Chapter 96

Chapter 96
## Chapter 96

“It’s clear to you now, isn’t it? You never actually did me a kindness. You were simply an uninvited intruder who turned on your employer when the mood struck you.”

Colin gave a small nod, acknowledging Lucian’s icy assessment.

The spell he had unleashed moments ago was a feat he could only perform once after a tedious period of preparation. Had Lucian failed to intercept it even a single time, he would have perished instantly, unable to put up any fight.

Because Lucian had a defensive scroll at his disposal, Colin’s change of heart had not truly altered the climax of the confrontation.

“I follow. In that case, as a traveler with no allegiances, I ask Your Grace to permit me one statement.”

“Go ahead.”

“I beg you, take me into your service.”

“…?”

Lucian stared at him, momentarily stunned by the non sequitur. To suddenly request a position out of thin air?

“Are you suggesting you want to become my subordinate?”

“Indeed. I wish to enter the employ of Your Grace.”

“You have lost your mind.”

Lucian barked out a dry, incredulous laugh. It wasn’t forced; the words erupted naturally because the proposal was so preposterous.

“Do you have any inkling of where my devotions lie?”

“You are a servant of the Imperial Family.”

“And the Imperial Family executes every practitioner of magic they encounter. Why would I gamble on being labeled a traitor just to hire you? Furthermore…”

Lucian gestured with his hand toward the blackened earth where the lightning had struck. The scorched remains of Godfrey and his associates were still littered across the clearing.

“With those idiots dead, I am the one who must prove my lack of guilt. There is no more efficient way to do that than to deliver you as the murderer.”

If this were Calix, he might have concocted a story about Godfrey being struck by a freak bolt of lightning. But Lucian had already tethered himself to the Imperial Family, who were known to possess various magical tools. Even if he made the same claim, it would ring hollow as long as the Imperial Family was his patron.

“Answer me. Why should I discard all these benefits and keep you near when you represent nothing but a liability? Better yet, what possessed you to approach me at all?”

Logic dictated that no mage with their wits about them would ever seek out Lucian. His behavior up to this point had been the very picture of a devoted servant to the Emperor. Anyone familiar with the Imperial witch hunts should have bolted at the mere glimpse of Lucian’s silhouette.

Met with Lucian’s skeptical stare, Colin let out a heavy breath.

“I traveled here because I placed my faith in the prophecy of another mage.”

“…A prophecy?”

“Being a mage isn’t solely about conjuring flames or summoning storms. Foresight and prophecy are equally valid disciplines of magic.”

With an expression of utter surrender, Colin began to detail his story with a strange calm. He spoke of a colleague who possessed a rare talent for divination, the specific vision that colleague had seen regarding Lucian, and how he had turned against Godfrey’s faction solely because of those words.

“According to that vision, if I allowed Your Grace to walk away, you would transform into a reaper and end my life. Conversely, if I clung to you, you would be the one to save me.”

“So you threw yourself at me based on a lone prediction? Have you truly gone mad?”

The concept was alien to Lucian. Regardless of how precise a divination might be, it was devoid of logical grounding. To leap headlong into a den of lions because of a fortune-teller’s whim…

Observing Lucian’s expression, Colin offered a weary, pained smile.

“I imagine it is difficult to grasp. But Your Grace, those who live without a shred of hope have no alternative but to grasp at anything—even a vision.”

“What are you implying?”

“Three centuries have passed since the Mages’ Rebellion collapsed and the purges began. How many of my kind do you suppose have been hunted to extinction in that time?”

Never mind conducting formal research; simply staying alive was a grueling endeavor. Some had even perished from starvation, their arcane talents proving useless against a hollow stomach. It was common for mages to die without handing down their secrets because they couldn’t secure students, and even the few who did were often seized in witch hunts and executed before their education was complete.

Inevitably, the population of mages had withered over the centuries, and countless traditions had been erased from memory.

“I am no different from the rest. I have barely managed to survive using the scraps my master taught me and desperate instinct while living under a constant shadow of death. But I have reached my breaking point.”

He couldn’t train a successor; he was too preoccupied with remaining hidden, never knowing if today was his last. He lived the life of a hired killer just to eat, surrounded by vipers ready to betray him the moment he closed his eyes. Meanwhile, his peers vanished one after another, leaving behind only horrific tales of their ends at the hands of the hunters.

Just as his spirit was breaking and he was tiring of the struggle, he received a peculiar prophecy from an old associate.

“If it had only predicted my demise, I might have shrugged it off. But the prophecy also suggested a spark of salvation. For a man as drained as I am, that was worth gambling my life on.”

“….”

“If you refuse to believe me, I have no other means to convince you. But I ask you to understand that everything I have shared is the absolute truth.”

Having concluded his explanation, Colin dipped his head low. His submissive posture signaled that he had said his piece, and Lucian was free to execute him if he so chose.

As the quiet between them grew long, Lucian rested his chin in his palm, sinking into deep reflection.

*How remarkably convenient. Precisely when I have need of a mage, one appears wishing to serve me due to a fortune.*

Putting suspicion aside, the likelihood that the mage before him was weaving a lie was incredibly slim. Unless it was driven by something like a prophecy, there was no logical reason for a mage to seek Lucian out willingly. However, even if every word was factual, whether he could be trusted enough to be kept in the inner circle was a separate problem.

*The greater issue is that I have no place to put him. Everyone from the militia to the household staff was installed by the Imperial Family. No matter where I try to hide him, he will be unmasked in an instant.*

Yet, if he dismissed him now, he doubted their paths would ever cross again. The man was a hunted fugitive, and Lucian’s life was no longer lived in the shadows; they would likely never meet a second time. Furthermore, there was still the problem of accounting for Godfrey’s passing.

