I Regressed to My Ruined Family – 69

 #I returned, and my family was ruined (70)

Archbishop.

Wearing a dark robe, he frowned.

The eighth bishop, Eric.

He was the last person to join the kingdom’s bishopric, but his potential and talent ranked among the top eight bishops.

That was precisely why the archbishop had entrusted him with the Transference Stone, one of the church’s most precious treasures.

And now, Eric had returned as a complete fool!

“What was Eric doing?”

“We are still investigating. However, it appears that he deliberately concealed his recent whereabouts.”

“He concealed his whereabouts?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“It appears that he was unable to fulfill the required amount of tribute. The bishop had been deliberately concealing this fact.”

The archbishop looked at the documents.

They contained a detailed account of recent events in the west.

Girsten, a lay priest and black magician. And the death of Berstan, the chief priest in charge of the printing office.

“Hmmm…”

The archbishop recalled the rumors that had been circulating recently.

The eldest son of a family known as the Great Heroes, he had recently been called the Hidden Dragon of the West and was gaining fame.

“Ethan Ardan.”

All of this was his doing.

There must be a reason why they were unable to meet the tribute deadline.

“The bishop covered it up?”

“That’s for sure.”

What a fool!

The archbishop thought of Eric and gave him a cold stare. The church was an organization with a strict system of rewards and punishments.

And Eric was someone who had made many contributions to the church. He had never been punished even once.

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“Was he afraid of punishment?”

East, west, south, north.

And even the center.

Bishops are high-ranking officials who oversee each region of the kingdom. It would not have been difficult to hide such a fact.

“How is the bishop?”

“He is completely unresponsive. His intelligence seems to have regressed to that of a child.”

“…Who did this to the bishop? The Grand Duke. Is it him?”

“There are two main candidates. One is obviously the Grand Duke. There was conflict between them. However…”

The messenger who was looking at the archbishop cautiously opened his mouth.

“…It is possible that the Kingdom of Haidern was directly involved. In fact, we consider this possibility to be more likely.”

“The kingdom?”

“Although the Grand Duke’s reputation has risen recently, the bishop is a powerful man who has mastered the Dragon Subduing Technique. No matter how highly you regard the Grand Duke, his chances of winning are less than 30%. And that’s assuming he brings all of his knights with him.”

The archbishop nodded.

Dragon Subduing Technique.

It was a secret technique that only a select few in the church were allowed to learn.

Once the bishop entered the Dragon Subduing state, even powerful warriors such as grand mages and sword masters would find it difficult to defeat him.

“Only those who are called superhumans would be able to do so.”

Nine-star knights.

Or those with true abilities above the ninth rank.

Only those of this caliber would be able to easily deal with the bishop.

“However, there are no records of the Grand Duke’s side moving the knights recently. If they fought the bishop, it means they fought alone… If we consider that, the chances of victory are less than 10%.”

The messenger’s analysis was correct.

Hearing that, I suddenly became suspicious of the kingdom.

“…Are they trying to pit the Grand Duke against our order?”

If the order retaliated against the Grand Duke because of this incident, what would happen? The kingdom, which had been waiting for this opportunity, could reveal this fact to the public.

If that happened, all the foundations that had been built up in the Kingdom of Haidern would collapse overnight.

The Grand Duke was a man like a gorgeous flower bud filled with the will of the people.

“Hmm… What about the kingdom?”

“Recently, the Shadow Knights have been very active.”

The Shadow Knights.

They were a secret knight order known as the King’s Swords.

If they were moving, it wouldn’t be surprising if even a bishop acted like a fool.

“Furthermore, as you know, Archbishop, King Delphion is the one who rejected the church.”

The archbishop’s eyes narrowed.

Was it really the king who made the move?

And he did so by throwing out the duke, who was such a tempting bait.

“What a cunning bastard.”

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If that was the case, he would not stand idly by. He would make the king pay dearly for the bishop’s death with the blood of the kingdom. An explosive energy flowed from his body.

Seeing this, the messenger cowered.

Archbishop!

Although it was just one letter added to the title of bishop, the power of those who held this position was beyond imagination.

The only one who could control the archbishops, one in each of the seven kingdoms, was the Pope in the Zeno Empire.

Until his anger subsided.

The messenger quietly prostrated himself.

Soon after, the archbishop spoke, controlling his momentum.

“Track the movements of the 그림자 as closely as possible.”

“Yes. Just in case, we will also investigate the side of the Grand Duke.”

The archbishop nodded.

* * *

After returning to the inner castle.

Ilia was conducting her research.

“It was a strange method.”

From the way the bishop gathered mana to his transformation into a dragon.

It was a scene she could never have imagined when she was in the dungeon.

Three days.

That was how long it took her to analyze the bishop’s mana breathing technique.

And then.

“I got it!”

She clapped her hands.

The bishop’s breathing technique.

Although it was only about 10%, she had succeeded in making it her own.

Ilya’s eyes sparkled as she tried out the breathing technique.

“Amazing!”

The speed at which she gathered mana was clearly different from before.

“If I can absorb only 10%, I can do this much…”

What would happen if she absorbed more of the “dragon tribe’s” technique?

Of course, she didn’t intend to absorb all of the bishop’s breathing technique just because the speed of gathering mana was fast.

“Even if the speed is fast…”

This was because she had weaknesses in analyzing and understanding the most important aspects of the higher levels.

Gaining about 30%.

That was the optimal efficiency in Ilia’s mind. She rushed out with the door open.

Her destination was the Grand Duke’s office.

When she arrived at the door, she quickly knocked.

