Chapter 82
By the time Princess Muriela washed off the sweat from training and lay down in bed,
All good children should already be asleep—so this was only natural.
But in one corner of the Royal Palace, two naughty adults were still wide awake.
Corbin and Sylvius, meeting again after decades, were deep in conversation late into the night as if trying to catch up on everything they had missed.
Of course, it wasn’t mindless chatter about personal matters. When had those two ever been so frivolous?
This was a solemn discussion about the future of the kingdom—though the setting happened to be the interrogation chamber.
“Spymaster, is everything alright?”
“Hahaha. Don’t worry. It’s just that there are too many secrets to dig out.”
Corbin had been locked in the interrogation chamber for so long that his subordinates came to check on him.
The funny thing was, the part about “too many secrets” wasn’t a lie in the slightest.
In fact, the information Sylvius held was extremely valuable to Corbin.
“You old geezer, how the hell do you know all this? This is ridiculous. I’m the spymaster of Silbrenoa, you know. You shouldn’t know more than me—it’s just rude.”
“What? Rude? And you call me rude? Kid, you’re the one being absurd. Why blame me for not doing your job properly?”
“Not doing my job? Don’t you know where we are? I’m the only public servant in all of Silbrenoa who actually works.”
The two spent the whole time bickering, but still managed to exchange all the important information.
“Sure, I’m in a bit of trouble now that my little brother is trying to oust me, but you’ll take care of that, right? There’s more than a few people who deal with our trading guild, so the ledgers are full of dirt we’ve collected.”
“That’s great. If your info’s solid, it could help suppress any factions that might move dangerously in a crisis.”
“Come on, now. Don’t you dare doubt me. You know as well as I do—in Silbrenoa, doing business practically means engaging in shady practices. Our guild’s no different.”
“But to use that kind of dirt as justification to control others… your guild might not escape unscathed. Are you okay with that?”
Corbin asked, thinking he was showing some consideration for Sylvius. But the Grand Magician burst into laughter.
“Hahahaha! What nonsense are you spouting? You’ve lost your edge in all the years we’ve been apart. You’ve gotten dull.”
“Gods, even when I try to show you a bit of kindness, you act like this? Fine then. I’ll just investigate your entire guild and tear it down from the roots.”
“Be my guest. That’s what I raised it for in the first place. I don’t care.”
“…What?”
Corbin, the Grimkin Spymaster, stared in disbelief at the rejuvenated Grand Magician.
‘The old man really is insane. I knew that, but still… he’s using a guild he spent decades building like it’s a disposable pawn?’
Even though Corbin knew Sylvius better than anyone, he couldn’t help but feel dumbfounded.
He already knew that Sylvius had been reincarnated, but this was still going too far.
“You mean to tell me you’re using the trading guild your body’s parents built over decades as a mere sacrificial piece? Don’t you consider them your real parents?”
“Come on, Corbin. You really have lost your touch. If that logic worked, then that idiot would have to consider his own son his father just because of the body.”
Sylvius’s counter made Corbin freeze for a moment—then burst out laughing.
He couldn’t refute that argument. Well, maybe he could, but it would’ve been pointless.
“Damn it. You got me good.”
He muttered with a snort of laughter, while Sylvius gave him a smug grin of victory.
“I lived until I was an old geezer with white hair. Just because I’ve been reborn doesn’t mean I’d mistake them for my real parents. And besides, the way they amassed that fortune was far from honest. I don’t feel bad letting it go.”
“Tch. Beating you really is impossible. Even if you’re young again, you’re still the same old geezer. Anyway, things have come to this point—what now? We can’t just release you after arresting you for treason. Even if I’ve got the spies completely under control, we can’t ignore the eyes watching us.”
“Right. So you haven’t told your subordinates the full details of your plan yet.”
“Of course not. The fewer people who know, the less chance it leaks. Even my closest agents only know fragments, nothing detailed.”
Sylvius nodded in agreement.
“Good. That’s how it should be. Our forces still aren’t fully prepared, so if word gets out now, it’ll be dangerous. Not just internally—if the foreign bastards start moving seriously, we’re in real trouble.”
“You’re right.
