21st Century Archmage

Chapter 169: Ever Heard of My Little Friend, the Warp Array?

Translator: gramma lei

Proofreader: young’un enigami

“What? Whaaat?!!”

“H-How…”

A  barrage of shocked exclamations followed my words.

“Do you mean those words in earnest right now?”

“T-The distance from here to there is so far, how in the world will you cast Warp? That’s ridiculous…”

Seeing me remain silent with a grin, they went wild.

“Kyre-nim…”

Unlike Countess Irene, who was standing there wordlessly with her arms crossed, the Bajran Imperial Knights were sputtering in disbelief. Hyneth was staying silent, having already gotten a promise out of me. Unlike her, Princess Igis didn’t know anything. She quietly called my name.

“Hyung, is a long-distance Warp really possible? Wow! That sounds like so much fun!”

Only the kiddo Razcion jumped up and down with excitement.

“Count Kyre, were you being serious just now?” asked Irene. These days, she blushed just from seeing me, but right now, she was being serious. She was asking me this question as the head leader protecting the Bajran imperial line.

“Princess Igis, you can’t believe me?”

“…I do. If you say that it’s possible, Kyre-nim, then it must be so.”

Igis’ sky blue eyes were full of absolute trust, as if I were some kind of religious cult leader.

‘Of course you should believe me.’

I wasn’t just some random stranger, but the person who would take responsibility for her for a lifetime, so it’d be a real problem if she couldn’t believe me.

“Kyre, no, Lord of Nerman. Is it really possible? I didn’t think there were any upper-circle mages here…”

Rothello, who was widely rumored to be visiting a tavern near Denfors in cahoots with Ryker these days, asked me once again, his eyes narrowed.

“If you can’t believe my words, I won’t press the issue. I recommend you either cross through the war-embroiled Bajran Empire or return along the Litore Mountains… if you have an friendly truce with the Temir, that is.”

Hearing my unswerving voice, everyone shut up.

“Everyone must take their wyverns with them. Is that also possible?”

As was befitting a leader, Irene pinpointed the core problem.

“I’ll Warp the people first, then move the wyverns one by one. Also, you cannot take any airplates and wyvern armor with you.”

I was confidently forging ahead, but my confidence didn’t extend to airplates and wyvern armor. There was a chance, as small as it was, that the magic crystals embedded in them could cause mana interference. If that happened, I couldn’t guarantee the safety of the Warp.

“Tonight, when the moon has risen to the middle of the sky, please gather on the terrace in front of my room.”

The magic array was ready to go, but I needed time to say my goodbyes.

‘I have to return quickly this time.’

If one was going to help, it was wise to do it properly. I wasn’t a fan of doing things half-heartedly, where it couldn’t really be called “helping.”

“Well then, I will see you all shortly.”

I nodded to everyone inside the meeting room in my mansion, where Silence was constantly active, and left the room.

They were the ones who had more to lose from playing it safe than me. It might be dangerous, but they would have no choice but to do as I commanded.

* * *

“Please have a safe trip.”

I traveled to the Elven Village to see Narmias, who didn’t know much about matters of the human world. When I told her, the woman who held a spot of constant remorse in my heart, that I had to leave the territory for a while, she responded with a smile.

“Narmias.”

“Yes?”

Her blue, mountain lake-like eyes grew round at my call.

“Thank you.”

“……”

Narmias was always waiting for me, like the embrace of home. A word of thanks came welling out from the depths of my heart.

“I am thankful to you as well. For loving such a flawed person as myself…”

Narmias, who was always sincere and passionate before love, gazed at me warmly.

‘If you’re flawed, then what the hell am I?’

Any man would want to experience a noble and pure love. But for me, someone who recognized himself as the world’s biggest playboy, her pure love was difficult to bear. However, because I was such a selfish man, I didn’t reject her love. In Korea, that would earn me stabs from every man out there, but here, me loving her wasn’t a crime. It was simply that such love was only a possibility for those who could protect it.

Inside her quiet room, I lightly embraced Narmias. My airplate kept her warmth from reaching my heart, but the bluish silver hair that tickled my ear emanated the faint smell of spring.

I filled my eyes, my ears, my senses, and my lips with her, and thought to myself that this foolish elven woman who loved me and me alone was a treasure that nothing in the world could replace.

* * *

“An oracle descended upon me.”

