Arumanfi left, disappearing as suddenly as he previously appeared.
It seemed that he wanted to bring Mordred to Perugius. Perhaps it was to interrogate him more because he was suspicious, but he didn't care. It was good he could make more connections and perhaps meet Nanahoshi.
In the meantime, he summoned Arthur's armor to make himself look more presentable.
Eris looked at Mordred and muttered, "Does this mean we're going to meet Perugius?"
Mordred lightly smiled at her. "It seems so."
"Woah. That's amazing…"
"Is it?"
"Yes! Perugius is one of the three heroes that defeated Demon God Laplace! He's really, really strong, leading 12 followers in the sky fortress to Laplace's base!"
Eris looked very excited.
Mordred chuckled. "Okay. Just make sure to not be rude when we meet him."
"Eh? Got it!"
In the meantime, seeing that followers of Perugius took interest in Mordred, Paul stepped aside.
Seeing Paul's depressed state, Mordred spoke up to him. "Mr. Paul."
"Hm?" Paul looked at him.
"Your family will be found. I will help with this!"
"What?" Paul was surprised.
"I will use the resources of the Kingdragon Kingdom to search for them."
Paul was startled, muttering, "Why would you go so far…"
Mordred replied instead, looking straight at him, "Because Rudeus is my friend. And also, Rudeus is special, so his fate is surely strong. There's a high chance that your entire family is safe. So don't worry. They'll all be found with time."
"Is that… how it is…"
After his attempt at calming down Paul, Mordred waited patiently with Eris.
Given how he thought of Rudeus's family, then perhaps Hilda and Philip were hopefully also safe this time around. After all, in this world they and Eris are the closest family he had.
Not long later, Arumanfi returned. In his hands were several golden batons.
Arumanfi looked at Mordred and said, "Lord Perugius agrees with your hypothesis. He became interested and wishes to meet you in person. He'll appear here shortly."
"Oh…" Mordred was slightly surprised.
So it wasn't them being brought to the Sky Fortress like in the novel but Perugius coming down… He only wondered where Nanahoshi and Orsted were currently, and whether Orsted in Fitoa.
"Master is generous, but please try to behave yourselves."
"I understand."
"Got it," Eris said seriously.
As they waited there, the golden batons in his hands soon began to shake.
Then with a flash of white light people appeared.
There were several of them, 6 with Arumanfi, all wearing animal-masks.
And among them stood a tall middle-aged man in bulky white armor.
His hair was silver. His facial features were sharp and jaw square, accompanied by a short white beard. His overwhelming presence exuded dignity and strength.
Mordred's eyes focused on that frightening-looking man. 'Perugius…'
The middle-aged man also fixated his sight on Mordred; it was a sharp gaze that would make a normal person shudder.
In the meantime, the people with animal masks surrounded the man and silently bowed toward him, making him appear even more authoritative and majestic.
Mordred forced himself to remain calm. He did the Kingdragon royals' greeting, touching his armored chest and slightly bowing toward the man. "Mordred Kingdragon."
"... Eris Boreas Greyrat, it's nice to meet you!" Eris made a bow of the Asuran nobility she learned while looking at Perugius with an amazed expression.
However, she didn't have a skirt but pants, so she looked even more troubled and awkward than normal.
The man didn't seem to mind it
Still looking at Mordred, he said, "I am Armored Dragon King Perugius Dola. I know who you are. Mordred Kingdragon, the 16th Prince of Kingdragon. Your mother was a slave and you're one of many, but you were born with great Magic Power. You mastered Advanced rank Magic before 3, you became Saint ranked in all four types of Attack Magic at 5, and at 7 reached King rank. You are that same ridiculous Prince, are you not?"
"You know a lot about me…" Mordred was surprised. He felt it wasn't something that Perugius learned just now but remembered by heart.
"I do. I suspected that you might be the reincarnation of Laplace, so I already investigated you. Of course, you have nothing to do with Laplace. You're just a human with more talent for Magic than I had ever heard of."
"Ah, yes... You can also add to it awakening Battle Aura and becoming a Sword Saint at 8," Mordred replied nonchalantly, nodding.
Seeing a different reply than he expected and Mordred being so casual about all this, Perugius laughed out in amusement. "Ha! Is that the case? Then my information was not complete."
Mordred smiled back, then replied, "Yes, I'm the youngest sword saint ever. Very handsome. And a very modest person too."
Next to him, Eris nodded her head thrice with a serious face as if to confirm all this.
