Chapter 34: The Consequences of Benevolence (1)

In the heavy, sinking atmosphere, Klavis Prince and his party silently proceeded along the predetermined path.  

Inland reconnaissance was never a cheerful affair to begin with.

The entire empire had been mercilessly ravaged by the demon called Nadja, and they had no choice but to watch it all unfold with wide-open eyes.  

But this reconnaissance mission was especially grim.

At the center of this oppressive mood was the Klavis Prince, his face drawn into a scowl.  

“Your Highness.”  

“Hmm, Soares. What is it?”  

“Please, calm your anger now. After all, that boy has already left, hasn’t he?”  

“…Hmm?”  

Suddenly, the prince lifted his head and glanced around.

When his eyes met those of his companions, they all nodded timidly in agreement with Soares’ words.  

“Th-that… It’s just nonsense from a childish fool who doesn’t understand the world, isn’t it? Please don’t take it to heart, Your Highness!”  

“Exactly! Let’s just forget about it!”  

“How about a bottle of distilled liquor? Nothing shakes off worries better than this!”  

Words of consolation poured in from all directions to comfort the heartbroken prince.

Yet at the center of it all, he only blinked with a bewildered expression.  

When the commotion finally settled, he scratched the back of his head and spoke.  

“What nonsense are you spouting? I haven’t been angry.”  

“You were scowling just moments ago, Your Highness. It’s hard to believe you weren’t upset then.”  

“Did I? Ha ha ha! Sorry, I must have been too deep in thought.”  

Soares raised an eyebrow slightly.

Based on her nearly ten years of experience serving him, it was clear that the prince truly wasn’t angry.

If that was the case, it was odd.

What could have made him appear as if he carried the world’s sorrows on his shoulders?  

“When do you think the chosen sacrifices will depart Bold?”  

The sudden question made the party look at one another.

After a moment, someone answered.  

“It will take about a week. From what we’ve seen so far, it usually takes that long for the sacrifices to finish preparations.”  

“Um, Your Highness, I think otherwise. This time there are as many as 150 sacrifices, right? Previously, it was at most around 40. The scale is more than three times larger. The preparations will likely take longer. A week is too short. Even at minimum, wouldn’t it take about two weeks?”  

“Two weeks… that fits the timing.”  

The prince narrowed his eyes, rubbed his chin, and stared into the distance before finally making up his mind.  

“We’ll change the route slightly. We’ll stop by Bold once more in two weeks.”  

“Eh? But we’ve already secured everything we needed from Bold.”  

“Is there not one thing left that we haven’t obtained yet?”  

At those words, Soares instinctively widened her eyes.  

“Your Highness, you don’t mean… you plan to secure the sacrifices?”  

“Oh! Soares, you know me too well! At this point, we might as well be married, huh?”  

“Don’t try to brush it off with silly jokes this time. It’s not going to work.”  

“It’s cruel to dismiss a man’s sincerity as a silly joke…”  

“Your Highness.” Soares cut him off firmly.

The prince, caught like a child caught misbehaving by his parents, fell silent.  

“Once again, I say, I am not angry. Nor am I falling into self-blame driven by insecurity.”  

After a brief sigh, the prince spoke in a serious tone.

Soares wanted to dismiss his wandering thoughts outright, but she decided to listen for now.  

“Since Zion left, I’ve been reflecting on the past. This is the 53rd time we’ve witnessed the selection of sacrifices firsthand. Can we say with certainty that we’ve tried every possible method to save them?”  

“But…! Have you forgotten what happened three years ago?”  

“Forget it? Not a chance. Even now, if I close my eyes, I can vividly recall it—shouts, the clanging of metal, the stench of blood, and screams.”  

Back then, Nadja’s mind control had not yet completely dominated the empire.

Because of that, the prince and his companions underestimated how terrible Nadja’s powers truly were.  

When they learned that twenty innocent villagers had been drafted to sacrifice their lives to Nadja during an arms smuggling stop, the prince immediately planned to rescue them.  

The plan faltered from the start.

When they rushed in to save the twenty, all twenty violently resisted.

Those completely controlled by Nadja believed sacrificing themselves was a sacred mission and achievement to be fulfilled at all costs.

