Chapter 30: Do You Think I am Not Strong Enough?
Viktor appeared amid the astonishnt of all present, the deep crimson Coat making him seem all the more dangerous.
"Your Majesty, Viktor Clavena has arrived."
The Court Eunuch announced from the side, reminding Emperor Aubrey.
The Mages around them exchanged glances and murmured among themselves:
"Viktor Clavena? That would be the head of the Clavena Family, yes?"
"Wasn't it said that Viktor tried to trigger the volcanic eruption and ended up dying inside the volcano?"
"He didn't die? He actually ca back?"
One Mage suddenly called out toward Viktor:
"Viktor! You criminal! How dare you show your face before His Majesty!"
Viktor heard the man's words and replied in a cold, flat tone:
"Criminal? What cri have I committed?"
He turned and looked back in the direction of the voice.
His glacial gaze struck like an ice lance, driving straight into that Mage's heart, sending him plunging as though into a frozen abyss.
Then, almost imdiately, a scorching, all-consuming hatred spread through every inch of that Mage's body.
As though he had been transported there in person—the next instant, he found himself dropped into the depths of Mount Vesuvius.
The overwhelming heat left him unable to breathe......
Was that magic?
To think soone could hone the oppressive weight of magic to such a terrifying degree!
Then, without warning, Viktor withdrew his gaze and looked back toward the Emperor.
"Haah—hh......"
The Mage seized his own throat, gulping down great lungfuls of air, desperately craving the gentle normalcy of it.
Retaliation—that had been Viktor's retaliation.
His heart was in chaos, drenched in cold sweat.
And yet even so, soone needed to stand up here and confront Viktor.
"You......you criminal who nearly caused the volcano to erupt!"
"Even if you didn't die, you have committed the grave offense of fleeing justice! How dare you co back!"
"Hmph."
Viktor gave a contemptuous laugh and didn't spare him another glance.
"I ca at the Emperor's summons, and yet you ask over and over how I dare co back?"
"Are you suggesting......that you outrank His Majesty?"
The Mage snapped his mouth shut. So things required him to step forward and light the fuse—but this particular response was not one he dared to give.
Still, his purpose had been served.
There were others who would say the rest for him.
The surrounding Mages quickly picked up the thread, their words dripping with hostility toward Viktor.
"Your Majesty, the head of the Clavena Family is being utterly unreasonable!"
"He says nothing of his own cris and yet has the audacity to slander us and insult Your Majesty!"
"We implore Your Majesty to pass judgnt!"
Emperor Aubrey raised a hand. The Court Eunuchs nearby imdiately called out:
"Silence!"
Every last person in the hall obediently closed their mouths.
Yet they still glared at Viktor with undisguised hatred, as though they wished nothing more than to flay him alive and drain him dry.
There was nothing to be done about it. He was Viktor Clavena.
He had always drawn resentnt naturally.
The Second Prince, standing among the crowd, gave a small shake of his head.
It was a pity he hadn't managed to corner Viktor entirely.
But still......he had actually survived the volcano.
The Second Prince still rembered the descriptions shared among the Mages at the ti.
An extraordinary energy had erupted from the Crater, suppressing the volcanic eruption in an instant.
If Viktor had truly been inside the volcano at that mont, attempting to trigger its eruption—
Under that surge of energy, there would have been no possibility of survival.
"Tch. What a sha."
The Emperor reached out and beckoned Viktor forward. The Court Eunuch imdiately announced across the hall:
"Viktor Clavena! Step forward to be heard!"
Viktor walked until he stood closest to His Majesty, awaiting questioning.
The Emperor opened his eyes and fixed his gaze on Viktor. "Did you trigger the eruption of Mount Vesuvius?"
The mont that question was posed, every person present craned their neck, curious to see what kind of answer Viktor would give.
Or rather—what they hoped for was Viktor's desperate denial.
Gwen was equally curious, though what she hoped for was that Viktor would speak the truth.
That he would tell the truth and say this matter had nothing to do with him.
Gwen's place at the Emperor's side was not rely as His Majesty's guard.
Her role was of critical importance. Possessing the Heart of Justice, she could easily distinguish truth from falsehood.
So from the mont the Emperor began questioning Viktor, Gwen's gaze had not left him.
The Heart of Justice—already activated.
"The volcano's disturbance was indeed caused by ."
