Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

  If Baiyi had known of the young and inexperienced Archmage’s dilemma, he would have told the ruler that a Divine Regalia could not answer to two masters. The Book of Servitude — a regalia that signified its owner’s right to rule the Rohlserlian Empire — would not permit the empire to have two rulers.

  As the Emperor was the current master of the book, Baiyi could understand why he was also not allowed the draw its powers.

  There could never be two Books of Servitude in existence; not even time-travel could replate the regalia. If this was not the case, Baiyi and the Emperor would have their own books, which they would have complete control over. However, this was not the case, as Baiyi realized during his altercation with the outlaws that kidnapped the young man. His own book had gone unresponsive.

  The Book of Servitude made up a fair bit of Baiyi’s fighting abilities, but he had so many other skills and techniques to fall back on.

  Unfortunately, that could not be said of the Emperor, whose control over the Book of Servitude had been severed because of Baiyi’s blunder. If the Fifth Voidwalker knew that his master had just lost control over his strongest weapon — and the source of his bragging rights — he would have gone over to bully the old man straight away. With an expression of glee, Baiyi would take great joy in saying, “I may not have magic, too, but I still have my martial arts and stealth skills. Also, check out my black, Meatball, Void Power mode! As for you, without that magic, what are you? Hahahahahahahahaah!”

  “Now that I think about it, what a lost opportunity!” Baiyi lamented out loud. “Why is there just one Book of Servitude at all times?! I wouldn’t mind ignoring that damn butterfly effect just so I could send Mia over to the young geezer’s place. Once I let Mia act all ‘kawaii’, the young geezer will be sure to personally relinquish his Book of Servitude! And then, I will become the master of two Books of Servitude!”

  As a fresh Mia sauntered out of the bathroom, she overheard Baiyi’s monologue. She walked into the room and asked, “Do I need to be kawaii again?”

  “What? No! Not* now*, anyway. I was just being silly,” Baiyi quickly replied. “Also, wear some damn clothes first before you come to see me.”

  Mia had walked straight from the bathroom to Baiyi’s room, wearing a simple bathrobe. Water dripped down her black hair as she stood by Baiyi’s door, like a kelpie fresh out of a pond.

  “Yes, yes. Gee, you’re getting the hang of being my father.” Mia stuck her tongue out and returned to her room.

  She did not mean that as a compliment. Those words had not been said to insinuate a closer bond between her and Baiyi, neither did it mean that his kindness reminded her of her own father. Mia just meant that Baiyi was annoying.

  “Honestly, though, everyone is so grateful for your help today. Do you know that they praised you so much, I also got praised as well? It was kinda embarrassing,” Mia’s said, her loud voice audible in Baiyi’s room.

  “It was nothing. All I did was pick him up from the mess he got into.”

  Baiyi had expected the townfolk to ask many questions, so on his way back to Aegir, he made up a story with which to cover his identity and actions. According to Baiyi, the young man had accidentally fallen off a cliff while hunting — injuring himself pretty badly, and this had caused him to lose consciousness. The lie was simple and did not contain any non-PG-13 details, but it was pretty far from the truth. In reality, Baiyi had appeared in the sky like a demon lord and fired off bolts of instant death at the screaming outlaws, reducing their settlement to ruins and their bodies to bloody stains.

  Baiyi still needed the young man to corroborate his story, so he sent some subliminal suggestions to the unconscious man, tweaking his mind to think his injuries really had been caused by falling off a cliff.

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  The use of subliminal messages to alter a person’s recollection was a bit risky. It did not forcefully erase a piece of memory and replace it with a false one. Instead, the technique masked the real memories of its target. If the target is later guided to recollect his past or is faced with a situation similar to that in the masked memory, then the subliminal message spell would break.

  However, out of the many mentalist magic spells that Baiyi could use, the subliminal message did the least damage to a person’s cognitive capabilities. Questions would have been asked if a very healthy young man was brought back with a cognitively-impairment.

  “Besides, Aegir is a peaceful little town, with peaceful people living out peaceful days, amirite? Will this poor lad ever experience a situation as traumatic as last?” Baiyi mumbled. “I doubt any important figures would set their sights on this place. Even if they did, I don’t think they will give a s**t about this nondescript young man.”

  As for the issue with the Book of Servitude, Baiyi had decided not to worry about it too much. However, it did not take long for him to realize that he had severely underestimated the Emperor’s sensitivity. But, as he could not sense the Emperor, Baiyi knew nothing about the ruler’s dilemma.

  Back then, he had reached out to the Book of Servitude for only a moment, so he did not think that the sloppy Archmage would have sensed it, or cared if he actually had. Furthermore, Baiyi could sense the book’s calm aura; this had to be a sign that everything was fine.

  Little did he know that the Book of Servitude was a bit different at this point in time. The Archmage was currently young and perceptive, and the book was a lot more active. Not only had the Emperor instantly sensed Baiyi’s attempt to summon the book, allowing him to narrow down the location of the stranger, but he had also visited the forest where Baiyi had slain the outlaws.

  Baiyi’s decision to worry less came back to haunt him the next day. Captain Aegis personally visited Aegir.

  “I want every house in this town searched and every resident inspected; no exceptions!” Captain Aegis commanded. A large number of border patrol guards stormed the town and began their search, while Captain Aegis went to visit the town mayor.

  “A suspicious and secretive man in black armor?” The mayor asked. He watched captain, trying to discern the man’s mood so that he could act appropriately. However, all the mayor could see when he looked at the captain’s face was an indifferent expression.

