The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years (Web Novel KR)

Sizzle-

The Exile quietly watched as the meat cooked slowly over the fire. Suddenly, he looked behind him.

Without him realising it, a platinum haired young man had appeared behind him. Looking at him, the young man asked.

“Did you send them all?”

[…]

“I see.”

Although he didn’t receive a response, the young man responded as if he had affirmed his words.

Then, the White Knight, Agolet, sat right in front of the Exile.

For a while, his eyes were fixed on the piece of meat being cooked. But his attention wasn’t focused on the meat. Of course, he didn’t care about how well the meat was cooked.

Just as a burnt smell began to come from the meat that was only receiving heat from one side.

A third party spun the skewer.

“Do you not know how to roast?”

The newly appeared man continued with a slightly mocking attitude.

“In order to have a better flavour, all sides must be cooked in a balanced manner. That is to say, in order to eat the most delicious meat, you have to turn the skewer continuously like this. Well, I don’t want to do this tiresome thing. My arm is also getting sore.”

Ttak-

When the man snapped his fingers, the skewer began to spin on its own like magic.

The man stood in front of the fire and looked at his handiwork with a satisfied expression.

Then, his gaze turned towards the Exile.

“Why did you interfere with my plan?”

The man.

When the Beginning Wizard said those words, the Exile responded.

[Is that… not what… you hoped for…?]

“What I hoped for? Definitely not. My displeasure at the moment has reached its peak.”

As he spoke, the Beginning Wizard’s voice gradually became colder.

“He was ready. If he had come to the Magical Planet, everything would have gone according to plan. You ruined it.”

[I…]

The Exile spoke quietly.

[Am indebted… to you…]

“…”

[I just… wanted to repay you… old friend.]

It seemed that this answer wasn’t enough to satisfy the Beginning Wizard. Although his expression couldn’t be seen because of his mask, Agolet was certain that his face was currently distorted.

“…such a trivial reason.”

[…]

“Did I interrupt your meal? I apologise. This uninvited guest will leave, so please, enjoy your meal.”

At that moment, the bonfire soared into the sky. In an instant, the heat exuded from the flames became hundreds of times stronger. Naturally, it no longer mattered whether the meat was cooked well or not. After all, the piece of meat had long since been burnt to ashes in the raging flames.

And when the flames subsided, the Beginning Wizard was no longer there.

“You managed to make him angry. That’s not an easy feat.”

Agolet smiled bitterly as he spoke.

“However, I also don’t understand, Exile. Do you really think he can become the Void King?”

[—.]

“Don’t you know? About the Knight that is even pickier when it comes to choosing the King than I am?”

[She is the one who searches the most desperately for one who will be the King… Because, unlike you, she believes that the existence of the Void King is necessary.]

“However, in the end, they all died. She killed them herself.”

Agolet slowly shook his head.

“Even if you decided to send him to the Three Thousand Worlds, it would have been better to send him alone. But you forced those two to accompany him. That’s the part that I don’t understand.”

[…The King.]

The Exile spoke in a calm tone.

[Should be able to unite… all of his subjects.]

“That’s a pretty unrealistic story.”

[However… that is why… we have no choice… but to cling to it…]

“…”

[Aren’t you… curious… Together with… one of the four Knights*, and one of the Twelve Void Lords… in a familiar yet unfamiliar land… what kind of choices… will he make…?] (*: Should I just make it ‘Four Knights’ to match ‘Twelve Void Lords’?)

* * *

‘What the hell happened, Lightning God?’

[Kukuku.]

The Lightning God burst into laughter.

[God died. At the same time, half of the multiverse disappeared. The universes that weren’t swept away in the aftermath began to merge with the universes close to them… Now. That should be a good enough explanation about this phenomenon.]

‘…that’s possible?’

[Obviously, it’s unprecedented. However, the one thing that is certain is the death of God.]

‘It is certain?’

[The one who created the boundary to prevent universes from interacting was none other than God himself.]

‘…!’

Lukas couldn’t help but shudder involuntarily.

“What’s wrong?”

“…I might be a bit cold.”

“Haha. It certainly isn’t a warm country.”

Making this idile remark, Kim Sang-un shivered slightly as he walked ahead. He’d made a mistake. He couldn’t allow himself to express emotion because of his conversation with the Lightning God.

‘For what purpose?’

[Lukas Trowman, the purpose of a God that is already dead is of little importance. The things you must pay attention to and the things you must do, will not change.]

‘…’

[Go meet Diablo. Then, something interesting will happen.]

