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Return of The 8th Class Mage (Web Novel) - Chapter 156 The Seventh Artisan (1)
Chapter 156 The Seventh Artisan (1)
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
“I’m a small-minded person, as you said. That’s probably why I find it difficult to give you a positive answer when I know better than anyone else what you’re feeling now.”
The Fairy Queen’s face turned to stone, thinking that Ian was going to refuse her plea.
“However, we’re going against a massive evil force, and don’t need to be enemies with the dragons in this fight.”
Fran Page was a difficult opponent to fight, and being on opposite sides simultaneously with the as strong dragons would be a crazy move.
“The dragons are probably thinking the same thing. We have to either remove each other or become allies since it’s inconvenient on many accounts to keep this ambiguous relationship ongoing.”
The dragons would have the same opinion as Ian did since they would not be able to endure having Ian as their enemy when maintaining the seal was a barely manageable process.
“So, I accept your offer of alliance.”
The Fairy Queen’s face brightened at Ian’s announcement, and her expression became innocent from her usual arrogant and alluring pose.
“We don’t have much time, and so we need you to keep on moving.”
(That is all right. What do you want me to do? Please tell me.)
The Fairy Queen was enthusiastic for a change, and Ian smiled at the rare sight as he opened his mouth.
“Go back to the dragons and tell them of my decision that I will join them as soon as I finish here, so please start preparing to fight against the actual evil.”
To fully eradicate Fran Page, Ian needed to remove Fran’s actual self after breaking the seal. So, they needed to be prepared since the real Fran Page would be a formidable enemy.
(Is that all I need to say?)
“For now. Please come back after you tell them my message.”
(Well! To think I’m acting as your messenger.)
The Fairy Queen came back to her usual tone and expression since she probably found herself awkward.
“Queen.”
(I’m listening.)
“I also do not want to be your enemy, and please don’t worry so much since I will do my best not to let such a thing happen.”
(……)
“Even if such an event occurs, I have no intention of making you my enemy as long as your stance does not change.”
The Fairy Queen’s eyes widened for a moment at Ian’s words, and she quickly turned around her small body.
(I had just spoken nonsense because the situation was dire. Do not place any meaning on them!)
She shouted like she was embarrassed and went into the portal Ian had created for her to convey Ian’s words to the dragons by going to the Soffit Mountain Range where the King of the Gargoyles was residing.
“The enemy…”
The word enemy meant a definite difference between them and us, becoming clearer for Ian. The one who had been the protector of mankind in the past, and who had been known as the first magician to the public. The teacher for the dragons and Ian Page’s father.
‘Fran Page.’
Ian thought of the evildoer and felt a strange emotion. He thought it ironic that he was going against his father with dragons, fairies, dragonians, and those who were not of the same blood, let alone the same race. However, Ian was certain that he had made the right decision, since who was his father? Was not he the incarnation of insanity? Ian could not guess what Fran would do if left alone. How could he look up to him as a father?
‘That’s impossible.’
Fran Page resulted from madness accumulated over thousands of years and would someday swallow Ian and his surroundings. No matter how tightly they were connected by blood, Ian could not be allies nor coexist in the same world.
‘There are three days left.’
Ian had been given ten days, and a week had passed.
‘There’s only one thing left to do.’
Ian had a problem he needed to focus on, which required a fair amount of luck. He had to find the weakness in Fran Page’s ‘power of immortality’ and find a breakthrough.
‘A possible way would be to fight until he exhausts the supply of his souls in the inner world.’
Since Ian was now allied with the dragons, it could be tried. However, the problem was that Ian could not be certain whether Fran would be eradicated, and many dragons and Ian himself might be sacrificed in the process.
‘I need to find a more fundamental weakness. There has to be an answer in the inner world where he had stacked his souls…’
Ian contemplated for a moment and started to walk to meet Ledio and Douglas. They had been assigned the task of researching the potion that would send Ian to the inner world and manufacturing it if possible.
***
“Are you there…”
Ian had been about to knock on the door leading to the underground lab in Ledio and Douglas’s house when he heard something explode inside. It seemed to be not a large one, and possibly a side effect during an alchemy experiment.
