Chapter 435: Chapter 423: The Wizard, Still the Savior of Aiselan

「The third day after the battle.」

The sky was gray. Along both sides of the long street in the west district of Golden Stone City, coffins were lined up. Even so, there weren’t enough to hold all the fallen soldiers.

Lumber was continuously transported in from outside the city. Carpentry workshops rushed to keep up day and night, wood shavings piling up into small hills.

The sound of hammers striking wooden planks echoed throughout the entire district.

The coffins mostly contained clothes, as there were not many intact bodies left.

In the disaster that had swept the coastline, the remains of the vast majority of the fallen had either been devoured by the Heart Eaters or permanently assimilated by that sacred yet monstrous crystal forest, making them impossible to recover.

In the square, by the streets, family members were everywhere, kneeling and weeping in anguish.

Some cried out the names of their loved ones over and over. Others numbly burned Spirit Talismans for blessings. But most just stood in silence, their eyes vacant, like living corpses whose souls had been ripped away.

The deaths of countless frontline soldiers and civilians had turned the city into a giant graveyard.

Golden Stone City had lost its usual clamor. All that remained was the CRACKLE of burning braziers and stifled sobs.

Allen appeared in a corridor of the royal palace. He hadn’t used a Space Gate to arrive directly in William’s study, nor had he used any concealment Magic. His black robes rustled softly against the marble floor. The atmosphere here was just as heavy as iron.

Lining both sides of the corridor were members of the Royal Guard. They were wrapped in bandages, their armor stained with dark red blood that couldn’t be washed away.

They recognized the “Guardian of the Kingdom” almost immediately, their bodies tensing instinctively.

One young guard’s lips trembled violently, as if he wanted to demand answers, yet was also terrified.

But in the end, like the others, he simply stared fixedly at Allen before silently lowering his head and clearing a path.

Their silence was more deafening than any question.

Allen’s gaze did not linger on anyone. His pace was steady, each step measured to the exact same length.

The Allen Network covered the area, automatically converting micro-expressions, changes in heart rate, and muscle tension collected from the surroundings into streams of data.

Environmental Hostility Index Rising, Jarvis projected onto his retina.

Allen paid it no mind. He walked to the heavy oak door of the council hall and pushed it open.

The council hall was not lit, and the light was dim.

William was standing before the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the square below.

He wore a thin white shirt, his chest wrapped in thick bandages. He too had broken three ribs and suffered internal injuries during the battle.

Hearing the door open, William turned around. His eyes were sunken, his jaw covered in stubble, and his entire being exuded an air of defeat.

“You’re here,” William said, his voice hoarse.

Allen walked to the long table, pulled out a high-backed chair, and sat down.

“I caused the premature outbreak and unprecedented scale of this Beast Tide,” Allen said bluntly, looking William in the eyes.

William’s body jolted. He strode to the table and slammed his hands down on its surface. “What do you mean?”

Allen continued, “Three days ago, in order to investigate the source of the Heart Eaters, I extended my Spiritual Power beyond the Storm Belt in the Western Sea Region. I disturbed an unknown existence lurking in a ten-thousand-meter-deep abyssal trench. The Beast Tide began its rampage after that.”

He watched the color drain from William’s face and added the final sentence.

“That is the whole truth. If you decide to make it public and announce it to the entire kingdom, I won’t stop you. I will also provide you with the necessary compensation.”

BOOM!

It was as if a clap of thunder had exploded in William’s mind.

Anger, humiliation, absurdity, and a bone-deep sense of powerlessness engulfed him in an instant, like a bursting dam.

’Not a natural disaster? It was man-made.’

’The man before him, revered as a god, had casually poked at the deep sea and brought about this cataclysm.’

William’s throat bobbed.

He opened his mouth, wanting to roar in fury, to draw the “Wind King’s Breath” at his waist and strike.

He wanted to question this high-and-mighty Wizard, to ask if he even considered the lives of Aiselan’s people to be of any consequence.

To ask the man before him if he saw them as nothing more than ants that could be sacrificed at will?

To demand what right he had to satisfy his personal curiosity with the lives of hundreds of thousands of Aiselan’s subjects?

’A god makes one mistake, and a mortal kingdom has to foot the bill?’

Beneath his royal robes, his fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles made a sharp CRACKING sound. A sharp pain shot from his broken ribs, but it was nothing compared to the agony of his heart being torn apart.

But in the end, he said nothing at all.

All his fury and questions turned to an icy chill the moment they met Allen’s impassive black eyes, flooding back through his entire body.

’Announce the truth?’

’And then what?’

’Let the fifty-two million subjects of the kingdom know that their revered “Guardian,” the one they believed could reverse the nation’s fate, was the true perpetrator of this catastrophe? Let the people’s faith crumble completely overnight?’

For three hundred years, this country had been tormented by the Heart Eaters, leaving it with nothing but a strong facade. Its only spiritual pillar was the fanatical worship of the omnipotent “Wizard.”

Once that pillar fell, the kingdom would collapse faster than any steel defensive line.

At that point, the Heart Eaters wouldn’t even need to act. Anger, suspicion, and internal strife would be enough to tear Aiselan to pieces.

He, William Aislan, would go down in history as the kingdom’s greatest sinner.

“Hah…”

William closed his eyes, his body trembling slightly.

He could hear the faint sounds of weeping from outside the window. Those were his people.

’Before a Wizard, mortals are less than dirt.’

’This is the true reality.’

William’s eyes snapped open. “How could I announce the truth?”

He turned and pointed at the square outside the window. “Tell them that Lord Weisren, the one they pray to day and night, the one they revere as a god, is the one who got their parents, wives, and children killed?”

He lowered his voice, speaking across the long table.

“They don’t know the truth. They only know that the Wizard’s Steel Legion did its best, but the enemy was too numerous. They don’t know that you were the one who brought this disaster upon us.”

“If I really did announce it, faith would collapse in an instant. The industrial system the kingdom has built over the last decade—the workshops, the Magic Furnaces, the Alchemy Network, all of which rely on Cybertron technology—would all become targets of hatred.”

“This country would fall into civil war and break apart. The next time a Beast Tide comes, we wouldn’t even be able to organize a single line of defense.”

William gritted his teeth. “I can’t announce it. Not only can I not announce it, I have to cover it up for you.”

“The Commander of the Fifth Defensive Sector, Baron Howard, fled from battle.”

William’s voice had returned to its cold, detached state. “I will report to the entire realm that Howard, out of cowardice and fear for his own life, abandoned his post, causing a breach in the defensive line. The Royal Army fought to the death and, ultimately, under the divine might of Lord Weisren, annihilated the Beast Tide.”

“Howard’s family will be stripped of their title and exiled to the Northern Territory. He will bear the blood debt of these six hundred thousand people.”

William turned his head and looked at Allen.

“The Wizard is still the savior of Aiselan. So this debt is between you and me alone.”

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