The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years (Web Novel KR)

“This is a pretty good book, but it’s not suitable for you.”

“…”

Snow giggled below her mask as she flipped through the book.

Lukas let out a sigh and opened his mouth.

“That’s my book.”

“I know.”

“I didn’t give you permission to read it.”

“What’s the problem? It’s not like it’ll get damaged just because I read it.”

“I haven’t read it yet.’

“So stingy. Don’t you know the term ‘ladies first’? You’ll have to wait a bit. Since I plan to read the entire thing.”

“…”

After a while, Snow giggled again.

“Isn’t that a book on swordsmanship?”

Of course, Lukas knew this because he was the one who had bought it.

The book she was reading was [Basic Swordsmanship by Don Giaski].

“Huh? That’s right.”

“Then what’s so funny?”

“It’s all funny.”

After giggling again, she turned the book to show Lukas what she was looking at.

“The guy who wrote this book is a complete idiot, a scam. His knowledge base is shallow and poor. His thoughts about the functions of a sword are all limited and plain. At best he sees it as ‘a blade used for cutting’… Well, that’s not completely wrong.”

“…”

“Besides, look how old fashioned his training method is. What era is this that he thinks cutting trees is a good form of training? That’s just harming nature for no reason.”

Coming from the Elf Queen herself, these words naturally had a lot of weight.

Lukas drank half of his cup of cold water. Then he spoke in a slightly calmer voice.

“Why do you keep following me?”

“Mm? Uh…”

Snow seemed to think about it for a moment as she tapped the book in her hand.

“Maybe it’s because I feel like we’ve met before.”

“…!”

“Ahaha! It was a joke!”

…What a joke. (TL: Poor Lukas almost got a heart attack.)

Lukas had always been confident in his patience, but now, he realised it might not be as good as he thought. In that moment, he had almost spat out some of the few swear words he knew at her.

“Would you mind ordering some more food?”

“Why me?”

“I ate nothing but grass for an entire week. I deserve to eat meat.”

…Coming from the Elf Queen herself, these words naturally had a lot of weight. In a different sense from before…

Right. Eat to your heart’s content then leave.

With this thought, Lukas directly ordered five more servings before looking at Snow.

…Had she always been like this? He wasn’t sure. Maybe she’d always thought like this, but now, she was acting more arbitrarily than before.

Throughout the meal, Snow skillfully ate without ever taking off her mask. She was also quite fast too. Five servings of food disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Finally, Snow finished her glass of water before closing the book once more.

“A book like this will do you no good.”

“What?”

“For a Swordsman, a leg disorder is more critical than anything else. Whether it’s cutting, stabbing, or blocking, the most important thing is the strength of your feet.”

“…”

“Even for First Class Swordsmen, if they were to lose even one big toe, their power would drop by more than half in that instant. Your situation is worse than losing a single toe, isn’t it?”

Although she said this in a light tone, Lukas realised she was giving him serious advice now.

“Then what should I do?”

“I don’t know. As you can see, all my limbs are fully functional.”

Her tone was still light as she got up from her seat. Then she smiled at Lukas.

“Thanks for the meal, Lukas. We’ll meet again.”

“…”

With those words, Snow disappeared in a flash.

Lukas continued looking in the direction she left in. Maybe she would come back like before.

That’s what he thought.

“…ha.”

But after a while, he realised that she’d really left this time.

* * *

Lukas’ tiring day was not yet over.

When he returned to the inn, he thought he would once again find the noisy atmosphere the mercenaries had created, but that wasn’t the case. In fact, the first floor of the inn, which served as the restaurant, was quiet.

There were a few mercenaries there, but even they only lightly tapped their glasses together.

The reason for that was easily understandable.

It was the familiar face sitting at a table in a corner of the room.

It was Peran.

He quietly moved his tableware as he focused on his meal. Even though the food served at the inn could only be considered mediocre at best, his etiquette could still be seen in his movements.

He was slicing through a cheap steak in a luxurious manner when he noticed Lukas’ presence and put down his knife.

“Oh, you’re here.”

Lukas nodded slightly.

Not showing whether he was offended by Lukas’ blunt attitude or not, Peran simply gestured to the chair in front of him with a nonchalant expression.

“Have you eaten yet?”

“Yes. I ate before I came.”

“I see… Then would you like a cup of tea?”

“Aren’t you eating?”

“I was about to stop anyway since I don’t have much of an appetite.”

Peran spoke with a slightly tired expression before calling out to a nearby waiter.

“I’m sorry, but please clear away these dishes.”

“Yes.”

“Also… if you have any good tea, I’ll have two cups.”

The waiter’s expression became a bit tense when he heard this. Perhaps his intuition told him that Peran was no simple character.

“Sir… what do you mean by good tea…?”

“If you have something like Aman Frere, or Colonial…”

Peran slowly trailed off after saying this. The waiter in front of him looked as if he wanted to cry.

“…forget it. Two glasses of cold water will do.”

“Thank you.”

As if he’d been pardoned, the waiter quickly disappeared and returned with the cold water. Peran coughed slightly in embarrassment before taking a sip of water.

