The Invaders of the Large Tomb

Fluder waved away the flickering flame and consoled himself. His current status and what he had achieved was on par with the accomplishments of the Thirteen Heroes. No, in the hearts of the Empire’s magic casters, Fluder had already surpassed them in status.

But the dark flames of jealousy couldn’t be extinguished so easily. He was not jealous of their power, talent or strength, but of their chance to peek into the abyss of magic before him.

Fluder was the best magic caster. This was a fact acknowledged by everybody, and the only ones that could be compared to him were the Thirteen Heroes of the past. However, he couldn’t dominate the Death Knight, and could only use—according to rumours —six of the ten tiers of magic.

He was far from reaching the abyss of magic.

And he was old.

Fluder was a mental spell magic caster using one of the system of the Wizardry-based class—

Forbidden Arts. By using spells that were taboo, he stopped his aging. Of course, it was a complicated spell considering Fluder’s level of training, but he forced it through by using a combination of ritual and spells.

However, his method of making the impossible possible had a flaw. Fluder, who shouldn’t be aging anymore after casting the spell perfectly, could still feel himself aging slowly.

It was still manageable for now, but with the passage of time, his end would come one day.

That’s right. Fluder would die before seeing the abyss of magic.

If someone else had done so before him, he might be able to arrive at this stage earlier, but with his lack of predecessors, he had to pave his own path.

Fluder looked at the disciples around him.

The ones walking on the path paved by the figure known as Fluder.

With fuel added to the flames of jealousy, the fire burned brighter.

He, the most talented one of everyone present, how much time had he taken to reach the stage his disciples were at? No, without even thinking about it, he was definitely older than those disciples of his. Someone who was taught and the pioneer who paved the way, that was how wide the difference was.

Why didn’t he have a master?

Fluder tried changing his way of thinking.

—That was fine too. Leaving his name in the history books as a pioneer. The magic casters who reached new heights after Fluder would need to thank Fluder for their achievements. His disciples were his treasures. If there was just one person who become greater than I am, it would be attributed to my power—

As he thought about that, Fluder remembered a disciple he once had. If it was that girl, how far could she go?

“—Arche Eeb Rile Furt.”

An excellent child. Learning 2nd tier magic at such a tender age and so close to 3rd tier. If she had continued, it was possible that she would eventually reach Fluder’s realm one day. But in the end, she gave up being a disciple…

Back then, he had only thought how foolish and disappointing it was.

“Such a pity.”

Maybe he allowed a big catch to get away.

Where is that child now? He thought about searching for her. If she could use 3rd tier spells, it was possible to guarantee a certain level of status for her.

That might be so, but he had a job to do right now.

Fluder uttered the code word and the heavy door opened.

After coming out, the disciples around him took deep breaths with the same frequency. The air where the aura of the Death Knight lingered was too heavy. If they did not do this, it would be unbearable.

“Master!”

A low, rough voice sounded out. That was one of his disciples, a renowned adventurer. Due to his experience, he had been appointed the deputy director of the security within the Magic Ministry.

“...What is the matter? Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing is wrong, just that some adamantite-ranked adventurers were requesting an audience with Master.”

Fluder looked at that man strangely.

They hadn’t made any appointments. As the finest magic caster in the Empire, Fluder had all sorts of duties on top of his research, and was a very busy man. If someone sought an audience out of the blue, he could only shake his head. Only the Emperor could see Fluder as he pleased.

That might be so, but it was too early to reject them. Adamantite level adventurers were heroes, not people that could simply be ignored. That was the same for Fluder. They were one of the few sources he could obtain rare artifacts from, so he couldn’t treat them lightly.

“Is it an honoured visit from the ‘Silver Canaries’? Or esteemed guests from ‘Eight Ripples’?”

He stated the name of the two adamantite ranked adventuring partiers within the Empire.

But the disciple shook his head.

“No, it is a two man team known as ‘Darkness’. They showed their adamantite plate as proof.”

“What!?”

The famous adventurers team ‘Darkness’ from the Kingdom. With just the two of them, they had accomplished numerous hero level tasks. They had even taken on Jaldabaoth during the Royal Capital’s crisis and defeated him.