Translator: Pai_

The land of Aravion has always been bountiful and peaceful.

The saying that people living in the Takein Plains used to say like a habit had, these days, become a thing of the past.

The first sign came years ago, with the invasion of the Dark Elves that occurred in the southern forest region.

After the army of Aravion left to suppress the incident in the south, the security of the plains region gradually began to deteriorate.

People who left cities or villages and ventured outside the realm of civilization were eaten by magical beasts, or criminal wizard bandits who had fled after committing crimes ran amok in unguarded villages.

This was a natural phenomenon that occurred as the number of those who resided in cities and villages and patrolled the surroundings to eliminate magical beasts decreased.

However, while people felt fear, they also knew that such a situation would not last long.

It had been the same during the war with House Zahar decades ago, but the return of the wizards after the war quickly brought stability.

Indeed, after several months of subjugation battles, once the subjugation force returned, the order of the Takein Plains, which had once wavered, became solid again.

The magical beasts were hunted, and the bandits and bandit wizards were all captured, either hanged or executed on the spot.

However, after the defection of Meisa Aravion, a change began that was too great to believe things would simply be okay someday.

First, due to the power struggle between the Aravion main house and the vassal houses that could no longer trust them, the activities of the patrol units that subjugated magical beasts were seriously restricted.

On top of that, the incident where they set a trap to capture Turan and Meisa by targeting the eldest son of House Berk, only to be counterattacked, was the decisive blow.

Not only were many powerful nobles cooperating with the main house annihilated, but an irreparable rift was created by rumors spreading that the upper ranks of Aravion were in fact White Elf necromancers.

Of course, the Aravion Family Head Badal used his immense power to suppress the situation, but that could not completely eliminate the internal discontent.

Like House Berk, which was the first to defect and then joined the newly established Great Noble House Parsha, several wizard houses began to distance themselves from Aravion’s umbrella.

Naturally, this also played a major role in the weakening of security, something that went without saying.

Now, the people of the Takein Plains were no longer happy as they had been in the past.

The bountiful crops blessed annually by lightning striking the land had nowhere to be sold and rotted away, and the various goods that used to be imported from other regions became nearly impossible to obtain due to closed trade routes, even if one offered a fortune.

Even worse, due to the defection of House Berk, which had been Aravion’s only Enchanter house, magical artifacts became items that couldn’t be bought even with money.

The closest House Carmine had been growling with war threats until recently, so there was no way to buy goods from them.

Young Axel Aravion thought all of this was the Family Head's fault.

If he had managed the family properly, Meisa would never have defected, and the worst enemy, Turan Parsha, would never have been created.

No, rather, what if Turan had obediently joined Aravion as Meisa’s partner instead of forming some new Great Noble House?

Then perhaps the name of Aravion might have stood tall in this world.

If someone capable of raising a Great Noble House alone and forging alliances with several others bore the name of Aravion on his back, he could have accomplished even greater things.

This line of thinking from Axel was not just the delusion of a disgruntled young man.

Those who had originally felt Meisa had been treated unfairly and held much dissatisfaction with the upper ranks.

Those whom Turan called the "young faction" for convenience, who had once been suppressed by powerful middle-aged nobles but gained power after several of them died in internal conflicts, believed this situation needed to change.

Namely, by proclaiming Meisa Aravion as the new head of House Aravion.

To do so, the current old and senile family head had to die.

"Are you really... going to do it?"

"I have to. We can’t go on like this. Win or lose, there’s no future otherwise."

Axel gritted his teeth as he responded to his cousin’s question filled with fear.

Tonight, they were planning to assassinate the head of the Great Noble House Aravion.

"No matter how I think about it, it’s too dangerous. The chances are almost none."

"I know, so stop talking."

When one considered how powerful the heads of Great Noble Houses were, the idea of an ordinary noble like Axel attempting to harm one sounded not just absurd, but downright laughable.

However, he considered it his duty, and at the same time, something worth attempting.

“Normally, it’d be impossible... but now, there’s a chance. No, it has to be now.”

