Equipment Printing School Mage
Page 302
Admitting to his fellow Halruaan mages that he had joined the Gods of the Non-Gods was merely heresy, and to claim so in front of the Magic Church and even the Paladins...
The kind church of Faerun is relatively open to joining and leaving, and changing affiliations isn't particularly taboo. But if you secretly leave your original church and join a truly hostile organization, the situation becomes completely different.
Strictly speaking, this should be considered as rebellion.
"So, be prepared." After saying this, Emilia turned to the door and said, "Ms. Olma, your reunion with your husband won't last long. If there is any progress in the investigation, I will have to bring him into the team and let him atone for his sins."
"...Olma?!" This name made Aenata jump again as if she had been electrocuted. "Why is she here? This has nothing to do with her!"
"Yes," Emiya said coldly, "because she was already due. During the time you were communicating deeply with the Inspection Department, she gave birth on the way to Haligard and nearly died from a difficult labor. She was truly remarkable and persevered through the excruciating pain."
"...You saved her?"
"Yes, mother and daughter are safe." Being modest here would be dismissing the contributions of her teammates. Emiya nodded curtly. "I'm not sure how much help your teacher has given you, but I think we saved both your and your lives, so that should offset some of the damage. I hope we can have a pleasant cooperation in the future."
"I will cooperate... I will tell you everything I know..."
At that moment, Elder Giles Al Arafat, the head of the Inspection Department, who had been eavesdropping next door, strode into the already crowded ward. "Wait a minute. I admit that this interrogation was very clever, and I don't think there was any deception involved in this conversation—but your current progress is only enough to get Aenata out of prison. Your interrogation is far from enough to convince the other elders of Haligard."
Giles snorted coldly. "You saved my reputation this time, preventing a barely innocent man from dying in the patrol's cells. I owe you that. But how could an ordinary stone with no magical reaction create a boiling spring of that magnitude? And how did you block the effects of the sacrificial product? This question is bound to be raised by the other elders."
Emiya shook her head. "Actually, the answer is very simple. For decades, you've been confined to Halruaa, never leaving the land, and therefore weren't sensitive enough to Abel's abnormality... Elder Giles, have you ever been to the elemental plane?"
"Of course I have been there," Giles replied. "Before I fell into Abel, I was a ninth-ring wizard and traveled through various planes."
Emiya replied, "On the Elemental Plane of Fire, flames burn endlessly, even without fuel or oxygen. On the Elemental Plane of Air, storms and thunder never cease, but travelers can even choose a direction to fall freely through the sky."
Giles frowned deeply.
"Excuse me, these wonders that are difficult to replicate even with the most powerful magic in the Material Plane, do they require magic to maintain in the Elemental Plane?"
The answer is of course not needed.
Toril also has earthquakes and tsunamis, but using detection magic to observe these natural disasters will inevitably yield nothing.
The so-called sacrifice, the final product is a sphere with the mysterious element Mars.
It possesses an effect, a purely elemental, not magical, effect. Emiya and her companions currently have no way to identify it, as all identification spells rely on deciphering the magic within. Naturally, such a bizarre object, born in an environment so deliberately isolated from magic, cannot be deciphered.
"Abeir and Toril are different, even if they appear similar—the one behind all this has grasped this, but it seems Haligad has not."
Elements are the great power of the world and do not require magic to drive them.
Emiya patted her waist. The wonderful stone that created the terrifying boiling spring was now lying quietly in the dimensional bag, sealed in the astral plane, one of the worlds farthest from the elemental plane in the universe.
"Mr. Giles, you need to address another issue now. If there aren't any major issues with Mr. Aenata's words, another question has surfaced."
"Obviously, you received a tip or a clue. So, who is the informant? What is his purpose in making the false accusation? Is he reporting the Serabi Mage Tower or the Gods and Non-Gods Society?"
And a more crucial hidden fact...
Sacrifice is one of the most typical evil magic rituals on Toril and is almost the only way to communicate with the outside world.
Did it evolve into some special variant in Abel?
