Mordred flew to the royal palace and landed in the central square, holding the Ashen Sage staff.
Immediately, knights with shocked faces crowded him.
Mordred looked around and called out: "I'm looking for Darius Van Silva! Lead me to him!"
The knights were stunned. This magician boy that flew down from the sky was fearless.
"Who are you?!"
"What are you doing in the Silver Palace?!"
Mordred glared at them. Unable to control his emotions, he barked back: "Are you deaf? I said I'm looking for Darius! Lead me to him or I'll start killing you one by one!"
The guards were dumbfounded. What guts… They would have laughed if not for the thick bloodlust emanating from the boy that made them actually feel fear.
At that moment, a calm elderly voice sounded out: "Good grief, I heard that there would be someone who will cause trouble around here, but I didn't think it would be a baby boy that would float down from the sky."
Mordred turned and saw an elderly woman with a peaceful yet battle-hardened wrinkled face walk out. The old woman looked just like a kind granny next door yet seeing her strained Mordred's instincts; she was surely a frightening person.
Mordred asked her, "Are you the Water God?"
"Oh, do you know me? Not that it matters. Say, boy, I heard that you're looking for Darius. Why is that?"
"... I heard that he captured my friend. She's a nine year old girl!" Mordred gritted his teeth.
Reida showed a regretful expression. "Good grief, Darius had fallen this low, did he?... But how are you sure that he captured your girl?"
"I'm not sure, but I'll be sure after I capture him and search his dungeon."
"Is that how it is? So you are not sure…"
Like this, the conversation reached a lull without either side showing clear hostility.
But this balance was soon broken as someone appeared at the square from one of the buildings. It was a fat and bald man in silk clothing, accompanied by two armor-clad bodyguards.
"Who are you?! I heard you're looking for me!" The man called out.
Mordred looked at him and his eyes narrowed. Was that Darius? He said, "I'm looking for Eris Boreas Greyrat! A certain God told me that you captured her!"
Darius showed a startled expression, before replying: "I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"Then how about you lead me to your dungeon and I'll take a look at all the poor girls you've captured?"
Darius looked enraged. "How dare you! You barged into the palace and then slander me like this! Guards, kill the intruder!"
The knights heard this and hesitated.
It was not necessarily because they were afraid of Mordred, but because it was a sudden death sentence and Darius had no right to order them that. Instead, shouldn't they capture the boy and investigate the situation?
Furthermore, some of them heard the rumors of Darius being a perverted nobleman and didn't want to be on his side here if he was guilty. Capturing a 9 year old girl… It was just too much. As knights, they were disgusted.
Seeing the knights not move, Darius shouted at his bodyguards, "You two, kill him!"
The two looked at him, then began to slowly approach Mordred. One of them was a man in full plate armor with a sword and a shield, another was a woman in tight black ninja-like armor and two thin shortswords - one slightly shorter, another longer.
"Water Saint, Arthur Coine."
"North Saint, Ivy Shadow."
What was that? Should he also introduce himself?
In response, Mordred instead summoned Clarent into his hand with a flash of red light, then adapted a high-guard of the Sword God Style.
Because he was only 9 years old and barely 140 cm tall, Clarent seemed to be a wide greatsword as he held it. It was the image of a boy knight with a sword quite too big for him.
When the bodyguards saw this, they sprung from their spots.
"I'll go first! Don't underestimate him!" The armored man ran out first.
"Got it!" The female ninja followed behind.
Mordred stayed in place, electric currents beginning to run alongside his body.
The man with a shield reached him first, but he didn't attack. He lowered his shield, appearing to be baiting Mordred to attack, so he could later counter it.
Mordred didn't care. Since the man wanted him to attack, he'd do just that. He slashed out with his sword, using just his Battle Aura.
Longsword of Light!
His large sword slashed out, cutting off the man's head together with his neck armor.
After that, Mordred saw a vision of a dagger being thrown at his waist. He rotated, easily dodging it, and then moved his sword to receive the second short sword of the woman as she appeared at his other side.
He used flow, easily parring the strike, then cut off the woman's head with Longsword of Silence – a downgraded version of Longsword of Light.
