Chapter 121: The Hearing (2)
Honestly, Eugene’s fuse had snapped. That was why he had said such things. Still, he had no intention to swear, no matter the circumstance…
‘No, isn’t this better?’
It seemed like since Eugene was the one who mentioned an oath first, they didn’t mention it anymore. Basically, he had justified his own actions. He had sworn to tell them and then talked about Sienna out of the blue because he just didn’t want to hear Conrell’s babbling anymore.
He had acted on impulse, but it appeared to be very effective. The name ‘Wise Sienna’ meant a lot in Aroth. Besides, the wizards attending this hearing all had Akron passes and they were Archwizards who had been using Witch Craft for dozens of years.
Therefore, they could never look down upon Sienna. Everyone here was an Archwizard, but there wasn’t a single one of them who created their own magic at a level even close to Witch Craft.
Aside from the Head of the Wizard Guild, Edgard, the six wizards were at the Eighth Circle. They knew how high and sturdy the wall to the Ninth Circle was. Even if they spent their remaining time trying to reach the Ninth Circle, there was no guarantee that they would be able to. Not to mention…the Wise Sienna may have surpassed the Ninth Circle by now! In other words, Sienna was a mystery to the wizards. She was at a level that other wizards could never reach. They could never put Sienna in the same sentence as themselves, and that was why they instinctively feared her.
“…Drowning…” Balzac spoke. He chuckled as he stroked his chin. “Lady Sienna is more than capable of doing such things.”
“…Black Tower Master.” Conrell turned back to Balzac with a pale face.
“I’m just saying that Sir Eugene is not exaggerating. Actually, it wouldn’t take Lady Sienna to do so…even I can sink the Abram palace to the bottom of the lake.”
“…”
“If I can, that means all other tower masters can. On top of that, Lady Sienna is a supreme wizard, overwhelmingly more powerful than we are. Even 200 years ago, no tower master at the time was better than Lady Sienna.” Balzac was speaking without a single doubt. “If Lady Sienna returns to Aroth and tries to drown Abram palace…Haha, whoever could block Lady Sienna’s magic? I sure can’t.”
Balzac dramatically raised his two hands.
“…It would be impossible to stop her even if all tower masters gathered their forces,” the Blue Tower Master, Hiridus, murmured as he stroked his beard.
“I completely agree with the Black Tower Master. I’m a wizard before I’m the master of the Blue Tower. I have heard legends of Lady Sienna ever since I was a little kid. I still deeply respect Lady Sienna.”
“….”
“I don’t wish to resist Lady Sienna’s wrath. If she appears because she’s angry, then I will instantly kiss the ground and beg for forgiveness.”
“…What are…?”
Dumfounded, Conrell shook his head. He wasn’t a wizard, so he couldn’t understand the tower masters.
“To explain it in easy terms, Conrell,” Melkith began to speak, grinning. “Creating something is tricky and bothersome. I’m not sure if you have a talent for carpentry, but let’s say you are making a chair or…a desk.”
“…What are you talking about so suddenly?”
“Be quiet and listen. If you are going to make a chair and a desk, it will take a long time. Creating something is usually annoying and requires time. But destroying it? It’s very easy, it’s not so difficult to destroy something that has been already created. You can just throw it against the wall or smash it with a hammer.”
Conrell understood what Melkith was saying.
“200 years ago, didn’t Lady Sienna build the Abram palace in a week? She collapsed the ground to build a lake, move the palace on top of it, and put many spells in place. But she wouldn’t need a week to destroy the palace. She’d need… what, an hour at most?”
Conrell’s face turned pale. Now, he finally understood the Tower Masters’ source of fear that had been a mystery to him before.
“Boom.” Melkith dramatically mimicked the sound.
Her voice was small, but Conrell’s shoulder flinched. “That’s how the palace sinks. Who can stop her? I agree with the Black and Blue Tower Masters. If Lady Sienna wishes to do so, I won’t stop her. I’m going to run far away, but not that far away. I’m going to watch the whole thing, and if Lady Sienna seems less angry…hehe. I’m going to quietly approach her and hand her a cold drink.”
“Are you seriously…!” Conrell raised his tone in anger.
“If you really want to stop Lady Sienna, then ask the court wizard to stop her, not us,” Melkith mockingly continued.
Conrell quietly turned his head to Trempel, but Trempel’s face crumpled into a frown.
“…Ahem…” Conrell cleared his throat.
Honein tried to calm down and wake up from this shock. He held his breath a couple of times, took a deep breath, and looked at Eugene. “...Did Lady Sienna really say so?”
“I swore, didn’t I? I did not lie, Your Highness,” Eugene answered.
“…Why did she say such a thing?”
“There are many reasons, but I can only tell you one. The wizards in Aroth do not respect Lady Sienna.”
“Respect?” Conrell abruptly interrupted them.“What in the world are you talking about? For 200 years, Aroth has done nothing but respect Lady Sienna! We built a plaza and named it after her. We managed her mansion and built so many statues of her! Do you think that’s it? We altered all educational curricula in Aroth’s school so children can learn to respect Lady Sienna…”
“You have been using the plaza and the mansion as a tourist spot.”
