Chapter 229: Vivian, Who Can't Get Tense
"Lord Zelretch, is it really acceptable for us to keep failing to meet that King of the World?"
After waiting for another two days, the Magi who had followed Zelretch to Tianjing once again posed their question. This time, Zelretch himself seemed different from his previous demeanor.
If Zelretch had appeared quite composed the last time, this time he was slightly frowning. Alongside a clearly visible confusion, a touch of impatience had begun to show.
"One of our purposes in coming to Tianjing to find that King of the World was to pay our respects. Beyond that, we need to use Magecraft to negotiate terms with him.
"After all, he is a king, leading such a vast nation. He wouldn't have absolutely no need for the Magecraft we inherited from our teacher.
"Moreover, we are constructing a Magecraft Foundation. Such an endeavor, by any measure, contributes to the development of Magecraft... Even if he doesn't wish to cooperate with us, he shouldn't refuse to meet us altogether, should he?"
If the first part of Zelretch's words were meant to explain things to the Magi around him, by the end, even he himself seemed perplexed.
However, after gathering his thoughts, Zelretch let out a long sigh and continued explaining to his companions.
"As for consistently failing to meet the King of the World... this is actually a somewhat troublesome matter."
"According to our plan, after meeting him, we would use our Magecraft skills and the matter of the Magecraft Foundation as bargaining chips. Once we complete the Magecraft Foundation and split it into three parts, we hoped he would support our establishment of a Magecraft Association and agree to a mutual non-interference pact."
"We can offer him assistance now, whether in Magecraft techniques or information regarding the New World. But after he unifies the world, we must remain outside the state's direct control — after all, we have no desire to work for that King of the World like those court Magi."
"Furthermore, we don't want too many people using the Magecraft Foundation. If Magecraft becomes too fragmented, it hinders its development."
"But even if this negotiation fails this time, we must at least pay our respects in advance..."
Zelretch began to feel a headache coming on as he spoke.
"Besides being the King of the World, you all should have some understanding of what he is. He is likely the same kind of existence as ORT over in the New World, as our teacher once told us... So, if we don't even pay our respects, once he conquers the New World as well, conflict between us would be almost inevitable."
"You don't want to see a future, not too distant, where the entire world is hunting Magi of our Magecraft Association, do you? Especially with the Ultimate One of the Planet leading the charge. You understand what kind of situation that would put us in, right?"
Zelretch had said all he could.
Beyond these reasons, Zelretch and his fellow disciples also harbored some private thoughts.
Namely, concerning the issues of Modern Magecraft and the Magecraft Foundation.
After all, it is now evident that the Age of Gods is declining, and Mystery is waning as well. The King of the World might rely on his nature as the Ultimate One of the Planet to bring about temporary change, but just as the once-flourishing Age of Gods eventually declined—even their teacher chose death—all of this remains inherently unstable.
Thus, they plan to use the King of the World's grand vessel to continuously supplement the Magecraft Foundation and accumulate Mystery for Modern Magecraft.
In this way, even after the era of the King of the World comes to an end, Modern Magecraft will still be able to unleash considerable vitality.
And before that, many among them are also proficient in Magecraft of the Age of Gods.
So in their vision, as long as they can establish a mutually tacit understanding, they will be able to enjoy the benefits of Magecraft of the Age of Gods in this era while also utilizing the Magecraft Foundation and Modern Magecraft to plan and prepare for the future.
It's a situation where they stand to lose nothing.
However...
Zelretch truly never expected that even after presenting a trace of his teacher's aura, the King of the World still had no intention of meeting them!
While Zelretch could understand that reaching a mutual tacit understanding might not be achieved in a single attempt... now, not even being able to meet the other party left him deeply frustrated.
But after much contemplation, he had no intention of storming the imperial palace directly.
