Franck had barely recovered from what had happened. Things had unfolded far too quickly.
Between the Magus who appeared and disappeared without warning, the soldiers of the royal guard entering unexpectedly, the Commander did not know what to do. He finally thought he was fine when the office door opened again which started to irritate him.
- "What now ?!" he yelled, turning around before widening his eyes slightly. "Excellency! I'm sorry," he hastened to add before bowing.
Before him stood an elderly man dressed in a white coat. Beside him were two soldiers in golden armor.
The elder smiled at him before waving the soldiers out of the room, closing the door. Once alone, the old man quietly approached.
- "Greetings, I am Jules Montgroux, Emissary of the Council of Elders of His Majesty the King" he began. "You are ?"
- "Franck Leatrix, son of Governor Yves Leatrix. I am the Commander of the garrison" he replied immediately.
- "Ah I see, your father lost his job apparently?" Jules continued.
- "It appears so" replied Franck, nodding his head.
Something was wrong. The escort was supposed to protect the Archmage and accompany him at all times. So what were they still doing here? The Magus was already gone.
Franck suspected something and Jules seemed to discern it and began to smile. The old man slowly approached, then stopped in front of the desk.
- "The Council of Elders will take all the information and writings relating to the sanctuary and the alleged Archmage seen inside" began the old man.
The orders were simple.
All media related to the sanctuary or Isaac were to be transferred and their copies were to be removed and deleted.
This was not very surprising given the scale of the case. But what surprised Franck more was the following order.
- "All the witnesses of the case will have to be administered an immediate amnesic spell" continued the old man.
Franck did not believe it.
They intended to make the whole town forget everything that had happened? Were they out of their mind? The operation was doomed to fail. They wanted to make an entire city forget something?
But on second thought, it didn't seem so impossible to him since Isaac had arrived. Still, something didn't seem right.
The order seemed to have been issued by the Council of Elders and that was what surprised him. The Council never interfered in affairs external to the Palace. It had a consultative and advisory role, nothing more, nothing less.
Since when did they have the authority to issue an order like this?
Seeing the Captain's puzzled look, the old man then sighed lightly and grabbed a locket from his pocket before placing it on the desk.
Franck, therefore, began to look at the medallion before widening his eyes. "The badge of the Queen Mother ?!"
The King's mother, Eleonora Lubeyllis born as Soleyris, was still alive, unlike her husband. Many rumors had spread about the death of the former King, but none had found any basis or evidence.
Although the current King did not seem to like her much, she was still the Queen Mother and still possessed a certain political power. In affairs of state, she had little to say but when it came to royal affairs the Queen Mother was a respected authority.
With her blood ancestry but also her experience, she had many political allies among the Nobility not to mention the Duchy Soleyris and the Duchy Meli which supported her greatly.
Franck looked up at Jules who smiled slightly at him and took his medallion back to his pocket.
The Commander did not understand. Why was the Queen Mother collaborating with the Council of Elders? And why do they want to hide all these events?
They had no chance of being able to remove all traces of what had happened in the city. Yet Jules seemed confident which made Franck doubtful and perplexed.
Why was he confident? There were some possible explanations. The first was that he is way too confident about the abilities of the mages and his Council agents. He probably thought they were capable of something visibly impossible.
Another explanation was that they were sure they could succeed. But if they were sure to succeed, then that meant that ...
- "You have already done it ..." he said quietly, looking down.
- "Sorry ?"
- "This order, erase the traces of something on an entire city. This is not the first time that you have done this, right?" he said, looking up at Jules.
The old man frowned seriously as he looked closely at Franck in front of him. The atmosphere in the office grew cold for a moment as the two men exchanged cold and murderous looks until Jules came to smile.
- "You are perceptive for a soldier" finally answered the old one.
- "But why? When? How?" hastened to ask the young man, worried and curious at the same time by the strange mystery which hovered around.
The Council of Elders and the Queen Mother collaborate to remove traces of events? Since when? Why?
Franck was starting to get lost in what seemed to be a plot stretching far deeper than he thought.