  The mayor quickly shifted his gaze to a list on his desk. It was a list of the most-wanted criminals. “I’ve never seen any of these people before,” said the mayor. “And no one fishy has moved into our neighborhood in months. Ah, except that sorcerer’s apprentice, who moved here a few days ago. He always has his armor on, and we have never seen him without it! But, I’m afraid he’s not the guy you’re looking for, Sir. His armor is ashen grey, not black. He also is not a criminal; he is a genuinely good guy!”

  Captain Aegis’s reply was steely and almost accusatory. “You don’t think a man that hides his face all the time is suspicious?”

  “Well, just yesterday, he rescued one of our best lads from a nearby forest. It was a huge help!” The Mayor said, briefly recounting all that happened the day before. Taking another look at the list, the mayor said, “Besides, the man has a beautiful, innocent little girl. I don’t think any of the criminals on this list are fathers, are they?”

  Captain Aegis mulled the information over. It was true that none of the empire’s most wanted criminals had fathered a child, let alone a daughter.

  “Even though that’s the case,” Captain Aegis said, “I need to see him, please.”

  A few minutes later, Captain Aegis and a few of his men were led to Baiyi’s ill-gotten cottage by the town mayor. Someone kicked the door down roughly, and Baiyi could be seen wearing an apron as he fried eggs for Mia. Mia and Lulu, who had come over for breakfast, could be seen holding each other in shock. They had been waiting for their meal when the door was kicked down. Without a word, the guards walked into the cottage, uninvited.

  “Problem?” Baiyi asked calmly.

  “A criminal on the loose,” Captain Aegis, who walked into the cottage after his guards, replied just as calmly. He eyed the furniture in the house before sizing up Baiyi, his apron, and the frying pan in his hand.

  ‘It’s just a stay-at-home father,’ Captain Aegis thought as he sighed. ‘This cannot be the scoundrel that tried to steal His Majesty’s belongings, could he?’

  The mayor quickly walked over to Baiyi. After explaining the situation, he handed Baiyi the list of most-wanted criminals.

  Baiyi skimmed through the names on the list, and he could not help but notice some names that would, in the future, go down in history as one of the worst criminals ever. “I don’t know any of these people. I have never seen any of them.”

  Captain Aegis was not convinced. “Could you please remove your mask?”

  Out of courtesy, Aegis removed his own, revealing a simple face. He looked much less intimidating without the mask.

  Baiyi nodded and removed his mask, as well. A badly burned face stared back at Captain Aegis, causing Lulu and the mayor to take a step backward.

  “I…… my apologies,” Captain Aegis said, genuinely sympathetic. He now realized that he had been rude to force a man to reveal his scars in public.

  “I heard that you were once an apprentice of magic. Have you given up on that path?” Captain Aegis asked.

  “Sadly, yes. How could I continue after what happened to me? This is the punishment for my hubris and greed,” Baiyi replied, feigning pain.

  Captain Aegis was silent for a while, trying to come up with what he considered the best thing to say in this situation. “I’m deeply sorry for what happened to you. I do not intend my next words to be presumptuous, but I do not believe that your journey should end. I was once a nobody, orphaned by war. When I joined the army, I had very little talent in magic. It was by His Majesty’s grace that I was given attention and good training, which has allowed me to grow into the person I am today. Were it not for His Majesty, I would have never embarked on the path of magic.”

  One of the border patrol guards quickly took the chance to lay down some flattery. “Sir Aegis, you’re far too humble! For someone that begun practicing magic at the age of thirty, your achievement is nothing short of spectacular!”

  ‘Aegis?’ Baiyi thought as he recalled the captain’s backstory, causing him to size the man up more carefully. ‘Okay. Just how many beautiful women did you marry? How many years did it take for your bloodline to curate and pass down the best genes, causing it to produce a heavenly daughter in the far future……? A daughter named Tisdale!’

  The captain in Baiyi’s cottage was none other than Tisdale’s progenitor — the person that had drafted some codes of honor for his descendants to follow. Now that Baiyi had seen Tisdale’s ancestor in person, he realized that the man was righteous, upright, and easily fooled with simple illusion spells. It was this man that passed down a promise he had made in his lifetime, and made his future generation to pass it down over six thousand years.

  Baiyi was so relieved that he had decided not to kill the captain when he and his men barged into the cottage. He had been close to reshaping the future — one which would no longer contain his precious daughter Tisdale! If Baiyi had done that, guilt and grief would overwhelm him.

  After complimenting Mia on her beauty — a gesture that was done out of courtesy — Captain Aegis and his men left Baiyi’s cottage. Captain Aegis quickly moved on to interview the young man Baiyi had rescued. After listening to the young man rain praises on Baiyi and his good deed, Captain Aegis no longer found Baiyi suspicious.

  Thus, the investigation in Aegir ended without hubbub. Captain Aegis had already headed to another town to begin a new round of investigations.

  Pressured by the Emperor, a lack of manpower, and the great number of settlements along the empire’s border, Captain Aegis moved quickly. This had caused him to let off the criminal that the entire empire was trying to locate.

  When the uninvited guests left the cottage, Mia led Lulu out to play, and Baiyi returned to his room. His mind was still processing the most events.

  He had underestimated the consequences that his little mistake would cause. The on-going investigation was proof that the young Archmage had, indeed, sensed something, and it did not look like he was going to give up anytime soon.

  Baiyi knew that he definitely ought not to try establishing contact with Book of Servitude, at all. It was better he did not even think about it.

  “Why is the younger you so vigilant? Can’t you just chill? It was just a slip-up! You’re making things really hard for me, old man……” Baiyi sighed. At that moment, he could not help missing the old Archmage, who could be easily bought over by the creation of a gatcha-card game simulator.