Reborn as the Head of the Stolen Mage Family

Chapter 69

They arrived at the disposal site quickly.

Since it was a dedicated passage to the disposal site and not the central passage for moving tanks, the homunculus reached the end of the passage quickly without the influence of the Inhaler.

Eddie was also able to comfortably organize his thoughts while walking through the passage.

Thud-!

The body of the knight homunculus was thrown onto the pile at the disposal site.

The homunculus that had finished the disposal returned, and Eddie, left alone, took out his wand.

Pat-

The light source created at the tip of the wand illuminated the homunculus that had just been discarded.

"So it's a knight from Rosch……."

He certainly didn't look like a knight, neither his face nor his physique was very sturdy.

Of course, there were knights who served as staff officers in the knight order.

But the Rosch family was the only knight family among the three pillars of Luxorin.

Considering that he was from such a strong place, his spirit was certainly not prominent.

That's probably why it was relatively easy to kidnap him.

"You've really gone too far, Furas von Kirhausen."

He had already expected that they would be capturing and overworking specialists from each field one by one.

But for one of them to be a knight from Rosch.

Rosch was the best swordsmanship family in Luxorin, also known as the ‘Sword of the Empire.’

As a giant in the knightly world, which formed a major axis with the magical world, it was safe to say that all the knights of the empire were under Rosch's influence.

Even if they needed a specialist for utilizing homunculi, to kidnap and use a knight from Rosch.

If this fact were to be revealed, the current Kirhausen would be making an enemy of the entire knightly world.

Although it was news that could be called Kirhausen's weakness, Eddie's face was colored with seriousness instead of glee.

What purpose was it for?

What was the identity of the force they had joined hands with?

Why were they taking such a huge risk?

"……."

Eddie looked at the empty eyes of the knight homunculus for a moment.

Then he reached out and closed the two eyes that had been left open powerlessly.

The knight from Rosch, who was probably trapped somewhere, neither dead nor alive, and being humiliated.

It was cruel, but Eddie was also going to use him.

Because his existence would become a powerful weapon to drive the current Kirhausen into a corner.

Eddie's wand was aimed at the homunculus' body.

The 4-star transformation magic 'Minuelleb', which changes the size of the target.

The homunculus' body gradually shrank to the size of a thumb.

Eddie placed the shrunken body on his palm and aimed his wand once more.

Pat-!

The homunculus' body disappeared in the blink of an eye with teleportation magic.

It must have gone to Eddie's desk drawer in his academy dormitory by now.

If he had his way, he would have liked to send it safely to Pantheon's Laboratory, but he saved his magic for the remaining plan.

"...Ha."

Eddie, who had extinguished the fire at the tip of his wand, closed his eyes and turned around.

It felt as if the numerous empty eyes in front of him were staring at him, so he had to compose himself for a moment.

‘I won't ask for your forgiveness. O knight of Rosch, whose name I do not know. But I promise you this one thing for sure.’

Grip-

His hand holding the wand tightened.

‘I will return the humiliation you have suffered to them several times over.’

Eddie's two eyes, which had opened with a flash, shone with a fierce golden light.

* * *

Getting to the surface was simple.

The path from the entrance to the disposal site was just complicated, but there were no blockages.

Eddie deployed his unique magic, Illusion Veil, on himself and calmly exited while replaying the stored memory.

Soon, he came out of the open entrance and reassembled the magic formula of the tree artifact that he had disabled with Revelio.

Grrrr… grrrr…

The thick tree roots that had formed an arch went back into the soil.

After finishing his work, Eddie slowly walked towards the center of the ruins.

He disabled the spells and invisibility magic he had been wearing one by one and checked the state of his mana circle.

‘The magic consumption is considerable. But it's enough to proceed with the remaining plan.’

As he walked, Eddie absorbed mana from the natural objects in the ruins.

As mana accumulated in his body again, the flow within his circuits also regained stability, and his depleted energy was also recovered.

In fact, for a quick recovery, it would have been best to absorb the magical beast's magic that had permeated the Valcon Ruins.

With Eddie's mana circle and proficiency in magic control, it was certainly possible to absorb the magic of a Rakan beast and refine it into his own.

But Eddie didn't do that.

‘They must be sick and tired of having their magic absorbed already, so there's no need for me to step in and provoke them.’

The next plan was to summon and face a real magical beast.

There was no reason to deliberately make the summoned magical beast come out aggressively.

Eddie swallowed his disappointment and was satisfied with absorbing from the natural objects.

"Whoo… this should be enough."

Finally, after recovering enough, Eddie got on the altar-shaped rock in front of him.

It was the same rock Hendricks had been sitting on during the day.

There, Eddie sat down in a proper magic training posture.

The work he was about to do required very delicate mana circle control.

Thump… thump… thump…….

His heartbeat slowed down, and the circle very slowly released magic.

It was the most refined magic among the magic generated from Eddie's circle.

The released magic flickered and enveloped Eddie's body.

The stable energy, characteristic of highly refined magic, stimulated even the natural mana in the surroundings.

Fwaaaaaaa-

Eddie was soon surrounded by flickering magic and golden mana particles.

Not only the natural objects but also the animals living in the ruins reacted to Eddie and sent their gazes.

Even while continuously releasing highly refined magic, Eddie did not let it spread far.

