A Talentless Mage Devours a Disaster-Class Future - Chapter 67

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 67

The scars left by the tempest revealed themselves more starkly only after the rain had stopped.

Collapsed railings, torn roofing, walls blackened by soot, faint blue light flickering above the Restoration Magic Circle.

Click—

Click—

The Guardian Knights patrolled the Central Courtyard at intervals far tighter than usual, and temporary cordons with directional markers stood at every junction.

Students whispered in hushed, tense voices.

Someone got hurt, they said.
Some building got shut down, they said.
An armored airship fell from the sky that night, they said.

Someone had fought on the roof of the Grand Atrium, they said.

Rumor spread faster than the damp air. And some of those rumors were turning toward Aion.

“Isn’t that him?”
“Who?”
“You know—the one Leonhardt himself came to watch during the freshman assessment.”
“Oh, Aion something?”
“Shh. He’ll hear.”

Aion did not turn his head.

On any other day, those glances would have simply passed him by. But today was different. Curiosity and caution, mingled with admiration, and something harder to name—a peculiar warmth.

All those tangled feelings clung to the back of his shoulders.

【Hwayeom: You’ve become famous. Damn, I never got this in all my school days.】
【Suryu: Well, mostly it’s just the Student Council people who know.】
【Hwayeom: What, they’re all from Student Council?】
【Suryu: We’re in front of the Student Council Building, so probably.】

As Suryu said, Aion came to a halt before the Student Council Building.

He stopped short.

The Excion Student Council Building.

An old stone structure set a little distance from the center of the academy, one that would normally carry an air of tidiness and composure. But not today.

Creak—

“Hey, hey! Move carefully over there!”
“Haven’t you submitted the list of names for the damage relief support yet?”

Each time the door opened and closed, Student Council officers hurried past with stacks of documents in their hands.

Shift—

As he glanced aside, a wet cloak and an umbrella hung haphazardly in a corner of the entrance, and a large temporary situation board stood in the center of the lobby.

A map of Excion lay spread across the situation board.

Red markers indicated damaged areas.
Blue markers showed Restoration Magic in progress.
Black markers designated restricted zones.

And several of those markers overlapped with places Aion had passed through that night.

“Um… you there, Aion? Is that right?”

A round-spectacled Student Council member standing guard at the entrance recognized him and looked up.

“Yes.”
“The president’s waiting for you. Will you come along?”

Whoosh—

The moment those words left his lips, every gaze in the lobby shifted in unison.

Not obvious about it.
But they couldn’t hide it either.

“Hmm…”
“Ah, think I’ll stretch a bit?”

Glance—

The student organizing documents stopped mid-motion, and two officers debating something in front of the situation board subtly turned their heads. Someone muttered under their breath.

“Is that the one?”

【Hwayeom: Since when did your name become “the one”?】
【Daeji: Kekeke… so they already know him as Iscar, don’t they?】

“So Leonhardt personally asked to see him?”
“I heard he’s being doted on.”
“Who said that?”
“Milton did.”
“Then it’s basically certain…”

Aion naturally pretended not to hear.

【Hwayeom: Doted on, my foot.】
【Suryu: They just wanted to draft him into the executive branch and work him to death.】
【Daeji: My precious pupil being doted on? How excellent a judgment.】

‘…Everyone quiet. You’re distracting me.’

Thud—

Aion followed the guide into the lobby proper.

Seen up close, the Student Council Building’s interior resembled an emergency operations room.

Documents towered like mountains on every desk, and damage reports from each dormitory and lecture hall lined the walls in neat rows.

“Why are they asking us about damage compensation measures?”
“Oh! I think the paperwork got mixed up!”
“…Want me to mix you up instead?”

On one side, Student Council officers were checking a list of victims, while on the other, they reviewed additional support requests to be sent to the Guardian Knight Order.

This place was a self-governed space for students.
Yet in this moment, it looked like a small heart beating at the center of the vast academy city of Excion.

“Aion.”

Then a familiar voice reached him.

The second-floor railing of the lobby.
Leonhardt stood there.

He wore his uniform as neatly as always, but even he couldn’t hide his exhaustion.

His silver hair was slightly disheveled, and faint shadows lay beneath his eyes.

Yet his posture remained unbroken.

As he descended the stairs, the noise of the lobby dropped just slightly.

The Student Council President.
Leonhardt von Kroitz.

The weight that name carried in this space was unmistakable.

“I heard you called for me.”
“You did. You’re later than I expected.”
“The discharge procedures just finished.”
“Is that so? As I understand it, some time has passed since your discharge?”
…….

【Hwayeom: …This bastard gives me the creeps.】
【Daeji: If he’d dug his claws into the executive division, there wouldn’t even be bones left to find, I’m telling you.】

“I wasn’t keeping watch. …Though I was monitoring your schedule.”

Leonhardt regarded Aion for a moment.

His gaze swept across the other’s face, passed over his shoulders, and lingered briefly on the Black Bracelet at his wrist.

A gaze that remained only for an instant.
Yet Aion knew Leonhardt hadn’t missed it.

“A new accessory?”
“Something like that.”
“I see.”

