Chapter 280: A Stroke of Luck (2)
Cesare di Bergamo, a low-ranking magician in the royal court.
Originally, he was born with a silver spoon, living a life many envied.
From the illustrious Bergamo family, which had produced the chief magicians of the royal court for generations.
He was the proud fifth son of this noble house.
From a young age, he was showered with every privilege imaginable.
As befits a scion of a distinguished house destined to lead the country.
As one who would live above many, lacking nothing.
He received elite education.
He enjoyed every privilege as he grew up.
Thanks to this, by the age of ten, he had already grasped most of the basic theories of magic.
He was indeed praised as a genius.
That’s when he realized.
That he was a special existence.
Incomparably noble and significant.
And as such, deserved to be treated even more specially.
He felt it deeply and engraved it in his heart.
From that point on.
He no longer saw those beneath him as people.
They were but vermin, scurrying to become his limbs.
Insects, eager to lick his shoes at just a word from him.
With these thoughts, he grew up.
He entered the Academy.
There, too, he received special treatment.
After all, he was the fifth son of a noble family, not just any but one that had produced royal chief magicians for generations.
Moreover, a distant relative of the royal family.
His great-great-great-grandmother was a princess of the royal family.
Therefore, he was someone who had inherited noble blood of the royal lineage.
No one at the Academy dared to treat him lightly.
Not to mention the other students.
The housemasters and professors were no exception.
Even the dean was a close friend and academy mate of his father.
He was granted every convenience on his behalf.
Thus, he reigned over the Academy.
With just a word, everything was done.
His grades, the way he was treated, everything was as he wished.
This reinforced his belief.
Even here, among the children of nobles, he was a special existence.
It was only right for those of lesser status to be treated like insects.
That was why.
He took pleasure in bullying the weaker noble scions from time to time.
Without any grand reason.
Just the sight of them groveling before him was entertaining.
Among them, Julian Frontiera was his favorite target.
A frail boy from a remote eastern domain, bullying him brought Cesare the most joy.
This boy was different from the others.
Unlike the others who couldn’t meet his eyes after being bullied once or twice, Julian’s gaze never faltered.
No matter the torment, he would return the next day with sparkling eyes, looking at him as if nothing had happened, always achieving high grades.
He was fun to bully.
Worth breaking.
So, he bullied him more.
Using his underlings, he continued the torment.
Until he could no longer bear it and would die.
Such a lowly country bumpkin had no right to achieve good grades.
He should just submit, grovel, and lick his boots.
He bullied him with determination.
Then, something happened.
“Lloyd Frontiera…”
Cesare could never forget that name.
Julian’s brother, whom he had tormented relentlessly.
That man ruined everything.
Not only did he take Julian away from the Academy.
He built a bizarre suspension bridge in the capital, earning the queen’s favor.
At the bridge’s completion ceremony, he caused a scandal.
He told the queen everything.
Snitching.
Claiming that Cesare and others had bullied his brother, tarnishing the fair spirit and honor of the Academy.
He spilled everything.
And so, Cesare’s downfall began.
Lloyd Frontiera had revealed everything about the bullies.
Cesare being their leader was the reason.
The consequences of the snitching were severe.
He fully incurred the queen’s wrath.
He was expelled from the Academy.
He was confined to his home for two years.
Although called confinement, it was practically living in a prison without bars.
But the real pain was elsewhere.
He lost his honor in noble society.
He became a disgrace to his family.
Despite being the fifth son of the illustrious Bergamo family.
Although he avoided harsher punishment and torture.
He lost all his honor and future prospects.
He fell out of favor with the queen.
His path to official positions was blocked.
He became a subject of open ridicule in society.
Even within his own family, he was treated as a nobody.
Since that incident, his parents hadn’t spoken to him.
His brothers and sisters were no different.
They looked at him as if he were a disgrace to the family, like looking at vermin.
Even the servants and maids seemed to snicker behind his back!
“How dare they! Mere vermin!”
He was truly furious.
He found the treatment he received unjust.
Even his father kneeling before the queen to plead on his behalf.
And barely managing to get him appointed as a low-ranking royal magician.
He found it deeply unfair.
Because he was special.
