Ludger recalled his first meeting with Aileen.
Running into her in a deserted alley was truly a coincidence. He had thought there would be no one around, so when someone suddenly appeared from around the corner, he ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) had been more startled than he expected.
‘It was because of the artifact that erased her presence.’
Normally, he would have sensed someone approaching. Since he hadn’t, his first thought was that she might be a bounty hunter trying to grab him.
But the moment he saw the color of her hair and her beauty revealed beneath the faint moonlight, he realized that wasn’t the case.
That chance encounter grew into a connection, and before he knew it, it had led them all the way here.
“Doesn’t this feel familiar?”
As if she had been thinking the same thing, Aileen spoke with a smile.
Ludger nodded.
“The retainers are going to be quite shocked. Unlike back then, you’re in a position now where you can’t move so freely.”
“They’ll just accept it by now. No matter how much they nag, it’s not like I’d listen.”
She said something shameless as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Then again, who would dare to openly object to the Emperor’s actions?
“If you had summoned me, I would have gone straight to the Imperial Palace.”
“Sometimes, even I want to get some fresh air. No matter how vast and magnificent the Imperial Palace is, if one stays cooped up inside it all the time, it becomes meaningless. An Emperor, after all, ought to see with their own eyes how the people live.”
“Be that as it may, what is the reason you called for me? I doubt you went so far as to come in person just to ask whether I’m doing well as a teacher.”
She hadn’t simply sent for him—she had personally come out to meet him.
Which meant this was an important matter that needed to be discussed quietly, somewhere beyond the reach of others’ eyes.
“Hans. Do you know anything about this?”
At the sound of Ludger calling that name, he sensed a slight flinch from deeper inside the kitchen.
Moments later, Hans emerged with an awkward expression.
“Uh... hm. You knew?”
“You’re the one using crows to keep tabs on me in the first place. Well, I don’t particularly have anything to say about you working together with her.”
From the moment Aileen had shown Hans consideration, Ludger had expected this much.
Hans’s information-gathering abilities were second to none.
The only one who could even compare was Sedina Roschen—but she was the current queen of the Elven Kingdom.
For Aileen, Hans was effectively the only capable talent she could use freely on a personal level.
“If that’s not enough, should I bring up the story of the other informant as well?”
At those words, Hans flinched slightly, while interest flickered in Aileen’s eyes.
It seemed she was expecting him to figure it out on his own, so with a small sigh, Ludger snapped his fingers.
Immediately, a shadow coalesced in midair—and from it, a single person was spat out.
“Kyaa!”
With a cute scream, an elf with long ears tumbled onto the floor, landing hard on her backside.
It was Elmarra Foarle, a member of Seorn’s Special Class and one of the students attending Ludger’s lectures.
Clutching her aching backside, Elmarra looked up at Ludger, eyes widening in shock.
She clearly had no idea why she had been dragged here.
“No matter what, infiltrating an informant like this while she’s still a student... What exactly are you plotting now?”
But Ludger wasn’t fooled by that display.
He had already seen through the fact that Elmarra Foarle was one of Aileen’s informants, someone tied to the Imperial side.
At his certainty, Elmarra swallowed hard, her expression screaming, ‘How did you know?’
“Ahahaha. As expected, it’s not easy to deceive you.”
Aileen laughed and readily admitted it.
“Well, don’t nag her too much. For someone in her position, this sort of thing is necessary.”
“I understand your standpoint, but I didn’t expect you to go as far as Seorn.”
“Precisely because it’s Seorn, we need to pay even closer attention. It may be within the Empire’s territory, but it’s an organization separate from the Empire itself.”
On top of that, the current headmaster of Seorn, Elisa Willow, was not only formidable in magic but also exceptionally skilled in politics.
An independent institution that trained mages in complete defiance of any external pressure.
It wasn’t just the Exilion Empire—even distant foreign nations had no choice but to keep a sharp eye on its movements.
“Still, it’s surprising. Of all things, to send an elf as an informant.”
“That child is sharper than she looks.”
Ludger nodded in agreement.
Elmarra Foarle. During the first class, she had seemed to be lazily sleeping out of boredom—but Ludger knew better.
Even while asleep, her senses were constantly and carefully monitoring her surroundings.
‘Her entry into the Special Class was probably coincidence rather than something deliberately aimed for.’
Elmarra Foarle was an elf with exceptional talent.
That was why Aileen had placed her as an informant.
The fact that she ended up in his class was purely accidental.
And so, Ludger had no intention of pursuing the matter any further.
“In another sense, you’re impressive. Bringing in an elf as an informant.”
“Elves are changing as well. They’re no longer as closed-off as they used to be. They’re trying to communicate with the outside more actively.”
Elmarra was one of the figures who represented that change.
Though, admittedly, the fact that her role was as an imperial spy was somewhat awkward.
“More importantly, I’m curious why you called me here, even bringing along such capable informants.”
Ludger sensed that this was no ordinary matter.
Aileen could handle most issues with a mere flick of her finger.
The Empire’s authority had grown even stronger than before.
If the current Emperor, standing at its very pinnacle, issued an order, there would be countless loyal subjects willing to leap even into a pit of hell without hesitation.
And yet, the fact that she had summoned him through Hans meant—
‘Something has happened that even her loyal servants can’t deal with.’
To be honest, Ludger had no obligation to respond to this summons.
He was no longer Heathcliff. The Demon King was dead. What stood here now was Ludger Cherish, a teacher at Seorn.
He was free to do as he pleased.
Even if someone summoned him in secret, there was no reason he had to care.
But because the one who called for him was Aileen, he answered.
It wasn’t because of any debt of gratitude.
It was true that Aileen had publicly announced the execution of the Demon King while secretly sparing Ludger’s life.