‘Eh? O-Oracle?!!’

After bidding Narmias a short farewell, I headed to the Temple of Neran, where Aramis greeted me with the shocking news of an oracle. Her face was slightly stiff.

‘I’ve never heard about any oracles before, not even once. What kind of oracle came down all of a sudden? And looking at her expression, it must be pretty serious.’

Not much could make Aramis look this stiff. Today was different.

“I believe you need to be careful. The entire continent was covered by birds of shadow beating black wings, blood turned to rivers, the screams of humans rang and echoed, and bodies that lost their souls were wandering the lands.”

Aramis described the oracle using abstract words that could have come from a mystery novel.

“Was that all?” I cautiously asked Aramis, who was standing before me right now as a proxy of God.

“Oracles are not clear. Like a dream, it is merely a brief reel of images that come and fade. And this oracle… had the most ominous images of any I have received in the past.”

Even her voice was different from usual. Her pale face that looked as though it had seen a nightmare was slightly crumpled, as if she was thinking about the content of the oracle.

‘I can tell it’s serious just from the sound of it.’

Even now, countless people are losing their fragile lives due to the aftermath of war. However, it sounded like the oracle was describing something else entirely. The mention of darkness particularly bothered me.

“Kyre-nim… Please, please be careful.”

Her voice returned to normal, as if she had woken from a dream. The eyes looking at me were filled with concern. This was Aramis, the saintess who boldly confessed that she loved me as much as God directly in front of God.

“I’ll come back safely.”

In any case, the future was not set in stone. I might live like every day was my last, but how could I not be careful? I wanted to live a long, long life with the people I loved, so being careful was a given. There was only one thing I could do and say to Aramis: a warm smile that said ‘trust me.’

‘There’s no way I can die. I made it this far to my paradise, so how could I die without even enjoying it?’

I might have spent the night sharing a hot kiss with Princess Igis, but my chastity was still as intact as ever.

For me, those birdbrains with black wings weren’t even a problem. Unless the gods were determined to kill me, I would run, run, and run. Just like how Forrest Gump ran from coast to coast, I wanted to run across the entire length of the Kallian Continent.

I, the Lord of Nerman, Kyre, would run while advertising on loudspeaker that I was the luckiest man in the world.

* * *

* * *

Gulp.

My ears picked up the sound of someone swallowing nervously.

Whiiiirrrr.

Captivating colors from various spells flowed out from the Warp array connected to the Grade 1 magic crystal.

“Now then, I’ve kept you all waiting. From now on, I will teleport everyone to the homeland you have been longing for.”

Since we also had to teleport the wyverns, the magic array was a good 10 meters in diameter. The enormous array struck fear into those unfamiliar with its intricacies, so I spoke jokingly in order to ease the taut nerves of my customers.

“……”

However, not a single person laughed or responded. They simply stared at the colorful, massive teleportation circle with fearful eyes.

‘Sigh, why get cold feet now…’

To be perfectly frank, this was an untested magic array. I had the coordinates of the corresponding teleportation circle in the Garvit Duchy, so it was theoretically perfect, but I had no time to check.

“Everyone, just relax and step onto the magic array.”

“W-We’re going first?”

The Skyknights of the Bajran Imperial Guard feared nothing when they were aloft in the sky. But when I asked them to get onto the magic array, they were as tense as fresh recruits on their first day of boot camp.

“Of course. Or am I supposed to go first?”

The Imperial Skyknights shut their mouths.

“H-Hyung. The magic array is really huge.”

Up until he saw the array, Razcion was all full of excitement. But now, faced with its overwhelming size, he didn’t hide that he was feeling intimidated.

“Yeah, the bigger something is, the safer it is. Wyverns also have greater flying ability the bigger they are, right?”

“I-I see.”

Instead of giving me an affirmative response, Razcion didn’t seem to put much faith in my words. I could tell the others were feeling the same way from their expressions.

“If we’re not here, it’s possible the wyverns will make a fuss. Will you be able to handle it?”

Countess Irene looked at her big bird(?) while expressing her concern.

“There’s no need to worry. We’ve got a trainer who specializes in that sort of thing here.”

As I spoke, I glanced at Bebeto, who was already dozing off while sitting at the end of the big terrace. Which birdbrain would dare to make a fuss in front of Bebeto? If they didn’t want to end their short bird lives, that is.