“Of course! I’m far better than other magicians. With nobler blood! And I’m at the bottom?”
It made no sense.
With his status and abilities.
He thought he should have been appointed as at least the second chief magician right from the start.
He felt wronged.
And Lloyd Frontiera?
That scum who snitched on him?
The one who ruined his life?
He was thriving, unbelievably!
“A hero!”
Recently, he had even been named a hero by the queen for his role in subduing the Bonddragon.
When he heard that news, he was speechless.
No, he was still speechless now.
“Anything unusual today?”
“…”
Cesare remained silent, grimacing, glaring coldly at Lloyd before him.
Lloyd smiled with one side of his mouth and shrugged.
“Seems like you had some bad luck this morning. Well, cheer up. And good work today.”
Was that shamelessness?
Or just good humor?
Lloyd Frontiera, that despicable man, greeted him as if nothing had happened.
Cesare was leaving the room where the Heart of Winter, which provided cooling, was being checked.
Was it his nonchalant attitude that did it?
“Wait a moment.”
Cesare found himself calling out to Lloyd impulsively.
And impulsively, he asked.
“Do you not know who I am?”
“I do.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
Lloyd turned around, nodding as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
“You are the magician sent from the royal court to operate and manage the Heart of Winter, haha.”
“…”
“Thanks to you, the Heart of Winter is stably supplying the coolant, and the construction is going well. Let’s have a meal together with the work team once the construction is finished. Well, good work today.”
“…”
Lloyd Frontiera greeted him with an unknowing face and left the cooling chamber.
It was his attitude.
Cesare, left alone in the cooling chamber, was seething with uncontrollable anger and humiliation.
“That scum… doesn’t even recognize me?”
It was unbelievable.
He thought at least he would be remembered.
That he would be confronted for bullying his brother in the past.
But that wasn’t the case.
“He doesn’t even remember me. Because my life has fallen apart. Because I’m groveling here as a lowly royal magician, while he, on the other hand, thrives as a royal hero. How dare he… How dare! How dare, you vermin!”
The man who had ruined his life didn’t even remember him.
He didn’t recognize him.
And now, that man was his superior, commanding him!
“Why? Why is this happening?”
It made no sense.
He was a special being.
An incredibly noble person.
He wasn’t meant to rot in a place like this.
He was filled with the thought that something in the world had gone terribly wrong.
As these thoughts grew, the feeling that his life had been ruined filled his heart.
Days passed, one, two, five.
His resentment and despair grew.
And on the day the vertical shaft excavation began.
On a day when he had received contemptuous looks from his siblings from early morning.
He arrived at the site determined.
“To die.”
But not alone.
That vermin, Lloyd Frontiera.
He would make him a companion on the journey to the afterlife.
He would also ruin his work.
He would tarnish his honor.
With a grim determination, he showed up at the site as usual.
All morning, he looked for a crucial opportunity.
And finally, he acted.
“…Huh?”
A fellow magician, who had been managing the Heart of Winter with him, turned around for a moment, and Cesare seized the opportunity to pull out a dagger.
He stabbed him from behind, covering his mouth.
He confirmed the man had fallen.
“There’s no time.”
Outside the sealed door of the coolant injection room, six royal guards were on watch.
Their vigilant gaze was directed outward, but it seemed they hadn’t heard the sound of someone falling just now, thanks to the thick door of the injection room.
But they would soon notice something was wrong inside.
“Now.”
He would kill them all, befitting vermin.
Especially Lloyd Frontiera, him most of all.
With a bitter resolve, Cesare stood in front of the special control box where the Heart of Winter was stored.
He mustered all his magical power.
He had been considered a prodigy from a young age.
Though he had become alone by stabbing his colleague, normally, the control box required the combined magical powers of two superior royal magicians to adjust.
However, as he concentrated his efforts, he managed to interfere with the control box somewhat.
“Th…Th-Thrill!”
He adjusted the output of the control box.
He cranked it up to the maximum.
Beyond its limits.
To the point of damaging the control box itself.
The reaction was immediate.
Hssssssss-!
A chilling sound filled the air, and the exterior of the control box was quickly covered with frost.
Cesare, standing in front of the box, was no exception.