Perugius looked amused at Mordred's joking tone. "Haha. People of your birth and talent tend to grow arrogant. It's refreshing to see someone I can converse with as two human beings. Now tell me, what is someone from the Kingdragon family doing here in Asura?"
His deep voice was quite warm, but it still sounded frightening.
However, Mordred knew that Perugius is actually a pretty nice guy and he's kind to people he likes, so he knew that there was no reason to be afraid. He tried to maintain his bearing.
"My original goal was to train under the Water God and Sword God, that's why I came to Asura. I then learned that Black Wolf Ghislaine was staying in Roa and came here first. After that, I stayed with the Boreas family for a year, being trained in Sword God Style by Sword King Ghislaine," Mordred explained without hiding anything.
Perugius added, "And so you ended up being caught up in this Mana Calamity. Where were you teleported?"
"... To the north of the Central Continent, behind the Red Dragon Mountain Range," Mordred replied vaguely after considering it.
Perugius raised his eyebrows. "Behind the Red Dragon Mountain Range? Then how did you return so quickly?"
"I can fly."
"You can fly? How?" Perugius stared at him, surprised and curious.
"It's a technique I developed. It uses a combination of Gravity Magic and Magic Power Propulsion."
"That's interesting. And with the Mana Calamity stopping right after reaching you, it seems that your Magic Power was enough to complete the Summoning Magic happening here... Just to make sure, were you behind all this?"
"No."
After Mordred gave his reply, Perugius turned toward one of his followers.
The follower said, "Lord Perugius, he's telling the truth. He hasn't said a single lie yet."
"I see." Perugius expressionlessly turned back to Mordred.
'Oh…' Mordred understood that one of Perugius's familiars apparently has the ability to detect lies; it's good he avoided telling straight lies until now. Him saying that he was handsome and modest; neither was a lie too!
Perugius said, "Then this has nothing to do with you. Is there anything else useful you can tell me?"
Mordred pondered for a moment, then said, "There was a strange orb floating above Roa before this. Sauros Boreas Greyrat, the liege lord of Fittoa, once told me that it has already been there for several years. However, the orb was there and didn't do anything for years."
Perugius appeared interested. "There was such a thing? If this orb you spoke off was still here, then we would have already discovered it. It's possible that the Summoning Ritual here had already begun years in advance…"
At this time, Paul interjected, "Summoning Ritual? What do you mean by this?"
Perugius didn't seem very happy with the interjection, but he still replied while faintly glancing at Paul, "What happened here was the after-effect of high level Summoning Magic. That's why affected people were teleported to random places. I came here because I thought that it might be the doing of someone associated with Laplace."
Mordred was silent.
Perugius fully turned back to Mordred and Eris. "From what you said, this has nothing to do with you. What do you plan to do next?"
"Well, first I'll have to find a safe place for Eris… Then I'll need to begin searching for her family," Mordred said and then looked at Eris.
Eris bit her lower lip.
Perugius said, "You two seem to be close."
"We are." Mordred looked at him and faintly smiled as he took hold of Eris's hand to show him what he meant. Hopefully, Perugius would invite them in after seeing this.
Eris was surprised at first, then clasped Mordred's hand with a determined expression.
Perugius raised his eyebrows. He faintly smiled, then said, "I understand now. How about this – the two of you must have nowhere to stay, so you can come with me to my Fortress for a while until your family returns."
"Woah, really?!" Eris's eyes began to shine.
"Thank you." Mordred lowered his head.
He was also overjoyed; to even invite them to the Sky Fortress, it seemed that Perugius had really taken an interest in him.
It probably helped being a kid with talent! Perugius was originally much more on guard in front of late-teenage Rudeus.
Perugius nodded, his face still stern. "However, don't ever think of unleashing your Magic Power in my Fortress. You'll regret it."
It was a clear warning.
"Hm? I didn't plan to," Mordred replied clearly.
"Good. I like smart kids," said Perugius. It seemed that smart kids were ones that didn't try to defy him. "We'll be returning. Arumanfi, take care of the rest with Sylvaril."
"Understood, Lord Perugius."
Arumanfi disappeared with the light after saying these words.
A few seconds later, he returned with two golden batons.
Following that, Perugius and the other familiars disappeared as if teleported away.
Arumanfi then handed Mordred one of the batons.
The item was around 20 cm long, some intricate patterns engraved on its surface and a magic crystal nested on both ends.
Eris also received one.
