Chapter 4368: Court Justice (Part 2)

The Royals had just begun to make the noble households forget about the fall of House Frorl when the attempted kidnapping of the young Verhens had opened another can of Leviathan-sized worms.

There were two issues that were raised before the King on a daily basis for over one week now, and both were classified as matters of national security.

The first one was about Lith’s proven ability to break through the magical formations that had kept the members of the Royal Court safe from all threats since the founding of the Kingdom.

Unlike the god of death or the Dead King, Lith needed no army or preparation to bring an ancient household to its knees.

To make matters worse, he had taken House Frorl down so quickly that by the time the army and the Mage Association had answered the distress call, all they could do was count the bodies and clean up.

The nobles feared they might suffer the same fate if one of their problematic members incurred the Supreme Magus’ wrath. It was the reason they demanded to know what contingency measures the Crown had prepared to deal with Lith in the eventuality he went rogue.

The world of politics was full of power plays and old grudges, but until that moment, the nobles had always assumed that no matter how dangerous their enemies were, they would always be safe inside their own homes.

Lith had shattered that certainty, making the nobles aware of their helplessness before a power that no piece of paper could stop. The Supreme Magus was famous for having no interest in politics, but knowing that noble lives might end on his whim kept the Royal Court up at night.

The second issue was as bad as the first, and together they made every day a waking nightmare for the noble households.

According to the Griffon Kingdom’s law, only the Royals were allowed to have an army. Anyone else, no matter how high their ranking or how great their magical talent, was allowed to have a personal guard that couldn’t exceed a single army company.

Lith, however, had proved to have much more than 200 soldiers at his service. According to the most conservative estimates, the warriors of the five clans of the Woods numbered around 700 units, and they were all magical beasts.

Each of them could easily tear an entire team of professional soldiers apart and cast powerful spells without the need for expensive training or equipment.

As for the Emperor Beasts, they were capable of butchering an army company on their own, and could conjure spells that only the elites among the graduates of the six great academies were supposed to learn.

In the eyes of the nobles, Lith was someone who could disregard the sanctity of their homes whenever he liked and deploy troops that no noble family could match.

"For the last time, our Master Wardens can’t prepare magical formations to stop Magus Verhen’s spells if they don’t know what kind of spells he used against House Frorl." Meron sighed.

"Asking the Supreme Magus to reveal his secrets would be a severe violation of our law and create a dangerous precedent. Once that door is open, there is no closing it. Any spell that the Crown deems a matter of national security would be seized.

"At that point, no mage will feel safe in the Kingdom. They will defect to other countries, and we’ll lose the backbone of our military power. If we punish mages for being brilliant and steal the fruits of their hard work, our magical research will stagnate!"

That argument had been enough to keep the noble households at bay until the day of the kidnapping attempt. All the most powerful noble families had mages and their own bloodline legacies.

No one wanted to give up their secrets or ruin the years of hard work of their most talented geniuses.

"We understand that, Your Majesty, but that doesn’t change the fact that Supreme Magus Verhen has brought this to himself!" Archduke Teben said. "He exploited his power and position to covertly raise an army of magical beasts.

"Look at the footage, my King. He gave them weapons and armor, and taught them magic. This goes against the law of the Kingdom and the six great academies. He can’t employ more than 200 soldiers, nor can he share the secrets of the specializations."

The Throne room erupted into an uproar as the nobles applauded Teben’s words and demanded answers.

"What about the so-called Verhen magical bloodline?" Marchioness Xebas almost spat every word out like venom. "It’s all a lie! Verhen Awakened his sister and younger relatives.

"Tista, Aran, and Leria Verhen possess no real magical talent. Any of us could have done the same to their heirs, granting them great magical powers! The Supreme Magus holds an unfair advantage over the rest of the Kingdom, and we demand justice!"

More outraged screams followed the Marchioness’ words as every powerful noble craved the longevity and might that becoming Awakened would grant them.

’I would like to point out that Awakening makes no one a mage.’ Sylpha thought. ’Lots of promising fake mages join one of the six great academies just to be kicked out because they lack the will, talent, or discipline that magic requires.

’Finding these three qualities in children below ten years of age is unheard of. Aran and Leria Verhen are not spoiled brats, but natural-born mages.’

’Tell me about it.’ Meron grunted, raising his hand for silence. ’Luckily for us, explaining how Awakening works to these morons is not our problem.’

In the heat of the moment, the nobles failed to obey as quickly as protocol demanded, so the arrays of the Throne Room brought them to their knees, Hushing them.

"Much better." The King toasted to the silence with a sip of water. "Before moving on to the issue raised by our esteemed Marchioness Xebas, allow me to remind you all how the law of all countries across all Mogar works.

"The rules that King Valeron came up with after establishing his Kingdom and that his successors modified over the centuries are intended for humans. Anyone with a shred of common sense knows that telling a wolf not to eat a lamb or a lamb not to eat from a carrot patch is a waste of time.

"That’s why the law expressively mentions soldiers. People you can train or hire, bartering the right price for their service and loyalty. The law forbids no one to raise as many dogs, birds, or cats as one wants.

"If you can train them, evolve them into magical beasts, and keep them by your side after they gain human-level intelligence, good for you. The real issue here is that no one ever managed to do such a thing and probably never will.

"How many of you have spent a single minute befriending the magical beasts who live in the woods of your fiefs? How many of you have ever considered them precious allies instead of a necessary annoyance?

"Do you think I’m not aware that most of you begrudgingly tolerate the magical beast clans only because they keep the number of monsters that roam across your lands under control without getting paid for it?"

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