SWNOVELXO Chapter 532
Chapter 532: There Was One Monster. (1)
Suddenly, light burst forth from the necklace, startling everyone.
Ghislaine was equally perplexed. The divine power contained in the necklace was supposed to activate only when it was placed in the cup he had previously stolen.
He didn’t know why it was activating now, nor did he understand what kind of effect it had. It had only been used to verify the holy relic.
Yet, this time, the light was emanating without even touching the necklace, just like before.
‘Why?’
There was only one guess.
‘Yulien?’
It was reacting to Yulien. If that wasn’t the case, he couldn’t explain the situation.
Yulien narrowed his eyes and stared directly at the necklace.
The necklace was emitting a blindingly bright light, yet it oddly didn’t affect his vision.
‘Strange.’
It hurt.
He felt a pain squeezing his heart accompanied by an unknown longing. It made him even more confused.
What in the world was that light?
How could a duke he had never met, and a necklace he had no memory of, make him feel this way?
But the other party wore an equally bewildered expression.
The light gradually weakened and soon faded away. After that, no unusual phenomena occurred.
Yulien calmly asked, “What was that?”
“Um… how should I explain this?”
Ghislaine scratched his chin and spoke frankly. After all, it was well-known in the Ruthania Kingdom and not a secret.
“So, this is something I stole from the Salvation Society…”
The more he spoke, the more confused Yulien became. This item didn’t seem particularly related to Duke Penris.
After a moment’s contemplation, Yulien closed and then opened his eyes again.
‘It’s certainly getting stranger these days.’
His senses were becoming sharper like a blade as the days passed. That sensitivity was likely causing the confusion in his sensations.
While it helped in enhancing his combat skills, it was somewhat troublesome in this case.
No matter how hard he racked his brain, there seemed to be no connection with that item. Overthinking it would only be a waste of time and emotions.
Thus, he decided to erase his interest in the necklace altogether.
Unlike Yulien, who quickly regained his composure, Ghislaine was lost in thought.
‘There’s definitely something more to this.’
He had long been curious about the objectives of the Salvation Society and the Delphine Faction. After hearing about the dreams from Erlhardt, he was convinced they had their own separate goals.
Yet, he still couldn’t clear up his curiosity satisfactorily.
‘Ereness seems to know something…’
But Ereness was hiding it, keeping his mouth shut, making it hard to ask.
Now, it was the necklace responding to Yulien. It all felt like he was falling deeper into a labyrinth.
‘Wait a second…’
In his previous life, Ereness operated independently after leaving the alliance. There were several reasons for that, but one was…
‘Because of Yulien.’
Ereness was incredibly uncomfortable with Yulien. They even fought the moment they met. Just like how Ereness had been with Ghislaine when they first met.
Ereness joined the alliance before Ghislaine, so he witnessed Ereness and Yulien fighting directly.
At that time, he had chuckled at the amusing scene.
‘Ereness was deeply troubled.’
It seemed they had fought over some misunderstanding, but he never revealed the reason. Yulien, true to form, showed no curiosity and brushed it off nonchalantly.
Ereness watched him for days and eventually left.
‘Frustrating.’
What was the purpose of the Salvation Society? How had Ereness ended up entangled with them? He wanted to figure it out while dealing with the Salvation Society.
He thought it wouldn’t matter if he didn’t know. After all, they were all enemies who needed to be eradicated.
But as frustrating situations kept unfolding, a sense of impatience filled him. He couldn’t stand it anymore.
‘I’ll have to ask outright next time.’
When Ereness returned from his “vacation,” he planned to directly ask him.
‘Yulien will surely provoke him. It’ll be a good opportunity.’
There wasn’t much use in pondering further. Yulien also seemed completely oblivious.
Ghislaine spoke with a light expression.
“Well, we’ll find out about the necklace once we capture the Salvation Society. But by the way, we’re meeting for the first time… we seem to be around the same age, so how about we speak casually?”
“Sure.”
It was great to speak freely. That was one of Yulien’s strengths. He didn’t waste time on needless formality and customs.
The two discussed their armies and their future activities as they headed toward Ruthania’s capital.
