Legend of the arch magus

A week had passed since Lark returned to Blackstone Town. Today, Lark decided to proceed with the plan.

He went to the basement of the Mansion and pushed open the metallic door of the underground chamber. The doors creaked and a foul stench assaulted him the moment the door was opened. Lark snapped his fingers and five small orbs of fire manifested themselves around him. They shot towards the torches latched on the walls, making them blaze into life. Shadows moved as the flames momentarily flickered. Lark crinkled his nose. The smell of rotting corpses filled the entire room.

By now, almost all of the monster corpses from Lion City had been transferred here in this underground chamber – thousands of them – literally forming a small mountain of corpses. The vast underground chamber felt cramped and suffocating. "I can't work like this." Using silent magic, a translucent bubble made of water magic started encasing Lark's head. It conveniently filtered out the horrible stench filling the entire room. Lark breathed out a sigh of relief, "Ah, that's better."

He had not expected to miss the fresh air this soon after stepping inside the chamber. After crunching his neck, he grabbed the pouch sitting on the floor and poured down its contents while he walked. Slowly, the dusts poured from the pouch started forming a magic formation: A large magic circle with smaller magic formations at the periphery. Lark pointed his finger at the pile of corpses filling almost the entire of room. The mountain of corpses then quivered, and the dead bodies of monsters started floating one after another, each of them landing perfectly on the smaller magic circles. Next, Lark used gravity magic to lift one of the few dozens of the suits of armor standing at the corner of the room and placed it at the center of the magic circle. It took Lark a week to create these suits of armor using all the available iron ingots.

Lark gazed at the sight before him. The suit of armor was inside the largest magic circle, while nine monster corpses surrounded it in all directions. A lot of time had passed since the monsters died. Hopefully, there would still be enough essence inside of them to extract. With Lark acting as its source of mana, the magic circle started to glow an azure hue. Numerous runes and symbols sprang into life and spun around, buzzing and flying like fireflies. In stark contrast, a malevolent aura started oozing out of the monster corpses, eventually forming a black haze which tried to overshadow the glowing runes. An eerie cry, which reminded Lark of death throes, could be heard in the room. The runes shattered like glass before disintegrating into particles of light.

Along with it, the black haze also dissipated. The eerie cry vanished and silence returned to the room. And then the sound of metals clanking resounded. From inside the darkness of the suit of armor's visor, yellow light flickered. It was staring straight at Lark. "If you acknowledge me as your master, kneel down." The suit of armor groaned, the light inside its helm blazed even fiercer than before. It stomped its feet forward, grunted, then knelt down. Lark smiled at this. It was a success. At first, he was a bit worried that the essence from the dead monsters have totally faded away after more than a week had passed, but it seemed that using several dead bodies at once more than made up for that. Lark stared at the kneeling suit of armor. Unlike the bodies housing the essence of the male and female basilisks, the body of this one was similar to the ones knights normally used. Unless one probed really close, it would be hard to realize that it was nothing but a living suit of armor. Although the bodies housing the essence of the basilisks were ideal for battle and for developing the territory, they looked grotesque, almost similar to monsters. Lark was sure that if he brought an army of such grotesque-looking monsters, no city in the Kingdom would allow him entry. Unlike its predecessors – the so-called Guardians of Blackstone Town – this suit of armor was created using the essence of the gorilla-like monsters.

Despite also being made of iron, the strength of this one was vastly different. It was, after all, created using the essence of monsters stronger than goblins. "Stand over there," Lark pointed at the walls. The suit of armor stood up, walked towards the walls, and stood there like a stone statue. "I'll be stuck in this place until evening, huh?" Lark wryly smiled. There were still mountains of corpses around him. Thankfully, his expanded mana pool would enable him to facilitate the ritual several times before finally running out of mana. *** While Lark was locking himself inside the underground chamber every day, creating more soldiers, the library continued its production of books.

Despite the complexity of the machines used to mass produce the books written by Lark himself, the workers soon started grasping how to operate them. Their speed of production noticeably increased as time went by. By the second week since Lark's return to Blackstone Town, thirty copies of 'Principles of a Just Sovereign' had already been printed out. Since almost everyone who were literate in the town were soldiers, the copies naturally fell into their hands. Every day after training, they were mandated to come to the library, grab a copy of the book, and read it. Qarat, the Captain of the soldiers, was coming home late every day because of this, but he did not mind it in the slightest. On the contrary, he felt privileged that such precious books were made available to mere commoners like them. "Captain, what do you think of this? According to Evander Alaester, although the Sovereign holds the right to propel the Kingdom toward its chosen path, only its people is capable of paving the road forward. A nation is nothing without its people. Without the people, the crown is nothing but a husk made of gold and emeralds."

Each of the soldiers reading the book were former illiterates. To them, this was the first time they had read something as profound as this. The statement of the author of this book was bold, as though he did not fear being prosecuted by the throne. Was Evander Alaester a well-known figure? A popular author? This was the first book Captain Qarat had ever read, so he did not know. "I'm… not sure," the Captain's voice trailed off. Although the current King was not such a warmonger as compared to his predecessor, the throne still held absolute control over its people. Qarat could not understand the statement 'only its people is capable of paving the road forward.' Surely, the royals knew better than mere commoners like them, right? As Qarat continued reading the book, he could not help but stop and stare at what was written every now and then. The book even touched upon the topic of slavery. In the Kingdom of Lukas, owning a slave was not a crime. It was perfectly legal as long as the slave was brought from an authorized merchant. The treatment of slaves in this Kingdom was certainly a lot better than the other Kingdoms. In the book, the author bluntly stated that slavery was detrimental to the development of a Kingdom. Although slaves would perfectly follow every command as if their lives were on the line, the growth of each individual is hindered by the shackles in the form of the relationship of a Master-Servant.