After all, their ultimate goal was mutual tacit understanding. Based on their understanding of various kings and emperors, if they were to invade the other party's palace, then for the sake of royal dignity, unless the benefits were overwhelmingly great, the other party would likely never be willing to establish friendly relations with them—at least not within their lifetime.
And the lifespan of an Ultimate One... this was something they could never hope to match.
Thus, forcing the issue was absolutely out of the question.
This led Zelretch to think of another idea.
That was to first make contact with the Magi of the capital, then demonstrate their research achievements in Magecraft to these Magi. In this way, once the King of the World saw their value, he would naturally agree to meet them.
Zelretch believed this method was feasible, so after making arrangements with the other Magi around him, he took a few of the most elite Magi from this group and set out to actively seek contact with the Magi of the capital.
Zelretch's goal was to demonstrate value, which meant he could not approach targets whose status was insufficiently high.
After all, to showcase value to the King of the World, someone with too low a status would lack the influence to speak on their behalf, which would not suffice.
Moreover, the value to be demonstrated had to be selectively presented.
After much deliberation on this point, Zelretch ultimately decided to keep Modern Magecraft hidden for the time being—even if this meant he could not fully display his expertise in Jewel Magecraft, he was also highly proficient in various forms of Magecraft of the Age of Gods. And as a disciple of the King of Magecraft, he was extremely confident in this regard.
This led him, after thorough investigation in all aspects, to finally choose his target for a visit: Vivian, the head maid.
Or perhaps, after Zelretch learned more, he believed the first choice should have been Merlin or Morgan.
But Merlin was not in the capital, and Morgan... she was essentially already acknowledged as the queen of the King of the World. As for the King of the World, whose vast territory he referred to as the world, its security was clearly not lax enough to allow them access to the queen.
Attempting to contact Morgan would be no different from storming the imperial palace head-on—so that was absolutely out of the question.
As for secondary targets, the new Adjutant Officer Manaka Sajyou and the head maid Vivian were both acceptable to him.
However, Manaka Sajyou's whereabouts were extremely difficult to trace, and she almost never left the imperial palace. In contrast, Vivian occasionally ventured out with some clumsy-looking maids who appeared to be of the Demon Race.
Thus, Zelretch seized such an opportunity. When Vivian emerged from the imperial palace with several Oni maids, he blocked her path with over a dozen Magi.
"To make a move against the maid of the imperial palace in the capital, no matter how foolish one might be, they should understand the consequences this entails."
The Oni Kind surrounding Vivian entered combat readiness. However, under Vivian's guidance during this period, they did not immediately attack but instead shielded her at the center.
Vivian, meanwhile, maintained an utterly calm demeanor as she observed this team of Magi. Most of them could only use what she considered very rudimentary Magecraft of the Age of Gods, while a few stood out slightly, capable of employing several spells of the Age of Gods that the Lady of the Lake had casually bestowed countless years ago... To ask her to feel panicked? She truly couldn't muster any panic!
After all, these individuals were Magi, and their skill level was plain to see.
Asking Vivian—who could rapidly and simultaneously chant seven large-scale Magecraft spells of the Age of Gods and swiftly deploy them in combat—to be wary of them... that was indeed a difficult task.
Just as Vivian finished speaking, Zelretch stepped forward from the group.
To demonstrate his worth as much as possible, without resorting to Jewel Magecraft, Zelretch struggled to maintain four medium-scale Magecraft spells of the Age of Gods around him. Additionally, his staff-type Mystic Code contained a sealed large-scale Magecraft spell of the Age of Gods.
This was the limit of Zelretch's capabilities without using Jewel Magecraft at present.
With such preparations, he gazed openly at Vivian, brimming with confidence, and addressed the head maid—who could effortlessly activate seven large-scale Magecraft spells of the Age of Gods without any Mystic Code and stood nearly at the pinnacle of Magi from the Age of Gods.
"We do not intend to oppose the King of the World. We merely wish to demonstrate our value for our own purposes—you are also a Magus, so have you understood our expertise and worth in this regard?"