CHAPTER 81: STOP FIGHTING!

Planck was surprised to hear the Free Mage Alliance’s code phrase from Wayne. He asked where he’d learned it.

Facing the kind, gentle old man, Wayne told the whole story “truthfully”:

“Before I met Master, I encountered a gentleman from the Free Mage Alliance. He said that I had amazing talent, and it would be a waste for me not to study magic. He explained to me the advanced theories of the Free Mage Alliance...”

“Respect but never loyal. Believe but not absolute...”

“We talked for a long time. He even gave me a sacred text and told me to read it like a novel when I had free time.”

“He was a good man. I asked his name before we parted, but he smiled and said nothing before taking his leave, saying that he was going to seek the Gate of Truth.” Wayne let out a wistful sigh after reminiscing about his “past”. Then he asked curiously, “What is the Gate of Truth, Director Planck?”

“It’s complicated. You’ll know later.”

Planck didn’t go into the details. Even for a natural-born freak, it was too early for him to learn about the gate.

He was pleased that Wayne had been introduced to the Free Mage Alliance’s beliefs so early. “Then why do you have a master following Nature?”

“Out of gratitude,” Wayne said seriously. “One must repay kindness and not take anything for granted. My master helped me when I was down on my luck, providing me with food, teaching me knowledge, and helping me resolve my troubles. I keep her kindness in heart and am honored to be her student.”

Planck nodded approvingly. In this materialistic society, young people who remembered favors like Wayne were rare.

Bad news: the young man remembered the kindness offered to him and would be hard to convert.

Good news: the young man remembered the kindness offered to him, and having saved him tonight, Planck could guilt-trip him into joining him.

Planck smiled and patted Wayne’s shoulder. “How about it? Would you join the Free Mage Alliance?”

“Thank you for the kind offer, Director, but my master follows the Goddess of Nature, and I also...”

“You can continue following Nature. The Free Mage Alliance doesn’t get hung up on that.” Planck raised an eyebrow. He could tell that Wayne was tempted but felt bound by gratitude to maintain his faith. “Guess how many registered followers we have in the alliance?”

Wayne fell silent.

“So you see, it doesn’t matter. It’s your business which deity you believe in. The alliance won’t interfere with your faith. On the contrary, we strongly encourage it.” Planck lowered his voice. “The Church of Nature has suffered heavy losses recently, and we’ve recommended quite a few mages to convert to Nature!”

When Wayne remained silent, Planck didn’t press for an immediate answer. He could tell that rather than hoping for Wayne to break his principles, it would be more effective to get his master to change her mind.

Planck was an expert in that—he had developed a whole standard procedure, in fact. He would just write to Wayne’s master as the director of the Red Leaf Asylum and intimidate her with the severity of her condition, then indicate that he could still save her with early intervention. After a few exchanges, she would give him whatever he asked for.

He now understood why the Lord of the Void would stop at nothing to get Wayne. Without shame, he admitted that he, too, coveted Wayne.

Actually, he was pretty certain that Wayne’s master also wanted Wayne, just like him and the Lord of the Void.

How shameless for a disciple of Nature to act just like the Lord of the Void!

Planck had quite the double standards. It was malicious and shameful for others to want Wayne, while it was honest and noble for him to want Wayne.

“What’s your master’s name, Wayne?”

“As her student, I should not directly speak her name. I can only tell you her position in the Church of Nature. You can look her up and learn who she is, Director Planck.”

“Oh, she’s got a title?” Planck smiled. Even better. His method worked best on civil servants.

Haha, surely you wouldn’t want to lose your job due to mental health issues, lady!

“The High Reverend of the Londan head office of the Church of Nature’s Windsor branch.”

“Um, well...”

***

Londan head office, Church of Nature.

Silvia sat before her large office desk, signing documents with bold strokes. Those were the appointment letters for the four priests from headquarters.

Some time ago, when she attended a gathering at the Great Cemetery, she learned that Priest Lawrence and Dane had secretly colluded with the Church of Death to overthrow the Church of Nature’s regime through the Death Knight.

The two priests’ method was so crude that Silvia felt secondhand embarrassment. She detained the two culprits and sent documents back to the headquarters, expressing the criminals’ ambitions in a roundabout way. After completing the procedures, the headquarters had the two priests transported back for trial, and Silvia received four appointment letters to sign for new priests.

One of them was Flora, a former Holy Maiden.