“…That is…”
“Besides, the Aroth wizards have been abusing the familiar that Lady Sienna left for a long time. You are seriously not going to say dissecting the familiar wasn’t abuse, are you?”
“That…was…inevitable for the development of magic and locating Lady Sienna…” Conrell stuttered.
“Yes, please save that for the furious Lady Sienna who will appear later. Anyhow, Lady Sienna handed Akasha over to me, and she requested me to take care of the familiar.”
“…What did you say?”
Aside from Lovellian and Trempel, no one knew this. Eugene dramatically lifted his Cloak of Darkness.
“Did Lady Sienna really say she’s going to drown Abram because she’s furious about my treatment?” As if she waited for this, Mer stuck her head out. She looked up at Eugene with sparkling eyes, feeling touched and excited at the same time.
“Yeah. Do you know how angry Lady Sienna got when I talked about you? I’m not bullshitting, I almost ran away because I was so scared,” Eugene answered.
“How could you distort the truth!” Conrell raised an outcry.
When he did, Mer swiftly turned her head at the outcry. “Distort the truth? Hey, you old man! You are the one who’s distorting the truth! I am right here! I, the living witness and subject of the abuse! How can you spout this kind of bullshit?!”
“Hmmph…!”
“Did you bring out the familiar of Witch Craft? How? No… is it okay to do that?” Honein urgently asked. Witch Craft was the center of the Hall of Sienna and the most valuable treasure in Akron. He didn’t mind if it was Akasha, a staff that couldn’t be used, but he could never overlook the loss of Witch Craft.
“Yes, it’s okay. I only brought out Mer. Witch Craft is still in there.”
“But… the familiar…” Honein fumbled.
“All Mer did in the Hall of Lady Sienna was wait until the elevator door opened and say, ‘Welcome to the Hall of Wise Sienna!’, right?” Eugene spoke as if it wasn’t big of a deal.
However, Mer puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. Fidgeting inside the cloak, Mer pinched Eugene’s waist. “Wrong. I do a lot of other stuff. I clean, organize the bookshelf, and…”
“Other familiars without intelligence can do that too. It doesn’t have to be you. Don’t interrupt me and go back inside.”
“You are trash, Sir Eugene.” Pouting in frustration, Mer went back inside the cloak.
“Anyhow, I brought Akasha and Mer out because it was Lady Sienna’s wish. She personally requested me to have Akasha, how could I say no to that? It will also be disrespectful to Lady Sienna to hand over her gift without her permission,” Eugene said.
Although he didn’t say it directly, everyone in this hearing knew what Eugene was talking about. No matter what kind of excuse they used, taking away Akasha from Eugene meant disrespecting the Wise Sienna.
“…So, Lady Sienna is alive. That’s fortunate news,” Balzac spoke.
Out of all people, Balzac was saying something like that? Everyone’s eyes turned to him.
In spite of everyone’s blatant stare, Balzac simply grinned and shrugged. “I’m not implying anything else. I respect Lady Sienna as a fellow wizard. There are still some people who doubt the Black Wizards and the Demon King of Incarceration… Sir Eugene, would you please unveil the truth about her seclusion here?”
‘Wow.’ Eugene stared at Balzac. Vermouth had hurt her, so she had to seclude herself. The reason she wasn’t able to recover was the attack of the Black Dragon Raizakia. Maybe the Demon King of Incarceration was behind all that. However, Sienna didn’t mention who could possibly be behind all this. Could Eugene interrogate Balzac for this? That was too risky.
“…Lady Sienna secluded herself to cultivate.”
‘I will just answer it vaguely,’ Eugene thought.
“Another reason for her seclusion was to protect the elves from the demonic disease, since Helmuth isn’t taking any responsibility for it.”
“Haha…” Balzac smiled bitterly and shook his head. “I have to stay neutral regarding the demonic disease. Still, please keep this in mind. To take the responsibility for the demonic disease, the Demon King of Incarceration is bestowing a lot of charity to the elves who naturalized to Helmuth.”
“That’s none of my business.” Eugene showed a twisted smile.
“…I understand your situation,” Honein began to speak after deep thought, with mixed emotions on his face. “First, I believe everyone in the Magic Kingdom of Aroth will be happy to hear that Lady Sienna is alive. Even if Lady Sienna is furious with Aroth…I…as the Crown Prince of Aroth…I will be welcoming Lady Sienna’s return.”
“Even if Lady Sienna tries to sink the palace?” Melkith mischievously asked.
Shuddering, Conrell glared at Melkith, but Honein unhesitatingly nodded.
“I believe Lady Sienna’s wrath is valid. Even if it was done hundreds of years ago, it is true that the Aroth wizards abused Lady Sienna’s familiar.”
“…But…Your Highness. No matter how much Lady Sienna is revered in Aroth, threatening the royal family…” Conrell murmured.