Leonhardt didn’t press further.
Instead, he glanced around the lobby once more. The Student Council officers were still moving busily about.

Someone tried to approach the president, but Leonhardt stopped them with a gesture.

“Shall we take a walk?”

Aion’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Shouldn’t we speak here?”

He had a feeling this conversation would run long.

‘I need to head back to the Mountain Lodge.’

I had to see what remained in the wake of the storm.

“There are far too many ears here.”

Leonhardt smiled faintly.

“Besides, there’s something I want to show you.”

Aion nodded briefly.
The two of them left the Student Council Building.

Creak—

As they stepped outside, the damp air pressed against their faces once more.

Leonhardt didn’t hurry.
He walked alongside Aion at an easy pace.

The path led from the Student Council Building toward the Central Courtyard.

Ordinarily, students would gather in small clusters here, chattering among themselves, but now Guardian Knights stood posted at intervals throughout the space.

Beyond them, restoration mages were raising the collapsed corridor’s columns back into place.

Whirrrrr—

A blue Magic Circle rotated, spinning steadily.

The fractured stones lifted slowly, drifting back to their original positions.

“Watch that part carefully. Does it match?”
“Yeah, it does.”

Yet the restoration was incomplete. Cracks remained, and temporary reinforcement runes had been drawn over them.

Leonhardt, gazing at the sight, broke the silence.

“That night was utterly preposterous, wasn’t it?”

Aion was quiet for a moment before answering.

“It would be a relief if we could leave it at that.”
“Hm… I agree with you.”

Leonhardt’s voice was steady.
Yet beneath that composure lay a faint blend of quiet fury and relief, barely perceptible.

“You faced impossible things on your side, and I on mine.”

Aion studied him.
The real reason Aion had sought out the Student Council President Leonhardt in the first place.

“You mean what happened at the Erebos Vault.”

To hear the results of what had unfolded within the Erebos Vault.

Pause—

Leonhardt’s pace slowed just slightly.

“Yeah.”

Their footsteps echoed softly across the wet courtyard.

“I need to tell you about it.”

***

Leonhardt gazed at the courtyard for a moment before speaking.

“When I entered the Vault, they were already there.”

Aion said nothing.

The two of them had been heading toward the Vault.
And then, just as he moved to block their path, Zenon had stepped in front of him.

Aion hadn’t been able to pursue them.
He’d had to face Zenon instead.

“…What happened?”
“We avoided the worst.”

Leonhardt said this quietly.

“But I can’t say we stopped them completely, either.”

【Daeji: Damn it, this is infuriating! If those bastards got their hands on it, the future…!】
【Mado: That’s enough. Don’t say another word.】

Only their footsteps rippled softly across the rain-pooled courtyard.

Leonhardt studied Aion for a moment.

“Before that, there’s something I need to address.”
“Go ahead.”
“Zenon.”

At the mention of that name, Aion’s gaze dimmed ever so slightly.

“That man you brought down.”

Leonhardt exhaled slowly before continuing.

“I’ll be honest with you. If he’d been there too, I couldn’t have contained what happened inside the Vault.”

It was less a compliment than an assessment of the tactical situation.

Which was why it carried such weight.

“But it was far too risky. Do you have any idea who Zenon is?”
“…Who is he?”
“You’re telling me you brought down a man without even knowing who he was?”

【Hwayeom: Hear that? Turns out that neck of yours was worth something.】
【Suryu: Fighting without access to Mana—the outcome was inevitable.】
【Daeji: Zenon wasn’t the type to go down so easily. You were lucky, plain and simple.】

Aion let the words of the Extreme Points wash over him as he replied.

“I was fortunate.”
“Fortunate isn’t quite enough to cover it… Never mind. What does it matter now?”

Leonhardt smiled faintly.

“Zenon had a Second-Class Wanted Notice issued against him across most neighboring nations, including the Rabatie Empire.”

Aion tilted his head, asking for clarification.

“A Second-Class Wanted Notice?”
“Most Second-Class Wanted individuals are capable of facing down an entire city’s military forces, depending on circumstances.”
“…That seems like an exaggeration.”
“Well, that’s only when they can use Mana. Though, since the age of mages began, it’s not exactly a reliable measure anymore. You can forget what I just said.”

Aion recalled Zenon.
Those brutally serene eyes.
A composure that never wavered even facing death itself.

And until that final moment, a stubborn determination to push forward with what he had to do.

The word “fortunate” wasn’t entirely wrong. Had he been forced to face Zenon in a situation where Mana could be used…

“Still, don’t take on something that dangerous again.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“That came without a shred of sincerity. Anyway, as for the actual result—”

At last, the answer to what had been weighing on his mind came.

“We failed. We couldn’t stop them.”

【Daeji: Leon, you damned bastard! You said to trust! You said to believe! You told us to have faith, damn it all!】
【Suryu: Someone shut her up.】
【Hwayeom: This noise is killing me.】

“We tried to thwart their plan, but in the end they got their hands on the artifact and left.”

Aion’s pace slowed by the slightest fraction.

【Daeji: Damn it all…】

“The artifact… was taken from you.”

Leonhardt nodded curtly.