They had set up camp not in Morgen, the capital where the Aravion main house resided, but in the middle of the plains far to the south of it.

Given that the family head normally stayed in a massive palace in the heart of his stronghold, making it difficult to even catch a glimpse of his face, the current situation was optimal for an assassination attempt.

“Hyung, no matter how I think about it, this isn’t right. Uncle... your father also died at the hands of those Parsha bastards. And now we’re going to help them by assassinating the family head?”

“That was the upper ranks who got him killed. If it weren’t for them, that fight wouldn’t have even happened.”

Snapping at his cousin, Axel gave his gear one final check and then replied with a slightly softened voice.

“If you’re scared, stay here. If they question you later, just say I threatened you.”

“No, it’s not because I’m afraid for my life...”

Just as his cousin was about to say something, he let out a deep sigh, and Axel lightly tapped his stomach with a fist.

“Good kid, just wait a little. This is for all of us.”

After a moment, Axel stepped out of the tent, steadied his breath, and looked around.

The sight of an army of thousands of wizards lined up across the plains was truly a spectacle.

Due to the glowing orbs of light flickering all around to keep Turan, who was said to possess the Zahar bloodline, in check, the area was as bright as daytime despite it being the middle of the night, and there were quite a few people moving about.

Having kept lights on and taken night shifts constantly over the past few days, their day and night cycles had effectively reversed.

‘So this is what it was like back then...’

Axel, a young noble who had turned forty-one this year, had not participated in the last Zahar war, so this was his first time witnessing such a scene.

After a moment of awe at the grandeur of it all, he clenched his teeth and reminded himself of his goal.

‘I have to succeed.’

The army’s destination was House Parsha, located to the southeast.

Once there, just like before, they would be consumed by meaningless fighting.

And in the unlikely event that they fought well and Aravion won?

Old Badal was bound to die soon anyway, and Meisa, the only heir, would never forgive Aravion for killing her beloved.

Though Turan Parsha and Meisa Aravion had not formally entered a marriage pact, there was no one who did not know they were already deeply connected.

“Axel.”

“Dorin.”

As Axel casually approached the area around the family head’s location under the guise of a leisurely stroll, he soon encountered a familiar face.

Dorin Selmerow.

Heir to the Selmerow family, a vassal house of Aravion with the Illusionist bloodline, a relative roughly the age of an uncle to Axel, and his comrade in this plot.

“The item?”

“I brought it. What’s the situation?”

“Not good.”

Lines deepened in Dorin’s face, who was about thirty years older than Axel.

“There’s a whole pack of Nagin bastards stationed around the family head’s tent. It’s possible word of the plan leaked somewhere...”

“Those bastards should be guarding their own family head.”

Axel growled and glanced around just in case, but no one seemed to be paying attention to their conversation.

Those who did glance their way assumed it was simply acquaintances chatting and continued on.

“So, what are we going to do?”

"Nothing changes. It's just gotten a bit more dangerous."

“Well, even if our old men were around, it’s not like they’d have stopped us... come to think of it, it might actually be easier with weaklings like the Nagin guarding the place.”

“Don’t get careless. Just because they’re weak doesn’t mean the magical beasts they’ve trained are.”

Nagin nobles, born with the Ruler and Tamer bloodlines, which were ill-suited for combat, were considered weak even among Great Noble House nobles.

Even Lavitas, who could continuously heal himself and fight as a Healer, was seen as better in comparison.

However, the power of the magical beasts they had bonded with through their strong Tamer abilities could not be underestimated.

Even if the Tamer’s ability only extended to binding the souls of magical beasts and wizards, simply having the Tamer bloodline greatly increased the chances of bonding with stronger and more useful magical beasts.

“More than that, entrusting security to the Nagin bastards... he is really showing whose side he is on now.”

“Seems like he is not even ashamed of carrying the name of Aravion anymore.”

With a short exchange that burned with hostility, they cautiously approached the family head’s stronghold at a diagonal angle.

