Chapter 64

Chapter 22. Chen Mei's Magic (1)

In a small room, two men with stern faces stood.

They had been talking to Jet for hours.

"To summarize once again, Mr. Jet. So, you... wrote this petition solely for Akin's well-being and the peace of the common people."

"And the reason you, who were merely a low-level informant for Tesing, decided to betray them was because you were greatly shocked after witnessing the slave storage room at their auction house by chance?"

"Not only that, among the various documents you risked your life to steal, there was a ledger detailing the transactions of magic books. You thought it was a chance to completely dismantle Tesing, so you handed it over to Jip."

"Among the many news reports from Akin, you specifically chose to send the one that resisted Tesing because you were usually very interested in Akin's politics..."

"Finally, you are just a good-hearted whistleblower. To protect you from any assassination threats by Tesing's remnants or other external forces, you are asking us to provide protection... Is that right?"

Jet, who had been listening, nodded vigorously.

"Exactly! I just wanted us all to live well. I don't understand why I keep receiving such harsh treatment. Please let me go now. I'm worried about my son."

The two men, who had been glaring at Jet for a while, sighed simultaneously.

They were investigators from Biment. They had received orders from their superiors to investigate the petition and had caught Jet at the dock.

Jet was, as Jin had judged, a man with a strong survival instinct.

He quickly thought about what would be the most advantageous statement to make after listening to the investigators.

Claiming he had been deceived by the fake Veradin would be of no help. He had to package his actions as benevolent to request witness protection.

The investigators were in a dilemma.

'No matter how you look at it, this guy is far from a public-spirited whistleblower. The petition only has the name "Jet," but it was definitely not written by this guy.'

'The petition was clearly the work of some unknown thugs who destroyed Tesing. However, we don't need to go through the trouble of finding those thugs.'

It would be much easier and simpler to pass off this scoundrel as a righteous whistleblower.

Moreover, although the handwriting in the petition was different, the handwriting in the slave ledger matched Jet's. At the very least, it was certain that he had written the slave ledger, providing a clue that helped Biment save its citizens.

The investigators shrugged.

"Alright, Mr. Jet. Frankly, you're just a scoundrel to me, but we recognize your contribution to saving many of Biment's wronged citizens. We'll overlook a few minor lies."

"However, Jip has already requested your transfer through an official document, so we have no choice but to cooperate."

"Jip is looking for me...? No, no, that's not possible. I'll die if I go there."

"As long as you stick to what you told us, that won't happen. As long as you don't retract your statement, Biment's investigation team will protect you as a witness. Just maintain a consistent statement."

"We don't want to make things unnecessarily complicated. Before we take you to Jip's investigation room, you should see your young son and have a meal. There's still some time."

An hour later, Jet, who had been moved to Jip's investigation room, faithfully followed the investigators' instructions.

Jet never revealed the existence of the "fake Veradin," and the Jip investigators, knowing his statements were false, could not kill him.

"Still, we can't make you a hero. We will announce that the destruction of Tesing was a punitive action carried out under Jip's supervision."

"As long as you spare my life, I don't care about anything else."

"We can beat the surviving Tesing members to get the information we didn't get from you. Go. And don't expect Biment's witness protection to be perfect."

* * *

Tesing was destroyed.

Despite causing such a major incident, the three of them did not even receive a small warrant.

This was because Jip saw no need for it. While it was regrettable for the low-level members who had taken bribes from Tesing, Jip's announcement of the dismantling of Tesing would naturally boost the support of Akin's citizens.

Gaining the support of the common people in this small country would be of little benefit to Jip, akin to a single ant adding its strength.

"In a sense, the credit is shared between Jip and Biment, while the actual benefit goes to you."

"Right. I obtained Multha's rune, Chen Mei's magic book, and Shuziel Hister's magic book. I also fought a battle with a 7-star knight."

"Not all 7-star knights are the same, young master. You need to be more cautious from now on. With magic helmets, magic, spirit energy, and swordsmanship... You are impressive, but you can't keep creating such precarious situations."

"Of course. No matter how much I improve, I can't match genuine experts like Gilli. I understand. I'll be more careful."

The three of them had been observing the situation in a rural village in Akin for a few days. Seeing everything unfold as Jin had predicted, Murakan and Gilli couldn't help but feel amazed.

"Since Jip doesn't seem to be looking for us for the time being, we can move to our next destination with peace of mind."

"Where is our next destination?"

Jin, of course, already had a place in mind.

"The free city of Tikkan."

"Tikkan?"

After experiencing Akin and the three of them, Jin felt a pressing need for information. When he acted based on his memories from before the regression in front of Gilli and Murakan, he needed a group to provide a pretext.

