When A Mage Revolts

Benjamin returned home after his morning training.

It did not take him long to learn about some events that took place that very morning.

Over thirty noble households marched towards St. Peter’s Cathedral today to seek explanation for the way the Holy Knights treated their children in the ball. Dean’s prediction was right; the nobles would stage a protest.

It was unfortunate for the nobles that the church’s response was swift. Before they could even gather, they were chased away by more than 10 Holy Knights.

The nobles did not give up without a fight though. After they were chased away, they went and sat in silent protest at the entrance of the castle after some discussions. They were still there, unmoved even after Benjamin finished his lunch in the Lithur Manor.

If there was more people present, Benjamin heavily suspected that they would start a demonstration.

All this was a nuisance to Benjamin. The royal family and the church must already predicted this situation when they decided to execute their plan. These nobles who were running about in the kingdom were basically acting like clowns in the church; they should instead utilize whatever available resources and influence they have to do something that would actually threaten the church.

After all, only less than forty nobles households were present. It was barely a force to be reckoned by the church; there were more than a few hundred noble households and more than ten major ones in the kingdom.

These major noble households did not even squeak.

After Benjamin gathered enough information, he had a nagging thought: the church’s collusion with the royal family was a very deliberately planned one.

Initially, there were a few hundred people in the ball, but the crowd reduced gradually throughout the night. Some were like Elizabeth and Dick who left early, and some were like Benjamin who left and were not stopped. At last, only approximately a hundred noble youths were obligated to ‘wear’ the cross.

The actual number of noble households under surveillance was only slightly more than sixty - most of them were siblings belonging to the same households that were forced to ‘wear’ the cross.

That God’s will to ‘cleanse all mages in the land’ was also used by the church as a weapon to suppress unrest; those who were displeased with the measures taken were automatically assumed to be working with the mages.

That was the reason why the voices of protest was so weak.

As a final blow, the church sent the Holy Knights this afternoon to prosecute an entire household of nobles. The household was allegedly supporting the mages, and after the Holy Knights listed numerous compelling evidences, the noble family was executed. No one survived. After that, the crowd who sat and protested outside the castle doors dispersed in a blink of an eye; it was as if they were antelopes chased by leopards.

That was when the nobles realised how powerless they were against the church.

The resistance faded away like the tide. Maybe they were plotting something outside of their children’s surveillance, but for now, the nobles seemed to finally accept and obey the church.

Those that were not involved kept their silence; perhaps they were still grateful that their children escaped this tragedy. It was as if everyone forgot about the agreement they had before and were willing to accept the church’s unlawful behavior.

The nobles finally understood how wide the gap of power between the church and the nobles had become since the formation of the kingdom. Hundreds of years ago, the nobles possessed army forces; hundreds of years later, the nobles only possessed gold, gold that could be taken away at the church’s whims.

Benjamin knew that if the nobles did nothing to change the situation, their gold would soon be no more.

For the Lithurs, their status was a result for their obedience to church; Claude ignored the current happenings in the kingdom, instead he focused on tending to the lands he owned, as if the focus of his life was to give more offerings to the kingdom and the church.

Of course, Benjamin was entirely against this approach. It was impossible for the Lithurs to survive if the kingdom collapsed due to its internal conflicts! Benjamin’s opinions did not seem to matter much to the household, though.

Since he could not do much about this, he might as well stop worrying about this.

He did not forget to ask about the Woods. According to them, Elizabeth, the only daughter in their household, retired early on the night of the ball as she was ill. However, she caught on a sudden disease after her return, and unfortunately perished the next morning. Her body was cremated before the priest of the church arrived at the scene in an effort to stop the disease from spreading. By the time the priest was there, she was no more.

Benjamin refused to believe in the news. Elizabeth, the talkative girl who was lively enough to pull Benjamin to a dance, died that night?

That must be a lie.

As he recalled Elizabeth’s words, "I’m leaving the kingdom tonight,", he combined this piece of information with the fact that her ‘body’ was no more, Benjamin took mere seconds to guess what was going on.

The Woods probably heard the rumors and decided for their daughter to forge her death and hide somewhere outside the kingdom. This was very suspicious still; based on the current situations in the kingdom, it was unnecessary for such a drastic escape measure. Benjamin also found it hard to believe that Elizabeth left the kingdom just to avoid detection.

Of course, it was impossible for Benjamin to learn of the truth.

He would also never allow himself to spend much of his time brooding over an unsolvable case. Thus, he quickly cast any thoughts of Elizabeth, his eccentric ex-fiance, aside. He would not think about her for a very long time after this.

Now, he had more important matters to attend to.

The ball was finally a thing of the past, and Benjamin was no longer grounded by Claude. He was also no longer under the church’s watch - they had stopped sending people to spy on him long ago.

This was the first time he actually had total freedom of movement.

He could finally go anywhere he wanted without worrying about getting tailed by the church or Claude’s restrictions. There were no longer scrutiny looming over his head; instead, he could only see the blue sky of freedom.

Who would be able to hold back and meditate at home?

Not Benjamin.

Equipped with his weapons, he left the manor that afternoon and arrived at the outskirts of Havenwright without any detection. He hid in a dark corner, disguised as a beggar - a much better one than his previous attempt.

He started executing his plan for the day.

As for the purpose of his trip; he had two: to dig out Annie’s belongings, and to find the assassin who tried to kill him right in the beginning of the story.

Both were insignificant matters that should have been handled long ago, but he could not simply cast them aside without a closure. For his peace of mind, he decided to get it over with, once and for all.

He went to Bonnie’s Pub after some thought.

This was very close to one of Michelle’s abandoned spots, and coincidentally, was where the assassin became an underling for the knife-scarred man. Benjamin should be able to uncover some clues here.

The pub was different from the last time he was here. Although it was not long ago, the pub got itself a new owner after the original staff and previous owner were killed by the knife-scarred man. That was evident by the busy renovation crew entering and leaving the place.

It was saddening that the folks could forget that easily, but the tides of change in the business world were much more brutal than that.

Benjamin stood at the street opposite the pub and stared at it. Suddenly, a man who stood by the doors of the pub, clad in colourful clothes and with an accordion in hand, caught Benjamin’s attention.

A street artist? Perhaps, a wandering poet? In Benjamin’s imagination, these people would be very knowledgeable; they would also know quite a number from the rumor mill.

Hmm…... He should try and ask him.

Benjamin walked over to greet him.

"What are you doing here? The pub is not open for business yet, no?" He asked.

The Accordion Man glanced at him, his face suddenly morphed into one of distress.

"Sorry, I’m very poor too. I have no money to give to you, you should really go to someone else."

Benjamin paused. It took him a while to realise that this person probably fell for his disguise as a beggar and assumed that he was here for money.

Benjamin felt like laughing, but he shook his head instead, "No, you’re overthinking. I’m not here for your money. I’m just curious about your presence here."

The Accordion Man looked genuinely confused. In an instant, his eyes widened as he stared at Benjamin, as if he suddenly was struck by inspiration.

"I heard beggars are rich. No wonder you’re not begging for money from me," he said as he placed his accordion on the floor and proceed to to grab Benjamin by his shoulders, his face filled with expectation, "I want to be a beggar and earn money too. Can you teach me how to be a beggar?"

"..."

Benjamin regretted his decision.

Why did he initiate a conversation with this guy in the first place?