“Now, now, hurry and get on. After I teleport everyone over, I will teleport the wyverns within a fixed period of time, so don’t worry. Princess, please get on first.”

“Yes…”

Igis flinched at my words and slowly walked forward. From her delicate body, I could faintly feel a sense of fear she hadn’t shown even when getting chased out of the capital.

Once the Princess took her place on the array, the Imperial Guard followed.

“E-Elder Brother, you have to make sure it works.”

‘Huhu, of course. This brother of yours will take full responsibility,’ I thought. “Haha. Hyneth, see you soon.”

“Yeah…” Hyneth, the girl whose sweet and cute face contrasted with her significantly taller body, nodded as she followed the Princess.

‘Shall we give this a whirl?’ I hadn’t sent anything as far as the duchy, but I did send some objects to a few coordinates near the castle, and I was able to confirm with 100% certainty that the magic array had worked. ‘If this doesn’t work…’

I didn’t even want to think about it. If I made a mistake here, the death knell would ring over the Bajran Empire.

“Relax. I read this in some book, but it’s said that in the past, whenever archmages used teleportation arrays like this, they cast a spell to ease their fear.”

Many pairs of eyes honed in on my lips.

“Everyone, holler with me. Cheeeeeese~!” I shouted, grinning wide.

“Ch-ch…cheese…”

“Cheeeeeeeeeeese.”

I laughed inwardly as I watched the naive suckers saying “Cheese” with their stiff faces. This group picture really was full of awkward smiles.

“Haha. Alright, see you on the other side! Warp!!!”

“Agh!”

“Ah!”

Flash! Whoooooooosh.

When I pulled a fast one on them and chanted the spell very suddenly, a chorus of surprised exclamations rang out. But then, the spell’s blindingly bright light and an enormous amount of mana whirled from the array, and I closed my eyes.

“…They’re gone.”

A short while later, I opened my eyes, finding nobody on the array.

“Who knows if they made it there safely.”

I sent them off, but even I couldn’t be sure about the results of the long-distance Warp. It wasn’t so far that it would be like going from one end of the continent to the other, but it was still a huge distance spanning about two kingdoms.

Kweh? Kugaaaaa.

When their owners disappeared in a flash of light, the wyverns stared at the magic array in alarm. Because they couldn’t wear their armor, the wyverns were standing there as naked as they had come into the world. They stared at me and the magic array with deeply wary eyes.

“Bebeto, line these guys up for me.”

Guooooooooooooooo!

Bebeto flapped his golden-striped black wings, bellowing energetically as if to deny that he had just been dozing off.

“…..”

The wyverns went from thinking about resisting to lowering their heads at Bebeto’s cry. In 21st century terms, Bebeto was like the school’s biggest bully.

The wyverns voluntarily bowed down to him. So what did that make me, his owner?

The true boss of the bullies, of course!

* * *

* * *

“T-The magic circle is…”

“F-From such a huge distance.”

A lumikar had flown to the duchy from Hyneth, the Skyknight sent to protect the Princess and Prince. Shockingly, Hyneth requested the coordinates for the Garvit Duchy’s Warp array. She said that she needed the exact coordinates of none other than the fixed teleportation array, and absolutely no mistakes were permissible. In the same letter, Hyneth wrote that the Lord of Nerman, Kyre, would teleport the Princess and Prince with magic.

Duke Garvit and the other northern nobles of the Bajran Empire were dubious about those words. They were holding a meeting late into the night when they received an urgent summons from a mage. He didn’t know where it was coming from, but he sensed the energy of magic set to the coordinates of the duchy’s teleportation circle. Upon hearing that, the shocked nobles found themselves glued to the area around the magic circle.

Shortly afterwards, under everyone’s watchful eyes, the magic array began to exude a great deal of light. As if to prove that the teleportation distance was enormous, the flow of mana around the teleportation circle was intense. The mages and nobles, most of whom could use mana, closed their eyes to protect themselves from the light, which was as bright as the sun.

“Agh!”

“Ah!”

Their ears picked up several shocked exclamations, and the eyes of Duke Garvit and the other nobles flashed open.

“…..!!!”

Around 10 people were standing before their eyes. As if they had seen something bad before the teleportation, they were wearing strange expressions that were neither smiling nor crying.

“I, Garvit, give my respectful greetings to His and Her Highness, the Princess and Prince!”

Duke Garvit was the first to come to his senses and bow.

