Chapter 42: King and Crown Prince
In a luxurious room deep within the royal palace, the king and crown prince sat facing the Prime Minister.
“Benedict, when you read these two reports in chronological order, don’t they seem like separate incidents? But to me, they appear to be part of a single event, where this new magic was created and immediately followed by the outbreak of this magic loss disease.”
“Your Majesty, that. . .”
“Perhaps the wizards unintentionally poured excessive magic because it was an invisible magic? I want to hear a direct report from the wizards who were present. Gather them immediately.”
King Wilfred Argain Kholdar watched the Prime Minister hurriedly leave and thought to himself, “Could this be the beginning of a major disaster?”
The magic loss disease that occurred within the royal castle had been occurring continuously, changing its course around the Sloane territory in the southwest of the capital city, and was now heading towards Heartfield. Looking at the traces on the map, it was clear that no new magic loss had occurred in the locations where it had previously happened. If it were an infectious disease, magic loss would occur one after another. That was pointed out to the crown prince last night.
“Father, it seems as if something large that absorbs magic has passed through.”
The crown prince, Eldred, expressed his opinion while looking at the map that indicated the time and location of the magic loss occurrences. The increasing number of incidents showed that the number of victims was growing, and the range was expanding. The numbers indicated that something that steals magic was growing.
And now.
“The ancient capital Heartfield is close to the royal capital and has many magic users working there. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the majority of wizards from all over the country gather in the royal capital. If something big were to return to the royal capital, it would be a disaster.”
“Indeed. It might be better to consider that an unforeseen accident occurred during the creation of new magic. Eldred, I want you to lead the army to the Heartfield territory and evacuate the magic users from the path of destruction. Also, assess the situation. Choose soldiers without magic. For caution’s sake, leave only you as the magic user and strategize with Vice Commander Douglas Edwards.”
“Understood. Immediately.”
Prince Eldred, who was standing next to the king, headed towards the military tower. He thought that he needed to take the lead in this matter as soon as possible.
The existence of wizards is the key to the strength of the Kingdom of Kholdar. If other countries were to learn that the wizards, one after another, are experiencing a depletion of magic, they might see it as an excellent opportunity to wage war.
“To rely on soldiers without magic. Nevertheless, how can we find an invisible enemy?”
Eldred, who was skilled in powerful ice and fire magic, felt frustrated.
“Your Highness, why have you come to a place like this? What’s the matter?”
Vice Commander Douglas Edwards stood up from his chair, surprised to see the prince entering the room without being accompanied.
“I urgently want to take soldiers to Heartfield. All the soldiers I bring should be without magic. We’ll need. . . let’s see, about three hundred.”
“What is the purpose?”
“To evacuate the magic users from the damage caused by the depletion of magic.”
“Evacuation, you say. There’s a rumor that they’ll be safe if they go into the basement.”
“No, even indoors and in the basement, there have been numerous reports of magic depletion coming from the Sloane territory. Once the evacuation in the Heartfield territory is complete, we’ll assess the future course of action. If the royal capital is in danger, we’ll evacuate the wizards there as well. If they keep collapsing for several days, both the functions of the royal capital and the military will be paralyzed.”
“When you say ‘course of action,’ do you mean it’s not an illness?”
Eldred looked straight into Douglas’s eyes and nodded.
“That’s right. There’s a possibility that it’s \runaway of new magic. If it’s a runaway of magic that drains magic, we can’t take the magic users with us.”
“Understood. I will select soldiers as quickly as possible.”
“I’m counting on you.”
In this way, three hundred soldiers without magic were gathered, and they headed south towards the Heartfield territory. They were unaware that the town of Deals, where Haru and the others were, was in the neighboring Sumner territory.
There were few settlements within the borders, with only simple facilities like checkpoints, and the rest was mostly deep mountains.
The soldiers were positioned at a distance from each other, each holding a cage with mice or small birds.
“Listen, if the animals start to get agitated, blow the whistle immediately. The person at the far end should light the signal fire. Our mission this time is not to defeat the enemy, but to determine their location. Remember that. We must protect the magic users in the royal capital at all costs.”
For Prince Eldred, who usually used messenger birds for communication, this was quite cumbersome, but the signal fire and whistle were the best desperate measures they had.
The soldiers holding the cages were perplexed. If the animals start to get agitated, can they really discern the difference between an invisible enemy and when forest animals come and the birds and mice get noisy? It was troubling.
Out of the three hundred soldiers, one hundred were scattered throughout the Heartfield forest, and the remaining two hundred were deployed sporadically from the border to the Sumner territory.
Two days passed in this state. The signal fire rose from the soldier at the far end of the Heartfield territory. It wasn’t because the birds in the cages were making noise. Rather, even before that, the birds and animals in the forest rushed towards the soldiers all at once.
“Whoa! What is this!”
Rabbits, foxes, raccoons, deer, bears, and countless other animals ran towards them as if being chased by something. The sky was covered with birds of various sizes, making it dim.
“It’s said that there’s no harm to soldiers without magic,” they had heard, but the soldiers’ knees trembled, and they felt a chill from the tension.
Although they couldn’t see it with their eyes, a golden tornado was approaching very close.
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Only three months remained until the occurrence of the great disaster foreseen by Pauline.
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