A man wearing a cloak seems to be pointing at a location in a map
"Here is where the attack will be done."
This cloaked man was a dark mage and the man in front of him was Ken.
4 days ago
"Mind games?" Daila asked clearly not on topic with what Ken is talking about.
"Yeah mind games. Though it's more akin to mental torture."
"Are you sure this will work?"
"It's not a matter of success rate, it's a matter of morality." He said with a serious gaze.
Daila stared back at Ken and their eyes met together, neither softening their gaze.
After a minute of silence, Daila sighed and said, "It's not like we have enough room to complain about morality so Let's go with your plan."
Although Daila wasn't sure what the plan was, she knew that it was a ruthless strategy from the brief conversation they had,
Sadly Daila didn't have much room to complain. She couldn't send someone to ask for reinforcements and the airship wouldn't be back until 1 week and 3 days and it'll still take 1 week for reinforcements to arrive so it was still a gamble.
A necessary direct confrontation in the empire only happens every 2 months so it was not possible for the other countries of this empire to notice something weird until it was probably late.
They also wrote fake weekly reports and delivered them using carrier pigeons.
They probably also wrote a very believable but false information on why they didn't use communication crystals to communicate.
Daila has already completely ruined her sleeping schedule due to this ordeal so she isn't confident of being able to endure for that long.
Overall she doesn't have much of a choice.
I hope his plan works
Daila thought as she sighed as she sat down and signed for Ken to sit.
A smirk appeared on Ken's face as he sat down and signalled something to Daila.
Seeing the signal, Daila sighed again before she snapped her finger.
A seemingly small invisible donn seems to have blocked out the sound as Ken observed.
After a brief silence, Ken spoke,
"Well then it's about time to discuss the plan."
-
In a cell, a slim man could be observed wearing a black cloak. He was quite tall but he was also chained.
He was one of the dark mages that had been captured.
He had a tired and mostly expressionless face.
His face was also a bit pale.
Today he will be transferred to a new station to be interrogated.
Won't they understand that they cannot torture me or do any actual harm that would make me confess.
He thought as he was being escorted to a very cold and isolated room. It was small and it had no windows. It was quite cramped.
The guard put him inside the cell with his hands still chained together with something that seems to limit the use of magic.
The dark mage soon sat down on the cold and uncomfortable floor as it closed, the room became basically pitch black.
He sat there still chained trying to focus on his surroundings.
But something was still wrong.
I can't use my mana deduction or mana sense.
He soon came to accept his terms.
It's not a big deal if I can't use mana sense. I'm just supposed to be part of a red herring. We already have made a plan and it will take place after 8 days so I just need to endure till then which should be easy.
Time passed by and soon 4 hours passed.
The dark mage seems to be extremely bored and looks half awake.
It's tough but the situation isn't so bad so lasting for 8 days should not be too difficult for the dark mage.
A guard opened the cell that seemed to be fully soundproof and tossed him a plate with a bit of food. A cup of water, a piece of paper containing some letters, a syringe and some yellowish white powder.
After giving it to the dark mage, the guard immediately closes the door.
Seeing this the dark mage opens the piece of paper and looks inside.
'Please inject this syringe inside your body or sniff the powers through your nose or do both. Failure to comply will result in death.'
Seeing this message, the dark mage was taken aback by the weird message.
Soon enough, a sigh left the dark mage's mouth as he injected the fluid in the syringe into his body via his arm.
While the dark mage didn't prioritise many things, he did prioritise his life just below his devotion to the cult.
When he injected the syringe, he felt a sudden burst of adrenaline.
He felt awake yet relaxed. He felt a burst of energy coming to him. His mind was calm and he felt amazing.
After a while he started to see hallucinations. He saw a vision and so his dead kids played on the sunny field living the life they never had. He saw the sun setting which added a more comfortable feeling.
His vision slowly faded as he could do nothing but look.
A smile appeared on his face as the scene changed. He saw his beautiful wife. She had black hair and beautiful green eyes.
He saw her smiling and smiling. Her face is as bright and beautiful as a setting sun.
