“Is that your acquaintance who came to find the corpse?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’m sorry. If you’re here to recover the body, feel free.”
“······.”
A shabby hotel.
The footsteps that entered the room froze as if they were stuck.
A pale-skinned man was hanging from the ceiling by his neck.
With a *screech* that sent shivers down the spine, the corpse turned to reveal its face.
“Ha······.”
It was just as expected.
That face was definitely that of a magician.
Trembling with a gasp, Tiltitz approached as if enchanted, stepping on a chair to untie the rope around his neck.
As the corpse fell with a *thud*, Tiltitz hurriedly checked for a pulse.
There was no sign of life on that cold skin.
He wasn’t breathing.
There was no heartbeat either.
Every indication showed that this corpse had been dead for quite some time.
Could it have been someone who just looked like him?
Tiltitz touched his chest in hope and connected to the withered internal circuits that had already died.
It was an incredibly complex and vast circuit for a human.
In the core of it, traces of the Majin’s Authority remained.
There was no doubt.
This corpse was that of a Majin, a magician.
“They said there were still three years left······.”
Tiltitz’s body trembled.
The magician had definitely said he had three years left to live.
It hadn’t even been three months since then.
What on earth happened?
“Who are you?”
Tiltitz’s eyes sparkled with intensity.
A Majin couldn’t die just from hanging.
Even if they wanted to die, their own weight wouldn’t be enough to suffocate them.
The magician wouldn’t have committed suicide.
That meant someone had assassinated the magician and disguised it as a suicide.
Could some lowly human race kill a magician?
It might be possible.
If they brought a flashy weapon like the Annihilation Cannon.
The problem was that this rural village had been quiet for a month, with no signs of commotion.
There was no one who could silently and discreetly assassinate a Majin.
Except for other Majins.
“What a bastard.”
Tiltitz gritted his teeth.
The most suspicious one was undoubtedly the Madman.
That guy attacks indiscriminately if there’s a spark of trouble, whether it’s a Majin or anyone else.
If the magician had lost part of his powers, he might not have been able to resist.
Next in suspicion was the Traveler.
His whereabouts had been completely unknown for centuries.
And Alexia······ I didn’t want to suspect her that much.
She was the one who noticed that the magician would soon die and even convened a Majin meeting to relay the news.
If Alexia was the culprit, Tiltitz felt his heart shatter and questioned whether he’d want to live anymore.
“The hunt has begun.”
His fists clenched instinctively.
One Majin was hunting another.
To erase all Majins from this world, to gather their powers in one place.
Someone was realizing a thought he had briefly dismissed in his mind long ago.
“I must stop this fratricide.”
Now there were only four Majins left in this world.
Only four relatives sharing the same agony.
He couldn’t let anyone die anymore.
No matter what, he had to prevent this hunting between Majins.
But how?
That question tormented Tiltitz constantly.
How would he stop it?
Would he gather all Majins together and have them stay in one building?
Such a thing was impossible.
Majins inherently dislike being close to one another.
Then would he visit each one and ask them questions?
Ask if they had done the killing?
Using the Majin’s superhuman visual acuity to detect the slight changes in facial muscles to catch lies would be a decent method.
Unless the opponent was a Majin who could completely control their emotions.
Thus, no peaceful method existed to prevent Majin hunting.
The only remaining option was to use fear and force to clamp it down.
For that, a prerequisite was needed.
No other force that could threaten Tiltitz should exist besides Majins.
While trying to control Majins, there wouldn’t be any time or energy to worry about outside forces.
First, he had to neutralize all the threats directed at him before he could attempt any control over the other three Majins.
“I have no choice······.”
Weapons capable of killing Tiltitz could appear in an instant in the human realm.
There were monsters like Schlus Hainkel and Sergey, and while the Obelisk had limitations regarding location, it was powerful enough to kill even a Majin.
He had to destroy all of them.
The simplest way to achieve that flashed clearly in his mind.
Corrupt humanity through the Asylum.
Make the religion that reveres Majins as rulers destroy all lethal weapons that could target Majins.
Only then would Tiltitz be able to focus on suppressing the fratricidal incidents among Majins.
Humans are the kind that can smile at you for thousands of years and stab you in the back the moment they turn away.
While it was possible to have friendly humans, trusting them was out of the question.
“Should I break the most dangerous weapon first?”
Having made up his mind, Tiltitz picked up the magician’s corpse and rose.
For the sake of his kin’s safety, he could break a peace treaty that had lasted for thousands of years at any moment.
*
“Is it going too smoothly······?”
Things had been going surprisingly well recently.
To the point where it gave him an uneasy feeling about how well things were going.
First, Aintz, who had taken control of von Byrne, seemed to be bickering with the elders for quite a while but then quickly made a decision and made an official proclamation.
Von Byrne would absolutely obey the imperial family and actively support Schlus Hainkel.
Of course, no family would openly oppose the imperial family, but hardly any would follow them unconditionally either.
The Empire appeared to be an absolute monarchy on the surface, but the Emperor couldn’t wield the power as greatly as he wanted and had to be wary of the powerful noble families.
However, recently, the Papal Palace had completely fallen, and among the three great magical families, von Byrne was standing by my side.
As if waiting for this moment, Madam Lichtenburg also officially declared that she had already formed an alliance with me.
Only the Flechette family remained among the three great magical families, but since a secret engagement had already been formed through Iris, effectively, all three great magical families were supporting the imperial family and me unconditionally.
So, there were only a few powerful families left, such as the Duke family, Bermanshtein, and von Schulzenburg.
