I Planned a Su*cide Mission and Got Kicked Out of the Party

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Anyway, Jeongjae, unaware of the context of Margaret’s letter, found himself in a situation of panic and restlessness. A sudden message arriving via a high-class mana machine. It couldn’t be perceived as meaningless.

“Is that all? I’ll visit soon, sorry for being late, is that it?”

Jenis tilted her head. Jeongjae paced around his office in a frenzy as he responded.

“You know it’s not a spell designed for long messages. But this is… so unique it’s almost bizarre.”

“Bizarre? Maybe the professor just started missing you out of nowhere.”

“This letter came from Eramenia. It’s quite a distance to Harriet’s Territory. No, more importantly, it’s critical that Margaret just happened to be in Eramenia at this time.”

“Princess Margaret is originally from Barog. Doesn’t that make it particularly important?”

“But Margaret doesn’t just casually leave the frontline to go all the way to the Fairy Kingdom when she doesn’t have urgent business. There hasn’t been much fighting lately, so she might have a little wiggle room, but I doubt a 400-year-old being would turn back to the Elven Kingdom merely because she’s feeling homesick after missing a few months in her own home.”

“Then she must be looking to bring in additional reinforcements. There’s been growing talk about needing Eramenia’s additional troops.”

“That wouldn’t happen quickly. What I mean is, Margaret definitely has important business. That’s why she went to Eramenia. But in that situation, why would she bother to send a letter using a mechanism from her hometown? This incomprehensible letter?”

“Maybe she just wanted to stop by since she had some free time after her business.”

“I wish it could be that simple… No, no, it’s not. I have a very ominous feeling about this. Putting together the feelings I’ve had for some time, it’s definitely indicating something is about to happen. For sure!”

“Calm down, Baron. You’re shaking.”

Hearing Jenis’s worried tone, Jeongjae looked down at his hands as if he just realized his condition. Jenis gently held his wrist and lifted it.

Even though she was holding him, Jeongjae’s hands trembled like a lost mouse.

“If your professor’s ominous feeling is right, are you afraid of the incoming battle, Professor?”

“Don’t take me lightly. I wouldn’t say I’ve lived on the battlefield my whole life, but still, I’ve been living in a war zone for several years in this world.”

“There’s no reason for you to be afraid of fighting, is there?”

“If you’re going to babble like that, then let go of my hand and step back.”

Jeongjae reacted overly sensitively, which was unlike him. Jenis seemed to have noticed something, given how he usually rarely spoke harshly unless provoked.

“What happened at Non-Member?”

“I killed them! Yeah, I killed them all. Every single one of them! Not a single living being was left, not even a breath! I took care of it all with a single magic circle of simplification! Walter Hellhound told me to take responsibility. He told me to feel a sense of responsibility! Well, kid, are you satisfied with that answer now?”

The light faded from Jeongjae’s eyes. His empty gaze seemed to contain only raw mana, devoid of a human soul. Jenis took a step back, overwhelmed by the murderous mana emanating from the Grand Mage.

Park Jeongjae, who had looked dazed for a moment, blinked his eyes back to reality after seeing Jenis’s frightened expression.

“Mi… I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Jenis. Just a minute, give me a moment. I didn’t mean to…”

“You’ve always been surrounded by those stronger than yourself, haven’t you, Professor?”

Jenis spoke calmly. Jeongjae sank down into his seat, nodding his head.

“That’s always been the case. I’ve never been weaker, but I’ve never been the strongest.”

“But here, you are the strongest, Professor.”

Jenis’s words made Jeongjae’s insides churn. He is the strongest. He is the one responsible for this place. Only him. The hope of this territory, the one responsible for this territory, Walter Hellhound…

“The reason I just got angry at you is…”

Jeongjae muttered.

“Is it because you’re weaker than me? The frustration of being oppressed in front of stronger beings burst out simply because you are weaker than me? I’m not that…”

“You’re not a coward, Professor.”

Jenis answered in place of him. Jeongjae shook his head.

“How can you say that?”

“I’m just a bit weak. Just a bit. A whole lot, actually. But right now, you have to stand up. If you don’t get up now, you’ll never stand again. My lord. What threat is approaching us? What are we up against, and how should we fight?”

“I have to… protect these people.”

Jeongjae spoke in a voice filled with compulsion. Jenis corrected his statement.

“That’s an important issue, yes. But first, let’s focus on something else.”

“Something else? Are you talking about crushing the enemy?”

“No, my lord. That’s something to think about later. What I mean is, let them fight. At the very least, make them willing to fight. Right now, you’re the only one who can do that on this land.”

Jeongjae glared at his disciple as if he couldn’t bring himself to accept Jenis’s words for a moment. But as he sensed her sincerity in her gaze, he nodded and closed his mouth.

“I need to check on Huck. And this time, I must see beyond the sea. I need to prepare for war immediately. The only reason Margaret sent this letter is that.”

“But are you really sure? Are you truly convinced that it’s not just because the princess wanted to see you but that something urgent is happening?”

“Margaret is not a woman who wastes her energy on useless things. I can trust her with my life in that regard. Truly.”

In fact, Jeongjae had once planned a mission where he put his life in Margaret’s hands. What came back was her tears and anger, but the fact that he trusted this Elven Princess deeply remained unchanged.