The nominal commander under Turian was Marquis Gideon, yet he dared not take the lead. The actual leader was Yulien.
Marquis Gideon dealt with the logistics, accompanying Claude, who had joined later.
“Oh, I opened the water gate just at the right moment for Marquis Roderick’s army… And there’s that crazy guy Alfoy behind us. Don’t even speak to him. He even fought the goddess… So, do you like gambling?”
“Ah, yes…”
‘What’s up with this guy?’
Marquis Gideon felt as if blood might start dripping from his ears. Claude didn’t stop talking for a second and showed no sign of tiring.
Moreover, it was hard to make sense of what he was saying. He rambled on incessantly, talking about things only he understood.
Had he been anyone else, he would have shouted to make him shut up, but he was the second-in-command of the Ruthania army. He introduced himself that way.
Thus, Marquis Gideon had no choice but to endure the discomfort and listen.
Thus, the forces of the two kingdoms began to meet and lay the foundation for a proper coalition army.
*
“Huh? Isn’t this the Ruthania Kingdom?”
Jerome asked, incredulous. The merchant leader nodded and replied.
“No! This is not the Ruthania Kingdom!”
“Isn’t this supposed to be going to the Ruthania Kingdom?”
“We’re heading towards the Ruthania Kingdom, but this isn’t the destination.”
“…”
Jerome crossed his arms in thought. He was pretty sure he had heard something like that.
But the problem was that he had climbed aboard without really paying attention.
The merchant leader bowed and greeted him.
“Thanks to you, we were able to arrive safely. Thank you very much.”
They were a caravan who had encountered bandits during their journey and were almost in danger.
Thanks to Jerome throwing stones at the bandits, they had safely completed their journey. To the caravan members, Jerome was a hero.
Jerome looked at the bowing merchant leader, smacking his lips.
“Oh, but I need to go to the Ruthania Kingdom.”
The mercenary captain hired by the caravan let out a hearty laugh.
“What? You got on without even knowing where you were going? There are no caravans going to the Ruthania Kingdom around here!”
Jerome had gotten quite friendly with the mercenary captain in the meantime. It was possible because of his easygoing personality.
“Ugh, how much longer? I’m a bit directionally challenged.”
“What kind of magician are you? You’d have to pass by several kingdoms to get there.”
“Hmm, should I find another caravan to hop on?”
“Can’t you just use magic to go quickly?”
“Too troublesome. And using magic continuously wears me out. I can’t enjoy looking around.”
Seeing Jerome speak so confidently, the mercenary captain shook his head.
To be honest, he still doubted Jerome’s magic skills. All he’d seen was him throwing stones, claiming it was a ‘Magic Missile.’
The mercenary captain looked at him with a pitying gaze.
“It’s tough to find a caravan these days. The closer you get to Ruthania, the harder it is to find mercenaries.”
“Why?”
“I heard recently that our leader called for a massive recruitment of mercenaries.”
“Why?”
“Why? Because they’re in a civil war over there, so they must have called for them to fight.”
“Hm, I see.”
“Anyway, we need to leave now. Make sure not to cross paths with the Salvation Society or rebels. Thanks for your help. Let’s meet again if we get the chance.”
“Sure, it was fun.”
Thus, Jerome and the merchant parted ways. Jerome chewed his lips in frustration and rubbed his head.
“Ah! This is really annoying.”
The mage tower he belonged to was a secret tower of single-person transmission that wasn’t known across the continent.
As the Salvation Society rampaged and the continent fell into chaos, Jerome had stepped out into the world.
To reveal himself and help when the world was in disarray. That was the purpose of the mage tower and the edict passed down by the master who had imparted everything to Jerome.
The problem was that Jerome didn’t know much about the ways of the world. He had only grown up in the tower.
“Sigh, I should have wandered around more if I knew it would turn out like this.”
He loved staying in his room, hardly ever stepping out of the area around the tower. Though it was called a tower, it wasn’t a real tower but more like a neighborhood home.
Still, he needed to fulfill his mission, so he decided to choose a faction fighting against the Salvation Society and help them.