But thanks to Ludger, Aileen had also been able to preserve the Imperial authority during the Holy War.
‘There’s no debt left between the two of us.’
Still, human relationships didn’t always run on such cold calculations.
Sometimes, even when there was no benefit, one chose to lend a hand anyway.
“Do you know about Hyperborea?”
Ludger recalled where he had heard that word before.
Right—he had definitely come across it in a book.
“An unknown continent where an ancient civilization is said to have existed.”
The kind of rumor—or legend—that one often heard.
This world was still filled with the unknown; far more remained undiscovered than revealed.
There were places untouched by human footsteps as well—like Atlantis or El Dorado.
“Indeed. A place so obscure that hardly anyone knows of it, scarcely even appearing in fairy tales.”
“The fact that you’ve brought it up now means you’ve discovered something.”
A mysterious continent that even curiosity-seekers wouldn’t casually mention.
For its name to come from the current Emperor’s mouth meant that, credibility aside, it wasn’t something to dismiss outright.
“Is it related to the eastern continent beyond the Giant’s Spine?”
After Lumenis vanished, people had begun flocking endlessly to the massive mountain range known as the Giant’s Spine.
The reason was the discovery of a new frontier route leading to the other side—beyond which stretched an unknown continent.
The Eastern Continent.
A place bearing traces of monsters that had vanished in the distant past.
At the same time, news spread that people lived there as well, igniting a fervent longing for a new world.
Perhaps Hyperborea lay somewhere on that eastern continent.
That was his thought—but Aileen shook her head, denying his guess.
“No. It’s different from that. If it were the continent beyond the Spine, our intelligence wouldn’t have reached it yet.”
“Then that means it’s within this continent’s sphere of influence.”
“Yes. How much do you know about Hyperborea?”
“I only know that traces of an ancient civilization remain there. Ah—there’s one more thing. It’s also the final destination of the 6th-circle mage Lexuror.”
Lexuror.
The mage who first reorganized 6th-circle magic and inscribed his own name upon that tier.
A great mage whose name would be etched into history.
At the same time, he was a romantic adventurer who never stopped exploring toward the ends of the world.
To seek out the hidden unknowns of the world, Lexuror wandered the continent without rest.
The last place he headed toward was the distant northern seas of the northern continent.
He set sail across the savage northern waters—and never returned.
Many stories were told about his fate.
Some said his ship was wrecked by the brutal waves of the northern sea, killing him.
Others claimed he reached a new continent beyond the northern sea—Hyperborea.
“Most people think he drifted in the northern sea and died. I believed that too when I was younger. But according to recent reports, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
Aileen gestured toward Hans with her chin.
Hans cleared his throat.
“Ahem. I’ll explain. Not long ago, we received a report that several schools on Isla Machina had organized an expedition.”
“From Isla Machina?”
Isla Machina.
A massive mechanical island drifting across the ocean.
At the same time, it was the stronghold of the New Mage Tower and a gathering place for countless schools.
“That’s right. The mages and black mages there were moving in great haste, as if they’d found something. So we closely monitored their movements and found that most of them were heading toward the northern sea.”
Also known as the Heavenly Sea.
So named because it was said to be an endless expanse of sea and sky, without a single island in sight.
“The fact that mages from the New Mage Tower are heading to such a place means there must be something compelling enough to move them.”
“Exactly. So after gathering information from various other sources, it seems they’ve found something.”
Isla Machina was an island that drifted according to the flow of ocean currents.
It followed a periodically fixed route.
“Three years ago, right after the Holy War ended, there were brief but widespread abnormal weather phenomena across the continent. They weren’t especially devastating and vanished quickly, but Isla Machina was affected at the time.”
It was said that an unimaginably massive storm had raged across the sea.
No matter that it was Isla Machina, it couldn’t confront such a colossal storm head-on.
On top of that, Isla Machina was still partially unrepaired due to the incident involving First Order Nicolai.
To avoid the storm, Isla Machina had to deviate from its usual sea route.
That was the first link in the chain of this incident.
“It seems that’s when they discovered it. Beyond the Heavenly Sea they thought was empty—there was a new continent.”
“The discovery of a new continent, huh.”
There already existed the eastern continent beyond the Spine, previously unknown.
So discovering another new continent wasn’t all that shocking in itself.
And yet, the fact that Aileen was paying such close attention meant—
“What’s there?”
“A relic.”
The one who answered was Aileen.
“As is often the case, there are relics that accompany ancient civilizations. And it seems that those with ill intentions are already heading there.”
“Those with ill intentions?”
“The world may have regained peace, but conflict and strife still exist everywhere. The sparks of unrest are no different.”
Though Lumenis’s suppression had been lifted, that didn’t mean people suddenly started getting along.
If anything, there had been a backlash from all that pent-up repression.
People were clashing as they struggled with their reclaimed freedom.
“As you know, brother, the Demon King’s followers are among them.”
Those who worshipped the Demon King.
No sane person would revere the mastermind behind the Holy War that plunged the continent into terror.
But if everyone in the world were sane, wars wouldn’t exist in history to begin with.
“The Liberation Army still exists as well. And remnants of the Bretus Theocracy remain. There are also secretive black mage groups committing dangerous acts.”
“They’re all dangerous.”
“Indeed. And those people have caught the scent of the relic that exists in Hyperborea.”
Relics—artifacts that could be called products of a super-ancient civilization.
That was the general understanding.
But Ludger knew the true nature of some particularly exceptional relics.
‘They are items created by gods.’
If relics truly existed in a place called Hyperborea—
And if, in the faintest possibility, one of those relics contained divine power—
‘Then whoever obtains it...’
Would gain tremendous power.