“…!”
He was engulfed by the rapidly intensifying cold, struggling to withstand it.
The Heart of Winter began to emit cold at maximum output.
Against the might of this artifact, a mere magician like him could only last a moment.
And finally.
A cold fracture appeared on the control box managing the Heart of Winter.
A bitter smile formed on Cesare’s lips as he sensed his end.
“What’s going on!”
Perhaps they had finally sensed something amiss.
The royal guards kicked in the door to the injection room.
At that moment, a devastatingly cold explosion emitted from the control box engulfed everything around.
♣
Boom-!
“…Huh?”
Lloyd jerked his head up.
He had been in the middle of directing the vertical shaft excavation.
Unlike before, this was an upward vertical shaft excavation.
Because it involved digging while moving upwards, it was particularly tense.
Suddenly, an unfamiliar vibration was felt.
‘What’s that.’
It was not far from here.
Based on the intensity and resonance of the vibration, it seemed to originate from the direction of the tunnel entrance.
Lloyd frowned inwardly.
‘That was quite a strong vibration. But there shouldn’t be any reason for such a vibration from that direction. We’ve installed enough supports. I’ve thoroughly checked the concrete pouring condition. Then, a rock burst? No. Given the ground condition, that’s unlikely.’
Lloyd shook his head.
A rock burst is a phenomenon where, due to pressure inside a tunnel, chunks of the inner wall are ejected suddenly as if fired.
‘For example, like the squeezed-out content of a thoroughly popped pimple.’
It was a phenomenon that had occurred during tunnel construction in the European Alps.
One of the ejected rocks at the time was said to have been as large as 2㎥.
‘But… no, it can’t happen here. Then what was that sound?’
He was concerned.
Especially since this was a tunnel, where even a minor crack or subsidence could lead to collapse.
If something like that happened, all the workers here could be in great danger.
‘Remember the anthracite mine? It was because of ants. We tried to annihilate them with methane gas, ending up isolated with Javier.’
But today?
Javier wasn’t here.
He had been called to the castle by the queen, as he had been every day recently.
He was likely conducting ‘Javier’s Grandmaster Swordsmanship Class,’ a private lesson for the queen.
‘If something happens now without him, it’ll be troublesome.’
Should he go check it out?
With that thought, Lloyd raised his hand.
He was about to signal the work team to stop working when it happened.
Hssssssss…
Through the tunnel.
From the direction of the entrance toward here.
A cold breeze began to seep through.
‘What?’
Lloyd was startled.
It was strange.
‘Why is there a cold breeze here?’
It felt like the early winter chill just before frost sets in.
But it was blowing deep inside an underground tunnel.
Underground spaces get warmer the deeper you go, not colder.
“Everyone, stop working! Stay here!”
Realizing something was not normal about this cold breeze, Lloyd shouted to the work team.
He hurried towards the tunnel entrance.
‘Something’s really wrong. I need to check it out.’
The unfamiliar vibration followed by the onset of cold air.
A foreboding feeling crept up on him.
As the foreboding grew, so did his pace.
As his pace quickened, the air around him grew colder.
From the chill of early winter to the sharp cold of midwinter.
From the sharp cold of midwinter to the brutal cold of the polar regions.
By then, Lloyd was already running.
‘Could it be something to do with the Heart of Winter or the coolant supply?’
He didn’t want to admit it.
He didn’t want to deny it.
But the frost forming on the tunnel walls around him.
The cold cutting into his skin in real-time.
All other sensations and intuitions were turning his grim prediction into certainty.
Yet, he did not stop.
Even as frost settled on his body.
Even as his breath turned white.
He ran even faster towards the source of the cold.
It seemed the Heart of Winter might indeed be involved.
If left unattended, the workers inside could all freeze to death.
Immediate action was needed.
‘Let’s assess the situation first.’
With determination and preparation, he ran.
Finally, he reached the coolant injection room where the Heart of Winter was stored.
At that moment.
Whoosh-!
Before he could even begin to assess the situation, a blast of cold, reminiscent of an ice age, hit him. Simultaneously, one of his accolades activated.
Ding-dong!
[Your skill, <Hands Cold, Feet Cold>, has activated.]
