Unsealing Emptiness

While Old Gu called for these unknown four people, Alver, followed by Lammert and Elsug slowly gathered around the representative of the Mercenary Guild.

Alver was the first to talk, “Winston, spill it whatever you know about this guy.”

Behind him, Lammert and Elsug didn’t say anything but their stern gaze asked the representative of the Mercenary Guild the same question.

Alver was also worried like other leaders, but he was also curious about how this old man was related to his nephew as they had arrived here together. And looking in Ozul’s direction, he noticed that he was perfectly calm and collected as if whatever was happening had nothing to do with him.

However, even in this situation, he couldn’t just go and ask Ozul in front of everyone. So instead he asked this man named Winston. Although they were all Rank-9 Mages, Winston, as the representative of the organization that had access to all the continent, usually knew more than others.

However, Winston could only shake his head in dismay. Whatever was happening was out of his mind and reasoning.

.....

He had never heard about this old man who could so casually overpower the entire Neutral Lands with his aura alone!

One thing that everyone agreed on was that this old man was not something they could handle and only other Rank-10 Mages could contain him.

Just as all of them had sighed in relief because the old man had retracted his aura, a fiery aura enveloped the whole area again. Though it wasn’t as bad as the old man’s, this aura was enough to start suffocating everyone again.

And if it wasn’t enough, three more auras appeared right after another!

When all of the four auras collided, everyone felt their internal organs being squeezed as if a mountain was put on them!

Electric sparks, fiery embers, and light particles would occasionally be seen with the entire ground shaking as if there was an earthquake.

Looking at this phenomenon occurring over such a large area, Alver, Lammert, Winston, and Elsug suddenly had an inkling of what might be happening.

However, before they could finish their thoughts,

“Hoho~ You brats have certainly grown. But all of you really have grown the balls to be so bold now, eh?”

. . .

They heard Old Gu say it casually to the empty air, but the result was before everyone. The four auras suddenly disappeared as if they were never really there in the first place!

“H-haha... they are someone else-” Winston, the Mercenary Guild representative muttered, and Lammert, along with Alver and Elsug, nodded in agreement.

The people they had in mind would never listen to anyone who talked to them in that tone.

However, what they would have never expected to happen did. Because the four figures that appeared around the old man in the air were exactly the people that they had in their mind!

“Grandmother Ciro...”

“Ancestor Darcia...”

“Ancestor Gladis...”

“Grandfather Kure...”

Emperor Elsug, Archbishop Lammert, Winston, and Alver respectively muttered in shock as they recognized their ancestors!

Their astonishment was to such an extreme degree that they even forgot to pay their respects by immediately bowing their heads.

They were the first and only ones to recognize the four old figures that appeared in the sky surrounding the old man whose smiling face was by now getting on everyone’s nerves.

Ozul also wondered about the identities of the two old women and two old men in the air. All four of them had a mysterious air around them and their faces showed no emotions.

Even with such a distance between them, he noticed how all four of them had glanced at the ground once before returning their gaze back to Old Gu. When he followed the direction they had looked in, he was surprised to see Alver, Lammert, Elsug, and that representative of the Mercenary Guild dropped on one knee, showing respect to the four figures in the air!

A few others who also noticed the four of them were surprised, but the rest of the Rank-9 Mages realized what might be happening. If even these four leaders of the most prominent factions in the entire continent of Egon were paying their respect, then the identities of the four people in the air weren’t hard to guess.

While everyone was either shocked or passed out because of the earlier pressure, Ozul had a slightly different question,

‘... Old Gu called these four as brats?’

He was also surprised by their appearance as he had heard that the number of Rank-10 Mages on the entire continent of Egon could be counted on one hand. That meant that these four old ancestors might be the only Rank-10 Mages alive on the continent as of now!

However, what intrigued him more was the way Old Gu called them. And not only that, when the old man had pointed out their rude behavior, they had even retracted their auras!

If anything, it spoke volumes of how Old Gu was even more mysterious than he had thought previously.

‘Can people even breakthrough above Rank-10...?’ Ozul contemplated while keeping his eyes and ears fixed on the five old fellows in the air. He would have joined them as well, but he was too lazy now that he already had a comfortable seat to sit on.

His doubts were not unfounded. He knew that he himself was stronger than Rank-9 Mages, but how he would contend against a Rank-10 had yet to be seen.

Previously meeting with Old Gu, he only had his suspicion that this old man might not simply be a Rank-10 because he couldn’t sense anything from him. He was doubtful because he didn’t know if he would be able to sense a Rank-10’s power or not.

But now that four Rank-10 Mages were surrounding Old Gu, it became evident that this old man was different because the power of these four ancestors was as clear as water in front of Ozul!

‘All of them are strong...’ Ozul realized that he would have a hard time fighting any one of the four ancestors. He might not even be able to win.

As much as this would have frustrated him before, he felt unusually calm about it.

Instead, he was more focused on finding the identity of Old Gu. Previously Ozul might have doubted that he was a Rank-10 and only used some special artifact that hid his Mana even from him.

However, that thought was out of the way now.

“So... who are you...” Ozul muttered as he gave up mulling over the thought and focused on listening instead.

Up in the air, the four Rank-10 ancestors continued to stare coldly at Old Gu without saying a word.

“Hu~? Don’t tell me all of you are irritated that I called you brats? Kuhu!” Old Gu snickered as he noticed the four of them glaring at him.

There were no noticeable changes in their expressions, but the old man with a straight back and short black hair spoke, “Why are you here again...”

“Oh~? You didn’t miss me?” Old Gu shook his head sideways, showing his disappointment, and then continued, “Well, the time is near again. If I didn’t do my job, would you instead? Gahaha! How long has it been that your lazy old asses came out in the sun again?”

Hearing his words brought different reactions to everyone on the site.

People who could listen to their conversation on the ground were astounded by how casual and ill-mannered this old man’s words were.

On the other hand, the four ancestors were surprised and a glint flashed through their eyes as they scanned the ground to look at their successors.

Tsk Tsk!

“Do you all even know how long you were in seclusion? Those four that you see down there are way past the age limit,” Old Gu tsked with a grinning face.

It was almost as if he wanted someone to get angry at him and then create a scene so he could get some fun out of it.

“Anyway, I just called all of you out because I know how scary you all are to the youngins down below. They probably wouldn’t have disturbed you,” Old Gu talked as if he cared more about their descendants than them.

His words caused their eyes to twitch in annoyance, but before they could say anything, Old Gu continued, “Since all of you are here, I will start the announcement. Do you all have anything to say before that?”

The four ancestors shook their heads simultaneously and got out of the way.

Kahum!

Old Gu cleared his throat before crossing his hands behind his now straightened back.

“This is an announcement to everyone in the Neutral Lands. In the span of five years, all of you move your houses, business, or whatever property you have here in these Lands and migrate past the Desolate Borders. I think five years are enough of a time to do that, no?”

Old Gu’s tone didn’t seem like he was joking. He spoke very casually, but it was as if the winds were helping him, his words entered the ears of every living being in the Neutral Lands.

With a little pause, he continued, “If in the span of these five years, you failed to move out or tried to hide here in hopes of never being found out, you will be responsible for the consequences. That is all everyone should know for now. Have a good day, everyone~”

From the cold and merciless tone previously, his attitude took a 360-degree turn at the last sentence, bringing confusing feelings to the heart of every listener.