After Quentin was singled out as a genius by the Mage, the Eastern Lord granted Quentin's father Brown that surname, bestowed a viscount's title on him, and even raised a company of twenty knights for him from the east. Brown himself was granted a secret potion too, and advanced to knight.
Such strength was still nothing worth mentioning, but he now held noble status, and the Duke could not simply sit by and ignore him.
"Viscount Brown, I'm certain there's been some misunderstanding here. Suppose we discuss it later?" The Duke rose to smooth things over.
And so the banquet broke up on that sour note. Everyone left carrying their own grief or hatred, while Adam and the others, at the Duke's invitation, went together into the council chamber.
The whole way there Brown stared at Adam, the hatred in his eyes burning fiercer by the moment, and the instant they stepped into the council chamber he struck: "My lord, I need an explanation."
Adam's explanation was brief: "He ambushed me. I killed him."
It was not only Brown who froze; even the Duke was stunned. That sentence was less an explanation than a declaration of war.
Veins standing out on his forehead and arms, Brown turned to William and the others. "All of you knew about this?"
William nodded, at a loss for how to console Quentin's father. As for making Adam admit fault and pay compensation, that was a thing he had never once imagined.
"Good. Good. Good!" Brown laughed in the extremity of his rage, and having spat out those three words he strode straight out of the council chamber.
The Duke looked at Adam with a bitter smile. "Young man, I hope you can understand what is in the heart of a father who has lost his child right now." As a full apprentice himself, the Duke understood the power of magic deeply; he did not doubt for a moment that Adam could kill Brown with ease, so all he could do was offer a mild remonstrance.
Adam had not taken the matter to heart in the least. He simply asked, "Your Grace, I am in charge of this mission. Please brief me on the Church of the Supreme God."
The Duke knew that since the academy had appointed Adam as leader, Adam was in every sense the strongest among them, so he could only keep his worries to himself. "You should already have the basic information. As of now the entire west has fallen completely and become a dead zone. The Church of the Supreme God has thrust its tentacles out beyond the west — even the south has come under attack."
"Father, were you wounded by one of the Church's God's Servitors?" William was anxious.
A look of lingering dread crossed the Duke's face. "That's right. That Servitor suddenly burrowed out of an ordinary commoner's body, sucked the man's flesh and blood dry, and then, screaming mad nonsense about the true god's imminent descent, began a frenzy of killing and destruction. I have never seen magic so bizarre. He seemed to work his spells entirely with flesh and blood. He kept cutting open his own body, and every commoner his blood touched was infected and died. The most horrifying part was that the corpses rose again as monsters."
"Forgive me, Your Grace, but magic of that level doesn't seem enough to harm you," Cristel said suddenly.
The Duke nodded and went on. "Correct. It's devastating to ordinary people, but meaningless against an apprentice. That was what I thought too. Yet just as I was about to finish him off, he threw everything aside and charged to my side, and then he exploded. His self-detonation carried astonishing power; it tore through my defensive magic in an instant. And after that, I became like this."
William's eyes were full of fury. His knuckles cracked sharply as he clenched his fists too hard. The Duke smiled at him and said soothingly, "It's all right. At least I'm still alive, aren't I? I'll order a mechanical body from the academy. Everything will be fine."
Ophelia spoke up suddenly. "Your Grace, may I ask whether you kept any of the Servitor's flesh?"
"Of course. Do you need it now?"
Ophelia said, "Yes."
The Duke rose himself and brought out from somewhere in the mansion a small, sealed lump of flesh. "When the Servitor blew himself apart, I destroyed most of the flesh he scattered — only this lump was left. Be careful, Miss Ophelia. It is highly invasive."
Ophelia pressed one finger against the seal. Powerful mana erupted instantly and destroyed the seal outright; once exposed to the air, the flesh began to contort violently and flung itself off the tabletop at Ophelia, the nearest person.
Ophelia's expression did not change in the slightest. She simply caught the flesh in her bare hand.
The Duke cried out in alarm, "Don't let it touch your body directly, or else... er..."
Ophelia squeezed hard and crushed it until it burst apart. Bound by her peculiar mana, the flesh stayed obediently in her palm.
The next second, Ophelia actually pinched up a piece of the shredded flesh, put it in her mouth, chewed it and swallowed it as though it were nothing at all, and only then said calmly, "It contains low-grade bloodline energy. It has no resistance to mana, and can only infect and assimilate ordinary people."
