Lord of Charm



A few days ago:

In the throne hall, a white-haired old man kneeled in front of the Empress. His name was Ichiro Netero, and he was one of the oldest magi in Nikkokuni. In fact, he was 920 years old and only had a few decades to live.

His head was bald except for a white ponytail on the top of his head, surrounded by a shiny scalp. His large earlobes were even more eye-catching than his untypical haircut, and his thick white beard hid the lower half of his face.

"Ichiro, do you mind risking your life for Nikkokuni?"

"I don't. My time is nearing, and I have no hope of breaking into the eighth stage. How may I serve you, Empress?"

"You must have heard of the magus woman who has been causing trouble in our dynasty lately."

"I have. She even killed two of our magi."

"Indeed. She's an Intermediate Elite human; normal magi will have a hard time facing her."

"What about her? I'm afraid I can't defeat such a woman myself."

"You can't. However, there's a better solution. I once took an oath not to talk about it to anyone I don't trust completely, but you're such a person. I also must make you take an oath not to spread it with an oath scroll equal to your stage."

"I will take the oath then."

Ichiro took the oath not to spread this information to others, and The Empress started speaking again.

"A century ago, we had a spy in the Amistrys Empire. He was a magus who was oppressed by the imperial family, and he wanted freedom. One day, the Amistrys Empire gave him a mission in exchange for more power and freedom."

"Did he betray us?"

"No, it was too late for him. I could expose him any time I wanted. But I didn't want to take any risks, so I gave him one last mission before he could cross the borders and live here."

"What were those two missions?"

"The Amistrys Empire gave him a mission to kill an Intermediate Elite Human who rose lately in their empire. She was young and powerful, brimming with potential. Her only downside was that she loved a man outside of the imperial family and refused to get married to one of the princes."

"Their imperial family likes to hog the power, don't they?"

"They do. This downside was enough for them to decide to eliminate her. She is the same woman who wreaks havoc in our dynasty. The mission I gave him was to poison the best 9 Potential Magi of the Amistrys Empire along with the target. They were 8 Lower Elite Humans and 1 was an Intermediate Elite Human from the imperial family itself."

"I remember this incident. I guess he did it then."

"He did it, and their imperial family chased him, but he managed to arrive at our borders. In exchange for not opening a war against us, they demanded we won't tell a soul about the fact they wanted to kill their own genius."

"Why did it matter to them?"

"Because the nobles would riot. They would find out that the imperial family kills their descendants if they were too promising in its eyes."

"We agreed, and that brings us to our present situation. I'm tired of having this woman as my problem; I want her to be their problem."

"I see. Consider it done."

He bowed and left the throne hall under The Empress's gaze.

"I will reward your descendants for your merits."

--------

After giving Hanako a kiss, Kisuke turned in the direction his mother told him and went to the herbs shop. 300 meters weren't much for a mage, especially not him, so he just dashed there and got there in a couple of seconds.

Kisuke entered the shop and saw it empty of customers, with only a shop attendant at the counter.

"She is in the back."

The old woman behind the counter pointed to a door and Kisuke opened it and went inside. He saw a woman laying on a bed with bandages wrapped around her waist. The bandages had a strong scent of powerful herbs and there were a few empty bottles of potions on the floor.

"Mother? Are you injured?"

Kisuke rushed to her side and dropped to his knees as he held Elizabeth's hand.

"It's ok. I'm injured, but I should be fine within a few months. I've plundered enough rich elite families in Nikkokuni to cover my treatment."

"What happened? How did you get injured?"

"Nikkokuni's mages are on their toes now because of what happened lately. When I was on my way to another target, they ambushed me and injured me."

"And how did you know I was here?"

"I saw you with the Sixth Prince in the forest some time ago. I wanted to kill him, but I saw you had your own plans for him, so I left."

"But why are you hiding inside the imperial capital? It's too dangerous for you!"

The imperial capital had the highest concentration of magi, it was the worst place for a fugitive to hide in.

"It's fine, I have my device. What level does it seem that I am to you?"

Kisuke didn't even pay attention to it earlier since he knew his mother's real stage, but now that he looked, he realized he could only sense the power of a second-stage magician from her.

"So it's true, you really had a better version of the artifact you sent to the empire."

"Indeed, but it's not really the reason I'm so confident about being here. The ambushers were 3 magi, and one of them was a Grand Magus. One of the True Magi, an old man, told me something and provided me proof."

"What did he tell you?"

"Have you heard about how your father died?"

"Yes, he drank the poison that was meant for you when a traitor magus tried to kill many geniuses of the empire."

"That's true, but only half of the story. The other half of the story was that the Amistrys Empire paid him to kill me, but as a traitor, he had one last job from the Nikkokuni Dynasty to kill some geniuses."

"Are you saying that Amistrys Empire tried to kill you? How is it possible? You are the only living Intermediate Elite Human, you're their strongest weapon and shield!"

Elizabeth scoffed at his words.

"The only one? who told you that?"

"Caligula, the former emperor. He said you are the only one who achieved that in the past millennium."

"And you believed him? The imperial family hides their strength, but I know they have a few Intermediate Elite Humans. Caligula is one himself. There are nobles who managed to nurture their children to be Lower Elite Humans, so, of course, the royal family achieved greater things."

"Does it mean they're after your life?"

"You can say that. When I left the empire and went to live in a kingdom, they left me alone as they believed my magic will be stagnant without resources, but I still managed to get to the seventh stage. They didn't want to attack me back then out of worry the nobles will notice something was wrong."

Kisuke realized that he was in a tight spot. All the Amistrys Empire had to do now was give away his identity and he will be executed by the Nikkokuni dynasty.

"What are we going to do then?"

"Take this, it's the complete artifact, the same as the one I'm using. By using it you can hide your stage, and nobody will find out. We can't attack Amistrys Empire right now because they have Lena and Donne."

"Caligula told me that Lena disappeared inside ruins from the Hatred Era."

Elizabeth frowned upon hearing it. She thought about it for a moment before answering.

"They either killed her or something happened inside the ruins. We can't act on it for now."

"Are you going to turn yourself in for Donne?"

"Of course not. They might have Donne as their hostage, but I have their whole empire as a hostage. I'm a magus that can come and go as I wish, they won't dare make a move on Donne's life."

"What about your parents?"

"My family gave up on us when I was weaker than them. Now, I'm stronger and I'm giving up on them. Since they made their choice to abandon me if I go with my lover back then, they can't expect me to care whether they live or die."

"All right, that's your choice. I have to run away from the palace myself, I can't remain there. I doubt they covered my tracks if they want us dead, and my background will be revealed soon even if they don't give away information about me."

"Do as you think but be careful. The earlier you can become a magus the earlier we can rescue Donne. He probably has a seventh-stage magus keeping an eye on him all the time now. When Donne is safe, I will publish the information about the empire killing talented children to make the nobles revolt."

"All right, I need to go now, Hanako is waiting for me outside. I will just buy some herbs from the shop so she won't suspect me."

Kisuke kissed his mother on her cheek before saying goodbye and going out. He purchased all the herbs with Darkness attributes in the shop and returned to Hanako.

"It took you a long time, did you get what you needed?"