The royal guards quickly recovered from what had just happened. They had orders to carry. Immediately, they began to prepare their return trip: horses, food, means of transport. The soldiers began to prepare whatever they could.
For that, they had to reenter the city.
- "Forget it! Stay outside you bastards!" one of the archers yelled above the gates.
- "It is an order of the Magus of the Court! You dare to oppose an order from His Excellency?!" continued the royal guard.
- "I dare to oppose anyone who tries to attack our city" replied the archer, spitting down.
- "You cu…"
Zachary then stepped forward and looked up.
- "Can I see Franck Leatrix?" he said simply, keeping his gaze neutral and empty of emotion.
The archer said nothing. He had the courage to oppose a royal guard, but an Archmage? He preferred to think about it better.
He turned to his colleagues who nodded before setting off towards the castle, taking a horse.
Several minutes passed until Franck appeared from the top of the ramparts. Immediately the atmosphere turned cold and everyone fell silent.
- "Glad to see you again, Commander," Zachary said.
- "I hear you wanted to speak with me. I'm curious as to why your men attacked us, Excellency" answered Franck immediately.
- "I assure you that I am as lost as you. It seems that the Elder of the Council betrayed us. I do not know more, but I intend to discover the whole story. "
Franck thought for a long time about what the Magus had just said. It was true that the old man seemed to be acting oddly. But he wasn't sure if the Magus was also an elder's partner.
- "And where is he?" asked Franck.
- "Dead…"
- "Sorry ?" said Franck with surprise.
- "He committed suicide by trying to take us with him in a magical explosion" answered Zachary quite simply.
Franck remained silent. Things had happened too quickly for him to understand. But if the Elder was dead, it was likely that the Magus or the guards were not in cahoots with this grand plot.
He looked at the Archmage again and motioned for the soldiers to open the doors.
- "I will only authorize the Magus to enter. We will send you the food and the horses for you to return to the capital. In the meantime, I would like to talk to you," said Franck.
Immediately, the royal guards retorted.
- "How dare you ?!"
- "What an ungrateful brat!"
Zachary raised his hand to tell them to shut up, which they did immediately, then looked up.
- "Could you deactivate the rune?" he asked.
- "I am sorry, but I fear that I do not trust you enough for that. But you have my word that no harm will come to you within these walls" announced Franck.
The royal guards were about to growl again but were stopped by Zachary who nodded.
Seeing that the Archmage understood, Franck nodded to the right. Immediately, the city gates began to open before Zachary entered. Then, once inside, the gates closed again before Franck disappeared from the walls.
On the other side, about twenty soldiers armed with spears were positioned in a semi-circle around the Magus.
- "Stand back" announced Franck behind the line of soldiers.
Immediately, the spears were raised before Franck came to approach the Magus with a smile.
He was almost sure, the Magus was not in cahoots with the Queen Mother. If he had been, Zachary wouldn't be there to try to negotiate, he would be attacking the city.
- "Let's talk at the castle if you want ..."
- "I would prefer that we speak here. I'm in a hurry and I would like to end it quickly. You seem to want to say something to me" Zachary answered, narrowing his eyes slightly.
Franck was slightly surprised. The nobles used to chat over tea, in an office, a living room. Not in the street surrounded by soldiers.
But he did nothing and decided to continue.
- "The Elder worked for the Queen Mother…"
- "The Queen Mother ?!" Zachary said, his eyes widening slightly.
- "Indeed. He had the Queen Mother's medallion. But that's not all…" he began.
For a few minutes, Zachary and Franck exchanged what they had for information. For his part, Franck informed Zachary of the plot which seemed to have formed around the sanctuary to keep a secret.
For his part, Zachary told him about Isaac's power, declaring that Isaac was probably much more powerful than him which did not really assure the witnesses around.
After their discussion, Franck ordered the soldiers to prepare the horses and coaches of the royal escort as well as food for the road.
- "Oh. I was going to forget, Isaac will come with me to the capital" declared Zachary with a smile on his face.
Immediately, all stopped.
- "Sorry ?" resumed Franck.
- "Isaac will come with me to the capital as a guest of honor" repeated Zachary.
Franck remained silent again, unable to formulate a word. Then suddenly the voices of the soldiers picked up.
- "Traitors!"
- "Do you dare to collaborate with a monster ?!"
- "It is an abomination!"
Zachary looked disinterestedly at the growling soldiers around him. He didn't intend to explain to them why he was doing this. They were only peasants after all, what would they understand about the politics of the kingdom.
Franck, for his part, thought for a long time. The fact that Isaac accepted Zachary's invitation could mean little.
