Checks and Balances (Part One)

As Finley had predicted, the cannons on the walls fired a volley, wounding many knights.

After that, the First Order knights launched an attack on the top of the city wall, but with the cover of cannons and Finley's own support in his territory, and finally, two white-robed men who had received power from that Deity, the attack was successful.

This allowed Finley to hold out easily until Fran arrived. Fran didn't hesitate at all, and with a few spells, she broke up the knights' formation.

Count Ian woke up aching all over, having been doused with a bucket of cold water; the icy touch made him shiver.

He tried to move his body, but the tingling sensation made him unable to do anything; he felt like his body wasn't even his own anymore.

Besides the icy sensation, there was also a burning feeling that made it almost impossible for him to move his arm, let alone make any effective struggle.

He strained to open his eyes and saw several familiar figures, one of whom was Finley, whom he hated to the core; he felt an urge to bite him whenever he saw him.

The other was Maeve. When she saw Ian's gaze turn towards her, she lowered her head somewhat shyly. Ian couldn't quite describe how he felt facing this familiar mage.

"You just need to maintain [Disorderly Touch], you don't need to do anything else."

It was Fran who spoke; Maeve was now considered her subordinate.

After Ian terminated Maeve's employment, Maeve didn't care, since she could go to the Ocean Society to enjoy her future life as a mage.

However, when she applied to the Ocean Society, she learned that the Ocean Society was located Ocean, and that she wouldn't be able to get in even if she reached the shore without applying.

She sent the letter through the Alliance's Remote Communication Device, and since an the Alliance messenger happened to be looking for Fran, she simply had the messenger deliver the letter to him.

She personally wanted to attend Fran's classes for a few more days, since it was extremely rare to find a mage like Fran who was willing to explain things to other mages.

She wasn't sure if she would ever meet a monk so willing to share his knowledge again after she joined the Ocean Society. Under these circumstances, it would be foolish not to stay here for a couple more days.

However, she didn't expect that her little scheme would later give her a good opportunity—to work under Fran, Fran was short-staffed.

Along with the rejection letter for admission to the Ocean Society headquarters came a correction letter, which clearly stated that Maeve's recommendation for the position had failed the qualification review, and it was suspected that...

Maeve didn't read the rest; when she saw what came before, her heart sank.

In the end, Fran finally lent a helping hand and let Maeve work for her.

Fran's payment to Maeve was knowledge; the knowledge Fran had previously taught Maeve would allow Maeve to work for her here for free for a month.

After a month, Fran continued to pay Maeve's wages by teaching her knowledge.

This was an invaluable offer for Maeve, so she readily accepted.

However, the work she received after joining Fran's team was quite surprising.

She had initially thought she would be doing some assistant work in a laboratory or similar place, or performing a lot of tedious record-keeping tasks.

But she never expected that she would be assigned so much work after arriving at the Base Camp!

It was evening, and a group of workers had just finished dinner when Maeve temporarily took over teaching them to read.

After the matter was over, a mage named ' Elan ' taught her the Arts of Magic Artisan.

By the time the course ended, dawn was already breaking on the horizon.

Then her work came up again: in the morning, she had to take a train to the mine to investigate the inventory, the number of workers, the food supply, and so on.

Upon returning, he learned how to use lathes and other machining tools from the apprentices. After a short half-hour rest at noon, he began machining some complex tools under Elan's guidance in the afternoon...

Twenty-four hours later, Maeve returned to her original job: teaching the workers to read...

She suffered terribly for the past month, only getting half a day of rest every three days, and spending most of the rest of the time without seeing Fran.

Now, having followed Fran to the long-lost White Flower City, after capturing Count Ian, her first reaction wasn't the usual wistful sigh of not having seen him for a while but not being very familiar with him.

Rather, it was a sense of relief that I could at least get an extra half-day of rest thanks to this job; all I had to do was stay here and maintain the magic...

Count Ian struggled to lift his head, looking at Fran's figure. His pupils contracted slightly, and he hung his head, lost in thought.

"You did all of this?"

Fran nodded with a smile, leaving Count Ian's emotions soaring to the highest point, unable to descend from their peak.

He wanted to scold, he wanted to be angry, but after these words went through his mind, he gave up the idea of saying them.

