Chapter 55: Hio and the Strained One

A crimson scythe hovered before his neck.

Even more vivid than that was the Death God’s eyes, burning red as they stared straight into Hio’s.

“…Why is this happening….?”

Meeting that gaze, Hio slowly raised both his arms.

As if to calm the situation.

“Seems like you have a grievance, don’t you?”

“So, why…?”

You need to have done something for it to complain.

This was the first time he had summoned the Death God since the last war.

Because the atmosphere in the Imperial Palace was unsettled, he had hesitated to use the summoning skill with its strict usage restrictions.

The warning written at the end of the Death God Summon skill:

「Caution. The Death God’s scythe shows no mercy even to the summoner.」

But somehow… it felt too merciful for that.

If something was truly wrong, wouldn’t the scythe have swung the moment it appeared?

It had been over a minute since it just stood there quietly.

Wasn’t it almost like it was protesting, as if saying ‘I’m dissatisfied’?

“Well… think carefully about what you did. Why would a spirit who governs death bear a grudge against you?”

“Grudge, grievance…”

No matter how much he thought, nothing came to mind immediately.

At the end of the war, it had been summoned quietly and dismissed without incident.

And since it had raised its scythe to his throat the moment it was summoned, it didn’t seem to be complaining about the current situation.

That meant it must have had some grievance all this time.

“…Could it be.”

“You’re sulking?”

The eyes that appeared without looking around, only staring at him.

It felt less like it was trying to behead him and more like it was whining.

“…Because I haven’t summoned you for a long time?”

Hio asked hopefully, glancing up at the Death God.

It flinched.

Avoiding Hio’s gaze in great distress.

“Really?”

After a moment of silence, it timidly shook its head from side to side.

“So it really is sulking.”

At those words, the Death God shook its head even more vigorously, showing clear signs of embarrassment.

“Hey now, why sulk over something like that?”

“You look scary, but your heart’s soft, huh?”

Teased by Hio, the Death God pulled out its scythe, spun around sharply, and turned sulky.

Facing away, it curled up in the corner of the room.

…What exactly is that supposed to be?

Hio was left dumbfounded, speechless from sheer disbelief.

***

The Eastern Alliance and Yohn Torno returned east.

Sylvia had proposed one of the vacant positions in the capital, but Yohn Torno rejected it without hesitation.

“It’s far too much honor.”

His lifelong devotion was to the East.

He had a life dedicated to protecting his castle and his vassals from the monsters that poured in every year.

That was why he chose to return.

“I won’t forgive my clumsy older brother, so call on me anytime and I’ll come running, Your Majesty.”

Sylvia promised to expand support for the East and sent them on their way.

The nobles, whose loyalty had been forcibly etched into their souls, followed Yohn Torno back as well.

After all, they had only ever planned to use Sylvia.

Though now they swore fealty with all their souls, it would be enough for them to do so in the East they originally ruled.

There were many talents in the capital anyway.

The date of the coronation had been set.

It would be celebrated more splendidly than ever to showcase stability to the citizens uneasy from the civil war and to the nations waiting for an opportunity.

The birth of a new Empress.

The girl who should have died had met a magician and had become the Emperor.

The knight who should have died had met a magician and had become an undying knight.

What kind of changes would this bring?

Amidst the hectic political climate, Hio was…

“Hmm… still a bit big, huh?”

Busy taming the Death God.

The Death God tilted its head at Hio.

“Try smaller.”

At Hio’s words, its size shrank further.

Once large enough to tower over Hio’s head, it was now only palm-sized.

“That’s much more manageable.”

A petite body, round red eyes, and even a scythe that looked like a toy.

It was quite adorable.

“So you’re invisible to others now?”

The Death God nodded with a strained sound.

“Then try switching to a form visible to others.”

No sooner had he said that than it suddenly grew, darkness swelling again, eyes flashing, scythe sharp as ever.

“Whoa, that’s scary. Back to the small one.”

With a strained sound, it shrank back and Hio placed it on his palm.

“So you want to be summoned more often?”

Strained sound.

“But if I summon you, I can’t use other skills.”

That was a severe penalty.

Of course, Hio had magic besides skills, but it was still too weak to make meaningful attacks.

There had to be enough merit in summoning the Death God frequently.

Strained sound.

The Death God waved its limp arms, trying to express itself.

It felt similar to Teordo’s way of communication.

Though not entirely clear, the intention came through.

Judging by the flailing arms and strained sounds, it meant something like:

“I’m very useful?”

That was the rough meaning.

The Death God eagerly nodded, or rather, strained.

“Strained one, so you can replenish my magic power too.”

Strained sound.

“And my stamina as well.”

Strained sound.

“And you bring the energy of death?”

Strained strained!

“Hmm…”

Frowning, Hio paused to think.

“This is completely…”

No matter how much he thought about it, it made no sense.

“This skill’s crazy strong.”

Strained sound!

With a proud expression, it puffed out its chest.

It deserved that pride, so Hio tapped its head with his finger.

Second Circle magic, Vampiric Touch.

A Necromancy spell that steals life force from the opponent and converts it into one’s own magic power or stamina.

However, it requires physical contact and is inefficient and time-consuming.

But what about its evolved skill, Death God Summon?

It controls all the energy within a range.

The vast range had already been confirmed during the last war.

This meant it could transfer all that energy to Hio.

For example, in a situation like the previous war, it could draw magic power from all living creatures within range and give it to Hio.

Or it could drain stamina to refill Hio’s stamina, and even fill him with the energy of death.

