"Is that a Command Seal?"
Upon seeing the crimson markings on the back of the magus's hand, Alaric immediately sensed the strange magical energy within them, and his brow furrowed slightly.
Although Alaric had never personally encountered a Command Seal, he had an impression that a legitimate Command Seal wouldn't emit this kind of aura.
Can something like this summon a Servant?
As a self-proclaimed Type-Moon fan, Alaric found himself puzzled and couldn't help but ask, "How many times have you succeeded in summoning with this method?"
Not to mention that the magus had successfully summoned Vlad III this time, and there was also the unnamed Servant. If the Crusaders had conducted multiple Servant summonings, how many Servants could they command?
"Five times, all failures. The resources available to us are limited. The resources I used for the summoning were granted only by royal permission—"
The Command Seal on the magus's hand emitted an ominous glow.
Five failed summonings? No, it must be more than five. That unnamed Servant should have also been summoned during this time. But where did they get the magical resources for these multiple summonings? Did King Richard take control of the leyline's magical energy? But this is Divine Era Egypt—how could he control the leyline here?
Alaric couldn't figure out how King Richard could bypass Ozymandias and manipulate the leyline's magical energy, unless King Richard was not operating within Ozymandias' territory.
But if they weren't hiding here, where could King Richard and the remaining Crusaders possibly be?
The area needed to create a magical workshop capable of producing someone like Alaika wouldn't be small. Even if Richard could employ Atlas-like concealment technology, the physical location wouldn't just vanish from the world.
Alaric crossed his arms, his index finger tapping rhythmically against his arm.
"How did you find me?"
Beyond their concealment techniques, Alaric was also curious about the Crusader remnants' ability to trace the Holy Grail so precisely. How had they managed to locate him?
The Crusaders shouldn't have the ability to tamper with the Holy Grail itself, so they must have some unique method for tracing it.
Alaric was very curious about this method. Was it something he could understand?
"I don't know. It was all under the king's orders. We simply followed them."
The magus's answer left Alaric a little disappointed. It seemed he wouldn't have the chance to learn that particular technique.
Alaric then asked, "So, what kind of magecraft are you using to suppress your presence to this degree? At the very least, it's a form of high-level Presence Concealment."
The level of concealment these Crusader magus were using was something Alaric had only encountered before in the Hassan group.
The superb presence concealment made it so that Alaric could only detect them through instinct or direct visual observation.
"It's the knowledge that comes with the master copy, a concealment magecraft developed by mimicking Hassan's Presence Concealment—"
The moment the magus revealed this truth, Alarice's eyes widened.
Hassan's Presence Concealment!?
"How many verses does this spell take?"
Alaric's curiosity about concealment magecraft grew stronger, and he couldn't help but continue questioning.
Alaric had some understanding of magical concepts.
Magecraft was, in essence, the recreation of miracles—using abnormal means to achieve things that could ordinarily be done through common sense.
Originally, magecraft was power decided by the Root. The more people who knew about it, the weaker it became.
For example, a power that was originally divided into ten parts for one person would be split in half if two people used it. The more people who could use it, the less power each person would have.
Secrecy was the essence of magecraft. As more people learned and used it, the power would disperse and weaken.
The Alaika Homunculus, originating from the same original copy, numbered more than ten. In theory, they should all possess the same concealment magecraft. However, this would mean that the concealment spell's effectiveness should be dispersed, weakening its effect.
Yet, every time Alaric encountered the Crusader magus, he found it difficult to detect their presence. The concealment magcrafte hadn't been affected by this dispersal—or at least, not yet. Furthermore, the nature of concealment magecraft varied among different systems, though the basic idea was "converting something internal into the magical energy that pervades the outside world."
Magecraft involved "activating already established rules in the world" to safely trigger spells that interfered with nature.
Each magecraft system followed a pre-established foundation (System), and then the caster issued commands (Command) to activate spells that had been pre-programmed (Program). To activate the spell, you needed the flow of power, which was the magical energy.
To use an analogy, if the "rules" are like a car, then the "magical energy" is the fuel. Only by filling the car with "magical energy" can the "rules" be activated.
To activate a spell, you need three things: 1) the necessary amount of magical energy for activation; 2) the key that turns the engine (the incantation or mystic code); and 3) the magic circuit that injects magical energy into the engine.
The performance of the spell itself was already determined, and who used it wouldn't make much difference. The only thing you could change was the power through incantation.
Alaric wanted to know how many verses this concealment spell required and whether he could learn it.
"It's a three-verse spell…"
This time, the magu unexpectedly didn't wait for Alaric to ask about the incantation and directly divulged all the information about the concealment magecraft.
Alaric tried to memorize it, nodding in satisfaction.
"Isn't there a curse magus who's quite powerful? She's one of your sisters, right?"
Alaric recalled the curse magus he had been thinking about for a while—the one with similar concealment magecraft and endless curse spells.
Unfortunately, he had never met that curse magus. Otherwise, he believed they would have had much to discuss.
"The one you encountered should be Cursed Alaika. Is she dead?"
The magus finally turned to look at Alaric.
"No, she's hiding very well."
Alaric shook his head, then clapped his hands.
"Alright, back to the main topic. Besides King Richard and your sisters, who else remains from the Crusaders?"
Alaric had already obtained a lot of valuable information from the magus, including the pleasant surprise of learning about the concealment magecraft. Finally, he turned his attention to the remaining Crusaders.
Based on what Alaric had gathered so far, someone claiming to be King Richard had taken command of the remaining Crusader remnants. They had used both Maggie Friedman and the Alaika original to create a series of homunculi, as well as numerous Chimera-like stitched creatures.
They even could perform multiple Servant summonings.
Most of the Crusaders' situation was now clear. What Alaric truly cared about was whether the person claiming to be King Richard could summon Servants with historical ties to him.
As a king, the warriors under his command should be endless.
He might even be able to summon as many Knights of the Round Table as the Lion King did, to accomplish his grand ambitions.
There was no answer.
The magus sank into a rare silence, only speaking again after Alaric's gaze remained fixed on her.
"The king once said—"
Hearing this, Alaric's curiosity was piqued. He asked, "Oh? What else did King Richard say?"
"The crimes committed by the False King cannot be tolerated by the Holy. The True King will return to the Holy Land and reclaim the Holy Grail—"
"Wait a minute. I don't understand what you're talking about. What's all this about the Crusaders, King Richard, and this False King and True King? Who are they?"
To the side, Sanzang looked confused, clearly unable to follow the conversation between Alaika and the last Alaika magus.