Published at 6th of December 2025 6:50 am

Chapter 288

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

It was still unclear whether the final incantation was meant as a joke or not.

'I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.'

This was originally not a spell to imbue an object with one's will and manipulate it as one pleased, but a spell to set up a large barrier when a natural disaster occurred.

However, he moved a natural object as he pleased, and he used the spell in a way that seemed as if he had turned back time.

In other words, it's a spell that Lukas Everett newly created. It's common for young mages to modify or create new spells, but most fail, and it's rare for them to succeed so spectacularly. Few people have the ambition to create a spell by quoting such a passage.

Only Lukas Everett's magic remained in the king's mind. But now was not the time for that.

"What is the Crown Prince doing?"

The king asked as he crossed the central courtyard of the Munich Residenz. It was originally time to meet Everett, but after hearing the news about the Crown Prince, he had changed his course and was heading to the Crown Prince's palace. The trouble he had caused was giving him a headache.

Even so, he didn't show it, but the aide looked at the king's face and said.

"He is not coming out of his room."

"He didn't secretly warp somewhere, did he?"

"I have placed a secretary by His Highness's side. I just received a message that he is still in the Crown Prince's palace."

Still there, my foot.

He must be angry because he threw a tantrum about wanting to see the match and it didn't work. Didn't he say 'not coming out' just now?

'I didn't expect him to bring the royal guard to the spectators' seats.'

Before I even arrived, the royal guard assigned to the Crown Prince was already at the arena. It was Crown Prince Leonard's order. I don't know how he managed to persuade the guard, but the fact that he did it is truly amazing. He must have been planning to go to the spectators' seats soon after, following the guard.

He is not a child who puts aside what needs to be done or boldly disobeys orders, but he ignored his own schedule and prepared to deviate just because he wanted to see a match. This is the first time this has happened. I want to recruit Everett right away, but I have to talk to my child first.

The king arrived at the warp point and moved directly to the Crown Prince's palace. The guard opened the door for him. He moved straight to the Crown Prince's room.

The guard who was guarding the front of the room had a surprised face when he saw the king without any notice. The king gestured for him to move aside and pushed the door.

Click

Locked.

Open it.

[.]

When one of the king's secretaries opened the door from the inside, a child with a sullen face reluctantly got out of bed and bowed.

"You have arrived, Your Majesty."

I heard you moved the elite guard to the arena.

The light blue eyes far below looked up at the king, not at all flustered or afraid. The king, instead of getting angry, asked in the same tone as before.

"Do you have nothing to say to me?"

"I apologize."

I could tell immediately from his tone that he wasn't particularly sorry. The aides licked their lips and exchanged glances.

I didn't raise him to be ill-mannered, and in fact, he was usually a docile child who listened well. But he is stubborn, so in situations like this, he won't give in for a single moment. He's only five years old, so can I correct it over time? I might be worrying too sensitively because it's my first time raising a person, but he will soon be six, so I have more worries.

"I thought it would be alright to postpone today's magic medicine class since it's a frequent lesson. I know I should have explained to Your Majesty first and asked for your permission. I will be faithful to my duties from now on."

The king looked at his son without a word.

He speaks well, as he was taught. It's not a statement he came up with on his own, but words he has memorized and is spitting out 'as he was taught' by his teachers. There's no need to press him to apologize sincerely. It won't make the child feel sincere. Above all, the Crown Prince thinks I'm angry because he skipped class and moved the guard there.

I wasn't genuinely angry for any reason.

There was just one thing I was concerned about.

The king lowered himself and sat in front of the Crown Prince. Now their eyes were roughly at the same level.

"Why didn't you tell me first?"

"I thought Your Majesty would not like it."

Accurate. The king remained silent, looking at the large, light blue eyes that were slowly filling with anxiety. It wasn't anxiety about being scolded. This child was never particularly interested in being scolded by anyone. This is the anxiety that he might no longer be able to enjoy what he likes.

