Chapter 179

Kwaang!

The sound of an explosion coming from the Ministry of Magic. Beric, who had been running ahead, abruptly stopped, causing Akorella to slam her nose into him. She straightened her glasses and shouted in annoyance.

“That hurts! What is it?!”

“Seems something happened at the Ministry of Magic.”

“Of course, since Mariv took his soldiers there! The same shit will happen at the Third Imperial Palace soon, so hurry up and move.”

“Damn it. I shouldn’t have come along. Will Ian be okay alone?”

At Beric’s mumbling, Akorella let out a scoff. None other than the minister of the Ministry of Magic, Ian Hielo. Ian Hielo, who appeared like a comet and secured the 4th rank in the great Bariel Empire!

“Who’s worrying about whom? And what do you mean, coming along? A is A and B is B! You were ordered to be my escort.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“By the way, you there. Do you know her? She’s been getting on my nerves for a while now.”

“Her? Herrr?! I am Akorella! The commander of the Mana Stone Management Department!”

“Even so, isn’t your master Ian? Same as me?”

“Both of you, please be quiet for a moment!”

Tommy, who had been observing the front from the air, couldn’t stand it and scolded them. Yap yap yap. He had expected it to some degree since it was a combination of mad dogs, but it was more tiring than he thought. The thick smoke already made it difficult to secure visibility, and yet they were disturbing his mind like this.

“It seems there’s a fire near the Third Imperial Palace. Even if we ignore the soldiers, didn’t you say we’re supposed to bring back a painting? We should hurry so the fire doesn’t spread to it.”

“It’s not chatter, it’s establishing discipline!”

Akorella shouted again, but Beric just stuck out his tongue and ran towards the Third Imperial Palace. To be precise, he was chasing Tommy’s shadow.

Clack clack!

“Tommy! How’s the Ministry of Magic side?”

“Can’t see well from here.”

Half of the Ministry of Magic was obscured by the portal slicing through the sky. Judging from the sound of the explosion, something had definitely happened, but Tommy barely swallowed a sigh and looked back at the devastated scene.

‘Just one day.’

In fact, the flow had started from midnight, so it hadn’t even been 24 hours. How could he not have known that the product of hundreds of years of history could be destroyed so futilely?

Did Mariv and Gale even realize what they were doing now?

“Beric. I see Mariv’s soldiers over there.”

“Kill them and go?”

“No. I think we’ll arrive first. You’ll have a hard time leaving with the painting.”

Tommy noticed the banners of Mariv’s approaching soldiers and informed him. Instead of answering, Beric swung his black sword and put more strength into his strides.

Clang!

“Come along! You beasts!”

If it weren’t for Akorella’s shout, he could have run even faster. As soon as she reached the Third Imperial Palace, she collapsed on the floor and dryly heaved. Wasn’t it too harsh an exercise for a researcher who mostly lived in a lab?

“Urk.”

“Ah, gross. He said we only need to bring one painting, right? Come on, pick one. There’s so many.”

Building maps, geometric wall decorations, a portrait of someone who seemed to be in charge of the Third Imperial Palace, flower paintings lined up next to large windows, and others. Paintings produced by the hands of artists hung everywhere the eye could see.

Akorella wiped her mouth and muttered.

“It won’t be something like that.”

“Then?”

“Not long after the liqui-stone was exported, paintings with mana stones became a trend among high-ranking nobles. The imperial family must have deliberately led the trend to hide His Majesty the Emperor’s secret passageway.”

Then it would be faster to find what the high-ranking nobles enjoyed.

“Probabilistically, it’s likely to be a painting that’s as large, extravagant, and gives a sacred feeling as possible. For now, I’ll go that way and check the paintings one by one, so Beric, you go the opposite way and bring back similar paintings. Tommy. You protect me.”

It was an order to minimize time as much as possible. At Akorella’s words, Beric immediately ran to the left corridor and shouted.

“This way?!”

“Yeah. Tear them off and pile them up here.”

Clack clack!

Watching his back disappear like the wind, Akorella opened her mana. As her entire body’s senses heated up sensitively, her expression naturally frowned. Her head felt dizzy, as if she would throw up again.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

“Will you be able to distinguish the liqui-stone? Even if it’s mixed in, it’ll be a tiny amount, and above all, it’ll be troublesome if it’s mixed with other low-grade mana stones.”

She pushed up her glasses, which had left marks due to Beric, and smiled slightly. She was curious about that too.

“Let’s see. Hehe.”

Mana stones that she touched, felt, and tasted every day. She even felt like she was testing her half-life of laboratory work. As she let out a low laugh, Tommy flinched and stepped back.

‘…That laugh, it’s the one when experimenting potions on mages.’

Just as he was contemplating switching places with Beric, Beric was running through the corridor, roughly scanning the paintings he passed by. Large, extravagant, and revered…

“Huh?”

At the end of the corridor, a painting that easily surpassed a person’s height suddenly caught his eye. The sight of a dozen angels smiling brightly. Beric folded his arms and let out a groan of contemplation.

“Hmm. This one’s too big.”

How do I carry it? No, that’s not it. I can carry it if I want to. I just have to work two or three times harder than when I carried Dilaina.

“Pass!”

Anyway, I only need to bring one painting. Beric shouted decisively and turned his body. At the same time, the angel’s eyes moved again.

“No!”

As Beric suddenly turned around, it stopped right there. Whatever it was thinking, it had its mouth shut.

“If I bring back a huge one, they’ll give me more meat for the hard work!”

Beric approached the painting again, grinning. He reached out to tear it off, but felt something strange.

“…?”

It was a very short time.

Just a few seconds.