- "You've read the stories about the shrine before, haven't you?" Jules asked.
- "Of course, an impenetrable place that even several Archmages could not enter" answered Franck.
- "Certainly, but didn't you find something strange in these stories?"
- "What do you mean? I don't understand"
Jules took a deep breath before resuming after pausing briefly.
- "Records say that the kingdom has attempted to take control of the shrine for nearly seven consecutive centuries. Yet, overnight, the royal family simply decided to stop. Don't you find that suspicious? Why do you think that four centuries ago the kingdom stopped? "
- "Because they thought it was no longer useful?" Franck began before stopping and then widening his eyes slightly. "Because they succeeded?!"
A long, big smile then appeared on Jules' face. The old man seemed ecstatic when he saw Franck's shocked and surprised expression.
- "Really very insightful for a soldier. You will have a bright future" he finally said.
Franck came out of his trance. He was beginning to suspect everything. If an affair as important as the shrine had been buried like this without a trace, then what the Council of Elders and the Queen Mother were doing was not recent.
It was surely a work passed from generation to generation. But from whom to whom? From family to family?
He had many questions and was about to ask them when a severe headache hit him.
- "W-what? Why?" stuttered Franck with difficulty.
- "No one must learn what happened here"
Franck fell to the ground, his eyes beginning to close and his gaze on Jules who was holding what appeared to be a small marble glistening with a slightly bluish light.
- "Don't worry. Tomorrow you will wake up as if nothing happened" said the elder with a broad smile on his face.
The office doors swung open before two royal soldiers entered. They looked at Franck for a moment then redirected their eyes to Jules.
- "The large-scale amnesia device is installed, Excellency," announced one of the soldiers.
At the door, Franck could see three soldiers of Erivia currently on the ground appearing to be in the same state as him.
The Commander was starting to panic. What should he do? He did not know what to do. He was getting a little sick of never being able to do anything.
- "Good. Activate it as soon it is ready. Have you started collecting all the records and reports?"
The soldier responded with a nod of his head.
- "Perfect. Let's go" Jules said before leaving the office immediately.
A few seconds later, the office doors closed, leaving Franck alone and in pain. He didn't really know what to do.
What could he do in the face of mages? Not much. That's what he was thinking until a red window suddenly appeared in front of him.
[System] The same request was submitted 312 times within 30 seconds. An automatic petition has been triggered and the request will be launched by public ballot.
[System] >> "Help!"
Y : ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 0%
N : ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 0%
Immediately, Franck pressed Y, and very quickly, many did the same.
Y : ███████████████░░░░░ 75%
N : ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 0%
[System] Motion carried
[System] Confirmed security threat
[System] Loading countermeasures… completed
[System] Magical interference confirmed
[System] Loading 'Mana Banishment' rune...
Further down, at the gates of the castle, Jules was observing what looked like a crystal about a meter in diameter spinning on itself.
Around were two Master Mages, both in yellow clothes. One of them turned when he saw the old man coming and approached him.
- "The city has been rendered inert. We are about to finalize the preparations for the amnesia spell" announced the mage.
- "Fine, how long?"
- "About ten minutes. Are you sure this is a useful use of such expensive equipment? I mean, using a mana cristal just for one little city?"
- "You don't have to concern yourself with such matters. The Magus and his Majesty ordered this, we do not have to question their decisions, understood?"
- "Yes, Excellency. We will fin--"
A wave of mana suddenly swept through the surroundings before the glowing crystal at the gates began to gradually weaken before totally deactivating itself and then, after a moment, fell inert and transparent to the ground.
- "Gregory ?! What's going on?" Jules yelled hastily.
It had never happened. A mana crystal drained of its energy instantly? Something was wrong.
In the governor's office, the pain hitting Franck immediately dissipated. The Commander then got up painfully before looking at the window still in front of him.
Without any hesitation, he pressed "Go to martial law."
[System] 'Martial law' scenario must receive the Administrator's approval.
[System] Request sent.
- "F*ck !"