A smile appeared on the man's face as the scene's unfolded upon his eyes slowly and slowly they began to fade more and more when he eventually came into his senses. He grabbed his head trying to calm himself.
He held his mead murmuring to himself quickly and quietly to calm down and after a while he became somewhat calm,
I can't believe I just tried to forget about myself and my goals just because of some past…past…
The man looked at his hands that were shaking and grabbed it to calm himself.
He wasn't calm at all. He hadn't fully recovered from his hallucinations.
His arms didn't stop shaking and as he looked at the ground he saw the white powder that used to be near the syringe.
Seeing the powder a thought flashed in his mind.
Maybe I can see my family again if I use that powder.
But he soon slapped his cheek as he tried to calm himself.
He tried to remove that thought from his mind and tried to stay calm.
I have already taken the syringe and there's no need to use the white powder since I won't be executed. So I must regulate myself.
Normally he could have calmed himself and thrown the powder out of his arms reach but he couldn't.
Eventually after around an hour he finally gave up and used the white powder.
He too felt at ease Remembering his kids but after the effects wore off, he felt an urge to have it. It was really intoxicating..that feeling.
Having an urge to have something but resenting yourself for having such a thing.
It really is a paradoxical feeling.
As he was trying to calm himself, he heard some guard speaking.
They probably are on guard duty.
"Hey did you know that Frank got demoted?" One of the guard could be heard saying.
"No way, what happened?" Another guard spoke out.
From what I can gather, It seems like there are 2 people there.
"Apparently Frank's wife and kids were killed during the crossfire between a dark mage and a knight 2 weeks ago."
"Really! Man, I feel bad for him. I hope he's okay."
"Ever since that day he hasn't been able to focus and had messed up a lot of work so the chief had to demote him reluctantly."
A silence covered the room.
As the dark mage seems to feel empathetic towards frank.
"Well on the bright side, he got a 2 week paid break with some extra cash from the chief."
"How is that supposed to bring? He's probably drowning himself in alcohol to the point of addiction."
"…yeah you're right…I just…I just wanted to make myself believe that Frank is doing well I guess. I…I feel bad for him." The guard's voice became soft as a slight bit of bitter sadness could be heard in his voice.
Hearing this, the dark mage felt a bit guilty but his goals wouldn't falter from this.
I have gone too far to stop now. There's no turning back. My heart may falter but my will shall not.
He recited those words in his heart as if it was a pledge.
Time passed by as he listened and listened.
The guards tried to say stories of their happy little family and about other things probably to divert the heavy conversation they recently had.
It was a bit foolish but it was a normal reaction.
The dark mage stood up and slept on the cold hard Mattress that couldn't even be considered as a bed.
And the night passed by.
-
That day was cold. It was snowing and I was going out to hunt some snow horns to get my daily necessities. I was a C-rank adventurer and my old party are now all B-rank adventurers.
They all say that 'I could have been a B-rank adventurer' and some even say that 'I could have been an A-rank adventurer.' But frankly I didn't care much about them.
Ever since I met that woman on that rainy day, I had been thinking about her and eventually after visiting her everyday and having small talk with her, I asked her to marry me.
She accepted and since then, I have been the happiest man ever.
My party members could probably see how happy I was back then. They even gave me a lot of money and gifts on the wedding day.
I still went on adventures with my party members but that stopped when I heard that my wife was pregnant.
I started to be more careful and cautious since my life was valuable to both my wife and future kids.
One day my party member kicked me out though the reasoning was valid and I still am happy for what they did.
They knew that they would be taking more dangerous jobs in the future and they probably realised that I didn't want to risk my life.
Knowing this they kicked me out of the party, though each one of them secretly met me to apologise to me.
It really was quite funny to be honest.
Everything was going well, it was going fine. I was satisfied with my life.
The only wish I would ever want at that time was that happiness, that these moments will happen in the future for the ready of my hopefully long life.
One day, I went out with my old party to have some drinks near a riverside we found back in our youth.
