Chapter 91 : Chapter 91

Chapter 91 - Round Table of Elders

A Millesdusk elder's meeting.

A massive round table, signifying that there was no absolute superiority, was placed in the center.

The deep brown color and luxurious grain unique to walnut wood.

It was drawn unbroken along the round table.

Chairs with large, high backs represented their authority.

The ten elders who made up the meeting gathered regularly, but also at someone's request.

However, in this case.

Absences could occur depending on the current influence, military power, and authority of that someone.

In other words.

“Thank you all for attending, despite the urgent summons.”

The degree of participation of the elders in a summons was a measure of influence.

Graham Docs stood before them as both the Vice-Patriarch of the Dark Wheel and an elder.

Just yesterday morning.

A Messenger Ghoul was sent to all the elders for a summons, and everyone came out.

One of the elders, who looked younger than young, said.

“Elder Graham, who usually has little interest in meetings, for what reason have you gathered us?”

There was a barb in his words.

It seemed so, but there was no malice.

Graham knew that too.

“Hoh hoh. You are mistaken if you think I do not listen to the contents of the meetings.”

I'm just not very interested.

This was the opposing elder showing great courtesy.

Usually, he was a being truly detached from the meetings.

Just folding a few roses out of tissues was the entirety of his routine during the meetings.

“If that is the case, then I am relieved.”

“Thank you. In any case, the reason I have gathered you all today is none other than.”

With each and every word from the tissue-rose grandfather.

Everyone's eyes turned to him, and the atmosphere was set by his not-so-heavy tone.

If one were to ignore him simply because he fidgeted with tissues, they would also have to ignore his other titles.

Vice-Patriarch of the Dark Wheel.

The one who served two Family Heads.

The second strongest in Millesdusk.

Naturally, he was also the strongest among the elders.

Such a man had gathered everyone and stood before them all.

It was a first for most of the elders.

Moreover, this was a reason of that much significance.

“Everyone, look at this.”

Torururururu—

A single bottle rolled into the center of the vast round table.

The bottle was not large.

Perhaps the size of a woman's fist.

But the contents within were not the size of a woman's fist.

“…!”

“This is…”

“…A curse cluster?”

The eyes of the old men, who had seen all sorts of terrible things while living as sorcerers for decades, widened.

Average age, 72.

This round table, which could well be considered a small senior citizens' center, was a senior citizens' center of the highest level of military might on the continent.

On its ceiling was engraved the symbol of Millesdusk.

Everyone except the one who took out the bottle glanced uneasily at that symbol.

A black-scaled Hydra.

The symbol of Millesdusk, one of the great families.

With its five necks, it looked down on the round table with more eyes than that.

The eyes of the Hydra. They were the eyes of the Family Head.

“…Elder Graham. In this situation, should I call you Vice-Patriarch?”

“It would most likely be the latter.”

“Then I will ask again. Vice-Patriarch Graham. May I ask the reason you have shown this to us?”

One of the elders got to the point.

This was clearly a strange situation.

“A curse cluster is a byproduct of a demon worshiping ritual. The handling of heresy related to demon worshiping rituals is the role of the Scripture of the Dark Wheel.”

“That is correct.”

He readily admitted it.

So the matter became even more questionable.

“Then why have you brought a matter that should be handled within the Scripture of the Dark Wheel to the elder's meeting? While summoning all of us, at that.”

Graham chuckled.

“Why, indeed. Try to guess.”

“……”

That elder said no more.

He could have guessed, but he didn't.

Because that answer was.

“Because I suspect you all, even just a little.”

Haa.

He sighed as he spoke.

I will not suspect. I will judge cleanly.

Even though he had firmly resolved to do so, the moment the situation was hypothesized, his brain leaned to one side.

And.

Kian was a man with more than enough motive.

…….

A silence like eternity flowed within the round table.

Because anything said would be strange.

I didn't do it? What didn't you do?

Why do you suspect me? Why shouldn't I suspect you?

Over just a bottle's worth of a cluster? A demon worshiping ritual had to be nipped in the bud.

