Chapter 21

The Book of Dragon Chants (1)

As it became deeper in the night, the dinner party had ended and there was only silence left. No more party, no more wine, no more laughing sounds left in there.

‘Extraordinary, indeed.’

In the province castle, inside the bedroom of the crown prince.

The crown prince was recalling the former event while drinking northern territory wine. He had thought about it over and over, and the more he thought, the more interested he was.

‘How can that young boy be so powerful?’

Was he interested in the spy mage?

No, he never cared about it.

But the fact that he won the duel against Cecelia.

That only drew the crown prince’s attention.

‘I thought his talent was exaggerated.’

The crown prince also knew the meaning of being 3rd class.

He heard that most mages wouldn’t be able to master 2nd class.

However, one of them lost to the boy called Ian.

The crown prince desired him.

‘The captain on my right side, The boy on my left side…..’

Oliver, who already reached the master level of swordsman.

Ian, who contained unfathomable potential in him.

What if the crown prince managed to make them loyal to him?

Wouldn’t everyone crawl under his feet?

Including those pesky princes in the separated palace, even those arrogant mages of the ivory tower.

‘But how?’

He never moved or touched someone’s heart in his life.

He never knew how to manage people.

‘That’s right! Like my father.’

He saw father’s way many times.

Father used to reward them for their merits.

It wouldn’t be that hard.

There was nothing hard about it, was there?

“Captain.”

“How can I help you.”

“The boy, bring him here.”

Oliver understood the intention of the crown prince.

He ordered other soldiers to bring Ian.

“I heard you were looking for me, your highness.”

“Oh, you came. Welcome.”

The crown prince welcomed Ian with a hypocritical smile.

It was a very opposite attitude compared to the first time he met Ian.

He changed his attitude dramatically.

It seemed he didn’t feel any shame about it.

“The reason I called you was….. Yes, I am moved by your valor. Wasn’t the spy one of the high mages? But you succeeded in arresting her alive, you made huge merit.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

The crown prince continued his words with more confidence.

It seemed he thought about himself that he was playing the role of a powerful king very well.

“So. I want to reward you specially. Is there any rewards you want to receive? Money, gold or land, whatever you name, I will listen and reward you.”

Ian barely stopped himself from sneering.

Was he following his father?

He was mimicking him very poorly.

‘Well, I don’t have anything to ask him for though.’

It was true.

There was nothing to ask the crown prince for.

Maybe the current emperor or tower lord may fulfill his request though.

This prince would only be able to give him money.

‘Well actually, I can ask for something.’

Suddenly, Ian thought about a proper request.

Ian wasn’t sure whether the crown prince would allow it, but it was worth it to try.

“Then….”

“You may speak.”

“If you allow me to do so, I want to visit the ruins of the old ivory tower before going to the royal palace.”

“The ruins of the old ivory tower?”

The ruins of the old ivory tower.

It was the ruins where the ivory tower used to be located one hundred years before.

Unlike the current new ivory tower, it was located very far away from the royal palace.

It was such an easy and small request for the crown prince.

The request he couldn’t understand.

He expected Ian to request something about money or properties.

But what he wanted was visiting the worthless ruin.

As he expected Ian was an innocent kid.

Unlike other princes who were young but still who wanted the throne.

‘Well that is an easy request.’

It wasn’t on the route to the palace.

However, it wasn’t that far from the original route though.

“If that’s what you want, I will accept.”

By his order, Ian laughed in his mind.

It seemed he would be able to get the thing earlier than he thought.

The item which was hidden underground of the ruin of the old ivory tower.

‘The book of dragon chants.’

The ancient book that Ian found only a few years before Ian died in his former life.

The book that was very essential to researching the time warping magic.

Even Ian couldn’t understand all of it, but he could understand only a little of its dragon language.

The single book that recorded its essence.

‘How many parts would I understand this time?’

It was natural curiosity as a mage.

Ian felt his heart was beating.

The tallest tower that was the closest to the sky of Greenriver.

The ivory tower, centre of magic, treasure house of information.

In there, everyone was alerted.

Every single mage enrolled in there received the test for the mana inscription.

Not only the students of the academy, but also the mages of the ivory tower.

It was a massive scaled test due to the event at the northern territory.

“There was nothing that was revealed clearly. We don’t even know the meaning of the inscription, do we? Furthermore, the man with mask hadn’t been arrested. So the only information we have is the young witness.

Including Habert, Archmages of the ivory tower were there.

They urgently gathered in their council to discuss two serious topics.

“On the other hand, she devoted herself to the ivory tower and empire for a long time. She may be accused unjustly, or trapped. Furthermore, the crown prince was there, wasn’t he? You know how he dislikes the ivory tower.”

The most urgent was, of course, Cecelia.

At the ivory tower, one of them was suspected as spy of another country, or hostile group. Furthermore, the spy was a 3rd class mage. In a worst case scenario, the trust in the ivory tower would fall off to the ground.

“Hence, until the moment we investigate the issue with our very hand, the ivory tower will ignore all the suspicion for Cecelia. It is an order as tower lord.”

That was a typical reaction from the ivory tower.

It was the group that was always biased to their members.

The group which was united with proud and band of mages.

They were strong, but few.

So they had to gather tight as much as they could.

There were always traps and attacks on them who held such strong power.

To be safe from numerous attacks, In addition, to overwhelm others underneath their feet. It was the identity of the ivory tower.

“And, the witness of this event, who you may have heard about already.”

Suddenly, mages opened their eyes wide.

Even for them, Ian was an interesting and mysterious man.

“How do we define his status.”

Maybe, the existence of Ian would be more than just an interesting topic to some mages.

Ian was such a hot topic in the ivory tower at the moment.

“According to the information we have collected, the magical level of this boy  would be at least master of 2nd class, maybe more than that.”

At Habert’s claim, everyone was started to make noise.

Since they had heard rumors, they had expected it.

However, the official confirmation of the tower lord contained different levels of reliance compare to the individual expectation.

The level of Ian’s skill wasn’t the only problem.

The fact that he was able to control the magic he never learnt was the biggest problem.

“Hence, the ivory tower will operate a higher quality investigation.”

The investigation, to reveal everything about Ian.

The power of arch mages will be needed.

“Figure that out; did he really never learn magics from others, was he really raised as a normal kid, what sort of environment he used to be raised in, who are his parents. With all of the power of the ivory tower, we will find out everything. So, we require your help.”

As they agreed, everyone nodded.

If there is anything suspicious, they need to find out everything.

They already had an example of Cecelia.

“However, if there were no problems after the investigation, which means if all the suspicions on Ian Page were revealed to be incorrect….”

“Then we must admit it.”

If it revealed he was truly born a genius, they would have to admit that the boy Ian had unfathomable talent.

He was a genius whose talent can be compared to ‘The First Mage’.

“So that we can make our future plan. The plan to grow the kid, the second ‘The First Mage’, as our ally, and as a loyal tool for the ivory tower.”

The tower lord only mentioned the ivory tower, not the empire.

He didn’t call Ian a member of the ivory tower, but he called him a loyal tool.

None of these mentions were misspoken by the tower lord.

“We wouldn’t be able to control him by simply just giving him a present and doing him a favor. We need to build our own way, the only way that the ivory tower can do.”

The mages who were attending the council nodded.

Fortunately, Ian was still young.

Although he had power, he shouldn’t have matured yet.

To the ivory tower, they thought that is their advantage.

“We will able to control such a young boy easily, won’t we?”