“What happened?!”
Ian hurriedly opened the door. Even if it were only a small-scale explosion, an ordinary person would be severely wounded if he was involved.
“Wow, I thought I would die!”
“Ungh!”
(Do you have multiple lives? Or are all alchemists like this? You are foolish to be so rash with such weak bodies.)
There was another guest in the laboratory, the dragonian Evantus. He had graciously accepted Ian’s request to help Ledio and Douglas and was now acting on his promise.
“…Are you guys all right?”
Ian asked as he looked around to see vials and instruments lying around and books of all kinds haphazardly thrown in all directions.
“As you can see, we’re fine while the lab is not.”
Ledio and Douglas stood up, while Evantus had been the only one impassive.
“Ah…are your plans going well?”
“Yes, and they’re at the finishing stage.”
“That means that our achievements would be the final key.”
“I’m not going to hound you, since I have a second plan prepared.”
“Even if you say so, this is…worrying.”
Ledio’s smile was bittersweet, and Ian could guess the results from his expression.
“I’m sorry to say that we do not have anything we can show you with confidence. We are conducting our research based on the methodology behind the Five Breaths of the Red Dragon that is said to send one to a space of no dimensions, but the inner world is such an abstract concept that…”
Ledio’s voice held none of his usual confidence and was the lowest Ian had heard during the past few years. The task of preparing a ‘potion to the inner world’ seemed to be that difficult, and it was no wonder. The concept was an abstract one from the start, and magicians only believed it existed. No magician not entered there through mana breathing according to the records of the Ivory Tower.
“There are no relevant records, and I do not think we can help no matter how hard we try for the remainder. I have nothing to say for this.”
“No, I’m fine…”
(However, there’s one thing.)
Ian had been about to console Ledio when Evantus intervened with a word.
(Is the book of those two’s family an artifact?)
“What? No. While the information listed reaches far, the book itself is a normal…”
Ledio had been answering Evantus’s question when his and Douglas and Ian’s eyes all widened at the same time. There was a subtle mana aura stemming from the alchemy book.
“……?”
Many questions arose, such as why that book had that aura? And if it had a secret, why now?
“Is it because of that explosion…?”
Douglas mumbled quietly as everyone stared at it in confusion. The explosion had been due to an experiment that Douglas was leading on how to enter the inner world. The problem was that why the book that had been passed down through generations in Douglas’s family was reacting to it.
“Everyone behind me!”
Ian stepped in front of Ledio and Douglas and activated a barrier with the power of language. He had made a shield since this was a situation that no one had expected. However, the light from the book was not aggressive and only became brighter. Actually, it began to form a shape, including a head, body, shoulders, and limbs. Everyone saw it as a ‘person.’
“……”
Ian became tense by this sudden appearance. He thought it might be one of Fran Page’s tricks, and if so, everything Ian had planned and acted became meaningless.
‘I had thought of this from the beginning.’
Ian had considered the possibility that Fran Page was watching all this and had been looking down from a higher place no matter how stealthily Ian had acted. He just wanted that worst possibility to become a reality.
‘Will everything become messed up?’
Ian focused on the form in front of his eyes, and if that shape were another spiritual form of Fran Page who had come to meet Ian, the situation would become urgent.
“Who are you guys?”
However, Ian’s guess had been wrong. The man was completely different in form and voice from Fran Page. While Fran might have borrowed another body, the middle-aged man acted strangely for the estimation to be plausible. The man who had come out of the book looked surprised as the rest of them.
“Why are you guys in front…? Wait. I must have been sealed in eternal sleep.”
The middle-aged man grabbed his black hair in confusion and discovered the book under his feet before staring at Ian, Ledio, Douglas, and Evantus.
“Hey, you damn bastards! What did you do? Do you know how difficult it was to make that seal? I had worked hard for that rest!”
The middle-aged man screamed in frustration, and he might throw a punch after a while. While Ian and Evantus would stop him, he was wild.
“F, Fa…”
While everyone just stood in confusion, only one had become pale. Ledio’s lips shook as if to say something.
“Father…?”
