Chapter 88: A Stressful Operation


    Early Afternoon - Late Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan


    "Uwwaahh..." I let out a yawn as I reached for the doorknob. -Hm?-


    *vwoom-BANG* *Fwip* Instinctually creating a blade of wind in front of me, I redirected the wooden shards flying at us around Ilios and I.


    *Clunk* As I dropped the brass door knob to the floor, I stared at the elf on the other side of the empty doorway with an unamused look. -Are you serious?-


    Her face was full of hostility. "Stay back your grace! I''ll kill this foul monst-" *WHAM* Before she could react, I threw her into the wall with my aura.


    The impact was strong enough to make the entire castle shake, but surprisingly, except for being knocked out, she seemed fine. -How resilient...-


    Finally walking into the office, I sat down on the couch with Ilios and grabbed a small piece of buttered bread. -Not bad...- "How''s it going, Helen?"


    Finally turning to her, I noticed she was standing behind her desk wearing a frozen look of shock. It took a moment for her to finally come to her senses. "V..Vasilias?!"


    "Who else would it be?" Using my aura again, I pulled the elven woman out of the wall and laid her on the ground. *crumble* "So, who is this?"


    "Ah.. that''s the uh.. grandmaster of the academy. The strongest mage in Kaelallan..."


    "Ha-ha, very funny..." I spoke with palpable sarcasm.


    But Helen just gave me a confused look. "..."


    It took me a minute to notice. "W..wait, you''re serious?" The elven girl looked like she was younger than me.


    "She''s actually 110.. despite her.. childish appearance..."


    I could only show a look of awe. -To think I just threw an elderly woman into a wall...- Although I did feel a slight bit of pity, at the same time, she was the one to attack first so I felt no remorse. -Maybe she’ll learn to be more careful next time...-


    "T..that aside.." Helen awkwardly looked me up and down before simply letting out a deep breath. "Haah... I won''t ask about what happened to your appearance since I probably wouldn’t understand it anyway, but..." Finally sitting down at her desk again, she gave me a nervous look. "What happened to the nation ranks?"


    "Ah, they''re all dead." I leaned back with confidence. "No witnesses and no survivors."


    Although I expected her to finally relax after hearing the news, her face was still covered in anxiety. "You met up with your Father already, right?"


    -Wait.. I can shatter the front of his skull to give it room to swell...- It was a mind-blowingly risky play, but... -With magic, I can minimize the risk, so.. here goes nothing!-


    Using earth magic, I shattered the front of his skull as cleanly as I could to give his brain room to naturally swell. *CrAcK*


    It was a gruesome noise, but the cracks were so clean I barely had any bone fragments to get rid of. -Good.. the riskiest part went well...-


    Not wasting any time, I quickly got rid of the few fragments I could find and cleaned up the internal bleeding as best as I could.


    It wasn''t until several minutes later that I finally finished with beads of cold sweat forming on my forehead.


    "Phew..." I made sure to still keep an eye on his condition as I pulled myself away to catch my breath. -How in the world did surgeons on Earth do sh*t like that for hours?-


    Although what I was doing was far beyond the mental capabilities of a human, I still felt a sense of awe that someone could work under such stressful conditions for so long.


    "Haah... I''m really looking forward to my nap now..." -But I guess it''d be stupid to just leave him here...- Deciding it’d be better to make sure the swelling was handled properly, I put off my nap for a few hours to watch his condition. -I’m in too deep to let him die now...-


    - Helen Kaelallan ~


    "Haah.." I let out a deep breath as I leaned back in my seat and watched the maids start to clean my office. -We somehow avoided, not one, but two disasters...-


    Looking down at the diplomatic papers spread across my desk, some untamed ideas started coming to mind. -The nation ranks are all dead, and the dragons are going to wipe out the Tower...-


    At first, I tried to quell the stray, outlandish thoughts, but the more I thought about it, the more I succumbed to them.


    -If the tower gets destroyed by the dragons, then the war will be stopped before it even starts... But wouldn’t that also create a golden opportunity?-


    12 Nation ranks dying without a trace left an absolutely massive opportunity for Kaelallan to grow by swallowing nearby nations, but at the same time, it would definitely start a war.


    -But without the Tower, those countries are left with no effective allies and disheveled leadership...-


    A greedy smile slowly came to my face. -Wouldn’t that just mean they’re free food?-


    Standing up and turning to look out the window, I overlooked the city below with a slightly crazed look. -I guess it would be shameful to not make use of an opportunity dropped at our feet, right?-