The Crown Prince is showing more interest in combat magic than magic medicine with each passing day. I am wary of this, and nothing else. If it had been just a matter of skipping class and playing, I would have gone out and played with him.

Combat magic is also a necessary skill, so it's better than being hell-bent on self-destructive entertainment. It's a good thing, but why can't I be happy?

Ignorance is a sin. An individual can never be free from society, their ancestors, and the blood of the humanity their ancestors trampled on, and they must not turn their eyes away from it. That is shameless. A repetition of barbarism. It is an original sin that accumulates as an heir who has taken on the duty to settle the debt along with the rights obtained by taking. If even an individual is so, what about one person who bears the fate of hundreds of thousands?

To act as the central pillar of a country, one must know well what one is dealing with. In this country that has barely managed to not lose its center and has endured in the post-magic era through medicine, what would happen if the monarch were an amateur in medicine?

If the monarch fails to keep his balance, that era becomes an era of injustice. A child born in a peaceful era does not know that the blood inherited through generations flows on his white hands, and he does not hear the screams of the previous humanity that follow him like a ghost on his shoulders. Someone is waiting for us and knocking on the door"Whence is that knocking? How is't with me, when every noise appals me?"but he does not know the responsibility for the knocking. Now he must learn that he can no longer just pursue what he wants, and if he does not, he will add new blood to his hands, and this, as it has always been, cannot be erased even if he uses all the water of Neptune's ocean. In this way, he will inherit the sin.

I have no intention of insisting that he walk the path of magic medicine even if he has no interest in it, but there is a big problem in forgetting the middle way and being absorbed in only one field, failing to fulfill his duties as a monarch.

Since itwas his first deviation, I will not reprimand him harshly. It is still too early to preach all this now.

"Sit."

The king gestured, and the child sat down in front of the table. With that, the aides and secretaries who were in the room went out.

"I was lucky that my talent and my goal coincided. My father let me experience many things in this world, but even after encountering numerous fields of study, what I always wanted was magic medicine."

"If what I wanted was not magic medicine and my father had forced only magic medicine on me, I am not sure what my growth process would have been like. If I had grown up like that, I probably would have acted like a person doing an unwilling job in this position, and I would have been a person who did only the bare minimum and left, exhausted. Perhaps I would have treated what I truly wanted as sour grapes and lived as he wished, not even knowing that his wishes had clung to me, or I might have become a person who hated my father and did everything opposite to him."

The Crown Prince, still not understanding, had a confused face. He seemed to be trying to manage his expression politely, but while words can be embellished as taught by an elocution or social skills teacher, expressions cannot. It was too much for a child.

Anyway, he needed a process to summarize the conclusion.

"I will grant you what you want."

!

The Crown Prince's eyes widened.

"The talent you have in this country now is not eternal, and that position is not eternal either. In the future, when I die and you succeed me, people who suit your character will replace your close associates, and if you are ignorant of the country's core, you will be swayed by those who try to gain power by using it. This country was on the verge of collapsing and disappearing in the post-magic era, but it is still in the position of the second-in-command of the empire, just like before magic. That was thanks to magic medicine, and that is why you are learning magic medicine."

The child's eyes are wavering. He has not yet completely lost his heart to another field of magic. He is conflicted between his duty and his preference. But that confusion can be turned on its head by some trigger.

It doesn't matter whether it changes in the direction the king himself wants or not. What needs to be said in this situation has not changed. The king, whose expression was basically stiff, tried to soften it a little.

"You said you didn't tell me because you thought I wouldn't like combat magic?"

"...Yes."

The Crown Prince answered in a crawling voice, his eyes darting. The king, thinking that his child would not fully understand his words, continued to say what needed to be said. It was not healthy to omit what needed to be said just because he was sure he would not be understood.

"Do what you want. I do not want you to live as a tool of some duty or obsession. It is true that you have a duty given to you, but it is enough to learn that after you have found your center."

