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Chapter 221: Ruhr (1)

He received a lot of help with his Signature.

His master, Lovellian, had put aside all personal matters to stick close to Eugene, and Melkith, who came to visit occasionally — no — very often would actively examine Eugene’s Signature and advise on the spell’s composition.

Eugene still couldn’t go so far as to ask for advice on the structure of his spell formula from Hiridus and Trempel. No matter how friendly the two were, the spell formulas that made up his Signature still had to be kept a secret.

Balzac’s research notes were also very helpful. But before he even dug into the research, Eugene first showed it to his master, Lovellian, to verify its safety. The notes were probably from Balzac’s own research before he became an Archwizard, and since Balzac’s personality was frighteningly meticulous when it came to magic, Eugene was able to draw many inspirations from reading it.

As for Mer Merdein, she had yet to have many opportunities to actively contribute, but Mer was originally the one in charge of Sienna’s Hall within Akron. She could use various spells, but her most useful help, in this case, was her assistance in interpreting and analyzing multiple formulas.

Without even needing to cast the different spells, Mer was able to calculate what kind of combined magic would result from linking different spells together and how the different variables introduced into the spell formula as a result of combining the different spells would affect the main spell.

“Did you think that I was created to be an administrator of Akron from the very beginning? As a familiar, I was created to assist Lady Sienna in her magic calculations,” Mer declared proudly, both delighted and flattered that she could perform her designated duties for the first time in a long time.

Eugene even had Akasha in his possession. This staff was able to assist in comprehending magic. When he first held Akasha, all of the various skills that Eugene had already learned and knew were naturally reconstructed into their most optimal form through Akasha.

Akasha’s power was also useful when it came to creating his own Signature. Even spells that refused to be linked at first could be linked after modifying them this way or that way a few times with Akasha. Since even magic that didn’t mesh very well could be smoothly connected by using Akasha, the range of choices for Eugene was greatly expanded. The formula that was put together in this way would then be reviewed by Mer.

In the summer of Eugene’s twenty-first year, it might still be imperfect, but he successfully created his own Signature.

There were problems when it came to drawing out the spell formula and casting the intended phenomenon. This meant there wasn’t any possibility of failure due to leftover variables. However, the Signature still wasn’t complete, so the scope of the spell was much smaller than Eugene’s initial idea for it.

Even so, there weren’t any problems with using it. Eugene closed his eyes as he gleefully felt pride surge within him.

“Whoa…,” came a quiet gasp.

Mer, who was watching from a distance, had a dissatisfied expression. But the expression of Kristina, who was standing beside Mer, was the complete opposite.

Deeply moved by the sight, Kristina clasped her hands in front of her chest and sighed, “What a beautiful and noble appearance…!”

[Kristina, I can’t help but have these thoughts sometimes. You weren’t able to receive much love during your childhood. So your unfortunate childhood and repressed innocence seemed to have left you with some flawed preconceptions,] Anise said while clicking her tongue.

Kristina didn’t say anything in response. In her eyes, the current Eugene truly looked beautiful and noble.

Lovellian, who was watching from another side, also had a happy expression.

When he had first heard Eugene’s concept for his Signature, Lovellian honestly didn’t think it would work. Eugene’s Signature was different from the Signatures of the other Archwizards. Although it was still a type of magic, it wasn’t magic for magic’s sake. Instead, the spell was only meant to focus on assisting Eugene’s innate abilities.

That being said, Eugene’s Signature wasn’t a low-level sort of spell. By creating layers upon layers of magic, Eugene was able to create a completely different type of phenomenon. Even for Lovellian, it was impossible to imitate such an intricate technique.

“But this feels different from magic, doesn’t it?” Melkith murmured as she looked at Eugene with her brows furrowed.

“You’re the one who taught him that magic is meant to make you be able to do what you couldn’t before,” Lovellian reminded her with a smirk as he turned to look at Melkith.

Melkith was also aware of the spell formula for Eugene’s Signature. However, she hadn’t been told of the original concept that lay at the core of the idea. No, even if she knew it, Melkith still wouldn’t be able to come up with an answer as to how the spell formula she had seen could create such a phenomenon.

