Chapter 70
－Emperas Kingdom, First Knight Order Commander’s POV－
As I walked through the royal castle, I saw a hint of fear on people's faces.
That was probably unavoidable.
Emperas Kingdom had not been attacked even once in the past several hundred years.
We had strengthened the country's barrier by enhancing the magic stone's power.
As a result, it had become a country with the strongest barrier of any nation.
Even so, we had been attacked, if only for one or two minutes.
I looked out the window. The sky was perfectly clear, without a single cloud.
Yet we had been attacked by something capable of freely changing even that clear sky.
"So you were here."
I heard my friend's voice behind me.
The fatigue was obvious in it; I didn't even need to turn around.
Apparently, since the lightning attack that streaked across the sky, the king had spent his time near the magic stone behind layer upon layer of barriers.
He had also stationed mages nearby to ensure his safety.
But twenty days later, as if mocking those precautions,
several orbs of light appeared, erased the powerful barriers layered around the magic stone, and attacked it.
Apparently, the crack in the magic stone had grown larger. It was now a large vertical crack.
According to witnesses, countless streaks of light had shot away from the forest in a straight line.
Those lights had been visible to the people as well, causing widespread alarm.
The lightning aimed at the king veered off, scorching the ground at his feet without striking him.
The knights thought the king's barrier had protected him. For a moment, I thought so, too.
But once I had calmed down, one thing began to trouble me.
Had it really missed?
The royal castle was quite far from the forest.
It took about ten days just to reach the place designated as the forest's entrance.
Reaching the center of the forest would take several times that long.
And yet, the attack had been aimed at the king from a place like that.
Most likely because the king had ordered the forest burned.
Could that mean it was capable of surveying the world from the center of the forest?
And from there, could it accurately determine where we were and target us?
Otherwise, it couldn't have attacked at that exact moment.
"What is it?"
"I feel as though we're being tested."
"Tested? Who is testing us, and what are they testing?"
"The king of this world is testing this country."
I heard my friend suck in their breath.
After thinking it over, I realized that I had misunderstood one thing.
Yes—it was very strange.
The mages had examined the small crack in the magic stone and concluded that it had been caused by an attack from somewhere.
Right. It was an attack.
I should have realized it then.
"It's someone who can completely nullify the magic stone's power."
"What do you mean?"
The barrier is what stops an attack.
An ordinary barrier is imbued with the power to nullify the magic that attacks it.
And because this barrier had been enhanced by the magic stone, that power was considerable.
"To injure anything inside the barrier, you absolutely have to break it first."
"That is true, but..."
"This country's barrier has never been broken."
"..."
Yes, the country's barrier had not been broken, yet the attack had injured something inside it.
I should have noticed from the beginning—the anomaly of being attacked without the barrier being broken.
The mages were beginning to realize it.
They would probably agonize over how to tell the king.
After all, this was a country protected by a barrier enhanced by a magic stone.
If the king would reconsider his decision, perhaps...