Adam remembered William once saying that Ophelia had joined some laboratory. From the look of things, it must have been research into body refining and bloodline magic — though that kind of research did look, frankly, pretty cool.
Ophelia paid no attention to the Duke's peculiar look and continued, "I'd need more samples, but if this is the limit of its power, it can't withstand a single blow."
A beautiful young girl calmly eating unnameable flesh — the scene was more than a little unsettling.
The Duke suppressed the unnatural feeling welling up in him and said, "Naturally it's so for a full apprentice, but to ordinary people the Servitors' damage is immense. It may be rude of me to say so, but I hope you can resolve this as quickly as possible. Otherwise Madeira Island is finished." In truth he had hoped a full-fledged Mage would be sent to deal with the Church of the Supreme God, but plainly not one full-fledged Mage was willing to come to this desert of mana.
Ophelia said no more. Adam asked again, "Is that the only ability the Servitors have?"
"No. According to the people who fled from the west, some Servitors command the power of nature, some are proof against blade and spear, and no two are alike in ability. But one thing is certain: every one of them was an ordinary person before, and they only gained their powers after sacrificing living people."
William had spotted a huge problem. There were only four of them. Strong as they might be relative to ordinary folk, the Servitors had the vile magic that turned commoners into monsters, and against a flood of enemies beyond counting even they would have no way to cope. "Father, how strong are the infected commoners in a fight?"
The Duke said, "They can't withstand a single blow. Cast fear aside, and even a woman can kill one of those risen monsters with a weapon. The only real threat is the Servitors themselves."
After Adam had drawn a few more pieces of information from the Duke, the servants showed them to adjacent luxurious rooms. Before turning in, Adam suddenly asked William, "Duke, Count — titles like these, who grants them?"
William was still worrying over his father's situation. From Frank he had learned just how dangerous an incompatible cheap mechanical body could be, and he was hesitating over how to ask Adam to teach the Psychokinesis Meditation Method to his father. At the question he blinked. "The King of Madeira, of course. The royal city is in the central region."
So that was it. Adam had assumed titles were granted by the tower. "Then why haven't we seen a single apprentice from the central region?"
"The center is the royal city — just one city. The royal house is only a nominal symbol; its real strength is very weak. Mages won't spare a thought for royal dignity. No talent is no talent. Come to think of it, Northland is only one city as well. I just never expected three geniuses of your caliber to turn up this time."
Adam said he understood, then pushed open the door of his room. Just then William hesitantly called him back. "Adam, my father, he..."
Adam looked at William quietly.
William steeled himself and said it straight out. "May I teach the Psychokinesis Meditation Method to my father?"
Adam looked at him oddly, not understanding why such a thing needed to be asked of him at all. William thought Adam meant to refuse, and his face fell — just then Adam said, "Of course. So long as you pay fifty units of energy stones, who you teach is your own business."
"Thank you, Adam." William thanked him from the bottom of his heart, then went flying off toward the Duke's room.
Viscount Brown left the Duke's mansion directly, gathered every one of his knight retainers, and left Southern Seaport City in the middle of the night.
"My lord Viscount, I doubt anyone will be able to catch up with us now. Shouldn't you tell us the reason?" So asked Brown's Knight Commander, a knight who had reached the Grand Knight rank only at the very end of his prime and would never advance another step.
The other knights looked at Brown in bafflement as well; anyone hauled away just as he was about to enjoy himself would be unhappy about it.
"My child, Quentin Brown — the one who should have become a Mage — is dead."
The knights broke into an uproar. They all knew where this man's title had come from. Now his hope was gone — could he still hold on to that title?
Brown paid their thoughts no mind and went on, "You've all heard of the Church of the Supreme God, I take it?"
"Of course." The others could not imagine why Brown was bringing up that evil cult at a time like this.
Brown turned his horse around to face the Knight Commander. "Kyle, you're very old. Your strength will never improve, and to this day you haven't won your son a hereditary title. Are you content with that?" Before the Knight Commander could answer, he raised his voice to the other knights. "Many of you don't hold even the lowest title. You rank above commoners, yes, but before a noble you can only bow and obey. Are you content with that?"
Kyle asked gravely, "My lord Viscount, what are you saying?"
"Without power, you can only be enslaved. But now I have a way to give you power."
Kyle was horrified. "You want to join the Church of the Supreme God? Have you lost your mind? The Mages will not let you off."
Brown smiled a sinister smile. "Mages? No. They're only mage apprentices. Just like my son..."