The view was nice and paired with alcohol and jokes, It'll be like paradise.
We would go there once every two months.
We would wake up early in the morning at lime around 5 to 6 am and walk for around 5 hours counting resting.
On the way our party members would share stories and joke around.
My daughter had recently reached the age of 5 along with her brother and she had lost one of her baby teeth so I just went on and on about how cute my kids were until we reached the place.
My party member looked very jealous and was looking at me with dead eyes and some even directed their killing intent towards me.
I mean everyone in the party except me was single so they felt quite jealous and angry I suppose.
After we reached the place which was near the middle of the woods, we enjoyed our drink and after what felt like a second, we saw the sun starting to get ready to set so around 3-4 Pm.
We started returning home and after walking for one hour, we could see the small city we reside in but something was off.
The city was on fire!
We began to dash towards the village running as fast as we can and after half an hour of non-stop running, we finally reached the place.
We were tired but I didn't stop running, I ran and ran to my house but there I saw it, my house was on fire.
I went inside the burning house hoping that my wife and kids were safe somewhere.
After searching the place for a while I couldn't see them which in turn brought a relief to my heart.
This meant that they were not trapped in the house of fire and that they were probably resting somewhere.
We could easily build a new house so this was fine but as I was leaving I realised that there was still one place I hadn't checked, the kitchen. I went inside the kitchen and there I saw it, the burnt corpses of my wife and kids.
I kneeled down to my knees as nothing went inside my head.
I simply couldn't process what was happening here. Why? Just why? I never asked for much and in fact I saw multiple people asking for much more in my life and their goals were fulfilled so why couldn't mine be too?
Just why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
All my thoughts were blocked out that time and soon enough the house began to break down and I was almost crushed by it but suddenly one of my party members carried me out of the way and out of the house.
He grabbed me and ran away. He took me out of the small city and laid me by the wall and said something to me.
Sadly I couldn't hear what he said.
I wonder what type of expression I had. I wonder what type of expression he had.
But I guess That'll always be a mystery I'll never find out because little did I know that it was the last time I would see him.
By the time I came to my senses, it was already morning. The night had already passed.
I felt tired but I stood up, I walked and walked until I saw knights come.
From the symbol in their swords they were probably a part of the gold-blood empire.
It seems like they are getting ready to bury some dead people but where are my party members?
I looked around yet I couldn't see any of my party members.
They probably are relaxing in an Inn or something.
I thought at that time, still emotionless.
I should see if they managed to recover my family's dead bodies. Some can give them a proper funeral…that's the least I can do…I'm sorry…
I looked down as I saw a dead body. I checked the body one by one and soon I came across a dead body. It was one of my party members.
I remember how I began to panic that day. How I started to deny reality.
The knights tried to comfort me but I couldn't hear a single world they were saying.
I simply sat down and looked at the bodies of my adventure party.
It took me 2 whole hours to realise what happened and even then I was still not used to the situation.
I started to cry myself to sleep ever since that day. That's if I got any sleep.
One day as I was getting drunk from drinking beer, I saw a man, a man that made me change into a dark mage.
He had a medium build and wore a black suit, he wore a white mask that had a few black plating here and there.
He had approached me and asked me something, "Do you want to know who attacked your city 3 days ago?"
Hearing that, I looked at him and out of curiosity I said, "Tell me…"
He stared at me before he said, "It was the knights of the gold-blood empire."
Hearing that my eyebrows raised up and my previous dizziness lowered.
"The knights…as if I'll believe that."
"Why not?"
"Because there's no use in doing that. It would just risk the reputation of the empire getting worse and ruin trust within the country and would also cause more harm in their overall resources."
Silence could be heard between our conversation as the sounds of the other people covered the bar.
He then looked at me for a while before handing me a file, he then said, "look through it when you're alone because remember the empire is against you."
"Against me?"
"To be precise, against our ideals and our happiness."
He stood up and as he was about to leave my presence leaving the file beside me he said to me, "Read the file and then decide what you want to do and if you want to join our ideals meet me tomorrow at this time and this seat."
