Raymond put the book, which he was pretending to read, back on the bookshelf.
He felt an intense gaze behind his back.
Before he knew it, the old man with a brown robe was standing against the wall.
“Old man, do you have a lot of time to spare?”
Raymond said it indifferently, yet he couldn’t help but pay attention to the skills that the old man may have behind him.
“Now that I’m old, all I have left is time.”
The old man replied with a grin.
After turning his head and peeking at the scene, Raymond shook his head with a short sigh.
Anyway, only the Imperial Family can enter the secret room where the “Spear of Sacrifice” magic book is.
The ‘main character’ used some kind of method to destroy the restriction, but the old man, Lisefield Dior, who was now following him, didn’t know about it.
“If you have so much time left, will you teach me how to deal with Mana rather than doing nothing?”
“What did you just say?”
It was a stiff voice, but it was not unpleasant.
He was a little surprised by the unexpected words of the Fifth Prince.
‘The Fifth Prince wants me to teach him how to handle Mana? Was the rumor true?’
From the eyes of the elderly, shock, fear, and chaos are mixed.
Raymond shook his head again and gave a short sigh. He could have gotten used to the reactions of people around him, but it was not easy.
‘How an asshole have you been?….’
Suddenly, he felt like he was getting tired.
‘There’s still no answer. I just asked him to teach me how to handle mana.’
The Spear of sacrifice, unlike other magic skills, does not consume mana. So he doesn’t really have to learn how to handle Mana.
But recently, he spent a lot of time in this chamber but still couldn’t find the Spear of Sacrifice.
He can’t just go around the chamber for 24 hours without doing anything, so he just wanted to use his spare time to learn how to handle mana.
It doesn’t really matter if the old man refuses.
‘Well, there’s no way that those from the tower teaches fool people.’
There was still no answer. So he gave up cleanly and was about to start searching again.
“How did you know I was a wizard? Fifth Prince?”
His voice was quite serious.
“When I first met you, I used Invisibility magic.”
‘Why, is he asking something obvious?’
Raymond gave him a tired look as if the old man were an idiot.
“I am a talented person that deals with the art of Invisibility.”
‘Oh, I didn’t expect this.’
After maximizing his brain’s thoughts, Raymond came up with an excuse and opened his mouth.
“There was something here that smelled like mana.”
The old man had his eyes and his mouth wide open with Raymond’s answer. He looked very surprised.
“Excuse me, Your Highness the Fifth… I know you don’t practice mana, but you smelled mana in my Invisibility Magic?”
“Yes.”
‘Of course it’s a lie, but let’s just go with the flow.’
“Fifth Prince, you said you didn’t know who I was, right?”
“Is there a need to know?”
“You said you weren’t interested.”
“Should I be interested? I’m sure you are a high-ranking wizard because you used such magic…”
The old man’s face became serious.
Raymond tried to relax with an awkward smile, but……
‘Did I say something wrong?’
An uneasy thought came into his mind as he slowly raised his head. He was wondering if his bluff was found out, but the answer he heard was different from what he expected.
“I will take responsibility and teach you how to handle mana.”
The voice of the old man spoke with a serious face, he could even feel his determination.
On the contrary, Raymond was embarrassed.
‘No, what’s wrong with this old man all of a sudden?’
He didn’t know why.
“Well, yeah, thank you.”
“Do you want to start right away?”
“I thought I’d take a break, so I think it’d be good if you taught me now.”
When he nodded and answered, a smile spread around the old man’s mouth.
“Don’t laugh with that strange look, old man. I’m only going to learn the basics.”
‘I don’t want to go into the deep-rooted process and walk the path of a wizardry yet.’
Finding the Spear of sacrifice is the priority, and when it comes to Mana, learning only the basics is enough.
“Let’s do that.”
The old man replied with a grin. And from that day on, the class where he learned how to handle Mana started.
***
It is said that magicians are rare, but releasing mana was not difficult in itself.
But…
There is no such thing as releasing mana within five minutes, yet Raymond did so.
Not only the old man but also Raymond didn’t expect it.
