Overpowered Archmage Doesn't Hide His Talent C.171:

Translator: MarcTempest

Proofreader: naturallyInconsistent

Chapter 171 Have you arrived?

“It looks like everyone is here.”

The Void, the nest of the Vampires.

A Vampire in a suit and a reversed mask opened his mouth. No one cared that his mask was upside down, with the mouth on the top.

“I’m so sleepy. Why did they call us all of a sudden?”

A girl Vampire yawned, hugging a teddy bear.

“You must have forgotten what it was like to be humiliated by a human. You look so relaxed.”

“What? Are you crazy?”

“I’m saying, you need to get your act together.”

“Wow… you’re really something.”

The girl threw the teddy bear on the floor and approached the masked one. The tension in the Void rose in an instant.

But at that moment.

“She’s watching.”

The princess’s secretary said firmly.

“The princess is awake right now. She’s watching everything we do.”

“Hmm.”

“…”

The two Vampires who were arguing straightened up at the mention of the princess. The secretary called their names one by one.

“Mask.”

“Yes.”

The Vampire in the suit adjusted his mask quietly.

“This is where we carry out the princess’s orders. Don’t provoke your allies.”

“I’ll be careful.”

The Vampire in the suit fiddled with his mask. Everyone knew that it was his habit when he wanted to kill someone, but no one dared to say anything.

“And girl.”

“What.”

“Have some sense of gravity.”

“Fine. Fine.”

After calming them down, the secretary looked around.

“Is the shadow here yet?”

“Just arrived. Right now.”

A neutral and unpleasant voice. At the same time, a shadow rose high. Despite being as black as pitch, its eyes were human.

The secretary nodded.

“Three should be enough. You all have a vague idea of why we’re here today.”

The girl shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know… Oh, I know. It’s because Maiev got his arm cut off by a human and came back.”

Then the officers burst into laughter. No one here cared about Maiev, who had lost his arm.

The secretary snapped his fingers and a light descended into the darkness of the Void.

There stood Maiev, with one arm severed.

“…”

Maiev avoided the eyes of the other officers.

She had to cut off her left arm every time she visited the Void, because it had Flan’s slave mark on it.

“I knew this would happen when you boasted about your disguise. You always skipped the meetings.”

“How about you stop criticizing each other, officers. Of course, I agree that this was expected.”

The shadow, who had been silent, tilted his head.

“Human… Did you say he did this to you?”

“That’s right.”

The mask nodded.

“The human mage that the princess has taken an interest in lately, Flan. He said he lost to him.”

“Pathetic. To be defeated by a weak mortal.”

“It must have been because of his carelessness. There’s another Vampire here who got careless and paid the price.”

The girl, who had been listening, clenched her teeth.

“Shut up. It’s not strange to be careless when dealing with humans, is it?”

“Enough.”

The secretary cut off their conversation.

“You can be careless if you want. But if you fail this mission, you’ll have to take your own lives. The princess, who has woken up, will have no mercy for you.”

“…”

The Vampires shrank at the two words of the princess.

Diana de Rochefort.

The symbol of the Vampires.

The reason for the Vampires. Diana was such a being, and in front of her, any Vampire was nothing but a speck of dust.

The silence was broken by the girl.

“Well, it’s no wonder the princess woke up. The humans got cocky and destroyed the barrier. How rude.”

“Let me give you the mission first.”

The secretary’s eyes became serious.

“We will capture Flan at the Reheln Hill.”

“Is that it?”

“We will prepare for the march after securing a shelter at Reheln. This part will be decided by the princess.”

“A march… This is a big deal.”

The girl picked up the teddy bear on the floor.

“You didn’t seem to have much interest in humans, but why are you going this far?”

“Do not question it.”

The secretary snapped.

“We do not need to know the princess’s mind. We just need to follow her will.”

“Well, that’s true.”

The princess was not a person who would mess up her work, even if she was sleepy.

Once she woke up from her slumber, she would surely make her grand plan a reality.

“Three officers participated. That should be enough.”

“Not three.”

The secretary grabbed the air.