“We still have to take responsibility,” Honein continued as he glared at Conrell. “Or what, are you going to summon the entire court wizards to fight against Lady Sienna? If we do so, wouldn’t countless wizards take Lady Sienna’s side? Right now, three out of five tower masters just stated that they won’t be participating, didn’t they?”
“Four, actually,” Lovellian spoke after staying quiet all this time. “I think it’s unnecessary to even say this, but I consider myself as Lady Sienna’s disciple. I will never go against Lady Sienna. I think it also applies to the Green Tower Master.”
Jeneric didn’t answer, but just glared at Eugene with fiery eyes. Eugene read blatant and intense jealousy from his fiery eyes.
“…Then we will have to exclude everyone from the towers in this fight. Lord Edgard, how about the Wizard Guild?” Honein asked.
“…If the royal family wishes so…I will provide support. However, I cannot force the wizards in the Guild, Your Highness. Please understand that,” Edgard answered.
“Of course. The Guild isn’t an army.”
“How could the people of Aroth..!” Conrell’s fists trembled in anger, but no one tried to change their mind after hearing Conrell.
“…Don’t delude yourself, Prime Minister. Aroth has no intention to wage war against Lady Sienna. Even Lady Sienna wouldn’t want that,” Honein continued, sighing. “I desperately hope that an apology from the royal family will be enough to calm Lady Sienna’s anger down…Lord Eugene, what do you think? Do you think Lady Sienna will really sink Abram into the water?”
Eugene thought about Sienna’s personality. He would expect no less of her.
“If I put in a good word, she won’t sink the palace. Maybe she will just tear down the palace walls a little bit…” Eugene trailed off.
“Aroth won’t claim the ownership of Akasha,” Honein answered as he nodded. “Of course, we will also be guaranteeing the freedom of Lady Sienna’s familiar. To prove our sincerity… we will grant the familiar a citizen card.”
“That is also unprecedented,” Melkith interrupted as she chuckled. “A familiar with a citizen card… Ah, no offense. I’m just amazed, since this is unprecedented.”
“Do you wish for anything else?” Honein asked.
Honein’s thoughts jumbled. From the start, Honein had figured that it was impossible to take Akasha away from Eugene. If Honein stubbornly persisted, then he would really be burning the bridge to Eugene.
Honein desired Eugene’s allegiance very much. He had even promised Eugene the seat of the Chief Court Wizard. The promise was made verbally, but he was really going to honor it. That wasn’t all — he had even promised Eugene to show him the second volume of Witch Craft, which was being kept by the Aroth royal family. That was the best treatment that the king of Aroth could offer to a wizard.
‘… I was going to gain his favor by derailing the hearing and handing over Akasha, ’ Honein thought.
Ever since the Wise Sienna was brought up, the hearing was no longer about interrogating Eugene. Instead, they were the ones tiptoeing around him.
‘…No, since Lady Sienna handed Akasha over to him…Things were bound to turn out this way.’
Still, the tide overwhelmingly turned in Eugene’s favor after he mentioned how Sienna was going to knock over Aroth herself. Honein genuinely believed it was really fortunate that it was he who was attending this hearing instead of his father.
In the end, two things were set in stone: the Kingdom of Aroth did not want a war against the Wise Sienna, and the kingdom had to tiptoe around one young wizard. They were both things that a king could never admit to.
“…Let’s wrap it up.” Feeling mixed emotions, Honein stood up from his seat.
Conrell was way past feeling conflicted, his whole face was miserably contorted. He really didn’t want to accept the result. This wasn’t a hearing, nor was it an interrogation. Normally, in cases like this, the participants had an in-depth conversation, considered their interests, and prioritized their country’s profits. That was why he, the prime minister, had come.
But what was this? This was just a quarrel between children. They were just retreating because the other side was bigger and stronger…
‘…But that is the nature of politics.’
With a crumpled face, Conrell sighed. He wasn’t a wizard, but he had to admit it. The Wise Sienna had secluded herself 200 years ago, and if she was still alive and had become stronger…one kingdom wouldn’t be enough to handle her.
‘...Interesting , ’ thought Eugene. He liked when problems solved themselves, but he felt a bit bitter. ‘No, well … Sienna is worth the respect. ’
She was the greatest wizard in history. She was one of the five people who killed three of the Demon Kings 300 years ago. Eugene knew Sienna well, so he didn’t really feel nervous around her. However, ‘the Wise Sienna’ was a legend just by and of herself for the wizards of the later generations. They couldn’t even imagine going against her.
‘Then what about me?’
The Stupid Hamel.
‘This is all because I have ‘stupid’ in front of my name. Damn it, Sienna. Couldn’t you find a better word than ‘stupid’? The Strongest Hamel, The Absolute Hamel, The Asura Hamel…’
When Hamel swung his sword as he shouted ‘Asura Rampage!’, he would really become a demon. But then, Molon’s assessment of Asura Rampage came to Eugene’s mind, and the Hamel Style also…
The Strongest Hamel’s Lightning Counter. The Absolute Hamel’s Dead End. The Asura Hamel’s Asura Rampage…
Eugene couldn’t take it anymore and slapped himself hard.
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