body was an item that would have made other mages convulse and try to kill Gawain if they had seen it.
“Move. I won’t say it twice.”
“Your Highness…….”
A genius who couldn’t cross the wall had ultimately laid hands on something forbidden.
What he possessed was a crystal of demonic energy.
By absorbing it, Gawain would reach the realm he so desperately yearned for, but as a backlash he would gradually lose his humanity.
Had he not met the protagonist, he would have left his name in history as a monstrous demon.
I couldn’t allow a talent who would have to work hard for me from now on to be ruined.
Thud!
That was why I once again shoved his body aside with my foot.
Then I picked up the demonic energy crystal resting on the table.
Tzzz-
“Ah…….”
Pitch-black demonic energy seeped out of the crystal and stained my hand.
Seeing that, Gawain let out a hollow breath with a face full of despair.
Only priests who wielded divine power could purify demonic contamination.
From the moment I picked it up, Gawain’s crime was all but confirmed.
“What are you so dejected about.”
Was I really going to have my body taken over by something like this, now of all times.
“Come, Excalibur.”
A dazzling light gathered in my hand.
I grasped it, and soon Excalibur, in pure white form, manifested.
Tap.
After that, there were no flashy effects.
Just by lightly tapping the crystal with the sword’s tip, the condensed demonic energy instantly lost its form and scattered.
No matter how mighty the demonic energy, before the holy sword it was useless.
As the demonic crystal turned to ash in an instant, I nodded with a satisfied expression.
‘Good gear really does make a difference.’
“…H, how.”
Gawain stared at me with a dazed expression.
I pointed outside with my chin and said,
“Come.”
I returned to my palace together with Gawain.
However, since his appearance was beyond words, I asked Parsi to have him bathed.
His beard was shaved, and his unruly hair was tidied up.
Once he was changed into clean clothes, he became fairly presentable.
“…….”
Yet he himself could only fidget, watching my mood.
Sitting on the sofa with his hands placed on his knees, he maintained a stiff posture, as though waiting for the fate that would soon arrive.
“Gawain.”
“…Y, yes, Your Highness!”
At my call, he straightened his back.
While sipping the tea Parsi had brought, I briefly pondered how I should deal with him.
‘Breaking through a blocked wall isn’t difficult. The problem is fixing his very nature…….’
“This time, the tower master made a major mistake with me. So he promised that if there was a mage I wanted, it would be fine to bring them under my command. I had my eye on you—do you have any objections?”
“…M, me?”
He looked at me with an expression full of ‘Why me?’ so I shrugged and said,
“I needed someone outstanding and bold. For example, someone who, despite being a genius, couldn’t cross the wall and tried to use a forbidden method like a demonic energy crystal?”
“…….”
At my words, Gawain’s body flinched.
Then he let out a deep sigh and lowered his head.
“Everyone has desperation. I’m not denying that feeling itself. I’m even less trying to blame you for attempting to use the wrong method. I simply liked the sight of you struggling.”
I offered words of comfort as if to soothe him.
He must have long endured loneliness alone.
Bound by the name of genius more than anyone else was none other than himself.
“…….”
Drops of water fell steadily from beneath his deeply lowered head.
If he couldn’t control his emotions to that extent over words from someone he’d just met, how devastated his mind and body must have been.
I wasn’t a genius, so I couldn’t fully empathize with his feelings, but I could accept his suffering.
“…I am a fool. While others easily climb the wall, I’ve been unable to cross it for years and have been writhing like this. Even if Your Highness were to take me in, I wouldn’t be of much help.”
“That’s certainly true.”
At my answer, which came without hesitation, Gawain’s head sank even closer to the floor.
Seeing that, I gave a bitter smile and grabbed him by the collar, hauling him to his feet.
“Y, Your Highness?!”
Startled by my sudden change in attitude, he struggled, but I pulled him closer with even greater force, facing him directly and locking eyes.
“You were ready to risk your life to absorb a demonic energy crystal—do you have anything more frightening left?”
“…….”
Gawain opened his mouth as if speechless at my words.
“The fact that you endured without giving up despite being blocked by a wall for years is itself a talent. Are you going to keep demeaning your own worth through self-mockery and self-reproach like this?”
I had only intended to put on a light act, but perhaps blood rushed to my head, because strength unconsciously went into my grip.
Gawain should have been choking and uncomfortable, yet he offered no resistance and remained silent at my words.
Then, after a moment, with a trembling voice he grabbed my hand clutching his collar.
“Then, then what should I do! Have you ever faced a wall so high that no matter what you did, you couldn’t cross it, Your Highness? Staying up for days and nights, spending a month, half a year, even a whole year! I mean that wall you simply could not climb!”
Lacking strength, he couldn’t possibly shake my hand off.
But unlike before, a fierce flame was now blooming in his eyes.
“Now you finally look like someone alive.”
When I smiled at his outburst, Gawain realized he had been swept up in his emotions and committed an impropriety toward me, and his face turned pale.
I released the collar I’d been gripping tightly and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“You’ve heard plenty about my reputation, haven’t you?”
Though it had diluted a lot compared to before, my infamy was still widespread within the Empire.
Especially in the Imperial Palace, my curses were still making the rounds.
Cursed butcher, child of a prostitute, embodiment of incompetence.
That was why I once again grasped Excalibur and flared up pure white aura.
A fierce torrent of mana surged and swept through the room.
A presence nearly reaching that of a Sword Master burst forth from my entire body, and Gawain witnessed it clearly.
“Does what stands before your eyes truly look like that butcher from the rumors?”
“…….”
Unable to answer, he dropped to his knees and bowed his head.
Looking down at him, I spoke in a calm voice.
“If you doubt your own aptitude, then don’t believe in it. Instead, believe in me who chose you. Since I chose you, I will bear your faults and responsibilities entirely myself. What you must do is show me unwavering loyalty.”
“Your Highness…….”
“If you have no objections, then from now on, you are mine.”
When I said that with a deep smile, Gawain, though a wretched figure, threw himself flat on the floor, vowing absolute loyalty.
What do you mean, wretched? If you just poke a small hole in the wall blocking that little stream, you’re a guy who’ll be called a great archmage following Chris.
“However, before that, let’s fix that rotten mindset of yours.”
“……?”
As I pondered where would be good, a memory from the past suddenly crossed my mind.
When I smiled at it, Gawain flinched and cautiously raised his body.
There was no place better than the Sword Saint’s domain for training through real combat.
As someone who was, in name at least, my disciple, he wouldn’t refuse my request.
“If you fight all night in a monster den, you won’t even think about belittling yourself anymore.”
“…Pardon?”
“‘Pardon’ my ass. There are three days left until the Academy opens, so this time let’s just do something light like that.”
Your big brother will raise you properly this once.