Either he was going to join the kingdom or they had made some sort of arrangement. He didn't know the details and didn't want to know them. As long as Isaac got as far out of town as possible, he was happy.
The Commander was about to order his soldiers to be silent when a window suddenly appeared in front of him.
[System] Your Martial Law request was denied by ISAAC
[System] ISAAC has disabled the rune 'Mana Banishment'
Franck and all those around him jumped when they saw the window appear. Then the next moment, Franck looked around him before raising his gaze to the sky.
A few feet above the group was Isaac smiling. Immediately all the soldiers raised their spears, swords, and bows, trembling slightly.
They were afraid. Afraid of the Magus, of the elf, fear of these beings with extraordinary powers. Zachary looked up when he saw the others do and came to smile before waving his hand at Isaac who did the same.
- "Did I miss something ?" Isaac asked, approaching.
- "I'll tell you that on the way!" Zachary replied before turning to Franck. "Are we done?"
Franck pulled himself together and looked at Zachary before nodding.
- "Perfect," Zachary said before starting to float in the air to join Isaac. "Bring in the coaches and the horses. We have to go."
As they were about to leave, Franck suddenly raised his voice.
- "Wait !" he said to stop the two Archmages which they did. "I… thank you for the rune you left us… but…"
Isaac smiles more.
- "Do not worry, it is not made to destroy the city or anything, it will protect it as best it can" he replied simply.
Franck sighed for a long time. Of course, he wasn't going to trust the Archmage at his word, but it was less than nothing. He wasn't going to ask him to remove it either, it had just saved the city from having its memory erased after all. What else could it do?
- "I'm curious, what does the Martial Law option allow?" he asked right after.
Zachary immediately listened. He was curious.
- "Oh! This part is great, it summons defense golems all over the city. Anyone who is not part of the register is jailed and the city is sealed. No entry or exit!" he replied.
Franck immediately understood why the option required permission from the Administrator. It really looked extremely dangerous. Especially the part with golems. He was wondering what were golems. He never heard of that before.
- "Since I am going to leave, I will leave the privileges of authorizing or not the application of a Martial Law to someone I trust!" Isaac said suddenly before a red window appeared in front of him.
He then searched the list of people in the registry before finally finding the one he was looking for: Marcus Loyfrideric. The agent infiltrated by Rita.
Immediately, the young man received higher privileges without modifying his status. After all, he had to remain incognito.
Isaac then decided to send him a message.
---
"Sorry! Could you keep an eye on the rune I placed over this town for a little while? Ask Rita if you can stay a little longer. If so, perfect! Otherwise, it does not matter.
You should find a quick manual on what you can do.
Thank you in advance!"
---
Once done, Isaac turned to Zachary then Franck.
- "Good! If that's all, we can go!" Isaac announced.
Franck barely had time to formulate a word in his mind when a flash of light invaded the air. Zachary immediately disappeared with Isaac, leaving the soldiers and their Commander alone in the city.
The soldiers remained motionless for a long time, awaiting their orders before Franck recovered.
- "Send their horses and coaches to their camp with provisions" he ordered.
The soldiers took a little time to assimilate the order. Why did they have to help people who had just attacked their city? They hadn't understood anything about what had just happened.
But they decided to trust their Commander and started the preparations.
A few tens of minutes later, Isaac and Zachary walked over to one of the royal coaches. Isaac was immediately stunned by the details of the golden inscriptions decorating the edges of the coach.
Flowers, leaves, plants, and many other inscriptions had been drawn on the surface. The result was fine and very beautiful in his eyes.
The interior amazed him just as much. The seats felt extremely comfortable, soft, and smooth. Much more comfortable than what he had had as a bed the first few days in Falanx.
Rebecca, Artiel, and Iracuz had decided to take horses and travel with them to the capital. They had no intention of getting into the coaches. They were royal coaches and they were just peasants.
Isaac had tried to invite them inside, but he quickly noticed the worry and stress it caused them.
They were terrified of disrespecting Royalty. He could understand this from Iracuz, but why were Rebecca and Artiel so terrified ?! They were from Cram, an independent village, right?
Perhaps it was an automatic behavior vis-a-vis the Royalty or the powers? Isaac didn't want to force them and decided to let them do what they want.
For his part, he intended to chat with Zachary the whole trip. About thirty minutes later, the escort set off towards the capital.
Isaac looked out the window one last time at the plains of Fray'r and the town of Erivia. He was going to be away for a long time.
But one day he will return to the Garden.
One day he will come back here with his friends and family.
He will tell them about his adventures. He couldn't wait.
His adventure was about to begin.
"How exciting !" he thought to himself.