“Um… Old man, is this mana?”
When he opened his hand, something danced as if it were shaking. The blue-colored stripe was faint, but the Mana was clear.
“What do you think? This is going to change your perception of me being a fool, right?”
Raymond said so.
His reaction was not that great.
“Well, Your Highness…!”
“Huh?”
“Gee, this mana… Did you materialize it?”
Raymond thought something was wrong with how the Old Man responded.
“This?”
When Raymond waved his hand, the blue mana danced.
The old man trembled as if he were about to collapse within a minute.
“Old man?”
But it was not a seizure. He can tell from the old man’s face.
He was smiling.
“Fifth Prince, Your Highness! Did you know how to handle Mana?”
“Oh, no… I’ve never learned anything like that…”
He spoke frankly.
The Emperor once tried to hire a magic teacher and a swordsman, but the Fifth Prince refused. So he didn’t know how to.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Eventually, the old man had a seizure. He tore up the space with his trembling hands and took out his staff.
‘The Sea Heart. If one took out the symbol of Blue Tower, is like representing the Blue Tower itself ‘
“My name is Lisefield Dior, and as you can see from this, I am from Blue Tower.”
“I didn’t know you were from the blue tower…”
This was an awkward part on Raymond’s side because he had read the book before, but Lisefield Dior didn’t have enough time to notice it.
“I was only going to help you open your Mana channel and give a few tips on how to handle it, but this old man has become greedy.”
“What greed?”
“Be my disciple.”
‘Suddenly?’
“What’s the benefit of that?”
“Me and the blue tower will stand behind the Fifth Prince.”
The master of the Blue Tower was greedy.
It’s clear now. The Fifth Prince, Raymond, turned out to be a talented fool.
* * *
‘Me and the blue tower will stand behind the Fifth Prince.’
Returning to the Fifth Prince’s Palace, Raymond recalled what Lisefield had said before.
In the novel “The Fallen Empire,” Lisefield bowed his head only after the main character found the magic book and the Spear of Sacrifice.
However, thanks to the magical talent that even Raymond himself did not anticipate, this process has been omitted considerably.
‘But… do I really need to become his disciple?’
If the Southern Magic Tower Alliance finds the lost Spear of Sacrifice, there will be support from the blue tower anyway.
‘The protagonist doesn’t have to do the annoying thing about being a disciple, right? Now that I know the existence of my talent, I have to use it.’
What if the Fifth Prince, who used to be a fool, showed better magical talent than the Third Prince? And what if the Southern Magic Tower Alliance is deprived of the Spear of Sacrifice’s power?
“The Magic Towers, which value orthodoxy, will remain in place, but the possibility of the Red Tower moving should be also considered.”
If he was supported by the blue and red towers, the third prince’s largest support base could be shaken and absorbed by him.
‘This is the best I can do now. I got to know my talent for magic. Then I should use it rather than let it rot. I was going to learn how to handle mana anyway.’
It’s just getting a little faster. He now possesses the ‘power’ to survive the event where the extermination of the Imperial Family happened.
“And I just need to learn magic to get it.”
He said it to himself casually. Learning magic will make it easier to collect ancient artifacts.
A satisfied smile spread around Raymond’s mouth. He walked calmly in front of the mirror.
As he organized his thoughts, he looked up within Raymond’s memory to recall the settings he had read before.
‘Was he a genius?’
At first, he would hide it because he didn’t have someone to back him up, and after the death of the Third Empress, he would have intentionally turned into a fool.
Fate seemed to ask questions to the Fifth Prince, who had awakened his talents again.
“Are you asking me if I can keep it?”
A smile spread around my mouth.
“Of course I can.”
***
Early in the morning, Raymond headed to the Imperial Chamber No. 7 from the Fifth Palace with his carriage.
“Have you come, Your Highness the Fifth? I’ll open the door for you.”
“Thanks, I’ll trouble you.”
Now, he is on friendly terms with the Imperial Knights, who guard the entrance door of the chamber.
The door, which had been tightly closed, opened, and Raymond entered the empty house, leaving his attendants behind.