"Instead, after you have learned your duty, you must study magic medicine to a certain level."

Did he understand this time?

The Crown Prince had been staring at the king since he started speaking, and now his eyes were a little wider than usual. The king, seeing the Crown Prince's face flushed with an unknown expectation, smiled questioningly. The Crown Prince, whether he knew it or not, just smiled back.

I really dont get kids contexts.

He didn't understand all my words correctly, but he seemed to have grasped the atmosphere. The king thought and continued.

"I have just the person in mind for a private tutor. He will not disappoint you in the field of combat magic."

I will assign Mia Rotenhan as a teacher of magic swordsmanship.

The position of a royal tutor is usually a stepping stone. A stepping stone to greater success. Or it is a job that scholars who are not interested in career advancement are half-forced into.

That would satisfy Rotenhan, even if it's not the position he wanted, and the Crown Prince would also be satisfied with his vast amount of magic power and knowledge of combat magic. The only problem is that he cannot be a good teacher to correct the Crown Prince's inflexible nature and might even strengthen it. That point will be resolved by assigning another teacher.

The Crown Prince unknowingly opened his mouth wide, then hurriedly composed his expression and moved closer. I could feel the raw, unrefined magic power flowing from his body.

Who is it?

"That is now"

Before the king's words were finished, the Crown Prince put his knees on the chair and shot up.

"Your Majesty. I have someone I want."

***

My head still hurts.

The Crown Prince made an unreasonable request.

Raising a child is not easy.

Even though I entrust most of the time to teachers, it's not easy. He's stubborn, has a lot of pride, and has no sense of compromise or flexibility.... Not that it's bad. His appearance is a little different, but his personality is a spitting image of the king himself, which actually makes it more difficult.

Where on earth did he hear about the mage I had in mind? He couldn't even go to see him in person. I need to find the person who told the Crown Prince this.

As the king sighed and pressed his head, the aide next to him looked at him.

The king closed his eyes and walked, relying on his magic power. Then, he realized he had arrived in front of the audience chamber.

"His Majesty King Hildegard has arrived."

A servant said at the door. As the door opened, the mage, with a neater face than before, saw him and stood up.

"You have arrived."

No matter how I look at it, he resembles Georg.

A face that reminds me of the old days.

If Georg saw this person, he would seriously wonder when he had given birth to such a grown-up son, or if he had a younger brother.

The king, instead of voicing such thoughts, smiled briefly.

"Sit."

Yes.

Do you know why I have called you to this place?

As he said that, a servant placed teacups in front of them. Everett, choosing his words, slowly opened his mouth.

"I do not know the exact reason, but I guessed that my magic skills have pleased Your Majesty."

"Correct."

The king said, taking a sip from his teacup first.

"Meeting such an exceptional mage in our kingdom feels like receiving a gift."

"You flatter me."

"I heard you are from America."

"That's right. I'm from Milwaukee, Wisconsin."

"You said your name is Lukas Everett. I thought you were of English descent, but are you of German descent?"

Everett is an English surname derived from the Germanic surname Eberhardt. The fact that he speaks fluent German like a native without a hint of an English accent was confusing, but hearing that he is from Milwaukee gives strength to the German descent hypothesis. There's also the possibility that he was raised by a German nanny or teacher, but it's worth asking.

Everett nodded.

Yes, thats right.

/p>

"You seem to be related to the Askanians."

"I do not know much about my ancestors. If Your Majesty says so, there might be a possibility that I have Askanian blood... my lineage was cut off during the transition period."

Hmm.

America is more liberal about the birth of New Humansthey allow it even for the middle class if they have a lot of wealthand due to the long history of migration and immigration that began in the 17th century, the meaning of roots has become relatively blurred, so there are many cases like this. Besides, those who go there are mostly commoners, so they don't place as much importance on roots as nobles do.

Even if he is not in the Askanian family tree, he could be a distant descendant of a collateral branch of the Askanians who crossed over in the Old Human era. That magic makes sense then.

