Battle War; Magic, Sword and Dragon

The Smell of Troubles

A loud roar broke the silence. Shortly after, the airship shook violently and an explosive sound was heard in one corner of the airship.

The crew and passengers of the airship began to panic. Including Helen, Guy and Milia. They even paled as if seeing their own death.

They were only B rank magicians, facing a wyvern alone could make them lose their lives, where it might be possible to face a wind dragon, a real dragon. The two creatures are very different.

The airship tried to escape at full speed, but the wind dragon's speed easily caught up and attacked with a burst of flames.

The ship's shield is fully deployed. Still able to withstand the attack, but all know it's just buying time.

Guy who panicked just met the only person who became his hope.

"Miss Lunaris, can't you do something to that dragon like last night's wyvern?"

His pleading actions looked shameless, but everyone knew that in this situation only Lunaris could be relied upon.

No. gabe. There's still one more person. The only master-ranked mage on that airship.

But he is a client, it is impossible to ask for immediate protection unless Sebas will act alone.

Lunaris who was still so calmly replied.

"It's not that I can't do anything, but it's hard. My flying speed was far inferior to that dragon. Even if I attack, it will be easily avoided."

Lunaris let out a small sigh as if helpless in this situation.

Hearing that not only Guy, but the others were also getting desperate.

"Really, is there nothing we can do?"

"Not really. Panese is near. If we hold on to our current pace, we'll be up to about half an hour."

"...impossible..."

Half an hour may be a short time, but in a fight that is worth every second, half an hour is like forever.

"Forget over. I'll ask Mr. Sebas for help. We don't have a choice because it's an emergency."

Helen had no choice. By asking Sebas for help, it makes their mission tantamount to failure.

But is it more important than their lives?

Unfortunately, when she had not been able to leave, Helen was blocked by the fireball Lunaris.

"What do you mean by this? I have absolutely no time to serve you."

When his friend's life is threatened, he can't possibly let Lunaris provoke him.

Lunaris smiled a little.

"I just wanted to tell you that what you're doing isn't necessary. Right now Riku has done something to make the dragon stay away from us. Better trust him."

"..."

Helen's surprised. How could Riku have moved when the attack had not been long?

Could it be that Riku already knew that there would be dragons attacking? How'd he do it?

"Rather than thinking about the dragon, it's more important that we do something about the infiltrating rat."

Suddenly Lunaris shot towards one of the ship's crew who panicked with a sword of fire.

The actions of Lunaris who arrived made no one have the chance to react. Besides Lunaris' speed as an SS mage was very different, there was nothing that could stop her from attacking a crew that was no stronger than a rank B mage.

Given the difference in strength, naturally the result of the attack could be easily guessed.

What happened surprised everyone. The crew easily resisted the attack with two crossed daggers.

"How did you know?"

"Feelings!!"

The ship's crew counterattacked with a deadly attack targeting a vital part, but Lunaris was still able to withstand the attack.

Along with the fire sword, Lunaris created fire arrows in the air and attacked from all directions.

The crew was surprised, but he didn't panic. The crew then kept their distance from Lunaris to avoid.

Lunaris did not let go and attacked, but as if waiting for Lunaris to do that, suddenly the figure disappeared and slashed Lunaris' back from behind.

----

-----

Meanwhile, Riku is still interrogating Sebas. Of course it's not as easy as saying it.

"I don't understand what you mean."

Sebas was still pretending not to know.

Riku.

"The Azure family is a family whose entire descendants are water element magic users. With their unique characteristics, the imperial side made them one of the families that dealt with the matters of the sea. It didn't take long for their family to develop rapidly and eventually become one of the largest and most powerful families in the empire."

As one of the big families, it is not strange if Riku knows the ins and outs of other families.

Unfortunately, what Riku said was still a general matter.

"But about 10 years ago, the Azure family suddenly suffered a major setback due to a major storm that killed several important family members in the Sirena ocean. This setback did not last long, quickly the Azure family rose and became stronger than before. That's impressive...."

Riku smiled widely as if giving congratulations from the bottom of his heart.

Sebas was silent.

"As the servant of the Azure family trust, Mr. Sebas must know the secret, no, it is more appropriate if you are the one in charge of keeping the secret. Either from outside the empire or the empire itself. I wrong?"

"Do you want to say the rise of the Azure family is an abomination?"

"I never said it, you said it, Mr. Sebas."

Sebas was surprised to finally realize that he had entered a trap.

