Even though Riftan still appeared troubled by something, he no longer used danger as an excuse to push Maxi away.
That was enough for her. Though he had not offered any explanations yet, she knew that with patience, he would eventually tell her what was on his mind. In the meantime, she wanted to savor the return of her sweet and passionate husband.
Turning away from the snowstorm raging outside the window, Maxi walked over to the desk near the fireplace.
“This is the performance evaluation of the unaffiliated mages who participated in the war,” she said, placing the parchment she was holding in front of Anton. “Most of them wish to become official members of the Tower.”
Anton lowered his quill and picked up the parchment. “What great news.”
Remembering the mages who had worked diligently under her command, Maxi emphasized, “They all have a solid foundation and experience, so I’m certain that with proper training, they will make outstanding senior mages.”
“Mages who have participated in such a large-scale war are valuable resources, Maximilian,” Anton replied, sounding pleased as he carefully reviewed her report. “You need not worry about them. The Tower already intends to accept them.”
All of a sudden, Maxi felt a weight lift off her. With this, she had completed her duties as the leader of the rear support unit. With the negotiations concluding as well, she would be able to return to Anatol in a few weeks.
I hope the weather will improve by then.
Her elation dampened a little as she turned her gaze back to the window. The snow only seemed to be growing fiercer. If such harsh conditions continued, they might be forced to remain in Osiriya for several months. It was a thoroughly depressing thought.
Though life in Balbourne was opulent, she longed to return to Anatol and the simple yet bustling life at Calypse Castle as soon as possible. However, she could not shake the foreboding feeling that more tribulations awaited before they could go home.
“Sludge, come join us for a game of dice if you’re done over there.”
Joel’s cheerful voice roused Maxi from her gloomy thoughts. Judging from his excitement, she guessed he must have already won quite a bit of money.
Seeing his attempt to empty her pockets as well, Maxi gave him an aloof frown. Experience had taught her how terrible a gambler she was.
“No, thank you. I’ll be returning to my room now.”
“Right, because that terrifying husband of yours will come to find you if you don’t,” Royald sneered, rolling the dice.
Maxi shot him a glare. Though she wanted to argue back, she chose to overlook his snide remark, aware of what her husband had put him through. With a small sigh, she turned to face Anton again.
“Please let me know… if anything is wrong with the report. I will excuse myself…”
“Hold on. There is one last thing—”
Anton abruptly cut himself off as Calto entered the study from the connected room. Maxi’s eyes widened when she saw he was not alone.
“R-Ruth?”
She had not seen the sorcerer since their arrival in Osiriya, preoccupied as she was with her problems with Riftan.
“W-Where have you been? What have you been doing?” Maxi asked awkwardly. “I couldn’t find you anywhere, so…” She trailed off, unable to lie and say she had been worried about him.
Ruth snorted, seemingly seeing through her, and nonchalantly walked past the stunned mages toward the door. They all seemed as surprised as she was at seeing Calto and Ruth together. What could the pair have been discussing in private?
Maxi quickly followed Ruth out of the study. “Is something the matter? W-What did the two of you discuss… for Master Calto to look so grave?”
“Do you remember my uncle’s instruction to me while we were investigating the Plateau?” Ruth replied flatly, keeping up his pace.
Maxi nodded, her face hardening. After scanning their surroundings, Ruth continued slowly in Elvish, “While we were hiding in the monster city, I took every opportunity to stash as many of the dark mages’ records as possible. And when the city was captured, I managed to gather them while evading the Temple Knights’ watchful eyes. They didn’t bother monitoring the outcast.”
Maxi looked surprised.
He continued striding down the corridor, adding cautiously, “Taking advantage of that fact, I snuck away the important records during the journeys to Eth Lene and Osiriya. I was working on them tirelessly while the rest of you were busy with the festivities.”
“H-How is that even possible?” Maxi asked, her expression turning skeptical. “The coalition army was guarding the spoils closely. They would have noticed immediately… if anything had gone missing.”
“Not if nothing was taken. Only the contents were stored away,” Ruth explained, tapping his head with his index finger.
Maxi’s jaw dropped as she thought of the sheer volume of records discovered in the monster city. The fact that they were all written in complex codes made Ruth’s revelation all the more astonishing.
“Y-You mean to say you deciphered all those records?”
“My lady, even I am incapable of deciphering the entirety in such a short time. I simply memorized the codes so I could make copies later. By the time we arrived in Osiriya, I had copied most of it.”
Maxi stared at Ruth’s thin face in awe. Since he was known to cast concealment spells on himself, his absence would not have been suspicious. He had used this to his advantage, acting efficiently as a spy. However, she could not help but wonder why he had gone to all the trouble. Calto had instructed him to destroy the dangerous records, not take them.
Maxi opened her mouth to voice her concern. “But… that does not change the fact that the church now possesses most of the records. They surely have clerics that can also decipher the dark mages’ codes. If they discover that the dark mages were trying to create a purification spell…”
“You don’t have to worry about that. The dark mages failed. It seems they concluded that divine magic cannot be replicated.”
Maxi breathed a relieved sigh. That had been her greatest concern. A second later, however, her relief drained away at Ruth’s somber expression.
“Then… what is the problem? W-Why do you look so grave?”
“Because we uncovered something more troublesome,” Ruth replied. “When the dark mages realized that purifying their souls without divine magic was impossible, they sought another solution — training clerics capable of divine magic. While building the temple in the Pamela Plateau, they also began teaching theology to their young. But things took a sinister turn soon after.” Maxi swallowed dryly. “What… do you mean?”
“By then, the dark mages had coexisted with monsters for nearly a century. Since the church’s doctrines consider monsters impure entities that must be kept separate from humans, they had to find new interpretations concerning these creatures.”
Recalling what Sidina had told her, Maxi said cautiously, “I have heard… that some recognized the Ayin monsters as God’s creations as well.”
Ruth nodded, his face grim. “Coming up with new interpretations was not the only thing they did. A handful of radical mages even called for the baptism of the Ayin race and insisted on their inclusion in various religious ceremonies.”
Maxi felt her blood run cold. Before she could recover from her shock, Ruth continued calmly, “In the end, a major dispute broke out between the radicals and the majority who opposed the idea. The conflict ended when the radicals left the settlement with the Ayin monsters, but that meant the remaining mages lost much of their workforce in a single day. This led to their decline, while the radicals were able to establish a vast monster empire in the northeast of the Pamela Plateau.”
“I suppose… they are the true instigators of the war three years ago… and the ones creating all the undead throughout the Seven Kingdoms,” Maxi muttered contemptuously.
Ruth shook his head. “That is not so. The banished mages died a long time ago.” Maxi’s eyes grew wide. “What… do you mean?”
“Just that. I have read all the records. The exiled dark mages have all perished. The war three years ago, the mass creation of the undead — both are the work of monsters, not humans.”
Maxi looked up at Ruth, stunned. His expression told her that he was deadly serious. A chill ran down her spine as she sensed the certainty in his voice. “H-How can such a thing be possible?” she stammered. “I know some monsters possess higher intelligence than others, but that’s…”
“Those highly intelligent monsters have multiplied significantly,” Ruth said gravely as they stepped out of the building. “The dark mages conducted various interbreeding experiments to increase the number of monsters with superior intelligence and magical powers. As a result, a legion of monsters with intelligence comparable to humans was born, and they developed their own religion and culture based on the knowledge left behind by the dark mages..”