The rescue team had no choice but to resort to force.  

One of the twenty died.

It was an unfortunate accident.

The remaining nineteen went wild like rabid dogs with their leash cut loose.

The rescuers, who had to subdue them without killing, were overwhelmed.

Defeat was inevitable.  

In the chaos, three comrades died.

Two were heirs of grand noble families who had forsaken guaranteed wealth and glory, and one was an elderly noble who had once been controlled by Nadja but overcame it after meeting the prince.  

That day marked the moment Nadja’s dominion spread across the empire at an uncontrollable speed—as if it had waited for the prince to endure such a tragedy.  

Since then, the prince gave up on rescuing those chosen by Nadja’s decree.

Instead, he never forgot the number and faces of those he couldn’t save.  

“It’s just tragedy repeating itself!”  

“That’s not necessarily true. Different methods could yield different results.”  

“Why do you care so much about the words of a boy whose identity we don’t even know?”  

“I simply thought Zion’s words were right. It’s only one time. It would be shameful to give up and close all possibilities just because of one failure.”  

Before long, the discussion turned into a dispute between the prince and Soares.

The others quietly watched the exchange.

After all, the rebel leader was the prince.

When he made a wrong choice, they wouldn’t hesitate to speak frankly, but ultimately, everyone would follow his judgment.  

Soares was no different.

Strictly speaking, she was not opposed but worried.

She feared how deeply this kind-hearted man would be hurt if he faced similar failure again.  

“Well then, besides Soares, is there anyone else opposed?”  

The prince looked around at his companions.

Each gave a bitter smile and shook their heads.

None of them liked leaving the people controlled by Nadja unattended.  

“Very well!”  

After confirming everyone’s opinion, the prince smiled brightly.

As always, his confidence was overflowing and assured.  

“In two weeks, we will carry out the second sacrifice rescue operation.”  

***

After telling Yuria everything without hiding a thing, and once she barely accepted the chaotic situation, Zion honestly asked for help, Arcs then spoke, [We’re going to make an artifact.]  

 “An artifact…? What’s that?”  

[It’s an object similar to a pendant.]

“But you’re saying you’ll make one?” 

[Well, pendants are a kind of artifact, too. But with Zion’s current skills, there’s no way he could imitate high-level artifacts. What you’ll make is much simpler than a pendant.]  

“Oh, that’s a relief… Wait? Me? Not Arcs making it?”  

Arcs smiled playfully as she explained the pendant’s summoning mechanism.

Zion looked as if he had just been slapped, realizing there was a problem he hadn’t known about.  

“What about Uncle? Can’t his magic do something?”  

[I’m the Dominator of Destruction Magic, not the Dominator of all magic. Mental interference, mind control, stuff like that isn’t my domain.]

Zion’s expression noticeably grew anxious.  

“I don’t know anything about how artifacts are made… can I really do this?”  

[It’s not about whether you can or can’t. It’s something you have to do. Otherwise, do you want to turn tail and go back to the prince right now?]  

Zion hesitated for a moment but steadied his mind at Frey’s words.

It wasn’t much different from before.

If he wanted to do this, he had to challenge it rather than fear failure.  

[Our Zion doesn’t have to worry. I’ll teach you everything from start to finish. Trust me, and there’ll be no problem!]  

Thus began days of intensive lessons and practice.  

First came theory, briefly covered through communication via the pendant.

They quickly reviewed only the basics Zion absolutely needed to know, and the theory necessary for making artifacts to break mind control.

There was no time to delve deeper.  

While Zion studied theory, Arcs was summoned several times to survey the surroundings.

She aimed to understand exactly how Nadja’s mind control worked.  

Although it appeared to be mind control, it could be hypnosis, suggestion, or the caster directly manipulating the target’s body like a puppet.

The artifact to counter each would differ.

Artifacts that fundamentally prevent all kinds of mind control did exist, but that was a field too advanced for Zion to tackle by cramming minimal knowledge.  

‘Very strong suggestion and emotional manipulation. It’s almost exactly like the Provocation Zion used. Luckily, it’s much weaker than what Provocation did, probably because its range is wide. It won’t work at all on Awakened, and ordinary people with high MP affinity can resist it fairly easily. Probably the prince and his comrades fall into that category.’  