"Hold this," said Arumanfi. "Hold it tight and don't let go. Lord Perugius will use Teleportation Magic to bring you to the Sky Fortress."
"I understand."
"Got it!" said Eris.
"Now just wait a moment." Arumanfi disappeared into the light.
'Reporting back to start the summoning, I guess,' Mordred thought.
Eris commented, "Teleportation Magic! How amazing!"
Mordred smiled at her. "Aren't you scared?"
In this world Teleportation Magic was a taboo field. It was forbidden to research Teleportation Magic and people were afraid of it, all because of rumors of Mana Disasters and accidents that it supposedly caused in the past.
"I'm fine if I'm with Mordred," said Eris.
Suddenly, Arumanfi appeared there once again. He looked at Mordred. "Lord Perugius urges you to not resist, otherwise the teleportation might fail."
"Okay."
Soon enough, Mordred began to feel heat coming from the baton.
First, Eris disappeared.
Then about two to three seconds later, Mordred felt his consciousness being sucked into the baton.
In the next moment, he found himself in a completely white world.
It was a white space with nothing in it.
He seemed to be flying toward something in the distance, being pulled in.
In the next moment, a light appeared before him - a sophisticated Magic Circle that sucked him in.
When he returned to his senses, he was standing on solid ground again.
Eris was with him and began to immediately look around with an excited face.
"Wow…"
Far in front of them was a gigantic castle, taller than a 50-floor skyscraper.
Having acknowledged that, Mordred's attention was attracted by the giant Magic Circle below their feet.
It was a complicated Magic Circle with a 10 meter radius. It was carved directly in the marble-like floor, with water gushing throughout that shone with a faint light.
"Oh. What an amazing Magic Circle…"
"Mordred, look at the castle!!! It's amazing!" said Eris.
Mordred raised his head. It was wide and sturdy, far bigger than he imagined - bigger than both the royal castle in Wyvern and Ars, bigger than any galleries or castles on Earth.
In front of the castle was an equally large garden. Trees of all kinds and flowers of all colors planted everywhere like a maze.
Before the garden a small river shone under the sun.
Mordred turned around. Outside the Magic Circle, behind a golden fence was a sea of clouds. It was a shocking sight, but he was already used to traveling among the clouds with his own body, so it failed to arouse any waves in his heart.
"Welcome to Sky Fortress Chaos Breaker, dear guests."
An unfamiliar figure appeared behind them, right in front of the Magic Circle.
It was a female in a white robe and with a magic staff. Her hair was golden-white, draping down her shoulders, and she wore a white bird mask that covered the top half of her face. From behind her back grew out a pair of black wings.
She was one of the people that appeared with Perugius back on the ground.
"Mordred Kingdragon," Mordred introduced himself without moving, touching his chest.
"Eris Boreas Greyrat, it's nice to meet you." Eris made another awkward bow.
The winged female slightly smiled and bowed her head. "It's an honor to have you come. I am the first Servant of Lord Perugius, Sylvaril of the Void. Please allow me to lead you to Sky Fortress Chaos Breaker."
Her movements were well practiced and words polite.
"You're one of Perugius's spirit familiars who fought Demon God Laplace? How cool!" Eris looked excited.
Sylvaril smiled. "Yes, I am one of Lord Perugius's servants, but unlike the others, I'm not a spirit. I'm merely of the Heaven Race."
"Heaven Race? That's also cool!!!" Eris replied.
Sylvaril chuckled happily; she seemed pleased with Eris's honest attitude.
Mordred commented, "You did seem different from the others."
"You've noticed?"
"Somewhat."
"At any rate, this way, please."
Sylvaril turned and began walking forward without a sound. Her head almost without any bobble. With her legs covered in the gown, she moved like a ghost.
Mordred and Eris began to follow, toward the Sky Fortress of Perugius.
By the look of things, Orsted might have not been here yet this time around, but after coming to the Fortress, he had a safe place to leave Eris in, so he felt glad. Perhaps Nanahoshi was here as well.
***
***
***
Name: Perugius Dola
Titles: Armored Dragon King
Age: 400+
Strength: ?
Endurance: ?
Agility: ?
Mana: ?
[Silver Dragon Gate (Magic Power) B]
[Golden Dragon Gate (Battle Aura) B]
[Demon-Severing God Beam A]
[Dragon Physique B]
[Twelve Familiars C+]
[Sky Fortress: Chaos Breaker EX]
Summoning, Teleportation and Barrier Magic: God rank
Other types: Saint-King rank
Unknown.