"Hss—"
Viktor admitted it openly and without hesitation.
The crowd drew a collective sharp breath at the revelation. Gwen's heart lurched.
She could not bring herself to believe it was true—and yet the Heart of Justice told her plainly:
"Viktor did not lie."
Gwen spoke aloud, pronouncing her verdict on Viktor's truthfulness.
And those words very nearly ignited everyone in the hall.
They erupted like a volcano that had been silent too long—pointing at Viktor and unleashing a torrent of condemnation:
"Bastard! Do you have any idea what you've done!"
"You're the one who nearly got everyone killed!"
"A volcanic eruption—a Natural Disaster of that scale—do you have any idea how much responsibility you bear!?"
Within Gwen's heart, there was equally an emotion she could barely contain.
Viktor had beco the culprit who had driven the volcano toward eruption. The one who found this hardest to accept—was her.
Gwen was overwheld with guilt.
If the Natural Disaster had co, she would have been the greatest sinner of all.
She had not refused Viktor's request to accompany the mission. In the end, it had nearly caused catastrophe.
"But the one who stopped the volcanic eruption—was also ."
Suddenly, Gwen looked up. A flash of unmistakable shock crossed her eyes.
"Viktor did not lie......"
Duke Livi, who had been kneeling with an expressionless face throughout, suddenly raised his head.
At the very mont Viktor had drawn the fury of all, his next sentence pressed every last mouth back into silence.
Accompanied by the verdict of Gwen's Heart of Justice, those words were like a thousand-year slab of ice sealing a volcano shut—plunging every person present back into absolute stillness.
Every Mage in the hall had witnessed it with their own eyes.
At the mont the volcano was on the verge of erupting, that breathtaking white radiance had surged into the sky and suppressed the volcano without rcy.
That was absolutely not magical power any human being could possess.
And yet right now—Viktor was claiming he was the one who had stopped the eruption.
Not even the volcano itself would have dared to think up sothing like that!
And yet—Gwen was saying Viktor had not lied?
Emperor Aubrey watched the reactions of those around him, then turned his gaze back to Viktor and spoke:
"Viktor, what was your reason for doing this?"
Viktor knew that if he lied, Gwen would expose it.
He didn't want to overthink it. He simply told the truth about the volcano directly.
Sincerity was the greatest trump card of all.
"Your Majesty, beneath the volcano, a terrifying magical creature was sealed—known as 'Gulton.'"
"If this creature had not been dealt with now, it would have broken through the seal in a year and a half's ti and caused the volcano to erupt completely."
"By that point, the scale of the Natural Disaster would have been enough to swallow the heavens and the earth."
The Emperor narrowed his eyes and stared at Viktor. "So—you dealt with that creature?"
Viktor placed one hand on his chest and gave a slight bow.
"Mission accomplished."
At this mont, even without Gwen stepping forward to confirm his truthfulness—
The Mages had all fallen into a panic of their own.
"Your Majesty! Do not believe Viktor's lies! He must have fabricated this to escape responsibility!"
"This is pure fabrication! How could there possibly be a creature sealed beneath a volcano! And even if there were, how could Viktor possibly have dealt with a magical creature that powerful on his own?"
"We all witnessed the magic at the ti! That level of magical energy was absolutely beyond anything a human being could possess!"
"At the very least, it was not sothing a 3rd-Tier Mage of Viktor's level could have achieved!"
The surrounding Mages once again turned their attack squarely on Viktor.
"In our judgnt—Viktor is lying!"
Only a handful of 3rd-Tier Mages stayed silent, Count Beck among them.
He lowered his gaze toward the few Mages he was close to around him. Simultaneously, they were all looking back at Beck.
The sa thing had entered all their minds at once—that eccentric old woman they had encountered in Sanchez.
The legend of the Volcano God......it was true.
The Emperor turned to look at Gwen. Gwen gave a nod, confirming that Viktor had not lied.
"Knight Commander Gwen—if I recall correctly, you and Viktor have a Marriage Engagent, do you not?"
The Second Prince spoke as he stepped forward out of the crowd.
Gwen heard his question, paused for a mont, then gave a nod.
"Even when requesting the accompanying Mage for the investigation at the volcano, Miss Gwen requested Viktor specifically."
"And Viktor was missing for 7 or 8 days. Are you truly telling us you had no knowledge of what he was doing?"
