‘The faction seemed small back then.’
The number of Black Mages had clearly increased while I was away. Support must have come from their headquarters.
‘I would have just left, but…’
I thought as I moved, tracking the scent I had previously scattered. Letting them gnaw away at the Duke’s Household of Jisert was one option, but these Black Mages were far too sluggish. For people who claimed they wanted to conquer the world, they were doing nothing but bickering with underworld thugs. Their scale was pathetic.
‘I should help them grow.’
An enemy’s confusion was my gain. I moved quickly and soon reached the Black Mages’ territory.
‘As expected, reinforcements have arrived.’
The mana I felt inside was considerable. There were three 4th Class mages and over ten who were 3rd Class or below. Furthermore…
‘5th Class!’
One of them possessed five circles. It was a circle so hidden that I wouldn’t have sensed it if I were a pure mage. To be at the 5th Class… it was a level that could even earn one the title of Count. Even though this was a ducal fief, I hadn’t expected this much power to be stationed here.
‘They say Black Mages grow strong quickly. Hmm…’
I had worried it might be difficult if I stoked the chaos only for the Black Mages to be wiped out too soon. But with this much strength, it seemed I could cause trouble without any reservations.
“An explosion is the best way to start!”
*Whoosh—*
I immediately stirred my mana. Sensing the flow of mana, the Black Mages inside began to move busily. Before they could even grasp the situation, I consumed over half of my mana.
“**[Fire Blast]**!”
*Boom!*
I gifted them a massive explosion.
*Rumble. Creak—*
Cracks spread like spiderwebs across the building where the Black Mages were hiding, and it immediately began to collapse. A significant amount of dust billowed into the air. The bewildered Black Mages finally revealed themselves.
“Who are you?!”
“Shall I say I’m just a passerby? Oh, look at that. Detection won’t work on me.”
*Bang!*
I had disguised myself before coming here. As long as I wore the **[Illusion Mask]**, no one would recognize me. Not even with detection magic.
*Shhh—*
I simply used my Neigong to resist their attempts.
“How dare you! You dare interfere with our great plan!”
“What do you mean ‘how dare I’? You’re the ones who dared to enter our Duke’s Household of Jisert.”
Muttering complete nonsense, I chanted a spell.
‘I should keep my martial arts to a minimum here.’
It was better to act like a mage from start to finish. If I used Mugong, they might immediately recognize my signature techniques.
‘There’s no need to suppress them.’
For now, all I needed was to be flashy.
“Fireball! Fire Arrow! Fire Arrow!”
*Whoosh— Boom!*
I fired magic in every direction. I made it look as if mages were having a grand duel here. I made it as flashy as possible!
“Block it! I said block it! Armor!”
“Let darkness descend upon this place!”
“No! Don’t use dark mana!”
‘Heh. Let’s see how far this goes.’
My goal was to force the Black Mages to reveal as much of their power as possible. That way…
‘Duke Jisert will realize there are Black Mages in his territory.’
The Duke’s household and the Black Mages would tear each other apart. There was no reason for me to deal with all the Black Mages with my own hands. This was truly the pinnacle of using an enemy to strike an enemy.
I didn’t hold back, relentlessly firing magic into the air. Sometimes I just blasted it into the sky—making sure everyone could see!
“Magic Arrow!”
“Hold!”
“Charm! Curse in Poison!”
The mages fired magic back at me like madmen. Occasionally, quite lethal curses flew my way.
‘Still too weak.’
‘Could I be satisfied with just this?’ I grinned.
“You need to show more.”
*Whoosh!*
I raised my mana to its maximum.
“Shield!”
“Barrier!”
Expecting a massive attack from the surge of mana, the Black Mages began to layer defensive spells. On the other hand, they also prepared offensive magic.
‘It’s useless.’
However, the spell I was about to cast with all my mana wasn’t an offensive one.
“May everything that moves within the imagination be instilled in reality! **[Illusion]**!”
I poured all my mana into creating a fantasy.
*Flash!*
The mana poured out. It was a high-level 4th Class spell designed to create and implant illusions! The targets of this magic were…
“Aargh! What’s happening?!”
“R-Run away!”
There were quite a few people from the Giseot Fief here, even though it was daytime, having come out after being startled by the sudden explosion. Since I was putting on a show, weren’t there enough spectators?
I implanted a single illusion into their minds.
‘I should apply my knowledge at a time like this.’
My head was full of information about Black Mages. The illusion I created was…
– Black magic shall overturn the world!
– S-Skeletons! Undead!
It was an army of the dead raised by Black Mages and the endless black magic they poured out.
“A B-Black Mage!”
“Black Mages have appeared!”
At the mention of Black Mages, everyone was struck with terror. The fear spread in an instant. And sometimes, fear…
‘Gets carved firmly into the memory.’
It became a memory that could never be forgotten.
“B-Block them!”
“Too late.”
The Black Mages, who had been preparing to defend against an attack, were a beat behind. The terrifying thing about illusion magic was…
‘Once it starts taking root in the mind, it’s hard to stop.’
Once it was cast, it couldn’t be blocked. No matter how skilled a Black Mage was, they didn’t have the talent to unravel an illusion spell cast on so many people!
Thanks to my antics, the news that Black Mages had appeared in the Giseot Fief spread rapidly. Perhaps the commotion grew too large to ignore.
