Chapter 97 - Forest of Eternity (5)

"The king of Aedia…. Black magic……...."

"This can't be happening. This can't be…..."

"Oh my god. This is…. It is Control magic. It is a black magic that forcefully suppresses the will of others!"

The magicians were frozen for a short amount of time. Then the magicians started to rotate into the room. Each magician wanted to see if their king had truly done this. Moreover, they started investigating to see if anyone else was connected to this endeavor.

"How can this be? I swore allegiance to a man using such an evil magic…….!"

"We should preserve this site. We have been ignorant of what had been going on here, and that frustrates me….. We cannot make any more mistakes. It will be recorded into our history!"

It was the same with the knights affiliated with Aedia.

They were from the magic kingdom, but in the end, they were knights. They had their own beliefs and code of honor. They also tried to find out why the former king had dabbled in black magic. They worked in conjunction with the magicians to find out why the king had performed such atrocities to the Elves.

They had felt helpless when they had to yield to a single magician. However, in the next moment, they had observed something that shouldn't be present in their kingdom. They felt their drive and motivation come back.

"We've finished analyzing the curse on the corpses of the Elves. This is…. This is a curse that stimulates undesired feelings. Yes, I'm sure there was a recent report that said the conflict between Tiata and a different race was escalating near the Forest of Eternity. C...could it be…..!"

"Did the king perhaps….. How foolish!"

"I found stored missives that were exchanged between the king and the Duke of Tiata. There are also records of experiments where they used magic to coerce the Elves….. Ah ah! Ah ah ah! What a horrific thing to do! They were brazen enough to practice the damned black magic in the heart of the magic kingdom of Aedia!"

That's right.

The king of Aedia had been researching for a way to dominate beings with intellect.

This probably all started when Regina was made.

When the magicians realized that they couldn't completely control Regina, the king of that era worked with the magicians to come up with a method that was better than the power of suggestion. They started researching a spell that would give them complete control over Regina. In the end, they came to a conclusion that magic couldn't coerce the mind of a person….

This waas why they started to dabble in black magic.

Not all black magic were the same. It didn't matter what type of magic it was. Depending on how any magic was used, it could create a horrific result. On the other hand, black magic needed a price in exchange for its use. It required sacrifice of other beings. This was why it was called black magic, and it was widely recognized as something only the Demon race used.

It was the reason why black magic was strictly forbidden since the founding of the magic kingdom of Aedia. They acted as the custodian of black magic. It was also the reason why the kingdom had a large amount of information that dealt with black magic.

At first, they started researching for a way to coerce Regina with magic. As expected, their research started to slowly spread into other interests.

Once they succumbed to the temptation, there was no restraint holding them back.

This was why Aedia had worked with Tiata. They researched for a way to control the Elves.

'Since the Elves weren't human, they convinced themselves that it would be all right. However, would that be enough for them? No way.'

The research into magic that dominated the Elves were merely a ridiculous justification. How could the spell they were researching actually differentiate between other races?

They had created a red line that said everything would be fine if they didn't use it against humans. In truth, the experiment didn't discriminate between Elves, humans or Demites. It would be an absolute Control magic. In some ways, it was more evil than the Innate ability of the Demon King.

In the case of the Demon King, he either controlled everyone, or he destroyed anyone that he couldn't control. He was a monster, yet he hadn't shown interest in the Control magic being researched by the humans.

The reason was quite simple. The Demon King already possessed an Innate ability called the Absolute Control. He also came to the conclusion that it was impossible to dominate another being with the power of magic. It had to be an Innate Ability.

This was the actual truth. In his past life, Aedia's spell resulted in truly horrendous side effects. This was why the Elves went out on an all out war against the humans. By the end of the war, the Elves were nearly wiped out.

The Forest went up in flames, and no new Elves appeared afterwards. Several nation became ruined in this war, and that was when the Demon King's army began fighting the hero's party in earnest.

The hero had been in a lot of pain, and she had cried…..

For the first time, Artpe realized what emotions the hero had been feeling at the time.

…...no, the events of his past life wasn't important now.

Artpe was standing in this spot, because he didn't want a repeat of that event.

"This magic is a failure. You guys can tell, right?"

"Our magic isn't trained to the extreme like yours. We were barely able to find out that the dead Elves were killed by the side effects of the curse."

"The curse that stimulates emotions is merely a means to an end. It is easier to use the Control magic when the subject's structure of thought is simplified."

"This was why they acquired a sample of Elves to test the curse….. Oh my god. This is a calamity!"

It seemed the magicians were finished making their judgements. Artpe clapped his hands once. It stopped the knights and magicians in their tracks. They had been immersed in examining the site. It was time for him to explain the situation.,

"I was given a request by an Elf to investigate this matter. I went through a lot of hardship to find this out….. It wasn't just the king. I also found out that most of Aedia's leadership class were involved in this. That is why I decided to work with the king of Daitan. I decided to cleanse Aedia. That was my plan, and that is why we are all here."

Of course, many objected to the way he wanted to cleanse Aedia. Thankfully, everyone's attention was focused elsewhere.

"Most of our leaders were involved? Wait a moment…..."

There were people here that were considered to be the leaders amongst the magicians, knights and nobles. Everyone's gazes head towards them. Artpe grinned.

"At my skill level, I'm able to investigate Mana and Records that are left behind. I just need some time to….. There we go."

"Koo-ahhhhk!"

"I...it wasn't me! No······ Kahk!"

When he threw the bait, the idiots bit immediately! Artpe used the Mana Strings he had already laid out beforehand. Some tried to run away in the opposite direction, and some attacked Artpe. There were those that were able somehow able to reactivate the damaged Warp Gate. They tried to jump through it. He killed them all.

