The exhibition was scheduled to last for three days. With one day already gone, I had to settle this matter within the remaining two days, no matter what.
「𝘼 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙪𝙡𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙗𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙡𝙮 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣.」
I had confirmed it yesterday, but the guards stationed at the exhibition hall were all fierce warriors in their late 40s.
There were even a few among them who had reached the rare level of 50. If I were to encounter them, things wouldn’t end well for me.
「𝙏𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩, 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙢 𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩.」
Just like when I summoned Cheong So-ha in the old Cheong family district, the modern magic system seems quite outdated to me.
Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s inferior. However, it’s undeniable that its structure is relatively simple.
「𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙣 𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙘 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢, 𝙞𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙫𝙪𝙡𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨.」
State-of-the-art security?
Sorry, but state-of-the-art security has its limits.
Even if it’s a place where a representative of a country resides, can the security level of a Joseon Dynasty palace be the same as that of the modern-day Cheong family?
It was literally saying that the opponent was bad.
“Come out.”
Swish.
Whoosh!
I took out the Black Yin, which is suitable for covert operations, and used the Mental Spellbook trait to activate two spells in succession.
Whoosh.
A concealment spell that blocks my presence and a special concealment spell that prevents detection by scientific technologies such as CCTV.
Both of these spells were used by a named character called Nazza, a phantom thief who appeared in Volume 3 of the series.
Later, in an event that was like a side story, there was an episode where Nazza’s assistant carried out phantom thief activities, so naturally, the spells he used were also recorded in my Mental Spellbook trait.
「𝙊𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚, 𝙞𝙛 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙪𝙥 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨, 𝙄’𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙞𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮. . . . . .」
The Black Yin’s trait, which excels in covert activities, should be able to cover that part to some extent.
I first used the Black Yin to scout the exhibition hall before dawn.
Jung Han-sol was in the room, so I used the excuse of going for a walk to slip out.
「. . . . . .」
Simple messenger tasks aside, the truth is that it’s not easy to precisely manipulate shikigami from such a long distance under normal circumstances.
However, with the Shadow Assimilation trait, I’m relatively free from such restrictions.
Even if I were to be discovered, all I had to do was recall the Black Yin and keep my mouth shut.
「. . .𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚.」
The special exhibition hall where the Lantern of the Glowing Night was displayed was completely blocked off by a partition, probably due to the influence of the national treasure-class cursed tools that were being kept in the same place.
「𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙜𝙖𝙥𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙚𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧.」
Powerful individuals patrolled the interior of the exhibition hall, each following a set schedule and route.
However, since they were human, there was one place they couldn’t see.
That was the ventilation ducts and other external passages.
「𝙊𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘾𝘾𝙏𝙑𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚. . . . . .」
To me, who possesses the spells of Nazza, the great phantom thief, modern detection technology posed no threat whatsoever.
After confirming everything, I secretly recalled the Black Yin.
Then, using the spell of Holland, Nazza’s assistant in the event, I created a fake that looked exactly like the Lantern of the Glowing Night.
「. . .𝙄𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙨 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙖𝙩 𝙖 𝙜𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚.」
The preparations were complete. The execution could take place tomorrow night at the earliest.
I closed my tired eyes and returned to the hotel to get some sleep.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
𝔞𝔴ᴇḃ̇𝕤𝚝𝕠𝘳ɪė̇𝘴.𝔠ᴏ𝙢
The two days of free time came to an end, and the main event finally began.
Since the closing ceremony would be held at night anyway, I decided to put my thoughts aside for the time being and participate in the event with the other academy students.
「. . .𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙄’𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚.」
As befitting an international event, there are academy students from various countries here besides us.
Accordingly, there were schedules for each academy to select representatives to showcase their skills, but since those would be handled by Sophia and Hwang Ji-hak, I didn’t have much to do.
Clang!
Kaboom━!
As I watched the friendly duel between Sophia on our side and the representative of the Royal Academy of Spain, I casually spoke to Arietta beside me.
“Who do you think will win?”
” . . .Sophie, without a doubt.”
“Why?”
“Simply because the difference in their abilities is evident.”
As expected of Arietta, the prodigy of combat. As if to prove her decisive answer, the duel came to an end not long after.
It was Sophia’s victory.
” . . .Sophie wasn’t at the level of a student in the first place. I was surprised when I first saw her too.”
“Someone on par with senior?”
“Sophie is amazing. She’ll definitely make it to the list of special-grade exorcists in a few years.”
It was a valid statement.
In terms of pure growth potential, she might be surpassed by Yoo Ha-on, but the first among the current academy students to become a special-grade exorcist would be none other than Sophia.
Her talent was that extraordinary.
Anyway, various exchanges continued like that, and the first day of the event finally drew to a close.
The finale was a greeting from Laura de los Lucia, the second princess of Spain and a current student at the Royal Academy.
“It is a great honor for me to be able to spend such a meaningful time with you all today. I hope that the remaining day will be a significant one for each of us. . . . . .”
It was a conventional greeting, but just listening to it gave me a sense of royal grace and formality. She must have practiced this line countless times.
As the princess appeared on the stage, Jung Han-sol beside me spoke up with a gleam in his eyes.
“Look! I told you there’d be a chance to see her. She’s a real princess. Ah, man. I can’t see her well from here. . . . . .”
Jung Han-sol tried to squeeze through the crowd to get a closer look at her.
At that, I sighed and summoned the Black Yin, sending it into the sky and connecting Jung Han-sol’s vision to it.
“Huh, what’s this! This is amazing. I can see her perfectly even from this distance.”
Jung Han-sol exclaimed in admiration for a long time, saying how pretty and noble the princess was.
Since it would be good to familiarize myself with her appearance anyway, I also shared my vision with the Black Yin for a while.
But then.
「. . .𝙃𝙪𝙝?」
For some reason, her face looked very familiar.
Platinum blonde hair that could also be seen as light brown, snow-white skin, and jewel-like eyes.
The appearance of Laura, the second princess of Spain, was exactly the same as the girl I had encountered on a side path of the academy promenade two days ago.
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