"Lord Moyena already pointed out that Atreterve nation doesn't put their interest in tall tales – looking into the future and not being shortsighted is another troublesome quality of theirs."
The man added and his glare become even more strict.
"While increasing the amount of mana is beneficial for us, the elemental magicians as well as for the curse magicians of Barbariacca nation – who recently began to call themselves witches and warlocks – it doesn't do any good for the enchanters of Atreterve. I personally encountered a few cases where craftsmen possessing too much mana resulted in the creation of subpar artifacts. My question is..."
Duke Derizno scoffed and smirked mockingly at the shackled man.
"Why would anyone from Atreterve support the creation of anything that could put them in a vulnerable position in the future?"
Duke asked causing most of the people in the room to tense up.
...but surprisingly, Ikarveth wasn't among them...
"My lord, the thing is the device in question not only exists but is already in use. I believe that his majesty is already in possession of the proof that you want from me."
The red-haired prisoner grinned openly and exclaimed happily, sounding as if everything was progressing according to his plan.
"...Your majesty...?"
Duke Derizno lend back into his chair and turned towards the king.
The monarch gathered the attention but was not bothered by it in the slightest.
The gold-haired man raised his hand and waved benevolently toward his son.
"First prince."
"Yes, father."
The king spoke with authority and his son immediately reached down towards an unassuming bag that had been prepared under his seat and took out a small package.
The whole thing was wrapped in white silk-like fabric that had to be unrolled – as the first prince was doing just that some of the sharp edges of the device inside had caught onto the white fabric, causing it to tear in a few places despite the attentiveness to the process.
After a few seconds, the first prince was holding a cylindrical magic device of a rather unappealing design.
"Is this...?"
Duke Derizno furrowed his brows and asked.
Lord Moyena looked as if he wanted to say something but this time he managed to stop himself in time and not seem as if he was blinded by greed.
"What it's supposed to be is a device that amplifies the power of light magicians. At this point, the only quality that we confirmed is that all magicians that goth their devices extracted experienced a severe decrease in mana reservoir – sometimes to the point of being unable to teleport anymore."
The king revealed coldly while his son leaned over the table and put the artifact in front of two high aristocrats.
"...their power decreased or just returned to its natural state...?"
"..."
Duke Derizno looked up from the device and asked the monarch a question that got him a cold glare from the first prince.
"We are looking into the matter and unfortunately there is no decisive answer to your question as of yet."
The king's expression didn't budge as he answered, perfectly composed.
"Your majesty, one thing bothers me though..."
The more lord Moyena was observing the inactive artifact the more concerned his face was becoming – until finally he looked up and said.
"You said that magic devices like those were... extracted... from light magicians."
He was not stopped therefore he allowed himself to continue and pointed out.
"Two factors worry me... first – the extraction part, which doesn't sound like a word that should be used when speaking about taking away an accessory. And the second one is that there was more than one light magician discovered with it. Who should we turn to for explanation, your highness, you or...?"
Lord Moyena asked in a serious voice looking between the monarch and the prisoner.
"I did not misspeak. The supposedly revolutionary device that sir Ikarveth helped to develop requires to be embedded in the flesh to work properly... that partially brings me to the answer to your second question... the artifact before you had been cut out from the chest of the former head instructor of the King's Guard unit, sir Lutroan."
"...!"
The king did share with the people gathered in the meeting room and with each word a shadow of anger engraved itself deeper and deeper on his regal face.
"Almost a bit over a quarter of the King's Guard members have been found with that dangerous artifact burrowed in their chest – and we can't be sure that more weren't swayed by the promises of power and simply didn't have the opportunity to receive the artifact."
The gold-haired man added, glaring down the magic device as if it was personally responsible for stirring up insurrection within the kingdom of Bellcephora.
"...your majesty, I'm sorry, I must have problems with hearing. Did you just say that over ONE-QUARTER of King's Guard are traitors....?"
Lord Moyena was simply speechless while duke Derizno leaned back into his chair and rubbed his eyes with the index finger and thumb of his left hand before taking a deep breath and asking in an icy-cold voice.
