Chapter 63
The mana train had left the Altein region, passed by the many nations of the Imperial Federation, and tracked on swiftly toward the heart of the continent.
Wended at our destination exactly three hours after we got on the train in Altein.
Weve arrived. Please disembark here.
Ravirdyne.
The capital of the Raynac Empire and also the City of Magicians.
My steps slowed to a halt as I looked around the view of the city.
Its impressive.
Exmations came out naturally.
Known as an impregnable fortress, unless one approached and saw it themselves, they would never know the overpowering pressure exuded from its high walls.
Even if those giants that existed in ancient times that were known to be huge, if they were toe here, the walls would stand indefinitely against their attacks.
And what about the river that epassed the surroundings of the walls?
While livening the beauty of the city, it also acted as a barrier that made it hard for any enemy to infiltrate it.
Compared to the grand city walls, the insides atmosphere was quite different.
Beautiful.
As the ce nicknamed the City of Magicians, the ambience of it was filled with mystery and history.
It looked cozy, but also refined.
Overall, the mood of the city was bright.
Compared to the quiet and peaceful Altein after the festival, this ce was filled with the boisterousness of life.
As I sat in the carriage traveling toward the Imperial Castle, I asked Stray Cat,
There are a lot of people here. Is there some festival going on?
No. Rather, today is a rtively quiet day.
This is?
On the days the markets open, youll see about three times the people you see here.
If I were to exaggerate a little, the number of people in the capital could probably bepared to the entire poption of the Radian Kingdom.
I was a little worried that the fast carriage would hit someone because there were so many people here.
But thankfully, the carriage safely took its assigned pathway, and the people walked around it naturally.
Are we far from the pce?
Were nearly there. Its that ce, right there.
It was expansive.
So expansive that it took 30 minutes from the drawbridge to even see the pce itself.
Since it was covered by the roofs of the buildings, I couldnt see the pce initially, but as we entered the open za, I could see it directly.
It wasnt too hard since it was the biggest and most refined building in the city.
As soon as we cross this line, were on the emperorsnd, so well need to move on the footpath from here on out.
We got off in the za, and after passing byyers of tightly guarding soldiers, we entered the interior of the pce.
Even while moving toward the inner parts of the pce, I was still in awe of my surroundings.
If the most refined building in this wide city was the pce
Then that
What was that building taller than any other here for?
The building that caught my attention, this was definitely my first time seeing it, but I could instantly guess what that ce was.
So that thats the Magic Tower.
Yes. Youre correct.
The dangerously tall building was erected in the corner of the pce gardens.
With a unique exterior that narrowed the taller it reached, it was like a sharp drill.
The sanctuary closest to the moon.
The Magicians Tower.
Between the many magic towers on the continent, this is the most prestigious tower.
Even though this tower had the shortest history between the tens of magic towers on the Frelian continent, it was the most prestigious.
Why?
Because this was the ce where the king of magicians resided.
As long as Fire King Teron lived as the magician at the boundary,Ravirdyne would continue to be the magicians capital.
Weve arrived.
After walking for a while inside the Imperial Pce, we arrived at a chamber.
Even between the mostly simr looking pce buildings, this was the one that boasted the fanciest exterior.
The Peony Pce. This is the pce of the crown prince. Everyone is waiting for you inside.
This was the ce where the crown prince, who threatened to eat me up, resided.
But wait a second.
What did you just say?
The Peony Pce. This is the pce of the crown prince.
No, after that. You said that everyone is waiting for me?
Yes.
Everyone? Hes not waiting by himself? Who is?
Then,
Thump!
The doors to the pce flung open and the inside was revealed.
Nobles.
No, even courtdies.
About 100 people were lined up on both sides.
It was as if they were waiting for me.
Please enter.
Yeah.
They were waiting for me.
And in the center of this weing crowd stood Crown Prince Chaurmetan Raynac in fancy formal clothing.
Ruin Ardell, wee
He smiled while looking at me.
To my Empire.
* * *
Click.
As soon as I set foot into the pce, the musicians started ying,
A brilliant carpet wasid out on the floor and beautiful flower petals were sprinkled over it.
As I walked past them, the courtdies bowed one by one and weed me.
This was quite an impressive wee, to the point where I felt embarrassed to even walk between them.
So, I had to ask,
Was this all prepared for me?
Seems you have a habit for asking questions. Yeah. Do you have any other questions?
No. Well, how do I say this? I felt this wee was too much.
Even if the Grand Festival was a hugepetition, it was still just apetition between students.
I thought that this wee was too much for a winner of a studentpetition.
But the crown prince only furrowed his brows, not understanding what I meant.
Whats too much? This is honestly a smaller scale wee for the magician who won the Grand Festival.
Sure.
The crown prince, neither any of the people gathered here.
None of them thought this was out of the ordinary.
