The AI Archmage - Chapter 85

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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 Chapter 85

‘Quite lined, isn’t he.’
Sion Rostery watched the Marquis Rostery with a silent, hollow laugh.
He had seen him once, years ago when he was young.
Back then, there had been a bold daring brimming with confidence, and Altair had even praised that appearance.
Yet now that same youth had become a middle-aged man weathered by the world, his face lined with time.
‘Not even remotely amusing.’
[Indeed, sir.]
Akasha concurred to some degree with Sion’s sentiment.
They had skipped forward twenty years.
An impossible experience under ordinary circumstances, yet they had managed it, and now they stood here.
“How did you see through me? My appearance should be different under illusion magic.”
“Well, you see, our Tower isn’t normally a place outsiders visit so frequently.”
Sion answered the Marquis without hesitation and moved toward the building they’d prepared within the village.
“This should suffice as a place to talk. There’s no need to go all the way into the Tower.”
“You’re treating me quite comfortably.”
“The Main Tower no longer owes the Rostery anything, does it? There may be a minimal debt remaining, but you already know that it’s not truly a matter of inability to repay.”
The Marquis nodded at this.
“That much is true.”
“Through your daughter’s report, you’ve likely already heard—the Main Tower has no intention of destroying its relationship with the Rostery.”
The Marquis did not answer immediately. He simply watched his son quietly.
As though trying to understand what he was thinking.
“Was there something you were curious about?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your second son, whom you deemed incapable, suddenly began performing these strange acts.”
……
A flinch.
The Marquis, who had been listening quietly, jerked his fingertips.
After a brief silence, he opened his mouth.
“What method did you employ.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“When you departed for the Blue Tower, your mana affinity was at a critical level. No elixir in existence could improve your constitution.”
The Marquis tapped his index finger against the table as he continued.
“I know what state you were in at that time. You had not formed a single circle. That was confirmed directly by the commander of the family’s First Mage Battalion.”
“Ah yes, that’s right.”
The memory of that day naturally surfaced in Sion’s mind.
As the Marquis said, Sion Rostery had possessed no talent.
For that reason, he had naturally been abandoned by his family and ‘exiled’ to the Blue Tower.
“I remember what I said then too. I vented my bitterness and cried out to you, demanding how you could treat your own child this way.”
Sion spoke with a hollow laugh.
“It’s an embarrassing memory now, but what can you do? Everyone grows through such things.”
“Growth, you say…….”
The Marquis stroked his chin, murmuring, and then called out to someone.
“Levin.”
“Yes, Family Head.”
In an instant, a man appeared at the Marquis’s side with a bow.
And the man glanced briefly at Sion before speaking.
“It has been a long time, Young Master.”
“Ah, Levin. It truly has.”
Sion gazed at him, his words touched with reminiscence.
“Now that I think about it, it was Levin who guided me to the Blue Tower. Memories from back then are surfacing.”
……
“Ah, but please don’t look at me that way. That day carries no particular emotion for me. Only…….”
With those words, Sion drew up his mana.
At that moment.
Boom!
……!
Levin staggered under a pressure he could not explain.
When he fixed Sion with a wide-eyed stare, Sion smiled faintly and continued.
“Surely this conversation should be between myself and the Marquis first, yes? Perhaps you could step back for a moment.”
“Young master, what on earth—!”
Caught off guard, Levin stirred, and he too began to gather mana.
But the situation that followed left him bewildered.
‘My mana won’t move.’
Unlike usual, his mana remained absolutely still.
Could the Grand Mage’s magic he’d been dreading have manifested after all?
But Levin soon realized that wasn’t it.
This was something else entirely.
‘It’s the young master’s power…!’
Levin intuited that Sion was suppressing his mana.
But how?
“Ugh…!”
He had to move.
As the Marquis’s escort, he had a duty to hold his position.
That’s when it happened.
“Levin, step outside.”
Stunned by the unexpected command, Levin froze. Then he turned to look at the Marquis.
The Marquis’s expression was calm.
“Family Head…?”
“A conversation between father and son. Surely you don’t think my boy would try to harm me in a setting like this.”
Levin’s eyes wavered at those words.
But soon after, he lowered his head and resolved to obey the Marquis’s command.
“…I shall obey.”
Levin then released his guard.
And Sion, for his part, made no move to pressure Levin further.
After Levin left the room, only Sion and the Marquis remained.
“Have you broken the Forbidden?”
“How does it appear to you? Does my current state strike you as ominous enough that I’ve broken the Forbidden?”
“It does not.”
The Marquis nodded readily.
That was only natural—he had never broken the Forbidden at all.
[The Marquis’s heart rate has risen considerably. He’s masking it, but the body’s response cannot be concealed.]
‘As expected.’
The Marquis likely never imagined his son could suppress Levin’s mana through sheer magical mastery alone.
In truth, the magical realms available to Sion and Levin differed little.
But merely having access to the same realm was not the same thing at all.
Even with identical mana, the efficiency of its application was worlds apart.
“I have not broken the Forbidden, nor have I obtained any extraordinary fortuitous opportunity.”
“…”
“I have simply remained as I always was. Surely that answer suffices.”
At Sion’s reply, the Marquis fell silent for a moment.
Then he spoke.
“Cornelia explained it to me. She judged that the Blue Tower has greater potential than is known.”
“She gave a thorough report, it seems.”