Any statement would be disadvantageous, and depending on how the Vice-Patriarch interpreted it, one's head could fly.

“Everyone, examine the bottle. And tell me what you feel.”

This place was already a courtroom.

That symbol was the judge, the Vice-Patriarch was the prosecutor.

And the ten strongest of the family were the defendants without a lawyer.

They touched and observed the bottle one by one, and slowly began to open their mouths.

“…As it appears, it is a small amount of a curse cluster. Its contents are nothing special, but the level inherent within seems to be something that cannot be ignored.”

“In my opinion…. I suspect that the remnants of the demon worshipers used it as a practice site for their plan.”

“The density of the magic power seen in the cluster suggests they are not beginners, so it seems they are indeed remnants. But the point seems to be why they have suddenly appeared.”

The turns went round and round.

Then it was one person's turn.

“Elder Kian. I would like to hear your esteemed opinion.”

He gently curled up the corner of his remaining lip.

“I am concerned that the opinion of someone like me might needlessly interfere with the Vice-Patriarch of the Dark Wheel.”

“Don't worry about that. Although I am at an age where my eyes are failing, my ears are fine. I can discern well enough.”

“In that case…”

His flat eyebrows, without any rise or fall, and the cold eyes beneath them, examined the bottle and its contents.

“In my opinion, this seems to be a very calculating fellow.”

“Hmm. For what reason?”

“I don't know where this cluster was discovered, but it must be a remote village where rumors don't spread well.”

He brought the bottle close to his face, one side of which was melted away and gone.

What could be briefly described as a rotten smell rose up under his nose.

A severe stench even for a sorcerer who lived among corpses.

But Kian continued to speak without any hesitation or change in expression.

“As the other elders have said. Although the amount is small, the content is of a high level, and the amount would have been set to match the crime scene.”

“Is that why you described it as calculating?”

“That's right. Also, a person of this skill level would not stop at just this once. As it was literally a practice.”

“Yes. I also thought of the expression ‘practice’. It seems very fitting.”

Graham took the bottle back again.

“The questioning is over. The reason for my summons has been fulfilled, so I will be leaving now. I have another place to visit. Please forgive my rudeness.”

He turned his body.

Then, before disappearing.

“I believe everyone has the invitation to Eclipse sent by the Fifth Son.”

A hot-potato topic popped up again.

Only those in the know knew, but the topic just before was also as good as the Fifth Son's.

For a chick that was just spreading its wings to be the most mentioned name in Pantheon.

Graham, who let out a hollow laugh at the thought, held up the invitation.

“Let us visit together in the near future. It would not be polite for us elders to go individually to a blood relative.”

Everyone was surprised once again.

For that old monster to show courtesy to a blood relative in a place where the blood relative was not present.

Swoooosh—

Without needing to ask again,

His body disappeared as if smoke were scattering.

The elders who had broken out in a cold sweat also stood up one by one and left the round table.

The last three remaining also headed outside.

Two of the three, excluding one, glanced at that one before quickly approaching.

“Hey, Elder Kian. What on earth is going on…!”

“…The Vice-Patriarch of the Dark Wheel has caught a whiff. You saw that old monster sounding us out one by one, didn't you!”

“Yes. I saw it too.”

So.

Are you going to back down now?

“You two have already agreed to my plan. You listened to it in detail from 1 to 100 and jumped in, clapping your hands. Don't you remember.”

“Th-That is…”

“The situation has changed, hasn't it! The Vice-Patriarch of the Dark Wheel was not in the 1 to 100!”

“You two questioning my responsibility like this. That wasn't in the 100 either.”

The surrounding flesh was gone, revealing the round eyeball.

That pupil scanned the cowards.

“Why don't you understand that trembling like a frog on a hot pot is exactly what the Vice-Patriarch wants.”

As usual. And as if nothing happened.

Even under suspicious eyes, they had to act that way.

Only then would the probability of survival increase even slightly.

Not acting like a guilty thief like this.

Even if it seemed like he would be trapped in Mugan right away, he needed a bold nerve.