“Also, a Signature is meant to be mixed in with an Archwizard’s unique abilities,” Lovellian continued. “Pantheon is able to serve as by Signature because of all of my Summons that I have created or collected, and your Trinity Force requires contracts with the Earth Spirit King and the Lightning Spirit King. They have set a precedent for being impossible to imitate and for requiring our own unique abilities.”

“Well, that’s true,” Melkith reluctantly conceded.

“The same goes for his Signature. That is what makes it so difficult to deal with,” Lovellian assessed.

The particularly troublesome thing about Eugene’s Signature was that it couldn’t fully be treated as a magic spell. Since it was meant to assist Eugene, its power would continue to grow according to Eugene’s own limits. This meant there was no guarantee that what you managed to figure out about the spell now would be the same when you next saw it.

“I feel like Lady Carmen will find it even more interesting than I expected,” Mer commented to Eugene with a complicated look.

Purple sparks scattered, then, as if they were really made of flames, they died down and disappeared.

“Be quiet,” Eugene ordered. “Do you really think I made it this way because I wanted to? This is the optimal form for the spell, so what am I supposed to do about it?”

“Is it really the most optimal form?” Mer asked skeptically. “If you really wanted to do it, I feel like it would be possible to find other forms for it….”

“You… you’re trying to accuse me of something strange, aren’t you? It’s not like this form is really anything special, no? When you consider it in terms of magic, just how many spells are there that have a similar form to this?” Eugene stubbornly insisted.

Mer shrugged, “That might be the case, but you have already set a precedent in the past.”

Eugene snapped, “Be quiet, Mer-Mer.”

“My name is not Mer-Mer,” Mer huffed. “It’s Mer Merdein. By making fun of my name like that, Sir Eugene, you just want to draw attention to your bizarre naming sense, right?”

“If you keep that up, I really will kill you, Mer-Mer-Mer-Merdein.”

“Really, how childish.”

Clicking her tongue, Mer threw herself into Eugene’s arms as if they hadn’t just been arguing. After lightly squeezing Mer’s head as punishment, Eugene opened his cloak so that she could go inside.

The final checks were over. Even if Eugene’s Signature was still incomplete, it wasn’t to the point where anything was left undone, and the lacking parts could still be supplemented even after he left Aroth.

Honestly speaking, Eugene didn’t have any more time to waste.

The Knight March would be opening in the territory of the Ruhr Kingdom this very next month. The site of the Knight March was on the very outskirts of the Ruhr frontier, where there weren’t any warp gates, so factoring in the travel time, Eugene would need to leave Aroth right away if he wanted to make it in time; right now, in fact.

As such, Eugene had decided to leave today.

“Although there shouldn’t be any problems, you should still be careful,” Lovellian warned him.

The rest of the people who had helped Eugene create his Signature had already sent their greetings the previous day, so only Lovellian and Melkith had ventured out to see them off at the warp gate.

The Head of Aroth’s Court Wizard Division, Trempel Vizardo, would be participating in the Knight March along with Crown Prince Honein, but the Tower Masters weren’t members of Aroth’s Wizard Army, so they had no reason to participate in the Knight March.

“Is there really anything that he needs to be careful of?” Melkith scoffed. “I’ve heard that the place where the Knight March is taking place is in Lehain. Even for Ruhr, that place is famous for its hot springs. No matter what price you offer, it’s difficult to book a reservation there.”

“Of course, it would be difficult to purchase a trip there. Its reputation might be famous, but that place is located right beneath the monster-infested Leheinjar Snowy Mountains,” Lovellian reminded them.

Melkith still argued, “But it’s true that the hot spring facilities there are top-notch!”

“Well, that’s… the facilities there are meant for the Snowy Mountain Rangers who keep watch over the Leheinjar, as well as the knights who regularly go there to train. If you truly want to have fun in Lehain, you should also apply to join Ruhr’s White Fangs, White Tower Master. They’ll probably welcome you with open arms,” Lovellian teased.

Melkith huffed, “Do you think I’m crazy? As if I’d join the White Fangs…. Hmmm, if I ask that old guy, Trempel, maybe he’ll take me with him….”

Lovellian snorted, “If you agree to transfer to the Wizard Army, he’ll gladly take you along.”

“Fine then, I won’t go. If it’s a hot spring, I can just make one myself to have fun in. As long as you heat up the groundwater, then it’s a hot spring, right?” Melkith asked jokingly as she approached Eugene with her arms held wide. “In any case, congratulations, kid. Don’t forget that the help of Melkith El-Hayah went into your Signature. Later, when you write your autobiography, be sure to jot down what a good and kind person I am.”

