King Orpheus thought that the attack was simply a threat that they could weather. To think that it goes deeper, he could only shake his head in disappointment. Since the matter has blown out of proportion, he needed to personally appear.
He carefully listened to Duke Ulysses's summary of what happened and at the mention of the younger Ginehart, he couldn't help but look at the young man a few times. A small doubt arose in his heart after hearing the duke's explanation. He needed to talk with Rigel in person to fully understand what really happened.
"Can I have a talk with Rigel?" He returned his gaze to the man who stopped talking when he noticed that he was not listening to him. This was his way of making sure that everything would go according to his plan.
Ulysses frowned, "Why? I already explained the circumstances, why do you still intend to talk to my son?" He was not resolved to the fact that the king was still eyeing his son.
"Duke Ulysses, is that the way to talk to the king?" General Ishmael Laudica reprimanded. He was glaring at the duke but Ulysses was not fazed by it.
"In this kind of situation, I am not a duke. So please call me by my title. The way I address the king doesn't concern you." He also stared at the man. He was not about to back down just because the general was close to the king.
In the whole kingdom, he was the only person that held two titles and General Ishmael knew that. He could only remain silent after those words even though he knew that Ulysses was using his status to shut him up. He averted his gaze and tightly closed his eyes.
"Enough. I just want to clarify some things with him." Despite the glaring conflict between the two, the king remained silent.
He was not about to get in the way of the two generals. It was not in his best interest to offend either of the two, especially Duke Ulysses. He chose to remain neutral and wait for the two of them to finish before he spoke.
Despite his obvious discomfort, Ulysses couldn't really stop the king from doing what he wanted. "Alright," he sighed and stepped to the side to give way to the king.
Cygnus watched as the king, his father and one other man came to where they were resting. They stood up and bowed towards the king as they greeted him in unison. Orpheus waved his hand to let them stand and to cease all formalities for now.
"General Ulysses already explained everything to me but I want to hear the clear account from the people who were directly involved." The king looked at the three of them.
Cygnus remained calm while Ezio only stared at the king. Isaiah on the other hand visibly tensed because unlike the master, he was not good at making excuses. His eyes avoided the king's gaze as he looked for other things he should focus on.
These reactions from the young Blackwell did not escape the king's eyes and even the look of awe on the face of Ezio made him secretly smile. What bothered him for a moment was the lack of emotion from the young Ginehart even though he was giving them a smile.
Orpheus decided to ignore it and focus on what was important right at that moment. He needed a clear understanding of all the events that transpired so far until he could settle the unease in his heart. The events made him uncomfortable, especially the discovery of the tower's inhumane acts.
"What do you want to know, your majesty?" Cygnus asked after a short silence between them.
"How did you know that the tower is the one behind all of this?" He asked because clearly according to the report he received that the attackers all died and during that time they did not see the young Ginehart approach anyone.
"As I have told my father, one of the attackers confessed to it. It was the one who attacked the tower but was killed by Archmage Celes; sadly even the archmage lost his life during the battle." Cygnus shook his head and sighed. He even covered his face with both of his hands before he looked at them again.
The master continued to narrate what followed after that and for some reason the king and the general who were with him believed everything he said. Isaiah's jaws dropped as he watched the charade happening in front of him. He looked at Ezio and he really didn't care about it. His gaze shifted to the duke but the man ignored what was happening.
What was happening before him was practically a sin against the king, the highest authority in the kingdom. He shuddered as he thought of what other things could the master do aside from manipulating people with just using his words. After the master explained everything, the king left and did not even ask them any question.
After they left, he heard the master laughing from behind. "Why do you look like you've seen a ghost? What, is this the first time that you are seeing a person talking to another one?"
"What did you do to the king? He was clearly suspecting your story but after you talked to him, he accepted all of it naturally. What did you do to manipulate him?" Isaiah's voice turned cold with his sharp gaze directed at Cygnus.
"So you actually noticed it. You have sharp eyes. I only infused my words with mana as I was explaining, easy as that." He did not even hide the fact that he actually did something and was even proud of it because of how wide his grin was.
"How can you do that to the king? What if he discovers what you did?" Isaiah couldn't help but raise his voice but when he noticed that eyes were starting to look their way, he backed down.
"The king will never know what I did. How can a lowly human like him even know that I did something to him? Do not underestimate me and you are sounding more and more like that mage." The young Blackwell was taken aback by how casual the man was with his own words and at how fast he could change the topic.
He suddenly stood up and walked away from the scene. He was already tired and wanted to lie on a bed. Linius went after him and told him that a carriage was waiting for him and that they'll take care of everything in the tower.
Instead of returning to the arena where the other mages were, Isaiah was forced to go with Cygnus and Ezio who intended to return to the Ginehart mansion. Ulysses on the other hand was still talking with the king. He knew that the master had done something to the king but right at that moment he didn't care.
The matter of the tower wasn't solved yet and he was sure that they would find more important things inside that once enigmatic place. He didn't know when but Cygnus already gave the information to Linius so all they needed to do was sweep through the whole place and clean it thoroughly.
"I suggest that we investigate all mages of the tower. I am not resolved to the fact that it was only the Magus Maximus who knew about those disgusting experiments, especially the elders who are still alive," Ulysses voiced his opinion.
The king, who fell into a daze, after talking with Cygnus and when he heard the duke's voice, he seemed to have returned to himself and readily agreed to the suggestion. He even told the duke that they should put up a wanted sign on every mages that were not in the tower. Ulysses looked at the king for a second before he nodded.
After announcing the order from the king, all mages from the lowest rank to the highest were detained in the arena where most of them were staying. Linius then announced what happened to the Magus Maximus and the reason why they were detained. With the help of the royal mages that served the king, the interrogation went well and everyone who had nothing to do with those experiments were let go.
They went through everyone and when they made sure that everyone had no knowledge about those experiments, they came to a conclusion that it was the elders and the Magus Maximus who were involved in the matter. Since almost all of the elders were dead, they released a wanted poster of the elders who were still alive.
The city was locked down that night. Nobody was allowed to leave and a barrier that prevents teleportation was immediately set up around the capital city. Soldiers started to patrol around the city to make sure that the people were safe and so that they could keep an eye on anyone who was moving suspiciously.
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