“Here you are, Your Highness the Fifth.”
As soon as the door closed, Lisefield Dior, wearing a brown robe, appeared in the dark.
With a faint smile around his mouth, he approached Raymond and bowed his head.
“What are you going to do?” asked the old man, Lisefield.
‘Come to think of it, I haven’t given him an answer to being his student yet.’
“Let’s take a look at the chamber.”
“Okay, Your Highness the Fifth.”
Lisefield answered in a calm voice. He really does covet the talent of the Fifth Prince.
If he raises him well, he will become an excellent wizard.
He wanted to hurry him to come up with a decision, but his opponent was the last in the line of succession to the throne, and he was still from the Imperial family.
He had no choice but to endure it because he shouldn’t treat him recklessly.
‘I found it.’
A smile spread around Raymond’s mouth.
Although he didn’t find the Spear of Sacrifice, he found a book with magic tricks on it that can help him find the location of the secret room.
[There was a book on the 12th bookcase in the west, line 3, which recorded a magic trick that could detect mana flowing out of the secret room. Among the blue books, the book was an exceptionally noticeable red color.]
As described in the novel, it was a red book on the third row of bookcase number 12 in the west.
It was meaningless to find it as his Mana Channels were closed. But now he can even handle Mana.
‘If I hadn’t been able to deal with Mana, I would have done something else.’
This is one of two ways to find the secret room, assuming that he can handle Mana.
As soon as he opened the book with excitement, a magic trick appeared. It was so simple that even beginners could do it.
Raymond pretended to read the book and looked at what Lisefield Dior was doing. The old wizard was looking at the other bookshelf.
‘Now!’
He injected his mana into the book. When Lisefield Dior noticed the Mana flow he turned around, Raymond was already throwing himself toward where the white energy flowed.
‘Once I’m in the secret chamber. Lisefield will not be able to enter.’
Only the Imperial Family can enter there. From the beginning, the secret room was made with such a system.
Hansen did not want anyone who did not inherit the lineage of the Imperial family to participate in this treasure hunt.
Of course, the main character uses some sort of trick to enter the secret chamber, but Lisefield does not know the trick.
‘This is mine!’
He smiled brightly like a child. There is now the secret room in front of him.
In the middle, there was a book where the white energy flowed strongly. When he pulled it out, the door opened and a hidden space appeared. It was clear that this was the secret room left by Hansen, the Great Emperor.
It was as described in the novel. When the protagonist pulled out the book with white energy, the bookshelf split sideways and a secret passage appeared.
“The Secret Chamber…”
A smile spread around his mouth.
“Fifth Prince!”
Later, Lisefield ran with his old body, but Raymond already crossed the boundary of the passage.
Lisefield tried to follow, but the powerful wall of Mana blocked his way.
It was the barrier made by Hansen, the emperor from the Ancient Dynasty.
“I can’t destroy it?”
The barrier seemed to be crude. So he thought it could be easily destroyed, but he had no choice but to give up when he read the formula to try to destroy it.
‘It’s too sophisticated.’
Even the man named Lisefield Dior gave up destroying this.
‘By the way, how did the Fifth Prince, who is famous for being a scoundrel, get through this?’
Lisefield’s eyes were dazzled by Raymond’s silhouette, which appeared faintly beyond the boundary.
“Oh, old man, wait for me. I’ll bring you the Spear of sacrifice.”
“Hee, do you even know the Spear of sacrifice?”
Lisefield, the Master of the blue tower, felt he was going crazy.
He seems to be overwhelmed with information about the Fifth Prince, first his talent and now his knowledge.
‘So far, he has been playing a fool in a mask?’
Then the Fifth Prince was a really scary man.
While Lisefield was alone immersed in his imagination, Raymond waved his hand and walked deep into the passageway.
“Fifth Prince!”
From behind, he heard Lisefield’s desperate cry, but he ignored it lightly.
‘I’m sorry, but I didn’t mean to give up the Spear of Sacrifice at all. It is all mine now.’
Raymond couldn’t hide his excitement.
