Chapter 326.
My family and I headed directly to the forward base located in the Demon’s Territory, without going through Warrant from Asterium. My maternal grandfather, who had come up to the Asteria domain together with us, remained in Asterium to get the territory in order. Hillis headed to Warrant with the priests to treat the injured, but said she would deal with it quickly and come to the Demon’s Territory.
"We’re almost there,” Hestia noona said.
I looked outside the carriage, and saw a large military camp surrounded by huge walls. The carriage we rode entered the camp directly after being inspected by a guard.
As the carriage came to a halt, I got off and admired the appearance of the camp, remarking, "Is this the frontline base known as the second Warrant?”
Rather than simple tent barracks, there were quite a few proper barracks built with bricks. Even though the walls were clumsily made, they had still been fully built up. Although it couldn’t be called a city, this camp could easily be called a village.
In fact, thinking about it, Warrant was also a frontline city that had begun as a military camp like this. In the future, it might not be Warrant, but rather a city built out of this military camp, that would come to be known as the city of warriors who defend the empire from the Demon’s Territory.
"That’s right. This is the outpost of the frontline’s vanguard, Valhalla.” A white-haired, red-eyed man carrying a white parasol answered my question as he approached from afar. "It’s been a while, Den. I heard the news. I heard you took down the Space Specialist and the Curse Specialist.“ William’s eyes sparkled, reminding me of Yuria and Alphonso.
"Ahahaha, it was a fluke. If we fought again, I’d probably lose,” I said. I was lucky that there had been many magicians around, but if I had no resources to draw mana and computational power from, I would honestly have no chance of winning.
"Ayy, what fluke... You’re the first one to be praised by my father for being a crazy guy, besides the other great madosas,” William remarked.
Is that a compliment? I thought.
"Oh, are you a great madosa now? Anti-Magic Specialist Denburg Blade-nim?” William asked.
"No honorifics, please. Isn’t it kind of weird to hear honorifics from a friend’s uncle?" I replied.
William laughed cheerfully and continued, "Ahahaha! Is that so? Yuria and Alphonso are doing well, right? I’ve been here as a substitute for Orphina since the war broke out.”
I smiled lightly and nodded. "Yes. They’re healthy and doing well."
Alphonso was busy preparing to attend the middle-rank knight school, and Yuria was seriously considering becoming a court magician with Alice after her graduation.
After finishing his conversation with me, William bowed his head politely when he saw my father getting off the carriage. He said in greeting, "Once again, I would like to express my infinite gratitude on behalf of the empire for your visit."
My father shook his hand with a big laugh. "Ahahahaha! No need for an excessive greeting. If you’re my younger brother’s friend, then you’re a brother to me. Speak comfortably.”
William nodded with his unique, friendly smile. "It’s nice to feel as if I have a reliable older brother. Please come inside. The Butterfly tribe representative is waiting for the news of Hyung-nim’s return."
The same was true of Alphonso and Yuria, but I didn’t know what was going on with the sociability of that household.
"Ahahaha, is that so? Then I should go. The military manages the villagers, and Little Chief should follow me," my father said, ordering me to follow him, but not Hestia noona.
To be honest, I didn’t like being called Little Chief. However, as I was now in a public space, not a private space, my father’s order was absolute unless I was going to break off ties with my hometown.
"Yes, Chief-nim."
"Yes, Chief-nim."
In addition, my father had asked me to follow him mostly because I was a magician. As the little chief of the Crow tribe, I couldn’t put on a poor showing in front of the Butterfly tribe. Helplessly, I followed my father’s footsteps, infusing mana weakly into the Bracelet of Pride.
"Hmm? Your aura has changed?” my father remarked.
I couldn’t help but be amazed by my father’s keen senses. I explained, "I have a good magic tool. If it’s just for a short period of time, I can amplify my mana by tens of times."
The bracelet made by the Witch of Pride wasn’t considered one of the top five magic tools for no reason. It was even thought to be on the same level as the Curse of the Giants. Even though I didn’t even have enough mana to produce one magic bullet, it could amplify what little I had to a level on par with a madosa.
Of course, it was amplification, not recovery, so I couldn’t use magic more than a few times with the tiny bit of mana I had left. Still, it was enough for emergency situations.
My father nodded and stepped into the command room in the center of the military camp, saying, "Ahahaha! I’m sorry I’ve been away for personal matters."
The elders and guards of the Crow tribe who were gathered in the command room stood up in response.
"Father, you’ve arrived? You’ve captured Den, too?" Gallahad hyung greeted him with a bright smile. In response, my father smiled pleasantly and lightly put my eldest brother in a headlock. Gallahad exclaimed, "Uwack!"
"Hahaha! Son! Didn’t I tell you to call me Chief-nim in public?" my father replied.
Gallahad hyung urgently tapped my father’s arm and said desperately, "It hurts! It hurts!"
"Huh-huh-huh! What do you mean ‘dad’? It’s been a while since I last heard that. But I said, call me Chief-nim!”[1] my father joked, strengthening his grip around my eldest brother’s head.
By the way, I think he said ‘it hurts’, not ‘dad’... Well, it doesn’t matter to me, I thought.
"Hahaha, you look very close to your son. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Bendis Fendria, the current representative of the Butterfly tribe. That’s our replacement for the title of ‘great elder’,” the Butterfly Tribe representative said in greeting. He was Yuria and Alfonso’s father; I’d seen him before.
