The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years

Translator: Alpha0210

He had succeeded in drawing attention by putting the Half King up for sale, so to speak, but there was no guarantee that interest seized by force would last. After all, every last one of the people gathered here was self-serving and utterly unpredictable.

In other words, he needed to either finish what he had to say while eyes were still on him, or keep throwing out topics compelling enough to hold their interest.

Residue noticed that most of the gazes directed at him were steeped in sheer bewilderment, and he weighed whether to exploit that by spouting more nonsense, or to flip the mood entirely and open his mouth with a serious tone.

"You're quite late."

Whether it was fortunate or not that the Demon King spoke up first in the middle of all that, Residue couldn't say, but he tilted his head and replied.

"Late, you say. The date was today, and no time was set. Meaning it shouldn't matter when I show my face, so long as it's within the da──"

Residue's voice cut off.

He hadn't stopped of his own accord. A knight had suddenly rushed at him. Needless to say, it was Pale, charging in with the ferocity of a wild beast and swinging her blade without a word of warning.

Residue didn't need to block it. The blue blade was stopped by a pure white shield.

"Agolet."

Pale looked up at Agolet with an expression caught between a smile and something else entirely.

"So it wasn't a joke when you said you'd follow that residue?"

"I've never been one for jokes, to begin with."

"Is that so?"

Pale snickered, then abruptly sheathed her blade.

She turned to Agolet and opened and closed her empty hand.

"What are you doing?"

"It's a sign that I mean no harm."

"......"

"I won't attack Residue."

'What the hell kind of stunt is this?'

Residue looked at Pale. Come to think of it, the idle thought crossed his mind that this might be the first time that woman had ever called him by name.

Their eyes met, and he saw that her unreadable pupils sat deep and still. They were a far cry from her flippant voice.

"And why should I believe that?"

"Oh, come now. I'm not saying forever, just that I'll behave myself at least until this summit is over."

"Then what was that attack just now?"

"That was just a greeting."

"......"

"Anyway, that's how it is, so, would you give Luca back?"

At those words, Luca, who stood beside him, let out a pained groan.

Residue looked down at Luca, then turned back to Pale and spoke.

"Is that your condition?"

"More or less."

"I refu──"

"W-wait a moment! It's fine! I'll go!"

Before Residue could even finish his reply, Luca blurted it out in a rush.

And she sent a glance toward Residue. Strangely, her expression wasn't that of someone being dragged away against her will. She didn't seem frightened, either. There was just an air of reluctance and discomfort.

After a brief moment of deliberation, he simply nodded. When it came to the Blue Knight, Luca would know far more than he did anyway.

Still, before she left, he said a few short words.

"If something happens, tell me. Don't suffer through it alone."

"A-ahaha. Got it."

Luca trudged over to Pale's side. Pale beamed like a dog owner watching a runaway puppy trot back on its own.

Somehow it was a comical sight, but it felt like a petty sideshow, and he had no desire to keep watching.

"......"

"......"

Come to think of it, Residue wasn't the only spectator of this little farce.

Every participant in the summit was still watching. Then, as Pale and Luca slipped away and Agolet and Beniang stepped back slightly, all eyes converged on Residue alone.

The pressure of feeling like he ought to say something compelled him to open his mouth.

"Ahem. Then, once more, my dear traveling companions. A pleasure to meet you."

The moment Residue suddenly adopted a courteous manner, every face in the assembly twisted into something bizarre. Though it didn't show outwardly, the one most startled was the Lightning God. He wore an expression impossible to categorize as smiling, crying, or furious, like a man witnessing something he never believed possible unfold right before his eyes.

"Allow me to reintroduce myself, since it seems quite a few of you don't know me. I am the Second Beginning Wizard; the remnant will of the Lightning God; the inheritor of the body of Lucas Trowman; the master of the White Knight; the King of the Apex Universe; and the being who currently goes by the name Residue."

He paused briefly after the introduction.

It was because he harbored a faint hope that, while thunderous applause might be too much to ask, there would be at least some response.

Of course, there was nothing of the sort. He turned his head slightly, and Agolet gave a small shrug. It almost looked like he was asking with his body language, "Shall I clap for you, at least?" Residue ignored it. Receiving groveling reverence wasn't exactly what he was after.

Then the Demon King asked.

"Why does your manner of speaking keep changing?"

"I figured I'd need to actually say the words out loud to get a feel for which one suits me best."

"And the verdict?"

"I think just mixing them up freely will do."

