Chapter 212

#212 Episode: The Tin Knight and the Forest of Deception (6)

The Black Witch swung her staff.

To uncover the truth from the past.

To guide her injured comrades on their path.

Fortunately, all the materials were ready.

Loyal knights’ memory fragments × 12

Greedy wizard’s shrieking remnants × 46

A red liquid filled in the cup of foresight × 1

She drew a magic circle and summoned souls.

The deep cracks of the red past intertwined with the witch’s magic, amplifying their size.

The curtain on the story was lifted.

***

In the Tower of Control, the leadership harbored a long-hidden ambition.

The Magical Kingdom of Aeolia. To reclaim this land, which they once considered their own.

Not in the flawed form of four heads as it is now, but to return to the time when a single royal family ruled.

The fact that the Kingdom of Aeolia that once existed and the current Magical Kingdom are completely different countries in terms of territory size and global status was irrelevant.

By that reasoning, the current imperial royal family was merely the descendant of one of the many small kingdoms that once existed on the continent.

Since the predecessor of the Aeolian Magical Kingdom was the Kingdom of Aeolia, the rightful heirs of the royal family believed they possessed the legitimacy to claim everything in this land.

At least that was how they thought.

Thus, they grew stronger.

They nurtured talent, increased wealth, and expanded military power.

But at the same time, they realized.

There were limits to this approach.

The essence of power was initiative.

When a group came together to take specific actions, the one leading that action could hold power.

In order for the Tower of Control to rein in the other towers and move them, it was necessary first for the entire Magical Kingdom to unite and focus on a specific task rather than be left to their own devices.

And the Tower of Control saw that path as an external threat.

Yes, it was the Empire.

The sharper the Empire’s teeth grinned at the Magical Kingdom, the more unavoidable it was for the kingdom to unite.

Once they were bound together as a single group, it would then become a matter of politics. It was the area in which the Tower of Control excelled the most.

And rightly so, the other towers, while fundamentally powerful, were far from political influence.

The Seer was an academic, the Extinction was a fighter, and the Guardian was filled with flowers but lacked wits.

When the fences of each tower were separated, there was no need for unity. But once the need arose and their talents began to intertwine, it wasn’t difficult to penetrate through.

The former royal family had been weak in power and unable to seize opportunities even when they arose, but now the Tower of Control possessed ample strength.

However, when following this plan, the most advantageous situation for the Tower of Control was a state of “tension where the threat of war was felt.”

In other words, they did not wish for the situation to escalate into an actual war.

While there were ways to utilize an actual war, the number of variables was too vast.

One day, while the heads of the tower were deep in thought.

The young man, Giras Lognir, a descendant of the Aeolian royal line, was informed of a certain plan by the Master of the Tower.

It was nothing short of a grand scam.

One. Secretly support the bandits located in the borderlands of the Aeolian Magical Kingdom, the Lydia Empire, and the Ionia Kingdom and let them run rampant.

Two. The targets of the bandits’ plunder would include not just the Empire and the Kingdom, but also the Magical Kingdom.

Three. When the hunting party arrives, bury them together with the bandits, secure the life of the hunting party’s leader, who is of the Lenart bloodline, and frame the Lenart family as the ones behind the bandits.

Four. The Tower of Control would call for war as innocent victims and extract “concessions” from the other towers that sought to suppress it.

When Giras first heard that story, he found it hard to comprehend the situation.

It was not that difficult to secretly aid the bandits to go on a rampage.

Even if the Magical Kingdom was plundered, the targets would be the people near the borders, so from the tower’s perspective, there was nothing to lose.

However, the part about the Lenart side expecting the hunting party to arrive and that they should wipe them out and cover the crime raised numerous questions.

Especially since the Master of the Tower suggested that the enemy’s military strength and the timing of the attack had already been determined.

From the Master of the Tower’s attitude, it could be inferred that they had allied with the Lenart side. However, the reason why they would agree to a deal that only brought them losses was unclear.

The Master of the Tower answered Giras’s doubts.

The truth was simple.

Those who desired to create a crisis that would sharpen the tension of war were not just them.

The Lenart family wished for war as well.

Though the Lenart family tried to hide as many details as possible, the Tower of Control was no fool to merely believe what the other side said without knowing the exact situation.

They withheld their answer to Lenart’s proposal while gathering information separately and soon grasped the situation of the other side.

The current Empress was evidently hostile towards the Lenart family, and with the help of her friend, the Southern Witch, who was the Empire’s court wizard, she seemed to be training wizards to replace the title of Duke.

