When A Mage Revolts

"Teacher… Something has happened outside."

Benjamin was meditating inside his room in the inn when Frank pushed the door open and entered. He spoke hesitantly.

Benjamin left the Space of his Consciousness after he heard the call. He returned to reality and frowned as he heard the loud noises outside his window. He then extended his senses to outside the window.

On the streets, groups of people were rushing about as if they were running for their lives. Aside from the escaping people, there was also a large group of people with weapons, clad in Spartan armor. They looked like bandits but were nowhere near as scary as actual bandits; they were now split into teams and seemingly marching towards a certain direction.

Benjamin frowned.

"What are they up to?" He opened the windows and looked at the group.

"Apparently, they are hooligans that are going around causing trouble as they were not satisfied with the Queen’s execution," Frank explained, "Some of them are wanted criminals but they somehow defeated the local soldiers. Now, it seems that they wanted to surround the Mayor’s house - probably with the intention of taking over the entire town.

…The hell?

Benjamin was obviously caught off guard. Frankly, he had heard of rebel forces emerging within Ferelden over the past few days due to Stuart ascending the throne. After all, it people would generally not just roll over for a new ruler immediately.

What he never expected though, was that he would meet them in real life. Also, their goal was ridiculous - did they really want to take over the town? Benjamin was lost for words at the news. Come on, look at their pathetic appearance, they looked like a Halloween carnival! These people? Take over a town?

Sigh… Resistances these days lacked professionalism.

Frank prodded when he noticed Benjamin’s delay in response. "What should we do, teacher?"

"Ah, let them be. It’s none of our business anyways," Benjamin shrugged it off, "They are going against the government Ferelden, not us; see, they’re not coming towards our inn."

"Then, tomorrow..." Frank asked again.

"We’ll follow the plan as per usual." Benjamin waved, "How can this motley crew stop us if all of the mages wanted to leave? Carretas is just right outside the border anyway, so it’ll be fine even if our identities are exposed."

"Oh… Alright then."

Judging from the look on Frank’s face, he was very interested in doing some heroics. However, Benjamin had no intentions of causing another scene. He still needed to work hard and prove to the System that this event did not change their initial plan! Then, the event could not be categorized as an accident, and the System would not have any reason to be smug around him.

At last, Frank left with a slightly disappointed look on his face. Benjamin remained in his room but did not continue his meditation. Instead, he looked out the window. He could see the hooligans use their overwhelming numbers to tie all the soldiers together, then cast them aside in some random street. Meanwhile, they barged into the Mayor’s house and pulled a trembling old man out from the building.

They placed a knife to the old man’s throat and started saying things like ‘Inept officials like you’ and ‘To preserve the glory of Ferelden’, like how a prosecutor would recite the crimes of a death-row inmate minutes before his execution.

Still, no one in town heard what they were saying. They were either hiding or fleeing the scene. Benjamin saw this and shook his head.

These really were a motley crew of people, huh?

This level of uprising would obviously be no trouble for Stuart. The military would send people over in a few days, and this filth will be wiped off the face of the Earth.

"Look at this. How can you just stand by and do nothing? What happened to the justice in you? Isn’t your conscience screaming at you?" The System hollered in Benjamin’s brain, trying to make its prediction for an accident come true.

"Of course not." Benjamin replied swiftly. However, a thought had grown mischievously in in his mind…

At that moment, the resistance grabbed the Mayor and drew a large broadsword, as if they were going to make a grand display of what was about to happen. The people of the town hid in their homes and looked on with terrified eyes. They had no idea what they planned to do.

"Don’t… Don’t kill me… I’m just a mayor. I have no idea what happened at the capital…" The old man begged desperately as he was dragged around by the collar.

"What nonsense are you spouting? The notices posted around town had your signature on it, no? Stop trying to save yourself; you’re just as guilty as them!"

However, just as the leader of the gang raised his blade and was about to swing it, a strong gust of wind started blowing. Then, hail started to drop from the clear skies, looking as though it was only targeting specific people.

Everyone was stunned by the event.

Many rumors were shared about the occurrence of sudden hail. According to Fereldan folklore, it could mean a lot of things, the most famous version of the story being this phenomenon was a sign of deceit and injustice.

Thus, when the mayor saw what happened, he was so overcome with so much emotion that he nearly broke into tears. Meanwhile, the resistance exchanged awkward looks; they just got a metaphorical slap in the face.

"S-See! I…. I’m really innocent…. I’ve been wrongly accused…."

The leader of the resistance’s face drastically changed. He snorted and rudely dropped the man to the ground before yelling out loud, "Who is that? Stop acting like some supernatural being. Come out, immediately! I command you to!"

Suddenly, a cold laugh came from behind him. The hail and strong winds died down and countless ice bushes sprouted from the ground like some sort of wild growth. The ice plants behaved like tentacles and immediately immobilized the few hundred people in the resistance.

"W-What is this? M-Mages!"

Although the resistance looked almighty and powerful, it was only strong relative to the small town’s defense force. If they were truly strong, they would have probably reached the City of Snow by now, instead of wasting time with a mayor in a small town.

In just one move, the resistance had been subdued. They struggled with all their might to hack at the ice bushes with their blades, but it was to avail. The bushes were incredibly tough - like talons from the ground, they locked their prey firmly in place.

Soon, their shock changed to fear.

"Oh no…. Did someone from the Mage Guild set up an ambush?"

They had heard of the newly formed Mage Guild within the borders of Ferelden. A mage name Steve formed the Guild when the Mage Freemasonry fell and in a short time had managed to gather quite a following.

Still, people were unclear about the purpose of the Guild. Some said that the Mage Guild was just another guard dog that Stuart got to help him maintain control.

If that was the case.... then could this be them?

The resistance looked hopeless. They knew their limits. They were enough to attack these towns with less than 100 soldiers, but they would be massacred if they tried to stand up to mages.

However, as they were deep in despair and agony…

"Fools."

Benjamin walked out from a corner. His steps were lazy and his face was nonchalant.

"Do you know what you’re doing? With your current abilities and your strategy, you would never cause any real damage to Stuart’s position. No, not in a thousand years. You would just become corpses that he would hang at the city gates to further his dominant image." Benjamin paused for a moment as he walked towards their leader. "If you are dead set on your goal, I have an idea or two for you. Are you interested?"