21st Century Archmage

Flash!

‘I never expected spatial teleportation magic here…’

A spatial teleportation array was connecting the Temir temple to the underground chamber. The device leading underground was merely a trick. As soon the device reached a certain level, you would be transported directly to the Palace of the Father.

‘If things went wrong, I could’ve ended up buried in the wrong place.’

If I had followed Lokoroïa any slower into the hole, I might have been transported into rock due to faulty coordinates.

‘My airplate and mana were destroyed because of a defensive magic array. Sigh.’

Using the spatial teleportation array, we arrived under the Temir temple in the blink of an eye. The formulas of the magic array engraved at our feet sent chills down my back. As expected of an array installed by a 9th Circle mage, layers upon layers of protective spells were in operation.

After getting onto the device, it slowly moved upwards with a low hum. It seemed that the door to the array opened when the golden moon located at the top of the temple provided it with mana.

‘But shouldn’t you let go of me now, miss?’

Lokoroïa kept hugging my arm with her near-naked body like a long-time girlfriend.

Whiiiiiiir.

The ground above our heads opened like a lid as light streamed in.

“Watihar!!”

Then came the shocked voices of the Temir warriors.

‘You jerks, what’s all this uproar about.’

The hero who saved the big boss of the Temir was making his grand entrance, but they were kicking up a fuss.

As we rose to ground level, I was able to see everything within the temple.

“Geh!”

It was like a war broke out. The inside of the temple was filled to the brim with Temir warriors.

As soon as they caught sight of me, everyone drew their weapons with noisy clatters. The altar was encircled many times over with men leveling rather fierce Guardian Warrior spears at me, and their eyes were full of wrath, as if they would gladly cut me to pieces with their eyes, if they could.

“Wativeheh kashumuraia!”

The Guardian Warriors shouted something, clearly on the verge of rushing in.

“!!”

“Ah!”

But as the device continued to rise, they saw Lokoroïa—still clinging to my arm—and exclaimed in alarm.

“Shaveh!”

Lokoroïa’s sharp cry rang out.

Thud, thud thud.

From a single word from her, every Temir warrior fell to their knees.

The device clicked into ground level.

‘Pretty cool…’

The Temir warriors were kneeling at my feet, showing their utmost respect. The lines of warriors filling the temple bowing in worship was an awe-inspiring sight. Even a gang leader in control of an entire nation wouldn’t be able to receive this kind of treatment. Even an emperor wouldn’t be able to command such loyalty from his knights.

The female shamans bowing their heads at the sight of Lokoroïa carefully approached, extending a black cloak. Only then did Lokoroïa detach herself from my arm.

‘Aww.’

As Lokoroïa’s warmth faded, I felt a teeny bit sad.

“Ruadishifu… adiantakai…”

Standing in front of the large brazier, Lokoroïa said this and that in Temir.

“Darutakain!”

Then, she turned to me and shouted another unfamiliar word.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Darutakain! Darutakain!”

‘Eh? What’s wrong with you guys? Y’all drugged or something?’

The Temir warriors suddenly went mad with fervor towards me, shouting ‘Darutakain’. The fanatic screams of over a thousand warriors shook the walls of the temple.

“Say something, Great Guardian Warrior,” said Lokoroïa. She was looking at me intently with pride.

‘I have to figure out what’s going on before I can make bank’, I thought, feeling the hot gazes of the Temir warriors.

“Haha. Please take care of me in the future. I am still lacking, but I solemnly vow before you that I will do everything in my power to uphold the duty of a Great Guardian Warrior.”

There was no need for a drawn-out speech. Employing the most conventional phrases, I flashed a good-natured smile.

“Darutakain! Darutakain! Darutakain! Waaaaaaaaa!”

The Temir warriors whipped themselves into a frenzied joy over my words, while Lokoroïa gazed at me with satisfaction.

‘Something’s weird…something feels off.’

Great Guardian Warrior…the term was coined simply by pasting a ‘Great’ in front of ‘Guardian Warrior,’ so I couldn’t understand why the warriors were so worked up. Also, wasn’t I one of their enemies, a noble of the Bajran Empire?

“Great Guardian Warrior, what do you want as your dowry?”

‘D-Dowry? What bullshit is she spouting now?!’

“From what I heard, you need wyverns, so today, we will go out wyvern hunting. I’ll give you all the wyverns we catch. That much is enough, no?”

‘Wyverns!’

