The Water Magician

"Well then, let's hope nothing happens, Your Majesty Robert Pirlo."

"Your Majesty Rupert, saying that at this timing is ominous. After all, the small nation 'Aiteke Bo' was nearly destroyed before we arrived. As expected of the hero of the kingdom, your strength seems to easily crush small nations."

The leader of the imperial delegation, Former Emperor Rupert, and the leader of the alliance delegation, Former King Robert Pirlo, were exchanging such words before their audience.

Of course, this was a jab at Hugh McGrath, the leader of the kingdom delegation, who was present in the same room.

(Those old men! Always nagging! Aiteke Bo was the result of the lord of the realm's foolish actions, it has nothing to do with us! They know that they're saying it on purpose. Ugh, it's really irritating! Compared to them, I can see just how wonderful our King Abel is!)

Hugh was thinking such thoughts in his mind, but on the surface, he completely ignored the conversation between the two.

He was about to have an audience with King Gon of the nation 'Schultz'.

Even though it was an audience with the king, the room was not very large.

It was about the size of two basketball courts.

Because of that, the number of people from the delegations who could attend the audience was quite limited.

Representatives from small nations were not allowed, only the three major nations. And even then, only two people from each nation.

From the Empire, Former Emperor Rupert and Count Hans Kirchhoff.

From the alliance, Former King Robert Pirlo and Captain of the Guard Grown.

And from the kingdom, Hugh McGrath and Chief Negotiator Ignis.

"Central Nations delegation, please enter!"

As the herald’s voice echoed, the door opened, and six representatives from the delegations entered the audience chamber.

The audience with the lifeless King Gon of Schultz was nearly coming to an end.

However, it did not end as expected.

Suddenly, the side door of the audience chamber opened.

At the same time, a trigger word for magic rang out.

"Gehenna!"

In an instant, flames burst forth from the opened door.

Before anyone in the audience could understand what was happening, the flames began to spread.

"Barrier!"

Interposing his body between the spreading flames and the master, Count Hans Kirchhoff, the right arm of Former Emperor Rupert, generated a barrier without incantation.

At the same moment, Hugh McGrath grabbed Chief Negotiator Ignis and jumped behind the barrier created by Former Emperor Rupert.

Almost simultaneously, Former King Robert Pirlo also deployed a barrier.

"Count Kirchhoff, I will overlap the barrier."

Saying that, without waiting for a reply, he combined his barrier with Hans Kirchhoff's barrier, re-synthesizing it into a stronger barrier.

The barriers deployed by the two possessed both the properties of a physical barrier and a magic barrier.

By using a single trigger word, they could deploy a barrier with both properties, making it favored by high-level mages.

This advanced magic was referred to as "magic synthesis."

This technique is used to amplify the power of magic of the same attribute among multiple individuals, but it is an extremely advanced magical technique.

Since the barrier is attributeless magic, it can be synthesized even between mages of different attributes... but in a combat situation, it is not easy to accomplish.

Given that they handled it flawlessly in this life-threatening situation, it can be said that Former King Robert Pirlo's ability as a mage is at a very high level.

The successfully synthesized barrier increases hardness by double and reduces magical power consumption by half.

Given the unpredictable developments ahead, it is best to minimize magical power consumption.

With that in mind, Hugh McGrath was trying to assess the situation.

The royal castle was under attack.

The attackers seemed to have appeared somewhere near the audience chamber and charged straight at it, as no strange sounds came from outside the audience chamber until the door opened and magic was cast.

At the very least, the sound of sword fights was not heard.