Seven Are Needed?!

Ian had thought that he would, before long, have to meet the man newly appointed as ambassador from the Magnia Empire. However, they ended up facing each other sooner than expected. Not even two days had passed since the incident with the princess when the man suddenly requested an audience.

When Ian entered the audience hall, he went straight to the throne and sat down. Then he slowly looked around at the ministers standing in their places. The interior of the audience hall presented a very different scene from the past. There were now six tall figures, each two meters in height and wearing gray coats that had never been seen here before, standing on both sides.

On top of that, there was an individual who drew far too much attention—a man in a white mask shaped in a smiling expression—standing right beside Ian. His name was Camyu. He had once infiltrated the palace and been captured, then reborn as a completely different being through Ian’s Mental Manipulation.

Ian prided himself on having spent several months carefully remaking him until he was entirely his own. At the same time, Camyu was the only one among those Ian had manipulated who could use mana. For the record, he had become far stronger than before.

‘Thanks to the Ability Enhancement, his physical capabilities have been vastly strengthened compared to before, and even his mana has increased tremendously.’

Ian himself could not sense mana, so he only knew this from what others told him. Incidentally, the reason Camyu currently wore full-body garments that covered him completely, along with that white mask, was because his entire body had been twisted by burns.

In any case, recalling this situation, Ian quietly glanced at the ornate, patterned audience-hall doors standing some distance away, then spoke in a low voice.

“Show the ambassador in.”

At his words, the doors began to slowly open. Before long, Ian saw the figure of the man walking in. He struck Ian as a middle-aged man with something strangely out of place about him. He had blond hair, and a smile lingered at the corners of his mouth. At the same time, when Ian looked into his eyes, they somehow felt snake-like.

“I am Ambassador Miblanc, newly appointed from the Magnia Empire to the Polia Kingdom. It is an honor to behold Your Majesty, King of the Polia Kingdom, like this.”

He raised one hand slightly and bowed a little, but there was nothing servile about his posture. His conduct made Ian think, as expected, that this was a man representing an empire. Still, he greeted him in turn.

“Welcome. I bid you welcome to the Polia Kingdom.”

“You do welcome me, do you not?”

Sensing that there was an edge hidden in those words, Ian simply chose not to rise to the provocation. The other ministers’ expressions, however, had noticeably hardened. They, too, realized that Ambassador Miblanc was provoking the king from the outset.

“But of course we welcome you. Why would there be any reason for bad blood between us and the Magnia Empire?”

“Is that so? For that, it seemed to me that Your Majesty kept Princess Adrina rather carefully out of sight.”

“Out of sight? You say strange things. As I told you, she was unwell at the time, so I could not permit an audience with her.”

“My predecessor as ambassador applied for an audience with her ten times and was turned down each time, or so I am told.”

“Is that so? Then perhaps she just happened to be unwell every time he requested a meeting. Nothing to be done about that, is there? When someone is not well, you cannot very well force her to meet people.”

At Ian’s shameless response, Ambassador Miblanc thought once again that this king was amusing. From the young king before him, he truly did not sense anything particularly special—no strange power, nothing uncanny. Instead, his attention was inevitably drawn to the presences around Ian, especially the man in the white mask.

‘So that man was one of King Ian’s close aides.’

“In any case, that is fine. I have already met with Princess Adrina and conveyed our intentions to her.”

“Have you now? For the record, she will not be returning to the Magnia Empire. As you know, she is my fiancée, so I cannot send her anywhere.”

“It seems Your Majesty cherishes Princess Adrina very much.”

“Why would I not? She is my fiancée. And after her birthday, I am even thinking of proceeding to marriage.”

At the word “marriage,” the ministers began to murmur among themselves. It was practically a bombshell—this was the first time Ian had openly mentioned marriage. Naturally, joy was written all over their faces. With no heir yet, everyone’s interest in when he would marry had been very high.

In such a situation, hearing him say that he would marry delighted them all. Not only the ministers but even Ambassador Miblanc himself looked slightly surprised as he spoke.

“So Your Majesty intends to marry. In that case, would it not also require the permission of His Imperial Majesty, our emperor?”

