21st Century Archmage

“Its the Lord!”

Drawing out every ounce of his strength, Bebeto reached Weyn Covert, which caused the soldiers standing guard to shout loudly.

‘They still dont know.

Laviter Empire troops had crossed the Kovilan Mountains and were in Denfors back yard, but the coverts guards were on regular guard duty. They had been told that I would be patrolling the territory while staying at Orakk Castle for the time being, so they were pleased to see me back in the covert.

‘This is bad.

My brows unconsciously furrowed. Thankfully, Laviters assault had not started in full-force, but the emergency message hadnt been properly received. Thinking about what would have happened if I hadnt come back just in time made me shiver.

‘I told them to maintain a constant watch over the communicator…

Id given Derval a special order to never, ever be negligent about the communication channel, since the territory was at risk. But despite my order, the channel wasnt effective at a truly dangerous moment. Even as Bebeto touched down, the thoughts in my head were incredibly complicated. Right now, the territory was on the razors edge, and we didnt know how far the enemies had come.

As Bebeto flapped and landed on the covert clearing, several knights came running up.

“Salute!” barked the knights.

“Where is Sir Derval?”

I asked for Derval as if nothing was wrong. I didnt know who the spy was, so I had to maintain a calm facade.

‘Dammit, I cursed inwardly, hating that I had to be suspicious of the knights who were sending me gazes full of loyalty.

“He is at the castle construction site. I will call him right away.”

“No, its fine. That aside, is there something wrong with the communicator magic? I tried making contact on my way back, but there was no response.”

“Around yesterday evening, the communication magic array broke down and hasnt been fixed yet.”

“Broke down?”

That was ridiculous. The communication magic array was something I had created with all my heart and soul, and it was engraved on a mithril alloy board. Even if you smashed down on it with a decently-sized stone, it was so sturdy it wouldnt break.

“The mages have also been unable to find the culprit.”

“Mm…”

Since the chief knight in charge of covert security had said so, I could only agree.

“Who was in charge of the communication rooms security yesterday?” I asked nonchalantly while walking to my office. It was important, so the commanding-level knights took shifts to guard the communication room.

“Sir Berketh has been in charge of the communication rooms safety for the last few days.”

‘Berketh…

He was a Nerman-native Skyknight under Baroness Janice. Because he was one of the first members of my crew to overcome tough times with me, he was quite trusted.

“Call Sir Hasifor and the Skyknights under him to the communication room.”

“Yes, sir!”

I had no choice but to track down the spy with people I could trust.

‘Whoever it is, I will never forgive them!

I kept my face expressionless, but inside, I was boiling over with rage. The traitor had sold off Nerman for the sake of their own advancement. Whoever it was, I could never forgive them.

* * *

The communication room was located in the Weyn Covert basement. Because the array required maximum protection from external attack, I had taken a room that was previously used as a prison and transformed it into a facility that was now comfortable and secure thanks to various magic arrays. However, the appearance of the communication magic array in front of me made me groan.

‘It was properly gouged using mana.

This was definitely the handiwork of someone on the level of a knight. A regular soldiers spear or sword couldnt make a single scratch on the mithril alloy board. I was able to spot a tiny cut so cleverly placed that other mages wouldnt be able to find it. There was a gouge in the ancient Runic used to increase the communication range.

‘Theres no time to repair the array.

Returning the array to its original state would take several hours of my full concentration. However, I didnt have that time right now. With enemies coming at any time, I couldnt sit around and peacefully repair a magic array.

Thud thud. Creak.

“Master, did you call?”