"Why did you come here instead of staying in America?"

"I wanted to broaden my horizons. I also need to find a job soon, and I wanted to meet various mages before that."

He needs to find a job... huh. At this point, he must have some expectation of being employed by the royal family.

"From whom did you learn magic?"

"I studied at a magic school in Milwaukee, and until recently, I learned from Professor Katrina Preston at Princeton."

The king narrowed his eyes slightly and smiled at those words.

"Did you not have a private tutor before entering university?"

"What I learned at school is all. I researched and studied the rest on my own."

He graduated from a prestigious school, but he showed such skills with only what he learned at school? He's not ordinary. To the point where it's a wonder why America let such a person go.

"When did you become able to use divine power?"

"I've been able to use it since last year."

Not since he was young?

The more I know, the more questions remain. But there is no verification method I can perform right now. Also....

If he is someone Emanuel sent, he is not a harmful person.

It's meaningless to ask more. Before the governments and royal families of various countries who have heard the news come to get Lukas Everett, I have to make a decision here.

The king said with a confident smile.

"Is there a position you want?"

What?

"I can place you in any position you want. At the very least, I can support you in achieving your goals. Whether it's the royal guard, a special unit under the Ministry of Magic, or a clerical position in Munich and Freising, if there's a job you want in this country, tell me."

At those words, Everett's eyes widened slightly, and he had a confused face. I could feel him racking his brain, not wanting to miss the opportunity.

It seems to have been a good offer for him too. The king, feeling a sense of relief inwardly, looked at him. I cannot let such a once-in-a-lifetime talent slip away. Even after 100 more years, I won't be able to find a mage who can use divine power like this. If he had refused and said he would go to Prussia, or that he was thinking of returning to America, my head would have hurt more.

Soon, Everett put down his teacup.

***

Perhaps because the king is younger at this time, he does not hide his authority as a king and reveals it. 12 years later, he uses a tone of thorough respect even to his own son. If you ask if there is no respect now, that is by no means the casehe was speaking using 'Siezen' not 'Duzen', so he was sufficiently formalbut a strange authority was felt in his tone.

Of course, it doesn't matter either way. Whether he is more authoritative than 12 years later or not, he was famous as a wise ruler even when he was young. It's just new to see the change over time in person.

More than that....

He asked if there was a job I wanted.

Success.

The king, both in the future and now, consistently gives exceptional benefits to the mages he wants. The positions the king just mentioned are positions that one can only get after at least 10 years of rolling in this field, unless one is an exceptionally talented person. You can think of the Imperial Mages' Association.

It's a perfect position to get information, so it's a really great offer. But I also know well that there are many things to pay attention to.

I dont want to work so hard here too.

I'm not saying I'm going to slack off, but there are jobs that are equally good for getting information but have a lower workload. Knowing that, is there a need to walk the standard path?

Besides, if I choose the jobs he mentioned, another problem arises. A problem will arise at the king's birthday celebration. Whether I'm a royal guard or under the Ministry of Magic, there's no chance to exchange words with the state guests who come to the king's birthday celebration. Unless the king takes me out of the organization and keeps me by his side, the possibility is slim. There's no need to take unnecessary risks.

Isn't there a position that is 'good for conversation' with the state guests who come to the birthday celebration, while also naturally blending in? Of course, there's the problem that a natural accompaniment is only possible if you receive someone's favor, but I'm confident.

I put down my teacup. My eyes met with the king, who was leisurely waiting for my answer with a confident smile.

"Is it really okay to say what I want?"

"Of course. That is what I desire."

The king flicked his hand lightly, as if to say, "Go on, speak."

Good. I showed a proper smile and said.

"I want the position of private tutor to His Highness the Crown Prince."

I could see the king freezing like a statue with a smile on his face. I've never seen him like that before, so a wave of panic washed over me. He muttered to himself.

"Is this God's will?"

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