“Well, I am not sure that permission is truly necessary.”

“What does Your Majesty mean by that?”

Perhaps he took it as an insult to the emperor; for the first time, the smile vanished from his face. The ministers’ expressions hardened as well, and tension began to fill the hall. Ian, however, spoke in a tone that suggested he saw no problem at all.

“We have already promised marriage and even held an engagement ceremony. Why would permission be necessary now? Surely His Imperial Majesty would not reject a marriage for Princess Adrina when she has already been formally engaged.”

At those words—delivered as if to say, “Surely not?”—the stiff expression melted away, and Ambassador Miblanc’s smiling face returned. Ian could not help feeling that this was a very peculiar man.

“Indeed. With marriage already promised, there is no way it would be rescinded. It is simply that such a momentous matter—one that will bring our two nations closer—seems to be proceeding solely on the Polia Kingdom’s side.”

“That is all it is. Our people and those of the empire can simply meet and talk things through, and we, the parties concerned, need only hold the wedding, is that not so?”

“Haha, that is true enough.”

“By the way, it seems the conversation has wandered off. Surely you had some reason for coming here today?”

It was exasperating that the very person who had led the conversation astray was the one saying this, but Ambassador Miblanc simply kept smiling as if nothing were amiss.

“Quite right. I had not even said why I came here, and we kept straying from the point.”

“So then, what is the reason you have come?”

“What I wish to discuss is the matter of an ancient ruin. The world has been rather noisy since Your Majesty’s announcement last year, has it not?”

“That is true.”

The fact that he brought it up so openly made Ian think that the empire was effectively signaling that it would no longer make an issue of his having revealed the secret. As he had that thought, he heard Ambassador Miblanc continue.

“At this very moment, the world is in an unending state of upheaval. The Great War, the plague, and now large expeditions being formed to search for ancient ruins everywhere—things are becoming so complex that people are reminded of the Age of Discovery.”

Was he implying, “This is all your doing, is it not?” Perhaps Ian was just imagining it, but in any case, he nodded in acknowledgment and spoke.

“You are right. There has never been a time as complicated as this.”

“Which brings me to my point: what would Your Majesty think of forming an alliance to operate a joint expedition?”

“An alliance… to search for ancient ruins together?”

It was an idea that had never crossed Ian’s mind, and he could not help wondering what the intent behind it was. He did not see why such a thing was necessary. After all, the treasure within a ruin was a single thing, and it was obvious that issues over ownership would flare up badly later.

“If we all worked together, we could find the ruins far more easily, and at the same time, we could eliminate our mutual enemies, could we not?”

“Our enemies… Yes, they are rather irritating.”

“The feeling is mutual on our side. Our sentiments toward those people are far from pleasant.”

“By the way, do you know the name of their organization? I still do not know what they call themselves.”

“On that point, we do not know either. We only know they exist. Not a single member has ever spoken their organization’s name.”

“Is that so? So they are an organization that simply exists and nothing more.”

Ian regretted that he could not even learn their name. As he mulled over his thoughts, he tilted his head slightly and spoke.

“A thought has just occurred to me. It seems a bit strange that the Magnia Empire would act this way.”

“What does Your Majesty mean?”

“Is it not odd? There is only one treasure in a ruin, and only one party can own it. In such a situation, the very idea of forming a coalition to share in it seems questionable.”

“What is there to question about it?”

“I believe there is plenty. So let me say this: it seems to me that the Magnia Empire may already have discovered the location of at least one ancient ruin. Am I right?”

At Ian’s words, Ambassador Miblanc’s smile vanished once again for an instant. From that reaction, Ian knew he had hit the mark. At the same time, he thought that this man was far too transparent; every emotion showed plainly on his face.

‘As a diplomat, he is a complete failure. Perhaps he is not even a properly appointed ambassador at all.’

Just as Ian thought that, Ambassador Miblanc regained his composure, clapped his hands—clap, clap, clap—and spoke with a forcedly casual air.

“Your Majesty is truly perceptive. Yes, we have indeed learned the location of a new ruin.”