Flora’s arrival helped Silvia stabilize the situation. Whether Flora was willing or not, she and Silvia were a close pair in the eyes of those who weren’t privy to their private relationship. Moreover, Flora’s identity as the previous Holy Maiden carried weight, representing the headquarters’ support for Silvia.

In exchange, Silvia gave Flora a blank appointment letter and let her choose a trusted ally for the job. Silvia retained the rights to name the other two.

Thus, the Windsor branch of the Church of Nature underwent a power reshuffle. The four original priests were removed, replaced by Silvia’s and Flora’s people.

Silvia had to pick the most capable candidates from the bad crop. The two priests she chose were excellent administrators, but far inferior to Flora in terms of power. Flora could easily make the two office workers resign by making them perform poorly on the frontline, like former Priestess Simone.

And Flora had made the preparation; she had arrived at Lodan a day early and planted a tracker in the Death Knight, allowing her to locate him with magic and make the two priests step down at any time.

She hadn’t acted yet because she was waiting for the right moment—an opportunity to drive Silvia out at the same time.

Moreover, she wasn’t well-received in Londan as a Franc citizen. The two nations’ century-old animosity wasn’t just talk, and not even being a Holy Maiden would exempt her from the prejudice. To turn the disadvantage around, she needed to establish a persona, one that would make people forget about the century of bad blood.

Going the idol route wouldn’t work. A pure idol couldn’t carry the box office, and as a former Holy Maiden, she was already a top idol in the Church of Nature.

For an idol to gain full market recognition, they had to put aside their baggage and transition to relying on real strength to silence the haters.

Anyhow, Silvia and Flora were working closely right now to monopolize the leadership of the Londan head office. They were in their honeymoon phase, in a sense.

But they faced a problem in the lower-ranking roles. There were too many spots to fill, so they had no choice but to appoint some people from Sidney’s faction. Silvia made a promise to Wayne at noon, and once she was back in her office, she ordered an investigation into Joey Dobbin. Due to the lengthy procedure required, she had yet to receive definitive news—only that Joey had fled in fear of punishment, leaving his home empty.

Silvia was preparing to make her move against Sidney!

Ring—

The phone rang, making her heart clench. The situation was just getting better. She hoped that it wouldn’t take a sudden turn for the worse. After saying a prayer, she picked up the phone.

“Greetings, High Reverend. This is Planck, director of the Red Leaf Asylum.”

“Director Planck?” After a pause, she exchanged pleasantries with him. She had always wanted to visit the asylum to meet the senior mage, but had been too busy to find the time.

“High Reverend, I have good news for you.”

“What is it?”

“Sidney’s gone mad. He’s been in contact with the Lord of the Void—”

“Hahaha—”

“I know you’re happy, High Reverend, but it’s hard to have a conversation when you keep laughing like that.”

“Oh, no, you jest, Director Planck. I’m not happy at all. Sidney was a devoted follower of Nature, and his contributions to the Londan base are unmatched. Learning of this tragedy, I’m truly heartbroken!” Silvia pounded her chest to calm herself down, but her damned lips wouldn’t stop curling into a smile.

Good news! What incredible news!

Sidney was patient and shrewd, with both power and influence, making him the greatest obstacle to her attempt to centralize power as the High Reverend. Silvia had been agonizing over how she should uproot his faction entirely—she even considered being nicer to her bastard husband.

But before she could do anything, he went mad! How wonderful!

She was overjoyed, too grateful to figure out how she should thank Planck.

“How long will it take to cure Sidney, Director Planck?”

She held her breath. Please let it be ten years, Goddess. Or five years will be good enough.

“At least thirty years!”

“Great—ahem, I mean, how unfortunate. After all, Sidney was... hehehe.”

Planck waited for her to finish laughing. She laughed so hard and so long that she even got tears streaming down her face. Realizing that she had lost her composure and almost destroyed his reputation beyond repair, she decided to salvage the situation.

“Director Planck, thank you for the timely notice preventing major losses to the Church of Nature,” she said solemnly. “Truly, I don’t know how to thank you.”

She should thank me! Planck smiled humbly and said in a casual tone, “That won’t be necessary, but if High Reverend insists, there’s something simple you can do. I’ve set my eyes on a follower of Nature. He’s a mage apprentice and seems a bit slow and simple-minded. I plan to take him as a student. I hope you’ll allow me to have him.”

“It’ll be his honor to be your student. Why would I need to grant you permission? Just... Wait, what's the mage apprentice’s name?”

“Wayne.”

“...”

“High Reverend?”

