Chapter 792
“The Magic Department is empty? What do you mean by that?”
The Prime Minister turned his head in confusion. Jin, equally startled, set down the report, while the administrative officer delivering the news kept bowing repeatedly, clearly at a loss. What kind of commotion was this so early in the morning?
The Prime Minister even took off his glasses and asked again.
“I’m asking what’s going on.”
“My apologies. According to the officer on duty, the Magic Department’s aide, Romandro, came in at dawn and submitted a whole stack of fieldwork requests.”
“Romandro? Submitting fieldwork requests?”
These weren’t approvals from the administration but documents processed internally by the Magic Department and shared for informational purposes.
Suddenly, a sharp headache struck the Prime Minister. He had unpleasant memories tied to the Magic Department’s fieldwork. Ten years ago, hadn’t they all taken fieldwork passes en masse to rescue Minister Ian, then flown off to Cleaford? That incident was still vivid in his mind.
“So?”
“At first, they thought the requests were mixed in with other reports, but as they flipped through page after page, it turned out they were all fieldwork applications. They rushed to the Magic Department, only to find it completely empty.”
The officer handed over the bundle of documents Romandro had left behind. The Prime Minister’s brow furrowed deeply as he flipped through them lightly. Nearly the entire Magic Department staff had taken fieldwork passes.
“What on earth—”
He squeezed his eyes shut. Beyond confusion, it was downright absurd. Yet, surprisingly, every single one of them had followed protocol to the letter. Fieldwork for magicians fell under the Magic Department’s jurisdiction. While they could be morally criticized, there was no procedural fault. Still, the Prime Minister found one flaw.
“Your Majesty, the purpose section is blank. We don’t know why they left the palace, but for the entire Magic Department to suddenly be absent is a betrayal of the palace’s security. This is negligence at best, dereliction of duty at worst.”
“Hmm.”
Jin fell silent, recalling the previous night. Ian and Romandro’s nighttime outing—it seemed connected to that explosion.
The officer, sensing the tension, cautiously added, “However, the Magic Minister himself is still in the department.”
“What?”
The Prime Minister turned again, baffled.
But then he realized it made sense. While fieldwork passes were approved by the Magic Minister, the minister’s own absence required the Emperor’s approval. Since no such documents had come through recently, it was logical that he remained in his office.
“At dawn, I saw a faint light leaking from the minister’s office. It wasn’t a flame but seemed like magical energy. I knocked just in case, but there was no response.”
The door hadn’t opened. Pressing his ear to it, he heard nothing. Only a faint shadow flickered behind the window. It seemed…
“They must have isolated the space with magic. Since the palace gates and protective wards are intact, I suspect they’re conducting their work inside.”
“The Magic Minister’s office? Why on earth?”
“That, I’m not sure about…”
“Truly, these are perplexing people.”
The Prime Minister groaned, utterly unable to comprehend. The Magic Minister and his magicians were inscrutable for their own reasons. He fell silent, as if hoping the Emperor would make a decisive call.
After a long moment of thought, Jin picked the report back up.
“Keep watching until we confirm that Lord Ian is still in the minister’s office.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
And? The Prime Minister waited for him to continue, but Jin said no more. He just tilted the report, silently asking what else there was to read.
“Your Majesty, this cannot be overlooked.”
“Though strange, I have no authority over the Magic Department’s fieldwork. They’re not gone forever; let’s wait a bit. No problems have arisen from their absence yet.”
Besides, Minister Ian was still present, wasn’t he? Jin gestured to the attendant waiting outside, ordering the captain of the palace guard to be summoned.
“Prime Minister, you may take your leave.”
“…Your Majesty, please make a wise decision and uphold your dignity. It is unprecedented for an entire department to suddenly abandon their posts.”
No, there was one precedent—the Cleaford incident ten years ago. But Jin didn’t mention it.
The Prime Minister rose, thinking the Magic Department was as unruly as ever. Their brazen behavior was certainly problematic.
Creak.
Just outside the office, the Prime Minister ran into Beric, who had just arrived. Beric gave a brief nod and shut the door firmly, as if to say, “Unwelcome guest, please leave.”
“Did you call for me, Your Majesty?”
“What happened last night?”
He was asking about the results of the order to have two palace guards monitor the area. Beric scratched his head and recited his report as if from memory.
“It appears the explosion occurred in the basement of an abandoned building not far from here. We detected faint, familiar magical energy—likely from a magician, probably Ian.”
Ian attacked someone?
Jin leaned back on the sofa.
“There was some blood at the scene.”
“Blood? Whose?”
“Unknown.”
The only witness was Melania. Could the blood be hers? But why would Ian attack her? The more they dug, the more questions piled up.
Jin frowned, and Beric quietly added, “If you want, I can go to the site myself.”
“What difference would it make if you went?”
“I can smell blood.”
“Ah.”
