Chapter 126

Chapter 126
Chapter 126
Lucian hesitated for a brief span when the subject of a relic was broached.

It was a fleeting pause, however; he nodded shortly after as if the information clicked into place. Marius blinked at this response, finding it far more composed than he had anticipated.

“What is this? No shock? Do you lack the desire to know what kind of relic we are discussing?”

“I am sufficiently startled. And intrigued. It is simply that I have endured profound letdowns regarding relic-related affairs of late, so I am attempting to temper my expectations. More importantly…”

Lucian let the sentence hang, a faint smirk touching his features.

“Considering you sought me out even after securing it, there must be a flaw associated with this object. Am I correct?”

“Ha. I intended to toy with you a little, but you didn’t take the bait. You hit the mark precisely.”

Marius exhaled a heavy breath, the arrogant beam he had been wearing fading away.

“To be exact, what I found was a localized anomaly triggered by a relic. The moment I arrived at Raugrad while escaping those hunting me, I grasped that there was something unnatural about the freezing temperatures.”

Following a period of study while surviving the piercing cold, he realized the mana surrounding Raugrad was fundamentally warped. It was an illogical phenomenon, appearing as though the brief environmental distortion that occurs during the casting of Celestial School sorcery was being sustained indefinitely.

Marius deduced that, with the right approach, he could stabilize this irregularity, even if only for a short window.

“Starting that day, I threw myself into my experiments like a man possessed. If I could halt the frost for a mere moment and flee across the frozen wastes, those following me would be unable to give chase.”

“That was a gamble. Even if you managed to cross the barrens, you would have perished from hunger if you possessed no means of supporting yourself.”

“When a blade is pressed against your neck, do you honestly think you would fret over such things? I interpreted every circumstance in the most optimistic way possible.”

If a person had deliberately severed the route, then surely a civilization must exist on the other side. If he could only traverse these snowfields, he would discover a path to survival.

Driven by that conviction, Marius laboured tirelessly until he finally managed to carve out a passage. It was flickering and incredibly thin, but it sufficed for a lone traveler to move through without becoming a block of ice.

“I pushed into the snowfields without a second glance. Luckily, because of my meticulous arrangements, I managed to endure for a long duration even while sleeping in the open. I had also perfected several practical incantations.”

“It is a journey of more than ten days from Raugrad to this location. How did you survive it? There wouldn’t have been any of the shelters you constructed back then.”

“Survive? It was a relentless cycle of trudging forward until I fell from sheer fatigue, slumbering, and jolting awake just before the frost claimed me in my sleep. Had I been unable to wield sorcery, I would have perished an age ago.”

Ultimately, Marius succumbed to exhaustion before he could finish crossing the frozen expanse. Had fortune not smiled upon him, he would have met his end right there, but luckily, a clan dwelling past the snowfields stumbled upon him. They had ventured out to investigate, finding the sudden breach in the path peculiar.

Marius shut his eyes as if lost in thought.

“A great deal transpired after that. Some gave me a warm reception, while others sought my life. Some were suspicious, while others observed me with inquisitive gazes. Turbulent days followed, but after numerous complications, the clansmen embraced my presence.”

The fact that Marius’s discipline, the Celestial School, proved exceptionally useful in the frozen wastes also played a role. Specifically, his skills in astrology and climate-altering sorcery were priceless to those enduring such a brutal climate. Thanks to the arts he inherited from his mentor and a good measure of luck, Marius eventually rose to become the clan’s Guide.

“A Guide?”

“View it as a consultant, a seer, and a mystic for the Chieftain. It is primarily an honorary title lacking direct governing power, but because of the nature of prophecy, the abstract authority and social weight are immense.”

“I see. You’ve climbed quite high for a foreigner.”

“Climbed high, you say…”

Marius let out a bitter, self-mocking chuckle at Lucian’s remark. He appeared to be grieving his own circumstances, or perhaps wrestling with his internal demons.

“Yes, I suppose one could look at it that way. I might have been content to settle here and put down roots. But I simply could not. This territory was too narrow to satisfy my cravings.”

Perhaps if he had remained ignorant of the vast world outside, he could have been happy. But in Marius’s view, this region was nothing more than a tiny decorative garden. It might have been a different story if he were a Court Mage of the Empire, but being praised as a ‘Guide’ in such a restricted land only fueled a sense of self-disgust.

“But it wasn’t as if I had any alternatives. If I departed, I would merely be chased by my enemies again, so I had no choice but to exist here, no matter how miserable I felt.”

“For a man who claims to have accepted his lot in life, you seem to possess a fair amount of drive.”

“Some prick reignited the embers in my fading heart.”

“A prick?”

“Ivar of the Red Axe.”

Marius enunciated every syllable, making no attempt to mask his bitterness.

“The presiding Chieftain of this Blue Dragon Tribe.”

“Guide!”

Gunstein bellowed before he could check himself. Regardless of his status as a Guide, badmouthing the Chieftain was an unforgivable offense. Yet, Marius didn’t so much as flinch at Gunstein’s outburst.

Lucian moved in front of Gunstein and inquired, “What did the Chieftain do to offend you?”

“Years ago, when he was nothing but an unproven youth, he proposed a pact. He claimed if I assisted him in ascending to the Chieftaincy, he would grant me whatever I desired. Thus, I requested entry into the Holy Land, a site only the Chieftain is allowed to set foot in.”

“The Holy Land?”

“The sanctuary where the Dragon’s Heart is preserved. It appears commonplace from the exterior, but the second anyone steps inside without the Chieftain’s consent, they are liable for immediate execution.”