That’s why he could sense a crisis merely from her vague message. It’s a conclusion derived from the strange foreboding he originally felt, but underlined by his faith in Margaret.

Jeongjae hurriedly rushed out of his office, jesting to meet the village chief, who was still supervising the construction of the barricade at the shore. Jenis, who watched Jeongjae for a while, instead of following him, slowly walked over to his desk and picked up the letter Margaret had sent.

With unknown reasons, a bit of strength seeped into Jenis’s hand as she held the letter. Realizing she’d slightly crumpled the high-quality paper used by fairies, Jenis slowly set the letter back down.

“What does it feel like to be trusted by someone like her, Princess?”

Jenis murmured softly.

“It seems I still look like a child. In terms of skill or anything else.”

Muttering quietly and feeling slightly downcast, Jenis shook her head and slapped her cheeks a few times with her palm.

“Why am I acting like this? The professor is weak right now. It’s the time for me to be more vigilant.”

Jenis hurriedly opened the office door, chasing after Jeongjae. By the time Jenis reached the coast, Jeongjae was already running madly towards the shore with a look as if he had lost his mind.

Gasping for breath, he was greeted by the guards who were busy making barricades and the village chief at the water’s edge.

“Huck, Huck! Please step back for a moment! I absolutely have to see something, something I need to confirm with my own eyes… Let’s talk after it’s over, alright?”

“Y-yes, yes… Understood. Everyone, step back! The Baron has ordered you to step back!”

Without waiting for the guards to move away completely, Jeongjae tremblingly pulled out a scroll and began to read it up and down.

The Observational Spell scroll. Normally, it’s a spell that activates smoothly without a scroll, but today’s Observational Spell is considerably large and massive. The mana consumption would be enormous.

Jeongjae couldn’t be certain how much more his body could endure.

Throwing the scroll up into the air, Jeongjae began to chant the spell.

“My two eyes are here, but a thousand eyes are in the sky, and ten thousand eyes are in the sea.”

As the scroll soared through the air, it responded to Jeongjae’s incantation and burned to ashes. At the moment the scroll disappeared, a giant magic circle appeared before Jeongjae, nearly the size of Harriet Castle.

The form of the magic circle had a geometrical shape that was hard to describe, somewhere between three-dimensional and flat, but everyone around could clearly recognize the symbol in the center of the magic circle.

It was a giant eye. An eye the size of a person.

“My eye pierces the enemy’s most precious things and looks upon the secrets they wish to hide the most. Mana, awaken your eyes.”

The eyeball in the middle of the magic circle glowed blue and shot a huge beam toward the sea. At first glance, it resembled a type of offensive magic. действительно, if one were to have a power level sufficient to deal with low-level demon armies, a few unfortunate demons could be obliterated on the spot.

Of course, that’s not the usual property of the Observation Spell. It’s just that this particular Observation Spell was abnormally strong to be able to exert offensive effects.

Jeongjae closed his eyes and synchronized his mental power with the mana of the summoned magic circle.

He could see. It began to come into view. For now, just an infinite sea, nothing but water.

Several uninhabited islands drifted by in the sea, and oh, a tree struck his Observation Spell, turning into ashes. Nonetheless, his beam continued to surge across the sea.

Dozens of kilometers. Hundreds of kilometers. Eventually, as it passed over a thousand kilometers, it began to cross into the Demon King’s territory.

Minor mana barriers obstructed his beam. Stealth spells and trap spells attempted to extinguish or bend his beam in the middle of the sea, but Jeongjae’s Observation Spell did not yield, maintaining its straight course.

Soon, the coast beyond the sea began to come into view. It was more of a port than a coast. And in that port, lying at the port was…

“Kraken!”

Jeongjae suddenly screamed, collapsing backward. The defensive magic used by the powerful sea monster shattered the magic circle of Observation, and naturally, his beam vanished in an instant, as if someone had turned off a switched fluorescent light.

As if struck by his own spell, Jeongjae fell back, shutting his eyes. Kraken, Kraken, Kraken.

The name of the mighty sea monster kept echoing in his mouth. Even with his eyes closed, he couldn’t forget the scene he just witnessed. Ships, enormous ships. And atop them, the demon army ready to board.

The vision was vague, yet it grew certain.

Just as Jeongjae collapsed, Huck, the village chief, rushed over, catching him with his body. Other guards also swarmed around Jeongjae, trying to support him, but he was so drained from the recoil of magic that he couldn’t muster the strength to stand up.

Jenis arrived breathlessly at the shore just in time.

“Professor! Professor!”

“A, Your Grace. The Baron just cast some sort of great magic, and now he’s lost consciousness…”

Jeongjae hadn’t completely lost consciousness yet, but he began to fade in and out, blinking as if hovering at the edge between fainting and waking.

“Professor, focus, Professor! What on earth have you done?”

“I saw it… I saw it.”

“What? What did you see? Wake up. Get up so we can talk…”

“Warships! Get ready for war immediately! They won’t take two weeks to arrive!”

Jeongjae shouted almost like a scream, then fell into complete unconsciousness. The threat was now beginning to materialize in the eyes of all those involved.