Then a man with a collar around his neck was dragged into view. No, he looked more like a monster than a human.

His grotesque muscles twitched and his eyes had no focus. He was nothing but a cursed lump of flesh that emitted only malice.

“…A Vampire Hound?”

Everyone grimaced at his sight.

“Who let him out? Who said we would use a Vampire Hound?”

“I would rather not use this.”

“It is the princess’s will.”

The secretary silenced the officers’ protests.

“You should know. The princess is, sincere.”

The secretary disappeared into the darkness after saying that. After confirming that she was gone, the officers muttered.

“…The princess seems to be really serious.”

“Yeah. We have no choice but to be serious too. I don’t want to be chopped off.”

It was common for the princess to wipe out and replace the officers. And no officer wanted to experience that.

The girl hugged the teddy bear tightly.

“Let’s do this properly.”

“Yes, we should. And catch some butterflies along the way.”

The officers started to vanish one by one from the empty conference room. They were soon to run wild at Reheln, where there was no barrier.

And there was one Vampire Hound left alone.

“…”

Maiev, she swallowed her dry saliva.

?

Aurora held the crystal ball with an uncomfortable expression.

Her usual languid appearance was nowhere to be seen. She was focused on something, and the surrounding bureaucrats had to tense up.

Of course, Aurora had her own reason.

“…The barrier turned black?”

There were two barriers at Reheln Hill.

The barrier that acted as a border, and the barrier that blocked the Vampire Hounds.

The barrier that acted as a border turned black. The color did not matter, but the problem was that they could not observe the inside.

Clang─!

Aurora finally threw the crystal ball on the floor. The second princess looked for a bureaucrat with a crumpled face.

“Tell me the situation right now. Hurry.”

“Yes, princess.”

A bureaucrat hastily reported.

“All teams failed to collect the dawn butterflies. Also, all the knights except Scarlet left Reheln Hill.”

“What?”

“Flan chased away the dawn butterflies. The knights had no reason to stay at Reheln Hill.”

“Damn it…”

She wanted to bring in the Vampire Hounds and measure their power, since Flan and the knights were gathered. But Flan ruined that plan.

It was too coincidental to be an accident. It was too intentional to be unintentional. The current situation was clear.

“He dares to challenge me.”

It was not a big deal to crush Flan.

She could suppress the magic department, cancel the construction permit of the magic tower, and bury Flan’s achievements in a moment. She was Aurora, after all.

All these plans were already documented. With one signature from Aurora, Flan would disappear from the history. No, he would not even remain in history.

“…”

But there was one reason why Aurora hesitated.

She did not want Flan to be completely ruined. He was the first one who had an unpredictable future, so she needed to keep him intact and observe him.

But soon, she made a decision.

“I can’t leave a precedent.”

If she tolerated Flan, more beings who would try to compromise with her would appear.

Aurora did not know how to compromise.

When I was young, I was treated like a tool. Maybe that’s why I tried to compromise. But I had to remain a person who could never compromise.

“Listen up, everyone.”

Aurora spoke seriously.

“I will go to the Reheln Hill myself.”

“Yes?”

“It means I want to see for myself how he loses his butterfly, gets trampled by the Vampires, and begs for his life.”

As soon as she said that, the departure was arranged.

Aurora moved her throne to the Reheln Hill, and the court magicians fanned her with magic.

The soldiers on both sides were solemn.

Aurora waited for only one person on her throne.

The future that awaited her was simple.

People become weak in times of crisis.

If Flan, who was driven to the Vampires, broke his neck, Aurora would show him mercy then.

The man showed up much later.

At that moment, Reheln felt like an old-fashioned place.

Everyone who gathered there probably felt the same.

He looked neat, as if he had just come out of the dormitory.

There was no flaw to be found, and every little movement was graceful.

Aurora broke the silence first.

“Have you arrived?”

Flan looked at Aurora on the throne.

His red eyes, shining through his black bangs, were deep.

Aurora was curious about what was in that depth, but she would find out soon enough.

“Yes.”

He answered briefly.

It was a reunion in the land of destruction, not the palace.