“I probably won’t write an autobiography, but sure,” Eugene easily agreed.

Melkith added another request, “Also, bring me back some souvenirs from Lehain. I don’t know if they actually sell souvenirs there, but I’ve heard that you might be able to mine a stone called a fire crystal from around the hot springs? Since they’re also sometimes found at the bottom of hot springs, just bring one of those with you when you come back.”

“Those are just stones that can give off sparks, aren’t they? Where are you going to use them, Lady Melkith?” Eugene asked curiously.

“Where else would I use them? Of course, I will use them as a bribe to seduce the Spirit King of Fire,” Melkith revealed proudly.

Even though she had already signed a contract with two Spirit Kings, it seemed that Melkith still wasn’t satisfied. Turning his back on Melkith, who was cackling wickedly, Eugene exchanged goodbyes with Lovellian.

“But we don’t all really need to go there together, do we?” Kristina stealthily snuck in an attempt to sabotage a certain reunion.

Eugene, of course, didn’t manage to recognize the sabotage attempt for what it was and instead calmly replied, “They told me that everyone else has already left, and they’re already waiting for us there.”

“I can understand if it’s Sir Cyan, but isn’t Lady Ciel a member of the Black Lion Knights’ Third Division? Why didn’t she go with Lady Carmen and her fellow knights instead of waiting to go with you, Sir Eugene?” Kristina complained.

“Because we’re siblings.”

“Siblings—! Why should that matter?”

“It can’t be helped that the Lionheart clan will be drawing a lot of attention during this Knight March. After all, we’ve been through so many things lately. And all that attention will be focused on the successors of the Lionheart clan, Cyan, Ciel, and myself,” Eugene explained with an emotionless expression as he paid the fee for the warp gate.

“Our journey from the capital of Ruhr to Lehain won’t be easy. At best, it will take a month, and the snowfields on the Ruhr frontier are infested with monsters. They may have received constant training to be knights, but isn’t it a rare opportunity to build up the bond between siblings by overcoming such rough terrain together? Especially since, as well as being their brother, I’ve also reached a high level in the White Flame Formula, so by asking me to accompany them across the snowfields together, they must be hoping to be positively stimulated and influenced by me.”

Now that Eugene had said all this, Kristina couldn’t say anything back to him. Instead, she felt like what Eugene said was correct, and she felt ashamed of herself for having such pointless thoughts.

As such, while feeling a need for self-reflection, she took a moment to recite a prayer for repentance.

Only for Anise to snort, [What positive stimulation? I don’t know about that young master Cyan, but that cunning bitch, Ciel’s insistence on traveling together with Hamel, must definitely be full of her own greedy desires.]

Kristina was too stunned to respond.

[Kristina, if you\'re having trouble dealing with that chick, then just leave it to me, your Sister,] Anise offered. [I’ll fix those bad habits of hers so that she won’t think to do anything so cunning again.]

‘...It’s alright, you don’t need to do that…,’ Kristina hesitantly declined.

Although Kristina couldn’t help but feel tempted, she still didn’t want to make such a request of Anise.

“Don’t we need to change clothes before we go?” Mer stuck her head out from under Eugene’s cloak and asked. “The Kingdom of Ruhr is a place where it’s winter all year round. I didn’t ask, but Lady Ancilla sent me some new winter clothes. Do you want to see them, Sir Eugene? I’ve already changed into them.”

“What’s there to even look at that?” Eugene scoffed. “You showed them to me as soon as you received them and also once yesterday.”

“Truthfully speaking, even I have to admit that I look cute in my fur-lined coat. Don’t you think it’s cute no matter how often you’ve seen it?” Mer argued.

Kristina couldn’t deny those words, but the way Mer’s face looked back up at her with a smug and challenging smile was really annoying. Eugene shook his head as he pulled on Mer’s cheeks.

“Don’t pinch my cheeks,” Mer complained. “So, Sir Eugene, are you going to change clothes?”

Eugene rejected her persuasion, “I’m fine. After all, this cloak is meant to be worn in winter.”

Mer turned to Kristina, “How about you, Lady Kristina?”

Kristina also waved her off, “My robes also have a function to protect from the cold.”