His attack was close to the speed of lightning. Everyone knew Artpe was meeting out justice, yet they were frozen in place.

"My god. It is impossible to resist against him."

"I wonder if he really is the Demon King."

"I've never seen or heard of this spell before. It is a thin thread of Mana, and it contains incredible amounts of power…….."

"My magic isn't what is important right now."

Artpe dusted his hands off as he burned the corpses of the traitors. Then he raised a hand. A Demite was floating above his hand, and it was letting out fire.

Surprisingly, he was using the basic fire spell. However, he was using an overwhelming amount of Mana, and he was Dual Casting. He was able to generate a disproportionately large amount of power using the fire spell.

"Well, I killed all of the ones that came forward on their own….. It's time for me to kill the hidden ones."

"There are still more left-kahk!"

A noble was being shameless by acting as if he wasn't part of the leadership group. His head was the first to burn. He was just the start. Fire erupted from between the tens of thousand elite troops.

The flashy and domineery festival of fire lasted less than 3 minutes. Currently, the number of people killed had reached 150.

"Evidence! We need evidence! You might have killed innocent people!?"

"I can tell at a glance. The people I just killed right now had traces of black magic on them. Those that escaped my notice can live quietly in hiding, or it might be easier on you if you just take your own lives."

God Flush was a Great magic, but it had materialized through the magic circle. This meant that Artpe possessed an incredible amount of magical energy, and he was able to read and use the magic circle.

However, Artpe had just shown an appallingly amount of control and finesse over his Mana. He was able to create enormous amount of power using a minimal amount of Mana. It was the way in which one was able to use magic efficiently.

Normally, magicians devoted themselves to a specialized field. This wasn't the case with Artpe. Even if one considered his high level, he made no sense.

"This…. I understand."

At that moment, one of the magician let out a sigh as he yelled out.

"You have a variety of abilities that seems to have have no boundaries. You are young, yet you have overwhelming magical energy and level. You are close enough to them that you receive a Quest from the Elves….. Are you this generation's hero?"

Every human stopped breathing. However, the silence didn't last long.

"······what?"

"This tyrant is a hero?"

"That makes no sense. I've heard heroes were born within the Diaz Kingdom, but that was only couple years ago…. No, this all fits."

Artpe was 15 years old, but he had matured much faster. However,he wasn't able to eliminate all childlike features. This was the same for Maetel, who stuck close to Artpe.

They had traveled through many regions, yet it was odd that no one had recognized the identity of Artpe and Maetel.

"I've heard there are two heroes this time around. It means one of the two ladies is also a hero. Both of you are so strong that I have no idea which one of you is the hero….."

"He's a hero. That is why he had such a strong reaction to the black magic!"

"The actions of this hero is a little bit too dirty…...]"

The opinions between the magicians started to diverge. Artpe quietly asked his question.

"Will you believe me if I said I'm not the hero?"

"We believe that you are the hero."

Artpe smacked his lips. These damn magicians were prejudiced and obstinate, but they were quick on the uptake when it came to this.

Maybe, this was also why they were much quicker in identifying Artpe as a hero. A hero held a special status amongst humans. Even if a hero had superior powers, the humans didn't become jealous or envious of the hero. They just accepted a hero's power as a given.

It also meant that the magicians hadn't wanted to admit that they were weak, so they decided to designated him as a hero…..

Still, it was better than being called the Demon King. Artpe resigned himself as he acknowledged their words.

"Yes, it is a hero's quest. Does everything make sense now?"

"It does. However, I never expected Aedia to become an obstacle that blocks the progress of a hero…… It is a truly bitter pill to swallow."

The faces of the magicians either held dejection or resignation. Artpe also had a similar expression on his face.

"I'll continue on the basis that everyone has accepted my claim. The king had already assessed my power, and he had run away. The evidence is all here. He was short on time, so he couldn't destroy his research materials. He wasn't able to completely destroy his Warp Gate. I'll sum up the situation for you. The biggest culprit in bringing down Aedia was the king, and I have the means to go fuck him up."

Aedia was ruined by Artpe. He was solely responsible for it, but he was able to use the tragedy that had occurred in this room. He was successful in shifting all the blame to the king of Aedia! The knights were burning up from the sense of betrayal and their sense of justice. The magicians felt the same way.

However...

"Isn't the Gate partially destroyed?"

"Have you never done an Artifact Restoration Quest? Don't you know that the requirement needed to restore a partially destroyed item is completely different from a completely destroyed item?"

Artpe took out a portion of the Kraken's corpse from the Dimensional Pouch. He threw it towards the Warp Gate, and he Reinforced the Warp Gate. It really was that simple. In a flash, the Warp Gate regained its functionality, and it started to activate.

"Wait a moment. The specimen you just used…….."

"I'm going to do it two more times."

Whenever he used his Reinforcement skill, he took out by-products from high level monster he had killed. They were all over level 200. He indiscriminately used them as minor ingredients! Thanks to the ingredients, Artpe was able to finish three Reinforcements. The Warp Gate was sturdier and larger than before.

Basically, the repair of the Warp Gate was no longer a problem. It would take a little bit of time, but if he wanted to, he could send everyone gathered here across the Warp Gate!

".....what the hell did he just do right now?"

"My head hurts. Are you sure he used magic?"

"Well, let's do this."

Artpe's smile deepened. His smile was truly dark.

"I'm putting together a punitive party for the former king of Aedia."

Of course, no one enthusiastically said 'yes' or 'no' when they were put on the spot.

Artpe led the tens of thousands of people into the Gate.

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