Jin paused, momentarily surprised by Beric’s ability, but shook his head. To understand what happened, it was best to hear it from those involved.
“Very well. It would be better to search for Lord Ian or the magicians at that hour. Find out where everyone, including Melania, went. Since you can sense magic, it should be easier.”
“Yes, understood.”
Beric had already planned to look for Ian, feeling a mix of frustration at the Magic Department’s madness, concern, and a bit of hurt at being left out.
“I’ll report back soon.”
Beric bowed and left the office.
Jin continued sorting through papers as if nothing had happened, but his gaze kept drifting toward the window, toward the direction of the Magic Department.
Screeeech!
Boom! Bang!
Unable to contain her anger, Eunrang grabbed whatever was at hand and threw it. If the central nobles had seen this, they’d be shocked to see Eastern porcelain shattered without mercy.
Hohen sat silently, waiting for Eunrang’s fury to subside. After a while, he rummaged through his clothes and pulled out a white cloth.
“Hah, ha—”
Eunrang gasped for breath, supporting herself on her knees. Her fingertips were deeply cut by shards. Hohen gently cleaned her wounds and wrapped them tightly.
Eunrang looked up at him, eyes reddened.
“What should we do, Hohen?”
“…”
“Do you think what that damn kid said is true?”
That her master, the great Eastern archmage, already knew about the demon incident.
Eunrang’s shoulders trembled, and Hohen held her firmly.
“That can’t be.”
“Right?”
“He said that once you enter the wall-meditation training, you won’t know if the sky tears apart. All your senses focus solely on your own energy; no stray thoughts exist. It’s a state of nothingness, and consciousness is submerged in a world made only of self, growing faint. You know this, and I know this. So why are you so troubled?”
The master’s wall-meditation training wasn’t supposed to end yet.
Eunrang rubbed her arm fiercely, muttering in frustration. The markings on her skin wouldn’t fade; they only burned redder.
“Damn that brat.”
Who was she cursing? Ian Hiel, who had toyed with them? Or their master and archmage, Jaan, who had shackled them with eternal bonds?
Eunrang slumped forward, whispering,
“What are we going to do now, Hohen?”
I wanted to storm the palace right then and there and demand the box back, but there was no way the two of us could take on the Bariel mage alone. On top of that, I couldn’t shake the nagging worry about that guy’s claim—that our master knew everything—even though I didn’t fully trust him. It was maddening.
Eunrang clung to Hohun like a lost child, restless and uneasy. Holding her gently, Hohun spoke softly.
“First things first—”
It made sense to start with what we knew for sure.
“Ian Hielo definitely hid his identity inside the palace. Even Melania didn’t seem to know.”
“Yeah. Melania’s suspicious too. She seems noble-born, but all she does is act as an informant behind the Minister of Magic’s back.”
If Ian was hiding his identity in the palace, that meant it absolutely couldn’t be revealed. We didn’t know the full details of his situation, but that didn’t matter—we already had a lead.
“You said the Ministry of Magic and the Emperor’s faction are at odds, right?”
Eunrang nodded. We’d need to verify the exact political situation later, but that seemed to be the general picture.
“Then we just need to send this to the leader of the faction opposing Ian.”
Hohun pulled a white tiger’s fur from his pocket. It was a precious heirloom passed down through generations, but now wasn’t the time to worry about that. Eunrang blinked in confusion.
“Hohun, you mean the Emperor?”
Wouldn’t it be too difficult to meet with the Emperor? After all this, the Ministry would be on high alert.
Hohun shook his head.
“No need to go all the way to the Emperor.”
“Then who?”
“Even just the Prime Minister or a minister-level official like Hielo would be enough.”
“Hmm.”
That made sense. As long as we used the white tiger’s fur, Ian Hielo’s hidden identity would be exposed quickly.
Hohun thought for a moment before adding,
“I heard Bariel isn’t the Prime Minister but has a Chancellor.”
“Then we can use the Chancellor.”
“Right. Let’s look into that. And Melania—she needs to be investigated too.”
Eunrang stood up, her eyes flashing with determination. Now that her emotions had settled, her thoughts felt clearer. Yeah, even if the master knew where the artifact was, what could he do? The distance was too great; he couldn’t just rush here in an instant.
Before that, we just need to take the box from Ian Hielo and disappear again. Then, without a doubt, Eunrang and Hohun would break free from the master’s grasp and reclaim their freedom.
“Eunrang, stay here and rest. I’ll go check things out.”
With that, Hohun turned and left immediately.
Left alone, Eunrang removed the hairpin from her head and traced constellations and Eastern characters on the floor. Each character shimmered with golden light as it was completed.
Ziiing! Ziiing!
Swoooosh!
This was one of the astrological arts passed down through Eunrang’s family—a curse-like attack that weighed the opponent’s fortune and misfortune, amplifying their ill fate.
Watching the glowing characters, Eunrang smiled softly.
“Let’s see what you’ve got, Ian Hielo.”