A Villainous Aristocrat’s Pursuit of Peace ~ Reincarnated as the Most Talented Mage in History, I’ll Achieve Supremacy in order to live a peaceful life with My Maid~

I continued walking down the hallway while carrying Rud. Well, when I say walking, it was more like moving at a speed faster than any human in my previous life.

In fact, that hallway was filled with various traps. Aside from the usual pitfalls and arrow traps, there were magical traps that sealed spells and traps that summoned monsters, and so on…

However, such obvious and deadly traps that anyone would trigger—

“—[Multiple Barriers][Time Acceleration][Destruction]!”

While Rud was unconscious, I took advantage of the situation and layered multiple barrier, time, and destruction spells. No matter how many axes fell or flames raged, everything was defeated before my barriers.

“Phew… Carrying someone while moving is really tough… but it’s more convenient this way, so I won’t wake him up,” I thought.

Rudolph still didn’t know about my exceptional magical abilities, so I couldn’t use them too freely when he was conscious. Well, I did have better stamina than the average wizard due to having trained in swordsmanship for almost ten years, but compared to a real swordsman, I was quite weak. So, I honestly didn’t want to run.

“Just how many of these are there…” I sighed, feeling frustrated by the seemingly endless traps. But I pushed on, trying to divert my thoughts to the reward that awaited me after all this.

“Hey, wake up, Rudolph! How long do you plan on sleeping!?” I shouted.

“Huh!?” Rudolph jolted awake.

I had been walking for about two hours after that, and finally reached our destination before waking Rudolph up. This guy… he hadn’t woken up for the entire two hours. In fact, he hadn’t even stirred, so I had to call Shade again just to make sure no magic was affecting him.

“You’ve got it easy, Rudolph. Making a ducal heir like me carry you for a straight two hours,” I grumbled.

“Uh, well… I’m really sorry, Jin-sama,” Rudolph stammered.

Rudolph initially tried to come up with excuses, but he couldn’t withstand my stern gaze and demeanor, so he ended up apologizing sincerely.

“Well, it’s fine… but next time, you’ll carry luggage for two people,” I said.

“What!? That’s not happening! There’s no way I can physically handle that!” Rudolph protested.

By the way, what we were discussing was the task of carrying luggage when the four of us – me, Mea, Rudolph, and Sasha – go shopping. As Rudolph pointed out, Mea and Sasha, especially Sasha, tend to buy a ton of stuff. Well, most of it isn’t for themselves, but rather for their future together.

It seems that Rud and Sasha’s parents were close friends, and even though they came from different backgrounds, with one being a commoner and the other a noble, they had promised to marry each other. Well, in return, Rud intended to renounce his noble status and live as a commoner. He was starting preparations for that.

Honestly, I was incredibly envious. You know, my former fiancée was the worst, right? Compared to that, Rud and Sasha were on a completely different level.

“Most of this stuff is for your future wife anyway, so it doesn’t make much of a difference,” I remarked.

“Well, yeah, but… I understand. I’ll do it next time.” Rud slumped his shoulders and nodded.

“By the way,” he asked, looking around the small room that seemed to be the destination, “why did we come here? There must be some reason, right?”

Well, to be fair, this place was just a dimly lit room with no furniture or anything. It’s no wonder he didn’t understand why we were here. However, there was a weapon here that could be called Jin’s exclusive.

“My weapon is here,” I replied.

“Your weapon? But this place was built hundreds of years ago, right? So, how can it be your weapon? Besides, I don’t see any weapons here at all,” Rud said, giving me a pitying look.

Irritated by his gaze, I released my magical power without saying a word. However, my released Mana was immediately sucked into a small hole in the middle of the room.

“What are you doing? Suddenly releasing mana—!”

As Rud was speaking, the room suddenly made a loud noise and rotated halfway.

“Whoa! Jin, if you’re going to do something like that, at least give me a heads up!”

“Stop making so much noise. It’s your fault for looking at me with pity,” I retorted, and despite our banter, our attention was fixated on one thing.

As a result of the room’s rotation, a small chamber emerged, and at the back of the room, embedded in the ground and connected by several chains, was a single staff. It was about two meters long and entirely built in jet black. From the staff and chains emanated a sinister, reddish-black Mana.

The name of this weapon was the “Staff of Calamity.” In the game, its rarity was unmatched, with only about ten of its kind existing in the entire game world.

This staff was once wielded by a sorcerer who was said to have plunged the world into calamity. In the game, it was undisputedly one of the most powerful magic weapons. It had three abilities in total, and even its weakest ability doubled the power of magic.

It was, without a doubt, overpowered.

However, players couldn’t use it, and it eventually found its way into Jin’s hands—the weapon that truly suited me.

“From today onwards, I am your new master. Come forth, ‘Staff of Calamity.'”

As I poured more magic into it, the chains started to crumble away, and the staff that had been embedded in the ground began to levitate. A vast amount of magical energy swirled around, erasing the surrounding objects.

However, as I approached, it flew directly under me in a straight line.

“Whoa, watch out—”

“It’s okay.”

Rud voiced his concern, so I reassured him and held my hand in front of me. The staff stopped neatly, reshaping itself into a small ring for my convenience. Then, the ring slid onto my index finger.

“All right, with this, the contract is complete. What’s wrong, Rud?”

Rud, who had been dazed with his mouth slightly open, snapped back to consciousness at my voice and shouted so loudly it felt like my eardrums might burst.

“No, I have no idea what’s going on! Can’t you explain properly, Jin!?”

…Yeah, he had a point.

For the next hour or so, I desperately explained everything. Needless to say, there were quite a few precarious moments along the way.