Chapter 33

Magic is a deeply unfathomable field.

When currents diverge, even among mages who study the same art, there are those who don’t understand each other’s magic at all.

How much less would Lucian know, who couldn’t even use a single spell? He was only feeling around, throwing out phrases that sounded convincing.

After all, he had to make the other speak before he could begin any real interrogation.

‘To begin with, this ritual what ritual? Did these idiots really plan to carry out some kind of ceremony?’

He had poked randomly into the bushes, and something had jumped out.

The problem was he had no idea if that “something” was a worm or a snake.

Lucian opened his mouth, ready to probe a little further.

“Of course, all this is just my conjecture. I’m not a mage, so I don’t know the exact contents of the ritual.”

He couldn’t pretend to know everything, so he left an escape route open. If his words didn’t match the facts, his bluff would collapse instantly.

“So you just said all that to deceive me?”

The side effect was that the young man’s distrust deepened, but that didn’t matter. The boy knew even less than Lucian about magic.

Lucian lowered his voice deliberately, setting the atmosphere.

“But making monsters that can’t coexist move together on a large scale is only possible with black magic. Tell me, didn’t that mage order you to place certain key points everywhere?”

“…!”

“If he really gave such orders, then it’s clear he’s a black mage. Unlike ordinary mages, black mages have to contaminate natural energy in that way before casting their spells.”

“I–impossible!”

The young man’s eyes wandered in confused emptiness.

The placement of those points was a secret known only to a few within the Imperial Liberation Alliance.

How could someone who had never even approached the Yellow Forest know about it?

“If what you say is true… what will happen?”

“What will happen? I already told you—it’s a large-scale sacrificial ritual. I don’t know what they want to accomplish with it, but…”

“…!”

“Tell me, are they planning to exterminate us all, trading their own lives in the process? Did you really accept that contract knowing the content of the ritual?”

The young man couldn’t answer and lowered his head.

There were still doubts but if they had all been deceived by a black mage’s words.

If not just him, but even the higher-ups were being unknowingly manipulated—

‘…We must stop this no matter what!’

If it were for his homeland’s liberation, he wouldn’t mind dying. But to die just to fulfill the whims of a black mage—that would be a meaningless death.

Grinding his teeth, he looked up.

“If I tell you the details… can you stop that wicked ritual from happening?”

Lucian returned his gaze seriously and nodded.

“I will stop it.”

“Haaah…”

The young man exhaled deeply, as if making a resolution.

Soon after, he began to reveal information he had kept hidden until now.

***

“I don’t know much about magic. But one day, our superiors brought in two mages. They said they were reinforcements.”

One seemed to be in his thirties; the other, somewhere between middle-aged and elderly.

The younger one introduced himself as from the Celestial current, and the older as from the Beast current.

“Of course, we had no way of knowing what that meant. If magic itself is rare, how would we understand the structure of their currents?”

“That’s understandable.”

Lucian nodded, giving the boy some relief, and his tone lightened.

“The mage from the Celestial current didn’t do anything. He said he had to gather magical energy for later. In contrast, the one calling himself from the Beast current was very active.”

He controlled monsters, carved totems to serve as key points, and determined where they had to be placed.

The Celestial one gave no orders, but the Beast one was overly enthusiastic. He even started demanding freshly caught animals, claiming they were necessary to enhance the magic.

“The mage suddenly appeared, ordering this and that, so we all grew frustrated. But the higher-ups told us to satisfy his requests as much as possible, so we had no choice.”

“And you gave him everything he asked for?”

“He said that without freshly caught animals, the magic wouldn’t work, so we had no choice.”

The Beast mage repeatedly told them that the sacrifices couldn’t be monsters or humans, but beasts.

Without the natural energy that living animals retained, the sacrifice would fail. Though irritated, his comrades went hunting to satisfy him.

Fortunately, the mage was pleased with a few animals and didn’t demand more.

“He kept the totems inside the animals’ bellies for several days, and when they turned bright red, he handed them out. Then he said that was the most important phase of the plan and ordered them to be installed in specific places.”

“And today was that day. You were returning after placing your totem when you were caught, right?”

The young man fell silent. He wanted to stop the black mage but didn’t intend to give more information than necessary.

Lucian frowned and crouched in front of him.

“I get that we’re enemies and you want to be cautious—but are you really going to hide information even now?”

“…”

“You don’t know much about magic, and I don’t know enough to declare anything with certainty. Even if we put everything we both know together, there could still be gaps. And yet you want to pick and choose what to share? Do you really intend to prevent a tragedy?”

At those words, the young man pressed his lips together so tightly they nearly bled.

He seemed torn between the small hope in his “plan” and the fear that his actions would be considered betrayal.

Lucian waited silently for the boy to reach his conclusion.

If he intervened now, he’d only push him to shut down further.

After a few seconds, the young man opened his mouth with difficulty.

“In three days, the mages plan to lead monsters and attack the city of Grebe, which lies behind Castle Bornholm.”