*…No, there is a path.*

Lucian began to polish the strategy that had suddenly taken shape in his mind. Although it depended heavily on fortune, if it succeeded, it could resolve every one of his complications in a single stroke.

“I am going to make you a proposal.”

“Pardon? A deal?”

“It is an arrangement where I stand to gain everything and you stand to lose everything. However, if the pieces fall into place, you might just reach your objective as well.”

“…?”

Colin felt an instinctive shiver at the dark tone of those words. What sort of madness was the man contemplating?

A short time later, after the details were shared, Colin could only stare at Lucian with an expression of pure dread.

“His Grace has come back from the Hundred-Day Hunt? What is the meaning of this?”

The eyes of the Northern aristocrats stretched wide at the jarring bulletin. There were still five days remaining in the event, yet he had returned after a mere ten.

“Did he surrender? The very competition His Grace suggested himself?”

“Ridiculous! Unless there was some sort of catastrophe…”

“The, the circumstances are more intricate than you realize. His Grace informed us he would clarify everything in person, so I ask that you wait for a moment.”

At the servant’s prompting, the Northern nobles exchanged frantic whispers as they made their way toward the grand hall. What could have possibly occurred to drive that arrogant youth to return in the middle of the hunt?

Within the thick, anxious air, Norbeck gripped his walking stick with palms slick with sweat. He had been bracing for success, but his son had not returned—only the man who was supposed to be the victim had.

*Did the hit fail? Then what has become of Godfrey? How did that boy make it back?*

SLAM!

In that moment, the heavy doors were thrown open with a resounding crack, and Lucian marched into the room. The grim, focused intensity on his features told everyone that something monumental had transpired.

“Greetings, Your Grace…!”

“Godfrey is dead.”

“…!?”

“He perished while attempting to assassinate me. It was a remarkably clever ambush. I had no concept that the Count was such a calculating individual.”

Every head in the banquet hall whipped toward Norbeck. The Count’s face drained of all color, his jaw dropping in shock.

“Godfrey… my boy is dead?”

“Bring the prisoner in.”

Rather than offering a direct reply, Lucian snapped an order to his guards. Seconds later, they hauled in a man bound tightly in heavy cords. When Norbeck saw the man’s face, he looked as though his eyes might burst from their sockets.

“You!”

The sorcerer who had promised he could command the lightning. The man he had assigned to his son to serve as a hidden blade—why was he standing here in chains?

Lucian spared a cold glance for Norbeck before addressing Colin.

“Recite it for them with your own tongue. Who are you, and why have you been brought before this assembly?”

“I-I am Colin, a mage. I belong to the Celestial School. I was commissioned by that old man to murder His Grace.”

“What!?”

Gasps of horror erupted from every corner of the room at Colin’s admission. While political hits were somewhat expected in their world, no one had dreamed he would employ an unregistered mage—the one thing the Imperial Family detested above all else.

“What is the meaning of this!? A mage!? Are you claiming that man is an illegal sorcerer!?”

Sir Glen, who had been observing from the rear until now, bellowed with a face flushed with indignation. Employing an unauthorized mage was an act that bordered on high treason. It was a crime far too severe to be used as a simple pawn to discredit a rival.

“Your Grace, I demand a proper explanation! If that individual is truly a rogue mage…!”

“The narrative is not yet finished, so I ask that you settle yourselves and listen. Mage, proceed.”

“Y-Yes!”

Shrinking back slightly from Glen’s murderous presence, Colin picked up his tale. He recounted how his secret identity had been unmasked by House Calix while he was traveling as a nomad, how he was seized while attempting to escape and coerced into serving as a slave for the Count’s household, and finally, how he was forced to follow Godfrey to end Lucian’s life.

“…Consequently, unable to endure the cruelty any longer, I turned my magic against Godfrey and his cohorts instead of the intended target, and then I gave myself up to His Grace. His Grace transported me here immediately.”

“You bloodthirsty warlock! How dare you vomit such falsehoods!?”

For the first time in his existence, Norbeck felt a fury so sharp it felt like his arteries were going to snap. Captured and enslaved? The man had approached him to sell his own talents, took gold coins as his fee, and moved about as he pleased! What sort of lunacy was this?

But Colin maintained a stony, serious face, looking around at the gathered nobles with gravity.

“I can offer an abundance of proof. I can describe the exact location and internal floor plan of the estate where that old man kept me imprisoned. It is tucked away in a spot nearly impossible for a commoner to stumble upon.”

Colin had been the one to request a remote home in the first place. Having resided there for months, he was intimately familiar with every corner of the house.

“I also used several concealed tunnels controlled by House Calix.”

Since he was a sorcerer, it would have been a disaster if he were spotted, so they had allowed him access to the private routes. Besides, they had intended to dispose of him once the mission was accomplished anyway.

“Most crucially, I frequently obtained catalysts for my spells, and the residue of those materials will still be present.”

And even those components were items Colin had insisted upon first.

The sound of grinding teeth came from Norbeck’s jaw at this staggering betrayal.

“Count, is there truth to what he claims?”

Glen’s freezing stare settled on Norbeck. But Norbeck felt no terror. There was a single truth he had to verify first, regardless of the treason charges.

“My son… what became of Godfrey?”

“I already told you. He was struck by the very magic meant for my head and died. You ought to have a general idea of what that looks like, shouldn’t you?”

“You expect me to swallow that? You likely cut him down yourself!”

“I anticipated you would make such a claim, so I brought your son’s remains back with me. Fortunately, he became quite portable, so the journey was easy.”

Lucian let a mocking smirk play on his lips as he looked at the ghostly Norbeck.

“Would you care to view him? Though I suspect you may find it difficult to recognize his face.”