21st Century Archmage

“You said someone came?”

I returned to the office from patrolling over the territory and taking a look at the construction sites. and was about to take a breather when Derval came in and told me that a guest had come.

“A special envoy has come from the Laviter Empire.”

‘Damn, they sure came fast.’

The empire’s special envoy came sooner than I expected. If the envoy demanded it, I would have to return the prisoners that we had been making good use of for a while now. I had promised the prisoners as much on my name, so it was a promise I absolutely had to keep.

“Who is the person who came as the envoy?”

“One of the Five Dukes of the Empire, a man named Luvidium.”

“A duke?”

‘Hooh~ they’re going more ham than I expected.’

I, the Lord of Nerman, was a count, so considering the arrogant empire’s rudeness, I thought they would send a count at most. Therefore, I was surprised to find out that a high and mighty duke from the empire had come.

“Where is he now?”

“He is in the meeting room.”

“Tell him to come up.”

“Understood.”

Even though the other party was from an enemy country, it was noble manners for me, the lower ranked person, to go to him, but I chose not to do that. I couldn’t call a dude swinging a knife at me my respected senior, after all.

‘It’s about time for them to come, though…’

Even while waiting for the special envoy, I was expecting a different guest. We were in dire need of magic crystals used to make the Mark II spears, and magic crystals of the highest quality to be used in the new lord’s castle and in various places around the territory. So when the winter wind Kazofune grew calm, I sent a lumikar to the Kesmire Kingdom.

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

The door of my worn-down office opened with a creak, and Derval and an elderly man came inside.

‘That person’s a duke of the empire?’

I expected a duke of the empire to give off an air of haughty dignity, but Duke Luvidium was as kind-hearted in appearance as the grandpa next door.

“Haha, welcome. Thank you for making the long trip here.”

I found myself shocked by the words coming out of my own mouth—despite my young age, I was speaking like an old elder.

Luvidium let out an exclamation when he saw me. “My, I was unaware that such a young hero was the master of Nerman.”

‘He’s a century-old wiley loach.’

He was wearing a normal airplate and looked like an ordinary old man, but Duke Luvidium’s eyes were shining like jewels. He was wearing a smile on his face, but wasn’t relaxing his guard.

“May I inquire about His Majesty’s health?”

“Haha, you’re asking a mischievous question when you know clearly that His Majesty cannot sleep well thanks to you.”

The duke gave my slightly testing words a high-level response. Others would have answered that His Majesty was well and healthy out of respect towards the emperor they served, but this old wiley gramps put up no such pretenses.

“Oh dear, did something regretful happen?”

However, I was no easy opponent myself. I responded with a truly concerned expression on my face.

“It looks like I can talk with you without drawing things out.”

A master could recognize another master. Duke Luvidium was able to see right through the sly, sly fox that was I.

I put on an energetic smile. And then, the line I’d been preparing came dancing out of my mouth. “50 Gold per regular soldier. 5,000 Gold for survivors of the knight level, and 10,000 Gold for mages.”

“Fine.”

“Geh!”

‘W-What?’

Duke Luvidium’s easy, nonchalant acceptance to my demands had me exclaiming in shock. 

‘S-So this is an empire.’

It would take over 10 million Gold in total, but Duke Luvidium simply agreed to it as if such a sum were nothing.

“I have prepared the payment in the form of gold tokens issued by the continent’s Big Five merchant groups. Is that fine with you?”

“O-Of course.”

The sudden strike had me stuttering.

‘Did I price them too cheaply?’

To be honest, I expected that when I put out a price like this, the other party would ask me to bring it down a little, and then I’d say no and feign disgust for them being so cheap—that’s the kind of trade I had wanted. Even though the goods being traded weren’t things, but people, money was money.

‘Looking at Derval’s expression, it seems I didn’t do anything wrong.’

Derval had an expression as shocked as mine. I could only admit defeat at the empire’s big piggy bank.

“Then let us meet again at the Havis Kingdom borders in one month’s time.”

“Haha, thank you for the trade. I hope we can continue to see each other in the future.”

“…I’d like to give you a piece of advice.”

The short trade was completed in moments, and Duke Luvidium was about to leave. The Duke, who had been making direct eye contact with me with his wisdom-filled eyes, suddenly offered me some advice.

“Please go on,” I said calmly, gazing into his eyes.

“The true strength of our empire is… thousands of Skyknights and 1 million elite troops.”

“……”

I silently awaited his next words.

“His Majesty, the Emperor… He is no different from a god to us.”

I could feel fear and reverence towards the emperor from the words of this man, who was not only a duke of the empire, but a person who had lived many years.

‘Hadveria von Laviter the Third…’

I thought of a certain man’s name.

