When A Mage Revolts

The King had lectured Aldrich for about a full ten minutes now.

In the end, with the conclusion that Aldrich would pay extra attention to keep an eye out on the Mages Freemasonry, the King waved his hand as an indication for Aldrich to leave. After a list of issues arose following the attack, it seemed to have tied a knot for this preliminary round. He did not go after the Mages Freemasonry for more responsibilities because after all, he did arrest the criminals, which counts as fixing the hole he made.

As for Benjamin, he left after the lecture and went back to the guest room in the Palace.

However, the King hadn’t said a word to him after the Princess had been brought back; that was why he couldn’t see through the King’s thoughts. Did the King believe Aldrich? Or was he putting up at act because he didn’t want to reveal too much?

Benjamin was really curious, but he felt that he might’ve been too involved. In case Aldrich found out about the secret Benjamin revealed behind his back, the whole of Mages Freemasonry would crazily want their revenge.

"If you want me to, I would say that you care too much." The System ran out and fussed, "If they want to start trouble, then let them. You can act as if nothing has happened. Even if Ferelden can no longer host them, then just switch places."

"Switch places again? You say it so effortlessly," Benjamin said in his mind and shook his head.

It wasn’t easy getting Ferelden steadily back on its feet and now, what was in it for his early investment if they switched places again? The ‘Crow’ of a good momentum - he had just opened up his name to the village and rented a place. After so much blood and sweat, he did not want it to go to waste.

But after the shock of these events, he felt that Aldrich might not be having much peace lately. Time does not forget and more so, they have quickened their pace. Once he gets back to the City of Rayleigh, he had to bring up some things.

As time passed, it was late at night at the Palace. Benjamin laid in bed and was prepared to sleep after a shower and his daily meditation. Though barely half a minute into his sleep, he heard a ‘dong’ sound!

A light ring came from outside his door, exceptionally clear on a quiet night. Benjamin opened his eyes as his expression changed.

What was that?

It seemed like an ability-like rection and so, he headed towards the door, using the Water Elemental Sensing Technique. All he saw was a shadow that looked like a servant, standing by his door. As he turned around, it was further away. Then, Benjamin noticed an envelope-liked object beneath the door. He couldn’t help but frown.

What is this?

Life in the Palace was filled with such drama, from day till night. No wonder those soap operas liked filming the secret histories of the Palace. Every day was like filming a thunderstorm.

After much thought, he got off his bed, walked around and took out the envelope-liked object beneath his door.

It was a real envelope.

The only thing surprising was the thickness of the envelope; it was so thick it almost got stuck underneath the door. Benjamin very carefully pulled out the letter, not making a single noise. On the letter wrote one small word - it was a secured mail from the King of Ferelden.

…...Oh?

Benjamin’s heart skipped a beat. He thought of what it could be, and suddenly his mood lifted; he couldn’t wait to open the letter. What he saw next was a few pieces of unique looking small rocks that fell from the envelope, dropping on top of the guest room’s mat.

After taking a few looks at the rocks, Benjamin was stunned for a moment.

Oh no...

Oh my, oh my these were all Elemental Crystals!

Letting out a sigh of relief, Benjamin hurriedly picked up the fallen crystals and counted what was left in the envelope. In it, there were five Elemental Crystal. Each system was distributed evenly, and each element had one.

Even though the night was pitch dark, when compared to the normal rocks, they were not any different. But when Benjamin held them in his hands, he could feel the exact amount of what contained in these small rocks.

Five pieces of Elemental Crystal...

Was it because he told the King about it, and that was why he was rewarded?

It didn’t matter what was happening, Benjamin still kept the Elemental Crystal and looked further into the envelope. At last, he found a short note.

"Mage Benjamin, Aldrich has betrayed me; I need another mage who is strong enough to defeat them. Keep these items and quickly build yourself up. The rest of your time here, I will try my best to support you though it might not be a lot. You would still have to count on yourself. On the other hand, the Mage Freemasonry can never find out about this - not in a million years."

It was such a short note, it didn’t even take him more than ten minutes. However, with these set of words, Benjamin read it as if his back was dripping with the smell of fresh blood. He took a deep breath after reading the letter, to calm himself down.

This letter proved everything. Of course, the King did not believe Aldrich. The one who got the throne couldn’t be any more stupid than this. He couldn’t have missed the fact that the Mages Freemasonry were disloyal. But this attack along with Benjamin’s testimony confirmed the King’s suspicion, which allowed him to start the decision of dealing with the Mages Freemasonry. In turn, that led to this valuable and midnight-sneaking letter.

Holding that thin paper, both of Benjamin’s hands trembled slightly, but he did not know why. It could be because he was touched, or it could be because this feathered thin paper carried too much weight.

From that moment onwards, he had officially put himself in the middle of both fights. He had lost the possibility of going solo.

In fact, when he whispered the news into King’s ears, he had already leveraged the tracks on the railway. The route ahead was set nicely. However, their car was sure to set off the alarms in the other direction.

If he left with the rewards, it would have ended with his enemy, the Mages Freemasonry. Hence, there was no turning back. He could only assist the King and keep the battle with Aldrich.

And of course... Never has he had this responsibility before.

Actually, he had a strange feeling. If the King had found his traitors, why would he still believe Benjamin - a mage whom he just met today. But of course, others have their own thinking; maybe what the King needed was not what Benjamin could offer. Instead, it was the pure motive of supporting a mage’s new strength to weaken the Mages Freemasonry’s position. And to be frank, even if the King had only wanted to rely on these few Light Elemental Crystal and appoint Benjamin alone as his assistant, Benjamin wouldn’t have agreed.

All they had were the same enemy.

With this, Benjamin lighted up a candle as he cleared his thoughts, and proceeded to burn the envelope and letter until no marks were left. After that, he held on to all different sorts of idea, went to bed again to think for a long time, before he slowly fell asleep.

At midnight, this Palace finally became peaceful.

The second day, Benjamin woke up and very normally bid the King and Aldrich farewell, as if nothing happened. After that, along with his things, he quickly left the City of Snow and sped out towards the City of Rayleigh.

This dinner was indeed as what Mikel said - it was the first small-scale private dinner. Only thing was that too many things had happened already and this appointment slowly changed something.