Royal Magic Academy, Administrative Building.
A huge oval conference table stood in the center of the meeting room. Around it sat High Mages dressed in magnificent mage robes and wearing elaborate heraldic emblems.
They were senior figures from the Association and the Academy, discussing how to handle the situation on the Western Front.
With so many brilliant minds gathered here, even the most complex and intractable matters could ordinarily be sorted out with perfect clarity.
But once they reached a certain subject, everyone fell silent.
Once the circumstances and responsibility had been established, punishment was the next step.
Yet the man who would bear that guilt was Grand Mage Dorin's nephew.
He was a young man left orphaned by Dorin's elder brother, whom Grand Mage Dorin treated as his own son.
"Please, show him some mercy..."
Grand Mage Dorin sat in a corner of the meeting room, his face drawn with worry and his eyes weary.
There was a trace of embarrassment in his voice, but in the end, he still spoke up and pleaded for leniency.
"Moen is still just a child."
At those words, several of the stern-faced Grand Mages seated around the conference table struggled to maintain their composure.
They were representatives of Sinvira's various factions, each possessed of profound wisdom and broad experience. How could they fail to see that Grand Mage Dorin had abandoned even his dignity?
"Lord Dorin, we all know Moen is the orphan your brother left behind when he died in battle, and that you have always raised him as your own son.
"But while indulging him in ordinary matters might not matter, this time he committed the grave crime of colluding with devils and bringing disaster upon the world..."
"As far as I know, he turned eighteen last year. Can he