“I thank you for the advice.” I bowed my head and showed my thanks.

“The business is concluded, so I will go back for today. However, I have a feeling we will meet again very soon.”

Regardless of the fact that we were enemies, he took the liberty to tell me that his emperor was not to be underestimated. The Duke himself was no ordinary person.

“Please take care.”

He was definitely not just here to negotiate the prisoner exchange. There was no doubt that if such an intelligent person was sent as the special envoy, he was the emperor’s spy to find out more about me and Nerman. 

A long conversation was unnecessary. The Duke gave me a slight nod and left.

‘Emperor…’

Considering Nerman was a rural territory, they were impressive enemies, the emperors of the Bajran and Laviter Empires.

“Huhu…”

But I wasn’t afraid in the least. Because there was no doubt that they were mortal humans that had to go in and out of the bathroom just like me.

* * *

‘Impressive.’

He was fairly well-informed before coming to Nerman, but Nerman had changed yet again from what was known in the Empire. A castle of the same scale as the Imperial Palace was under construction next to the old city. The outer walls had already been completed, and a wide road connected to the city called Denfors stretched out so long into the horizon that Luvidium could not see the end of it. Everything he saw had the same vigor as the Lord of Nerman he had just seen, Kyre.

‘But… you guys do not know the true face of His Majesty.’

The moment his thoughts turned to the Emperor, a cold air seized his entire body. There was no place in the Laviter Empire where the Emperor’s hand did not reach. Nobles and knights had disappeared without a sound. A snippet of complaint against the Emperor, and they had disappeared without anyone knowing one day. The emperor’s meticulous and vicious personality was like day and night.

He was aiming his blade. At this place called Nerman, where a young little lion was growing… 

* * *

“Haha, welcome.”

“It has been a while, Lord Kyre.”

After sending off Duke Luvidium, I was deep in thought because of a nasty feeling I couldn’t shake. But then, to my utter surprise, the guest I’d been expecting from the Kesmire pirates, no, the Kesmire Kingdom, showed up.

“You have become more beautiful since we last met.”

“Hoho, they may be empty words, but thank you.”

Chrisia was a pretty wiley fox herself, but compared to the duke I just met, she was like a child. She took a seat with a healthy smile that made one happy simply by seeing it.

“I wanted to see you.”

“What a coincidence, I wanted to see you too, Lord Kyre.”

‘She’s not an easy opponent, that’s for sure.’ It was characteristic of women on this continent to be shocked silly from being told by a man that he wanted to see her, but Chrisia parried my words with ease. She played with her shining, blue hair while sending me an alluring smile. ‘Fox.’

And at that sight, I was once again reminded of a gumiho, the nine-tailed fox of Korean folktales that lured in men and ate them.

“It’s truly amazing. Every time I come here, it feels like Nerman is growing at a terrifying pace. There are new buildings that didn’t exist just last fall, and the covert is full of wyverns… Haah, maybe I should just take this chance to get hitched to Your Lordship. I bet I’d never have to worry about starving to death.”

I knew she was confident, but I didn’t think she would be so outspoken.

“Haha, a spot happens to be open, so if you are interested, please let me know. I will write you in.”

“Truly?”

‘Oi oi, can’t you tell a joke, lady?’

Chrisia was also a rare beauty. In particular, perhaps because she had grown up on the ocean, but her properly suntanned, healthy-colored skin gave her a feeling of overflowing vitality. However, I was now a firm ‘NO’ for women now. The situation on that front was already unmanageable, so I couldn’t make it worse.

“I was joking. If a bad person like me brings in a beautiful woman like Lady Chrisia, how could the knights of Kesmire stand for it?”

“Aww, I’m disappointed. I really was interested.”

‘Geh… What’s wrong with girls these days?’

Chrisia was rendering me speechless. I ignored her hot gaze and started talking about the matter at hand.

“To be honest, I asked to meet you because I have a request to make.”

“Please continue.” Chrisia listened attentively, wearing an inscrutable smile.

“I wish to acquire more magic crystals.”

“My goodness, you used up that many magic crystals already? That much was enough for a magic tower to use for about a year…”

Chrisia looked earnestly surprised.

“I don’t care about the price. I would like to acquire them all, whether they are high or low grade.”

“Mm…” Chrisia had a troubled look on her face. “I also wanted to see Your Lordship because of that issue.”

“Pardon?” I asked, caught off guard by her sudden words.

“That person would like to see you.”

‘That person’ came out of nowhere.

“By ‘that person’… who do you mean…?”

“The Tsarina of Haildrian sends a formal invitation to the Lord of Nerman, Kyre.”

“What? T-The Tsarina of Haildrian did—?!”

(TL/N: Haldrian changed to Haildrian)