The Second Prince wore a smile, but his words were unmistakably a stab at the heart.
At that, quite a number of Mages put the pieces together.
Gwen was not to be outdone. She fixed a hard stare on the Second Prince and said: "Your Highness, are you questioning ?"
The Second Prince heard this, smiled slightly, and gave a small nod.
"Please understand, this is a reasonable suspicion."
The Emperor spoke at this point: "Gwen's Heart of Justice has never been wrong."
The Second Prince gave the Emperor a respectful bow:
"Father, please allow to speak plainly. The Heart of Justice can indeed distinguish truth from falsehood in the speech of others."
"But when it cos to what Gwen herself says—who is there to verify that?"
The other Mages heard this and their eyes lit up at once.
"That's right! Gwen is Viktor's Fiancée!"
"We nearly got fooled by this treacherous pair!"
"The Second Prince makes a valid point—how are we to distinguish truth from falsehood in Gwen's words?"
The Mages congratulated themselves. Had the Second Prince not stepped in to turn the tide, they would nearly have been outmaneuvered by Viktor and his wife.
Truly—the Second Prince was suprely clever.
Gwen opened her mouth, trying to explain, but faced with the relentless doubts hurled from every direction, she was so worked up she couldn't get out a single word. Even the rims of her eyes had gone red with frustration.
As a Knight, she could defend her country. She could face enemies on the battlefield.
But when it ca to trading words—she would never be a match for this pack of sharp-tongued Mages in a hundred lifetis.
"Then, Your Highness—are you questioning my strength?"
At that mont, Viktor spoke.
He did not turn to look at the Second Prince. Not a single Mage standing behind him could make out his expression.
The Second Prince narrowed his eyes and smiled, the picture of effortless composure.
"Lord Viktor, your talent—I believe everyone present is well aware of it."
"But in order to conceal your own actions, you have fabricated a so-called magical creature."
"Lord Viktor, you are nothing more than a 3rd-Tier Mage."
"To make such bold claims—is that not, perhaps, a lack of good judgnt?"
His words cut deep.
With this many 3rd-Tier Mages present, no one would believe a single person had stopped the volcanic eruption on their own.
They couldn't do it—so Viktor, also a 3rd-Tier Mage, couldn't possibly have done it either.
Because the pride of these Mages would not allow Viktor, who stood at the sa tier as them, to be stronger than they were.
So they would not believe it.
But right at that mont, Viktor, who had been standing in place, vanished.
Every pair of eyes went wide, frantically searching for any trace of him.
What replaced him was a pillar of fla, surging skyward.
"Where did Viktor go?"
In an instant, countless intricate Magic Formations materialized above the Second Prince's head, spinning without end.
So many that every Mage present found themselves unable to trace even a single line of their pattern.
"What......what kind of Formation is this?"
"The markings are so chaotic.....no, wait—they're not chaotic, they're too complex! There's no reading them at all!"
"What in the world is happening?"
Every Mage in the hall was in shock. They wanted to intervene, to see through it—but the temperature inside the hall suddenly spiked with extre rapidity.
In that mont, they couldn't even calm themselves enough to channel their magic.
Then, a voice rang out.
"Quickly......look! Is that—is that Viktor!?"
A Mage pointed at the sky in horror.
Viktor's form, bathed in flas, gradually took shape into an enormous fla golem that reached the ceiling—burning endlessly like the sun itself, blazing and magnificent.
The intense heat set the walls surrounding the hall ablaze. Even the floor beneath the hall began to crack and split under the extre temperature.
His gaze, cold and unwavering, fixed down upon the Second Prince—the sheer pressure of that height bearing down upon him from above, leaving the Second Prince unable to draw even a breath.
"You say my strength is insufficient?"
Out of nowhere, a tongue of fla ignited across the Second Prince's clothing.
Smoke began to curl upward—yet under the imnse heat, he couldn't even feel himself burning.
Gwen stepped in front of the Emperor, using her enchanted armor to block the scorching radiance pouring off Viktor.
"Then let us—speak through strength."
Hmmm—hmmm—hmmm—
Countless Magic Formations rang out with a layered, resonant hum, drowning out every confused voice in the hall, and gradually fused into one.
Then, from sowhere in the crowd, a Mage looked up at the sky and let out a scream at the top of their lungs:
"That is......4th-Tier Magic!"
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