It was to deceive the eyes of the magical beast, which could see through souls.

Eddie's level, with his current magic alone, was comparable to that of a great mage.

But the soul in which that magic was imprinted was currently inside the body of a 14-year-old boy.

The soul of a mature old man dwelling in the body of an immature child.

That strange form, no matter how strong the magic it possessed, would arouse the suspicion of the magical beasts.

Therefore, Eddie used his magic as a smokescreen to envelop his body.

It was a kind of curiosity-provoking operation to prevent them from immediately seeing through the soul contained within him.

Soon, the magical beasts would send a low-level individual as a scout to identify Eddie.

And the finale of this plan was for that scout to appear in front of the search party that had come to find the disappeared him, thereby making the ‘appearance of a magical beast,’ which was considered a legend, a reality.

Fwaaaaaaa-!

Eddie slowly withdrew the magic he had wrapped around his body.

This should have been enough to catch the attention of the magical beasts.

Now all he had to do was go to the center of the ruins and join the search party that would be looking for him.

"Heave-ho-."

Eddie, who had gotten down from the rock, patted his butt and smirked.

‘To think that the story I heard from that eccentric old man would be so useful.’

The reason Eddie knew so much about magical beasts was all thanks to Jonas Vonham Galliard, the former dean of the academy.

For him, who had the greatest curiosity in the world, ‘magical beasts’ were undoubtedly an interesting subject of inquiry.

For a while, he either went to the magical beast appearance areas himself or sent people to gather information about magical beasts like crazy.

In the end, he couldn't continue his research because the vice dean at the time resigned, but the former dean Galliard's knowledge of magical beasts was already at an expert level.

Eddie stopped walking for a moment and recalled his past life.

The former dean Galliard, who told him stories about magical beasts until his ears bled when he visited the dean's office to do cleaning service.

He had gone there because he was told he would be given a service scholarship, but listening to the eccentric old man's stories all day was quite an ordeal.

But as they say, you never know what will happen in life.

The old man's boast that ‘it will all be useful someday’ turned out to be splendidly true.

A smile once again appeared on Eddie's lips.

Feeling as if he had returned to his childhood for a moment, his steps towards the center of the ruins became a little lighter.

‘They should all have arrived at the ruins by now, so if I arrive at the center, the timing should be just right…….’

But

Eddie's steps stopped at the feeling of a presence.

It was still a little distance to the center.

And the search party should still be near the entrance of the ruins.

It didn't make sense for a presence to be felt here suddenly.

Moreover, that presence was that of one person.

Eddie hid his appearance with Invisibility and used magic to slightly lift his feet off the ground.

As long as he didn't know who the opponent was, even the traces of stepping on leaves and branches were dangerous.

After waiting for a while, the opponent's voice was heard.

"...nim! …se… young master……!"

A voice desperately searching for someone.

But as it got closer, it was a somewhat familiar voice.

‘…Hendricks?’

Soon, a face full of freckles with grayish-brown hair was seen from a distance.

It was really Hendricks Dean.

What happened?

Fred or Brenda wouldn't have put a student in the search party.

But the absurdity didn't end there.

The person Hendricks was desperately searching for in the middle of the night was-

"Young master…! Young Master Marcel…! Where are you…!"

It wasn't himself, who had disappeared, or his master, Alexein, but Marcel.

He felt like he had been hit on the head, it was so absurd.

Eddie listened to Hendricks' voice and tried to grasp the situation somehow.

"This is crazy…. Where on earth are you… if you stay here alone, you might really die…!"

The words Hendricks uttered in a trembling voice were shocking.

That Marcel might die if he was alone in the ruins.

First of all, since he had come alone to find Marcel, Hendricks was not a member of the search party.

If so, it meant that there were a total of three students who had left the campsite, including himself.

The matter had become several times bigger than planned.

‘The number of search party members will increase enormously.’

The more serious the matter, the faster, more systematically, and on a larger scale the search would be conducted.

So it was not a bad situation in terms of a quick rendezvous with the search party.

As long as he could protect the two of them from the magical beasts until the rendezvous.

‘Ha… damn it…….’

Eddie bit his lip as he looked at the passing Hendricks.

He didn't know what Hendricks knew when he said it, but Marcel's life was actually in danger right now.

A little while ago, Eddie had deployed a magic training to summon a magical beast.

If the magical beast that appeared saw Marcel, it would recognize him as prey and try to devour him without mercy.

Moreover, if you consider what Kirhausen was doing…….

Anyway, for Marcel to lose his life here was the worst of the worst.

In the end, there was only one way.

Eddie withdrew his magic and revealed himself.

"Hey."

"Hyaaaak-!"

Hendricks was surprised by the voice that suddenly came from behind and fell down.

"Uh… where did you come from? There was definitely no one behind me?"

"There's no time to explain that now. Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"Th-then what about you?"

"I knew you were tailing our young master, so I followed you in case you tried to do something."

"Wh-what do you mean, do something! I was just……!"

"Just what."

"……."

"Forget it. If you're going to hesitate, explain later. Right now, finding the young master is more important than your situation."

"……."

"You, are you in good shape?"

"Sh-shape?"

Eddie suddenly started warming up, rotating his ankles.

Looking at him, Hendricks had a feeling that something was wrong.