Watching Ethan inspect the equipment, Ilya swallowed nervously and asked,
“Uh… how is it? These are items inscribed with circuits I painstakingly crafted. Start by examining the sword first.”
Ethan lifted the Nephelion greatsword.
The mechanism behind the artifact’s activation was simple.
When the caster’s mana flowed through the inscribed circuits, the embedded magic within would activate.
The moment fire mana was infused, the weight of the sword in his grasp felt significantly lighter.
‘Not bad.’
If the previous greatsword weighed close to seven kilograms, the current weight was roughly half of that.
“Did you lighten it?”
“Indeed!”
Ilya hurriedly responded, her voice sounding odd as she quickly cleared her throat.
“Ahem! Besides that, I also gave it a ‘self-repair’ property that constantly removes rust and impurities, reinforced its ‘cutting power,’ and increased the metal’s ‘mana affinity.’ I even inscribed formulas to boost its fire resistance.”
To sum it up in one word:
The sword was tuned to always maintain optimal condition no matter how roughly it was handled.
“Hmm.”
Ilya flinched.
This was a result of her putting her full skill into crafting.
Even if sold on the market, it would fetch at least ten times the usual price.
It was an exceptionally well-made item. Yet Ethan’s expression was utterly ambiguous.
Neither good nor bad—a vague face. Seeing this, Ilya hurriedly said,
“Well… I also added excellent functions to the gauntlets and greaves. Th-then…”
“Self-repair and lightening. Strength enhancement. Mana affinity increase. Fire resistance increase. I’m not sure about the last one.”
At Ethan’s words, Ilya finally began to look triumphant.
“Ahem! Actually, those first five are just supplementary functions. The real core circuit is a different one.”
“What is it?”
“Last time, I saw you use fire mana. Although the burst of energy was explosive, the amount stored in the gear was limited. Am I right?”
Ethan nodded.
Pure flames with no trace of negativity.
As he began pioneering this realm, the temperature of the fire mana infused into the sword increased drastically. The Nephelion greatsword could just about withstand that.
However.
‘It’s different after unlocking the Eight Rings.’
The Eight Rings instantly release hidden potential within the body. The temperature that bursts out then was too much even for the highly mana-affinitive Nephelion to endure.
The reason he never filled the greatsword with a certain threshold of mana when activating the Eight Rings was because the blade might melt.
“Ahem! Just as I expected. So I tried inscribing a new circuit. Equip the greatsword, gauntlets, and greaves together, then push your power to the limit.”
There had to be a reason for her confidence.
Following Ilya’s instructions, Ethan donned all three pieces and released the Eight Rings.
“You can fill the blade with fire mana to your limit. The edge will never melt.”
“Really?”
In an instant, explosive mana surged along the sword, its length easily surpassing three meters.
Blazing heat radiated outward, yet the study remained intact—because Ilya used mana to block the heat.
At the moment Ethan poured all his strength into the mana,
Wooooong!
Wooooong!
Wooooong!
Delicate magic circles appeared above the three pieces of equipment.
The insanely scorching heat of the blade began to spread toward the gauntlets and greaves.
It was an astonishing sight.
‘She inscribed a high-level magic circuit.’
The heat of the gear was shared among the other two pieces so they could collectively endure it.
Now the reason behind the blackened eyes of the Poforens was clear. The magical circuit’s formula itself was incredibly complicated.
Both the mage who inscribed the circuits and the blacksmith who etched them onto the gear suffered immensely.
Not to mention the circuits were inscribed on already tough mithril, so they must have worked overtime for two whole days.
Ilya declared boldly,
“How do you like my desperate masterpiece? I personally developed the ‘High Heat Conduction Formula’ circuit, so no matter how much flame you unleash…”
Her confident voice gradually grew quieter.
She thought even the stoic Grand Duke would be wide-eyed and astonished by this magical circuit.
Just moments ago, she was ready to boast about the incredible magic circuit she had inscribed.
Yet Ethan’s expression was far more subtle than she expected.
“Unleash?”
“Y-Yes… you can freely… use the sword…”
“Is that so.”
The tone was too flat to express true joy.
Ilya’s face rapidly fell.
“Is it… not very good?”
No.
This was not a result that could be described with such faint praise.
‘Top-notch.’
A result worthy of being called a ‘masterpiece’ by a Grand Mage.
Even at the stage of blossoming potential, the greatsword could withstand the heat without issue.
The simple reason Ethan didn’t outwardly express this was clear.
If he showered her with praise too much, the Grand Mage’s pride might soar to the heavens.
He smiled meaningfully without answering.
“If this fails, it’s absolutely not my fault! It’s because that short little guy didn’t inscribe a satisfying circuit!”
“Ah… no! That’s not it! I really did my best… ugh!”
“Shut up! If that’s the limit of your best, then you’re a completely useless blacksmith! If only the Dwarf King himself had assisted, we’d have produced the best possible result!”