Knock, knock, knock, knock!

“Is that you, Ilia?”

“It is I! May I come in?”

“Come in.”

Ilia quickly opened the door and looked at the Grand Duke.

“Why?”

“I have made an amazing discovery!”

“Discovery?”

“The bishop’s breathing technique. I modified it. As a result, the efficiency of the breathing technique has greatly increased, don’t you think?”

“Is that so?”

Ethan’s reaction was much calmer than she had expected.

“Huh?”

This isn’t good.

Just as Ilia was about to speak, Ethan asked abruptly.

“How much did you modify it?”

Of course he would ask that.

As a knight, how could he not be curious about the mana breathing technique?

Ilia’s eyes sparkled as he quickly replied.

“Don’t be surprised. In just four days, I completely mixed the breathing technique I use with about 10% of the breathing technique I learned!”

Ethan’s eyes widened at her words.

He looked shocked to anyone watching.

Of course!

The Grand Prince had recognized her genius.

“This is the first time I’ve seen you look so surprised.”

Well, of course.

It was bound to be surprising.

This was the existence of a “grand magician.” Ilia raised her face and opened her chest wide.

Ethan nodded and said,

“It took you four days just to absorb 10% of the subtleties?”

“Yes! Only four days… Huh?”

Ilia tilted her head.

It felt like the conversation was going off track.

“…Only?”

It sounded as if he meant “a very, very long time.”

“…What?”

“Hm.”

It was the moment when Ethan moved his hand. The paper and pen flew into the air and landed right in front of Ilia’s nose.

“Draw it.”

“What do you mean?”

“The way the bishop moves mana.”

Ilia smiled triumphantly. What could be the reason for his provocation?

He wanted to learn the bishop’s breathing technique, but he didn’t want to ask, so he was demanding it in another way. What a shy child. I guess someone as broad-minded as me should understand.

Ilya asked with a smile.

“Hmm. I see you’re curious.”

“You have to tell me if you want me to modify it.”

“Modify?”

“Your mana breathing technique.”

“……Huh?”

“If you keep moving like that, your efficiency will drop. Draw it for me.”

I couldn’t understand what this man was talking about. I was completely dumbfounded.

“Hurry up.”

At the prince’s words, Ilia moved her mana. Soon, the key points of the bishop’s breathing technique were written on the paper.

One stroke of the pen and one stroke of Ilia’s body.

The prince shifted his gaze and said casually.

“Inefficient.”

He drew lines on the paper with his pen. The shape of the human body was drawn in an instant.

“Don’t move your mana like that. Move it like this.”

It was as if he was giving a simple errand to a child.

Ilia tilted her head in confusion, but decided to do as she was told and moved her mana.

“What… What?!”

It was shocking.

He had only changed the path slightly. How could such a small change increase efficiency by more than 20%?

What on earth was going on?

After a moment of shock, Ilia stared intently at the prince.

“Human.”

“Why?”

“What secret are you hiding?”

Even though she had lived in a dungeon for a very long time, she still had a minimum level of common sense.

It was impossible.

His talent, experience, growth rate, way of thinking, and even his memory.

Nineteen.

At that age, everything should be impossible.

That was what Ilia’s common sense was telling her.

No, that was what she was screaming at the top of her lungs.

“Find out for yourself.”

“…Chii.”

“Use this passageway.”

Ethan pointed to a part of the human body and continued.

“Oh, right. Make good use of the bishop’s breathing technique.”

“Aah!”

When he came here, he definitely didn’t intend to tell him so easily!

Before he knew it, Ilia’s nose was cut open.

“I gave you a gift, didn’t I?”

“……”

He wasn’t wrong.

“That’s enough. I’m busy.”

“……What are you so busy with?”

“Cleanup.”

The bishop may have escaped, but all of Irdan’s knights were killed.

That meant his main base was empty. Of course, he had no intention of leaving him alone.

The Amelton family.

He planned to completely absorb that place.

“And get the third ring while I’m at it.”

The location of the third ring was the Amelton family.

“Work hard on developing the items.”

“Hmph! You don’t need to say anything. I’ll take care of it!”

Less than five minutes after Ilia, who was in a foul mood, left the room,

someone knocked on the door.

The person who entered was Silvia. She handed him a document.

“Preparations for entering the baron’s residence are complete.”

The document contained detailed information about the Amelton family.

It even included how Silvia was manipulating the family.

“What a mess.”

From passing information to stirring up public sentiment, the count’s domain was completely under her control.

“The rumor has spread everywhere.”

The rumor that the knights of the count’s family had tried to assassinate him had spread to the point where there was hardly anyone in the domain who didn’t know about it.

Naturally, the people’s sentiment toward the count had turned sour.

The people of the domain were desperately hoping for a hero to save them.

The stage was completely set.

“Well done.”

“Not at all. There is one more thing I must report. The church has sent spies.”

“Hm.”

It would have been strange if he had done nothing after the bishop had returned looking like a fool.

“How many?”

“Twelve. Thanks to them, we were able to track down all of the existing spies. We took care of all of the existing ones.”

“What about the new ones?”

“We took care of about half of them and left the other half. I think they’ll be useful for causing confusion.”

“Well done.”

Unlike last time, when they had barely managed to find a single trace, this time they had tracked them down perfectly.

It must have been the result of applying the lessons they had learned last time.

A strategist who acted without being told. That was Silvia.

“When do you plan to depart?”

“Tomorrow.”

Five days should be enough to prepare.

“I’ll have the Dragon Slayers ready.”

Erudan.

The time to cut off the enemy’s head was drawing near.