But about those foreign bastards—we finally got solid information on them this time.
My brother went out yesterday and caught a big fish.”
This time, it was Corbin’s turn to surprise Sylvius.
“Hm? What do you mean by that?”
“Well, you see…”
Corbin gave a brief summary of the incident caused by Princess Muriela during her outing in the capital yesterday.
After listening to the whole story, Sylvius burst into laughter.
“Hahahaha! That’s just like her. I mean, for a child that young to do something like that—anyone who didn’t know better would think she was insane. You and I understand what’s really going on, so it’s fine for us, but I bet others were completely shocked.”
“Exactly. You should’ve read the reports I received. It was an absolute spectacle.”
“Khuhuhu. I can imagine it even without seeing it.”
After chatting a bit more about Solinor, the two returned to their earlier topic.
“So, what should we do about your situation? As I said before, we can’t just release you. I mean, I personally wouldn’t care if the old geezer got locked up in the underground prison—but if you have a request, I’m willing to hear it.”
Corbin folded his arms behind his back and smirked, hoping the Grand Magician would read his intention.
The Royal Palace’s underground prison—a place of nightmares that people didn’t even want to enter in their dreams.
It was the very same place where Queen Irina was once confined due to her reckless ambitions.
It also happened to be where Sid and the captured spy were being held after their arrest yesterday.
Sylvius closed his eyes after hearing Corbin’s words, then gave a small nod.
Even though others feared the place as if it were a haunted tomb, Sylvius didn’t seem fazed at all.
“Hmm… Sure, the underground prison. That actually makes for a pretty good alibi.”
“Fufufu. I knew you’d say that, old man. I’ll prepare several identities for you.”
“Good thinking. It’ll be convenient when I’m moving around.
Changing appearances is nothing for me anyway.”
In other words, Corbin had effectively made Sylvius an unofficial spy.
Putting a puppet that looked just like him in the prison was child’s play for a master of soul magic like him.
After that, the disguised Sylvius could raid the trading guild’s ledgers, and the alibi would be flawless.
Even his own brother wouldn’t suspect that a man locked in prison for treason had anything to do with the stolen records.
Once the scheming was complete, Corbin called his subordinates and ordered them to transfer Sylvius to the prison.
A bizarre scene—where both the jailer and the prisoner were smiling.
And just a few hours later, Sylvius, now in disguise, was prowling the night streets of Solineum.
***
March 27, Year 761 (Saturday)
It had been one week since Aiorin kidnapped Katrina and Brandon.
By now, they were already quite far from the capital.
Although she still hadn’t proven she was truly their grandmother, she had gained some level of trust.
Then again, it wasn’t all that difficult. What did trust really require, after all?
Just feed your grandchildren good food and keep them safe. That’s all.
Thanks to Aiorin’s spirit-enhanced high-speed travel, they were moving much faster than expected.
Last time, it had taken her about two weeks to travel from the Fey Forest to the Royal Palace alone.
Of course, she was traveling alone back then, and now she had two hefty burdens, so it was a little slower.
Still, their current pace was far faster than what normal people could ever hope to achieve.
For someone who wasn’t a Spirit Mage, it would take over a month to cover that distance—but they had already made it halfway.
“Um… Are we there yet?”
“Where exactly are we going?”
“To Grandma’s house, of course. Just a little more patience. Once we arrive, I’ll make you some real elven dishes. They’ll be far tastier than anything you’ve eaten so far.”
“I keep telling you, I don’t believe you’re our grandma…”
The two kids kept grumbling, but they still obediently followed her.
From their perspective—banished and confined as they were in the palace—this wasn’t much different.
In fact, being outside and able to move freely was actually better than before.
Thanks to their cruel mother, life in the palace had been miserable anyway. They had no real desire to return.
‘Ah, right. I should let my darling know what’s going on. Wendy!’
Only now did Aiorin think to send a spirit to Solinor to report their progress.
Since she was doing exactly what he had hoped—protecting the children—she had assumed things were going fine and didn’t feel the need to inform him.
The reason Solinor had never fully trusted her since their adventuring days was precisely because of this personality trait.
Still, it was fortunate she at least remembered to send Wendy in the end.
—
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