When A Mage Revolts

However, forcing his way in would be plain reckless. Thus, Benjamin decided to hide in the forest nearby and slowly meditate while using the System to monitor Gealorre.

He did not believe that such a big city did not have any outgoing traffic.

"Why do I have to do be the lookout again?" The System muttered his dissatisfaction.

"Because you’re so good at it!"

"..."

After two hours, the System finally alerted Benjamin. Benjamin opened his eyes and saw that a squad of people were about to leave Gealorre.

Under the pale moonlight, he saw a ladder up against the wall; he watched as the people climbed down the ladder carefully.

Huh? They were just exiting the city, why all the acrobatics?

He did not know what had happened on the inside of Gealorre, but apparently, the city gate was unable to be opened right now and ladders seemed to be the only way out.

Thus, after the squad of people left, Benjamin followed them sneakily.

He used the water elemental sensing technique to scan the area.

With just a sweep, he noticed that at least half of the people in the squad were priests, while the other half were holy knights of some sort. They carried seals from the king and quickly split off in different directions after leaving the city – Benjamin knew that they were probably going to spread the news around Carretas under the guise of messengers.

After some thought, Benjamin tailed a short and lean youth that did not know how to use divine arts.

After a while, they reached a relatively secluded area. Benjamin swiftly cast a spell and trapped his opponent inside a water bubble. The opponent lost his composure and struggled, but could not escape.

"Who...who are you? You dare lay a hand on me? I represent his Majesty…"

Benjamin sighed annoyedly, "Enough. I had just led the real king to conquer Long River Town, stop speaking on behalf of the fake king in the palace.

The opponent was stunned.

"You...you are the mage, Benjamin?"

Benjamin heard this and gave him a wide grin.

The young man was completely horrified and struggled inside the water bubble, "God...no, don’t kill me, I don’t know anything...I’m not with the Church, they planted a cross on me, whatever I hear, bishop Cameron will hear too, don’t kill me…"

Hearing this, Benjamin frowned.

...A covert listening cross?

Who knew that he would run into the old gizmo that controlled nobles again so long after leaving Helius.

So, the Church already knew where he was?

How troublesome…

But, even so, Benjamin did not hurry to leave.

"Since you’re not from the Church, tell me what happened in Gealorre. Why is it under lockdown? And what are people going to do?"

"I...I can’t say, they will know…"

Benjamin swayed his hips and jokingly said, "I guess I’ll kill you then."

Saying this, he condensed a giant blade of ice and aimed it straight at the young man in the bubble.

The young man was cowardly and not faithful to the Church at all, nor did he have any form of interrogation training. With just this one trick, he started screaming his lungs out.

"Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! I... I’ll talk! The reason why the gates are under lockdown was because of the riots in the city. The citizens inside were causing trouble and bishop Cameron had to use military force to get things under control. He the holy knight army take over Gealorre, locked down the city gates, captured many citizens, and even hung some of them.’

"Riots?" Benjamin was shocked, "Why are there riots?"

"Because many of them were dissatisfied with the King’s nonchalance against Icor. Even more frustrating was that his majesty had not shown himself for days."

"Not shown himself? Why?"

"This... I do not know! I am just a messenger! After the riots happened I was captured by Bishop Cameron and forced to deliver messages to dangerous places. I... I had no choice…"

Benjamin heard this and took a deep breath, entering deep thought.

Riots... who knew that Gealorre would end up like this. Looks like the Church doesn’t always get their way.

But that substitute king not appearing was the suspicious part.

Thinking for a while, Benjamin asked again, "What dangerous place are you heading to now?"

The opposition hesitated for a while before casting his eyes to the ground and replying, "To... to an army encampment just west of Icor, to... to give a message to the Queen of Icor."

Benjamin’s eyes widened in disbelief.

"Did the Queen not always see both Carretas and the Church as enemies? Why send a letter to her? What are you trying to say?"

"I’m... I’m not sure myself." The young man became even more shaken, "Before this, messengers from the Queen came by and gave some news to Bishop Cameron. The Bishop said he needed time to think before forcing me to send a reply to the Queen. His message is that they will accept the Queen’s terms and they will meet at the River Tyra in two months’ time."

"What were the Queen’s terms?"

"I really do not know, I am only in charge of sending this message… please spare me!"

Benjamin shook his head in frustration.

In two months’ time... meeting at the Tyra River…

He did not know what it meant, but the Queen was sending letters to the Church and the Church was accepting the Queen’s terms. No matter what the content was, this piece of news was enough to anger Benjamin.

It was supposed to be a three-way war, but now he has discovered that two of the sides were working together.

What were they planning?

Right as Benjamin was struggling to put together the pieces, the System suddenly appeared and woke him up.

"Hey, be careful, priests might be on their way."

Benjamin heard this and regained his composure before looking at the young man in the bubble. The Church was rather fast, he had captured this guy less than ten minutes ago and now people were already on their way.

Oh well, guess he had to retreat.

But it was a fruitful conversation. He obtained a lot of news that would prove useful from this guy.

A satisfied smile crept out from the corner of Benjamin’s mouth.

The young man saw this and became uneasy.

"What... what are you thinking of…"

POP.

The water bubble burst and the confused young man dropped straight to the floor.

"The Church is coming to get you, good luck."

Hearing this, the young man raised and tried to say something but found that Benjamin had already risen to the air. He watched helplessly as Benjamin quickly disappeared into the cloudy night sky.