‘Dowry’ caught me by surprise, but at the mention of wyverns, I nodded in spite of myself. Even in my dreams, it wasn’t the unification of North and South Korea that was my greatest wish, but wyverns.

‘Little miss, you sure are fiery. I don’t know which lucky man will be in your future, but he’ll be one happy bastard.’

This very open-minded, flashy young miss could really read between the lines. I foresaw great happiness for the dude who would live hand-in-hand with Lokoroïa in the future.

“My warriors! Prepare yourselves. Today, we shall go wyvern hunting, so all of you, follow me!”

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

‘Ohh! She’s as valiant as Jeanne d’Arc!’

The courageous lass used Kallian Common for my sake and boldly uttered some passionate, exhilarating words. Having come into possession of nearly as much mana as me from mana inheritance, charisma was billowing from her body.

‘Huhu, wyverns! wyverns!’

The mention of dowry kept bothering me, but the sweet, sweet temptation of wyverns made me dismiss all the warnings going off in my head.

The problems of tomorrow are worries for tomorrow, after all!

As long as today was great, then it’s whatever!

* * *

Guooooooooooo!

Flap, flap, flap flap flap.

‘Ohhhhhhhhhhhh!’

No other nation would be able to imagine something like wyvern hunting. In order to nurture a single usable wyvern, top-grade holy water had to be poured onto the egg, and even after hatching the egg, the baby had to be reared for several years with utmost care and affection before it could be used as military force. That was why wyverns commanded prices of hundreds of thousands of Gold.

But the Temir were different. Hundreds of Temir wyverns were flying towards the massive Himalayan-lookalike peak not far from the temple. Because we were in the middle of winter and I lost my airplate, I got a new airplate from Lokoroïa. From my vantage point on Bebeto, who was flying at the head of the pack, I could see all the Temir Skyknights following us like a wave of death. Each tribe moved in a singular group, forming a flight of around 200 wyverns. If the Temir had attacked Nerman in full force, I probably wouldn’t be here today.

‘Should I be saying thank you to those black mage bastards?’

Before going out on the hunt, Lokoroïa and I enjoyed a full meal. As we ate, she calmly answered my questions. When she was ten, black mages sought an audience with her, and using a black magic drug called the Tear of Restraint, they controlled the Temir people through her until the present day. Thankfully, because the Palace of the Father opened only once she came of age, the black mages had lived quietly in the shadows. If they had recklessly rampaged to fulfill their greed, Nerman would have sustained great damage.

‘The Bajran Empire still has a long way to go. Tsk tsk.’

The Bajran Empire had no idea of the Temir people’s enormous strength. If Lokoroïa wished it, she could easily wage war on the empire, ravaging the land. Even a ‘great empire’ could not fully withstand the attack of hundreds of wyverns at once, not to mention smaller lands like duchies.

Kuuuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Lokoroïa’s grey wyvern flew behind Bebeto. The wyvern, which was one size bigger than the others, was flying with all its might, as if it didn’t want to lose to Bebeto.

‘But how in the world will they catch the wyverns?’

I had never heard of anyone other than the Temir managing to domesticate a wild wyvern. Wyverns were at the top of the food chain among monsters, and an undomesticated one was a tricky, dangerous opponent. That was why holy water was used to suppress the wild blood while still unhatched.

‘Guess I’ll just have to find out.’

Lokoroïa, who just grinned when I asked her to teach me the wyvern hunting method, was confidently steering her wyvern. She was wearing an airplate and helmet engraved with a gold dragon pattern.

Kuaaaaaaaaaaa!

Kwaaaaaaaggh!

‘Geh! Just how many of them are there?’

On the way here, I had glimpsed hundreds, no…thousands of wild wyverns from afar. At the appearance of the Temir wyverns, wild ones surged up from all over the massive mountain range.

The sky turned black. From big to small, wyverns of all sizes came flying our way.

Gulp.

Like the flocks of thousands of birds I once saw on TV, the wyverns were innumerable. They flew over, directing intense bloodthirst towards the enemies intruding on their turf.

‘These guys, do they have no fear? How come they’re not even picking up their spears?’

Facing this flock would be tough even if they started hurling spears now, but the Temir warriors were calmly flying behind the lass. I couldn’t tell if it was some form of bravery, but they were all completely focused on flying straight.

‘Huh?’

Just then, I saw it.

Despite the considerably frigid weather, Lokoroïa removed her helmet, the strong wind whipping her golden hair into the air.

‘W-What is she trying to do?’

She might have a similar amount of mana as me, but she was completely ignorant regarding magic. I saw mana writhing around her.