A long sigh escaped.

“How can elders. Have smaller livers than a ten-year-old.”

“Wh-What did you say?”

“If you want to back out, then back out. I am enough on my own.”

Brushing past the two elders, Kian walked out alone.

Perhaps he had been alone from the start.

Even if he reported them, the result of being trapped in Mugan would be the same.

They didn't have that kind of nerve.

They lacked the mettle to bet everything they had and move forward.

In that sense.

“It is truly a shame, Fifth Son. If we had not met like this. I feel I would have served you with all my heart.”

Their respective positions had become difficult.

Both did not know how to bend, did not know how to break.

That's how they had risen, and they planned to keep rising.

Therefore.

“One side has to break.”

Kian went to the Julsin Kingdom. To his forest.

There was something he had to do next.

***

Ten days later.

Dark Moon Grand Castle underground training hall.

A place that boasted a defense so strong that even if one of two people died, no one would know.

To be able to boast that, the outer walls were built thick and wide.

Now, if they didn't build it up that much, no one could sleep through the sound of fighting.

The Gatekeeper and the Youngest Son… usually used this place.

But today, one of the users was different.

“What's this. Don't you use a sword better than a gun?”

“The day I abandoned my life as a prince, I also put down my sword. But until then, I practiced steadily. Now I use both.”

The royal family's inherited curse.

The royal family's magic operation method.

The subtle power that came from the combination of these two was sharp.

“The inherited curse sorcery of the Julsin Kingdom's royal family. Its name is Krawl, and only the royal family can awaken and learn it.”

“An interesting sorcery.”

“There isn't a person who isn't flustered when they first face this. But for you, Young Master, it ends at being interesting.”

Because it wasn't the first time.

I was already acquainted with his sorcery ‘Krawl’ and of course, I knew its effects.

“Extreme magic power focused on a single point. A pierce using that. But it's enough to just extend something. There's no need to go and pierce directly.”

“You saw quite a lot at a glance.”

“Yes. I also saw that although it's a pierce, there's no need to use a blade.”

Reggie nodded and picked up the hand cannon at his waist.

“A bullet is also a kind of pierce, after all.”

Click.

The sound of the hammer falling reached the Youngest Son's eardrum.

At the same time, countless pierces spread out to the front.

Chwaaaaaak—!

The Griffin's wings extended and covered the front.

“A considerable power.”

The Griffin's wings that had blocked it.

Its feathers were sticking out and broken here and there.

It wouldn't be strange if it was pierced after being hit squarely a few more times.

“With this much, you could act like a hero to some extent even if you go to the front lines.”

“I feel like my sense of real combat has returned a lot.”

As a player, I knew.

The difference for William Reggie Krawl with and without his curse sorcery Krawl was too great.

So the plan also focused on that part.

‘So that there is no need to fight while hiding Krawl. So that he can announce his return by highlighting the unique point that is Krawl.’

For that, the front line border, which was William the Third Prince's stage in the past, was perfect.

Right at that border, the Third Prince would secretly. But noisily.

Lay the foundation for a splendid revival in the Julsin Kingdom's succession competition.

“When you finish your work tomorrow morning, depart immediately.”

“Understood. Thank you for facing me directly, and you will soon be able to hear good news.”

Reggie finally withdrew.

The atmosphere was different from when he was at the gun shop.

I could tell just by looking at his back.

It was clear at a glance that the scars on that back were no ordinary ones.

Soon he disappeared.

And a small thing occupied the empty space.

“Young Master!”

Butler Amon.

He, who had gone to get good news before Reggie, raised both hands high.

“The prison within the capital of the Julsin Kingdom! The Head Maid has found a way to break through the prison!”

A coup d'état. Before that, a prison break.

Originally, it was not easy for something to collapse just by shaking it from the outside.

Inside and out.

It has to be pushed and pulled from both sides to pour down refreshingly.

To go for a preliminary interview with a potential collaborator and to learn the way in advance.

The Youngest Son, is heading to the Julsin Kingdom.

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