Chapter 100: Acting Guild Leader

  In the meeting room of Diya Valley, Bishop Adela, who arrived late just as the meeting was about to end, brought news that shocked all the Necromancers: the Paladin Order and Magic Academy had jointly eliminated a Necromancer who had been lurking in the royal capital.

  The reason for the Necromancers' shock was naturally because they all knew who that Necromancer was.

  Master Aiden looked at Marquis, his usually calm eyes and voice now tinged with anger: "Inham. What's going on? Everyone should have told you before you left to try not to involve Sandro." Just a few days ago, he had been on the verge of death, but now he appeared full of energy and vitality, as if he had just woken from a long sleep and taken a hot bath. Even his previously lost arm had been reattached. Such a feat would be considered a magical myth elsewhere, but in Diya Valley, it was nothing extraordinary. Here there were top-tier white mages, and experts in corpse manipulation who had studied the human body to the extreme. Crucially, the quantity of top-grade magical items and artifacts here was astounding—things that might be priceless elsewhere were commonplace here. Reattaching an arm for a member was simply a standard benefit.

  Marquis shook his head and replied calmly: "I'm sorry, I don't know anything about this. I returned as soon as the matter with Ronis was concluded, as everyone knows."

  The eldest among the Necromancers spoke up. He first coughed violently a few times, then looked at Marquis and asked: "Inham. We all greatly admire your planning in killing Ronis... cough cough..." After saying this much, he immediately fell into another bout of difficult coughing. His wrinkled face flushed red as the coughing intensified.

  The others remained silent, quietly waiting for the old man, who seemed about to cough up his lungs at any moment, to continue speaking. In the great hall, only the sound of coughing could be heard.

  His face turned a purplish-red, and finally, after coughing until it became a sickly pallor, he managed to catch a breath. He took a few gasps before slowly finishing his sentence: "We all admire you greatly, but this matter is somewhat inappropriate. Please don't mind Master Aiden's loss of composure, because there are things you youngsters don't quite understand yet."

  "But Teacher Valthor. I truly know nothing about this matter." Marquis's expression carried a hint of embarrassment, and anyone could tell from his demeanor and tone that he was indeed innocent. "I never expected that Duke Mrak would know about Mr. Sandro, let alone that he would lead troops to besiege Mr. Sandro."

  A Necromancer said slowly: "If there are people on this continent we prefer not to provoke, it would be the two former acting guild leaders. When they left the guild, we agreed to mutual non-aggression. But now if Sandro has truly died because of us, Agrael will absolutely not let this matter rest."

  "Please forgive my ignorance. Esteemed elders. Everyone present here is among the top mages on the continent. Even if the other acting guild leader won't let this matter rest..." The young Bishop Adela's smile was charming and confident as he looked at the Necromancers present. "What could he possibly do to us?"

  Master Aiden replied calmly: "I can only say that if Agrael wants to kill me, I can only obediently wait for him to do so."

  "You're exaggerating, aren't you?" Adela covered his mouth, smiling as he looked at him. "You are, after all, one of the ten most powerful mages on the continent."

  "But Agrael is the top assassin on the continent, and he was once one of us, so he knows us very well. Mages need to eat, they need to sleep, and their vigilance can lapse. I don't want to have to carefully check every bite of bread to see if there's a poisonous insect with a dozen curses on it, nor do I want to spend half a day examining every chair for deadly traps, much less fear that I might never wake up every time I go to sleep at night." Master Aiden looked calmly at Adela. "If you don't believe me, you're welcome to announce publicly that you were the one who led people to kill Sandro. Then we would all be much more relieved."

  "Oh, so he's that formidable, is he?" Adela was still smiling. His smile looked almost shy, like that of a young girl. "It seems we should pray that the other respected former acting guild leader, Mr. Sandro, can survive this disaster."

  "That might be even more troublesome." Another Necromancer sighed deeply. "Agrael merely kills people. When Sandro gets angry... who knows what outrageous things he might do."

  "Please, everyone, rest assured." Marquis, who had been silent, stood up. His expression and voice were calm and composed, without the slightest hint of panic or worry. "Whether Mr. Sandro is dead or alive, no matter who investigates, the blame will absolutely not fall on us. It was merely a straightforward political conspiracy."

  "Is that possible?" Master Aiden sneered. "Others might not know, but those two are well aware that we've been wanting to deal with Ronis. Once they capture someone who conspired with you, like that duke, everything will be revealed with a little questioning. I believe that when those two ask questions, absolutely no one can hide the truth."

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  "No one conspired with me, and absolutely no one will know that I was actually the one manipulating this matter. No matter who conducts any kind of reasoning, the responsibility will never fall on us. Please, everyone, rest assured. I guarantee it." The confidence contained in Marquis's calm-as-water voice and expression made it impossible for Master Aiden to rebut.

  "Hehe, what a reassuring tone." Bishop Adela gave Marquis a charming smile.

  "I originally didn't realize these two seniors had such formidable presence. Now I finally understand." Marquis also smiled, his smile equally charming and containing a hint of sudden realization. "In the future, I will be more careful and pay more attention to these two seniors."

  "Since the respected Inham can guarantee this, it seems we were worrying unnecessarily." A very well-maintained, plump and fair Necromancer nodded. "However, to be safe, I suggest that we temporarily set aside the matter concerning the Ainfast Empire, and that none of us interfere in any affairs there for now. Let's wait and see how the situation develops."

  "Hehe. Yes, to show that we have no connection to it."

  "Exactly. Just don't go there for now. Wait until everything becomes clear."

  "However, upon calmer reflection, I find something rather strange..." Master Aiden shook his head indifferently. "Do you all really think Sandro would die from being besieged?"