But this is strange, Sebas is a man who has experience in speaking, there is no way he does not realize that there is a lure.

"!?"

At that moment he realized something strange. Although it was faint, he felt a magic energy spread in the air.

(How could I possibly be affected by her magic?)

As a master magician, Sebas has a magic resistance that makes him immune to low-level magic.

(How could the Illusion Word magic work on me?)

Although conscious has been trapped, but there is nothing that can be done. It is too late to withdraw, he said.

"I don't want to push it deeper. It's more appropriate that I don't care at all about what the Azure family is planning."

Suddenly Riku's aura became cold as if freezing anything. Sebas who was a master could even feel fear rising in his heart.

This young man is too strange.

"But you made one mistake. In my family, all our members were taught that 'one person of value is more important than a thousand strangers'. Do you understand?"

"!?"

Sebas immediately broke out in cold sweat. He realized who was in front of him.

In the empire, other than the imperial family, there were seven of the most influential families.5 Among those families were the families of the paladins, whereas the other two were families that had important roles within the empire.

The Kagami family is one of those families. When compared to other families, the Kagami family is still very young. But it is wrong to think that the Kagami family is weak.

The head of the Kagami family was a man who married two imperial princesses and two general daughters. There was another girl with a mysterious background. Then plus he is a former imperial special forces with unimaginable connections, making the Kagami family so influential.

Some even say that the Kagami family is stronger than the family of General Leon. Whether the rumors are true or not, the truth about the Kagami family's influence is beyond doubt.

But thinking about all that, Sebas thought of something more important. Children who come from the Kagami family are known as geniuses. Although it looked only B rank, but there was no doubt that this young man had special powers.

Even though he was a master ranked mage, fighting with an opponent of unknown strength and a huge background was a foolish act.

"Mr Sebas, I'm waiting for you. Don't think I'm as patient as my parents."

Riku's words returned Sebas from his reverie.

"So you're from the Kagami family? Sorry for not recognizing you, young master."

Sebas looked down and saluted. The incident shocked the captain of the ship. Then after hearing the young man's background, he finally understood why the young man was fearless.

"No problem. I haven't been back in a long time, so a lot of people don't recognize me."

For Riku no one recognizes him is the best thing, but he will be known sooner or later given his position.

"If you hesitate to tell me the truth, I will guarantee the security of the Azure family. How's it?"

That's not a bad offer. Especially in the current situation.

But Sebas still doubts if it is the right course of action considering he is not the one who has the right to decide. The bet is too big. Sebas can't make the slightest mistake.

Riku sighed knowing it was hard for him to convince Sebas.

Riku ultimately had no choice but to take out an object that could make Sebas talk.

"Sir Sebas, do you know what this thing means?"

Sebas' eyes instantly widened when he saw the small dagger in Riku's hand. The little dagger is not sharp and only limited to decoration, but make no mistake. The dagger has a special magic that makes it so special.

"That-that's..."

Sebas doesn't believe it. The dagger became a special identity that was only given to a few people in the empire. So far he only knows that there are 30 people who were given the dagger. A young man like Riku shouldn't be able to get it no matter his background comes from the Kagami family.

Except...

"Free, it seems you misunderstood. When I ask you to say everything, it is not a request, but an order. You know one wrong thing could have caused the Azure family to perish."

Sebas pale deathly realized what Riku said was right. So great was the influence of the dagger's owner that it left the Azure family helpless before him.

Let alone Sebas, if the head of the family faced Riku directly, he would not be able to do anything because of their huge difference in status.

"All right, I'll say it all."

"Sir Sebas, that's..."

"Shut up!!! I'll take responsibility."

The captain of the airship was surprised by Sebas' decision, but seeing Sebas's expression and command, the captain realized that the situation was no longer on the side of the Azure family.

Their current situation was like being on a thin rope bridge. Just one make a mistake, it will make the Azure family perish.

"That's better."

Riku smiled slightly in satisfaction. He was a little dislikeful of having to use that dagger, but it was better than prolonging the problem.

"As the young master said, the Azure family has a secret that makes our family great, but because that secret also makes our family destroyed."

Sebas started telling stories.

The Azure Family had already been a family that dealt with sea matters in the empire for generations. It was not strange that they became one of the influential families in the empire. Although not in the top seven, but at least they are in the list of twenty and above.

