A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special

‘I’d heard that it was amazing, but I didn’t know it would be this good.’

With his mouth agape, Desir’s eye darted around the room, his composure was like that of a child entering a candy shop.

In front of him was an immeasurable number of artifacts that filled every corner.

The countless artifacts were a testament to the immense number of Shadow Worlds that the Hebrion Empire had cleared over the centuries of its existence. And they were also testament to their power as a nation.

Desir approached slowly and began to look around.

There were many different types of artifacts including weapons, armor, accessories and many others that couldn’t be classified so simply. Each of the artifacts were marked with their name, performance, and grade.

‘They’re all at least B-Tier artifacts… … ’

Desir could not see any C-Tier artifacts. The majority were B-Tier, and occasionally he would spot an A-Tier artifact as well.

Desir was not necessarily someone greedy for wealth, but even he couldn’t help being interested after seeing many artifacts that he had only heard about from rumors.

“His Majesty lends up to three of the imperial family’s artifacts to members of the Royal Guard.”

Desir gulped audibly. He came to understand how much of a boon being in the Royal Guard was.

“Are there no limits to their usage?”

“Of course. How you use them will be up to you, Sir Desir.”

Desir walked around the warehouse as he started picking out his artifacts.

Only three artifacts could be taken out.

With an expression more serious than even his fight against Raphaello, Desir carefully checked each artifact.

As he was examining them, one caught his attention.

It was a hairpin with blue petals.

* * *

Grade: A-Tier

Ability: Allows the use of invisibility magic that removes the user’s presence.

Blocks the flow of mana to nullify detection magic.

* * *

Desir picked it up with no hesitation after reading its ability.

‘This would be pretty good for Romantica.’

Desir planned on giving the artifact to Romantica. If he was free to use the artifacts any way he wanted to, there was no problem in letting his party members use them.

As Desir was examining another artifact, Alfred helped him choose by giving him supplementary explanations from the side.

“How about something like this? It was used by the staff of the Royal Guard during the 3rd Greenhalt War. He made great contributions as a result of it.”

Alfred’s explanations were detailed and insightful and helped form Desir’s choices.

As he was listening to Alfred’s explanations while examining the artifacts, he saw an empty space and stopped in his tracks.

* * *

Grade: S-Class

Ability: Allows the wielder to cast up to five spells in advance that can later be instantly invoked.

* * *

“… … The artifact that Crow Mask used.”

Alfred noticed what Desir was looking at and started speaking.

“It was an artifact that the previous staff of the Royal Guard used. As he was killed by the leader of the Revolutionary Army, it has since been lost.”

Desir couldn’t help but panic when he heard the story. He knew the man that was currently using the artifact.

Crow Mask.

He was one of the people suspected to have been controlling the Outsiders from the shadows.

“The revolution ended in failure and the leader died, but you were unable to retrieve it?”

“The Revolutionary Army’s forces that occupied the capital were executed, but their remnants fled to places throughout the continent. We assume that one of them is holding on to it.”

Desir had already assumed that Crow Mask was one of the Revolutionary Army’s remnants.

But this information introduced another possibility.

‘Was Icarus Quirgo, leader of the Revolutionary Army, the real identity of Crow Mask… … ?’

One of the rare Sixth-Circle magicians on this continent.

A man willing to kill countless innocents in his attack on Deltaheim, the capital of Prillecha.

Crow Mask was too strong to regard as a simple remnant. Someone like that wasn’t very common in this world after all.

‘There’s no clear evidence. However… … ’

Desir was certain.

That he, Crow Mask, was Icarus Quirgo, leader of the Revolutionary Army.

Making a mental note in his head, Desir started examining the artifacts again.

‘For now, let’s focus on this.’

Attaining high-ranking artifacts wasn’t an easy task. He couldn’t afford to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity by being distracted with other thoughts.

Desir soon found the perfect artifact amongst the sea of them. An artifact suitable for his own use.

* * *

Grade: A-Tier

Ability: Concentrates mana to quickly restore the wielder’s mana.