"Lightning God." Mordred finished his introduction as the two bodies of the heavily armored man and the slim woman fell to the ground with their heads severed.
In hindsight, that was so embarrassing!
The palace knights stared at this scene in shock.
A Water Saint and North Saint died, this easily!
Darius was also shocked. These were the strongest mercenaries he could hire at a short notice!
Reida said, "You call yourself a God? I might have laughed, but that was both Sword God Style and Water God Style, right? Boy, are you not filled with too much talent? And what is that red lightning?"
Mordred looked at her. "It's a skill I developed."
"Ooh? You developed your own unique sword technique at this age?"
In the meantime, Mordred squatted down. He used silent Saint rank Healing Magic on both of the sellswords he killed, his hands shining with golden holy light.
Instantly, the woman's head reattached, and then the man's. The two looked perfectly fine.
The watching people were both confused and shocked.
Healing someone with a severed head as if it was nothing! What kind of miraculous divine ability was that?
But why would the boy do that to his enemies?
While they were shocked, the knights were also confused.
The two Saint rank swordsmen were also shocked. They have already thought they died and even their vision turned black, but then they were suddenly brought back.
They revived. It was like a miracle from God!
Mordred nodded. As he expected, as long as it happened within one minute when no permament brain damage should have taken place, he could even do things like that! Although if there was a single piece of their spines meesing, he couldn't have restored it with just Saint rank Healing Magic and they might have ended up as cripples.
He stood up. Looking down on the two, he said, "I have no hatred for you and we have no grudges, so I don't want to take your lives. You've already lost. So disappear."
The two mercenaries were stunned. What…
"I said disappear."
As Mordred snapped sharply, the two hurriedly shot up from the ground.
"Y-yes!"
"Thank you, lord!!!"
The two began to run away to leave the palace, not even bothering to pick up their weapons. After all, nothing was more important than their lives. This boy was a little monster they had no chance of beating.
Mordred faintly smiled. He healed these two not only to make them owe him or because he didn't want to take their lives, but he also did it for the sake of psychological warfare - to make Reida hesitate with killing him and make her go easy on him should they fight.
This would also make the knights not view him as the bad guy.
He had already considered all possible scenarios on the way, and in the current situation the best way for him to defeat Reida was to quickly close the distance to affect her with his Gravity Magic to rank down all her physical stats.
If Reida used her special technique as the opener, he would be in an unfavorable position.
On another hand, if he tried to cast a spell like Railgun, she could react before he could finish it, cutting the bullet down from a distance or attempting to cut off his hand.
Although the ideal scenario was if he avoided making Reida his enemy altogether. He sort of liked that old woman in the novel. She had a very impressionable apperance.
"Damn it!" Darius cursed as he saw his two hired mercenaries run away. He then turned to the soldiers. "Listen! This person here is a Miko and Magic genius from the Kingdragon Kingdom! You have to kill him!"
Mordred's heart turned cold. Could he not leave that place without a bloodbath?
However, the knights hesitated in attacking him.
Perhaps it was because the Water God was on the scene, perhaps because they couldn't bear the political implications of their sudden actions, or something else.
Slowly arriving at Darius's side, Reida spoke, "How honorable of you, boy. Was that silent Healing Magic?"
"... Yes."
Reida said, "I see. You really have more talent than it's feasible to believe."
As momentary silence descended, Mordred spoke up, "... I'm only here for my friend, so please just step aside."
Reida saw Mordred staring at her without fear.
"Oh my, how brave. A lucky girl, isn't she? You charged right into the royal palace of the Asura Kingdom to rescue her regardless of consequences, not even backing off in front of the Water God. It makes me, an old woman, feel jealous."
The Water God showed a melancholic look as if she was reminiscing.
Mordred was silent.
Reida then asked, "If Darius hurt that girl, what will you do?"
"… I'll make him wish he was dead," Mordred spat hatefully and sent a glare at Darius. He had never been as filled with rage as he was now. If Darius had done something to Eris, torturing him for a thousand years wouldn't be enough.
Darius hiccuped.
Reida said, "Oh my, what bloodlust... Darius, did you touch the girl?"
