Chapter 55 - Lantern Festival (8)

Translator: Kimmy

Editor: Sasha_00

(Sasha is back everyone!!♥)

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Eva stared into the coffee and looked away at the stairway behind Alex. 

Her green eyes lost their sparkle for a split second but soon they returned to their usual kind and clever feel. 

She slowly stood up from the seat. 

The look of the orphan that had grown up on the harsh backstreet was nowhere to be found now.

“I’m still enraged by the things that happened to me in the past but…”

She spoke in a stiff but respectful tone of voice. 

And she continued in a volume that only Alex could hear.

“It’s not your fault, investigator. Thank you for the coffee.”

Eva walked over to her companions who were descending from the stairs. The coffee she left behind remained untouched. 

Alex smirked.

A clever lady indeed. 

She took a sip of the bitter sewage-water coffee.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

When Karlos saw the curly-haired lady near Eva, his immediate instinct was to run away. 

But he physically couldn’t since his beloved author was walking towards him with a concerned face. 

Oh, crap. Thank you great god of Lesa. 

He thanked god for Alex wasn’t able to recognize him. 

The two Rumilesas were involved in Glenn and Alex’s divorce so Karlos couldn’t bear to lift his face in front of Alex. 

Especially when he knew Glenn still hadn’t gotten over her. 

Karlos had to suffer this tingly yet confused and awkward feeling from the moment he saw Alex. 

Little did he know that that was the feeling of meeting a family member’s romantic partner for the first time since he had no one to genuinely call family.

“Are you two alright?”

“Yes, Eva. There was nothing much. Ah, but they advised us to exit through the back since there are reporters in the front gate.”

“Argh. They are like cockroaches.”

Brigitta furrowed her brows.

She knew that those vultures wouldn’t miss an opportunity like this but this was too fast. 

It had just been around an hour since they found the crime scene and came over to the police department. 

Well, writers of any kind only made money when they were diligent. So, I guess those roaches did too.

Eva concluded and looked for the back door.

“Uh, by the way, I think I’m fine but you two are too noticeable.”

She looked at the two huge knights and rested her palms on her hips. 

They were extremely handsome and tall, which made them very noticeable. 

Even if they went through the back gate, people would still notice them.

Eva was confident that her taste in appearance was similar to average person so she believed they would definitely stand out.

She scanned her surroundings, nodded to herself then turned around and said.

“Hey, are you two up for a little role-play?”

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

“I thought sorcerers could invoke magic anytime just by saying the spell.”

Diego watched Maximilien create magic bombs with various tools and chemicals with awe. 

The immoral duke resembled an alchemist or a scholar rather than a stereotypical sorcerer. 

That meant that Maximilien was writing equations and crafting things rather than making fireballs with his bare hands or creating waterfalls mid-air like he did in Cartul. 

“Not all scientists are sorcerers but all sorcerers are scientists. Childish Didi. The essence of magic is not memorizing spells, but this—Observing and experimenting.”

“It’s Diego… Ah, whatever.”

Diego was fast to adjust and Maximilien was unbelievably stubborn so Diego finally had to admit that he could never win against him. 

Plus, he was exhausted from all the running to care about getting Maximilien to get his name right.

“Didn’t you say that there are no more mines left? Why are you making more?”

After talking with the Chancellor over the vision orb, Maximilien had stayed in his room at the inn and made several magic bombs.

Diego tapped on one of the magic bombs as he pondered.

Even though this man was a bomb maniac—Diego could swear that was not an exaggeration—he wouldn’t be dropping these like a flower girl throwing rose petals. 

The only person insane enough to do that would be Yorukan of Holka who died 5 years ago.

“Just incase.”

“Seriously? This many?”

“Ahem.”

“Your grace.”

Diego added naturally and counted the bombs. 

There were a total of 14 of them. 

If all of these went off at the same time, it would be powerful enough to make a 5-story building turn into crumbs. 

It took about 10 of these bombs to blow off one mine. 

But Maximilien was making one more. 

What is he planning to blow up now? Is he trying to blow up his psychotic personality or something?

Maximilien stopped screwing. 

He stared at Diego and clicked his tongue—even then Diego had to admit that Maximilien was absolutely gorgeous.