Twenty-three Blood Sacrifices (Part 4)
"Then let us part for now," said the red-haired young wizard. "We have come a long way from Halayach, traveling almost day and night. Now that we have finished our business here, it is time for us to rest."
"As it should be." The elder in charge of the inspection department glared at Aenata, who was still in the hospital bed. "As for you... for now, just enjoy the joy of being a father and a husband."
At this point, Giles gave Emiya a meaningful look: "—Next, who will be responsible for Aenata's personal safety?"
Emiya raised her eyebrows slightly. "This seems to be a time to test our mutual trust. What do you mean by asking this question?"
"Indeed. An elder has been caught up in such a scandal, and I must inform the elders of the situation at the meeting. Ionata will be an extremely important witness," Giles replied. "So, if anything happens to him under my control, I will have no explanation—I might even be inexplicably considered an accomplice."
In the past, this was his unshirkable duty, but now that Emiya and his group were clearly much stronger than he, who hadn't recovered yet, he could finally throw off this burden.
"...Very good, let's do this. We will stay in the hospital temporarily for the next few days and take care of their family." Emilia thought about it for a moment and agreed to the deal.
Giles breathed a sigh of relief. Now that relations between the two sides had calmed down, he could finally ask the question that concerned him most: "I heard that you all want to restore Halruaa's magical network. How long will this process take? How will it be carried out? What kind of preparations will be required? How long will it take? Do I have the right to know this?"
"Ah, that's actually the simplest problem." Metatron smiled. "Restoration doesn't require involving anyone else. The full restoration of the Haligad Weave has already begun. It should be completely completed within the next few days."
"It's almost over?!" Giles was shocked. The traditional Goddess faction's style of action made him feel a little helpless. "But, if the Serabi family has other allies, or if the Serabi Mage Tower was framed, then the enemy is still in Haligard!"
Of course, Emiya was well aware of this. However, the Magic Network did not distinguish between good and evil. This was a principle that the God of Magic had never changed over countless years—even though the Magic Church was actually the mainstay of the good side.
Of course, Emiya was well aware that the promotion of the Magic Net itself had a near-dumping and monopolistic effect—it successfully squeezed out the living space of other magical methods, forcing almost all magical power to flow through the Magic Net. Even the hostile gods of the Goddess of Magic were forced to use the Magic Net honestly.
And now, Yin is in the team - opening the magic network to the enemy may not be a bad thing.
Emiya could only shake her head: "These are two different things."
"...Alright. That's certainly the Magic Church's style." Giles sighed and nodded. "Well, I still have to prepare for the upcoming elders' council and visit the other men seriously injured in the boiling spring. If you'd like to learn more about the details of this matter, please attend the elders' council meeting the day after tomorrow. I'll take my leave now. Goodbye."
"Goodbye."
-----------------
Of course, Ionata was not the only one seriously injured in the boiling spring eruption, but fortunately, the others also received Metatron's care and were out of danger. They just needed a few days of bed rest to recover.
After everything was completed, Elder Giles quietly teleported back to his own mage tower.
What the outsider, who was like a divine soldier sent from heaven, said was true.
Just by trying to cast the spell, Giles could realize that the originally violent magic power had become extremely docile silently, and they regained the reins of the magic web.
But now, he has other things to do.
He walked into the secret room in his wizard tower and cast a protective detection. After confirming that the place had become airtight, he finally took out a crystal ball from inside the room and tentatively activated it.
——It worked. The crystal ball, paralyzed for years, finally started to work.
In any other situation, Giles, who had been waiting for this day for nearly a hundred years, would have burst into tears, but now he had to deal with more important things first.
He picked up the crystal ball and shouted to the other end: "Theodore! Theodore! Are you listening?"
An old man's astonished voice soon emanated from the other end of the crystal ball: "...Arafat? Where does that sound come from? It doesn't seem like a short message technique."
"I used a communication crystal ball! Mystril!" Giles pounded the table in front of him angrily. "Are you truly the prophet who aspires to succeed Zarathon?! The messengers of Toril's magic goddess have arrived, and they've begun restoring the magic network, completely unconditional and without reward! You're a prophet and one of the top 100 elders, and you don't even know this?"