“Really now!” Mer huffed. “How can you all be like this? Do you really only wear clothes to keep yourself from getting cold? It’s also a lot of fun to wear new clothes you’ve never worn before!”

“As long as they’re warm when it\'s cold and cool and easy to move around in when it\'s hot, any clothes are fine,” Eugene grumbled.

Anise also agreed, [This little familiar is so spoiled because she’s never had to wander around Helmuth.]

However, Kristina could somewhat agree with Mer, and she felt a slight impulse to try Mer’s idea. Come to think of it, until now, she had yet to wear anything other than a nun’s habit or a priest’s robes.

“...Ahem… this robe will keep out the cold, but it won’t be able to protect me from the flying snow. So I think it should be alright for me to buy at least one set of coats,” as Kristina finished convincing herself like this, she walked through the warp gate.

While following behind Krisitna, Eugene recalled his memories of Molon.

This wasn’t Eugene’s first time in the northern snowfields. To enter Helmuth, one needed to cross these snowfields. At that time, because most of the northern land had been occupied by demonfolk and demonic beasts, while not as much as Helmuth, these frozen lands had been filled with a hellish amount of demonic beasts and demonfolk.

Molon had been enraged by the state of these snowfields. Although he and the Bayar tribe that he had been born and raised in had never once been to these northernmost snowfields where the ancestors of their tribe were once based, the Bayar tribe had always called themselves the Children of the North, Children of the Snowfields. Even if the snowfields that Hamel and the others had walked across three hundred years ago weren’t the territory of the Bayar Tribe, that land was still the snowfields of the constant blizzards.

Molon used a great hammer and an ax as his weapons.

Whenever Molon struck with his hammer, an avalanche was raised, and when he swung his ax, even a blizzard could be split in two.

Whenever such ferociously barbaric attacks were directed at the demonfolk and demonic beasts, none of Molon’s enemies were left with intact corpses, either being crushed or exploded, staining the snowfields with their various colors of blood.

The blizzards never stopped. The snow poured down in a perpetual shower. So even if these mangled corpses were strewn about and the entire snowfield was stained in blood, after a while, all the corpses and the blood-stained land would return to a pure-white state once more.

Molon had loved these snowfields.

‘There’s also the heated river,’ Eugene recalled.

A heated river flowed near the territory of the Bayar tribe. When Anise had first told them about the Fount of Light three hundred years ago, Molon had also spoken about that heated river.

At that, Hamel and Sienna hadn’t believed Molon’s claims and had just laughed at them. How could there be an entire river that was steaming hot? Especially since the Bayar tribe lived in the northernmost part of the continent, where it snowed heavily. They had thought that it was ridiculous for there to be a heated river in a land where it was so cold that even a normal river would have frozen over and stopped flowing.

But Eugene now knew, ‘It was actually a hot spring.’

Molon hadn’t been lying. For a kingdom founded in the middle of these snowfields, the hot springs had become a famous tourist attraction for the Kingdom of Ruhr.

—Once this war is over, we can all go there together. At that time, I will be the Chieftain of the Bayar Tribe. If I ask them to keep the river empty for my friends, our tribe members will gladly give up the opportunity for us.

Back then, Molon had said this with a broad smile.

However, that promise hadn’t come true. The war came to an unsatisfactory conclusion, and Hamel had died. So it was impossible for everyone to go to the heated river together.

But Molon had still become the Chieftain of the Bayar Tribe, and he had founded a kingdom that now bore his name.

“So Molon ended up being the most successful of all of us,” Eugene marveled with a wry smile as he passed through the warp gate.

Sienna may have received a lot of acclaim while serving as a Tower Master in Aroth, but she was still fatally wounded when Vermouth had attacked her for unknown reasons. After that, she was crushed by Raizakia’s attack and had to be sealed within the World Tree.

Anise had tried to retire by going on a pilgrimage, but in her very final moments, she was overtaken by a whim and took her own life. Her body was unable to receive its eternal rest and was instead used as a sacrifice so that Yuras could raise the next candidate for Sainthood.

Vermouth had served as an Archduke of Kiehl and founded the Lionheart clan, one of the most prestigious lineages on the continent. However, Vermouth also couldn’t find a place to rest in his later years and instead disappeared after faking his death.

However, Molon had lived happily for a very, very long time. This was a widely known fact.

