Payback: Isekai

[Prologue] Another Dimension

"My lord," a person cloaked in a blue garment bowed towards the man standing in front of the open window. "We're ready."

The man turned his face, which was illuminated by the moonlight coming through the open window. It cast a bluish light on the grey eyes that always shone coldly, like eternal ice. The thin lips stretched into a smile that never reach the coldness of those pale orbs. Big sturdy hand trained in swordsmanship closed the window quietly, and the man walked towards the door.

"Let's go." the voice was deep, calm, and soothing. But the tone was dry, much like the eyes.

The door opened and two knights clad in light armor straightened their posture, following behind the man and the cloaked person. They walked along a cold, dark hallway, and climbed the dimly lit stairs into the highest point of the east tower.

On the topmost floor of the tower was a circular hallway that led to a sealed room. Outside the room were a few other cloaked figures and another knight with significantly better armor. The knight bowed deeply to greet the man.

"Your highness,"

The cloaked figures turned their head and nodded respectfully before opening the sealed door. The man moved swiftly towards the room, his gold-lined black frock coat fluttered with his hurried steps.

The room was not large, and almost empty. There was only a table and chest, as well as a few chairs on the corner. Nevertheless, the sparse furniture couldn't mask the luxurious feel of the gilded chandelier and beautifully carved architecture. On a normal day, the room might function as a nice relaxing corner in which one could bask in a vast land of eastern Somnia duchy's beautiful landscape from the large balcony.

But tonight, the balcony and the door were sealed tight with magic that prevent entry and sight. The furniture and carpet had been shed to vacant the center of the room. In their place, a large complex magic circle had been drawn with precision. Transparent magic stones the size of a child's fist had been placed in eight different directions.

Looking at the space attribute magic stones reminded the man of how much money he had bled into this. Not to mention the cost of material needed to produce the ink used to draw the array; the blood of silverbird, the grain of solardust crystal, spring water of Ushubud Canyon...

The magic tower's grandmaster was fuming with anger at how the man had "robbed" their whole year's supply of rare magic material just for a gamble.

A gamble.

It would probably look like that to other people. An ancient spell with unknown credibility and had no guarantee of working. It consumed enough energy to run an entire fleet of the empire's airship battalion on one month expedition. And it wasn't just any magic stones, but the rare space-attribute ones. If it wasn't for the man's immense wealth and his connection to the grandmaster, the spell would never saw the light of the day.

But the man could care less about the cost. Whether it worked out or not, this was a spell left behind by his recently deceased mother. An inheritance left so deep in secret he had to go through numerous traces and trials to uncover it.

As the pale eyes stared at the complex pattern, the man's fist clenched tightly.

For the first time in his life, Jay felt a sign of nervousness in his system.

It wasn't because he was afraid the spell would bring nothing. In the first place, he didn't really think he needed anyone's help for his endeavor. And in his life, disappointment had been a large part of it. After all, was there a bigger disappointment than having your birthright stripped off of you because of a harlot?