The Sword and The Shadow

"High-order magus?!" Leguna exclaimed with a start.

If Marolyt was correct, the youth would've achieved that rank during his tender mid teens!

Even the current top, Annelotte, was only around the 12th stratum at that age! Was that youth Marolyt mentioned even stronger than Annelotte? From stratum alone, it seemed overwhelmingly to be the case!

"That's right, a high-order magus," Marolyt nodded solemnly, "He's the topmost genius I've ever met in my whole life. Not only was he of the 15th stratum back then, he was also a high-order fighter."

Leguna felt his scalp tingle. That sounded completely off the rails, even more so than normal horror stories. Someone around the age of sixteen being high order in both disciplines of impetus and magic… Saron was nothing but a scrub compared to him! Even someone like Annelotte looked only average when compared to him. Who in the world was he?

"He's a triple gifted," Marolyt sighed.

"Triple gifted?!" Leguna gasped coldly in shock.

There was actually someone who was blessed with three gifts, high affinities with three different elemental aspects! Saron, a double gifted, was already quite monstrous, yet that youth had three.

"Wind, fire and water," Marolyt answered after a pause, "He had these three gifts."

Leguna was stunned beyond words. He couldn't imagine someone like that existing in this world. According to Gahrona, only one in a few million people was gifted, and that was already rare enough. He thought people like Saron with two gifts were almost nonexistent.

Yet, he was now told that triple gifted people actually existed!

"What happened next?" Leguna asked impatiently.

"After that…"

Marolyt pondered for a moment and continued Myr's tale.

……

"It's actually you!" the mid-order magus said with a look of terror after seeing the mana rings. He glared at Myr hatefully and snapped, "I'll let you off for now, but don't think you'll get this lucky the next time! And you!"

He turned to the youth. "You're only a little bit gifted. Don't think you're invincible just because you have some talent. If you continue acting so arrogantly, one day, someone will take care of you!"

"I look forward to that day," the youth shrugged nonchalantly.

"Hmph!"

The magus left after a cold humph.

Seeing that the man was gone, the youth wasn't in a hurry to leave. He used a healing spell on Myr.

"Thank you, Sir."

Myr looked at the young man and bowed sincerely. Youth didn't hold much weight in this world, only power did.

"That fellow looks like he won't let it rest."

"I know. I've made up my mind to leave," Myr said helplessly.

He didn't think he would actually be forced away after working there for so long.

"Alright."

The youth simply nodded and turned to leave while Myr began to consider what he should do henceforth.

"Hey!--" The youth stopped and called out all of a sudden. "--Do you want to be my disciple? Even though I'm much younger than you, I believe there are some things I can teach you with regards to magic. I think you can become a high-order magus too if you study under me."

Those weren't his exact words. Even Myr couldn't remember the encounter properly well, but he would never forget how he felt when he heard them. It was as if a door of light and hope opened as he was stumbling about in an endless dark cave for more than three decades.

Since then, Myr became the youth's apprentice magus. After receiving formal magic education, his 30-odd years of experience working in the magic shop finally had an opportunity to shine.

He spent two short years to break into the mid order and thanks to his rapid growth and the intentional spreading of the word by the youth, Myr gained quite a reputation in the millennium capital. By the time Myr was 50, he was among the few high-order magi on the continent.

……

"What happened to the youth after that?" Leguna asked.

"After that?--" Marolyt paused suddenly, a complex expression on his face. "After that… hehe… after that…"

"So? What happened?"

"It's better if you go check it yourself!" Marolyt snapped suddenly with a wave of his hand, "Hocke has been founded only around 20 years ago, so most people from the founding war are still alive. If you want to understand them and the empire's true nature, you should look into that era."

"Hey! Pops, it's really annoying if you only tell half the story, you know!" Leguna said, his patience running short.

The story was just getting to the good part, yet Marolyt was going to stop?

"I don't want to bring that period of time up. Check it out yourself!"

Leguna had no choice but to give up. He did manage to achieve his main goal. Since Marolyt was certain Myr wasn't involved in the attack, he was probably right.

"Also, pops, there's one more thing…"

Leguna wanted to leave, but he thought better of it and believed it would be best to say it now.

"You want to talk about that young lass, right?" Marolyt guessed, "It's impossible. You can't get me to forgive her."

"But--"

Marolyt slammed the desk before he finished. "Damn you! There are no buts! I don't care if she was used or corrupted. No matter what, she took the initiative to make the poison and handed it to Annie. I have more than enough reason to kill her for that alone! Don't make excuses for her!"

"Innie definitely didn't intend to do that. She isn't completely at fault," Leguna argued.

"Enough!" He glared at Leguna and said, "Let me tell you this. If my mood wasn't good, I wouldn't even bother talking to you. I should cut you for defending that girl alone!"

"……"

"But… I can't do that." Marolyt's expression turned dejected. "Annie, that lass… Sigh…"

"Pops…"

He knew how much of a shock it was for Marolyt to hear that from Annelotte. "Annie didn't mean to imply you weren't important to her at all. She was just desperate and had no other way to stop you."

"I know, I know."

He waved casually. In the whole empire, even the whole continent, there weren't many people who could stop Marolyt from killing a powerless girl, but Annelotte could, by virtue of her identity, not her power.

Only his daughter could stop the galestorm swordsaint from killing.

"Alright, kid," he said with a strained smile, "I'm not that pathetic as to agonize over something she said. Don't worry, I don't need your consolation."

"Okay. I'm taking my leave now then."

Leguna didn't say much and bowed before he left.

Marolyt looked at the sight of him leaving and thought, their silhouettes do look quite similar though.

……

After returning to the bureau, Leguna looked for Xeno and instructed him to gather some information about the war two decades ago. He was about to give it a thorough study in the following days.

He realized that his job at the bureau had gotten much easier since promoting Xeno to become his aide. Even though the Stokian didn't talk much, his ability to solve problems was reliable. In the half month Leguna left the bureau, Xeno was able to get much of the bureau's structure in order. According to the reports the informant Leguna left behind, Xeno didn't try anything funny either.

Xeno's performance was to his satisfaction. He planned to eventually promote Xeno to bureau head if he continued to do well. Leguna couldn't wait to leave that shoddy place!

During the evening, he received his documents as requested. He wasn't in a rush to check out the founding war and turned his attention to the tale concerning the Stokian magic academy.

While he was quite unfamiliar with the founding war, Leguna was aware of one fact. The rise of the northern eagle seem to have been sparked by a revolt in the magic academy. So, he wanted to find out what happened, how Stok lost control of the situation in the north, and how the north eventually gained independence and formed an empire that could rival the old empire.

Among the first facts he uncovered was while the magic academy targeted the officials and nobles of the empire for students, they didn't forbid commoners from enrolling either.

There were some peasants from the north who were sent to study in the magic academy. Some of them were talented individuals and others were spies Duke Mellin sent to the millennium capital.

Among the list, one surname stood out to Leguna's attention: Rolin.