When they had closed the distance to about a hundred meters, comrades approaching from another direction revealed themselves.

“You’re late, Axel.”

“Sorry. Got caught up talking.”

Their number totaled seven.

In this place where more than a hundred nobles had gathered, it was a pitifully small force, and not all of them were even powerful nobles.

However, they had burning courage and a secret weapon prepared to assassinate the family head.

They were confident that with it, they could kill the old Badal, or at least seriously wound him.

“Let’s start quickly. The longer we stay gathered here, the more suspicion we’ll draw.”

“Got it.”

Under the command of the eldest among them, who played the role of leader, they immediately moved toward the family head’s tent.

Along the way, a few patrolling individuals demanded a passcode, but answering them was not difficult.

The purpose of the checks was purely to guard against Turan, who had infiltrated in disguise.

As they neared the tent, one of the nearby Nagin wizards blocked Axel’s path.

"Stand back."

“We’ll go where we please. Why are you interfering?”

With a sharp reply, Axel responded, his expression displeased.

“Well, it’s just that a group of people suddenly gathering in such an important place... and at this time of night, no less.”

“Well, it’s bright like daylight, so night or not doesn’t matter... and if it’s because we’re near where the family head resides, isn’t it more improper for you to be here than us?”

"That's right!"

At the Aravion youths’ rebuke, the Nagin noble wore an awkward expression.

Just as they said, it looked strange for a Nagin noble to block Aravion nobles from approaching where the Aravion family head resided.

This made it seem as though Badal openly distrusted his own bloodline.

“Regardless, step back. If you keep making noise like this and wake the family head...”

“What’s going on?”

At the low voice that echoed out, everyone at the scene flinched momentarily.

The largest tent opened, and the Aravion family head, Badal, appeared.

His wrinkled face, which would be over eighty in commoner years, was shadowed by the bright light behind him, making it difficult to see what kind of expression he wore.

“We greet the family head.”

"Axel. Imellon's son."

“Yes, that’s me.”

Axel inwardly gritted his teeth at the family head’s mention of his father, who had died in the recent war.

Before House Parsha had even started using that name, the family head had taken a few powerful and loyal nobles on a surprise attack against Kalamaf. But when the situation turned dire due to Lavitas's reinforcements, he retreated.

No one took responsibility for Axel’s father's death during that operation.

They merely claimed he had died an honorable death fighting under the name of Aravion.

If Badal had expressed even a word of regret over that death, Axel would not have joined this plan.

“So then, explain again why there’s such a commotion.”

“Well, that is...”

As Axel respectfully bowed his head and answered, a sharp cracking sound rang out, and Badal’s body lurched once.

Seeing this, the young Aravion nobles all simultaneously drew something from inside their garments.

“Now! Kill him!”

Badal knew exactly what that item was.

A pistol.

A modified weapon, made more portable because the original gun was too long and cumbersome to carry.

It was easy to guess that the weapon was a modified version of the one Turan had created and used effectively during the recent war with Zahar.

What was incomprehensible was why it was coming out of the Aravion nobles’ sleeves.

He had no way of knowing that Turan, after successfully developing firearms, had passed them on through Ashiz to young faction nobles who were secretly spies, and that they had dreamed of using those weapons for assassination.

That was because the concussion effect from the sniper shot that had flown in from afar and struck his temple so precisely was overwhelming.

Before he could even finish his thoughts, Badal’s body staggered under the hail of six simultaneous shots.

Dark red blood sprayed onto the ground.

“Ugh...”

With immense magic power and possessing the Fighter bloodline, his body was stronger than that of a typical family head.

Had they used poorly made magic artifacts or cast lightning directly, he wouldn’t even have needed to scoff before enduring it.

But a coordinated volley of gunfire from this close range was a different story.

Was it not the devil’s weapon that allowed a commoner to defeat a knight, and a knight to kill a noble?

Moreover, Badal’s body was overly aged, and while his magic resistance remained high, his physical defense had deteriorated. And because he had come out half-asleep from the noise, he was carrying almost no defensive magic artifacts.