  "I don't really believe it either..." The old Necromancer, bent over and coughing with great effort to force the words out, finally straightened his waist and glanced at Adela. "Did you see it with your own eyes?"

  "Teacher Valthor, I didn't actually witness it myself." Bishop Adela nodded respectfully at the coughing old man. "But according to the report from the Magic Academy, there were over a thousand people at the scene of the siege. The first swordsman of the Ainfast Empire led five hundred members of the Paladin Order, and the Magic Academy sent almost everyone, including even those who sweep the floors, to participate in the siege to avenge Bishop Ronis. And all these thousand-plus people witnessed that Necromancer finally explode along with the corpses he was controlling."

  "Self-detonation... Such a heroic act doesn't quite fit the respected Sandro's style." Master Aiden looked calmly at the other Necromancers. Two of them nodded with smiles.

  "Yes, he must have used some trick. The Robe of the Lich Lord is in his possession, and he's a mage who has practiced Meditations on Truth. While wearing the Robe of the Lich Lord, I'd say not even a thousand mages could defeat him, let alone ten thousand."

  "Oh? Does wearing the Robe of the Lich Lord have such a great effect?" Marquis asked with some surprise.

  "Only someone who has practiced Meditations on Truth can unleash its full power. But Meditations on Truth... hehe, even if you asked me to practice it, I wouldn't dare."

  Adela asked with a smile: "Why? Is that meditation technique very difficult? I've only heard of it..."

  "You youngsters don't really understand. Who knows how many peaks in The Shadowspire Peaks have been leveled by self-detonations of those brave souls who sought to explore the pinnacle of necromancy during their meditation. That's why our meditation chambers ultimately had to be carved into the mountains themselves. Hehe."

  "But the records in that book should indeed be of great benefit to Necromancy. Over so many years, only the former acting guild leader Sandro and the respected Teacher Valthor have successfully practiced it, and they both became the most powerful Necromancers since Archibald."

  "Successful? Cough cough... I only made a beginning before I had to stop. Sandro was the one with greater talent and luck, having practiced less than half." Teacher Valthor shook his head with difficulty. "And the thing I regret most in my life is practicing from that book..." His coughing grew louder and more strenuous, his whole body convulsing, his hunched form shrinking painfully into a ball on the chair.

  Watching Teacher Valthor's pained appearance, Marquis sighed: "It seems Mr. Sandro was perhaps right to take that book of Meditations on Truth and the Robe of the Lich Lord out of Diya Valley."

  The plump, fair Necromancer also sighed: "Sigh. I had originally thought to find an opportunity to capture that woman who consumed the Leaves of the World Tree for study. But seeing this, it's better to abandon this dangerous plan, lest I be caught red-handed by Sandro who might be waiting there. Hehe. Besides, there's still another intact Leaf of the World Tree waiting for us."

  "Yes, it's better not to go."

  "I originally thought I was bringing such explosive news, who knew it would become so mundane after the wise analysis and discussion of you all." Adela smiled somewhat embarrassedly. "What important matters were you all discussing before I arrived late?"

  "First, because Inham completed such a difficult task alone, everyone expressed admiration for his judgment and planning abilities. Everyone has been delayed for quite a few days, and now that the matter is mostly resolved, with little progress likely in the short term, members with other business should return to handle their own affairs. Therefore, we have elected Inham to serve as the acting guild leader, responsible for deciding how to handle various matters when we don't have time to hold meetings. You have no objection, do you?"

  "Of course I object." Adela smiled brightly. "How could you not give me the opportunity to cast my sacred vote for him? Hehe."

  Master Aiden snorted coldly. "I personally maintain reservations about this decision."

  A Necromancer said with a laugh: "Respected Aiden, what is such a trivial honor? Is it not good to leave the tedious affairs to a more energetic young person to handle?"

  "The remaining matter was to discuss the guild's future plans. Actually, our main remaining problem concerns that gentleman who disappeared with the Leaves of the World Tree. Anyway, Ronis has already helped us put a bounty on him, and now tens of thousands of people are hunting this five-thousand-gold-coin gentleman. We just need to wait for these helpers to discover him, hunt him down, cause some commotion, and then we can easily go and retrieve the Leaves of the World Tree, and eliminate this gentleman by the way. But before that, we can only ask the impetuous Lady Vedenina to rest a bit longer. But since her time is unlimited anyway, haha."

  "Although this operation was successful, the blame has ultimately fallen upon us. The Church will need the two of you to handle it a bit, don't let the matter escalate too much. As for those countries or organizations most eager to send troops to crusade against Diya Valley like Ronis, everyone might as well change their leadership while we're at it. Treat it as a small diversionary game, quite amusing."

  "That orc city of old Sedros seems to have developed somewhat, but for the influence and intelligence network of our noble organization, it remains a vacuum. In the future, if anyone has the opportunity, plant some informants or something there."

  "Finally, regarding the murderer who killed Asri, whoever has free time should investigate. First, understand what kind of person it is, and then we can discuss how to deal with them." The Necromancer who had been explaining to Bishop Adela stood up and stretched. "Alright, that's all. I should be heading back now."

  The other Necromancers also stood up one after another. "Very well. I hope that when we gather again, the center of this elegant conference table will be adorned with that five-thousand-gold-coin head, and the most lovely Leaves of the World Tree."

  "Respected Acting Guild Leader Inham, please take care of matters. Hehe."

  "Please rest assured, I will not disappoint everyone's hopes in me." Marquis bowed and smiled. "I will certainly give everyone some surprises."

  A Necromancer laughed loudly: "Haha. Truly a reassuring young man. I can almost smell the enchanting fragrance of the Leaves of the World Tree already."