"So he's the greatest Mage King in Halruaa's history, and I'm just Theodore." The voice on the other end, though aged, sounded quite nonchalant. "I don't want to get involved in the power struggle between Haligad and Halayach, so since arriving on this strange planet, I no longer attend elder council meetings... cough cough cough... The dust on this crystal ball is too thick... Hey, isn't this the one?"
At this point, the prophet Theodore was stunned for a moment: "Wait, wait, wait, what did you say? The magic network has been restored?!"
"Of course, I'm using the one inside each of us when I speak to you!" Giles had been in shock and anger for several days and was now exhausted. He really didn't have the energy to argue with his old friend anymore. He said simply, "Yes, Toril's emissary has arrived. And, I'm not here to discuss this! Your prophecy from the day before yesterday was wrong. I arrested the wrong person!"
"Nonsense." Meanwhile, his old friend's wrinkled face finally appeared in the crystal ball, clearly rejecting the idea. "I believe I can match Zarathon's prophecy, but I'm extremely confident in my accuracy and clarity! ... Wait, where did that voice come from?"
--Yes.
Mr. Giles Al-Arafat, the elder in charge of the Inspection Department, had a rather large secret. While his Inspection Department was renowned for its exceptional efficiency, securing his position within Harigade, he often approached the diviners directly on cases, obtaining answers and key clues before beginning to complete the chain of events. This was also the case with the Ainnatar case.
Giles, who was of extremely hot temper, was too impatient to wait for his old friend to spend dozens of minutes looking for something, so he pushed the crystal ball aside in anger and turned to the most traditional text messaging method to solve the problem.
"Are you saying I misunderstood again?!" Giles shouted angrily. "'The terrifying words in the night are of great significance; they will reveal the truth about the sacrifice.' The prophecy is certainly baffling, but someone clearly reported the Serabi Mage Tower, and we conducted a tentative search, only to discover a heinous sacrifice! Isn't this a perfect result? Even if I take a step back and admit that my understanding may be flawed, the existence of the blood sacrifice cannot be concealed! And that mysterious stone proves that this blood sacrifice was unusually successful!"
"So, which part did I misunderstand?"
-----------------
"Over there." Silver pointed directly at one of the countless tall towers in Haligard. "Gils is communicating with that mage tower."
Eliser took one look and concluded, "...the mage tower of Elder Theado, the master of prophecy. However, he has always lived in seclusion, and his disciples have similar styles, so my understanding of him is very limited."
Emiya was silent for a moment, then asked in the mind connection: "Can you hear what they are saying?"
Silver replied: "No. I can't do that with just the crystal ball...ah, they switched to text messaging."
The laying of the magic net will certainly benefit their enemies as well, but the use of the magic net will inevitably leave traces.
The result was that Giles's communication was heard.
[…So Mr. Giles has this little secret.]
But the good news is that this news is crucial to their investigation.
The cause of this incident was a prophet's advance warning, and the actual starting point was a woman who reported the Mage Tower where Aenata was located.
If you think rationally, this woman is also extremely important.
Is it a frame-up?
Emiya hesitated. Now, they were near the ruins of the patrol department.
"...Then let's try the replay technique." Emiya said after a moment of silence.
If everything goes well, perhaps the female figure will appear in their sight.
However, his face soon fell.
When the replay spell was released, the patrol department appeared.
"—Release the Replay spell again." Giles' voice was as loud and clear as ever, but his figure now seemed ethereal, and his expression was serious, as if he was about to devour someone.
A wizard in front of him, wearing a patrol uniform, said, "Teacher... we've already cast three replay spells."
"When you're working, you should call your position!" Giles sternly criticized his student, then pondered for a moment and said, "This report is of great importance and involves several elders. We must protect all relevant traces."
The effect of the replay spell disappeared, and Emiya and her group looked at each other in confusion.
Larry's Replay, a spell that had been so powerful in Elturgard, suffered a major setback in its first use in Halruaa.