He soon disappeared from my presence.
I sat there a bit confused before I soon paid my bill and left the bar with the file in my hand.
I soon reached my new house and went to my room and sat in the chair.
I took out the file and put it on the desk as I opened it.
There were a few papers containing some information so I began reading it.
27/9/1992
Sub:monthly report on the gold-blood empire
After observing the gold-blood empire after the recent ruling of the empire and the mysterious attack and destruction of a small city near the outskirts of the empire, we observed that these two events have some correlation with one another.
The new emperor seems to be a good king and extremely clever and strategic though we think that there's a hidden side to him.
About the recent destruction of the city, we are sadly not able to find much about it. All we can know is that the city's main cause of destruction seems to be fire.
We assume that the cause of the fire is a dragon as there's no benefit for the emperor to attack one of his own cities and we also presume that no bandits or adventure could have done this.
We are still investigating this case and will report soon.
Report by:Investigatigation squad
28/10/1993
Sub:monthly report on the gold-blood empire
We are sorry for the one day delay in the report but we had recently come into contact with one of the knights of the gold-blood empire who felt suspicious about us so we had to stay under radar which caused the delay in the report.
We are extremely suspicious about the knights being connected to this ordeal. They show suspicious behaviour and many testimonies say that they saw the knights coming out of the burning city.
It could just be some rouge knights attacking a city for their own benefit or some other knights from the other continents disguising themselves as knights to attack the city.
Overall the knights are definitely involved in this ordeal.
Report by:Investigation squad
27/10/2024
Sub:important report
We have discovered that the one attacking the cities was the actual emperor himself.
His motive behind this was to get justifiable reasons to attack one of the continents and empire.
He plans on attacking the elf-continent to acquire the Erut plant and the moon flower to create a potion to dispel the negative drawbacks of the golden bloodline.
He plans to attack the empire and take enough land to collect those plants and then blame the cause of the attack on an elf that he uses to negotiate with.
He plans to give the land back along with resources to the elf and faking an apology to not ruin his reputation and then somewhat fix the relationship between him and the elf even if it'll be a less stable relationship than before.
The elf has not been filled with this plan or him being the scapegoat.
He plans on making this justifiable reason so the other continent will not be cautious and anxious about it.
After all fear can turn into anger real quick and that could lead to a war.
He also did this to gain the understanding of how citizens after all people don't want a corrupt person to be a king.
His plan is estimated to finish within 7 years.
By:Investigation squad
Reading these files I was absolutely shocked by it.
I tried to deny it but the thing is that it actually matches up with the real thing that happened and actually makes logical sense.
I felt confused at that time probably wondering about what to do but in the end I met that man and he told me to be a dark mage and join a cult which I obviously objected to but in the end I was convinced by him.
I went and joined a cult and after 5 years, here I am, planning to attack this city. Why? It's simple, it's because the demon we are going to summon will be killed within 2 hours and the one to kill him will be him.
He has a sword strong enough to cut the demon and has enough strength to use it properly.
His plan is to use the core of the demon and trap the soul of it using a soul lantern to make a one time use artefact that allows us to cast a 10th tier spell which will allow use to change the memories, experiences and fate of all living beings so we can replace that emperor with another emperor that understands a human heart very well and also change many things so future wars will be reduced.
So reduced that a war would only happen once every 100 hundred years at the minimum which will prevent the death of many people.
Well at least that's what I was told but I'm not sure if I should believe him.
There's doubt within my heart but I have gone too far to stop now.
"Hey, wake up!" A guard screamed, taking me out of my thoughts.
I stood up from my bed and soon the gate opened.
The guard looked me dead in the eyes before he said, "someone will come meet you soon."
Meet me? Hopefully it's not torture again. It's not that I can feel pain but I do feel bored and my body feels heavy after the torture.
I stood up and made my bed if you can call it that before I was escorted.
Hopefully they'll remove this handcuffs
They went off, and walked. The dark mage was feeling restless and tired for some reason though.
He walked and walked to a room.