When A Mage Revolts

Under the pitch-black sky, Benjamin rushed towards the Kingdom of Helius.

He was still thinking about the report from the Black Operation of the Academy.

"The news about the foreclosure of the Lithur family is very likely true. Although Duke Claude was secretly executed, someone had seen his corpse, and the bruise mark on his neck was very obvious; he was eventually sent to the cathedral to be cremated. We heard about all this from a worker in the cathedral."

Even now, Benjamin was in disbelief.

He had returned to the Kingdom of Helius just a few months ago and had he even met Claude in Havenwright. It was because of Grant’s existence that he felt that no one in the Kingdom of Helius could threaten the Lithur family anymore. He even felt relieved because of this.

However...

Benjamin shook his head and could not make sense of how it all happened.

Did the internal affairs of the Church involve the Lithur family? Did the nobles engage themselves in an internal strife? The Black Operation of the Academy could not give him a definite answer. Therefore, Benjamin set off.

He wanted to know the truth.

It was Claude who saved him from the square where the execution had first taken place; when he first came to the world, it was the Lithur family who gave him a place to live. Even though he was just a traveler who had come from another dimension, he had long established an intimate connection with the people of this world.

This was why Benjamin hurried towards the Kingdom of Helius the second he received the bad news.

If Claude had really died, at the very least he had to know the reason why. He wanted to avenge him for the injustice, he wanted to send him lilies in his grave.

At Benjamin’s speed, crossing Icor was no trouble. He spent a total of three days flying, eventually crossing the mountains near the Crusader Gateway, finally entering the Kingdom of Helius and landing at a place near Havenwright.

"Tell me how the Lithur family collapsed."

When Benjamin found the members from the Black Operation who were based there, he met them in a room at a hotel and immediately demanded answers.

"There are a lot of versions of the story going around now. The shock among the nobles was huge, everyone had been secretly discussing it, unsure of which one was true." The head of this particular branch of the Black Operation answered.

"What are the rumors? Tell me all of them."

"A lot of them claim that Grant Lithur had a great argument with his family. The nobles are guessing that Duke Claude had probably started requesting for more when his son became the pope, and this had made many people in the Church angry. Grant could only sacrifice his family in order to stabilize the Church."

Benjamin shook his head and did not even consider the possibility of this rumor being true.

"It’s definitely not because of this, what else?"

The leader hesitated for a while and said, "But...according to the source of the news, the news that was spread the most amongst the nobles all came from the Church. They purposely diverted the people’s attention to make them believe this because both the pope and the other priests in the Church would agree to it."

Benjamin was stunned.

How could that be?

Benjamin knew Claude’s attitude - even if his son had become the pope, he would not cross the line and become unreasonable. Deep inside the bones of the middle-aged noble was a rather traditional man.

As for Grant, for him to just let the rumors spread without doing anything... why was he behaving like this?

What had actually happened...

Benjamin realized at that moment that the Lithur family was probably different from how it was when he had first left.

"Duke Claude... He was secretly executed, right? I want to know who was there; did you manage to get any news about that?" After a while, Benjamin looked up and asked.

The man shook his head.

"The execution was done secretly, there are many opinions on that as well. No one knows where he was executed, and no one knows when either. It was on the afternoon of the second day after the coronation ceremony when the Holy Knights surrounded the Lithur family and announced the news."

Instantly, Benjamin frowned.

What were they trying to hide?

The reason for the sufferings of the Lithur family was certainly not due to the rumors that were being spread; they were more likely in turmoil over the truth of Claude’s death... Had he really been executed by the Church? Benjamin was doubtful.

At that moment, he made a decision to find out the truth.

After clearing his doubts with the help of the foreperson, Benjamin turned around and hurried away. From the information that he had received, it seemed like someone was purposely covering up the case, hoping that it would fade away quietly.

Therefore, in order to find out the truth, he had to find people connected to it.

"... The prison in the West City, the first floor of the basement, the third and fourth cells from the left."

A day later, as Benjamin was walking on the outskirts of Havenwright, he looked at the paper in his hands with a gloomy heart.

With the extermination of the Lithur family, grandmother was nowhere to be found, Clause was most likely dead, and Mary was said to be resting in a farm in her hometown all year long and was absent in the Imperial Capital during the event. As for the servants who had served in the Lithur family, they were all dragged off and imprisoned.

If Benjamin wanted to know the truth, he probably needed to take a look in the prison.

The guards in the prison were quite strict, and he could not find any other possible entries other than via the main gates. He regretted not planning this better - if Miles were there, he could probably have solved that problem easily.

However... Benjamin had his ways too.

As he hid at a remote ruin nearby, he activated his water elemental domain quickly and directed the ice drill to start digging. As he only had to reach the first floor of the basement, the distance was not too far. Before long, Benjamin had reached the cell.

According to the information from the leader, the foreperson, the former servants of the Lithur family had all been locked up together quite far away from the cells of the other prisoners. As long as he was careful with the digging, no one would notice.

Half an hour later.

"Wait up, the cell...something has happened."

The System who had been in charge of directing his movements suddenly said oddly. Instantly, Benjamin’s heart thumped; he quickly checked with his water elemental induction magic.

The images of the cell started appearing in his mind.

Through the dim lights and wet walls, in the cell that was specifically used to lock up the servants, the familiar faces of the servants fell to the ground one after another, as if they were out of breath.

Benjamin’s heart shook, he sped up and dug through the last stretch of dirt then entered the cell himself.

"Hmm... They were probably poisoned, I can detect similar poisonous substances in each of their body." The System sighed and said, "It looks like someone is really trying to keep the secret."