The Lightning God’s voice gradually faded away. This guy always did this to show that he didn’t want to continue the conversation.

He probably wouldn’t respond regardless of what he said now.

In the end, Lukas had no choice but to carefully analyse the current situation on his own.

‘It’s obvious that multiple universes have merged.’

Now that he thought about it, it all began to match up.

Lukas’ home universe and Earth were probably not the only universes in this combination. He thought of the small figure in Kim Sang-un’s party that he was seeing for the first time. Then, he looked at the face beneath the rim of his cap with Clairvoyance.

It was a bizarre figure with pinkish skin, a single eye, and antennae. Of course, they were only bizarre from a human perspective.

‘Moreover.’

Although Pale had revealed some of her strength, it hadn’t had any effect on the universe. This proved that the overall tolerance had risen explosively.

Generally, universes that could withstand a Ruler were called ‘mega universes’. And as far as Lukas knew, such universes were rare in the Three Thousand Worlds.

‘This place has become a mega universe.’

At least in terms of scale.

“…it will be difficult.”

Would he be able to find Diablo in this vast universe? No. Not just Diablo. If this place was both Earth and his home universe, then that meant that the Demon King would also be here somewhere.

In all honesty, if he focused on the search, he was confident that he’d be able to find them in about three months at most.

However, he couldn’t do that.

This was because of the existence of Yang In-hyun and Pale. If he were to leave them alone and focus on his own business, a bigger disaster would probably occur.

‘When it comes to pure strength, they are stronger than the Demon King.’

It was clear that the potential danger was at the level of universe emergency.

Suddenly.

“I’m.”

One of the walking disasters, Yang In-hyun, spoke up.

“Going to go look around for a while.”

“What?”

Then, he disappeared without waiting for a reply.

“Wait…”

Lukas tried to chase after him, but Yang In-hyun’s figure and aura had already disappeared into the distance.

What should he do? Chase after him? No. That would mean leaving Pale alone.

Eventually, he could only click his tongue and straighten his bent knees.

…Nevertheless, since Yang In-hyun was more rational than Pale, it should be fine to leave him on his own.

‘Dammit.’

As if he could do that. Lukas took a look around. Although the sunlight that he’d felt in the forest was warm, cold energy could be felt throughout the city, and the temperature of the region didn’t seem to go too high. Instead, it would always be on the colder side.

Closing his eyes, Lukas focused.

Sss-

Soon after, a being in the shape of a bear that seemed to be made of frost appeared in front of him. This guy, which was the colour of ice, was so small that it could be mistaken for a doll.

As he expected. There were spirits here.

This was probably a spirit of snow.

The spirit looked at Lukas curiously.

Perhaps it could feel the deep purity within him which was greater than nature itself and became half shocked and half interested.

‘Would you like to sign a contract?’

As soon as he mentioned the main point, the spirit of snow nodded. The current Lukas could probably easily sign a contract with a spirit king. As for a mid to low tier spirit, there was no need for any complicated procedures.

‘What’s your name?’

[—]

The spirit’s thoughts flowed in.

‘I am [Metel].’

[…]

‘Find the man who just disappeared, and keep an eye on him. If anything happens, report it to me right away.’

Metel nodded before transforming into a cold breeze and chasing after Yang In-hyun. Of course, there was no way that Yang In-hyun wouldn’t notice Metel’s presence.

Nevertheless, Lukas put a bit of his mana on it, so he wouldn’t get rid of it. Metel wasn’t strong, so it wouldn’t bother him.

Looking towards Kim Sang-un, Lukas spoke.

“We should get going now.”

“Huh? Ah, but you haven’t been given a reward yet…”

“It’s fine.”

Although he was curious about the Royal Family, nobles, or Knights of Luanoble that might be the castle, it wouldn’t be a good thing to step into that place right now.

So Lukas politely declined the offer of Kim Sang-un, who was still trying to keep them, and separated from the group.

“Let’s go, Pale.”

“Mm. Yes.”

Pale trudged after Lukas. She looked around with an interested expression before, with a ‘heh’, her eyes landed on a restaurant.

“By the way, Uncle, when are you going to give me the delicious thing?”

“Huh?”

“You said you’d give me something much more delicious. I don’t have a bad memory.”

“…”

“Unless that was a lie.”

Although Pale was smiling, her eyes weren’t.

He couldn’t tell if it was a joke or not, but he was beginning to feel a pressure that wouldn’t be easy to break free of.

Judging from her attitude, it seemed that she wanted to go to the nearby restaurant.

‘How will I buy it?’