For now, the powers of the Duke and the Empress were evenly matched, but what would happen if time passed, and the Crown Prince grew up?

What if there was a coronation ceremony and the Emperor wielded that power entirely?

The radical faction of the Lenart family desired war and crisis.

If an actual war broke out, the military and the Lenart, who held it, would earn merit, rendering the royal family powerless. And if war did not break out and it only remained a crisis, as long as the threat of the Magical Kingdom existed, the royal family could not expel them.

Of course, not all in the Lenart family echoed such madman sentiments.

Especially the current Family Head, the Minister of Defense, showed a lukewarm response to the shouts of these radicals.

The radicals denounced the Minister of Defense, blaming him for being engrossed in his position and neglecting the family’s well-being, branding him a traitor.

The core of the moderates, the Minister of Defense, and the core of the radicals, the Senate, were engaged in an invisible conflict, and the Master of the Tower explained to Giras that the radicals likely led this proposal.

Giras tidily understood.

The internal strife of the Empire and the dissent within the Duke’s family were not matters of concern to them.

What mattered was that their conflict benefited the Tower of Control.

As long as they neatly eliminated the physical evidence on-site, even if their trading partner later babbled something, it could be dismissed as baseless nonsense.

With a serious expression, Giras steeled his resolve.

Participating in this operation was not exclusive to him; other heirs were in on it too, meaning the success of this operation would pave the way for the future Master of the Tower position.

For the glorious throne, he would gladly bury the fools who come looking to be used without knowing anything.

***

The cup of foresight revealed a new scene.

***

According to the negotiations between the Lenart family and the Ionia royal family, the plan to “exterminate the bandit group that kidnaps the people traversing the borders of the three kingdoms” was set in motion, and the day of departure was drawing near.

One day, the knights of Friedel Territory received a secret summons from their lord.

The famed Friedel lord, known as the strongest in the kingdom, spoke to them.

– Officially, this mission is merely to exterminate bandits. However, His Grace the Duke has given me a separate secret order. The Magical Kingdom is lurking behind these bandits, so we must uncover their backing and thwart their wicked scheme.

The knights were surprised but soon nodded in agreement.

According to the original battle plan, the role of the Friedel forces was to exterminate the bandits within the borders of the kingdom.

However, based on the Duke’s secret order, they were required to cross the border into the Magical Kingdom’s territory.

There, they would join forces with the Empire’s military that also crossed the border.

The operation’s outline was to exterminate both the bandits and the Magical Kingdom’s puppets supporting the bandits.

Militarily, it was a considerable operation, politically it was practically a bomb, but none of the knights voiced their discontent.

On the contrary, some even looked forward to this “secret operation.”

The Friedel forces took pride in being the strongest unit in the kingdom, and they harbored a strong resentment towards the bandits who plundered and kidnapped innocent people.

If the Magical Kingdom indeed lurked behind such bandits, they must pay the price.

They believed it without a doubt.

…But what if.

What if they had begun to doubt the authenticity of the “Duke’s secret order” here?

Had they done so, their ending might have changed.

However, the Friedel lord was certainly an outstanding warrior, yet his nature was excessively upright and simple.

His knights revered such a lord, and they only focused on honing their chivalry and martial skills, having little involvement with schemes or politics.

And when they realized they shouldn’t have been that way, it was already too late.

What awaited at the rendezvous point wasn’t the Empire’s forces they were to join but a fully armed bandit group.

While engaged in battle with the bandits, a rain of all sorts of attack magic fell upon them.

After witnessing the bandit leader scream betrayal and realizing the chaotic storm of magic was aimed indiscriminately at everyone present, they finally realized something had gone profoundly wrong.

In the chaotic battlefield.

The kingdom’s strongest sword, able to fend off dozens of wizards alone, commanded the knights.

To go back.

To return home to Friedel and tell of everything that had happened here.

They still did not grasp exactly how this situation had unfolded.

Whether Duke Lenart had betrayed them or if there had been some misunderstanding was unclear.

However, they knew this much.

If they were to be annihilated here, their hometown would fall into a dire situation once again.

Their loved ones, families, parents—just like they had suffered—would be exploited by someone unaware.

That much they had to prevent.

They had erred.

They had failed.

But at least those who remained could not allow it to end that way.

Yet, their struggle was in vain.

What could be broken by the striving and bravery of mere knights was far too colossal, bound to the conspiracy and the ones weaving its threads.

Thus, their tale came to an end without being passed on to anyone.

***

If the witch who manipulated souls and the cup that read the past had not existed here.

Stories that would never have been told, were now shared.

***

And.

In the purple eyes of the Golden Lion, flames blazed.