21st Century Archmage

‘Jeez! T-That many?!

200 years had passed, but Altakas had left behind such horrible destruction that the mere mention of his name would have children in tears. He suddenly appeared in the empire, robbed an entire territory of all life, turned the dead knights and soldiers into skeletons using his black magic necromancy, and drove the Haildrian Empire to the brink of annihilation. Apparently, the Haildrian Empire, which had no temples, suffered a great shock by the sudden appearance of a powerful black mage. If it were the Kallian Continent, clergymen and paladins would have led the charge, but without any temples, Haildrian was forced to fight the skeletons with their loyal knights and mages.

However, Altakas was no ordinary black mage.

Wielding not only 8th Circle magic, but swordsmanship at the level of a Grand Blade Master, he personally stood at the vanguard and massacred Haildrians mages and knights. And then, he committed the infernal deed of turning those courageous knights and mages who died into skeletons with black magic and putting them back into the battle.

‘Tsk tsk, if they just had a temple, it wouldnt have been so bad.

It turned out that two-thirds of the holy water Kesmire acquired from Nerman was shipped off to the empire. Despite two centuries passing, the empire had been unable to forget their horrifying past and were stockpiling a reserve of holy water.

“It was greatly suspicious that Altakas and you share the same black hair. Also, we were even more suspicious because you are an upper-circle magic swordsman at such a young age. Because he killed over 3 million of our people in one year, even if you were slightly suspect, we had no choice but to make sure.”

The long, long story came to an end. Because of Altakas, over 3 million knights, soldiers, and civilians were killed in merely one year.

‘I see, so those guys are disciples of the mages who came over back then.

At that time, in order to defeat Altakas, many mages were invited from the continent. The Haildrian Empire offered an enormous quantity of magic crystals and got a considerable number of upper-circle mages to participate as mercenaries. After managing to hastily import holy water from the continent and quelling Altakas, the surviving mages didnt return to Kallian. The Haildrian Empire had promised them vastly superior treatment than what they would get in the Kallian Continent. I could tell what kind of treatment they gave mages from the way mages were able to rise to ducal status.

Moreover, you had to consider what the most important thing was for mages. Money and honor were fine and all, but the most important thing was generous conditions that would allow a mage to carry out as many magic experiments as they wanted. In that way, the Haildrian Empire and the mages could satisfy each others requirements, and that was how a high-circle mage ended up assisting the Tsarina in the current day.

“So something like that happened…”

To be honest, it felt like the history of an unrelated, faraway land. The guardian deity of the Temir, the polymorph dragon Tarkania, had specialized in black magic, but on the current continent, black mages were a rare existence. There was a magic tower in the shadows that dealt with black magic, called the Shining Magic Tower, but they were thoroughly obsessed with earning money and lived in secrecy. A black mage wouldnt have been able to wreak such havoc on the Kallian Continent, where there was a temple in every territory. Moreover, he was taken care of 200 years ago. As long as he wasnt one of those liches of myth, there was no way he was still alive.

“May I ask if Aidal-nim is still alive?” inquired Duke Aquilion cautiously.

“He is, but…”

“Ohh! Truly?! You say that Aidal-nim is truly alive?!”

Aquilion spoke of Master with honorifics. The nameAidal commanded fear and inspired curses on my home continent, but it seemed he had done quite a lot of good here.

“However, he cannot come outside. He suffered a severe injury from the attack of the magic towers a hundred years ago…”

“Ah! H-How can that be…”

I couldnt tell them the truth. How could I possibly say that Master was glued to satellite television every day on a place called Earth, living in complete luxury without lacking a single thing? If I said that, I would also have to reveal that I was from a different world, and I didnt want to expose that much yet.

“How very regretful. Aidal-nims presence is necessary…” said Tsarina Anastasia with an anxious voice. She had been listening quietly from the side.

‘Is something the matter?

If they were that eager to find Aidal, there was definitely something big afoot.

“If I can assist in any way, I will do so. No matter what kind of problem it is.”

“Sigh…” The Tsarina breathed a long sigh at my words.

“Your Majesty, if he is Aidal-nims disciple, this is something he should know, is it not?”

“Indeed. I suppose you must be informed of it in any case, Count Kyre.”

‘Just what is it that Im supposed to know?

So much had happened in one day. I was accused of being a disciple of a guy I didnt know and forced to endure a round of fierce attitude, and now, there was something I needed to know as Aidals disciple. I could already tell that whatever the problem was, it was nothing good.