Of course, it couldn’t kill or attack with this energy, and if the opponent was a small number of strong foes, it wasn’t very useful.

But on a large battlefield, this was almost an invincible ability.

A debuff to the enemy and infinite magic power and stamina for Hio.

“If only I could use other skills at the same time…”

With Thunder Emperor in one hand, Azure Flame swirling in the other, and the strained one standing behind him, he could have gone wild.

The penalty was unfortunate, but it was still okay.

He had magic, after all.

He could raise his Necromancer rank to summon undead endlessly, or just spam other spells recklessly.

The more enemies, the brighter this effect shone.

In a large-scale battle like a war, with the strained one by his side, he would truly be an infinite magician.

And if he accumulated the energy of death… he might even be able to spread darkness over a wide area without needing a Magic Circle.

That was the biggest merit.

“Strained one…”

Hio’s eyes fixed on the small figure resting on his palm.

Eyes sparkling with excitement.

“You’re the best!”

The strained one nodded vigorously and gave a sly grin.

Strained sound!

***

Furnel’s tone was full of disdain as he tried to calm down Hio and the strained one.

Clack.

“What are you so happy about? You won’t be able to make use of it anyway since your magic rank is so low.”

That was a sharp point.

What good is infinite magic power and stamina if you can’t use other skills and have to rely solely on magic, but your rank is only Second Circle?

“So about that…”

Hio opened the Point Shop window.

「Remaining Points: 706pt」

“I’m going to convert all of this into magic power.”

Until now, he had tried to distribute stats evenly.

Because strength, stamina, and agility had mostly stayed at their base levels.

It would have been better to focus on magic power, but with the other stats so low, he was literally one scratch away from death.

“Of course, it’s still a gamble…”

All his stats were still near rock bottom.

The fact that anyone could kill him with a single touch hadn’t changed.

But now he had enough abilities to try something.

“It’s like pulling strength ahead early.”

The max level he could raise each stat to with the Point Shop was 500.

He needed to raise all stats anyway, but by raising magic power early, he could pull strength forward and then use that to earn more Points.

“I think I can just barely reach Third Circle.”

The magic power needed to advance each Circle more than doubled.

Even with magic power at 500, he might not reach Fifth Circle.

That meant the required magic power had grown drastically.

From Third Circle onwards, things would be different.

Although Second Circle was called Apprentice Mage, they weren’t really considered proper magicians.

The real magician status started at Third Circle.

“Second Circle is kind of… well.”

Second Circle didn’t have proper attack magic or particularly useful spells.

But from Third Circle, things changed dramatically.

This was when you were recognized as a full-fledged magician.

And from Third Circle, more places within the Tower of Mages would open.

Though the portals within the tower had changed somewhat, the fact that magicians start from Third Circle remained unchanged.

Many attractive spells were known by name alone.

Basic elemental magic first.

Fireball, Ice Ball, Wind Cutter, Stone Spike that shoots spikes from the ground…

There were many other useful spells as well.

Feather Fall to slow falling speed, Flash Bomb to detonate blinding light, Air Hammer, Fog Cloud, Burning Hands, Pain, and so on…

The quantity alone was incomparable to Second Circle.

“The problem is finding the portal to the Tower of Mages.”

The foolish master only knew Necromancer magic, so to properly learn other magic, he had to go to the tower.

…Though Necromancy had many good spells too…

“It’s inefficient. Inefficient.”

Necromancer magic required too much.

You basically needed corpses or souls to create phantoms or summon undead.

“Is there any knowledge about the Magician’s Houses in the palace?”

“I don’t know much about any Magician’s Houses besides the Necromancer Branch.”

Even if not in the palace, there were surely hidden Magician’s Houses somewhere in the capital.

Finding them would be the first task.

There were a few places he could guess.

He had roamed the capital extensively in the game to protect it.

And the second task was to meet Sirbert.

‘Wasn’t the reason he had headed to the capital to ask Sirbert various questions?’

So that was the second task.

The third task was to go to the Tower of Mages and reach full Third Circle.

These three short-term goals would suffice.

“First, then, magic power…”

Just as Hio was about to use his Points,

Knock-knock—the door opened.

“Hio Pavlenko. Sylvia, Her Majesty, requests your presence.”

***

Called upon, he went to Sylvia’s room and received an unexpected item.

“Can you really give me this?”

Inside an octagonal frame was a golden emblem engraved with the Lion Medal.

A medal symbolizing the Order of Guardian Knights.

Sylvia smiled and nodded.

“I spoke with them, and as expected, no one else but you could receive it.”

“But there’s Vitalianus and that dark knight behind you.”

“The Sword Saint refused outright, and my guard knight…”

Sylvia looked at Teordo, who was standing still behind her.

“He said such honors don’t matter to him.”

Hio chuckled lightly, seeing the Death Knight nod.

“Probably nothing will happen to me, right? So your guard knight won’t be summoned back. Right?”

“And if anything urgent comes up, summon him back and send him to me.”

“Yeah. Will do.”

“Then… I’ll keep this safe.”

Taking the Guardian Knight’s Medal and tucking it away, the familiar notification sounded.

「Achievement Unlocked! — Guardian Knight of the Emperor」

「You have earned 400 Points for this achievement」

His lips curled into a sly smile.

Now he had a whopping 1,100 Points remaining.

Enough to raise his magic stat by 110 at once.

He now had more than enough magic power to reach Third Circle.

[Imperial Palace Library! When will you finally talk about the Imperial Palace Library!]