Most critically, the ones who attempted the assassination were all competent nobles of at least mid-tier strength.

Normally, a strong person firing a gun didn’t make the shot more powerful, but if the one holding the gun was a wizard who could infuse magic power, then the stronger the wizard, the more devastating the bullet’s impact.

It was like how Turan’s slingshot strikes became more powerful the more magic he imbued into them.

“It’s working!”

“Keep firing!”

The Aravion nobles, excited to see their powerful family head bleeding from their attacks, continued firing without pause.

Bang, bang, bang.

Each of the nobles had prepared three pistols, and after firing them all, they had literally turned Badal into a beehive. They then drew their daggers to deliver the finishing blow.

But at that moment, with a thunderous roar, the bodies of the nobles who had approached were flung away.

[You dare-!]

From Badal’s eyes and mouth, and from all the wounds that had pierced his body, lightning poured out instead of blood.

He looked no longer human, but like the incarnation of lightning itself, causing the nobles to lose all fighting spirit.

The moment the incarnation of thunder glared at them, a bolt of lightning from the sky struck down and instantly incinerated them.

His rage did not end there.

Soaring rapidly into the sky, Badal pointed far off into the distance, and lightning shaped like a spear flew forth, piercing and burning the final assassin who had sniped at him earlier.

Moments later, returning to human form, he let out a painful groan and a deep sigh.

"Really, this is ridiculous..."

To think he had nearly been assassinated by nobles with only this level of strength?

If they had possessed just a bit more powerful magic, and had greater proficiency with firearms to infuse more magic into them, he might really have died.

Of course, if he had been fully equipped with all his defensive magic artifacts while channeling the power of the Thunder Lord, such an attack wouldn’t have touched him, but it wasn’t realistic to always live like that.

As the Nagin wizards rushed over to provide emergency treatment, Badal thought of Turan’s face far away.

“So this is the world you wanted... very well, let’s see how far you can go.”

Even with tricks like this, Badal was confident that in the end, they would win.

*

The news that Badal had been severely injured in an assassination attempt reached House Parsha not long after.

Ashiz, upon hearing the report, let out a deep sigh.

"Tch, it would have been good if we could have finished it in one go..."

If Turan had co-designed this assassination plan, he would have disguised himself and taken the place of one of the assassins to end it completely, but unfortunately, this attack was entirely initiated by the Aravion youths themselves.

Of course, it was House Parsha that had handed over several pistols, telling them to assassinate or at least deal a blow to the family head if the opportunity arose.

Additionally, the pistols handed over this time had been specially enchanted, and were designed in such a way that the moment someone tried to disassemble and analyze their structure, the insides would be destroyed. In other words, they were disposable.

[In any case, now I clearly understand why the gods had so thoroughly prohibited the development of such weapons.]

At Ashiz’s words, Turan spoke quietly from inside the hand mirror through which he was listening to the report.

The sense of danger that knights had felt not long ago.

That feeling had now reached even the powerful wizards who served as heads of Great Noble Houses.

Of course, it was only natural that if nobles launched a coordinated surprise attack against an unarmed and defenseless family head, they could inflict fatal damage, but unlike magic, guns had virtually no sign or buildup before an attack, making them extremely suitable for assassinations.

“At this level, we might need to retrieve them after the war.”

[If necessary, that might need to be considered, but if possible, I’d rather we not collect them. They’re probably the only means commoners have to fight back against magical beasts.]

“That’s true, but... so, are you almost there?”

[Almost. I’ll contact you if something happens.]

While Parsha’s army split and moved west and southeast, Turan was not idly sitting in Kalamaf.

Taking advantage of the downtime caused by the army’s movement, he traveled the world on Bije’s back.

His goal was to inspect the structures of the Old Empire.

He believed that Monarch, having lost the power of the library, would use the chaos of war to extract power from other structures to compensate for what was lacking.

Fortunately or unfortunately, that assumption did not appear to be wrong.

The Tomb of the Gods, now coming into view from afar, was half-collapsed, just like the library had been.