CHAPTER 1030: CHAPTER 1030: BREWING CONFLICT

"What else did you find in your inventory? Anything else missing?" Ferdinand redirected them back to their original topic after talking about the Great War a bit.

"The weapon you showed me last time did not have the mark from the temple. It was likely newly made," Pope Elsevier added.

He was referring to the one used on Alwin. It resembled some of the arrows stolen from the temple, but it did not have the mark the Pope left. It cannot be removed unless by him, so the weapon must be newly made since all other anti-magic weapons not stored in the temple were destroyed after the Great War.

"Are you saying they also got the raw materials?" Ferdinand frowned.

"I believe so. The amount of ore recorded from our mines did not tally with the amount in our storage," Pope Elsevier said. "They had also stolen ores from our mines. Either before it was transported to the temple or after."

"And they made it into new anti-magic weapons that had the same properties as the ones stored in the temple. So even your research is once again stolen?" Ferdinand narrowed his eyes.

"All copies of my research in the temple or everywhere else I know there was one had already been burned after the Great War. Even I don’t have a copy of those anymore," Pope Elsevier clarified.

Ferdinand glanced at Arabella, wordlessly asking her to verify if the Pope was saying the truth.

Arabella listened to Pope Elsevier’s thoughts, and he was not lying. He was also puzzled by this.

{He’s not lying.} Arabella said to Ferdinand.

"Who else, aside from you, still knows how to make it? Have you taught anyone?" Ferdinand asked.

"No one else. All those who knew how to make it had long died. They perished in the Great War, and those who didn’t were executed. I haven’t taught anyone about it either. I was thinking the weapons stored in the storage rooms are more than enough in case of another war. I didn’t want to teach anyone about how to make those," Pope Elsevier said. He did not want to create another him who would someday greatly regret their efforts.

"Then, there may be more than 9,000 anti-magic weapons out there now. Someone’s making more, and we do not know who they are," Ferdinand laid out what all the Pope meant by this update so far. "Don’t you have any leads?"

"None. We have investigated our personnel, and the ones in charge either suddenly went missing or had no clue about it. The one you mentioned to have a shop in Medius cannot be found. He had likely gone into hiding after Crux was defeated," Pope Elsevier said.

Meaning, they truly have no leads on who was gathering anti-magic weapons and making more.

Both sides sighed deeply and remained silent after this as they thought about their next course of action.

This was a rather heavy topic. After all, it was the warning signs of another Great War brewing. Someone seems to be preparing to attack the long-lived races.

"Thinking along whoever the culprit’s perspective, isn’t it too risky to infiltrate the temple and steal that many weapons that had a divine marker? It’s easily identifiable by you people who could see it," Alwin said as he pondered over the Pope’s words.

"And if they knew about the mark on the weapons, then they could see it. So, isn’t it someone with a great amount of Divine power? Someone in a high position who could access the weapon storage areas without being suspected?" Arabella added.

The mole who went missing was not in a high enough position to be able to do these, so Arabella concluded there must be someone else.

"Yes, both of you are correct. We also considered these. We are silently observing everyone in the temple, without exception, to see if there are other moles aside from the one who already went into hiding," Pope Elsevier admitted.

"As for the weapons, since, for some reason, they knew how to craft the anti-magic weapons like how it was made in the past, and had a supply of the poison from who knows where, then, it would have been safer for them to get ores from the mines and create all their weapons instead of stealing the ones in the storehouses. Or perhaps, they stole weapons first to study them and stole ores next, when they already knew how to create the weapons. It wasn’t that hard to make as long as they had the materials. The materials were harder to gather, at least for me, as a former researcher who’s used to countless trials and errors. They must have someone who patiently does the research for them," Pope Elsevier continued.

"So this is a highly organized group, probably a kingdom or two, maybe even more, who had paid researchers for this for a while now?" Ferdinand added.

"Perhaps. Maybe, they’re not even from this continent," Pope Elsevier added another possibility. "Xavier returned here to report that he had noticed suspicious activity where I assigned him. His report verified that most kingdoms in Fynnia seemed to be preparing for war. However, it’s not just Fynnia. The ones I had sent on missions there have also reported that Griffith also seems to be preparing for war."

Ferdinand and Arabella exchanged glances.

They had also received intel about this, and reports from the temple priests and paladins sent out on missions and had stayed for years in Fynnia, and Griffith was also a reliable source from those who experienced life there.

"You don’t seem too surprised, so I believe you already knew about this," Pope Elsevier said.

"Yes, we noticed that not only Fynnia but also Griffith had more military activity recently. However, Griffith’s was more recent, so we thought it was due to Fynnia preparing for war. Perhaps, like we did, they also increased military exercises after noticing Fynnia’s movements. Or perhaps, they noticed ours. Or does the intel you received say otherwise?" Ferdinand asked.

"The reports said Griffith seemed to have been preparing for years now," Pope Elsevier said with a heavy sigh.