part0003

The orb of light illuminated the various treasure stored in the Royal Sanctum. Swords, staffs, armor, shields, various accessories and jewelry that screamed ‘extremely expensive’ filled the room. For generations, this place had held the most prized possessions of the previous royals.

Looking around, Lark saw several items worthy of interest. His eyes lingered on the sword with a black blade hanging on the wall.

Noticing Lark’s gaze, the king said, “It’s one of the four named swords. The black sword, Darkmoon. I gave your brother one during the previous awarding ceremony, remember?”

Lark remembered the blue sword bestowed upon his older brother after their victory against the Empire. A sword created by the legendary dwarven blacksmith, Golgodan.

“Grandblue is currently owned by Lui Marcus. Sword Saint Alexander holds Bloodthorne,” said King Alvis. “And Darkmoon is currently being kept here in the Royal Sanctum. As for the remaining one… White Seraph’s current whereabouts is unknown. It went missing during the reign of the previous king.”

Lark stared at the black sword with interest. It was undoubtedly made of adamantite. The strongest metal in this world.

King Alvis stroked his beard as he pondered for a moment. “How about this? If you take Esmeralda as your wife, I’ll make an exception and give the last remaining named sword to you,” chuckled King Alvis. “What do you think?”

The king was really persistent.

Lark smiled wryly. “I’m not so shameless as to take both the king’s daughter and his sword.”

King Alvis laughed. “Is that so? I don’t really mind though. Tell me once you’ve changed your mind. This old man is always open for conversation, my future son-in-law.”

The king’s hearty laugh echoed in the Royal Sanctum. General Carlos awkwardly scratched his stubble.

General Carlos cleared his throat. “Your Majesty.”

“Ah, of course,” said King Alvis. “I believe the shrine over there is a perfect place to install the barrier, don’t you agree?”

At the center of the Royal Sanctum was a small shrine made of gold. It could fit only five people at most. A place once used by one of the previous kings to pray to the Gods.

The three of them entered the shrine and Lark placed the phylactery on the empty altar. He’d already altered the magic formations in the phylactery before coming to the capital. The moment the barrier was released, only humans could come and go in the capital as they pleased.

“Your Majesty, I presume that you’d also like the general to have control over this barrier?”

Seeing that the king brought only General Carlos with him, it seemed that he was the one who the king trusted the most.

“Yes. In the event that I’m unable to control the barrier,” said King Alvis. “I want you, Carlos, to control the barrier and protect the capital.”

The General bowed his head. “As you wish, Your Majesty.”

“Then, let’s start,” said Lark.

Lark touched the phylactery and slowly guided the layers upon layers of runes to spin outward. As though they had a life of their own, the runes started surrounding the king, Lark, and the general, forming three separate magic formations.

This way, only they would be able to alter the magic stored in the phylactery at will.

The barrier started expanding.

The barrier grew as though an invisible giant blew large amounts of air into it. At first, it enclosed the shrine, before expanding further and enclosing the entire Royal Sanctum.

In just a few minutes, it started covering the castle, spreading outward until it covered the whole capital.

The citizens of the capital stopped in their tracks when a translucent bubble started spreading out from the direction of the castle. Some of them panicked and tried running away from it, but upon seeing that it didn’t do anything to those it touched, they started to calm down. They watched as the translucent bubble expanded into the sky and spread far and wide, until it eventually enclosed the entire capital.

Lark lifted his hands off the phylactery. He wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead.

“The barrier should be visible outside,” said Lark. “It’ll probably be able to block a few dozen Grand Scale Magic spells before it collapses.”

The king and General Carlos were stunned.

A few dozen? If the barrier, with mithril as its medium, was this strong, then they could only begin to fathom how strong the barrier protecting the Dwarven Kingdom was. No wonder it had never been breached by its neighboring kingdoms.

“Since I won’t always be here, it’ll be better if His Majesty and the General know how to control this barrier,” said Lark. “It’s fairly easy. Your Majesty, please touch the mithril jar.”

The king placed both of his hands on the phylactery. The moment he touched the medium, King Alvis felt an indescribable sensation flow through his entire body—as if you suddenly found yourself able to control the flow of a raging river. It was a peculiar feeling.

“Once you’ve been recognized as the caster of the spell, it’s fairly easy, right?” Lark grinned.

King Alvis still couldn’t get used to the overflowing mana which followed his every command. So, this was how Lark felt after he completed the pinnacle-grade spell.

After leaving the Royal Sanctum, King Alvis immediately issued a public statement that the royal family was behind the sudden appearance of the barrier.

The citizens did not know the full details—how strong the barrier actually was and how it was created—but they’d been told that it would hinder the entry of monsters, beastmen, and other races aside from humans.

Since the barrier reached a portion of the outskirts of the capital, it greatly relieved some of the soldiers’ burden.

“You’re leaving already?” said King Alvis. “Why not stay a bit longer? Blackstone Town can wait for sure.”

He sounded like a father asking his son to stay for a couple more days.

Lark smiled politely. “I really have to go back, Your Majesty.”

King Alvis sighed. “Is that so?”