The Demon King laughed, an expression of utter disbelief on his face.

Heh heh heh. A chuckle leaked out from somewhere. Residue's face turned peculiar.

"Why were you so late?"

The Lightning God was smiling, his face flushed red.

"Well, now. I'm not sure what to say, but it does seem the claim that you've changed is true. Should I start with 'it's been a while,' then, Residue?"

"It has been quite some time since our last talk, Father."

"......"

The Lightning God flinched.

"What's wrong? You're the one who brought me into existence, so doesn't that make you my father?"

"Bwahah."

And then someone burst out in genuine amusement.

He wondered who would dare laugh at the Lightning God of Thunder, and it turned out to be El, the Red Knight. She was holding her breath, clutching her stomach, shaking with suppressed laughter, making a mockery of the expressionless face and indifferent demeanor she had maintained until just moments ago.

Hearing that laughter, Residue shook his head. There was something deeply strange about watching his former self being laughed at by one of the Four Knights.

"It was a joke, so relax your face, Lightning God."

"...Was it not change but madness, then?"

"Shut it. You dim-witted fool."

But the instant the Lightning God dared to insult him, Residue couldn't help himself and lashed out in return.

"Let me make one thing clear. You have no right to insult me. But I have every right to insult you."

"What drivel. Let's hear your reasoning, then."

"I was once you, but you were never me, were you? Who in this world knows you better than I do? Therefore, my insults carry legitimacy. But the same doesn't apply to you. You know nothing about me. And nothing is more pathetic than criticizing something you don't even properly understand."

"......"

The Lightning God, who had been about to retort immediately, faltered and said nothing at all. Just as Residue had expected.

The Lightning God had not changed. He was the Unchanging by nature, after all. Because of that, making him back down with a few choice words was no difficult feat.

"You asked why I was late? I was just about to bring that up, as it happens. Just before I entered the royal castle, someone made their presence known. Not one of those who came with me noticed. In other words, the entity deliberately revealed itself to me alone."

His throat suddenly felt parched, so he cleared it once.

Having taken an unintended pause, he continued.

"It was Destruction."

"......!"

"Everyone here seems qualified to know, so I'll tell you all. Everything, from what Destruction truly is, to why it's trying to descend upon us, to the reason I came to inherit this body. Candor happens to be one of my mottos, and I simply can't bring myself to deceive my traveling companions."

It would be a somewhat long story, but there was still time to spare.

Residue spoke as concisely as he could, sticking to the essential points.

The Three Thousand Worlds and the Realm of the Void: the tale that the lifespan of every existing world had reached its end. "The Outside," a concept incomprehensible to those gathered here; "Destruction," the unfathomable entities that dwelled there; and the beings who were both the whole and the parts of Destruction, once composed of the Creation God, the gods, the Void King, the previous Beginning Wizard, and Lucas Trowman.

And lastly.

That the one currently handling Destruction was Lucas.

Residue left nothing out.

"......"

"......"

A quiet shock radiated in every direction. Even so, not a single person reacted with dramatic surprise or fell into panic. At most, a few faces went a shade paler.

The story Residue had told, the truth of the world.

Among those in the summit hall, some had already known everything, some had known vaguely, and some had known nothing at all. Now they were all equal. For the time being, that alone held meaning.

There were many here who knew Lucas. Pale, Beniang, Sedi, of course, and even Iris could be seen off in a corner. 'Listing them out, they're all women. For a man like a block of wood, things like this suggest he wasn't entirely one after all.'

If one were to be meticulous, there were also people like the Black Knight Lucid and Yang In-hyun, but their reactions were comparatively dry, so Residue focused his attention on the changes in the women he had just noted.

Beniang, Sedi, and Iris reacted similarly. Surprise and shock, followed by a tangle of grief and rage, and finally, faces clenched tight at the molars in helpless frustration.

Pale, on the other hand, showed no particular reaction at all and seemed to be thinking about something else entirely. Residue found that attitude curious, but for now he wrapped up what he had been saying.

"...Destruction will attack a total of five times, and as of now, we have successfully repelled the first. To be frank, that alone is already an extraordinary feat."

When Residue finished speaking, murmurs rose from every corner.

Then someone hesitated before finally raising a hand slightly.

Residue gestured with his chin and spoke.

"What is it? No, before that, who are you?"

"My name is Mada. I serve as the temporary lord of Eden, and I am the representative of God Eater, one of the Twelve Void Lords."

"Very well. Mada. Is there something you wish to know?"

