Chapter 338

Chapter 338. The Imperial Delegation’s Visit (2)

Splaash!

With a heavy sound, the imperial delegation’s ship arrived at the island.

The first to step onto land was the Empire’s 2nd Prince, Arteo Kudente Cretian, the delegation’s representative.

He swept a cold gaze over the Mage Tower mages lined up to receive them.

Behind him, Inette and Gusto followed.

‘So Radel is here.’

Feigning nonchalance, Inette took in the Mage Tower’s scenery with a sharp gaze.

The towering white spire that seemed to pierce the sky.

The dense yet pure scent of mana hanging in the air.

The powerful fluctuations of barriers felt throughout the tower.

Everything was different from the Academy.

Her instincts whispered that this was a dangerous place.

She turned slightly to the side.

Gusto, the apprentice holy knight of the Supreme Deity Order, also stood quietly on guard, one hand resting on the hilt at his waist.

Beneath his expressionless face, a flicker of concern for Radel briefly surfaced.

Unlike the tense visitors, the Mage Tower mages welcomed the delegation with relaxed smiles.

At the very front of their formation stood a man with violet hair.

“Thank you for coming such a long way, Your Highness the 2nd Prince. I am Aaron Daryu, acting Mage Tower Master.”

His voice was smooth, as though coated in honey, yet it could not fully conceal the chill beneath it.

Meeting his red eyes, Arteo gauged the aura of the Mage Tower’s true power holder.

As rumored, the Mage Tower Master himself was nowhere to be seen.

“It seems the Mage Tower Master’s illness is still severe.”

At Arteo’s blunt question, a faint smile curved Aaron’s lips.

“Regrettably so. However, it is a great honor for me to welcome such esteemed guests from the imperial family in my master’s stead.”

Though he maintained a calm exterior, Aaron’s mind was racing.

This had not been his original plan.

He had intended to meet Arteo privately upon the delegation’s arrival.

Then, he would secretly reveal the existence of the 6th Prince, shake the imperial family to its core, and seize complete control of the Mage Tower.

But he was forced to revise his plans.

‘I never imagined my master would stake his life.’

Helio had wrung out the last of his remaining strength to erect a barrier around the laboratory where the 6th Prince slept.

That stubborn resistance far exceeded Aaron’s expectations.

Even if he subdued his master by force, another problem remained.

To safely remove the unstable 6th Prince from the glass cylinder, he absolutely needed that item.

The artifact his master had been researching right up until he collapsed.

An object that possessed the power to stabilize rampaging mana simply by being carried.

If he could obtain it, he could suppress the 6th Prince’s power and place him entirely under his control.

‘I need time.’

Wearing a gentle smile, Aaron made a proposal to Arteo.

“This evening, we have prepared a simple dinner for the delegation, who must be weary after the long voyage. Please rest comfortably. The formal welcoming banquet will be held on a grand scale tomorrow evening.”

Tonight, he had to find that pendant no matter what.

“Very well. Let us proceed that way.”

Arteo nodded, accepting Aaron’s proposal.

He, too, needed time to assess the Mage Tower.

‘At this point… I must have my master’s pendant.’

A face flickered through Aaron’s mind.

A foolish loser scurrying about the Mage Tower like a rat.

If it was that one—whom his master had cherished so dearly—then he surely knew the pendant’s whereabouts.

He might even already have it.

‘Armandy Stein.’

Cold killing intent settled into Aaron’s red eyes.

It seemed it was time to deal with that lost dog.

***

“The banquet has been postponed until tomorrow?”

Radel asked, frying pan still in hand.

Steam rose gently from the pancake batter browning to perfection, accompanied by the rich aroma of butter.

Compared to the satisfaction of perfectly cooked pancakes, Leviathan’s screams were nothing more than background noise.

Stir-frying vegetables, grilling thick cuts of meat, flipping sweet batter—never once did the ingredients stick to the pan.

This miraculous performance.

‘It truly is the strongest frying pan.’

Radel offered sincere thanks in his heart to his ancestor Hayden for leaving behind such a legacy.

But to think he would not get to use the frying pan any longer today.

For Radel, who had been in the middle of breaking it in, it was a deeply regrettable piece of news.

“Yes. They say Lord Aaron showed special consideration. The imperial delegation looked quite fatigued.”

Swallowing his disappointment, Radel removed the frying pan from the hearth.

“Then I will help clean up before leaving.”

“Haha, you said this was your first time in the kitchen, but you are flying through the work.”

“You cut today’s workload in half. Thank you, truly.”

Warm looks filled the senior workers’ eyes.

The newcomer was skilled and diligent alike.

Now they understood why he was called the ace of the monster dismantling yard.

They patted Radel’s shoulder in encouragement.

Radel helped wash the mountain of dishes and organize the remaining ingredients.

When everything was finished, he casually slung a massive trash sack over his shoulder from the corner of the kitchen.

“Should I throw this trash away on my way out?”

“Oh, that would be great! I was just about to do it myself.”

“No problem. I am the junior here.”

Smiling brightly and bowing politely, Radel left as the seniors saw him off with pleased expressions.