“You old bastard! Do you know what you’re suggesting? He’s my student! I’ll tell you as the High Reverend of the Church of Nature, no way! Absolutely no way!”

Silvia lost her temper. She knew it. She had been hit with a series of bad luck lately. Of course she wouldn’t get any good news without caveats.

See, a legendary mage had come to steal her student!

***

Meanwhile, in the mansion at 13 Manor Street, Western District, Wayne sat on the sofa in the living room in an upright posture, feeding his white dove corn and wheat grains. In the adjacent study, Silvia and Planck were having a heated conversation. Occasionally, the classic F word would be used.

Wayne turned to look in that direction and whispered, “Stop fighting. Solve this through dance battles instead[1].”

In the study, Silvia pulled a long face and said, “Director Planck, I know you’re a legendary mage, and Wayne will have a bright future after becoming your student.”

“Then why wouldn’t you let him go, Madam High Reverend?”

“Because he’s already destined for a bright future!”

“I’ll acknowledge that, but you must admit that everything you can teach Wayne, I can, too, but what I can teach him, you may not be able to.” Unlike Silvia’s forceful approach, Planck was behaving much more calmly.

Don’t be ridiculous, you old man! Do you have a daughter?!

“What can you teach, Director Planck? The faith of the Free Mage Alliance?” Silvia scoffed. “Don’t give me your nonsense. I know most legendary mages are faithful followers. Without persistent belief, how far can you go in your pursuit of magic?”

“We believe in the freedom of faith!”

“Ha.”

Their beliefs were too different for them to find a common ground. Even when Planck used the Alliance of Life as an example, Silvia countered his argument.

The Alliance of Life believed in mutual progress. The disciples would further their studies in life magic based on their existing foundation, and life magic was intimately connected to Nature, Sun, and Moonlight—it was guided by the three goddesses, fundamentally different from the Free Mage Alliance’s faithless school of thought. The two could not be conflated.

Planck knew that there was no convincing Silvia; he would’ve acted the same way were their positions swapped. No one would let such an exceptional student go. He changed tactics. “Actually, Sidney’s condition isn’t that bad. I can discharge him tomorrow if I want to. Besides, only the Free Mage Alliance knows about his connection to the Lord of the Void, and I’m the one person who can testify to it.”

“Is this a threat, Director Planck?”

“Hardly. It’s only an exchange of interests between adults. That’s all.” Planck shrugged. How could an exchange between adults be considered a threat? He preferred to call it an induced compromise.

“Sidney isn’t worth enough to outweigh Wayne. Go ahead and release him, Director.” Silvia would not back down.

“Then there’s no helping it. Do you know how sought-after Wayne is, Madam High Reverend?” Planck smiled, stroking his white beard. “If I spread the word, not only the Church of Heavenly Father, but even the Church of Nature’s allies—Sun and Moonlight—will try to steal him. Wayne is too young to handle the temptations.”

Silvia’s eyes twitched. This was her biggest concern. She had gotten Wayne by stealing him from Moonlight to start with.

“As long as I keep quiet, you and I will be the only ones who know about Wayne’s talent. Why don’t we work together, Madam High Reverend?” Planck made his promise. As Director of the Red Leaf Asylum, he had the authority to pull a lot of strings. It would serve Silvia best to work with him.

Silvia was naturally unwilling to. She coldly shot back, “With Wayne’s talent, he could easily become the Church of Nature’s Anointed One after some training. I’ve been planning exactly that. If you truly want the best for him, better let go and let him stay with me.”

Oh, how wonderful!

Planck’s eyes lit up. That made him even less willing to let go.

Yes, the Free Mage Alliance had learned numerous faith magic through believing in different gods, but ultimately, the major churches weren’t fools. They kept many of their sophisticated magic secret. Some were never demonstrated, some were kept secret, and some had backdoors left in the formulas exchanged.

Planck knew, but there was nothing he could do about that. However, if Wayne became the Anointed One of the Church of Nature, he would have access to the most advanced faith magic. In fact, if Planck could help Wayne become the Anointed One of several churches, the Chosen Land would welcome an unprecedented free mage.

Gulp.

Fantasizing about the future, Planck couldn’t help but salivate. “You’re right, Madam High Reverend. For Wayne’s sake, I should indeed let go. Take him. I swear to the divine that I’ll never bother him again.”

(눈‸눈)

Pray tell, which divine are you swearing to?!

1. A reference to the popular meme from the Taiwanese drama, Top on the Forbidden City, where the male characters were told to stop fighting and battle it out in the dance studio instead. ☜