Poforens was truly aggrieved.
He had stayed up all night to ‘perfectly’ inscribe the client’s circuits.
And not only that, the exacting mage criticized every hammer strike, to the point the three items had been hammered hundreds of times.
“Hmm. This should be fine. That picky guy will definitely be satisfied.”
Moments ago, he had passed with what looked like a somewhat satisfied smile!
Yet now, to pin all blame on himself was utterly detestable.
But all Poforens could say was a shaky “Ugh!”
Like his lips trembled, Ilya’s pupils shook mercilessly as well.
Ethan chuckled lightly and nodded.
“It’s fine.”
“…”
“You pass.”
Ilya’s eyes widened.
So happy she almost lost the mana she’d been using to cover Poforens’ mouth.
“See! This is a masterpiece that even the Grand Duke would be more than satisfied with!”
“Hmph! You say nothing and only make a loud fuss. Did you boil a firecracker or something?”
“I didn’t say nothing! Ugh!”
“Be quiet.”
With a single glance, Ilya silenced Poforens and then looked at Ethan.
“Ahem! So I can continue staying here?”
“Yes. But don’t decorate the room too much.”
“…?”
A question mark appeared in Ilya’s eyes. Was she about to be treated as a guest again? Her heart sank.
“I don’t plan to stay long.”
“Do you mean you’ll move your residence?”
“Probably.”
After taking the Itun Viscounty, he would live in the viscount’s manor.
At this, Ilya brightened as if recalling something and asked,
“Then what about my help…”
“It’s unnecessary. I can manage on my own.”
So there was no reason to drag an 8th circle mage around, making the rounds spreading rumors.
“Is that so.”
At that, Ilya lowered her head gloomily.
Everyone attached to the territory was diligently handling their duties.
Silvia, who had guided her here, was no exception—busy handling tasks all day. The same was true for Grand Duchess Elena and administrator Praxian.
But Ilya was different.
Perhaps because she was introduced as a guest invited from the Tower of Magic, no one assigned her work.
Thus, she had enjoyed feeling useful taking on tasks Ethan gave her these past two days. But now, that work was completely finished.
‘What… should I do?’
As she agonized, Ethan said,
“The tasks you’ll take on are improving and developing items. You’ll implement the ideas I share with you. Want to try?”
“Yeah!”
Ilya’s eyes sparkled in response.
With fixed work, maybe she could finally blend in with them.
“Try making this.”
Ethan handed her a sheet of paper.
There were items whose crafting methods were known, like herbal potions, but also those whose recipes were unknown, only their approximate ingredients and effects.
Ilya’s new job was to realize such items.
After reviewing the ingredients and effects, Ilya nodded.
“I’ll restore it as soon as possible!”
“Good. Thanks for your efforts.”
Exhaling through her nose, Ilya left the study with Poforens.
It had already been two days since Poforens had been crafting the items.
In the meantime, the blacksmith and the merchant guild had departed for the Royal Road.
‘The seed has been sown.’
Ethan had drawn up the draft, and Silvia was coordinating the details to plan the advance into the Royal Road. Now the outcome there depended on Marquis Bloten.
Ethan summoned Silvia.
“Is everything here tidied up?”
“Yes. Even if we take over the Itun Viscounty, we’re prepared to restore order within a few days.”
“Preparations?”
“The Knights have already gathered.”
The Itun Viscounty.
This time, when moving there, the plan was to bring the Knights along.
A viscounty drew many eyes, so mere misinformation would only have limited effect.
Almost forty knights had gathered this time.
From the Barony of Kargas,
And also from the Barony of Romenton.
They had recruited all the knights available in these two regions.
Ethan and Silvia, armed with the newly acquired equipment, climbed onto the carriage. Around them, forty knights rode on horseback, guarding them without a gap.
Leading them was Manhattan, commander of the Kargas Barony’s knights.
“Let’s depart.”
“Yes. Everyone, move out!”
The knights began advancing toward the Itun Viscounty.
Two days later, they crossed the borders of the viscounty.
There were a small town and a medium-sized city that was practically the viscounty’s capital.
The Itun Viscounty held a total of two cities.
Their destination was the medium-sized city, Demorian, effectively the viscounty’s capital.
After a diligent ride, they finally faced the city.
High walls soared into the sky, guarded by city soldiers.
Certainly, a medium-sized city was on a completely different level from a small town.
The knights approached the city gates.
The appearance of more than forty knights caused a commotion at the gate. Who could have brought such a sizable force?
After a brief moment of confusion, the defenders at the walls widened their eyes at the banner raised by the knights.
“Ah… The Ardan Ducal House?”
The Ardan Ducal House!
A flame embroidered in gold thread blazed fiercely on the banner.
“The Grand Duke of the Ardan Ducal House has arrived! Open the gates!”
At these words, the captain of the outer defenses rolled his eyes in disbelief.
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