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Chapter 26

This group of knights and mages was preparing to depart for Duke Agnus’s territories. Leading them was a petite, middle-aged man with platinum blonde hair, draped in a white robe; his emerald green eyes glittered brightly and seemed as if they peered into peoples’ hearts. His skin was so fair as though he had never endured any sort of hardship in life, and his gaze was cold and imperturbable. He was one of the most powerful wizards in Avalon: the Imperial Chief Mage, Evergrant con Aswald.

His five aides clustered around him with worried expressions.

“Chief, are the rumors from the Agnus Duchy true?” an aide asked.

Evergrant paused for a moment before replying. “True or not, we are mages. It’s our duty to follow orders and remain unbiased… Until we see it with our own eyes, we have to assume that these are merely rumors that require verification.”

In addition to his remarkably gentle personality, Evergrant was well known for the polite way he addressed his subordinates. This, along with his knowledge, won him the respect of those under him.

“This is nonsense. It would have been more believable even if it was said that he reached Class 2 as a mage… Didn’t Miss Iceline do that at the age of nine, come to think of it?”

Iceline zin Rebrecca was the other treasure of the Empire. Unlike swordsmanship, which could be learned and developed up to a certain level by sheer effort, magic and sorcery depended entirely on innate talent. As such, the ratio of knights and mages was heavily skewed—there were only a few mages in the entire Empire.

If a child responded to mana for the first time around the age of ten, they were dubbed a prospective mage. Iceline, on the other hand, had mastered Class 1 and already reached Class 2 by that age. She was known as one of the continent’s greatest magical talents, and rightfully so.

That said, knights who could infuse mana into the sword— so-called “mana user” or “higher level” knights— were just as rare as talented mages.

“Once a knight can wield mana, even a Class 2 mage will struggle to defeat them, particularly in one-on-one battle. The thing is...by that logic, Class 2 mages will have to kneel to a nine year old child!”

“We have to be thorough with our judgement. But if the rumors are true, that kind of talent…” Evergrant’s words were muffled, but the other mage shook his head.

“I am worried. In our beloved Avalon, the gap between knights and wizards is widening…”

Evergrant’s expression hardened.

“If the rumors are true, I think we should convince him to join us by any means necessary. But if that fails—”

“That boy is a talent that His Majesty ordered us to watch. Don’t think about such nonsense.” Evergrant interrupted his aide before he could say anything else.

“All right.” The mage immediately backed down for Evergrant. Such a response truly displayed the status of Evergrant among the Imperial mages.

Just then, Evergrant noticed a young knight slowly approaching them.

“Sir Valmont, are the preparations complete?” Evergrant called out.

“Well, as you can see it’s going smoothly.” The commander of the 9th Battalion tilted his head and shrugged.

“This is for His Majesty and the glory of the Empire.” Evergrant scoffed. “I expect that you leave no room for error. Not now, not ever.”

“Hah, how many useless worries do you mages have?” Valmont muttered, making sure that his voice was too low to be heard.

Evergrant was not a noble. Instead, his rank was based entirely on relationships. The favor of the Emperor won him his position as Chief Mage and treatment better than what any high-ranking nobleman received. To put it bluntly, Evergrant outranked Valmont in every way.

And Evergrant was a wizard at the beginning of Class 6; even outside of the Empire, he would have wielded considerable influence. If he decided that he no longer wanted to serve the Empire, regardless which country he were to go to, he had the ability to contend for the highest position that a mage could have in that country.

In the Avalon Empire, the land of knights, mages were known as a tool of convenience. Valmont, an Avalon knight down to the bone and known for his notoriety, used to ignore mages outright.

“If you’re going to act like this the entire mission, I’ll have no choice but to report it directly to His Majesty.”

The mention of “His Majesty” made Valmont tremble.

Evergrant and Valmont glared at each other. The bizarre confrontation gathered the attention of the thirty mages and one hundred knights around them—it looked as if a fight would break out at any moment.

“It’s a joke, it’s a joke.” Valmont lifted both hands with a friendly smile. “Can’t you take a joke, Chief Mage? Ahh, it’s so boring. No one has a sense of humor…”

He patted Evergrant’s shoulder on the way out.?“Relax, mage. I’ll let you know when we’re ready~”

“That damn bastard!” One of the mages stepped forward.

“Halt. Things are the way they are.”

“But, Chief Mage—!”

Evergrant shook his head, and the mage could only bite his lip and back down.

The knights gathered were not aware of the true power of the mage. In this era of peace, the knights were used to one-on-one battles where their well-trained bodies would not give a mage the time to harness their mana.