“And she also conveyed that if the Main Family is truly willing to cooperate with the Blue Tower, the Tower’s doors would remain open without reservation.”
“Ah.”
Sion nodded at those words and continued speaking.
“So you came in person to give that answer?”
“No. I cannot move merely for such a reason.”
The Marquis looked at Sion.
And then he voiced the true purpose of his visit to the Blue Tower.
“I need your help, my son.”
“Please, speak freely, Marquis.”
Sion drew a line at once.
Not as a father—but as Marquis Rostery.
The Marquis’s brow twitched for a moment, but he soon continued.
“I cannot speak with certainty, but I need both the connections and the power you possess.”
“My, so even the great Marquis has found himself unable to do as he wishes?”
The Marquis did not answer Sion immediately.
An uncomfortable silence stretched between them.
Then, after a moment.
“Yes.”
The Marquis nodded, his expression darkening.
Perhaps he had decided there was no point in hiding further.
“You want to know why I decided to cooperate with you, don’t you?”
“Because you are also Rostery.”
“With respect, that’s hardly something you should say—not after the family cast me out for exile.”
“That is…….”
Even during his time at Rostery, Sion had never been treated well.
Of course, with his current feelings, he felt no particular displeasure about it.
After all, Sion’s mind was now anchored by Altair’s memories and emotions as its central axis.
But he could use this.
The unfairness and sorrow that Sion Rostery had felt could now serve as the perfect justification.
If so, acting out hatred toward the family and relatives who had abandoned him was entirely within reach.
And so Sion deliberately let his displeasure show.
“Rostery is no longer a name of any great importance to me. If you wish, I could return it without a second thought.”
“……!”
“If my talents were to vanish, you could simply cast me aside again, couldn’t you? A family that won’t even function as shelter when needed—why should I lift a finger for it?”
At that, the Marquis fell silent.
Sion’s words were not without truth.
After a moment, the Marquis spoke.
“What do you want?”
“I’m not sure that’s something I should answer right now. Besides, any compensation I demand would depend entirely on what you’re asking of me.”
“Heh…….”
A hollow laugh escaped the Marquis. Was this truly the same child, the incompetent one they had driven from the family?
‘……A mistake.’
The Marquis smiled bitterly to himself and opened his mouth to speak.
But in that instant.
“Did someone in the family violate a forbidden principle?”
Akasha cut in.
[Heartbeat elevation confirmed, Human.]
The Marquis reacted distinctly to Sion’s question.
He thought himself composed, certainly, but no Marquis could escape Akasha’s Detection.
“Ho.”
At that realization, the corners of Sion’s mouth lifted.
He hadn’t predicted this far, but somehow the situation had become far more intriguing.
Meanwhile, cracks began to show in the Marquis’s carefully maintained composure.
Sion seized upon the opening he’d glimpsed and pressed his advantage.
“Could it be that my eldest brother finally broke under your pressure and reached somewhere he shouldn’t have?”
“…….”
“Ah, I see.”
In that moment, the puzzle pieces fell swiftly into place in Sion’s mind.
Why the Marquis had come to the Blue Tower.
Because he had to.
Because the situation had become dire enough that Rostery itself could be destroyed.
‘The eldest son violated a forbidden principle.’
The once-solid line of succession had developed a crack.
The foundation of the Marquis’s carefully laid plans had been shattered.
[Based on synchronized memories, the eldest son’s talents appear to have been quite exceptional.]
‘The more talented one becomes, the more likely they are to fall into the wrong path.’
It was something Altair had learned long ago, watching many mages.
That those without talent succumb to forbidden arts like Dark Magic?
Certainly that happened often, but the truth was that those with great talent sometimes fell even more easily.
Arrogance.
Those blessed with talent sometimes fell prey to the belief that they could master even forbidden arts, that they alone could reach realms no one else had dared approach.
“…….”
The Marquis looked at Sion and drew a long breath, his face cradled in his palm.
Then he spoke.
“I suppose I have no choice but to tell you. Yes, as you say, that child did break a taboo.”
“Dark Magic?”
At Sion’s question, the Marquis hesitated for a moment, then shook his head with difficulty.
“No, no that’s not it…….”
“Then what is it? If it’s something grave enough for you to call it a ‘taboo,’ there’s nothing else it could be.”
The Marquis worked his lips for a long while before finally forcing out the words.
“The eldest son…… ran away from home.”
“……?”
At this unexpected answer, Sion’s mind went blank.
Akasha felt the same.
[Is this man really saying the eldest son ran away from home?]
‘Seems like it.’
The statement appeared to be true enough.
“But people can run away, what does that have to do with a taboo…….”
“And a few days ago, he was discovered at the Workshop Alliance. Receiving instruction under the pretense that he’d found his ‘true calling,’ whatever that nonsense is.”
“…….”
[…….]
At this truly unforeseen revelation, both Sion and Akasha fell silent.
What?
He’d expected everything else, but not this.
Sion scratched his head, working through the situation.
“So what you’re saying is, my brother gave up being a mage and chose the path of a Magical Tool Craftsman instead?”
“It is a taboo for one who would be a mage.”
“And what arrangement did you reach with the Workshop Alliance…….”
“I know nothing.”
The Marquis ground his teeth as he continued.
“He concealed his identity and entered as a disciple of the Workshop Alliance’s leader.”
“Ah.”
Sion’s eyebrows twitched with interest at this intriguing development.

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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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