“You intend to live according to the value those bastards assign you, be cast aside when they cast you aside, and die when they order you to? Who are they to decide any of that?”
Sion stared at Julian with his mouth hanging open.
For some reason, the prince grinned as though he were the one who felt liberated.
“It is your life.”
“…….”
“You have already lived that way once. Is that not enough?”
“B-but…….”
“Serving a demon would only mean becoming the dog of another group of insufferable bastards. Nothing would change. You know that.”
Sion’s face twisted.
“……Then what am I supposed to do? What can I possibly accomplish if I am no longer a mage?”
Julian answered casually.
“Hey. I am a prince.”
“……!”
“And I am going to become the headmaster of Arpad Academy. I cannot promise to grant you power because I do not possess much influence yet, but I can promise you something else.”
“Promise me…… what?”
“That I will not place shackles upon you.”
Julian continued.
“You are a freshman now, are you not? Arpad Academy’s curriculum lasts four years, so the timing is perfect. Start learning a different Magic Power Cultivation Method and gradually rebuild your abilities. Then, once you graduate, give House Etain one final kick and walk away.”
His tone was light, but the meaning of his words was anything but.
Prince Julian was offering to remove the leash from Sion’s neck and give him a chance to become free.
He would help Sion live not as House Etain’s dog or Lucifer’s subordinate—
But as Sion, the mage.
He was offering to become a temporary shelter for him.
No one had ever made Sion such an offer.
Sion swallowed dryly.
“……Why would you go so far for me?”
Julian briefly considered the trembling question.
Was it a sense of professional responsibility?
Was it sympathy born from similar experiences?
One thing was certain.
If he failed to bring a talent of this caliber into the academy and instead allowed Sion to be taken and killed—
He would regret it every time he sat in the headmaster’s chair.
‘Well, whatever.’
Rather than explain his reasoning, Julian looked directly at Sion and asked a question of his own.
“Why did you save the dragon egg?”
“!”
Sion flinched.
“When those Etain bastards were hurling Fireballs at you, you saved the dragon egg instead of retaliating against them. Why?”
Now that Julian mentioned it, that had indeed been strange.
If Sion had already given up because House Etain intended to kill him, he could simply have allowed himself to die without rescuing the dragon egg.
“……I just did.”
“You just did?”
“I simply felt that I should.”
As he spoke, Sion came to a realization.
“I simply wanted to.”
He had liked being a talented mage.
He had believed that only his identity as a mage gave him value.
He had thought that was why he could not abandon House Etain’s magic……
‘That was not it.’
Sion looked around once more at the hell constructed from his memories.
The first moment he had sensed mana.
The summer night sky that had seemed filled with glittering flames on the day he successfully began cultivating his magic power.
The tingling exhilaration that had reached his fingertips when he felt magic power racing through his body and simultaneously created a fireball in his hand and a rain of flame before his eyes.
Every beautiful memory that had not been dragged into this hell was connected to magic.
“……Dragons are the beings who created magic. I suppose that means I have always……”
A faint smile appeared on Sion’s face as he admitted it.
“I have always loved magic.”
***
A magic academy was a place that taught those who possessed both talent and a genuine passion for magic.
The duty of Arpad Academy’s headmaster was to offer such mages opportunities and protect them.
It was all admirable.
Julian’s words stirred Theodore’s heart and made him instinctively wish that the prince would become the academy’s headmaster as soon as possible.
Watching Julian, Theodore finally understood why the High Priest and the Saintess had entrusted the prince to him.
-This is a critical time, Brother Theodore.
The High Priest had spoken gravely.
The people of the Empire believed that the thousand years of peace enjoyed by the Holy Empire would continue forever, but the present situation was perilous.
Demons had occupied the Empire’s greatest magic academy, and some had even escaped into imperial territory.
The Order of Holy Knights, softened by peace, continued to make mistakes in its battles against demons.
Meanwhile, the Emperor, who should have commanded the response to the entire crisis, had fallen bedridden after sealing Arpad Academy.
The Saintess had supported the High Priest’s warning.
-If we fail to respond properly at this early stage, the demons will no longer remain merely the academy’s problem.
-……Are you saying that if we cannot contain them within the academy now, the demons will become a nightmare for the entire Empire?
The Saintess and the High Priest had nodded at Theodore’s question.
-Yes. That is the future we fear.
-However, you also know that the Crown Prince and the ministers are blinded by their struggle for power and are ignoring the situation.
Theodore had agreed.
The Emperor’s condition was still being kept secret, but if the Crown Prince continued presiding over the affairs of state, people would eventually notice.
The bedridden Emperor.
The young Crown Prince, whose attention was entirely consumed by securing the imperial crown.
The ambitious figures throughout the Empire who would detect the scent of power leaking through the first cracks in the imperial family’s seemingly impregnable walls.
Which of them could prevent the demons from threatening the Empire?
-Brother, the Empire needs a hero capable of confronting the demons.
-Do you believe Prince Julian will become that hero?
The High Priest and the Saintess had answered Theodore’s question differently.