"The first Destruction, Hide's assault, has it truly ended?"

"Good question. Though the answer is 'I don't know.'"

Mada blinked.

"Pardon?"

"The number of Hides is something no one has ever been able to pin down. The Grand Galactic Alliance and Futurix. Even if you combined the data from what are arguably the two forces observing the world most broadly, if not deeply, you still wouldn't arrive at an exact figure."

At that, someone from another part of the hall spoke up.

"Then shouldn't we be devising countermeasures for them as well?"

"And your name is?"

"Ataraxas. I am one of the Absolutes under the Black Thorn Demon King......"

"No need for your full title."

'If he's sitting in this summit hall, he's at least Ruler Class, and among the top ten at that.'

Residue continued.

"Ataraxas. Whether the remaining Hides are many or few, we have no way of knowing. And if they choose not to reveal themselves, there's no way for us to tell them apart in the first place. However, there's no need to worry much about that."

"Why is that?"

"Because among those present here, there won't be any Hides."

The majority failed to grasp the implication behind that statement.

He had expected as much, so Residue went on.

"Every single person here is a being capable of exerting enormous influence across the world at large. Whether that means through sheer force, political power, or perhaps even personal charisma, the point stands. So if one of you happened to be a Hide, the resulting damage might push the world to the brink of annihilation."

"......"

"But that hasn't happened. The ones Hide is mimicking are not on a level that poses a serious threat to us. Therefore, Hide is a problem that's out of our hands now. The power left to it is no longer enough to destroy the world."

"...Isn't that too irresponsible? Surely a great many people are dying because of them."

The Executor voiced a quiet objection.

"A great many, I'm sure. But we don't have the luxury of allocating our attention to that. There are still four more rounds of Destruction to come. The cleanup is something others will have to handle."

"Others?"

"Everyone who survives."

"Hmm......"

Someone swallowed an uneasy sound.

They could not accept Residue's argument.

Others, in contrast, nodded as though it was only natural.

Beniang suddenly felt something peculiar and glanced around. The overall mood of the summit hall had lightened. Not in a bad way.

Until just moments ago, the oppressive aura emanating from the Four Knights and the Rulers had made everyone else feel as though they might suffocate at any moment.

Now the atmosphere had grown more open.

The heavy air hadn't fully lifted, but at the very least, conditions had been established where anyone attending the summit could voice their opinion.

It was a mess, yet this was unmistakably a change that Residue had brought about.

"Now, then, let me circle back to the matter at hand. Just moments ago, I had a conversation with an entity called the 'Negotiator,' which belongs to the Second Destruction. A sharp one."

"In what way?"

"In that it chose to approach me above all others. Well, that's only natural. To Destruction, the most troublesome enemy would be me."

There was no pride or arrogance carried in his voice. It was simply matter-of-fact, as if he were stating something self-evident.

"The five who will fight the Second Destruction. You all know that much, at least, don't you? You've been brawling and clawing at each other to claim those seats, raising absolute hell over them."

Residue chuckled and pulled something from inside his coat; it was a slightly elongated piece of paper. Those with sharp eyes realized it looked like a ticket.

"Let me make this clear first. The right to select those five currently belongs to me. I received it from the Negotiator."

Murmurs──

Once more, commotion rippled through the summit hall.

Residue leisurely took it all in and continued.

"And one more thing. Those five will be fighting in 'the Outside.' Destruction's domain, their homeland, their stronghold. A place no one has ever been to before. Fighting on their Home Ground. That is the condition the Negotiator put forward."

The murmur that had just begun to swell died in an instant.

Those in the summit hall glanced at one another, and before long, the majority of their gazes converged on a single spot.

Where the Four Knights and the Rulers stood.

Three knights.

Three Rulers.

And one who belonged to both.

That alone already made seven, yet there were only five seats.

On top of that, Residue, the organizer of this summit and the one who had struck some manner of deal with the Negotiator, seemed highly likely to include himself among those five. And then there was the Half King, the greatest fighting force that encompassed all of them, who still remained.

How on earth did he plan to narrow it down to five?

Had he already decided, or would the decision be made from this point on?

Would those not chosen even accept it?

"Now, then. Here comes the real heart of the matter. Pay attention."

In contrast to the slowly heating atmosphere, Residue spoke in a relatively even voice.

"──The five who will go to the Outside and fight the Second Destruction will not be chosen from the Four Knights, the Rulers, or the Twelve Void Lords. That is all. I will not entertain objections."

*****

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