Everyone in the Empire does it like this.
Maybe it was the scale of the Empire
The difference between the world of the Ardell territory I lived in and the world of the Raynac Empire was too much.
You have proven yourself worthy of being weed by me, so stop acting so countrified and ept it.
Saying Im countrified.
That was quite the harsh thing to say.
In any case, as the grand wee event finished, the crown prince gestured with his finger.
It meant for everyone to get out, and following his gesture, everyone in the pce quickly left us.
Lets take a walk.
Ok.
As the crown prince walked in front, the doors opened automatically, and the garden in the interior of the Peony Pce was revealed.
On the walls of the gardens, ivy vines blossomed their flowers to signal theing of summer.
Seeing this, the crown prince spoke.
Around this time in the pce, the ivy vines and gloxinia be prevalent. Rosemary in autumn and the scent of begonia takes over in winter. And when springes around again, deep-yellow peonies like these bloom again.
Why was he suddenly talking about flowers?
What did he mean by this?
Peonies represents wealth. It means that, as I stand in this Peony Pce, I hold all the power and wealth of Ravirdyne.
This must be your first time setting foot onto the maind of the Empire. How is it? Whats your impression of Ravirdyne?
I think its a beautiful ce.
Is that all?
Was there something else I was supposed to say?
As I hesitated to answer, the crown prince spoke up.
What I meant is, have your thoughts changed aftering into the pce?
Ah.
* * *
* * *
Now I understood.
Since he was talking about destroying me just a few days ago
It was this topic again.
Ill give you a chance to choose again. In this beautiful city, Ill promise a peony thatll never wither. Take my hand.
If the person wasnt the crown prince.
If they were a beautiful woman who I was engaged with, this wouldve been quite the sweet thing to hear.
But knowing his inner thoughts, in reality, this was quite the dangerous phrase.
Like this indoor garden that was artificially created for him.
I would certainly be part of the crown princes collection.
In any case, my answer was already set.
I was only hesitating on how to reject him.
To be honest, I have a flower allergy.
So now youre telling those obvious lies.
Was it too obvious? I apologize. Ill at least thankfully ept your goodwill.
Chaurmetan Raynac.
He gestured with his fingers, face soured.
At that, a servant came in holding a box.
10 thousand gold. This is the reward bestowed upon the winner of thepetition.
Ah, thank you. Ill ept it gratefully.
If youre ever needing something, you cane to find me. As long as I remain in Ravirdyne, the Peony will always be in bloom.
A threat.
And now, was he trying to reconcile using money?
I couldnt fully understand why the crown prince, who had everything in the world, would act like this toward me.
If its this much, I think I can use it my entire life and still have some left over.
The money was enough, so I would never have a reason to step foot in here again.
Well,
Do you really think so?
Money is like water. After it starts spilling, it never stops.
The crown prince seemed to have not given up on me yet.
* * *
Has your conversation concluded?
Yes.
Then, well take you to the Magic Tower. The tower master is waiting for you.
As soon as the schedule with the crown prince ended, I was called straight to my next destination.
The crown prince, then the king of magicians.
These people that were hard to see even once in your life
I was able to go see them both in the same day.
I suddenly thought that my life had gone through quite a change.
Seems all the people who live in the pce have good physiques.
What do you mean by that?
They have to move around this wide ce every day.
I felt a little bit of respect toward them, these people who constantly ran around the pce.
But Stray Cat was a man who didnt know what a joke was.
Lets stop with the nonsense.
Ok.
Since it was forbidden to ride a horse in the Imperial Pce, we were still walking.
As soon as we arrived directly in front of the Magicians Tower that looked tall from far away
I cant see the top.
I truly felt how tall it was as I couldnt even see the top.
Yeah.
I would be able to select an artifact from here.
And also select the mission I would be undertaking.
As Stray Cat was activating the mana gate that led into the magic tower, he asked me something.
So, have you selected your mission?
The mission.
I had only checked the list of missions on the mana train.
I hadnt answered his question about what mission I chose.
However, I finished my selection.
I thought back to the suggestion Straang gave me before.
Yes. Ive selected one.
What did you select?
Its Search.
Search?
Search
Search and reconnaissance on a region that hadnt been or couldnt be developed.
Between the five types of missions on the list, the one that was unique in how it was the only mission to have a 5-star difficulty rating,
Search.
Stray Cats eyebrows flinched for an instant at my answer, and for the first time since we met, he asked me a rather personal question.
Is there a reason that you selected the most difficult mission?
Hm. Just because. It looked fun.
Im getting curious. Just what would the tower master say to you?
Yeah.
I was also curious.
The region I needed to search that was written on the list
**Sky Mountain Summit**
**Area Entry Forbidden**
Sky Mountain Summit.
This was the region that Draka lived in for 100 years, and also thend of the ancient ogres.
The homnd of Kingram.