“We respectfully greet His and Her Highness, the Princess and Prince!”

“Saluuuute!”

The nobles hastily lowered their heads, and the knights standing by next to the magic array shouted an energetic salute.

“D-Duke Garvit…”

“H-How can this be…”

“F-Father.”

Shocked voices came from the teleported party led by Princess Igis and the Prince. They trusted Count Kyre, but it was extremely difficult to believe long-distance teleportation magic was possible. And yet, it had really succeeded, and in stunning fashion, without a single hitch.

“Thank you, everyone. In the name of me, Razcion, and the Imperial Family, I vow to never forget the way you believed in our lacking Imperial Family.”

Igis quickly recovered her composure. She filled her heart with the sight of Duke Garvit and the many nobles who accepted the brand of traitors for their sakes.

“It was something we naturally had to do. May you please retract your words.”

The old Duke Garvit demonstrated the appearance of an exemplary loyal noble of the Empire to the Princess.

“Please retract your words.”

The nobles followed suit, bowing. It was a truly pleasant scene. Everyone felt their hearts growing warm seeing that loyalty was still alive and well in the Bajran Empire.

Everyone was full of happiness, when suddenly, a Skyknight that had accompanied the Princess, Viscount Rothello, looked around with an alarmed mumble. His eyes conveyed that it wouldn’t be good if they were in a place like this.

“Ah!” At that instant, a sharp cry came from Countess Irene, who never lost her composure. “Your Excellency, quickly throw everything in the area outside. We must hurry and make a path that leads outsi—”

Before Countess Irene could finish, the teleportation array began to glow.

“Ah!”

“O-Oh no…”

And then, the faces of the Princess and the others who came from Nerman rapidly paled. It was marvelous that they had made the jump safely, but the space they were standing in was an underground chamber of the duchy’s castle. It wasn’t small, but you also couldn’t call it large.

“NOO!!!!!!!”

From someone’s mouth came a cry that sounded more like a scream.

“R-Run!”

Countess Irene hurriedly escorted the Princess and Prince off the magic array.

Flash!

As soon as they made it off the array, an object(?) of enormous size appeared on the array with a flash of light.

“Uwah!”

“Dodge!”

The joy of reuniting with the Princess and Prince was short-lived. Everyone was busy scrambling away from the enormous thing that was taking up the magic array.

* * *

“Okie dokie! Perfect.”

The wyverns walked one at a time onto the array, just as Bebeto commanded. In order to prove that I wasn’t just making off with their wyverns, I deftly sent off a Black Wyvern after the Princess’ party.

“Hrm, three times in a row is possible, huh.”

There was a reason why people rode cars with powerful engines. The Grade 1 magic crystal didn’t run out of juice even after a long-distance Warp. While I was waiting a little, the magic crystal rapidly sucked in the atmospheric mana and returned to its usual state.

“Seriously, the speed of Master’s mana charger array is the best.”

Even a Grade 1 magic crystal couldn’t supply mana endlessly. Once all the mana in the crystal was discharged, you had to refill the crystal with mana again. Like a rechargeable battery, the magic crystal could only be used again after giving it time to charge.

To deal with that constraint, the mana charger array was born. The mana charger could recharge the mana in a used magic crystal, which was capable of transforming atmospheric mana into usable mana. Unlike the mana charger array commonly used on the continent, Master’s patented array had a significantly faster charging speed. It was like the difference between a product from a top-tier major company and a fake sold on Amazon.

“Owl no. 2! Straighten up already, or else!”

After watching his fellow wyvern disappear, the wyvern that was next in line hunched fearfully on the magic array. I shouted at him like a military instructor.

GUOOOO!

Bebeto punctuated my words with a bellow of his own.

“…..!!!”

With that, the wyvern immediately folded his wings and sat on the array with flawlessly straight posture.

‘These brats are pretty damn cute, seriously.’

These wyverns had a wingspan of 20 meters, but to me, they looked like incredibly cute puppies.

“Owl no. 2, depart! Warp!”

It was too boring to do this task all alone, so when I felt the Grade 1 magic circle in the inner castle reaching a full gauge, I immediately sent off the second wyvern while playing sergeant.

Flash.

With my chant came a powerful beam of light as the spell activated.

Looking up, I saw that the stars and moon were smiling brightly upon me, not wavering at all despite the magic light.