Chapter 45- The Escape Plan (2)
On the other side, he felt relieved because it seemed the flow of the story didn’t roll in a direction that compelled him to enlist in the military. Furthermore, he estimated that the longer he escaped, the likelihood of his plan — his plan to get expulsion — actualizing was rather high.
After all, from what he remembered in the novel, Jeongjin knew that a war would take place soon on the eastern border around the capital. Thus, he surmised that if he chose to hide in the countryside and live his days peacefully, he could avoid the turmoil that was coming.
‘Right now, we aren’t on the penultimate chapter of the story yet. But, according to what has written, once Arthur becomes the king, a peaceful era will begin. And it was quite apparent that the current Arthur is more powerful compared to the one described in the previous version of the novel. Thus, he should become the king soon.’
With that, he finally emptied the wine bottle. And soon, drowsiness assaulted his mind, but he was too lazy to get up from his armchair. So, he placed the cup on the floor and laid down while closing his eyes.
Clack!
When he was about to take a nap, he heard the glass he had just held fall and broke.
Boom! Bang!
At the same time, the door at the bungalow that made of thick logs has suddenly broken down.
In an instant, the knights in their pristine uniform unexpectedly stormed out of the broken door. Then, the knight that entered first briskly walked to Clayo and held him who was sitting dumbly on the armchair.
Clayo choked on air, and for a brief moment, he suffocated. He was so shocked he instinctively screamed without his knowledge because his paper-like body was clasped and crushed by the knight’s thick and muscular arm.
“[People are here–]”
It was an unintentional act from him. An instinct of a cornered prey, you could say.
For when Clayo felt an imminent crisis upon him, the ‘Promise’ would automatically shed its light. It was a magical [Defense] that triggered out of necessity.
Thus, the strong knight that was holding Clayo has repelled from the boy’s five-meter-sized magic circle that he unconsciously created, bouncing away from his body. The knight was thrown upside down to the bush over the terrace and immediately became unconscious.
‘Oh, no!’ Jeongjin was caught off-guard in surprise when he saw the knight was thrown away by his defensive circle.
It was not only that knight. The other three knights, who were standing far away from Clayo, were also pushed away. And due to his magical impact, they had no other choice but to use their all to defend themselves. Well, at the very least, because they had a high level of ether to protect themselves, they only left deep heel marks on the floor. So, they haven’t pushed out of the railing, unlike the first knight.
The three knights, who have recently pushed away, saw that their colleague was severely hurt. His nose cracked while he was thrown out easily by Clayo like a neophyte. Because of this, they could infer by the situation that the boy was a wizard with unprecedented power.
Hence, the knights raised their swords in unison, letting their blazing golden sword glow brightly before Clayo.
“We are the Knights of the Royal Capital Defense Corps! We are now taking you, Wizard Clayo Asser, under our custody for disobeying summons, obstruction of justice, and illegal registration of your ether level.”
*
In the novel, the punishment that prosecutors would face for illegal registration of their ether level was listed clearly on the front page of a basic swordsmanship textbook.
The scope of this law in the novel world was much stricter and harsher than they ever have known. It was so severe that it even prohibited the use of ether for atomic testing and recreational amusements to humans.
However, in school, everyone was using “ether.” So, Jeongjin naturally couldn’t feel the restrictions inherent in using it.
But come to think of it; people who were vested with ether powers have been living mixed in a civilized society. Thus, there must be laws that govern the use of ether and various sanctions for non-compliance.
‘Hey, but what’s this LED collar I’m forced to wear?! I’m not a dog!’ Jeongjin complained in his mind. He was stunned that he didn’t realize he was wearing something all day long on his neck.
Jeongjin had no idea of what he was wearing, only thinking that he has compelled to wear a dog collar. However, it wasn’t what he thought. The name of the necklace was ‘Suppressor‘ which was a type of Mado invented by Jebedi.
Initially, it was a tool used to suppress several enemies and had the function of controlling one’s ether circulation.
However, such suppressive power could only be possible if it created from a super rare mineral called Tiflorum. But this was a scarce mineral. Furthermore, it has’ t classified as either mana stone or mana ore — the reason being that the Tiflorum mineral has made of pure ether alone.
This type of mineral was challenging to handle, so only advanced wizards were able to use it to create something. But once the Tiflorum was engraved and activated with magic, it worked almost permanently.