If Finley were ambitious, he would be here to berate the other party for being delusional, that a mere lord, or even a surrendered knight, could have such lofty ambitions.

If Finley had surrendered to lords elsewhere, he would have stayed here upholding the glory of Antir, hurling insults at them, and, if all went well, perhaps even paying a ransom to save his life.

But the mastermind behind all this is a mage from the Alliance, who has been lingering here for so long under the ridiculous pretext of an experiment, while Ian has made absolutely no move.

The key reason Ian couldn't speak was his identity as a member of the Fran the Alliance.

From as far back as he could remember, he knew that the reason Antir was able to survive on the edge of a huge the Alliance was that the lords above were fighting to the death, while the mages of the Alliance seemed completely indifferent.

There was truly only one reason: the mages of the Alliance were genuinely uninterested in Antir. Whenever he asked his servants or parents when he was young, he received the same answer: they didn't care.

As Ian grew up, Ian came to understand this as well. Most of the mages who passed through Antir had a few dozen Gold Coin on hand, which might not even be enough for them to learn a useful spell.

However, in Antir, five Gold Coin is the most tax revenue a country like White Flower Territory can collect in a year, and most of it is even in the form of grain. So, in reality, it's not worth five Gold Coin at all.

They might spend half Gold Coin to host a grand banquet, but that's nothing compared to what a mage spends. It's a stark contrast between the Alliance and Antir.

So, under the current circumstances, what could he say to Fran, a Second Order Mage who clearly had designs on Antir?

The gap between Antir and the Alliance is simply too obvious. With Antir currently embroiled in internal strife, what effective measures can they possibly take against Fran?

Perhaps it was possible before, but now Duke Theodore is forced to sit on the throne, unable to move, and his Order has been lowered because of these two territories.

Furthermore, even if Antir is lucky enough to successfully punish Fran, will that be the end of it?

The Alliance might ignore a First Order Mage here, but what about Tier 2? Even if the leader of the Blood Wolf Knights killed a mage, he would still be First Order Mage.

No one dared to say that if they attacked a Second Order Mage here, the Alliance would, as before, only ask a question occasionally and take no further action.

Furthermore, Ian also connected this to the situation in the River Valley Territory. If it were a mage, they might be able to replace a lord within half a month.

Fran, seeing Ian's stunned expression, blinked. The time she had calculated should be right. She said to Maeve beside her:

"The spell can be canceled. His mind should be clear now. This isn't payment I have to make; it's just a small trick in Transmutation Studies."

Ian was filled with doubt; he didn't understand why Fran would say such things.

Immediately afterwards, he felt the feeling of being bound disappear completely, and he felt as if he could lift his arms again. Before he could even feel surprised, a dagger was plunged into his body.

The intense pain assaulted his brain, making it almost impossible for him to think effectively in this situation.

What happened at Horn Pass?

The dagger was still embedded in his body, and the pain spread from there. Secretions flowed from his nostrils, eyes, ears, and mouth. He didn't know what he had answered.

All he knew was that after a moment of silence outside, he heard the second question.

"What is Duke Theodore's current condition?"

This time he knew what he was doing, but only briefly, because at the moment he asked the question, he only heard himself say one sentence.

"Inside the Royal Capital..."

He could only hear his own mouth and vocal cords moving, but no matter what he did, he had no idea what he was saying.

A feeling of powerlessness welled up inside him. Even though his mind was resisting, his body was completely unable to obey his brain.

Fran asked for the information she wanted to know, then she pulled out the dagger, looked at Ian's still trembling body, blinked, and glanced at Maeve beside her.

How did I do?

"Forehead..."

Maeve was a little flustered, but thankfully she had indeed been listening attentively.

"What you just used was a type of interrogation method specific to the Transmutation School. It seems to have some unique aspects that I haven't seen, which is why it was so effective."

Fran smiled. She knew Maeve couldn't possibly see through it, because the source of this torture effect was actually the Radiant Priest. It was probably some kind of pressure on the soul that produced this effect.

"Good, you've observed very well."

Fran then looked at Ian, whose body was still trembling.

"As for this person, I already know everything. They're useless now, so kill them."