He gathered rumors and resolved to join Count Penris, but he hadn’t even reached his destination and had become lost.
They said he still had a long way to go to get to the Ruthania Kingdom. Honestly, he didn’t even know the way.
“Hmm… should I rest a few days and think it over?”
After recently living on the streets, he was mentally exhausted. He headed to the first inn he could find.
And then he just slept.
Lying on the bed, wrapped in a blanket, Jerome thought.
“Hmm, this feels nice. I want to keep resting like this. I haven’t done anything, but I really want to take a serious break.”
For the next few days, even as he tangentially lazed about, Jerome felt quite uneasy.
It was only natural since he was postponing tasks and just idling around.
“Geez, let’s stop this. What’s there to do anyway?”
The chaos sweeping everywhere made for a dire lack of entertainment. He couldn’t search for good food and sightseeing was out of the question. It was truly a difficult world to live in.
At least this kingdom was managing to fend off the Salvation Society and the rebels, allowing him to get by.
“That’s why peace is important.”
Jerome clicked his tongue as he traveled through the city. The economy was in ruins, and the people’s livelihoods were hard off, causing everyone to lose their vitality.
Yet, the rumors spread quickly enough. Everyone moved sensitively with the times. Jerome managed to pick up on some of those rumors himself.
“Wow, the Ruthania Kingdom has ended its civil war? Count Penris has become a duke?”
Just as he imagined. If only he had gone to see them earlier, it would have been much more interesting; it was a real shame.
“Hm, they formed an alliance and went to help another kingdom. This means I won’t have to go all the way to Ruthania.”
It was a fortunate turn of events, as he would be able to find and fight with the alliance army along this path.
“Should I not help out here a bit while I’m at it? I can’t just sit around and do nothing.”
Since he was already thinking about joining a fight somewhere, it would be good to help the people a little.
Jerome headed with leisurely steps towards the Forward Fortress, where they were fighting against the rebels.
He figured they were holding their ground well, so he wasn’t particularly worried. He thought that just a few days of help would suffice to completely suppress the rebellion.
Joining the fortress was not difficult.
“Hmm… you’re a magician?”
“Yes!”
The knight who was checking suspects frowned in doubt. Though his attire looked decent, there was no atmosphere that screamed ‘magician.’
He instead had a cheerful, mischievous vibe.
“Can I see some magic?”
“Of course.”
Fwoosh.
A small fireball floated above Jerome’s hand.
“Hmm…”
He was indeed a magician, but he didn’t seem very strong.
Still, having at least one magician was always better than none. The knight thought to accept him unless he was a spy and started asking Jerome about his background.
“Which tower are you from?”
“The Tower of Dawn!”
“Uh… where is that tower exactly?”
“Uh… it’s in a small rural village near the village of Green Hill in the Kingdom of Polred.”
“Where is that village?”
“Um… it’s right next to the Tower of Dawn,”
“……”
“……”
‘Is this guy a spy?’
The knight narrowed his eyes. Seeing the knight’s expression, Jerome also felt exasperated. He found it hard to describe the geography properly.
Not that he had ever ventured beyond the area surrounding the tower. He was a local lovebird.
“It’s a little far, so not many people know of it.”
The knight couldn’t possibly know every tower on the continent. It was only natural that more people wouldn’t know of the smaller tower.
The knight sighed and nodded. It was too sketchy to be a spy.
He looked like just a somewhat dim-witted magician. If he were a real spy, he wouldn’t have even made it this far.
‘The mages will investigate by themselves.’
In any case, once he joined the magic brigade, they would investigate him again. Thanks to his status as a magician, he managed to pass through rather easily.
“Oh, by the way, what’s your circle?”
“8th Circle. Sadly, I haven’t reached the 9th yet.”
The knight forced a chuckle as he watched Jerome smiling cheerfully.
Even attaining the 6th Circle would begin making a name for oneself. But he had yet to hear of a magician named Jerome.
‘He’s bragging too much.’
But Jerome’s words were true.
He was, in fact, the one who had been called the “One-Man Legion” in Ghislaine’s previous life, ranking third among the Seven Powers of the continent.
He was the “Eternal Mage.”