But for some reason, he couldn’t figure out why it seemed like something had changed. Beric frowned and took a step back.

Was it because of his pure perspective that knew nothing? Rather than assigning meaning and interpreting, he simply saw things as they were.

“Oh!”

All the angels were looking down at him, or more precisely, at the viewer, and smiling. Except for one angel on the left.

As if he had an epiphany, Beric snapped his fingers.

“Why are this one’s eyes like that?”

Beric approached closely and examined the angel’s face. Its eyes…

‘Blink?’

Blinked! Short and fast, as if losing a staring contest! Beric, too startled, unconsciously shouted and struck the angel’s face.

“Aaaaargh!”

Kwaang!

“…Shit. Shit, what the, what’s.”

“Beric! Beric! What happened?”

Tommy, who heard the commotion, came running first. Beric, who rarely turned pale, panted and looked at Tommy.

“What’s wrong?”

“The painting, its eyes moved!”

“What?”

“They moved, I’m telling you! It just blinked!”

“That’s nonsense…”

Clack clack!

“Tommy! I told you to protect me!”

Akorella came running after him, a work the size of her upper body tucked under her arm. As if to make her effort in bringing it pointless, she threw the small one away and approached the angel painting.

Zing. Zing.

And summoning her mana more strongly, she searched for traces of liqui-stone. The power of mana stones felt through a sixth sense beyond the five senses. Akorella rubbed her face against the painting, not hiding her excitement.

“Ahahaha! This is it! This! Definitely liqui-stone!”

“Th-That one?”

“Absolutely. As told by my 10 years as a rookie in the Mana Stone Management Department, 3 years as a vice-captain, and 5 years as a commander! 210 grams of liqui-stone, 15 grams of alatum, 150 grams of coridosia…!”

Tommy pushed Akorella aside and took down the painting. The alloy frame alone would weigh at least a dozen kilograms, so he and Beric held it tightly from the front and back.

“If you’re certain, let’s go without wasting time. Beric, hold on tight.”

“Alright! Let’s fickin’ go!”

“…It’s pitching in.”

The three carefully, but as quickly as possible, left the Third Imperial Palace.

As they came outside, the nearby fire had spread in the meantime, and a pungent smell wafted over. Akorella straightened her glasses and looked up at the sky.

“Why isn’t there a portal?”

“Huh?”

At her question, the two men also raised their heads. The sky was clear and blue. There was no trace of a black moon. Beric frowned as if he didn’t understand.

“Where did the black moon go? Does it usually disappear this fast?”

“…Either it was activated, or the magic circle disappeared.”

The perplexity was thick in Tommy’s voice as he said that. Whether it was the former or the latter, it was clear that something had happened to the mages.

“W-We can go back to the Ministry of Magic building, right? If the portal is operating, the mages have evacuated en masse, and if the magic circle is gone, they’re all-“

Akorella covered her mouth, realizing how terrible her words were. In an instant, Beric let go of the painting he was holding and grabbed his sword.

Shaa.

Mana drawn from the lower abdomen without hesitation. A purple aura swirled around the black sword.

“Beric! No! If something happened to the mages, we might be their last chance!”

Akorella grabbed him urgently, but Beric calmly brushed off her hand.

What use was knowing that? The last chance or whatever, that value was also established under Ian’s judgment.

What Beric had to do was save his master.

“I’m going ahead.”

Clang!

“There they are! Over there, the mages!”

“Catch them! You can kill them!”

Clack clack!

Just then, Mariv’s soldiers spotted the three and came running. In the brief moment Akorella reflexively spread a barrier, Beric swung his sword and jumped into their ranks.

Slash!

Kwajik!

“Aargh!”

“Don’t back down! There’s only one opponent!”

“Crazy, aargh! Spare me! My eyes! My eyes!”

“A mage knight? Maintain formation!”

“Attack simultaneously! All at once!”

“Waaargh!”

It wasn’t swordsmanship. It was just slaughter. Indiscriminately stabbing his sword into the faces and necks not covered by armor, he unleashed attacks solely aimed at killing.

If there was a slight difference from usual, it was that Beric wasn’t enjoying it.

“I’m busy, so-!”

Thump!

“I’ll kill you all.”

Even Tommy and Akorella couldn’t get close to Beric. Regardless of friend or foe, he had the momentum of wanting to break everything that bothered him.

Slash!

“Haa, haa…”

“Urk!”

The soldiers saw their comrades being torn to shreds and fled. Beric hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should chase after them, but he grabbed his black sword and ran towards the Ministry of Magic again.

“Ah shit, what if Ian really died?”

“Why would Sir Ian die? He’s practically the only person who can solve the current situation!”

“I don’t know! I’m really going ahead first!”

“You bastard! Bring the painting! Argh!”

Akorella threw a punch at the back of Beric’s head. But Beric vanished in an instant, and only the groans of dying soldiers filled the vicinity.

“As if a person with a crazy bastard like that as a subordinate would die. Ugh, idiot.”

She had no choice but to grab the edge of the painting instead of Beric. Not only was it large, but the weight was indeed tremendous.

“Tommy, any magic that could be used to move this?”

“Transportation is Nakina’s responsibility. Shall I try it?”

“…Forget it. It’ll be troublesome if the mana stone reacts and causes problems. Haa. I’ll try lifting it. One, two, three! Oof!”

Akorella scowled and shook her hands. The Ministry of Magic looked particularly far today, even though the palace was already vast.

The moment Akorella took a laborious step…

Tak.

Someone grabbed her arm.

“Gasp!”

“Step away from Commander Akorella, Your Highness!”

In a state that perfectly suited the expression ‘he survived,’ quite a mess. It was Gale.