The AI Archmage - Chapter 80

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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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AI Grand Mage — Episode 80

The Minelio Family had always harbored contempt for the Blue Tower in their hearts.
After all, in the decade since that incident, the Blue Tower had become a fallen Magic Tower.
Its mages were mediocre at best, and under the Council’s constant pressure, its decline seemed all but inevitable.
Even as the Marquis first traveled toward the Blue Tower, this conviction had not wavered.
The Blue Tower’s lands were poorly maintained; surely the Tower itself would be no different.
But the moment he crossed into that territory—
“This is…… the Blue Tower?”
The Marquis stood frozen, unable to tear his eyes from the sight before him.
Somewhere along the way, a meticulously paved road had unfolded before him.
And that was far from all.
Massive quantities of mana churned around the Blue Tower’s center, and a spell that seemed to recall fortress walls rose in a perfect circle.
“No… could it be…… 9th Circle?”
The Marquis murmured, his voice trembling.
He could sense that this was a 9th Circle magical barrier—the kind said to exist only in the Four Great Magic Towers.
The Marquis himself was a High Mage of the 7th Circle.
Therefore, he could now perceive that the 9th Circle magic surrounding the Blue Tower was being maintained without strain.
This was no mere bluff.
The capacity to manage such power was what allowed them to sustain 9th Circle magic like this. If it were otherwise, it would have failed long ago.
“A tower of this caliber…… and they call it a fallen Magic Tower?”
Was that the extent of it?
Thump! Thump!
“Wait, are those golems?”
“They feel different from the alchemical kind…”
Golems bustled about the Tower, and students practiced magic without a care in the world.
Moreover, the condition of the Tower itself was excellent.
Such a thing would be impossible without solid financial backing and technical expertise.
And did the Marquis’s retainers sense what he sensed?
They had shed the arrogance they’d displayed moments before, now examining their surroundings with careful deliberation.
The more they observed, the more astonished they became.
Particularly at the sight of things unseen in other Magic Towers.
A single word escaped quietly from the Marquis’s lips.
“……Magic Engineering.”
A branch of magical study that had never achieved mainstream acceptance due to the Council’s interference.
Yet perhaps it harbored potential greater than anything else.
Now the Marquis beheld a Magic Tower walking that very path.
“So they’ve succeeded to this degree……”
The Marquis let out a hollow laugh.
And muttered to himself.
‘Kaildus—what possessed that fool to assault a Magic Tower of this caliber?’
The situation seemed likely to unfold far worse than anticipated.
The Marquis proceeded, turning over how to manage this complication.
Then, at that moment—
“Welcome, Marquis.”
An unhurried voice reached his ears.
He turned reflexively toward the source, and there stood a boy with black hair.
“And you are……”
“Sion Rostery, as I mentioned in my prior correspondence.”
Sion smiled warmly as he spoke.
“Allow me to show you the way.”