"...not only that... Lutroan family is a branch of the Victureo family... now I see what is going on here."
The kingdom's treasurer regained his voice and his expression turned disgusted as he stared daggers at the current king.
"Your majesty, I have repeatedly warned you about the Victureo and Espines acting up. They have been increasing their personal strength and instead of being thwarted with taxes and laws they grew too powerful to control!"
"..."
pAn,D a-ɴᴏᴠ ᴇ1,c-o-m Lord Moyena grimaced and putting his fist against the table and leaning forward as if challenging the silent monarch.
"Trash! Spit out every piece of information relevant to this situation!"
The furious man turned towards the shackled prisoner and demanded, reaching out his fist threateningly.
"..."
Without giving lord Moyena a chance to move from the verbal threats to actual violence, one of the two knights guarding Ikarveth raised his hand and a half-transparent barrier of light emerged around them so that no harm could meet the prisoner.
"Don't get too hasty, lord Moyena. If his highness wanted to resolve the matter with violence and threats then sir Ikarveth would not even be here with us at this moment."
The leader of the King's Guard, lord Irghun called out to the agitated treasurer and lowered his hand – the gold-haired knight was the one who ordered one of the guarding knights to make a move.
"Big words from someone under the suspicion of treason. How long have you been at the top spoiled with power so much that you have not spotted the spread of rot? Or are you straight up admitting that you knew, kept quiet, and therefore are amongst the collaborators too?"
Lord Moyena certainly didn't like lord Irghun, and from the viciousness of the response it seemed as if it was a personal grudge...
"My lord, there's no reason to virtue signal so much. Everyone knows that your eldest son didn't end up joining the King's Guard. No one is suggesting that your family is involved in this bothersome situation so there is no reason for you to lose your composure. This meeting isn't happening for one's pursuit of resolving a personal grudge."
"...!"
Zoemi let out a disappointed sigh and shook his head at the fuming treasurer, causing the man to flinch and stare at him with a face stuck between confusion and anger.
"...lady Aspakeony never fails to be see through me. Although if you wouldn't mind please guide me with your wisdom without using your corpse puppet as medium next time."
The man was definitely angry, but he was definitely too smart to pick a fight with Aspakeony, so he took control of his emotions and requested, to inform the other party about his displeasure in an amicable manner.
"Oh, so that's how it is~ I will do just that."
In response, the gray-haired necromancer bit her lips barely holding back a smile as she glanced up at the face of the black-haired young man before nuzzling against him comfortably without even a trace of remorse.
The black-haired youth merely smirked and said nothing more, protectively wrapping his arms around the gray-haired girl's waist, making no attempt to resolve the misunderstanding.
The first prince glanced at them kind of nervously and lord Irghun leaned back observing the pair, visibly intrigued...
Nonetheless, the meeting continued.
"Lord Moyena, your youngest daughter is one of the people we already have working on resolving the mystery of those devices – as well as creating a non-invasive version of it, capable of influencing magicians of all the other common attributes."
The king spoke in confidence, momentarily ignoring the red-haired prisoner.
"Hmm~"
...although the shackled man didn't seem particularly bothered by the fact that his importance was being questioned and diminished...
"Your majesty as always made the right call! My Reo will not betray your expectations!"
The treasurer of the kingdom gasped in ave and declared slamming his right hand to his chest in an expression of joy and devotion.
"If I may..."
"..."
That was the moment when Ikarveth cleared his throat and spoke up, causing the others to focus on him once more.
"Young lady Moyena is indeed a genius when it comes to magic devices and enchanters who can match her talent are few and far between – but the magic of an enchanter alone will not be able to recreate the intricacies of this artifact."
"...you seem to be underestimating lord Moyena's daughter, that young lady is far too competent for the likes of you to compete against..."
Ikarveth snickered almost boastfully – and surprisingly enough it wasn't Reo's father, but duke Derizno who spoke up in defense of the girl who spearheaded the development of magic devices within the Bellcephora kingdom.
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