After finishing the analysis, it was time to prepare an estimate: the blueprint, required materials, and how long it would take for Zion to complete the artifact.  

‘If all goes well, about two weeks. But that requires monster materials.’  

Whether fortunate or not, unlike Earth where monsters were nearly extinct, Zion’s world had many monsters.

Since the artifact wasn’t complicated, materials from lower-ranked monsters would suffice.  

“Isn’t there a risk Nadja might notice?”  

The problem was that monsters in the empire were more like obedient pets that hid quietly instead of attacking people recklessly.

Fortunately, Frey knew how to handle this.  

[Let’s learn Applied Provocation while we’re at it. Delicate MP control is essential for making artifacts, so it will definitely help.]  

Applied Provocation was a more advanced technique that went beyond merely provoking monsters to attack.

Once mastered, it allowed the user to single out a target monster from a group, or make the monster perceive them as a non-threat to avoid attacks, or temporarily divert its attention elsewhere.  

Zion’s days became incredibly busy, learning Applied Provocation, reviewing theory, and practicing basic artifact crafting with materials Arcs brought.

Meanwhile, Yuria helped by scouting Bold’s situation and gathering food and camping supplies.  

“About 150 people are in the middle of preparations. It seems it takes quite a while to leave Bold because of the large number. I’d say about twelve days.”  

“Twelve days… That’s a relief. Thanks to Yuria, I feel a bit more at ease. Thank you.”  

“It’s nothing special. Hehe.”  

Everything seemed to be going smoothly without incident.

Zion was learning quickly, and there was still plenty of time.  

But entering the second week and fully diving into making the artifact to break mind control, Zion realized how naïve he had been.  

“Ah, ah…”  

The MP lines in his intricate circuit wavered for just a moment, and the palm-sized circuit board trembled as if about to explode.

Zion let out a frustrated groan and desperately tried to control his MP, but the circuit was already ruined.  

After a moment of silence, Zion blankly stared up at the sky.  

“This is difficult.”  

[Yeah, making artifacts isn’t easy. But you’re doing well, Zion. If it were your mother, she probably wouldn’t have gotten this far.]  

In fact, Zion failed after completing over 90% of the circuit.

But a failure is still a failure.

The core circuit and materials he had poured effort into had turned into useless junk.  

“Done!”  

Yuria’s bright voice rang out from a little distance.

Recently, she had been learning the basics of artifacts from Arcs during her spare time.

After days of struggling to get the hang of it, her efforts finally paid off.  

“Zion, look! The light’s on!”  

Yuria had made a lamp that emitted a bright glow when the switch was flipped.

According to Arcs, the basic knowledge she had taught made this simple enough that any Awakened could make it.

The time it took to make it could even indicate one’s talent for artifact crafting.  

“You already made that? Yuria, you have talent. I’d really like to teach you properly.”

“Hehe, thank you, sister! I’m going to scout Bold now!”  

With a bright smile, Yuria walked away lightly.

Zion watched her retreating figure with envy, sighed softly, cleared the ruined materials, and brought out fresh supplies.

Arcs watched him with a smile and ruffled his hair.  

“I told you, you’re doing well. Don’t be anxious. Don’t be afraid of failure. Just think about how to finish it.”  

“Y-yes.”  

Her words were like a mother soothing her child.

Zion nodded a beat late and then immersed himself in circuit crafting without distraction.  

Some time passed.

After two repeated failures and with materials running low, Zion felt Yuria’s approach from afar.  

It was a strange sensation.

He was so focused that he didn’t notice who was beside him, yet he clearly sensed movement in the distance.  

Hearing hurried, anxious footsteps approaching, Zion absentmindedly pondered this… ‘Hurried and anxious?’

“Yuria?”  Zion looked up just as Yuria arrived, panting as she stopped beside him.

Their eyes met, and she hurriedly spoke, “The people from Bold have left.”  

“!” Zion’s eyes widened.

It was one day earlier than expected.

But Yuria’s words weren’t finished, “A-and… the prince is stopping them.”  

Without thinking, Zion leapt to his feet.