The Blue Dragon Tribe held the Dragon’s Heart, and only the leader had the right to oversee it. Marius hadn’t entirely trusted the legends, but he desperately yearned to witness it if the chance presented itself. If, by some wonder, a genuine Dragon’s Heart truly existed, it would be a tool he could employ against the Empire.

Given the status he had cultivated, Marius was perfectly willing to support Ivar to sate his own wonder.

“I utilized every ounce of my social weight to ensure Ivar became the Chieftain. Once he took the throne, Ivar honored his word and permitted me into the Holy Land. And then…”

Marius, who had stepped into the Holy Land with deep skepticism, felt as though he might lose consciousness. The instant he crossed the threshold of the sanctuary, a volcanic surge of mana—which was undetectable from the outside—rippled through his entire frame.

In the Holy Land, there were the literal remains of a dragon and its core, and there was even a relic that persisted in functioning by drawing from the core’s mana. Although it was a device he had never encountered before, Marius realized the truth the moment he saw it. That relic was the very engine that dictated the climate of the North and sealed off the barrens with storms.

“Can you conceive of the wonder? Not only was there a Dragon’s Heart, but there was a relic operating with that heart as its power source. A prehistoric heritage that could command the weather at a whim—something that could freeze a million-man legion to death!”

“…!”

Lucian’s pupils contracted. The schematics for the climate manipulation device he had observed in the depths of the White Palace raced through his thoughts. It was a relic that was impossible to recreate, but if it could have been forged, it could have dominated the entire Empire. And to think that such a device was still active, powered by a Dragon’s Heart.

He realized a split second too late that his stoic expression had faltered, but fortunately, Marius was too submerged in his own fervor to notice the shift in Lucian.

“I informed Ivar. With this Dragon’s Heart and the relic, we wouldn’t need to live penned in by the snow. We could march to a land of plenty and he could reign as a king.”

“And? Did the leader take you up on your offer?”

“What do you imagine?”

Lucian stayed quiet at Marius’s frigid tone. He could sense just from the way Marius was venting that the proposal had been turned down.

After gnashing his teeth for a bit, Marius finally managed to bank his fury and released a sigh.

“The man was only concerned with tasting the power he had finally grasped. Instead of reaching for more, he preferred to live as the local tyrant in this tiny scrap of land. In my hopelessness, I abandoned the snowfields and made for the Empire.”

However, exiting the frozen wastes did not result in a comfortable life. In the Empire, the government trackers were still observing with keen eyes. The moment he returned, Marius had to live in the shadows, dodging the Imperial authorities. He recruited a few gifted students during that era, but the joy of instructing the next generation wasn’t enough to keep him going in such a suffocating climate.

Ultimately, Marius was forced to crawl back to the Blue Dragon Tribe over a decade later.

“Because I was the one who returned in defeat, Ivar looked down on me without shame. He discarded even the basic courtesy he once displayed and commanded me to simply spend my days providing him with prophecies that suited his whims.”

With no other path, Marius gave in to Ivar’s demands. However, the spark of hope that had once been lit did not vanish; as the decades rolled by, it started to manifest as a fixation. One day, while dwelling on this rotting obsession, Marius detected a shift in the heavens.

“I was merely attempting a routine divination, but I was stunned. Beside the Emperor’s star, a fresh star had emerged, one I had never witnessed before. A hero’s star, so brilliant and powerful that it seemed to eclipse all the other lights.”

“…Are you suggesting that star is me?”

“I won’t demand you believe in the stars. That is your prerogative. But I believed in it, and I desired to assist the hero’s star.”

A hero is fated to usher in a new age. And there was no decree stating that this new age couldn’t be a golden era for sorcerers. Believing that the final opportunity to realize his lifelong dream had arrived, Marius acted swiftly.

“At first, I considered leaving the matter to Colin, but then I understood I couldn’t. Given my student’s temperament, once he found comfort, he’d undoubtedly pick the secure route regardless of the Magic Tower or anything else.”

“Master!”

“What? Are you planning to claim I’m mistaken?”

Colin, who was about to interject, bowed his head under his teacher’s stare. It was the truth; he had been on the verge of complaining for that exact reason just moments ago. He had questioned why they were taking such a perilous risk when a golden age for sorcerers would surely begin just by being steadfast to Lucian.

But reflecting on it again, his teacher’s words implied that since it was already too late for him, he was merely ensuring Colin had a prosperous future.

Marius clicked his tongue briefly and took up his tale again.

“So, I employed every tactic at my disposal to lure you here. I directed Helen to drop hints about the Dragon’s Heart, and I unsealed the path when Gunstein’s desperation reached its breaking point. And in the interval, I circulated the prophecy of a monarch who would consolidate all the clans of the frozen wastes.”

“Was Gunstein losing his status to me also a part of your design?”

“Design? Scarcely. He’s a man who hungers for the Chieftain’s throne but has no glory to show for it. It was transparent that once the route cleared, he would go snooping to see if there was any advantage to be found. I simply reasoned he would strike if my visitor appeared.”

Gunstein was profoundly rattled by the dismissive way Marius spoke. He had assumed everything was a matter of chance, but he had been performing like a puppet in the grip of an old seer.

Before Gunstein could manage a word, Marius spoke again.

“Do you loathe me?”

“Guide…!”

“I didn’t force you to do a thing. I merely unsealed the path as I always do. You were the one lingering about searching for accolades. You were the one who started a conflict with my visitor to try and pull me into your mess.”

“…”

“Answer me. Whose fault is it that you have fallen this low?”

Gunstein shuddered before dropping his gaze to the ground. If Marius had whispered a command in his ear, it might be different, but it was too bold to cast blame on someone who hadn’t even approached him.

Just as Marius was about to continue, Lucian held up a hand to cut him off.

“That’s enough playing the puppeteer.”