In war, mages truly shone, but in these peaceful times, there was no way a war would happen.

‘If they knew what I was thinking, they would be furious.’

Valmont laughed so hard he choked. The knights standing nearby had to bite their lips to stifle their laughter.

The angry mage’s nails dug deeply into his palms.

Valmont smirked at him.

“His Majesty’s orders were to send all one hundred knights of the 9th Battalion, including me, to represent the Imperial Knights Templar. The Chief Mage is well aware of this, and he knows that there are ten intermediate B-Class, thirty lower B-Class, and numerous C-Class knights in the battalion.”

‘…And you’re probably as old as my uncle.’

Valmont almost added insult to injury, but decided to wrap it up.

“Well…” Evergrant swallowed nervously. ‘I already knew it, but it’s something else to hear and see it in person.’

With those numbers, the 9th Battalion could take on all the knights in the Empire outside of the Knights Templar. Within the Empire, there were only a few known A-Class knights; below them, there were no more than fifty B-Class knights.

“The fact that His Majesty deployed an entire battalion—”

“Means,” Valmont interrupted, “that one of the princes is going on this expedition.”

The crowd was instantly abuzz.

“A prince? A prince is coming with us?!”

“This is even weirder! No matter how talented that Agnus child is, how could they dispatch a whole battalion and a prince? It’s just a bit of mana!”

“And a battalion commander and Chief Mage together? With this kind of power, no one in the Empire will stand in our way.”

“Well, that’s life.”

Valmont frowned and raised his hand to silence the crowd.

“Do you know which prince is coming?” Valmont asked.

“Unfortunately, I did not hear anything else from His Majesty. Matters of the Imperial family are top-secret and totally classified until just before the mission.” Evergrant said in response.

“Hmm…” Valmont swallowed a sigh. “That aside, are you already aware of why we’re going to the Agnus duchy, Mage Evergrant?”

“You’re talking about the rising star of the Agnus family?”

“The rising star?” Valmont’s eyebrows twitched, and his anger rose sharply.

Evergrant’s choice of words was provocative: anyone who deserved to be called a “rising star” had the potential to challenge the Nine Stars. The criteria to be called a rising star was that the individual had to be below the age of twenty-five and have exceptional talent that was acknowledged by the entire continent. As of now, there were only eleven of them. The most recent addition, Babel von Agnus, was a “rising star” because he had become a C-Class Knight at the age of fourteen.

“You don’t believe such nonsense, do you?”

“When Young Master Babel became the youngest mana user in the Duchy, everyone reacted the same way.” Evergrant shrugged it off.

“Do you know the second youngest mana user in the Agnus family?!” By this point, Valmont was shouting. “Duke Agnus himself was able to use mana at sixteen! If you’re born from that lineage, fourteen years old just barely makes sense—but this kid! A commoner, a nine-year-old born from a maid!”

Seeing Evergrant’s lack of response, Valmont could only let out a sigh. Like Duke Agnus, he himself had also been acknowledged as a genius when he had started using mana at the age of sixteen. As such, he could barely accept that fact that Babel von Agnus was able to achieve what he could not accomplish at the age of fourteen. As for the current rumor that someone of the Agnus bloodline was able to use mana at the tender age of nine…

‘Even if the Duke is to be believed, it’s the duty of an Imperial Knight to keep the high-ranking nobles in check on behalf of His Majesty. Even for the Grand Duke Agnus, if there’s something fishy about this incident…’

Normally, Valmont was endlessly fickle, but now, he had no intention of ignoring this potential threat. If this peaceful status quo was broken, he was doomed.

‘The shame…’ Evergrant clenched his fists. An Archmage on the verge of entering Class 7, the Realm of Demons. Where would he have received such ridiculous treatment? It was only possible in Avalon Empire, the land of knights, where mages had only the most minor influence. If not for his personal ties with the Emperor, he would have left right away.

‘But in the near future, everything will change. And…’

Evergrant stared coldly at Valmont.

The staid peace would soon come to an end. And when the time comes…

“Sir Valmont; Sir Evergrant; what are you talking about that’s so amusing?” One of the palace gates burst open, revealing a small boy flanked by two knights.

“Prince!” The two men knelt before the boy with golden eyes and golden hair—without a doubt, a scion of the Imperial family.

“Yeah, did you say the kid’s name was Joshua?”

“Yes, Prince Kaiser,” Evergrant answered.

The boy was the Fourth Prince, Kaiser ben Britten.

Over a hundred knights and sorcerers were graced by Kaiser’s dazzling smile.

“Joshua… Joshua von Agnus…” Kaiser muttered under his breath.