When A Mage Revolts

Escorted by the Wood family, the Black Nightmare Army finally arrived in the Town of Crewe.

They had built a camp in the northern area of the small town and taken root there. They had even brought back the possessions and armaments that had been abandoned in the valley during the retreat, and placed them into the newly set up depositories. The heart-stopping escape from death had finally come to an end. Although the war still continued, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief and sleep peacefully.

Benjamin walked into the Crusader Gateway once more.

"...I didn't expect that you'd immediately send your troops over."

Standing at the entrance to the stairway that led to the rooftop of the gateway, he spoke while looking at Elizabeth, who was gazing into the distance.

"Miles was the one who told me." Elizabeth turned around and shook her head, saying, "He discovered that the royal army had been moving strangely. He became aware beforehand that the Church was about to launch a surprise attack on you guys, so he suggested that I shift my army and surround them instead. What a pity... The Church seemed to have gotten wind of that as well and retreated very early on. We weren't able to make them stay."

Hearing that, Benjamin nodded. He did not make a sound.

...Whatever it was, the Wood army had saved them. Otherwise, they did not know how many people would have died under the Church's pursuit and attacks.

After pondering for a few moments, he changed the topic. "I'm extremely sorry about the honorable duke's death. They were immediately about to leave the tunnel at that time, but the Church had detonated everything at that same time. We weren't able to find much of what they'd left behind. I hope you won't be too upset."

Elizabeth did not seem too aggrieved. She merely lowered her head. "The dead are already gone. The living can only take their dying wishes upon themselves and carry on. Isn't that so?"

"That is so..." Benjamin nodded, and hesitated for a moment before continuing to say, "I represent every member of the Black Nightmare Army, and thank you for your aid and rescue. However, may I take the liberty and ask you a question? The honorable duke... What was his dying wish?"

Hearing that, Elizabeth lifted her head and gave him a few looks.

"To take revenge upon the Church, and be completely rid of the greatest cancer in this kingdom. I believe that this is also what you've been hoping for."

Was this so...

Benjamin rubbed his chin. He did not reply to her immediately.

He could feel a distance that was full of respect in the other party's tone of voice. Although it could be said... that they had never been especially close, but Elizabeth's eyes seemed to have changed, turning her into another person during this encounter now. She was like a classmate back in middle school that you had not met for many years; in the past, you could engage in small talk and copy each other's homework, but meeting each other again at some wedding a dozen or so years later, there were nothing but awkward smiles in both your eyes that went nowhere, as you raised your wine glasses.

In actual fact, they had not yet reached the point of not meeting for several years. Only, there had just been too many things happening in between their encounters.

Benjamin was not disappointed, however. He merely felt somewhat helpless.

After some thought, he pulled the ring out from his pocket.

"You got Miles to give me this ring... What is this? I seem to have a vague impression, but I can't recall it. Can you remind me?" He put on an ignorant look and held the ring out before Elizabeth's eyes, asking although he already knew the answer.

Hearing that, Elizabeth shook her head.

It belongs to your Lithur family. Just keep it well."

"What does it mean?" Benjamin did not give up.

"There's no meaning. I was merely returning what had originally belonged to you." Elizabeth gave a sigh and shifted her eyes away, looking into the distance once more. "Those are just some silly bygones, it's good that you can't recall, actually. It's just a ring. If you don't wish to keep it, then sell it."

"I'm someone who's more stubborn. If that's what you're saying, then I'd just continue asking."

However, Elizabeth kept her back to Benjamin, saying nothing.

Just as Benjamin thought she was about to stomp off in anger, she suddenly opened her mouth to speak.

"It's the ring that you guys gave me when we first confirmed the engagements. Yes, the ring that you'd thrown right out the window. Everyone was laughing loudly at the time. I had no choice but to secretly run down the stairs of the school at night, and feel through the grasses. It was so difficult to find, and it'd been raining that day as well. I'd only managed to find it after searching for more than two hours. After I'd found it, I was afraid of being a laughing stock again so I didn't dare tell anyone. Just like that, I'd kept this thing until now."

Hearing that, Benjamin was stunned.

This... seemed to be a bit more than the answer he had expected.

Although he knew that this was an engagement ring, and he knew that it had been thrown out by 'himself' back then, he did not know that there had been so many details behind the scenes.

Hesitating for a moment, he looked at the ring in his hands and said, "Then... You entrusted someone to pass this to me. What does that mean?"

"Because the engagement has ended a long time ago." Elizabeth turned around, with an unusually determined expression. "I was still young at the time, and I don't know why I'd kept the ring. But now, I've taken over my father's dukeship. When an engagement is rescinded, the woman returns the engagement ring to the man. It can't get any more matter-of-fact than that, so I'd entrusted someone to return the ring to you..."

Having spoken until here, she paused deliberately, before continuing to speak.

"There's no other meaning."

Hearing all that, Benjamin stood rooted to the spot with the ring in his hand. He did not know what to say. The estranged feeling became stronger and stronger, like a mountain spanning in between the two of them. Moreover, this mountain was just so difficult to cross. It was so high that he could not even see the expression on Elizabeth's face clearly.

He even felt slightly clueless about how he should face Elizabeth.

"...Whatever it was, thanks to your effort, the Church is now already on the brink of collapse. It's a wise decision for the Black Nightmare Army to join forces with us. All we have to do is to attack together, and the Church will have no power to resist whatsoever. Believe me, you won't regret this decision."

Finally, leaving behind such words, Elizabeth smiled and nodded before turning around to leave this wide open rooftop on the gateway.

Thus, Benjamin was left alone on the rooftop. The cold wind blew, making whistling noises; shadows were being elongated by the sunlight at dusk. At that moment, he felt his chest tightening severely. He took a deep breath and lowered his head to take another look at the ring in his hands. He had no idea what to do.

He had absolutely... never imagined such progress.

He had originally planned to come over and thank the other party for the rescue, before trying to establish a connection between them. Then, he wanted to inquire of Elizabeth's intentions through her words, to find out whether she wanted to be proclaimed as queen. Finally, he was to figure out a way to figure out what on earth Duke Collin's entire plan was.

However, everything ended up like a wild horse with a prolapsed rectum* shooting off in the opposite direction. He could pull and pull, but he still could not drag it back.

Remembering the words Elizabeth had said, and the past incidents that he could not seem to wash his hands of even though he had not done them, Benjamin felt a slight headache.

"You're truly scum." The System suddenly said in his mind.

"So you blame me?" For a moment, Benjamin was so furious that he did not know what to do*. He immediately retaliated in his heart, "I didn't do those things to bully her anyway, it was the previous Benjamin who'd done those trivial matters. What do you mean by scolding me?"

The System fell silent for a few seconds, however. Suddenly, it spoke in the same tone of voice that Elizabeth used. "There is no other meaning."

"..."

Straightaway, Benjamin had nothing to say to that.

1. The Chinese phrase, 脱肛的野马, means a situation that is out of control, or uncontrollable.

2. The original Chinese text, 气不打一处来, literally means anger that comes from more than one source. In Chinese medicine, 'anger' originates from the liver. To say that one has more than one source of anger is to express how furious one is.