Count Ermainz looked at his noticeably weakened face with a bitter smile. Despite consuming all sorts of medicinal herbs known to be beneficial, his condition only worsened.

It had deteriorated to the point where it was now difficult to leave the bed.

He didn’t even have the energy to vent his anger at Gibnen Lianster and Riley Eadalin. He might leave this world within this year, a circumstance he hadn’t even imagined just a month ago.

He had thought he was rather healthy for his age…

You absolutely need to stabilize your mental state. Your current decline in health is more due to emotional issues than physical ones. You’re full of anger; you need to release it quickly.

Easier said than done.

The only way to release the pent-up anger was to seek revenge on Gibnen Lianster and Riley Eadalin. Unless those vermin disappeared from his sight, or even better, from this world, the anger wouldn’t subside.

Count Ermainz cursed Gibnen Lianster and Riley Eadalin every day. If he couldn’t kill them, he wished them to be the most miserable beings in the world. He wished for them to suffer so terribly that they’d contemplate death.

In the midst of his daily life filled with such curses, unexpected news reached him.

“Master, the investigation on Riley Eadalin is complete.”

“Report.”

“She had a brother, named Cain Eadalin. There was very little information on him, so it took time to track him down. It turns out Cain Eadalin was also known as Raistun, one of the Archmages of Matop Horizon.”

“Ha!”

Count Ermainz was so surprised that he sat up abruptly.

“Raistun, are you certain of this?”

“Yes, quite certain. Raistun was a nickname his family used.”

“A nickname? Why use a nickname when he had a proper name?”

“Well, the name Cain was given by his paternal grandfather. As a child, he had a severe fever that put him between life and death. A soothsayer advised to change his name to Raistun, saying the name Cain would devour his destiny…”

“So why didn’t they change his name altogether? You mean they just used a nickname?”

“His grandfather adamantly opposed changing the name, dismissing the soothsayer’s advice as superstition. Apparently, he was very stubborn.”

“What a peculiar family.”

Muttering softly, Count Ermainz sighed.

He was no mage and was ignorant about the magical world, but there were tidbits of information he’d picked up here and there.

Because a fair number of nobles were mages, as long as he maintained good relations, a wide range of information came to him whether he wanted it or not.

「You know? The real Archmage of Horizon isn’t actually Yung. There’s another. Perhaps like a shadow of Horizon?」

「Not Yung? Then who else?」

「A mage named Raistun. Unlike Yung who works in the open, Raistun seems to work in the shadows. Even most of the Tower staff are unaware of Raistun, only a very few at the top know him.」

A man once called the shadow of Horizon.

Usually, those who kept to the shadows had something to hide. He remembered conducting some research into Raistun as a possible weak link in Horizon, but found nothing substantial. The man was shrouded in mystery.

However, he had no doubt that Raistun was a mage more skilled than Yung. Typically, those who operate in the shadows are more capable than those in the limelight.

But at some point, he’d heard Raistun had suddenly disappeared.
Lyshtun had a child… It’s hard to believe that such a powerful archmage came from the Eadalin family. Isn’t it a family with a poor lineage for mages?”

“It seems that he was burdened with the family’s expectations and raised that way. But he suddenly ran away and disappeared.”

“He abandoned his family and lived in the shadows of Horizon?”

“Yes, that’s all the information we could gather.”

“No, even this much information is a great harvest. Is there any information on Riley Eadalin’s mother?”

“None that is known.”

“Perhaps Baron Eadalin might know something.”

If she’s the daughter of an archmage, there was a high probability that she, too, had inherited her father’s talents and was an exceptional mage.

That must have been why she was able to enroll at Horizon Academy. At first, Gibnen might have helped her, but now he was convinced that she must have been a truly outstanding archmage.

Then he began to get angry again.

Gibnen Lianster. The root cause of all these incidents. If it weren’t for him… by now.

“Grr. Is there no way to take Riley Eadalin away from him?”

“If she’s that important… conventional methods will not work. It won’t be easy.”

“Grr…”

“Or… how about making a request?”

“A request?”

“Ever heard of a group called Nihil? They’re quite famous in this industry.”

“…I think I’ve heard of it. A group that deals with dirty work.”

“On the surface, yes. But there are rumors that the royal family is actually behind Nihil. At the time when the royal family’s enemies were dying, it was said that Nihil was at the center of the events.”

“The shadows of the royal family, you mean?”

“That’s the rumor. Also, there are whispers that Lyshtun was being hunted by Nihil at the time.”