* * *

[That Marquis—his magical realm is quite refined.] Akasha observed.
‘Yes, 7th Circle,’ Sion replied inwardly.
Sion nodded to himself.
Of course, among the heads of the Great Noble Houses, there existed mages more accomplished than this one.
Yet even so, the 7th Circle remained a truly formidable realm.
It also meant the Marquis possessed considerable talent.
Beyond that, the level of mages accompanying the Marquis was quite respectable as well.
For these reasons, Sion Rostery found himself thinking.
‘Which means there’s all the more to extract.’
He’d known the yield would be good, but this prey might prove even more fruitful than anticipated.
[Listen, Human? That person there—the Marquis. He’s not the sort you should treat so casually…….]
‘And who exactly am I?’
[Yes, the greatest genius Human of all time, one who even blasphemes the Creator.]
‘Precisely.’
[Right.]
Akasha swiftly decided to abandon any attempt at persuasion where the greatest genius Human of all time was concerned.
After all, persuasion only held meaning for those disposed to listen.
Regardless, Sion naturally began to guide the Marquis forward.
The Marquis appeared to have plenty he wished to ask, but for now he obediently followed Sion’s lead.
For a moment, silence hung between them.
And it was the Marquis who broke it first.
“Impressive.”
“Impressive, sir?”
“The Blue Tower.”
The Marquis spoke while gazing out through a corridor window at the vista beyond.
“I’ve heard rumors, you see. That something’s afoot at the Blue Tower. Talk circulated about a contract with the Workshop Alliance as well.”
“Yes, so it was.”
“But it was only ever speculation—gossip, really. Nothing serious. Yet it seems it was true after all.”
The Marquis turned to look at Sion as he spoke.
“Is it you? Or has your family, the Rostery Family, made the decision to support the Blue Tower in earnest?”
“Well, it’s possible that neither is quite accurate.”
“That may be, but I keep getting the nagging sense that one of those two must be true.”
The Marquis stopped walking.
“What’s your true identity?”
“Identity? That hardly seems a conversation for a first meeting.”
At that, the Marquis released a small sigh.
Though he didn’t show it, fatigue was already settling upon him.
The situation itself felt heavy.
He chose not to belabor the point and proceeded straight to business.
“Is the child here?”
…….
“And is my younger brother’s assault on the Blue Tower connected to that child being in this place?”
Confronted with the Marquis’s directness, Sion scratched his head and spoke slowly.
“Well, we could have this conversation after we reach the room—there’s no hurry.”
“Isn’t the real power of this Tower you, Sion Rostery?”
“Hmm…….”
Sion could not respond at once.
[Well, that’s true enough.]
‘True, perhaps, but openly admitting it feels a bit awkward.’
[……You mean to tell me you haven’t been openly admitting it all this time?]
Akasha was taken aback.
Was he seriously claiming he hadn’t been openly admitting it, despite doing exactly that up until now?
[This is the malice of mankind!]
‘Stop spouting nonsense.’
Lately, the frequency with which Akasha spouted such nonsense had risen to truly alarming levels—whether from some malfunction or otherwise.
In any case, Sion had reached a conclusion.
There was no point in continuing to hedge; it would accomplish nothing.
“They say it’s a demon.”
……!
“Their justification is that sacrifices are unavoidable when one is dealing with the elimination of a demon.”
At these words, the Marquis’s eyes widened as he stared at Sion.
The look of someone who simply could not believe what he was hearing.
Naturally, he would have harbored suspicions already, but suspicion and truth carried markedly different weights.
“Ha……!”
The Marquis gripped his head in his hands, then, leaning against the wall, took a deep breath.
“Are you all right?”
“All right… yes. To be honest, I was prepared for something, but this is… quite a shock.”
The Marquis pressed his temples with both thumbs.
“I know it would be proper to see the Blue Tower Master first—it’s the expected protocol. But before that…”
“You wish to speak with your brother.”
“Yes.”
The Marquis exhaled a sigh that seemed to shake the very earth.
“I knew nothing of this affair. I heard that Kaildus had left his territory for a time on family business, but I never imagined he would do something like this.”
“It’s not difficult to arrange.”
Sion nodded without ceremony and immediately made his way down to the Underground with the Marquis.
Upon arrival, what greeted the Marquis’s eyes was Kaildus beyond iron bars—haggard and wretched.
But that was not all.
The assassins who had attacked the Blue Tower alongside him were imprisoned there as well.
And Sion showed the Marquis a sword that Kaildus had possessed.
“He was carrying this.”
“…Aldebaran.”
The Marquis’s face contorted as he recognized what it was.
He strode toward the cell where Kaildus was held.
“Kaildus…!”
“Brother?!”
Kaildus started violently upon noticing his brother’s presence.
“How did you… what are you doing here?”
“I’ve heard everything.”
The Marquis fixed his younger brother with a glare.
“Was it you? Did you try to kill that child?”
“That is… well…”
Kaildus’s pupils wavered, searching for escape.
But it did not last long.
Soon his eyes turned sharp and he cried out.
“Yes! I did!”
“…What?”
“Let me turn the question back on you. What were you thinking, keeping that demon hybrid alive?”
Kaildus pressed on.
“Do you know what would happen to our house if this came to light? What were you thinking, letting such things—”
“You…”
In that moment, the Marquis seemed to understand something and took a step back.
“Was it you all along?”
“…”
“You and her… my daughter…”
“It was for the family.”
Kaildus spoke without the slightest hesitation.
“Instead of my indecisive brother who faltered! I chose to dirty my own hands in your stead!”
“…!”
“If I had not acted, do you think the house would have remained as quiet as it is? Would those elders have ever acknowledged you?”
With bloodshot eyes, Kaildus let loose the emotions that had accumulated within him.
“I did what you could not! As the eldest son of the family, you should have chosen your woman carefully!”
“How dare you…”
The Marquis’s mouth opened and closed soundlessly; he could find no words. The rush of his brother’s revelation was simply too devastating.
[I see now. It’s rather straightforward, is it not? The eldest son of a noble house fell into forbidden love, and a child was born from it. But the younger brother, devoted to the family’s honor, sought to erase his older brother’s stain by eliminating the woman and the child.]
‘So that’s how it stands.’
[The woman is dead, but the child, by extraordinary fortune, survived. That child is the one called Nerin.]
‘…I see.’
From a strictly aristocratic standpoint, Kaildus’s actions held no particular flaw.
Indeed, Nerin and her mother would have been something like a time bomb within the Minelio Family.
As he himself had claimed, Kaildus might simply have been soiling his hands on behalf of his hesitant brother.
But.
“That justification hardly holds weight for someone who secretly cultivated an assassination cadre and broke the taboo by wielding the Magic Killer’s weapons, does it?”
“You…!”
Kaildus’s face twisted at Sion’s sudden interjection.
Yet Sion remained composed.
My evidence and reasoning are sound enough.
“To be perfectly frank, the single transgression you’ve committed in this matter is sufficient to bring the Minelio Family to ruin.”
“……!”
“You have no right to be confident, and yet you talk endlessly. It’s almost laughable.”
The Marquis’s arguments stemmed entirely from aristocratic thinking—a mode of reasoning Sion had no intention of entertaining.
Sion looked the Marquis squarely in the eye and spoke.
“Simply answer yes or no. As a father, do you wish to see Nerin?”
“That child’s name is……Nerin?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
At those words, the corners of the Marquis’s mouth trembled. But then, keeping his head bowed, he addressed Sion.
“I…I beg you. Please…….”
“Mm.”
Sion closed his eyes, confronted with a father’s fervent desire to see his child.
“I see your heart, Marquis. It moves me, truly.”
“Yes!”
“But before that…….”
Sion withdrew something from his pocket and extended it to the Marquis.
“What is this……?”
“A contract detailing compensation for damages sustained by the Main Tower as a result of this affair.”
“Eh……?”
Watching the Marquis’s bewildered expression, Sion spoke with eyes gleaming mischievously.
“Would you kindly sign it first, as a gesture of parental love?”
[Wow, parental love, he says.]
Akasha couldn’t help but marvel at her Creator’s audacious move.

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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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