“Is this enough distance?”

The moment he reached a deserted corridor outside the kitchen, Radel set the trash sack down.

Boom!

The book tucked at his side leapt into the air, revealing its true form.

It was the Spirit of the Library.

“Khehehe, so taking out the trash was just an excuse after all!”

Radel whispered quickly.

“There is somewhere I need to stop by. Please show me the Mage Tower’s original blueprints again.”

“All of a sudden? You turn a Great Demon into a frying pan, and now where are you planning to cause trouble next?”

“I need to find the blue key.”

At Radel’s serious tone, the spirit froze.

He recalled The Book of the Great Sage Hayden had left behind.

A record stating that the key sealing the Great Demon Mammon had been brought into the Mage Tower.

That meant there was a high chance other keys—besides the one Aaron held—were hidden somewhere within the tower.

“The Mage Tower is enormous. How do you plan to find it?”

“There is a method my ancestor Hayden left behind.”

Radel took out the bundle of sealing keys from his clothes.

On his palm, six black keys gleamed like pitch-black night.

They were the keys sealing Belphegor, the Great Demon of Sloth.

“They say a completed key reveals the locations of other keys.”

Radel infused the key bundle with his mana.

Thanks to Hayden’s Standard Mana Training Method, now advanced to A-rank, the strengthened mana flowed from his fingertips.

Flaaash—!

As if it had been waiting, light burst forth from the black keys.

A beam extended outward, pointing in a single direction.

“Well now, that is convenient.”

Seeing this for the first time, the Spirit of the Library muttered awkwardly.

“Good! Let us follow the traces that swindler left behind! Wherever that light leads, there must be a key.”

“Please wait a moment. I need to prepare.”

As the spirit tried to lead the way, Radel stopped him.

He pulled out a familiar rabbit mask and put it on.

“No matter what, some things should still be concealed.”

His voice echoed low and strangely from beneath the mask.

Guided by the light, two shadows began to move silently.

***

The topmost floor of the Mage Tower.

Urgent footsteps echoed across the cold marble corridor.

Tap-tap-tap!

Armandy panted harshly as he glanced back.

In the darkness behind him, multiple magical lights flickered as they pursued him relentlessly.

“Stop right there, Armandy Stein!”

“There is nowhere left to run!”

They were mages loyal to Aaron.

He dodged their spells with desperate effort, but soon reached a dead end.

‘I let my guard down.’

Clenching his teeth, Armandy cursed himself.

Since returning to the Mage Tower, Aaron had made no obvious moves, and Armandy had grown complacent.

He had been too focused on searching for his master’s whereabouts.

In truth, Aaron had always been able to eliminate him at any time.

The Mage Tower was already Aaron’s domain.

“You should never have come back.”

“It was the only way you could have survived, you fool.”

The mages surrounded Armandy, sneering at him like a rat trapped in a cage.

One of them pointed his staff and asked,

“Where is the pendant?”

The pendant.

At that word, Armandy’s blue eyes shook violently.

“Why would you look for my master’s pendant with me?”

“After searching the entire tower and finding nothing, is it not obvious? You were the one the Mage Tower Master treasured most.”

So that was it.

His senior brother’s true objective was the pendant.

But Armandy had not even met his master yet.

‘I cannot die like this.’

Armandy made his decision.

He took out the moonstone pendant emitting a gentle glow from his clothes.

Even with countless staffs aimed at him, his voice remained unexpectedly calm.

“You want this that badly?”

At that moment—

Roll…

Something small rolled into the corridor.

It was a crumpled wad of paper.

The mages looked toward the sound in confusion.

Then, from the ceiling, something else came raining down.

“What is this?”

“Urgh! The stench of onions!”

It was the kitchen waste Radel had claimed he was throwing away.

Damp onion skins and dirt-covered potato peels mercilessly stuck to the mages’ high-quality robes.

High-ranking mages who had never encountered such filth screamed in shock.

“Ugh!”

“That is disgusting, it is slimy!”

“Who in the world did this here—!”

Vrrrr— Beep?

Amid the chaos, a massive cleaning golem appeared, following the paper rolling along the floor.

The golem stopped upon finding it.

Hiss!

A beam from the golem’s red eyes incinerated the paper without a trace.

Its task complete, the golem slowly turned its head.

Its gaze settled on the mages, now drenched head to toe in food waste, turning the corridor into utter chaos.

The single absolute command engraved in the golem’s system:

“Maintain cleanliness on the topmost floor.”

To its eyes, the mages were nothing but enormous “contaminants” that needed immediate incineration.

Shoom—!

“N-no! We are not trash—!”

“Aaaah!”

“Guh—!”

The purifying beams from the golem’s eyes erased the mages in an instant.

And through the thick smoke stood a suspicious figure with arms crossed, watching it all with satisfaction.

A rabbit mask.

Armandy stared at him blankly.

Despite the mask, it was unmistakably Radel.

At the same time, a single question surfaced in Armandy’s mind.

‘Why does that man…’

Why does he always act like such a lunatic?