-It is not that we believe he will become a hero. He must become one. The longer the Third Prince remains active within the academy, the more time both the Empire and the Temple will gain.
-He is the one who will spread light throughout the Empire.
Theodore had sworn upon his life that he would protect Julian.
He had burned with a sense of duty, believing that he had to support the inexperienced Third Prince and shape him into a hero.
However, the Julian he witnessed at close range was not a vessel for Theodore or the Temple to shape into anything.
‘He is someone who establishes his own purpose.’
Contrary to the rumors that called him the Mad Prince, Julian was intelligent and daring.
He could discern the relationships of power between people and never retreated before monsters or demons.
Theodore was proud to be the personal guard of Third Prince Julian Barnabas Istvan.
He believed that protecting and following this man was his calling.
That was why, when Julian threw himself into Lucifer’s summoning circle before Theodore had any chance to stop him, Theodore had leaped in after him despite the chill that shot through the back of his skull at the sight of the prince’s golden head disappearing into danger.
He had descended through Lucifer’s Bottomless Pit with nothing but the Holy Sword and confidence in his own body, desperately searching for Julian.
While the prince persuaded Sion, Theodore had continuously cut down the serpentine tentacles and bought him time.
Then, after Julian successfully persuaded Sion—
As they considered how to escape Lucifer’s Bottomless Pit, Julian announced that he would go ahead and find a path.
“…….”
Theodore was deeply troubled.
“Your Highness, do you not trust me?”
“What are you talking about? If I cannot trust you, whom could I possibly trust?”
“Then why do you insist upon personally taking the lead? Naturally, I should go first and escort you.”
“That is overprotective.”
“It is professional responsibility.”
The future headmaster groaned at the response.
“When you put it that way, I have nothing to say…… No, wait. Listen to me. This time, you truly should protect us from behind.”
Julian explained.
When he had first fallen into the Bottomless Pit and used Holy Chain to join Theodore at the outer wall—
And when he sensed Sion’s magic power at the center of the chasm and leaped toward it—
He had discovered a new possibility for divine power.
“I think I can fly.”
“……Pardon?”
“I may not be able to fly freely like a bird, but I seemed capable of staying aloft. It was only enough to lift myself, though.”
Theodore’s eyes widened at the unexpected claim.
Sion also began listening intently.
“We have to escape this damned pit regardless. It would be ideal if someone reverse-summoned us, but we cannot expect that. We will have to climb.”
Julian looked toward the impossibly distant top of the chasm.
“But how long would it take us to crawl all the way up there?”
His plan was simple.
Julian would use divine power to lift himself into the air and extend Holy Chain toward the nearest cocoon.
Sion and Theodore would then climb the sacred chain after him.
“Then I will carry the dragon egg.”
Theodore, the most agile and physically capable of the three, reached toward the egg.
However, it remained lodged in one corner of Sion’s hell and refused to move.
The same happened when Julian tried.
“It appears to be selective about who touches it.”
“Perhaps it prefers those with magic power over those with divine power.”
In the end, Sion lifted the egg, wrapped it like a bundle, and strapped it to his back.
“Can you climb while carrying it?”
“Yes. It will not be a problem.”
“Good.”
Julian looked upward.
“While we are at it, let us also do something about every cocoon we pass.”
“Do something?”
“More specifically……”
A short while later—
“O Light!”
Julian shouted.
“Grant me freedom like that of a bird! Holy Flying!”
His body rose into the air.
He did not look particularly free or graceful like a bird, but he ascended at a respectable speed.
‘Do not look down! Up! Keep looking up!’
Julian imagined that he was riding an elevator and soared steadily upward.
After spotting a murky green cocoon above him, he judged the distance and stretched out his hand.
“Holy Chain!”
SHIIING—
A chain of light shot out and attached itself to the green cocoon.
After confirming that it was securely anchored, Julian extended its length.
“Secure it and start moving!”
“Understood!”
Sion’s burning hell and the green cocoon were now firmly connected by the chain of light.
Sion and Theodore began climbing.
“Your Highness, do not get too far ahead! It is dangerous!”
“I know! Holy Flying!”
Julian maintained a reasonable distance from the others as he flew toward the next cocoon.
While Julian worked on attaching another Holy Chain, Sion placed his hand upon the cocoon as instructed.
A reddish energy flickered across the surface where the mage touched it, then vanished.
“It is done.”
“Then let us move.”
Theodore urged Sion onward.
There was no possibility that Demon Lord Lucifer would simply surrender.
He had endured five years of growing weaker in the Human Realm for the sake of acquiring the dragon.
“We must hurry.”
Without speaking, they climbed.
They examined each cocoon, kept Julian’s location within sight, and continued ascending the chain.
They passed countless cocoons.
Their palms grew numb from endlessly pulling upon the chains of light. Fortunately, the chains emitted divine power, preventing their hands from becoming wounded.
“Holy Flying!”
By the time Julian’s voice from above had grown hoarse, they felt a vibration rising from below.
“!”
Theodore turned his head, and his expression hardened.
Far beneath them, at the bottom of the endless chasm—
An enormous serpent was pursuing them with its jaws stretched wide.
“Huuugh……!”