After changing his posture a bit, he opened his mouth.

“I heard that I am in your debt.”

“It was just in the course of protecting myself.”

“Regardless, you saved a lot of people. As their client, I would like to express my gratitude.”

“…”

Knowing that it would only prolong the topic if he continued to act modest, Lukas nodded.

In any case, he had to thank him for bringing up the topic of the raid first.

“Those that attacked. I heard that they are from an organisation called the Circle.”

“Yes.”

“Are they your enemies?”

“That’s right.”

“…the man I killed, Budilem, was the leader of the operation. His men at the scene witnessed that, and most of them escaped alive.”

“…”

There was a subtle change to Peran’s expression for a moment.

It was strange, it didn’t give him a positive or a negative feeling.

Lukas also became silent.

This was as he expected.

While Peran was fundamentally good, his atmosphere changed completely when the Circle was mentioned. Peran still had the soft expression on his face, but the pressure being released from his body was so intimidating that anyone would find it difficult to speak their mind to him.

‘He’s grown up.’

In the past, Peran had also been a formidable figure. He was an exceptionally talented person whose future was limitless, but as expected, after accumulating years of experience, he’d also become skilled in the political side of things.

“I need protection.”

Lukas decided to first bring up the main point to him in a straightforward manner.

“Rina told me that people stronger than Budilem would come for me, is that true?”

“The probability is high.”

“…defeating Budilem was half a coincidence. If such an attack happens again, I’m not certain I’ll be able to protect myself.”

“So you’re asking us for protection.”

Lukas nodded.

The small smile that had been on Peran’s lip’s the entire time finally disappeared and he carefully looked at Lukas.

It was impossible for him to read someone’s intentions or inner thoughts just by looking at them. Nevertheless, it was possible to find some strangeness if they were hiding something from him. This was one of Peran’s specialties.

‘How strange.’

He couldn’t feel anything from Lukas.

Was it because he truly was telling the truth? Peran was hesitant to jump to such a conclusion.

“I know a place beyond the reach of the Circle.”

“…”

“I promise on my honor. It is a small and quiet village, but no one would be able to hurt you if you went there. I can also give you enough money to comfortably live for the rest of your life.”

“…you’re telling me to go there?”

“At least until your memories return.”

Peran’s proposal was extremely attractive.

But Lukas knew he shouldn’t accept it. He couldn’t.

He had seen the corruption of the Circle with his own eyes.

“There is no guarantee that my memories will ever return.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“…after I fought the attackers and heard the word Circle, it was like a bolt of lightning had struck my head. I believe that my loss of memory might be related to them somehow.”

“…”

Peran’s face became slightly startled when he heard those words. It seemed Rina hadn’t told him that part.

“Then what do you want me to do?”

“Take me with you.”

“…for what reason?”

“You are the leader of the Anti Circle Alliance.”

“Did Rina tell you that?”

“It was my own guess.”

“On what basis?”

“There were several. Your status as a member of a high ranking family, your individual strength which reaches the realm of heroes, and more than anything else, your innate talent.”

Peran remained silent.

It seemed like he was telling him to continue.

“Charisma. The talent to attract and lead people, regardless of whether they want to follow or not.”

“…hmm.”

He hummed softly for a moment. He also began fiddling with his cup. It didn’t seem like he was thirsty though, since he was only looking at his reflection in the water.

Finally, after staying silent for a while, Peran spoke.

“I cannot accept your request.”

Lukas’ expression changed slightly.

In all honesty, he’d never considered the fact that Peran might refuse. No. That even if he did refuse, he would be so firm.

“Why?”

“Because I don’t have the authority to do that.”

That surprised him.

“You don’t have enough authority? Then are you…”

“Don’t get me wrong. Your guess was pretty close. My position in the Anti Circle Alliance is by no means low. If this was a different time, I would easily accept your proposal.”

But he was saying he couldn’t now.

“…I have to accompany someone for a few months or even longer from today.”

It was only then that Lukas understood.

“The ‘person’ that you have to accompany is your superior.”

Peran nodded easily.

0

“I came here to meet her halfway.”

Her?

“We were supposed to meet at this very inn, so she’ll probably come soon-”

Just at that moment, the door of the inn flew open, and Peran’s expression changed.

“She’s here.”

Lukas looked back.

And when he saw the woman standing at the door, his eyebrows couldn’t help but twitch slightly.

It was a woman wearing a strange wooden mask.

“…you.”

“Over here.”

Peran looked at the woman, Snow, and beckoned her over to them in a calm voice. Lukas couldn’t help but look back at him in surprise.

They knew each other? No, wait a minute. It couldn’t be that she was the superior Peran had mentioned.

Suddenly, Snow strode over to the table and sat down beside Lukas.

“Let me introduce you. This is Snow, the current leader of the Anti Circle Alliance.”

Leader of the Anti Circle Alliance.

The weight of those words could not be brushed aside lightly.

Snow smiled at Lukas.

“I told you we’d meet again, Lukas.”