“I thought as much. What puzzles me even more is this: why is your empire not simply claiming it for yourselves, instead of reaching out to us? No matter how I think about it, I cannot understand.”

“To be frank, our situation is not very favorable. As Your Majesty knows, the plague is ravaging the entire empire. On top of that, we are drafting and training troops on a massive scale and sending them to the very front lines against the Moria Empire.”

The way he spoke, as if groaning about hardships, made Ian wonder whether any of it was sincere. Still, it was clear that for some reason, they did want to join hands with Polia to explore the ruin.

‘Do they intend to use us as expendable pawns?’

He thought that might well be the case. With that in mind, he felt no desire to cooperate. Frankly, he saw no benefit in doing so. Yes, he could obtain information about the ruins, but the thought of being ground up as a disposable asset was far from appealing.

‘Even so, it is tempting.’

He wanted to experience that feeling again. Just once, when he had absorbed the power contained in that crystal, he had broken through his limits. Remembering that, he could not deny that greed stirred faintly within him.

“I do not think I can approve your proposal.”

“May I ask why?”

“I do not feel any sincerity in your words. No matter how strained the Magnia Empire’s circumstances, if one considers the empire’s latent strength, I doubt you are truly lacking in capability. Am I wrong?”

His words carried the clear implication: You can do this on your own, so why are you so desperate for us? Understanding this, Ambassador Miblanc fell silent for a moment, deep in thought, and then spoke.

“I am pleased that Your Majesty holds our empire in such high regard. In any case, I should speak frankly. The truth is, there is someone here whom we absolutely need.”

“Here, you say?”

“Yes. That man, over there. He is an Expert, is he not?”

At his blunt use of the term Expert, the ministers broke into startled murmurs. Many of them had long harbored suspicions about Camyu, the man in the white mask. One day he had simply appeared in the palace, and since then he had roamed the grounds as though he were patrolling.

Likewise, the palace’s massive guardians remained shrouded in mystery. But because the king himself had ordered them not to pry into these matters and treated those men as important, the ministers had no choice but to hold their tongues and accept it.

“From the way you know that, it seems you yourself are no ordinary man.”

“You are correct. I am a mage.”

Murmur, murmur!

The ministers reacted with even greater shock. Everyone knew how rare mages were. Even in the Polia Kingdom, it was officially said that only two mages existed. And now this man, supposedly an ambassador, had just openly declared himself to be a mage. They could not help wondering what on earth was going on.

“A mage, is it? That is surprising. How does a mage come to represent an empire as an ambassador?”

“Well, does not everyone have their own circumstances?”

“That is true. If you are in such a position, there must indeed be circumstances. But you said you needed an Expert—can you explain that properly?”

“To be precise, what we need are mana users.”

“Mana users? Are you yourself not a mana user?”

“To be exact, we need beings who are not mages. It was truly fortunate that I happened to see that man over there at just the right time.”

Apparently, he had encountered Camyu when he came to see Princess Adrina the other day, and after recognizing what he was, he had reported back to the empire and started talking about alliances and the like. Faced with that fact, Ian wondered what the best course of action was. Ambassador Miblanc, seeing this, began to explain.

“At the place we discovered—or rather, the place they seem to have discovered—there is a special mechanism. We learned this by deciphering the ancient language. It is a kind of condition: it will only activate if there are mana users present.”

“And how many are needed?”

“Precisely seven.”

“Seven?!”

The thought that they needed seven of the rare mana users shocked Ian. It meant that all of them had to gather at that ruin.

“Must all of them be Experts?”

“No. They simply need to be able to use mana. It is impossible for them all to be Experts. Such people are too hard to find—and far from easy to hire.”

In other words, the empire already possessed a fair number of people who could use mana.

“So you have six on your side. And now you need one more from ours.”

“…You are exactly right. The one we need is now only one.”

As he said this, all eyes naturally turned to Camyu. Even under the weight of their gazes, he remained perfectly still. Since being remade as a being who listened only to Ian’s orders, he had become like a machine that simply carried out commands.

“I will think it over, for now.”

“I beg Your Majesty to decide as soon as possible. We do not know when they will manage to gather all seven.”

At those words, Ian nodded.