Bermanshtein could not turn their back on me while I was the top professor at the Imperial University, and Schulzenburg was favorable thanks to Trie.
In essence, aside from the Duke family, there were no forces left to counter the imperial family.
“Has there ever been a time when three families joined hands like this?”
“No, never. Not once since Lichtenburg was established.”
Madam Lichtenburg smiled as she sipped her tea across from me.
I had always thought of her as a woman with fierce and scary eyes, but recently, that didn’t seem to be the case anymore.
Was it because the sinister glint in her eyes had disappeared?
She was no longer trying to kill me and instead actively cooperating, which made me feel oddly drawn to her.
If the lady had no daughter, I might have thought about marrying her.
“Then what about before Lichtenburg was established?”
“What do you mean?”
“Was there ever a time when Flechette and von Byrne joined hands before Lichtenburg was established?”
“I’m not too sure about that.”
Just as I was mentally praising her beauty, her expression twisted.
I had pointed out that Lichtenburg was the last of the three great magical families to be formed.
I couldn’t say, “Why are you mad at me for your ancestors establishing their family late?”
I was the one who set up that scenario.
In a way, the lady was venting her justified irritation on me.
Anyway, it felt strange to talk formally since I usually didn’t.
And the reason I wasn’t speaking casually was obvious—
“Mother, you’re getting wrinkles.”
“Ah······.”
Because Erica was here too.
Startled, Madam Lichtenburg relaxed her expression and closed her mouth, while Erica clattered her cutlery as she cut her meat.
Aside from the times when maids came in to serve food, there wasn’t any other sound at all.
*This is so awkward.*
I had come to this dinner to thank them for announcing their alliance with me, but this situation was terribly uncomfortable.
Erica wasn’t witty, so she couldn’t lighten the mood, and neither could I.
Whether Madam Lichtenburg had the ability to do so was questionable, and she didn’t seem inclined at all.
I felt like leaving already.
I already missed Yulia, who wasn’t here.
“Why isn’t Yulia having dinner with us?”
“Ha······ That’s because······.”
“She said she doesn’t want to eat in front of you.”
“Yulia? Did she really say that?”
“Yeah.”
“······.”
That was a bit shocking.
Could it be a lie?
It must be a lie.
My mind became chaotic.
Yulia doesn’t want to eat in front of me······.
Is it that my face ruins her appetite?
Or does it make her stomach uneasy?
“Ah, she probably doesn’t dislike you. She didn’t show any sign of it at all.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. She loves going out for walks with you, Yulia. Maybe she doesn’t want to show that she’s eating messily.”
Erica hurriedly chimed in.
Did she think I was down because I just heard that from her?
No way. I wouldn’t get hurt just because an 11-year-old girl told me she didn’t like me.
I was so amused that I almost burst out laughing.
“Then ask her directly.”
“I guess I should.”
Right. What would it matter to talk about her in her absence?
Judging based only on Erica’s words would lead to unnecessary misunderstandings.
I decided to clear the confusion by talking directly to Yulia after dinner.
As I thought that and lifted my wine glass—
“*Grrk?*”
“What? What’s wrong?”
An intense mana wave pierced into my brain.
It was a code. This had to be a code assigned to Iris.
Let’s decode right away, and it came out as:
– Danger there. Get out now.
Danger?
Here? Lichtenburg Mansion?
Then where is safe?
The only place safer than here would be the Imperial Palace.
“What was that, Schlus?”
“It was Iris’s communication. She says it’s dangerous and to evacuate immediately.”
“Evacuate where?”
“To the Imperial Palace. If it’s Iris’s warning, it must be right.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes! Hurry!”
Erica’s judgment was correct.
There’s no time to hesitate.
Since Iris could see the future, whatever the danger was, we had to run without question, regardless of where we were.
Soon, it would mean a meteor crashing into Lichtenburg Mansion, or something worse.
“What about Yulia—”
“I’ll take her and evacuate. You both go first!”
“But······”
“I’m the fastest. Hurry.”
I began to push Madam Lichtenburg and Erica’s backs and started running in the opposite direction.
Soon, the sirens blared throughout the mansion, accompanied by a voice urging evacuation to the Imperial Palace.
Maids and butlers dashed out in an organized manner, but no one reached Yulia’s room before me.
“Yulia!”
“Sch, Schlus-sama?”
As I slammed the door open, a sigh of relief escaped me.
Yulia was struggling to climb onto her wheelchair in front of the bed.
Her face lit up with a relieved smile when our eyes met.
I dashed over and picked Yulia up in my arms.
This would be much faster than a wheelchair.
Just as I was about to sprint out, I spotted maids rushing in from outside.
“Your Excellency! Please leave the young lady to us and evacuate!”
“You guys evacuate first! I’ll take Yulia—”
*Boom*······!
In that moment, a loud crash echoed from behind as the stone wall shattered.
Startled, I turned around to see a purple fissure tearing through the air, consuming the wall of the room.
“Damn.”
We had to escape.
That thought occurred to me the moment I looked back at the door.
“······!”
The door had disappeared.
No, the space where the door used to be was filled with a purple crack that only reflected dark emptiness through it.
In an instant, the room was filled with purple light.
“Schlus-sama. What in the world······.”
“Just hold onto me tightly.”
I abandoned any resistance and hugged Yulia tightly to ensure I wouldn’t lose her.
If this was indeed what I thought it was, there would be no escape left.
*Boom*······!
The purple fissures that surrounded us narrowed and advanced toward us.
We were sucked into the fissures in an instant without a way to evade.
I had seen this very scene described in the original work.
At that time, I had described it as a dimensional rift.
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