The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success
Chapter 123

That’s it!

The force was unbelievable—blinding speed and terrifying power.

Even to me, someone who didn’t know a thing about physical combat, it was immediately clear: He’s not an ordinary human.

Thick veins bulged from the High Priest’s previously thin-looking arms.

“Khuhk!”

Kiaros struck the High Priest’s pressure point with lightning speed—but a flash of confusion crossed his face.

“What’s wrong? Shocked at the idea that a Dragonblood might actually die at the hands of a human?”

The High Priest even whispered it smugly, a wicked grin spreading across his lips.

“But don’t be too surprised. I’m practically a Dragonblood myself.”

Even after a direct hit to a vital spot, the High Priest didn’t flinch.

In fact, his grip on Kiaros’s throat only tightened.

Despite his bony, wiry frame, it was nearly impossible to shake him off. His eyes glinted with madness and murderous rage.

But there’s always a stronger experiment above the experiment!

The moment Kiaros slightly furrowed his brow—

“Activate!”

I shouted and launched the attack scroll at the High Priest.

It was one of the scrolls given to me by the Master of the Magic Tower.

I poured all my mana into it and calculated with maximum speed.

Normally, an attack scroll only leaves minor scratches...

“GUAAARGH! AAAAAGH!!”

With a deafening bang, the High Priest was blasted away.

Blood was now smeared across his back and chest.

Panting, I steadied my breathing. As the emptied scrolls fluttered down like leaves, I stared at the High Priest’s ravaged form.

It wasn’t a scratch—it looked more like he’d been shredded by a blade. His ceremonial robes were drenched in blood.

I bolted for the door.

“AAAAAAAAAGH!”

As soon as I opened it, the soundproofing scroll deactivated.

The High Priest’s screams of agony rang through the hallway, and knights stormed in.

“What happened?!”

“Your Highness! Are you all right?!”

They found Kiaros collapsed on the floor, and the High Priest writhing in pain.

They must have been shocked, but Kiaros remained composed. Slowly rising, he gave a crisp command:

“Arrest him immediately for attempted regicide. Judging by the supernatural strength, he’s clearly a subject of the Modification Faction. Cooperate with the Crows.”

“Yes, sir!”

Despite the blood-drenched figure before them, the knights barely blinked.

They probably assumed Kiaros had handled it all. In a calm voice, he added,

“...And for now, everyone out.”

The knights seized the still-screaming High Priest and filed out like the tide receding.

Kiaros slowly turned to me.

His shadow loomed over me.

“Namia Roafi.”

“Y... yes.”

My voice trembled already.

I was afraid to meet his eyes. He asked, in disbelief,

“That scroll—what was it? Since when are attack scrolls that powerful?”

“...”

“And...”

He took another step toward me. I stepped back to maintain the distance.

His eyes darkened as he asked, low and sharp,

“Why did you use it? As if you were certain that I, a Dragonblood, wouldn’t be able to overpower him?”

He was sharp. Painfully sharp. How could he figure all that out so fast...

I glanced up at him with frightened eyes.

“Do you... know I’m in a blackout period?”

I knew he was smart, but I hadn’t realized this smart...

My back finally hit the wall.

Kiaros came to a slow stop. His eyes were filled with confusion.

Honestly, if he’d said, “This woman has strange powers—detain her for investigation!” it wouldn’t have surprised me.

But even now, he was hesitating—afraid of threatening me.

“Your Highness...”

I spoke with a trembling voice.

“I’m sorry... but yes. I am suspicious.”

“What?”

“T-that is... I’m also an experimental subject. I... I didn’t know either, but... my mother... kept doing experiments...”

The words tumbled out in a panicked mess. But Kiaros would understand, I was sure of that.

Still, the more I spoke, the more monstrous I felt.

A test subject who didn’t even know she was one...

“I do know the future. And I do have strange powers.”

“Namia. Wait. You’re shaking. Just breathe, and—”

But I pressed on, wringing out the last of my strength.

“I—I’ll die by my own hand, if I must. I will never let the Empire fall into chaos because of me.”

“Hold on. What are you—”

“Thank you for everything. And please... tell Kibon...”

The moment I said his name, my throat clenched. Tears streamed down.

“Just tell him... I left a letter.”

Then I uttered the final command I’d been holding in my chest:

“Activate.”

The scroll I’d been calculating all along was a movement scroll.

The very same kind Oson once begged me for:

[Namia, make me a movement scroll. Right now. Doesn’t have to be far—just enough to get me outside the palace. Please?]

Back then, I told him it’d be faster to walk thirty centimeters.

But now, I could amplify a scroll’s power thousands of times over.

Focusing all my mind on the destination, I shut my eyes.

Let me see Dad... and the Master of the Tower... just once more...

Whether I died here by Kiaros’s hand or in the middle of the Modification Faction’s lair—it didn’t matter anymore.

There was no middle ground for me.

Living in hiding, pretending to be normal, meant nothing.

I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life fearing when my mother’s experiment results would manifest again.

If I had to choose, I’d charge into the Faction’s base and die after seeing my family one last time.

“Namia—!”

Kiaros shouted, but my body was already engulfed in radiant light.

***

How far did I make it?

I’d poured every last drop of mana into it, setting the destination as the South.

I should be somewhere in the southern region by now, right?

I had a rough idea of where my father and the Master of the Tower might be.

[Namia, I’m diving deep into enemy territory to save my daughter and son-in-law.]

The Master’s letter gave me the clues.

Deep inside enemy territory...

From what I’d heard, the Magic Tower was already vast. So if he described something as “deep and wide,” it had to be massive.

And for a place of that scale to avoid detection by the Crows—

[Once you started suspecting the High Priest, Minister, we deployed Crows to every imperial temple. Until now, we hadn’t interfered due to religious protocols.]

—meant it was a space the Crows couldn’t access.

There was only one answer.

The temple.

The Master of the Tower had said he was headed south.

And the South was home to the largest Grand Temple on the continent.

[Are you currently staying at the Grand Temple of Parens?]

[Yes. I came up for the banquet and stayed at the palace’s temple for ten days. I plan to return to Parens after that.]

That was the very Grand Temple in Parens—the one the High Priest had just left.

I closed my eyes and pictured it.

My mother, who had blindly gone south to undergo experiments...

My father, who sold himself to that same illegal organization.

If I go deep enough into the temple... maybe I’ll find him.

I’d never dared to try before.

I was too afraid of getting hurt. I kept waiting for Kiaros to deploy the Empire’s full power to retrieve my father.

But now, I was desperate.

I had nothing to lose. Honestly, I didn’t care if I died—so I was ready to break through by force.

Let’s go. Smash everything if I have to.

I hadn’t meant to, but I’d become terrifyingly powerful. With an attack scroll in hand, I was afraid of nothing.

Soon after—

My spinning vision began to slow and settle.

That meant the teleportation was nearing its end.

My feet touched solid ground.

“Ah...”

Even though it was November, the air wrapped around me with a distinct southern warmth.

Had [N O V E L I G H T] I arrived at a coastal town in the South? I could hear waves in the distance. And the familiar Southern dialect I’d heard in my childhood...

My eyes flew open.

I had arrived in the South.