In response, my father let go of my eldest brother and shook hands with Bendis. "Nice to meet you. I’m Doomstone Blade, the chief of the Crow tribe. Ah, we also discarded the old title of ‘head of the village’ last year."
"I see." Bendis smiled gently, nodded, and greeted me. "It’s been a while since I saw you, Anti-Magic Specialist-nim."
Unlike the time I had seen him at the imperial palace two years ago, I was flustered when he treated me with extreme honorifics. I replied, "No, you don’t have to be so polite."
"No, it’s natural as a magician to pay tribute to a great madosa,” Bendis said gently but firmly. As he spoke, the Butterfly tribespeople’s gazes toward me grew stronger.
"But it’s still burdensome to hear honorifics from my friend’s father. It’s not as if I’m older than you,” I said.
"Hahaha, I’m grateful as a father that you’re close to my son and daughter. But this is an official place, and a magician’s superiority or inferiority is determined by skill, not age." Unlike his brother William, Bendis was firm on this point.
The gazes of the Butterfly tribespeople, who were much older than me, were also burdensome. I’d heard about the Butterfly tribespeople’s madness for magic, but I hadn’t realized it would be to this extent.
Somehow, I felt I would dislike the Butterfly tribe people. Still, I was glad that it seemed as though it would be easy to use them without even having to verbally manipulate them. But Yuria and Alphonso wouldn’t look at me like that later on, right?
"This time, I came as a member of the Crow tribe, so excessive courtesy is burdensome,” I insisted, suggesting that I was here as a subordinate of my father.
"Yes, I understand,” Bendis said, but somehow it felt as if he hadn’t listened at all.
William, who had entered the command room with my father, smiled broadly and said, "We’ve prepared a place for Chief-nim and Little Chief. Let’s start the meeting." He asked us to sit down, speaking formally.
When my father and I sat down, the villagers standing around us followed suit. As expected, such formal settings were annoying.
The meeting began, and I presented the troop movements I had discussed with Hestia noona in advance. But when I came to my senses, I realized that I was leading the meeting.
"Good. Then let’s move that way. What does Chief-nim think?”
"Uh-huh-huh-huh, I like it too."
Despite my efforts to prepare a persuasive argument for them on the train, they accepted too easily. The plan I had just suggested was one that would give the Butterfly tribe a hard time, but nevertheless, the elders of the Butterfly tribe nodded with respect.
I was starting to hate the Butterfly tribe people more and more.
"Then, why don’t we wrap up the meeting now?" It hadn’t been long, but my father signaled for us to end the meeting and everyone seemed to be in agreement.
"Then let’s end the meeting by doing what Anti-Magic Specialist-nim suggested,” Bendis said.
As soon as Bendis finished speaking, the Butterfly tribe people rushed at me and fired off questions.
"How old are you? How did you reach that level at such a young age?"
"How did you decide on the name ‘Anti-Magic Specialist’? Are you going to create a new school called anti-magic?”
"This is a paper on the reaction of magic circles with pure magic stones. Will you give it a read?"
"Atomic theory has emerged recently in elemental magic. Have you heard of it?"
"The school of celestial body magic is being divided, as geocentric theory is giving way to heliocentric theory. I want to hear your opinion on this!"
The eyes of the madosas surrounding me were filled with madness.
What is this? I’m scared! Save me! I desperately looked at William and Bendis, but the two were also organizing the questions they wanted to ask.
"Father...!" I called for help.
But my father and other elders looked at me with pleasure and said, "Huh-huh-huh, Little Chief sure is popular. So, what’s today’s lunch menu?"
"I heard it’s grilled wild boar that was caught yesterday, cooked with red pepper seasoning."
"Ohh, that sounds good. That seasoning is good."
My father and other people from my hometown were more interested in lunch today than me. So mean!
What was really difficult was that the elderly people surrounding me were the heads of the Butterfly tribe, so I couldn’t get through them with force.
"Slowly, stand in line..." I said helplessly.
Ding ding ding ding ding ding!
Ironically, what saved me in this unexpected and difficult situation was the loud emergency bell.
"Great demon attack!”
"There are two! Everyone, get ready for battle!”
The friendly atmosphere in the command room quickly froze, filling up with martial aura in response to the noise from outside.
"It’s a battle! Hahahaha!"
"Ahahaha! It’s a battle! Chief, stay still! Don’t take away the joy from us old people!”
"No! Yahoo! Sounds fun!"
"I’m going to get that cat’s head this time!"
In particular, the elders of my tribe backed up, drew their swords, and leaped through the window.
"Heup! A mana stone, a great demon’s mana stone!"
"The Phoenix’s feathers are mine!"
"Great demon byproducts!"
The elders of the Butterfly tribe displayed the same madness. They drooled and flew through the hole the people of my hometown had made in the window.
"Huh-huh-huh, unfortunately, I think we should talk later, Anti-Magic Specialist-nim." Bendis, despite having maintained his composure, was also restless. After saying goodbye, he flew to the place the great demon was attacking, yelling, "Wait for me! The phoenix’s crest is mine!"
I burst into laughter as I looked at the command room, which had quickly become completely empty. I remarked, "Hahaha, no one among the battle races is in their right mind."
But the thought of great demon byproducts tempted even me. Should I try joining in, too? I thought. Even without mana, I thought it would be safe enough with that much force on our side.
"Let me join!" I exclaimed as I also leaped through the window.
1. The Korean word for ‘It hurts’ or ‘ouch’ sounds similar to the word for ‘dad’
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