Being Enemies with the World

[Many people had entertained the same thought—Magic Users and the other races could coexist peacefully, and even benefit one another.]

At that moment, what flashed through Tales's mind was a conversation from long ago.

It had taken place six years earlier, in Dragoncloud City.

Giza had just vanished beneath Netherworld Edge.

Amid the endless ash, when Tales had sworn to find the Magic Users a new future, the scholar-like, refined Ashida had casually, almost intentionally, said to him:

[Whether Magic Users, humans, or even Elves, there have been countless similar efforts and attempts...]

[They all failed.]

That pleasant voice still rang in his ears, yet the cruel truth before him shook his heart.

They had all failed.

Tales looked solemnly at Sakrael before him, yet he was thinking of another figure.

Ashida.

Just how much... have you hidden from me?

Eighteen years ago, what exactly did you and Giza, along with... the rest of you, do?

"His Majesty made a Covenant with the Calamities?" Talding said incredulously amid the absolute silence.

"Qi and blood? Oh, I remember—the Blood Bottle Gang, right..." Nai murmured pensively.

Their voices broke the silence, and the stunned crowd began speaking one after another.

Amid the uproar, Little Barney suddenly stepped forward and shouted:

"Silence!"

The noisy Dungeon instantly fell quiet.

Little Barney's expression remained rigid, but Tales could see the turbulent emotions hidden beneath his composed exterior.

Little Barney said coldly, "Is that all?"

"The Three Calamities Alliance?"

Across from him, the Execution Knight withdrew his gaze from Tales. As if immersed in his own world, he murmured:

"Those Calamities... they meant us no good. They cared even less about Starfall's future. They only wanted to use the Kingdom to achieve their own purposes, never mind what kind of misfortune and disaster they would leave