The ability is more effective the larger the user’s mana circle is.

* * *

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‘It’s really the perfect artifact for me.’

For Desir, who lacked mana, the artifact had an extremely useful ability. By reducing the recovery time (as opposed to increasing his mana pool), his stamina during battles would surely increase drastically.

Desir put the Mana Hole into the dimension pocket in his Clothes Lines. And as he was about to look for the next artifact.

*Rumble*

Something caught Desir’s attention.

It had significantly more security than any other artifact. Surrounding it was a strong defensive spell that ran constantly.

A ghastly red energy trickled out from the artifact. Even at a glance, he could tell it was dangerous.

He recognized its form after approaching it.

“… … a spear?”

It was a spear.

Something flowed out endlessly from the tip of the spear. Like the ghastly energy, it was red.

Unlike the other artifacts, there wasn’t a description for it.

But intuitively, he knew that it was stronger than any other artifact he had seen.

“Alfred, what in the world is this?”

“This is the Spear of Longinus. It was used by the first emperor of Hebrion. It is the only thing that can’t be taken out of this warehouse. Not even the Royal Guard is exempt from this rule.”

“Is there a reason for that?”

“This is a weapon that one man gave to the first emperor of Hebrion. According to the records, it cut the sea in half with a single blow and cleaved mountains with ease. That being so, the imperial historians say that it was bestowed to Hebrion by the God of War.”

In any case, he meant that taking it out would be impossible due to its close relationship with the foundation of the Hebrion Empire.

“… … ”

Desir gazed at the Spear of Longinus.

Even at a glance, it seemed to be swelling up with power as strong as the Center of Ice that Adjest now possessed.

‘Didn’t they also say that it was a foreign man that entrusted them with the Center of Ice?’

A man that had appeared in countless legends.

He thought it was just an embellishment to the legend that was the Center of Ice, but he didn’t expect a similar appearance of a mysterious man to present itself once again in a place like this.

‘How strange. In countless nations’ founding myths, there’s always this unknown man that entrusts an artifact into their care. To write it off as mere legends… … There are a lot of things that seem a little off about it.’

‘But what was the reason behind this?’

He knew neither the reason nor the motivation behind it. What was clear was that traces of him remained everywhere.

‘It does bother me, but… … ’

There was nothing else he could do about it right now, and he didn’t have enough additional information to work with.

He decided to move on after making mental note of it.

“I’ll look for my last artifact.”

“That’s a wise decision.”

They stepped back.

“I’ll give you some other recommendations. If you look at these shoes here… … ”

The conversation continued. As Desir got farther and farther away, the spear continued to radiate a ghastly red glow.

* * *

Hebrion Academy’s Starling Party office.

There, Romantica, Adjest, and Pram were gathered.

Romantica addressed Desir in a huffy tone.

“So, why did you call us?”

“There are some things I want to give to you.”

“Are they presents?”

Pram excitedly asked Desir. He looked up at Desir expectantly.

“Why presents all of a sudden?”

“The truth is, I recently joined the Royal Guard.”

“Wait, ‘the’ Royal Guard!?”

Romantica couldn’t hide her shock. But she wasn’t the only one. Pram’s jaw dropped so hard it practically fell off and needed to be surgically reattached.

The Royal Guard was incredibly famous. It would be no exaggeration to say that a good portion of those with a decent amount of power strived to join their ranks. However, most would eventually give up on the notion after seeing just how far short they fell of deserving such a title.

Desir gave them a brief explanation of how he became part of the Royal Guard.

The fact that the Emperor had been watching him during the war, and how that eventually led to him taking over the position of the staff that had been empty until then.

Listening to his story, the party members were all impressed with the exception of just one person.

Adjest had a particularly unusual reaction. Her eyes wavered slightly. But Desir was too busy talking to notice such a subtle detail.

“And as a Royal Guard, I had the privilege of taking some artifacts from the imperial warehouse.”

Des1r invoked the dimensional pocket of his Clothes Line.

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