Moreover, there were many things he wanted to know: Bishkel Ebliano's real name, Bubar, Kinsel, and Alu's real names, the forbidden magic in the Kolon ruins, and more.

These were not things that the three of them would naturally learn during a leisurely journey.

In this sense, the free city of Tikkan was the perfect place.

'I need to establish a connection with the Silver Sword Kasimir there.'

Kasimir, the Silver Sword, is a famous swordsman known to almost everyone in the current era. He has been offered multiple times to become a beginner's sword instructor at Runcandel, but he has always declined.

The reason he refused the prestigious position of Runcandel instructor, the dream of all swordsmen, was because of his vast information network, the "Seven-Colored Birds."

It is said that the Seven-Colored Birds are the best information network outside of Runcandel, Jip, and Biment. This means it is the most useful organization to use before becoming a Runcandel knight.

Despite being such an excellent information network, very few people know that Kasimir is its leader.

The fact that Kasimir is Biment's "deposed prince" is also little known. While it's not a big secret to a regressed person, when his identity was first revealed, it caused a huge stir.

'The seven information networks that form the Seven-Colored Birds are all from old loyalist families of Biment. They are essentially a group of people abandoned by the Biment royal family, including Kasimir.'

While Jin doesn't know the full story, he is confident that all members of the Seven-Colored Birds are highly capable individuals.

They eventually crowned the deposed prince Kasimir as the first king of "Free State Tikkan" about ten years from now.

Thanks to negotiations using the various "information" accumulated by the Seven-Colored Birds over several decades, they managed to gain recognition of sovereignty and governance from Biment, Runcandel, and Jip. They were not ordinary talented individuals.

'Going to Tikkan is a simple matter, but the problem is how to get close to Kasimir.'

Jin, who had been pondering for a moment, smiled.

'A small country needs power. I need to use what Kasimir desperately wants as a lure to approach him.'

The fastest and most stable way to increase a country's power is to strengthen its military. This is necessary to resist foreign aggression and to build a solid foundation.

However, even after Tikkan became a country, it remained a tiny state for a while.

With a small population, it had few soldiers and few talents. It lacked the resources to develop the country, making its growth potential extremely weak. It was a state that relied solely on "information power."

'If I judge him to be a good person, I might as well bring up the mirror artifact from the Kolon ruins.'

Of course, he couldn't show the mirror artifact, which he hadn't even obtained yet, or prove its effectiveness.

Therefore, the key was the intensity of Kasimir's desire for military power. The stronger the desire, the more likely a person is to believe what they want to believe.

'I don't plan to hand over the mirror artifact to Kasimir just because I obtain it. I can share its effects. I might show him the masterpiece, Multha's rune, and subtly sell it. There are such artifacts in the world.'

Not only Multha's rune, but Jin also planned to break the unwritten rules of the prospective knights when meeting Kasimir. He would reveal his identity as a Runcandel to get Kasimir to listen.

For some reason, he felt a sense of pleasure each time he broke one of Runcandel's rules.

"What are you smiling about, kid? What kind of place is Tikkan? I've never heard of it in my time."

"Probably because of the information network, Lord Murakan. Tikkan has a large information network called the Seven-Colored Birds..."

Gilli explained, and Murakan nodded.

"So, you're planning to pick out the ones to kill, just like you did with Jet. It's not a bad idea, but are you that excited about it?"

"I was smiling because of the magic book. We'll probably decode Chen Mei's magic book by tomorrow. I'm looking forward to starting to learn it."

"Yeah, we're almost getting a clear idea of what kind of magic Chen Mei left behind. It seems to be light magic..."

"What?"

"Light magic."

"Light magic has been lost since ancient times... Oh."

Jin, who had reflexively spoken, shook his head. He had already heard several times that Chen Mei was a magician from Murakan's era.

Light magic.

It was the dream of all magicians in the current era.

"What kind of world is this? Chen Mei's magic book is circulating in an underground auction house run by thugs... If I were Chen Mei, I'd rise from my grave."

"Who is this Chen Mei?"

Murakan smiled and stared intently at Jin.

"About 1500 years ago, Jip's magicians formed an expedition to kill Chen Mei. There were five hundred elite magicians. And they failed. That's why no one, including you, knows about Chen Mei."

Just as Runcandel had completely erased the record of the sword-magician, Jip had also completely erased the existence of the great magician Chen Mei from history.

"That's their specialty. Erasing from history those who threatened them. If you don't master the pinnacle of spirit energy, the current Runcandel will soon face the same fate."