A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 297 Night Talk

It seems the reason the teacher was being investigated by the Knights was because she had stumbled upon this scandalous affair.

In fact, the Church of Order and the Holy Kingdom had long suspected that Istani was connected with the Order. However, at first everyone thought that Mother Earth had also developed and infiltrated organizations that believed in her in Istani. Unexpectedly, it was the Knights, as the ruling group, who personally intervened.

"At first, I didn't suspect that they were from the authorities, until the cops and related personnel tried to prevent me from leaving the country and my residence was searched." Caroline frowned slightly as she said this, clearly feeling offended by the kingdom.

Rorschach asked, "Doesn't the Magic Guild care?"

"I also tried to contact the magic guild, but they refused to provide me with cross-border communication, and other magic towers also refused."

Is this... direct pressure from the kingdom? Rorschach felt a sense of absurdity. When he contacted the magic guild in Storm City, the staff were indeed lukewarm, but there was no obvious obstruction either; however, no progress was made at the time.

"The magic towers here are behaving so strangely, there must be a reason, but the worst-case scenario is that these mages are involved and colluding with the cult," Caroline concluded. "To put it cautiously, the guilds here can no longer be considered on our side."

"Then let's call for help, Master Kano, to the Tower of Stars."

Upon hearing Luo Xia mention Kano's name, Caroline paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "From your letter, I learned that Teacher Kano has also changed quite a bit, perhaps thanks in part to our Luo Xia." As she spoke, she patted the boy's shoulder, a sudden action that made Luo Xia quickly take a sip of tea to calm his nerves.

However, Caroline rejected Rorschach's idea: "If our lives are threatened, we can try to contact Cano or our colleagues in the Empire for secret help, but dealing with the underground cult is not so easy."

"Think about it, if the local magic towers and authorities don't cooperate, can the forces from the Holy Kingdom or the Empire openly cross borders to attack the cult? Especially since they are the authorities' partners."

"Heh, it seems we are." One is a citizen of the Holy Kingdom from the Empire who was forced into this situation, and the other is an Imperial citizen who came to investigate on his own initiative and studied in the Holy Kingdom. They meet in the shadows of Istani.

"That's why I said it can't be 'publicly' discussed." Caroline refilled Rorschach's tea, and in the rising steam, Rorschach thought of the Marquis of the Shadowlands:

"The expansion of the Cult of Clarity in Shadow City threatens our rule. Why did the Marquis refuse my offer of cooperation? He is said to possess the strength of an archmage; there is no need for him to sit idly by and wait for his doom."

"At first, the Marquis was quite positive towards me. Initially, my forces and I did deal with some leaders of the cult and cleared out some polluted strongholds, but he was conflicted."

"contradiction?"

"He fears that more mages will enter the Shadowlands, which would also undermine his rule. It would be best if, as in the last hundred years, those who fall are the old, weak, sick, disabled, and marginalized people of society, so that he can manage them better."

"Secondly, the Marquis realized that the Earth Order was a rather large organization in the Upper Realm, and he quickly adopted a more passive defensive posture—you should have seen the 'distinctive road signs' in the core area."

The prisoner's pendant ran straight through from bottom to top. Rorschach still felt a little nauseous thinking about it: "Yes, it was quite a pain."

"That's exactly the Marquis's method. He believes that as long as the people of the Shadowlands do not worship Mother Earth, it will be difficult for that being to infiltrate the Shadow City. Therefore, he uses violence and torture to intimidate the residents of the core area, striving to keep to himself and the cult at arm's length."

Rorschach did not believe the Marquis's strategy would be effective, because all signs indicated that Mother Earth was gradually recovering, which meant that this "sewer where reality and symbolism intersected" would inevitably be permeated by Her power, and would even be the first to be affected due to its characteristics.

The reason why the Order values ​​this place is easy to explain—as an underground mirror of Storm City, controlling this place means that the Order can easily take over Storm City.

Caroline hadn't finished speaking when she added, "Secondly, you just said the Marquis has the strength of an archmage, right?"

"Yes. Oh, it was the black monk from the upside-down church who said it."

Caroline shook her head: "I don't know much about that so-called monk, but I do know about archmages. The gap between archmages like Master Cano and Master Poincaré and us intermediate mages is even greater than the gap between ordinary people and low-level spellcasters."

"I don't agree with the idea that a marquis's strength is equivalent to that of a grand mage. In the end, he is merely an agent of the power of the shadows. This region is like a beast that dwells in the cracks between reality and illusion, constantly devouring people to maintain its existence, and he has been chosen as the agent to maintain order."

"The Marquis is slightly stronger than our intermediate mages, but definitely not at the level of an archmage."

When Rorschach met with Cano and Poincaré, they were all quite amiable and did not display any special power.

However, he momentarily forgot that these two had faced the descending angels directly without any external assistance, confronting what was arguably the strongest being below God. The Church of Order's "own people," except for Deplesie and Joseph, were all absorbed by the angel's corpse after witnessing this.

In comparison, Granor deserves the title of "the shame of the archmage".

"What exactly is a Grand Mage?"

"You're asking me? I haven't advanced either. Like most intermediate mages, I probably won't reach that level even if I spend my whole life trying." Caroline shrugged, appearing somewhat playful, but mostly helpless.

"It is said that reality is as fragile as paper in the face of legendary spellcasters, and if they are willing to pay a terrible price, they can rewrite reality and even history. However, based on my understanding of Master Kano, he would rather savor delicious food than use magic to dominate others and change the world."

Perhaps what maintains the world's current state is balance? The checks and balances between forces? Rorschach could only speculate. Returning to the present reality, after all their discussion, the conclusion seemed to be that there was no solution.

Rorschach looked directly into Caroline's eyes and advised, "Teacher, in that case, let's just leave. Let's get out of this hellhole, out of the Kingdom of Istani. I have a way to contact Master Cano and have him meet us. Since the Archmage is so powerful, rescuing two people should be a piece of cake."

Based on her description, continuing the investigation would be tantamount to going against the entire kingdom. Let them run headlong into the arms of the Virgin Mary; at worst, we'll build a wall on the coastline and out of sight, out of mind.

"Who says there's no way? Teacher, I'm here waiting for an opportunity. Do you know about the resistance on El Island? I was able to hide here thanks to their help."

Meanwhile, on the edge of a swamp on El Isle, the soft moonlight bathed the earth, yet could not conceal the somber atmosphere.

The Burning Lion Knights assembled in the muddy ground, fully armed. Their commander, with a fierce expression, gave a rousing speech: "The Mudblood rebels' stronghold is just ahead. Kill and burn every single one of them with ears! Leave no one alive! For Her Majesty the Queen!"

"For Her Majesty the Queen!"

(End of this chapter)