When A Mage Revolts

Hearing that, the old madam thought for a moment, before saying, "Are you talking about the grandson who took on the divine arts?"

Benjamin nodded.

"What about him?"

"The destruction of the Lithur family... Was completely due to his orders." Benjamin lowered his voice, speaking slowly, "Until today, I still do not understand why he has become like this."

As for the true cause of Claude’s death, he could not even bring himself to say it out loud in front of the old madam.

However, hearing this, the old madam merely gave an expressionless "Oh," Although he knew that he had lost her memories of the past, but seeing this caused Benjamin to feel a stroke of dumbfoundedness.

"Grandmother, aren’t you... sad?"

"I can’t remember a thing." The old madam tilted her head, with such a nonchalant expression that she almost seemed bored. "Youngsters nowadays are so great. Who would care about what old folks like us think."

"But you are still his elder! If he knows that you’re still alive, and a mage at that, perhaps... The situation now would change."

"You flatter me, I dare not regard myself so highly," The old madam, however, revealed a rather sarcastic face, and drawled on, "You are also my grandson. If I want you to shut down that school of magic place, would you do it?"

"..."

Benjamin had no words.

Once again, he had underestimated the difficulty of negotiating with the old madam. What was stranger was how much she hated the Academy of Magic. Was it just because the door had been shut in her face when she had came to visit?

"Director, sir. She is still in the process of recovering her spiritual energy. Please do not concern yourself too much with what she says." The mage beside her came over to smooth things out, "After a few more years, when the backlash of the forbidden magic has waned further, she will be back to normal and will remember everything that has happened. Don’t you worry."

"Oh, really..."

Hearing that, Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

However, under such circumstances where her own son had been murdered by her grandson, and both her grandsons were standing on opposite extremes, fighting to the bitter end, perhaps it was best that the old madam could not remember anything.

The old mage continued to speak, "Furthermore, we have come especially to the Academy of Magic because there are matters we wish to discuss with you, sir."

Benjamin came back to his senses. He nodded, "Speak, then."

The reunion with the old madam was a complete coincidence. However, at the same time, these three people, as members of the Mages Inheritance Union, must have come to find him specifically for other official matters.

However, the old mage merely smiled. Without a word, he gave Elizabeth, who was standing by the door, a look. Elizabeth understood, and, giving everyone in the room a smile, she opened the door and turned to leave the secret room of the tavern.

For the moment, there were only Benjamin and the three members of the Mages Inheritance Union in the room.

"Please, allow us to introduce ourselves properly. I am the current chief of the Mages Inheritance Union. You may call me Mage Armand." The old mage who had taken all conversation upon himself drew his hood down, revealing a kindly face. "That is mage Barton. As for the last one... I think, there is no need for me to introduce her."

Benjamin nodded and shook mage Armand’s hand, giving the other mage a nod of acknowledgement. Mage Barton did not say anything. He took his hood down to reveal a fierce face, and "harrumph" in response.

"May I know why you are here?"

"We’ve heard that the Academy of Magic has been undergoing research on runes." Mage Armand spoke slowly, "Using something called the Runic Defense Technique, the Kingdom of Helius has been stopped at Rock City. At the same time, a meditation technique which involves runes has also been discovered... What we’re trying to say is that runes are not things we may easily control."

Benjamin frowned.

The atmosphere had suddenly grown more serious.

"What are you saying, sir?"

"The misuse of runes will invite calamities. This is the warning left for us by the ancestors." Armand spoke with a solemn expression, "Your utilization of it is not yet so extensive, so everything is still fine and dandy. However, the moment the runes are used on a large scale and become common, the activity of the elements in this world will undergo an extremely terrible change."

"...Such as?"

"Elemental disasters will become rampant. Fire from the skies, floods, unimaginable earthquakes of gigantic proportions... Perhaps, you do not know that, during the beginning of magic, every mage could use runes to cast spells, but various calamities had happened after that. The natural flow of the elements was disturbed, and the environments became extremely harsh. Mankind was forced to fight for the limited resources and was subsequently plunged into war. This was why there had been so many battles in the land, once upon a time."

Hearing this, Benjamin rubbed his chin without saying a word.

Runes could cause elemental disasters, huh... They had never experienced such things before. Benjamin himself had suffered much due to runes, but these were all confined to his space of consciousness and had never materialized in reality.

It was very obvious that the Mages Inheritance Union had come to find him with no good news. They were of the opinion that the runes would cause horrific disasters, and so they had made a special trip to come and warn him.

Only... The research on runes had become the most important matter for the academy. It was impossible for Benjamin to just give up the biggest trump card he had in his hands.

Seeing this, Armand advised, "I know it might be difficult for you to believe me, but... The mages are the messengers of the devil. Do you know how such a statement came about? Approximately two thousand years ago, the misuse of runes and elemental disasters almost destroyed this world. Everyone hated magic, but they could not do without it. Therefore, under such circumstances in that era, the Church quickly grew in strength and power, uniting all of mankind to suppress the mages."

"But... The Church has never really suppressed the mages. Their only territory is the Kingdom of Helius."

"That is because the Church had been long gone." Armand said keenly, "The Church of Holy Light that is active in our Kingdom of Helius now is only a product left behind by the previous era of the Church. The earliest Church had spread throughout the entire land, and their core doctrine had nothing to do with the worship of God of the pursuit of power. It was only to subside the chaos caused by the elements. Then, after the runes were slowly sealed up and the elemental disasters had waned, some worshippers of Holy Light became more and more fanatical, finally causing the Church to split up and forming the current Church of Holy Light."

Benjamin still had his doubts, "But all that you’ve just said, it seems the Church itself does not have records of it. They attribute their beginnings to Cain and Abel, to the first Pope who had pulled out the Heavenly Sword."

"That is because they are already on the path of the worship of God. To get rid of the difference between the so-called ’Divine Arts’ and magic, they are forced to clear themselves of everything concerning their origin." Armand replied, "As for... Cain and Abel, they were the pioneers of rune magic, men who lived five thousand years ago. However, according to the records, the reason the brothers fought had nothing to do with god, but was purely a matter of personal differences and competing interests. The Church of Holy Light merely used this story to whitewash their own rationales."

"Then, the Abandoned Valley of Gods..."

"It was where the two brothers brought masses of their respective followers to fight to the finish. The original site is located at the current Prison Runes of Havenwright. According to records, it was also the first time an elemental disaster had happened, because too many mages had gathered and misused runes. The violent elements tore space and time apart, and the entire valley, along with the men and horses, vanished without a trace."

Hearing this, Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath, looking very somber indeed.