Evander stated that if the slaves were given freedom to pursue self-improvement, or if their masters impart with them resources for growth, these so-called insignificant lives would form the firm foundation of an Empire. These statements from this author were thought-provoking. Every now and then, Qarat would hold his breath and reread them. For some reason, this book felt like it was written to overthrow the norm of this nation. "Evander Alaester… this author doesn't hold back, huh?" Qarat agreed with the comment of his fellow soldier. This author was indeed fearless in expressing his opinions. But somehow, it's what made it enjoyable to read.

He heard from the Young Master that more books written by Evander will be released soon. Unfortunately, it would take some time before their completion. "Why is it so noisy over there?"

Qarat frowned. The soldiers at the table across him were starting to become noisy. Even the newly hired librarian was fed up and started standing up.

The librarian said, "You've been briefed of the rules beforehand, right? Stop making noises in the library! Shut up!"

The buzzes around them immediately stopped. The soldiers looked at each other, their faces filled with shock – or was it amazement? Qarat was not so sure. Eventually, the soldiers stood up. The moment they stepped outside the library, the started talking animatedly among themselves again. Seeing this, Qarat could not help but wonder what the fuss was all about. He closed his book, placed it on the shelf, and headed outside. "Hey, some of you still haven't read the book yet," Qarat reminded them. "I saw the librarian jotting down your names. You'll surely be reported to Lady Melody."

Normally, just mentioning the name of The Scholar was enough to instill fear to this bunch. The Scholar was their teacher, after all, and she held a fair amount of authority in Blackstone Town. But right now, the soldiers did not even care about that. "Captain, look at this."

One of his men spread open a newspaper. Judging by the crest at the rightmost corner, it was the official newspaper published by the Capital. "The merchants came by this afternoon and they gave us this one."

Qarat read the headlines. The Fall of Yorkshaire City. The Empire Declared an All-Out War with the Kingdom. Shivers crawled down Qarat's spine. Even he, a commoner, knew the grave importance of Yorkshaire. It was a city well-known even among the masses. That city was the only stopper blocking the path of the Empire towards the Kingdom. For decades, that fortress never fell to the enemies' hands. The City was famous for being impregnable. How could it suddenly fall? "I-It happened several days after the King's birthday. C-Captain… They mentioned the Young Master's name."

"The newspaper?"

Qarat started reading the news article. Slowly, the curiosity within his face dissipated and was replaced by utter bafflement. They were blaming him. They were blaming the Young Master for this predicament. According to the news, the Young Master visited the Capital upon receiving an invitation from the Crown. During the awarding ceremony, he was even dubbed by the King as the hero who saved the Kingdom. Apparently, it was the Young Master who invented the method to kill the Black Famine. After receiving his rewards, the disowned son of Duke Drakus started suggesting plans to destroy the Empire. He drafted the plan of attacking the City of the Empire nearest Yorkshaire. Although most of the nobels were against it, the known womanizer from the House Marcus forcibly pushed with his ideas. Although it isn't confirmed, some witnesses said that Lark Marcus used the awarding ceremony to coerce the King to listen to his demands. Qarat knew that newspapers sometimes tend to be biased – it was written by humans, after all – but the way this article was dissing the Young Master was outright blatant. It was screaming with the words 'He's at fault! He's at fault!' Qarat finally read the part wherein all nobles were required to send a thousand soldiers to the front lines. "A thousand soldiers," mumbled Qarat. There was no way they could achieve that. They had been diligent with their training, and they could confidently say that goblins were no longer their match, but their numbers did not even reach two hundred by this time. "Are we going to be sent to the front lines?" asked one of the younger soldiers. Qarat finally understood why everyone were so panic-stricken. The Western Front was far from here, and even if the Capital fell, it would still take some time before the flames of war would reach this faraway town. With this order, however, the soldiers would be forcibly sent to the front lines. "Against the Empire? They brought with them fifty to sixty thousand soldiers!" One of the soldiers was almost hysterical. "We'll surely die if we go there!"

The fear within these guys were understandable. Not even a year had passed since they became soldiers. Although they have fought against the goblins and beastmen, it was not that easy to shake off the fear from former farmers like them. Even the undefeated War God lost the battle. Even the Sword Saint retreated. Without a doubt, their enemies this time was a lot stronger. Silence befell them. Everyone looked at the Captain as though he held all the answers. Eventually, Qarat sighed, "I'll go."

These two simple words surprised everyone. Qarat looked at each one of them. "You guys have read the book, right?

Evander said it himself. Sheathed swords are nothing but useless ornaments. If we do not fight when our Lord needs our strength, then are we still qualified to be his soldiers? Isn't it our responsibility to raise our swords, fight, and shield the Lord from his enemies?"

Qarat looked up. The twin crimson moons were bright tonight. "The beastmen invasion. I've always wondered. Why didn't the Young Master flee to Lion City that time? Why did he choose to fight alongside us? He's a High Noble. The second son of a Duke. Fleeing to safety should be easy for him. But instead, he stayed and protected this small town."

The eyes of the soldiers listening to him quivered. "I can't believe there'll come a time that I'll be saying this… but," Qarat paused and wryly smiled. "I'm really glad that the Young Master is the Lord of Blackstone Town."

An indescribable heat started forming inside the soldiers' chests. They started remembering the various reforms made by the Young Master. If they had not seen it with their own eyes, they would have not believed that a town could be developed so much in such a short period of time. "I won't force everyone to come, and I'll personally speak to the Young Master to forgive those who wishes to stay in this town." Qarat clenched his fists. His voice was filled with resolve. "But I'll follow the Young Master to the battle at the front lines."