In addition to taking care of marine matters, the empire also gave permission for the Azure family to build a business as long as their duties were not abandoned. With that not only the influence is getting stronger, but also the abundant wealth obtained by the Azure family.

The large ships belonging to the Azure family were not unusual at the time of the Azure family's glory. But one day, the Azure family ship is attacked by a monster and ends up shipwrecked. Of course it was a little strange because the ship belonging to the Azure family was the best ship that would not be damaged with just a few monster attacks.

At that time the Azure family realized that there was a potential big problem if they kept quiet. That became the basis of a large investigation to find the truth about the monster.

After 2 months of searching, they finally found a monster that could sink the ship. It was a monster known as the Kraken.

The Kraken is not a monster who likes to attack ships for no apparent reason. The Kraken are smart enough that on every ship there are witches who can kill them.

But the exception happened to the Kraken.

Not only attacking the ship, but also without fear of attacking the witches. To his surprise, the Kraken was more powerful and dangerous than the Kraken ever recorded in recorded history.

Riku himself was not so surprised because he had mendwngar incident. Naturally, the incident was quite famous in the empire considering the number of casualties that fell just to defeat the Kraken.

The incident caused the Azure family to lose most of the confidants who had served the Azure family. Finding people is easy, but finding loyal people is very difficult.

That setback certainly took some time to recover. A long time.

But to his surprise the Azure family was able to rise quickly and expand their influence than ever before.

"It seems like the incident not only brought misfortune, but also luck to the Azure family."

Sebas just nodded without refuting.

"After defeating the Kraken, the Azure family found out why the Kraken had become so fierce and so powerful."

Sebas paused for a moment as if to remind him of something bad.

"We found a trident stuck in the Kraken's body. At first we thought it was a fisherman's or a witch's weapon, but we found that the trident was not an ordinary weapon, but a Cursed Arm."

"It definitely wasn't the usual Cursed Arm because it could affect a monster as big as a Kraken."

The Cursed Arm was a remnant of the Paladin war. The arm's mock magic weapon was designed to be used by humans, so it was strange that monsters could use it .

Of course there are exceptions to that. There were only a few Cursed Arm alone that could do it. Performing the elimination, Riku could guess what Cursed Arm the Azure family found.

"Trident...?"

"really. At first we couldn't believe what we found. It is one of the Sins series. One of the most dangerous Cursed Arm ever made."

Just like the arm and beast, although the same materialized from the soul of the magician, none of them were the same. Some are strong and some are weak. That's why there's such a rank for arm and beast.

The lowest rank was Mortal and the highest was Divine.

The ranking is based on various factors. The type of embodiment, the name of magic, and the witch herself. But making this ranking does not mean a good thing.

Many disagree because this is tantamount to discrimination. This is inversely proportional to the imperial principle that all humans are the same whether they are witches or not. Moreover, the difference in magician rank alone was enough to discern strength.

At this moment the rank of the arm and beast were already almost unheard of anymore. But when talking about Cursed Arm, then this cannot be separated from this rank. Especially when it comes to linking with the Sins series.

In this world the greatest war of mankind the most famous is the war of Light. The war between mankind and the demon army led by the Demon King.

In the end the Demon King was defeated and the land that all had owners, was now a land without a master.

This was the beginning of the Paladin War, a war that began for reasons of stupidity and greed.

In those days, the existence of a Paladin could be likened to a king leading a war. Not only strong, but also has many followers and troops. They all aspire to be the leader of a country in that land without a master.

But the existence of the Paladin was the pinnacle of strength. All under the Paladin were ants. The war between the two paladins always almost ended in balance and conditions became a stalemate between the two sides.

This is the origin of an idea to create a weapon to break the deadlock.

Paladins themselves were the peak existence of strength. What happens if you use a weapon that can increase that power?

Starting from the death of one Paladin, another death began to follow due to the outbreak of the stalemate caused by the Cursed Arm.

As a weapon, the Cursed Arm was divided into several levels of strength. The stronger the Cursed Arm, the stronger the Paladin used it.

But at the same time the greater the side effects received.

Of all the Cursed Arm created, the most famous are the Sins and Virtues series. The two series had the most power among the Cursed Arm created.

After the Paladin war, the whereabouts of the two series were unknown or lost. Some say that both series have been destroyed.

Unfortunately, the incident 15 years ago in Dragonia and the imperial capital recalled the horrors of the Cursed Arm.

And now the Cursed Arm was back to the surface.

Riku could only sigh inwardly as he could smell the scent of trouble.