King Alvis fell silent for a moment. Eventually he said, “I see. It’s regrettable. I was hoping you’d stay for a few more days.”

King Alvis tapped the armrest of his throne several times. “I believe we’ve already given you the five thousand gold coins we discussed. As for the recruitment notice, I’ve already tasked several messengers to go to various territories of the kingdom. Although there might be some backlash, since we’ll be encroaching on other nobles’ domain, it’s nothing you should be worried about. It’s not like we’re stripping them of their titles. We’re merely recruiting more people.”

The king laughed heartily. Judging by his mischievous expression, it seemed that he planned on issuing more recruitment notices in lands owned by the anti-royal faction.

Lark smiled as he looked at the scheming face of the king. It was great that King Alvis had really recovered his health. He even had the spare energy to make jokes every now and then.

After leaving the king’s castle, Lark immediately went back to the inn where his disciples were staying.

They had packed their belongings already, ready to move out at any time. A familiar face was among them. She carried a small bag. Lark stared at her quizzically.

“What?” she asked.

“What brings you here, Princess?” Lark said carefully.

“You’re going back to Blackstone Town, right?”

It suddenly occurred to Lark that he had seen her personal knights standing outside the inn.

“Are you perhaps… coming with us?”

“Isn’t that obvious?” The princess frowned. “I’ve spoken with Father already and he agreed.”

It did not make sense. She’d achieved her goal of curing her father, after all. Lark expected to part ways with her here. He expected her to stay here in the capital after His Majesty had been healed.

“But His Majesty’s been healed,” said Lark.

“We told you before, didn’t we? We came to Blackstone Town for the cultural exchange training,” said the princess.

Lark was stunned to hear the stupid-sounding pretext once again. It was amazing that she managed to blurt it out without flinching.

“I don’t plan on breaking that promise,” she added. “As I told you before, we’ll stay for at least a year.”

Austen and George looked at each other and grinned. The brothers seemed pleased that the princess was staying with them. Judging by their faces, they would have jumped for joy and cheered if there had been no one there to see them.

Lark rubbed his forehead. It seemed that he’d underestimated King Alvis. He must have spoken with the princess before sending her here.

What a persistent old man.

“Hey, I know you’re not happy with me being here, but can you at least pretend to be?” The princess pouted, her cheeks flushed after Lark’s reaction to her words.

“Don’t mind the Young Master, Princess!” said George. “He’s young, but he has the heart of an old man. He can’t appreciate beauty when he sees it! We’re all happy that you’ll be staying at Blackstone Town!”

George started spouting nonsense. But judging by the princess’ face, it seemed to be surprisingly effective. The princess smiled broadly and said, “Is that so?”

She smiled at Lark with a ‘Did you hear that?’ look.

Lark sighed. Since this was approved by His Majesty himself, there was nothing Lark could do about it.

“Alright. I understand.” Lark conceded. “I know that you have your knights with you, but, Princess, please make sure to stick close to my disciples during your journey to Blackstone Town. Especially Anandra. You should be safe as long as he’s around.”

Anandra was strong enough to overpower even a leader of Black Midas. As long as he didn’t encounter an opponent on General Alvaren’s caliber, the princess should be safe with him around.

“What do you mean?” The princess shot Lark a quizzical gaze.

It sounded as though Lark was not coming with them on their journey back to Blackstone Town. Even his disciples, especially George, Austen and Chryselle, were baffled at this statement.

“There’s somewhere I need to go,” said Lark. He did not elaborate further.

“Can I entrust the princess to you? It’d be a real pain if something were to happen to her on her way to Blackstone Town.”

The other disciples weren’t sure if Anandra was already aware of Lark’s plan, since his expression didn’t change even after Lark declared that he wouldn’t be accompanying them back to Blackstone Town. He wore his usual cold, stoic gaze.

“Of course, My Lord. Please leave it to me.” Anandra bowed. “I’ll eagerly await your return. Please have a safe journey.”

Anandra was really starting to sound like an old man as time went by. Once again, his image overlapped with Gaston’s.

“You’re leaving? You’re not coming with us back to the town?” said Chryselle.

“I’m simply making a detour,” corrected Lark.

“Can you at least tell us where you’re going?” said Chryselle.

Lark fell silent. He planned on going straight to the Forbidden Region after this. But if he told them the truth, they might try to stop him from going to such a dangerous place. Or worse, they might insist on coming with him.

Lark had heard from Lady Ropianna how dangerous the Forbidden Region was. If a Scylla was really guarding the treasure room where the Sword of Morpheus was being kept, it’d be impossible for the current Lark to protect everyone. Just surviving an encounter would be hard enough.

The best course of action was to go there alone.

“I can’t tell you the specifics and I can’t tell you the destination, sorry.”

Chryselle bit her lip. “I see.”

Seeing her crestfallen face, Lark smiled softly. He placed a hand on her head and gently ruffled her hair.

Chryselle’s eyes slowly widened and she froze. She hadn’t expected Lark to do that. Especially in front of other people.

“It’s fine,” said Lark. “I’ll be sure to come back straight after.”

Lark looked up. There were still several hours before dusk, but the air was already freezing cold. Very soon, winter would arrive.