Yes, the replay spell has a fatal flaw - if another mage casts a replay spell at the same location in advance, then the most important trace will naturally disappear.
After the Spellbane, Elminster naturally had no time to travel to another world to collect spells, so this spell must have been spreading before the Spellbane.
...Given the Halruaan people's noble heritage and their passion for magic, they would have long known how to recast. Now, it seems, they even have a sophisticated strategy in place.
Their investigation was temporarily stuck.
At this moment, Sig, who had been looking around as usual, suddenly said: "Everyone, don't look back—behind us, someone is hiding in the shadows, observing us from afar... or rather, observing these ruins."
She came over.
A middle-aged woman in a patched cloth robe approached cautiously. "...Hello, everyone. I'd like to ask, what happened here? Why is the inspection office in ruins?"
Condensation of the Twenty-Four Elements (I)
The visitor's arrival was completely unexpected to Emilia.
Emya recently learned that Halegaard suffered heavy losses in the Offa's Plague, with the city's population nearly halved and the loss of high-ranking officials even more severe. Previously, when the Southern Alliance, centered around Halegaard, united to protest the relocation of the capital, nearly 30% of the Halruaan elders first gathered in Halegaard before departing for the capital.
Now, Haligad has suffered heavy losses. This small city, which originally had a small population, may now have a population of only over 2,000 people, which is almost a large village.
In a place like this, at such a coincidental time, someone actually just happened to come and ask about this?
Emiya's heart was filled with alarm, but she remained calm on the surface. "We don't really know, but we saw a spring gushing out from the ground not far away. The patrol department happened to be right above it, so the entire building became history. A considerable number of officers are receiving treatment in the hospital... The patrol department has been suspended. That's all I know."
"Work has stopped?!" This fact obviously shocked the woman. She screamed and looked around in fear. "Did anyone... die... in this disaster?"
"All I can say is that some of the victims were indeed in a very critical condition at one point."
This answer frightened the woman even more. She began to tremble violently, like a sieve through chaff: "Even Arafat and the Patrol..."
At this point, she remembered something and asked quickly, "So, do you know about Mr. Arafat's condition? Is he injured?"
"No, he happened to be outside the headquarters at the time, but unfortunately witnessed almost the entire process. It made him think of something, and he's now returned to the Mage Tower. In that direction."
The woman was obviously preoccupied. She just thanked him hastily and hurried towards the Arafat Tower.
Looking at her back, Emilia narrowed her eyes: "...Do murders involving human lives often happen in Haligard?"
"Unfortunately, not really," Mars said. "In fact, the Halruaan people will not hesitate to use divination spells on themselves to detect suspicious individuals. They also won't easily share the spells they've prepared today. In this situation, a city is full of factions, and a single mage tower often encompasses the subordinates, students, and leaders of an entire school. In this situation, a particularly serious incident will inevitably involve the interests of a large number of people. Furthermore, the Halruaan people love to show off—all together, committing a serious crime in Halruaan is extremely blatant and will inevitably provoke a massive response."
You can do it, but don't let anyone find out.
[Want to take a gamble?] Sig chuckled. [I guess she's the informant of this blood sacrifice case. It was she who started the whole thing—although it seems she couldn't predict the outcome.]
At this moment, Haverfont quietly opened another cloth bag, which contained the expected warning: [This matter is extremely important. My prediction is also very vague, but it is better than nothing.]
Then, with a troubled look on her face, the illusionist lady repeated her teacher's final prophecy: [The report is true, but it's also a trap. The sacrifice is a trap, but it's also true. The gift is a trap, a real trap.]
Emiya's face was suddenly filled with pain.
Miss Silver finally managed to restrain herself in Candlekeep—Emmia suspected it was because the gods were too deeply involved in the Battle of Candlekeep—but before she could even catch her breath, a new Riddler arrived!
...What does it mean?
Meaning, the young lady just now was indeed the informant, but was the report itself a frame-up? Although the Serral Mage Tower was indeed framed, was a blood sacrifice actually taking place?
Is this a proper trial guided by fabricated evidence...?
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