Kueeeeeeeeeeh!

Kyaaaaaaaagh!

The wild wyverns rapidly closed in, coming within a few hundred meters. They knew no fear—their yellow and crimson eyes reflected their savagery as they charged. The fangs in their wide-open jaws glinted like well-honed daggers in the winter sunlight.

GUOOOOOOOOOOO!

Even as the wild wyverns closed in, Bebeto remained courageous. He opened his mouth, unleashing a great, big bellow.

‘Oi! Read the mood already!’

Bebeto was trying to play king in front of the wild wyverns like some kind of Tarzan, King of the Jungle.

“KIOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!!!!”

‘!!’

I was about to put Bebeto into his place when an ear-splitting scream rang in my ears, sending me instantly into a daze. As if struck by a hammer, I reeled, unable to recover my wits. It wasn’t physical force, but fear, pure instinctive fear, like receiving an indomitable command from an existence one could not possibly oppose.

‘Mana F-Fear… no, this must be Dragon Fear…’

I wasn’t at the 7th Circle, but with my mana quantity, I had nothing to fear from a 7th Circle mage. But this Fear technique rammed into my wits like a dagger, rattling my brain.

Kweeeeeeeeeeh!

Kaaaaaaaaaaaghh!

Chaos ensued. Their fearless charge stopped in its tracks as the wild wyverns screamed in alarm at the Dragon Fear, then began to flee like crazy.

Cruuuuuunch.

THUD!

The wyverns were so frenzied that they bumped into each other, sending some of them careening to the ground.

Wobble, wobble.

Bebeto seemed to have taken considerable mental damage as well because I felt his wings falter before he barely managed to recover his balance.

Flap flap flap flap flap.

In that instant, Lokoroïa, who had put her helmet back on at some point, whipped past us, taking the lead. The atmosphere in the sky was completely reversed. The vigorous charge of the wild wyverns was a thing of the past—they were now hurrying to flee to their nests.

‘So this is a dragon’s descendant!’

I finally understood.

The ten or so priestesses protecting the lass from behind were all dragonia, the most skilled among Tarkania’s descendants. One after another, they unleashed Dragon Fear.

“KIOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

“KYAOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Their screams were less shocking than Lokoroïa’s, but they were plenty effective against monsters. I could finally see why the Temir folk were helpless against these seemingly ordinary priestesses.

‘All those wyverns were reduced to cowering chickens.’

I couldn’t believe my eyes. All those wyverns flying vigorously just moments ago scrambled into their caves and nests, trembling in abject fear while looking like big chickens.

As I watched, the Temir warriors approached the wild wyverns and threw ropes around them. Four warriors formed a team to steadily rope wyverns by the neck, wings, and legs, capturing them.

‘To think that wyverns could be subdued so easily… This is just like picking up free money on the ground.’

The Dragon Fear was so powerful that it sent Bebeto reeling. For the first time, I felt fear towards the lass. Right now, her Dragon Fear only had 6th Circle mana behind it, but if she used the skill with a higher level of mana, even I wouldn’t be able to handle it.

‘I can see why the elves would run and hide if she ever awakened.’

I recalled the warning the elven ancestors passed down regarding awakened dragonia, and I had the fleeting thought that I should maintain friendly relations with the Temir in the future.

‘What’s next?’

There were Temir wyverns under my command as well as wyverns with strange shaman patterns drawn on their bodies.

Kuaaaaaaaaaaa!

Kiaaaaaaaaaaargh!

In mere moments, the Temir warriors captured dozens of wild wyverns. Using sturdy ropes, they continued to subdue the pitifully wailing wyverns.

“KIOOOOOOOOOO!”

Lokoroïa’s Dragon Fear rang out once more.

“…”

And with that, the struggling wyverns immediately ceased their cries.

‘It’s not as effective against already domesticated wyverns.’

Bebeto aside, the other Temir wyverns were largely unaffected by the Dragon Fear. They merely flinched and looked at Lokoroïa with fearful eyes.

‘So frickin’ easy.’

After capturing roughly 20 decent-looking wyverns, the Temir warriors turned without hesitation.

‘Huhu. Wyverns! Wyverns!!’

These wyverns were pitifully getting dragged off like trussed-up chickens, but in my eyes, they looked like lumps of money. If those guys were fried up with electricity, they would instantly net me thousands upon thousands of Gold.

‘My gosh, you wonderful thing, you.’

Once again, I saw the lass in a new light. She was standing proudly on her wyvern, steering it beside me.