Chapter 342

[T/L: punisher87]

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Shock! The Lutero Magic Federation attacks the Golden Peng. In the process, Zipfel's mages directly attacked the Huphester Alliance.

Golden Peng's 1st leader, Mr. Peng says, "We express our gratitude to Runcandel, who saved us..."

The whereabouts of Golden Peng's executives and employees are unknown. It is speculated that they are under Runcandel's protection.

Runcandel has decided to support "Golden Peng" from now on. Has there been a change in the clan of sword masters? If so, the cause is presumed to be the new supernova, Jin Runcandel...

June 10, 1799.

Led by Dino Zaglan, the Huphester newspapers were pouring out articles about Zipfel's recent attack.

The moderately restrained articles mostly praised Jin, and the ones filled with a stern tone condemned Zipfel.

As Jin looked through the articles, he, as always, thought that Dino did a good job. Of course, his face blushed a bit when reading the praise articles.

"Haha, Strawberry Pie. Look at this, a supernova. Haha, supernova! Our kid is now a star, a star. Huh? Yeah, he was just a reserve flagbearer the other day, unable to use his real name."

Murakan muttered while shaking the newspapers he held in his hand. Gilly smiled happily as she put the strawberry pie on a plate.

Slurp! Cough! Cough!

While lying down and eating the strawberry pie, Murakan choked on something and started coughing, and Gilly hurriedly looked for water.

But he was acting. He was acting in anticipation that Gilly would come and support him and give him water.

'How does Gilly fall for that every time...? Is she just playing along?'

At this point, Jin couldn't figure it out and just let them be.

"Oh, I'll survive. Thanks again, Strawberry Pie. I'm fortunate to have you."

Jin's ears were tickling, and it would be difficult to hear any more.

"Hey, Murakan."

"Yes, Almighty Supernova. Did you call for me?"

"Don't you remember Leut Damiro Yul, the fairy who used to work for ancient Runcandel? That's you, right?"

"Is that so?"

From the third tomb's recording device, Jin saw Leut from a thousand years ago.

Jin asked Murakan several times after his return if he recognized Leut, but he seemed completely clueless.

And Jin himself had no recollection of meeting Leut in person.

-...And me and the patriarch, the ten great knights, haven't forgotten that the fairies fought alongside Runcandel, have you? Solderet and Mr. Murakan and Ms. Misha haven't forgotten either.

Jin felt bitter thinking of Leut's words in the recording device.

"Nothing comes to mind at all?"

"The fairies were already extinct at that time. At least according to my memory."

Murakan folded the newspaper and stood up.

"But there shouldn't be any wrong information recorded in Solderet's device. I vaguely remember the fairy named Leut a thousand years ago, but not anymore. Either my memories were affected while I was asleep, or Zipfel's history manipulation eventually got to me."

As Murakan touched his forehead, Gilly put her hand on his shoulder.

Gilly was someone who could see into the depths of Murakan's inner self, a darkness he himself wasn't fully aware of.

Every time Murakan realized that his memories of that time were becoming vague or disappearing, he was hit by a significant emotional shock. His mind was wearing away without him realizing it.

-We need a way to leave records that those bastards can't touch.

Jin remembered what Sarah had said in the recording device.

An absolute record, Hister's magic. As Jin thought about it, he remembered that he had sent a letter to his teacher not long ago.

'It's about time for a response to come.'

It seemed he would have to visit Tikan after stopping by the Hidden Palace.

"Where are you going again?"

"I have to take the small beastmen to Hidden Palace from elder brother Diphus's safe house."

"Wow, you're quite thick-skinned, kid. Did the master of the Hidden Palace do something wrong to you in your past life? What will you do if she doesn't accept you?"

"I still have about 30% of what I was originally supposed to offer to my clan. I'll try to negotiate with her for at least 10% of that."

***

Over a hundred small beastmen were being protected in Diphus's safe house without anyone missing.

Jin headed straight to Hidden Palace with them. It took about three days of travel through teleportation gates and ships, but Jin requested his clan not to give him any missions until his business was stable.

When the boat reached Manji Island, Lucas Manfran, an agent of Seven colored peacock and also Talaris's hotline, welcomed the group.

"Sir Jin, if you had contacted me, I would have informed Madame Talaris in advance."

"Lucas, it's been a while. I hope you've been well?"

"Yes, thanks to you, I've been doing well. But seriously, your face says it all. You seem extremely tired. Are you okay?"

"Yes, thanks for caring."

Lucas winked at the small beastmen standing behind Jin.

"I'll inform Madame Talaris immediately."

Bang! Bang!

As Lucas fired a signal flare, suddenly the figure of a giant toad, Mort, appeared in the sky.

"Ah, ah, to-toad!"

"Scary, to-to-toad!"