“This annoying bastard is part of this afterall.”

He mumbled and crossed his arms arrogantly.

Diego frowned in disgust when he saw Maxilien’s severely arrogant attitude that would even exceed the emperor.

Maximilien then told something completely irrational with that arrogant and cold look on him.

“Didi, do you believe in gods?”

“…Gods? You mean like Lesa?”

“Not an absolute god you see in theology, a god that you see in myths and tales. Do you believe they exist?”

“Well…”

Diego squiggled his brows at the unexpected question. 

Well, he did believe they existed but he also somewhat didn’t.

There was a long debate of whether the sacred power the priests use were a gift given by god or a type of magic that can be stemmed from self-hypnosis between the Mage Tower and the Temple. 

Most Cartulians believed in the gods like Diego did. 

But that didn’t mean they believed in their existence. 

“Most of the sorcerers believe they exist. I am one of them.”

“Huh?”

This was unexpected too. 

Sorcerers and priests were often compared as cats and dogs.

So it was unbelievable that he, Maximilien Rumilesa Gardelli who is known to have the most hostile relationship with the Temple among the sorcerers, believed in the gods’ existence. 

Is this a joke?

Diego looked at the immoral duke with confusion painted on his face. 

“To be precise, I used to. That there could have been a being the people praised as a ‘god’.”

Maximilien continued with an indecipherable expression.

“A powerful, undefeatable, and fast-healing being that lived way longer than humans did and had unprecedented wisdom. Everyone already knows that there already exists something similar to that.”

Aha. 

Diego understood what he was talking about. 

But he still didn’t completely get it. 

“You mean dragons? But it’s been so long since they disapp—”

“Rumilesa.”

Diego froze. 

The crown prince stared into Maximilien’s crystal blue eyes in disbelief.

Is he being serious?

He tried to gauge Maximillien but unfortunately didn’t have the capability to do that. The only person that could was Glenn Holtzmann.

But a god?

Diego was at a loss for words. 

He knew that the term Rumilesa referred to a strong person that was born into the royalty once in a while. 

Or that it was a title given to someone with a special ability.

But he had never thought of a Rumilesa as a being beyond a human. 

He just considered them to be a person who fights a bit better than others. 

Diego always perceived the emperor as a ‘human’.

—Wait, did I?

Diego recalled the first day he met the emperor. 

Did I really view him as a ‘human’?

“It doesn’t mean a Rumilesa is a god but the Mage Tower believes that there are enough similarities to correlate them. That’s why most sorcerers believe in the existence of a god.”

And all of them question. How? Why? Sorcerers and scientists all observed, analyzed, and yearned to prove their theories. 

However, only ‘half’ Rumilesas like Maximilien had been born thus far so their theory could never be proven. 

Then one day, the ‘real’ Rumilesa, Karlos, appeared like a gift sent by heaven.

Maximilien tried to suppress his anger. 

“You see, most sorcerers are psychos.”

Is he introducing himself? Should I too?

Diego genuinely thought that. 

However, this didn’t seem like a self-introduction.

Maximilien finished the last bomb and crossed his arms while tapping on one finger.

“So it is ought to be that one of those lunatics would attempt to become a god too.”

Maximilien knew that there was a sorcerer who attempted to do so in recent history. 

Actually, he didn’t just know the sorcerer, he despised that person.

“It requires a lot of energy for one to become an existing god. However, there are limitations for individuals to do that. Then the easiest way to acquire more energy is to get it from the environment and among that, the life energy of humans is the easiest to acquire. At least a hundred at once. Familiar number eh? The number could be a coincidence but there was a person who used a similar method to this one in the past.”

Maximilien without his raging emotions resembled a glass statue. 

It wasn’t human but Maximilien’s tone was as lively as he was when he forced Diego into the mines and cackled. 

Diego felt displeasure at that disparity and frowned. 

“So these are just a spare.”

The immoral duke looked at the bombs adoringly with snake-like eyes. 

Ah, my beautiful creations. 

He must have some kind of passion inside him for explosions and flames like Diego believed. 

Maximilien scoffed at Diego’s bewilderment and grabbed a screwdriver to get back to work. 

“Since to lunatics, violence works best.”

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