The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years (Web Novel KR) Vol 2 Chapter 290

Even a broken sword could still be considered a lethal weapon.

Lukas wasn't sure about cutting, but when it came to stabbing, it gave him a feeling of viciousness.

When he turned, he saw Budilem's wide eyes staring at him.

'How did you know?'

His eyes seemed to ask this question. But there was no reason for him to clear the confusion of someone who was about to die. Some might even call it mercy.

Lukas pulled his sword out.

Puuk!

Blood spewed from Budilem's throat as he collapsed. His body convulsed a few times on the ground before it finally stopped moving.

It had been obvious.

The exaggerated act of throwing eight daggers was just a feint, the real attack was his attack from behind.

In the end, Budilem's tactics started with deceiving the eyes and ended with deceiving the eyes. However, such a fighting method would only prove effective against those who were less experienced or less patient than him.

So, in short, Lukas had been the worst opponent for Budilem to encounter from the start.

“Huuu…”

Lukas slowly let out a breath.

Although it had ended in an instant, both his mind and body felt deeply tired. He'd expended much more concentration than he expected in that short battle.

He looked around.

The fight between the bandits and mercenaries was just beginning to reach its climax when one of the bandits noticed Budilem's body on the ground. For a moment, his body went stiff with shock before he quickly pulled something out of his pocket.

'A pipe?'

Although its appearance was a bit unique, it truly did appear to be a reed pipe.

Tweet-

A sharp sound echoed in the night. The bandits then immediately began retreating without any hesitation.

“You bastards!”

“Are you trying to run away now? You all should stay here and play!”

With loud shouts, the mercenaries began to chase after them excitedly.

“Stop! Don't chase them-!”

It was the vice leader, Garp.

Reluctantly, the mercenaries stopped their pursuit. The excitement also gradually disappeared from their faces.

Garp looked around before speaking in a low voice.

“5th squad, and 7th squad.”

“Yes.”

“Yeah.”

“What are the damages?”

“5th squad, two deaths, one serious injury, the rest only have minor injuries.”

“7th squad, two minor injuries, the rest… dead.”

Garp fell silent for a moment before speaking again.

“Squads 5 and 7 will be merged temporarily. You guys go make sure those bastards have really left and keep an eye on the surroundings.”

“Yes.”

“The other squad leaders, figure out the damage of each unit and report to me. Wizards, make sure no residual fires spread to the forest!”

Garp shouted out more orders loudly before turning his head and coughing in a quiet, indiscernible manner. Lukas realised that Garp had also been injured, but he was trying to not show it in front of his subordinates.

Nevertheless, there was still work to do, so he continued to walk around instead of resting.

It took Lukas a moment to realise he was walking towards him.

“I would like to thank you for your help this time.”

He spoke in a respectful and polite tone.

Perhaps he'd seen the fight between Lukas and Budilem from the corner of his eyes.

“I was just doing it to protect myself.”

“You could have just run away, you didn't need to fight.”

“With this leg?”

This caused Garp to fall silent for a moment before he lowered his head even further.

“That doesn't matter. What matters is the result. We were only able to survive because you defeated that man. So thank you.”

A straightforward man. That was the impression Lukas gained of Garp's personality.

'…in theory, it wouldn't be difficult to deal with them.'

But there was no reason for him to do that. When he nodded his head slightly and accepted his gratitude, the wrinkles on Garp's forehead reduced slightly.

Putting that behind him for now, Lukas turned to look at Budilem's cooling body that lay behind him.

“Who were those people?”

“I don't know either.”

“—That man is called Budilem.”

A voice answered from behind them.

It was Rina, who was still sitting on the ground. She looked at Lukas with a complicated expression for a moment before bowing her head again.

“Budilem? Do you mean 'Budilem of the Marshes'?”

“That's right.”

“Oh… my God.”

After sucking in a cold breath, Garp closed his eyes for a moment. Then he turned to stare at Rina with anger hidden in his eyes.

“This journey, do you mean to say that they attacked us because of it?”

“Yes.”

“…why? Aren't you a part of the Red Hub as well?”

“This journey was my own choice. It has nothing to do with the organisation.”

Garp's beard shook and he clenched his fists tightly. It seemed like he desperately wanted to vent his anger, but in the end, he let out a deep sigh as if to say it wasn't worth it.

“…if the leader had known that, he wouldn't have accepted this mission.”

“That would have been the case. However, the contract has already been signed.”

Garp knew how useless and foolish it was to blame Rina for this situation. So he simply let out another sigh.

“Right. Huuu. I'll do my best, but… it would probably be in your best interest to make sure my men don't learn of this.”

Rina simply nodded, not really indicating whether she agreed or not.

After being silent for a while, Lukas finally spoke again.

“Who are these people that you are so surprised to learn their identity?”

“You already lost your memories, so why are you curious about that?”

This wasn't said in a mocking or criticizing manner.

Instead, it seemed that she was truly asking out of pure curiosity.

“Even if I don't want to, I got caught up in your business. I think I have the right to know exactly what I'm dealing with.”

“…there is a saying that 'ignorance is bliss'. Knowing their identity might cause you to become even more involved than you already are.”

Ah. It seemed she was worried about him.

Her voice was surprisingly stubborn when she said this, so Lukas pondered for a while before deciding that it would be better to say something than silently accept her words. It didn't take him very long to think of something.

“…it's just that I felt something familiar when I fought this man. Maybe… it might have something to do with why I lost my memories or why my body became like this.”

He only roughly muttered what had popped into his head at that moment, but it surprisingly came out as a plausible excuse.

Suddenly, a glimmer appeared in Rina's intelligent eyes. She tapped on her palm like a merchant calculating profit and loss before finally nodding.

“…indeed. That could be possible.”

“Understood. Then I'll tell you about those who attacked us.”

Rina's voice lowered imperceptibly.

“They are currently one of the most influential organisations on the continent. They're so powerful that not only nobles but even kings and people in authority of several different races have no choice but to listen to them.”

“Are you saying that a single organisation has that much influence?”

“It's not just power. They also have enough justification as well as a slew of historic achievements under their belt.”

Rina fell silent for a while. It appeared that she was thinking about how to explain it properly.

“In truth, it's not small enough to call it a single organisation. It is basically formed by hundreds of groups, large and small, that are interconnected like a spider's web.

In Lukas' mind, there was only one organisation that had all of those characteristics.

His expression gradually became a bit more subtle.

“You may not know about it since you lost your memories, but in the past, this continent was dominated by transcendent beings. They controlled everything that happened from the shadows.”

“They were the only ones who knew about those transcendents and kept them in check. And finally, about 10 years ago, they finally succeeded in defeating all of the transcendents.”

It was no longer an illusion.

There was only one organisation he could think of after listening to Rina's explanation.

However, he still couldn't believe it.

“…what is the name?”

Rina looked into Lukas' eyes for a while before finally opening her mouth.

“They're called… the Circle.”

(TL: So it's only been about 10 years since Lukas left,… And the Circle are the bad guys now?)

Chapter end