"Aah! Jin, what is this! A toad!"

The small beastmen instinctively found the giant toad very frightening.

Whether it was intentional or not, Mort opened its mouth wide and started swallowing a few of the small beastmen.

To the small beastmen, it looked like the predatory creature was about to eat them, causing them to fall into panic.

'I should have explained beforehand.'

But there was no time for that.

Mort used five spatial jumps to transport Jin and the small beastmen into Hidden Palace.

"W-We... survived?"

"Gasp, gasp! I thought we were goners!"

"Silence."

As soon as they arrived, someone spoke in a chilling voice.

Talaris Endorma, the Abyssal Spider. The small beastmen immediately kneeled and bowed their heads, an instinctive response.

It had been almost two years since Jin last met her.

She often referred to Jin as "my son-in-law," but today her gaze towards him was far from pleasant.

"Madame Talaris, I apologize for visiting late..."

"Hmph, enough of that. Hold your tongue for a moment, someone else's son-in-law. I was wondering if you had lost a leg or something. How could you only come now?"

Although Jin could be quite thick-skinned when necessary, right now he felt a sharp pain and a lump in his throat.

After becoming a flagbearer, he should have visited the Hidden Palace at least once to pay his respects to Talaris.

"I even fought with dozens of Spectres because of someone else's son-in-law. Hidden Palace even officially announced that we were defeated in the West Sea Battle... Ohoho, quite eventful days, indeed."

Each word felt like a whip to his conscience.

"Do you have anything to say?"

"Nothing."

"Right, right. Nothing to say. Haha, that's right. You even seem to have come to ask me for something. And who are these furballs?"

"...They are my business partners whom I brought to request protection from Hidden Palace."

How could he be so shameless?

Although Talaris found the fact highly displeasing, she also couldn't completely hate it. There was a part of her that felt a slight familiarity in Jin, as if he resembled a younger version of her friend, Chiron Runcandel. The young Chiron used to show this same shameless behavior whenever he wanted to ask Talaris for something.

But why do I always end up helping them in crucial moments?

Talaris chuckled inwardly as this thought crossed her mind.

"I should have come to see you earlier. I delayed expressing my gratitude until things were somewhat stable."

Click...

Jin took out something from his embrace and opened it. Inside was a sparkling ancient everlasting steel.

[T/L: Changing ancient iron to ancient everlasting steel.]

An enigmatic ore, the reward for the mission to kill the Black Knight. Jin brought it as a show of sincerity to Talaris.

In reality, this amount of ancient everlasting steel would have been more than sufficient as compensation for all the favors Talaris had done for him.

The value of the ancient everlasting steel was beyond imagination as it is an item that Runcandel's Black Knight, Zipfel's Kozec and White Nights were trying to win.

However, that was just a general standard. To Talaris and her daughter, who possessed "Myriad Ice," ancient everlasting steel held no particular value.

"Ancient iron, to me, is no different from worthless scrap metal."

But then, in the next moment.

Talaris couldn't help but burst into a small, unexpected laugh.

'There's such a cute side to him, unlike Chiron.'

It was because she saw that under the ancient everlasting steel, there were hundreds of letters stacked.

Throughout the journey to Hidden Palace, Jin had written apology letters to Talaris, without taking a single break.

Inside the letters were not just simple apologies but also listed most of the incidents Jin had experienced. This indicated that Jin trusted Talaris, as he even wrote about the story of the "Temar's Tomb," which he hadn't even told Chiron yet.

The reason Lucas had asked him "look tired" upon seeing Jin's face was precisely because of this.

Talaris had been reading the letters for quite some time, and her expression softened slightly.

She was conflicted. Should she forgive Jin and accept him as her son-in-law again, or should she keep him as someone else's son-in-law?

"Mort, go and bring my daughter."

Boong!

Mort quickly carried Syris back to Hidden Palace.

"Mother, you summoned m-... Jin Runcandel?"

It had been a long time since he last saw Syris. Her gaze towards Jin was not as unpleasant as Talaris's, but there was one difference.

She seemed a bit dazed, unable to fully collect her thoughts, as she looked at the small beastmen Jin had brought.

She was usually as cold and emotionless as ice in most situations, but when it came to furry animals, she showed a remarkably soft side. That's why she was so shocked when she discovered that the Butterfly at the Runcandel banquet was actually Murakan.

"Listen, daughter. Do you know what this someone else's son-in-law is saying? Not only did he come here so late to greet me, but he even..."

Screech!

Syris drew her sword from her waist.

She had not gone a single day without thinking about Jin since he left as the reserve flagbearer to Laprarosa.

Of course, it wasn't romantic affection but rather the desire to challenge him once more.

"I want to experience the strength of Jin Runcandel, the 12th flagbearer. Draw your sword, Jin."