He had founded the Kingdom of Ruhr in the snow fields that had once been stomped on by Helmuth. He rallied the countess refugees who had lost their own countries and took them in as subjects of his kingdom. In the three hundred years since its founding, the Kingdom of Ruhr had become the most powerful country in the north. It alone exerted more influence than the entire Anti-Demon Alliance, a coalition of the small and medium-sized countries near Helmuth.

The Kingdom of Ruhr had been able to show such drastic growth because the Brave Molon that stood behind Ruhr had last been seen one hundred years ago. After founding the kingdom and serving as its king for the next fifty years, he had passed the throne to his son, but Molon hadn’t chosen to live in seclusion and had kept a watch over the Kingdom of Ruhr as its former king.

However, even Molon had suddenly disappeared about a hundred years ago.

Eugene cursed, ‘These bastards are really all the same. Molon went into seclusion, Sienna also went into seclusion, and Anise went on a pilgrimage. Everyone just disappeared suddenly without properly revealing where they were going. Then there’s that bastard Vermouth, who’s pretending to be dead.’

Eugene raised his hand to look at the scene in front of him. He had already passed through the warp gate, but the temperature hadn’t changed drastically. Instead, the air actually felt quite warm.

The capital of the Kingdom of Ruhr was called….

“Hamelon!” Mer cried out cheerfully as she looked up at Eugene from inside his cloak. “You knew that as well, right, Sir Eugene? That the reason why this city is called Hamelon is that it was meant to commemorate the deceased comrade of Molon Ruhr, the first king of Ruhr.”

“I knew that,” Eugene reluctantly acknowledged.

“In the square in front of the palace are statues depicting Sir Molon and Sir Hamel together. We’re definitely going to see them, right?” Mer chirped excitedly.

Eugene refused, “Don’t want to.”

“Why don’t you want to go?” Mer complained. “It’s said that they’re so well-made that they look magnificent.”

“I think it would feel weird seeing them,” Eugene admitted.

Kristina hesitantly spoke up, “I really want to see them, but….”

Inside her head, Anise giggled and said, [I’ve seen them once, but I recommend not looking at them too closely.]

‘Why is that, Sister?’ Kristina asked her silently.

Anise explained, [Molon was a bit too aggrieved about his deceased comrade. How should I describe the statue of Hamel that’s stood there…? It might be a statue of Hamel, but it doesn’t really look like Hamel. They made it a lot more… noble-looking. Just like my statues in Yuras.]

‘More noble-looking, you say…. I’m not sure I get what you mean by that.’

[Molon commissioned and erected a statue of the moment when Hamel died. He intended for the people of Ruhr to mourn Hamel’s noble sacrifice…. So the statue depicts Hamel collapsed with a hole through his chest, and Molon is holding his corpse. I can remember it clearly. After retrieving Hamel’s corpse from the Demon King of Incarceration, Molon’s appearance as he carried Hamel’s body in his arms….]

While recalling the distant past, Anise let out a sad laugh.

Eugene might not be able to hear the conversation between Kristina and Anise, but he meant it when he said that he didn’t want to go and take a look at the statue in that square.

The reason for it was simple. If he saw it, he might end up feeling depressed and unable to hold back his tears, and Eugene didn’t want to show such an appearance to Anise.

“Still, Sir Eugene, wouldn’t it be better to look at it at least once?” Kristina cautiously suggested to Eugene.

But at the moment when Eugene was about to open his mouth and reply—

“Eugene!”

Someone called out to Eugene in a loud voice.

When Eugene turned his head, he spotted Ciel running at him from somewhere nearby and throwing herself at him in a hug without losing any of her momentum.

“It’s been so long!” Ciel cried out.

Since it had been almost half a year since they last saw each other, saying it had been so long wasn’t inaccurate. Ciel threw back the hood of her coat, which was bristling with fur, and smiled at Eugene.

“Didn’t you miss me?” Ciel asked.

Eugene asked in return, “Were you waiting for us here?”

“You’re the one who said that you’d be arriving today. That’s why my brother and I came out early to meet you,” Ciel explained with a bright smile while also exchanging a side glance with Kristina.

[Kristina, wouldn’t it be better for you to change places with me?] Anise whispered to her like a demon on her shoulder.

Kristina’s lips just twitched silently.