“Yes. I asked you to trust me, and I made a fool of it. I’m sorry.”
“…No. It’s not your fault.”
“Of all things, Keraunos’s Cofin was what they managed to steal.”

Could it truly not have been prevented?

But then—

【Daeji: …No. Wait.】

A weighty voice resonated in his mind.
Aion’s breath caught for just a moment.

【Daeji: Keraunos’s Cofin? What are you talking about right now? They took that?】

‘…What?’

【Daeji: If my memory serves, they took something else from the Erebos Vault. I’d stake my life on it—that wasn’t Keraunos’s Coffin. This is….】

Then, very slowly, his breath returned.

‘…Did I change what happened that night?’

【Daeji: That’s right!! Who cares about Keraunos’s Coffin?】

Relief.

Everything he had fought to prevent that night.

The fact that the result he’d wrung from the storm, staining it with blood and walking to the very threshold of death, had not crumbled away in an instant.

That knowledge settled into his chest, late but finally landing.

【Daeji: Boy.】

Daeji’s Extreme Point spoke in a voice unusually calm.

【Daeji: At least you stopped that.】

It was a mercy.
Truly.

Click—

Just then, several Guardian Knights hurried past the two of them.

Leonhardt watched them go, then spoke.

“Excion will change greatly because of this, I imagine.”
“It seems to be changing already, sir.”
“Only the beginning. I heard the faculty council is scheduled to convene. They’ll probably review everything—surveillance personnel, Guardian Knight deployments, facility security, evacuation protocols, access procedures to critical areas.”
“Will the Student Council have a voice in those discussions?”
“Of course.”

Leonhardt smiled bitterly.

“The Student Council’s authority will likely expand. Control over student movement during emergency situations, command of evacuations, even the power to directly compile on-site reports. We had some authority before, but it was never formally discussed until now.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“Hard to say. What’s certain is that it’s necessary.”

There was something bitter in the way he said it.

“The burden on the Student Council will grow considerably, then.”
“It already has.”

Leonhardt gave a light shrug.

“How will the matter with Ruana be handled?”

Leonhardt’s expression darkened slightly at the question.

“Very few know about it. Information is being controlled.”
“Within the Student Council?”
“Just me.”

It was the answer he’d expected, yet Aion still fell silent for a moment.

“That’s fortunate.”
“Whether we should call it fortunate, I’m not sure. But for now, we have to. If it goes public, there’s nothing good in it for Ruana or for Excion. …You did perform a heroic act, that much is true.”

【Hwayeom : As always, we’re the ones left to suffer in silence while they wash their hands clean.】
【Suryu : They can hardly brag at a magic academy that an Excion student set a blood oath and slaughtered people indiscriminately.】
【Hwayeom : …Fair point.】

“Aion, but listen. Didn’t we take quite a while getting here?”

Leonhardt pointed ahead without waiting for Aion’s reply.

Only then did Aion notice that the landscape around them had gradually changed.

The voices of students had grown nearly inaudible.

Instead, the number of Guardian Knights standing on either side of the corridor had visibly multiplied.
Their gazes weren’t fixed on the two of them, yet none of them had relaxed their vigilance.

Aion’s gaze turned slowly forward.

A massive iron gate.
Seal-runes layered upon one another.

Guardian Knights standing watch before it.

The Erebos Vault.
Aion came to a halt.

“Why this place…?”
“Because good faith deserves to be repaid.”

Leonhardt smiled faintly.

It was then.

“You’re late, Leon.”

A soft voice reached them.

“The conversation took longer than expected. My apologies.”
“No matter. And your words—that good faith deserves repayment—very fitting indeed.”

At the sound of that voice, the Guardian Knights around them all snapped to attention.

Clang!

Aion slowly turned his head.
Before the massive gate of the Erebos Vault.

There sat an elderly man upon the steps.
No ornate robes adorned him, no excessive decoration. Yet strangely, the air around that figure seemed to settle into a profound quiet.

【Hwayeom : …Didn’t see this one coming.】
【Saengmyeong : Re…ally?】

From the way the atmosphere had shifted, this was no ordinary personage.

“So you are Aion Iskar.”
“Yes, that’s correct. …But why?”

Aion narrowed his brow, just slightly.

Something felt off.

Creak—

A row of yellowed teeth made the old man’s smile seem all the more cheerful.

“Theodvan Berniel. That’s what I’m called here.”

A name he’d heard before, somewhere.

‘Something familiar… wait—?’

And then Aion recalled the name that had lain dormant in his memory.

“……!!”

Theodvan Berniel.
That name belonged to the Headmaster of Excion Academy.

The greatest mage in the highest station of this academy city greeted Aion slowly, regarding him with calm eyes.

“I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”

The Talentless Mage Swallows a Catastrophic Future — Episode 67

Author
Wang Mozhi
Publisher
Daon Creative
Planning / Editing / Production
Yeon
Cover Art
Dali

UCI
G720:N+A036-20260706063.0067

ⓒ 2026, Wang Mozhi

※ This e-book is a work protected under the Copyright Law of the Republic of Korea.
No part or all of this work may be reprocessed in any form without the permission of the author and publisher.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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