“Grebe? It’s an ordinary city. It does have a large population, but strategically, it’s worth almost nothing.”

“That’s right. It’s just a diversionary attack. Since it’s the most populated city in the area, if a horde of monsters attacks, Castle Bornholm will have to send reinforcements. The real target is Castle Bornholm—once those reinforcements are gone.”

“…!”

Raymond, who had been silently listening, shuddered.

He knew they were plotting something, but attacking the castle seriously? Bornholm was a renowned fortress even without a proper army.

‘Even if they brought siege weapons, it would be difficult. How could they hope to succeed with just a horde of monsters and two mages?’

“The wall will be destroyed by a mage from the Celestial Academy. He said he’s been gathering power to use a single spell on that day.”

Raymond’s doubt vanished immediately.

If one spell shattered the wall and monsters poured in like a flood, even a well-defended fortress would descend into chaos.

With the defense paralyzed, the Imperial Liberation Alliance could act as they pleased.

“That’s all I’ll say.”

The young man shut his mouth.

He seemed to feel that having revealed everything regarding the mages, he had no obligation to say more.

Lucian also judged the information sufficient and nodded with a satisfied smile.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, there won’t be innocent victims.”

“….”

But the boy said nothing more.

He seemed resolved to remain silent from now on.

Lucian stepped aside to call those who would take the prisoner to the castle.

Then Raymond, who had remained silent the whole time, approached exclaiming.

“That was amazing, young master. When did you study magic?”

“What magic?”

“You talked about placing a focal point to contaminate the surrounding mana. I’ve never heard of black mages doing that.”

“Well, of course not—because it’s not something exclusive to black mages.”

“…Huh?”

“Whether it’s totems or markings, setting up a point to serve as a base for amplifying magic is a common technique among mages. It’s not limited to black mages.”

Raymond looked at him, confused.

Hadn’t Lucian explained earlier as if it were a method exclusive to them?

Lucian noticed the doubt on his face and smiled.

“It was a bluff to make him talk. He’d never imagine there was even a chance they could be real black mages. If they think they might be victims, their tongue loosens on its own.”

“S–so it was all a lie?”

“Half of it was a lie. The other half was true.”

“What does that mean?”

“There’s good news and bad news. Which one do you want first?”

The question gave Raymond a strange bad feeling.

If they had uncovered the enemy’s plans, there should only be good news.

“I guess the good news first.”

“I discovered the enemy’s plans.”

“Well, I just heard that right here.”

“I don’t mean the plans of the Imperial Liberation Alliance. I mean the plans of the mages.”

Raymond blinked, confused.

Did that mean the mages had different intentions?

“I don’t really get it, but it sounds like you’ve uncovered something. I’ll ask later… the bad news?”

Lucian made a bitter face.

“It wasn’t a bluff. There is a black mage. And it seems the Alliance completely fell for his deception.”

“…!?”

Lucian immediately sent the prisoner to the castle.

***

Then he called Tristan for an urgent meeting.

“Before you arrived, I briefly interrogated the prisoner.”

“…I’ve told you countless times not to get involved in these things, and yet you still do.”

Tristan’s face twisted.

He didn’t like how Lucian tended to blow things out of proportion.

Lucian shrugged.

“You seem annoyed, but this is worse. There’s a black mage within the Imperial Liberation Alliance.”

“What?”

“He infiltrated them by pretending to be an unlicensed mage. Not even they know the truth. Brother, you already know what that means.”

Tristan fell silent, his expression hardening.

Unlicensed mages hid only out of necessity; if not for Imperial persecution, they would seek recognition and status.

But black mages were different.

‘Those bastards don’t care about status or anything else. All they want are sacrifices.’

They existed to destroy the social order, not to rise within it.

It was absurd to think they would cooperate for power; they were simply using the Alliance to get what they wanted.

“The Alliance plans to use magic to bring down Castle Bornholm. The black mage wants to take advantage of that.”

“To use the castle’s inhabitants as sacrifices?”

“No, of course not.”

Lucian shook his head.

“Castle Bornholm is strategically valuable, but it’s not a good place to live. If war breaks out, it’ll be the front line. Most of the population lives in the city of Grebe, behind the castle.”

“But the Alliance wouldn’t want to attack Grebe. There’s nothing special about it. It’s just a waypoint that would fall once Bornholm is destroyed.”

“From what I heard, they planned to stage a fake attack there as a distraction. Once reinforcements left, they’d attack the weakened castle.”

“…Wait a moment, let me sort this out.”

The Alliance’s goal was to attack Grebe only as a decoy, in order to destroy Bornholm.

But for a black mage, the real prize was Grebe, where there was a larger population for sacrifices.

And it just so happened that the mages—not the black ones, but the regular ones—were to lead the monsters to Grebe first as part of the distraction plan.

“The black mage wants to use the Alliance to obtain sacrifices in Grebe, and then vanish.”

“…!”