His Breeding Obsession

 

Horror was written all over the wizards’ faces, even Arthenon’s long, white beard twitched as if there had been an earthquake.

 

The reaction was almost as intense as the report of an invasion of beasts from a continent away.

 “Well, that’s…” 

The young wizard who had been the first to speak trailed off, his lips trembling.

 

Adensha’s artifact had been stolen.

 

No mage could keep his composure at those words.

 

The Artifact of Adensha, an artifact that defied all magical mechanics, capable of stealing anything with a mere glimpse, and known as a godsend among mages!

 

Before long, the wizards were on their feet, and not a single one of them remained respectfully seated.

 “Why are you talking about that now!” 

Someone yelled in frustration.

 “It’s been stolen from us!” 

The artifacts of Adensha were the sanctified treasures of the mages, held by the imperial court under contract.

 

Arthenon’s face hardened.

 

‘The Imperial Palace is not such a flimsy organization. I’m sure the Crown Prince has his hand in this. I understand that, but I must know about the anomaly involving the artifact of Adensha. You have a very cunning mind, my Prince.’

 

His gray-blue eyes flashed with fierceness.

 

‘If we can retrieve it safely, then you will pay the price for your mishandling of the sacred artifact.’

 

Swallowing his anger, Arthenon said,

“We must retrieve the artifact from the traitor and bring it back to the tower.” 

The mages, who had been thinking similar thoughts, nodded.

 “For once, we will aid the crown prince and become his sword.” “In return, the artifact of Adensha will be released from its contract with the Imperial Palace and returned to the Tower.” 

Silence meant agreement.

 

Soon they were gone. The moment the wizards left the entrance to the tower.

 Thud, thud, thud—! Whooshing! 

Two horses, kicking up dust and galloping urgently, blocked their path.

 “Isn’t that the Head of Information’s entourage?” “The one behind him, please gird your loins. He wears the crown prince’s seal and is his lieutenant.” 

The sharp-eyed mage revealed their identities.

 “What is your business?” 

The gatekeeper of the tower asked, as was his custom, and the Head of Information’s henchman quickly dismounted and approached him.

 “It’s a serious matter, Master.” “What is it, and why are you being so uncharacteristically frivolous?” 

The henchman swallowed hard with a frown.

 “His… Ugh, it is said that the Emperor has fallen!” 

He whispered in a low voice, but every mage in the room heard him. The atmosphere instantly stiffened.

 

The Emperor, a prideful and vicious fellow, was a lad in his youth.

 

The old man’s behavior was nothing more than a trivialization of his age.

 

But in the current chaotic situation, his change of heart would lead to cataclysmic changes in the empire.

 

‘His Majesty has fallen with no successor in place.’

 

As the wizards, sensing the rapid change in the situation, were working their brilliant minds feverishly, the crown prince’s lieutenant, who had arrived a few minutes late, spoke in a stern voice.

 “A message from His Highness the Crown Prince.” 

‘How quick.’

 

The news that the emperor has fallen, followed by a message from the crown prince.

 

It’s a strange situation. A few people’s expressions have turned sour.

 

I glanced behind me to see if anyone else was coming, but there was no one.

 

The empress hadn’t sent anyone. The situation was already widely known that the crown prince and empress were at odds over the throne.

 

‘The crown prince is moving, but the empress is still?’

 

Sharp-eyed observers had a rough idea of what was going on.

 

While the mages who are completely enemies of the tower are only concerned with the whereabouts of the Mirror of Adensha, those who are more closely tied to the family and therefore not immune to the situation wear serious frowns.

 

One wizard, impatient, turned to the lieutenant.

 “What did he say?” 

The Crown Prince’s lieutenant lowered his voice to a whisper.

 “The Emperor is in critical condition and needs to be attended to immediately, but a traitor is on the loose. The traitor to the imperial court will be met by the beats of a continent away, and the situation is urgent, so the Crown Prince would like any mages of good will to move quickly in pursuit.” “We’d better get going!” “Wait, who did they say was the traitor?” 

Arthenon’s question was immediately answered by the adjutant.

 “It’s Alice Everizen.” 

A moment later, the wizards went their separate ways and headed in the direction the lieutenant indicated.

  

Mirania’s patience was mediocre at best. She had lived a long time, but her patience hadn’t grown much.

 [The Great Witch? You were always so gentle and patient, given your position.] 

There are those who say so, but their testimony proves misleading.

 

It must not be forgotten that among the first continent’s leaders they compare her to was Balkan.

 

Anyone would seem to have great patience if they were side by side with Balkan.

 

Another point of misinformation.

 

Mirania wasn’t impatient, she just wasn’t focused on the object in front of her.

 

‘I’m bored.’

 

Before she fell into the trap of infinite regression, Mirania was lazy and hated being bothered, so she had the ability to listen to people talk in a sort of half-dazed state. No matter how much they talked in front of her.

 

Of course, she could only listen, not remember what was being said.

 

As a result, Chera would often cast the skill of cutting to the chase when talking to Mirania, so her patience was not tested much before she met Grecan and Leverianz.

 

In a way, Grecan and Leverianz have given her a huge boost in patience…

 

‘I tried to think of it as a good thing.’

 “…I thought my heart was going to burst. Doesn’t the Great Witch have a lover, I hope not, because if she did, she wouldn’t be able to look at me with such dull eyes.” 

As the Empress’s bemoaning of her lot stretched beyond ten minutes, Mirania realized her patience was shorter than the wick of a smooth white candle.

 

If Grecan and Leverianz were the ones she had to put up with for their purposes in the first place, the Empress didn’t deserve such leniency.

 

It was hard to muster up what little patience she had when she didn’t feel a sense of entitlement.

 “When the man you thought you’d spend the rest of your life with finds another woman, and he’s old and ugly, and she’s the only one for whom he thought he’d ever be happy, it makes you hate the world.” “…” “That old, ugly man is an emperor nonetheless.” “That’s too bad.” 

Mirania couldn’t understand the Empress weeping and crying over a single emotion in a complex human being, much less in an even more intricate imperial palace, but somehow she understood.

 

It wasn’t as if there hadn’t been a time in the last thousand years when a seemingly sober palace, filled with cold reason, calculation, and rational logic, had been nearly destroyed by a single emotion.

 

But still, I heard you were planning a confrontation with the Crown Prince.

 

‘I think it would be better to keep him in check at that hour.’

 

Mirania’s mind, already losing interest in the Empress’s tale, was racing with reasonable logic.

 

Still, the Empress rattled on, recounting how she had been betrayed from her first meeting with the Emperor, even as Mirania’s patience grew as short as a candle’s wick.

 

Grecan, who had followed her in, had already dismissed the Empress’s words as passing noise and was clinging to her side, resting his head on her shoulder.

 “If it’s so hard, can’t you think differently?”

said Mirania.