Naturally, in order to conduct transactions in civilised society, one needed to have money. For a moment, he wondered if he should go back to the reward from Kim Sang-un. But no. It would be strange if he were to suddenly ask for money.

Lukas looked around.

—Luanoble.

The Country of Knights, which possessed a dignified name, was not a very clean country. Moreover, now that there was a mix of multiple ethnicities and cultures, public security would be even more unstable.

Just in time, he happened upon a dark alley.

Seeing this place, which was dark and gloomy even though it was daytime, Lukas moved towards it.

“Follow me, Pale.”

“Hihihi.”

Pale came up next to him. He really wanted to hold her wrists firmly as he went around with her… Maybe it would feel more secure if he got handcuffs.

As these absurd thoughts ran rampant, he entered the alley.

At first, it wasn’t that messy, but as they walked a bit further, the air became damp. There was a lot of trash laying around, and it began to smell.

Then, before long, he felt movement.

First, five men appeared in front of them.

“Lady and Gentleman, hello.”

“Why would you come to such a shabby place?”

“Why are you asking that? Isn’t it obvious?”

The men didn’t hide their ridicule, but Lukas looked at the man in the middle of the group.

He was muscular, bald, and held a sword in one hand and a gun in the other.

“It’s dark and people don’t usually come here, so this is the best place to do it secretly.”

“Kikiki. He really is a gentleman.”

Laughter could also be heard behind them. It was an obvious deployment. Blocking the back so that they couldn’t run away.

“In any case, this is our area, so we’ll have to charge you to use our space.”

“Think of it as a hotel. Of course, since this place is a bit unique, the fee will be a bit expensive.”

“How about it, would you like to enjoy your last time before your limbs are chopped off? We won’t disturb you.”

“Actually, we’d like to watch.”

As they laughed vulgarly, Pale tilted her head to the side as if she couldn’t understand the situation.

“Who are these people?”

“Gangsters.”

“They don’t have any sheep.”

“Not shepherds, gangsters.” (TL: Shepherd is 양치기- Yangchigi, gangster/do-badder is 양아치- Yangachi. 양-Yang is sheep.)

“What’s the difference?”

“…”

Lukas didn’t respond any more.

Then, as if realising they were being ignored, the gangsters’ expressions became stiff.

“We’re saying this isn’t a dating course. Young miss.”

“By the way, you really have bad taste. Your boyfriend looks pretty weak.”

“Dating? Boyfriend?”

Pale tilted her head as if it was the first time she’d ever heard those words.

Meanwhile, Lukas decided to deal with things.

Crack-

Firstly, he smashed the faces of the two men standing behind them. They collapsed with broken noses. They weren’t dead, but they probably wouldn’t be able to regain consciousness for an entire day.

“Huh?”

“What was that?”

The men at the front couldn’t help but make dazed sounds. They hadn’t managed to catch Lukas’ movements. For them, it probably looked as though their two companions suddenly collapsed.

Tuk…

He tapped the ground with his foot. At that moment, the ground broke apart and rocks rose. The rocks flew towards the men in front of them like arrows.

Papapak-

“Aaak!”

It wasn’t a proper spell, but getting pelted by rocks would definitely hurt. Most of the men collapsed with screams. The only one left standing was the man in the middle with the sword and gun.

Surprisingly, he had managed to avoid or block the stones flying towards him without being hit.

This at least proved that he was a bit stronger than the others.

“You motherfucker!”

Suddenly, he lifted the pistol in his hand and fired. As the bullets flew towards him, Lukas roughly caught them in his hand.

“H-, huh?”

The man’s eyes widened as if he’d seen a monster. Looking at the bullets in his hand, Lukas said.

“These little bullets are far from enough.”

Lukas placed a bullet in the palm of his hand before flicking it with his finger.

Boom!

The bullet brushed past the man’s cheek before smashing the wall behind him. Instead of a 9mm bullet, it was as if it had been shot at with a bazooka.

It was then that the man realised.

‘I, I fucked up.’

Not counting anything else, he was at least quick enough to realise the unprecedented crisis he was currently faced with.

And his actions came faster than the realisation.

“P-, please spare me!”

He lay face down on the ground like a frog.

“…”

The situation was pretty much dealt with.

Lukas pondered how to get what he wanted.

It didn’t take too long.

The memory of a ‘Lukas’ who was familiar with this kind of situation, was a part of the current him.

Squatting down, he looked at the man in front of him.

“Hey.”

“Ye-, yes.”

Then, with as refreshing a smile as possible, he said.

“Got any money?”

(2/3)