"I… I have nothing to do with this!"
The old woman let out a tired sigh as she looked at him. "Darius, I'm a Water God. You can't lie in front of me."
Water God Style users were masters of reading other people's emotions. It was a part of the style as they learned how to analyze their opponent to predict their movements.
Darius opened and closed his mouth with a goldfish a few times, before saying, "I-I didn't! I did as God said! But this person is going to kill me! And he's someone from the Kingdragon Kingdom! You have to kill him, Reida!!!"
Reida looked relieved; perhaps if Darius did rape the girl, she could no longer bare to keep protecting him. She looked at Mordred, saying, "So he didn't. If that's the case, will you still pursue him?"
Mordred let out a breath and shook his head. "No. I'm not interested in killing him. I only want to bring Eris back."
As much as he felt disgust for someone like Darius and wanted to erase him from the surface of this world if he could, it wasn't worth making the Water God his enemy for it. All he cared about was getting Eris out safely.
Reida looked at Darius. "You heard him. I don't want to kill a young talent like that boy, so just release the girl."
Darius hesitated, then said, "But… My future will be ruined!"
The girl he captured was a young lady of the Boreas family, a high-ranking noble family. She was locked up in his dungeon and already saw everything inside. Darius had even mocked her and told her what he'll do to her later…
Other nobles would not care if he had underage sex slaves, but there were also kidnapped young noble ladies among them! This could never be revealed!
"But you will preserve your life. Run away and hide somewhere. I can make that much possible. It will be repaying an old favour… Although you probably don't remember it."
Darius looked to hesitate as Reida said this, but then it seemed as if he had accepted his fate. "Damn it! I did as the God said, and this is the result! I will never listen to him again!"
Reida remained silent for a moment, before asking, "So where is the girl?"
"She's… in the basement of where I live."
"You heard him, boy." Reida glanced at Mordred meaningfully, then picked up Darius's fat body and leaped away with him, jumping tens of meters into the air to pass over the palace walls.
"Phew…" Seeing Reida disappear with Darius, Mordred let out a breath of relief.
Talk no Jutsu was enough.
Even if he could win, he did not want to kill the Water God here. Should her debt be repaid and Hitogami could no longer use her, it felt like she was a nice and useful person whose death would be a waste.
Perhaps that was why Hitogami wanted to make him rush here to save Eris, fighting the Water God when he should be low on Magic Power and in his weakest state…
Too bad he resolved it with just talking. Hitogami did not even have a chance to witness any of his trump cards nor a fraction of his strength.
'The Man God must be fuming mad.' Mordred smirked.
Furthermore, he just heard from Darius that Eris was safe. That was also a relief.
The chance was high that it was correct and Hitogami was playing some kind of long game.
After all, it isn't like he would die here.
Feeling immensely relieved, Mordred looked at the palace knights, as around 20 of them gathered there by then, and said, "You heard all this! The Prime Minister captured a young lady from a noble family and is responsible for who knows how many crimes! Search his residence!"
The knights were in a daze. Yeah, that's what they should do... But they couldn't just listen to that unknown boy's orders.
A middle-aged man who looked to be a high ranking officer walked out. "We will do as you said. However, could you introduce yourself formally again, please?"
Seeing the man speak politely, Mordred stared at him. thrust his long and shining silver sword into the ground in front of him, saying, "... You can address me as the Lightning God. You don't need to know my name. I'm here to find Eris Boreas Greyrat. If you don't want your palace knights to be annihilated for no reason, bring me to her."
As he rested his hand on the handle of his sword, suddenly a wild surge of energy and red lightning bursted out around him, surrounding him in a frightening pulsating aura several meters wide.
The knight's eyes widened and he subconsciously took a few steps back out of fear.
Once Mordred restrained his aura, the man said, "... I understand. We, the Royal Guards of the Silver Palace of Asura, will assist you however we can!"
Being the number one potential enemy of the entire Asura Kingdom as the Magic Power Miko of Kingdragon, Mordred would rather not confirm Darius's words and directly reveal his name, since it would only make things more complicated.
That day, the name of the Lightning God first began to spread.