“Over there!”
“Stop them! Speed up!”
The Guard Corps and Knights of the Duke’s Household of Jisert began to rush toward the scene. The way they charged in, fully armed, was no ordinary sight.
Until then, I had been scuffling with the Black Mages. The moment I confirmed the guards were close…
“You Black Mage lords who want to conquer the world… Good luck with your efforts.”
*Snap!*
I immediately used Gyeong-gong. Combined with my mana, my speed increased so much that…
“Where did he go?!”
Even the Black Mages facing me right in front of their eyes lost sight of me. The commotion I had caused turned into a massive whirlpool.
“Capture them! They are the ones who bring harm to the world! Do not let them escape!”
“There! They’re running away! Urgh!”
The ones left clashing in the wake of my escape were two factions: the Black Mages and the Guard Corps that had been hastily assembled. Although the Knight Order was present, the Black Mages were beyond average.
I, who could perform the eccentric feat of dodging magic left and right, had found it easy to deal with them, but it was different for the guards. The Black Mages, no longer hiding their power and revealing it in earnest, were strong.
“…Dark Arrow!”
“Summon Undead!”
They possessed powerful strength. Knowing their identities had been exposed because of the ruckus I caused, they were certainly ferocious.
“Block them! And break through! Poison Cloud!”
*Whoosh!*
A cloud of death was generated, covering the surrounding area.
*Skreeee—*
*Crunch—*
Those who inhaled the cloud and died rose again to attack their former allies. The resulting mess was inflicting terrible damage on both sides. The Black Mages were definitely the stronger side.
“Now!”
Having created a breakthrough by firing all sorts of magic, they shouted.
“Let’s go!”
“Don’t let them escape!”
Using a gap created by the 5th Class Black Mage, they quickly fled.
‘As expected. Their talent for running away is no joke.’
Black Mages were people who had moved to avoid the continent’s persecution for a long time. They were wanderers who didn’t even truly belong to the five Magic Towers. Thus, the moment they began to hide their presence…
“We lost them!”
“Where on earth did they go?! They were right in front of us!”
They succeeded in vanishing in an instant. The frustrated Knight Order slumped down with hollow eyes.
“Report to the Duke. Black Mages have appeared in the fief.”
“Yes, sir!”
They moved to clean up the situation and report, but to anyone watching, they looked no different from a defeated army. Once this story reached the Duke, the person in charge might not escape punishment.
Things had escalated quite a bit. Even the Duke would find it difficult to quiet things down easily.
‘The residents of the fief will be anxious.’
A sacrifice would be needed to quell the rumors. Ideally, he would have to find the Black Mages who caused the disturbance. That alone would give Duke Jisert quite a headache.
“This is indeed a perfect success in using an enemy to strike an enemy.”
I was watching every single scene, recording it all in my mind.
At times like this, it was only polite to leave. Duke Jisert hadn’t even allowed the over 1,000 people from our land to enter the Holy City anyway. Only I had slipped away for a moment to meet Panchi. And in just a few hours, I had caused this massive uproar.
‘If I stay here, I’ll just get caught in the crossfire.’
As soon as I returned to the group, I ordered them to pack their bags immediately. Everyone seemed surprised, wondering what was happening, but no one was slow in packing. Even while curious, they readied themselves.
Panchi watched them for a moment, bowed to me, and then quietly slipped away. Only a few people were tactless enough to come find me.
“Are you leaving already?”
“It seems it will be difficult to stay in the Giseot Fief for long. There’s been a disturbance.”
“A disturbance?”
“Yes. I heard Black Mages have appeared.”
“…”
“Black Mages all of a sudden…”
It was just Sir Asard, the knight.
‘That’s good.’
While explaining to Asard, I caught a glimpse of Arne. I wanted to see if she had heard anything. Fortunately, I hadn’t been gone long.
‘She hasn’t fully caught on.’
Though she looked suspicious about the fact that a disturbance had occurred, she couldn’t entirely suspect me. She simply couldn’t imagine that I would cause such an uproar in that short amount of time.
“Trouble seems to follow you wherever you go, Young Master. Isn’t that strange?”
“I suppose it’s just my fate to carry work with me. So let’s go quickly. Before more things happen.”
I ignored her suspicious expression and quickly prepared to depart. The preparations to move again were finished in a flash.
“Let’s move!”
***
A short while after we left, knights and soldiers began to pop out everywhere in the Holy City of the Giseot Fief, searching the surroundings. Leaving that sight behind, I thought to myself.
‘I wonder how much this will escalate. I’ll have to meet Ident once.’
I gauged how the aftermath would be handled. What would Ident say if he knew I had used an enemy to create chaos for another enemy? He would probably look at me with quite a weary gaze and say…
“Young Master… how about going into intelligence work altogether? You have a natural gift for it!”
He might try to lure me with such nonsense. Ever since we worked together once, he had been looking at me with a rather subtle gaze. As if he wanted us to work together.
My answer was always a refusal. But if he heard this news, he might become even more earnest.
‘I hate getting tired. Let’s see. I’m curious to see how far this will go.’
Feeling a secret sense of satisfaction, we left the Duke’s Household of Jisert and headed straight for our land. We weren’t fast, but we were steady.
And soon.
“You’ve returned.”
I was able to return to the Spiritual Land where my Father welcomed me.
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