After Vaan settled his business with Helia Ashenborn, he left the Great Hall with more questions than answers.
Although Vaan succeeded in raising Helia Ashenborn's trust in him, he still couldn't pry too much into her private affairs—not unless he wanted to raise suspicions instead.
Nevertheless, Vaan was able to draw new speculations based on what he learned in his talk with Helia Ashenborn.
Based on Vaan's understanding, Helia Ashenborn was a person who only acted for her benefit. She was an ambitious witch who thirsted for more power, even if she hadn't shown it openly.
'Lord Helia is someone who has lived for a few hundreds of years, but she's been stuck at Peak-stage Senior Witch. Seeing others become High Witches, there's no way Lord Helia doesn't desire it as well,' Vaan mused.
'If my guess is right, Lord Helia wasn't involved in spreading the rumor of the magic flower. She was lured into the Red Goblin Mountains like Lady Aeliana.'
However, Helia Ashenborn must have realized the problem with the magic flower and gave up on it, allowing Lady Aeliana to have the magic flower.
Thus, even if Helia Ashenborn wasn't the one who orchestrated Lady Aeliana's downfall, she allowed it to happen.
'But if Helia Ashenborn was already infected by the antimagic spores even before Lady Aeliana turned into the Plant-type Abomination and spread the antimagic spores, I should also consider that Helia Ashenborn's loss to Lady Aeliana during their duel wasn't intentional.'
As Vaan contemplated his findings, he realized this initial conclusion was incorrect. However, the truth wasn't far off.
Helia Ashenborn might not have been the mastermind, but she played a part.
'But it isn't important whether Lord Helia purposely or reluctantly lost to Lady Aeliana in their duel over the magic flower. More importantly, is who found out the existence of the magic flower and spread the rumor,' Vaan deeply thought on his way back to the castle's library.
'No wonder I kept feeling something was amiss. There was a third-party involvement in this entire situation surrounding Red Goblin Mountains,' Vaan suspected.
'Were high-level demons involved? Quite unlikely…'
Higher-level demons might be more skillful in hiding their traces, but it's rare to find them away from the frontlines. Furthermore, the higher-level demons were more interested in fueling human conflict than directly participating in harming humanity.
This wasn't something privy to men, but a conclusion Vaan arrived at based on the little bits and pieces of information he steadily accumulated over two years since his transmigration.
After all, why did the Great Devils of the Gehenna Realm decide to enter contracts with humans?
Why was all information pertaining to outside of the seven witch kingdoms withheld from the public?
The seven witch kingdoms' relationship with the other powers on the continent may not be as calm as it seemed and may even be very chaotic.
For all Vaan knew, there could even be an ongoing war. He wouldn't know due to all the information on the borders being withheld from the public.
'If a demon wasn't involved, it could be the work of a dark organization… But what can they gain out of this? Destabilizing a territory would indeed make their work in the area easier… But…'
A dark organization's involvement wasn't the only possibility.
It could also be the work of a rogue witch, someone who has abandoned their humanity and dabbled in all sorts of forbidden research in the pursuit of knowledge and power.
'A rogue witch, huh? It would make sense if the antimagic spores were a byproduct of a rogue witch's evil research. However, I don't have enough information to confirm it,' Vaan mused.
Nevertheless, a rogue witch wouldn't exist without an evil lair for them to carry out their forbidden research and experiments.
Thus, if a rogue witch did exist, people were bound to find it if they searched all of the Red Goblin Mountains.
Alas, it was something people rarely attempt to do due to its dangers.
'Let's just focus on my objectives for now,' Vaan decided as he arrived at the castle's library.
…
…
…
Meanwhile, back in Blackmoon City, after Astoria Braveheart, Istana Gleriath, and Ember Killian united their forces to search the whole city.
Just when Astoria Braveheart and Istana Gleriath thought they wouldn't be able to find anything so quickly, Ember Killian suddenly instructed her people to surround a cheap night bar in the slums and blew off its roof with fire magic.
"Marquis Killian! Are you insane?! Why did you suddenly attack a civilian building without warning? There are people in there!" Istana Gleriath reprimanded as three of them hovered in the air with Flight Magic.
"Since when did you care about your people?" Ember Killian cast a nonchalant glance at Istana Gleriath before barking out orders to her people below, "Catch everyone that escapes! Kill whoever resists!"
"Yes, Grand Inquisitor!" the Senior Witches and Aura Masters under Ember Killian answered before working together to catch the frightened crowd scattering out of the three-story building.
Nevertheless, the people were primarily untrained men or True Witches with abysmal magic talents. As such, they were quickly captured by Ember Killian's people.
However, Ember Killian's people didn't have enough hands.
After Istana Gleriath frowned for a moment, still baffled by what caused Ember Killian to single out that particular building among many others, she ordered her combat witches to assist in the effort.
"Go and help out the Grand Inquisitor's people!"
"Yes, Lord Istana!"
Shortly after Istana Gleriath's combat witches joined forces with Ember Killian's people, they easily suppressed everyone that escaped the roofless three-story building.
However, there wasn't anyone who looked suspicious among them, nor was anyone strong.
"Marquis Ember must have a reason for targeting this building, right? I assume the Assembly of Silent Night's branch is located here, but how did you figure it out?" Astoria Braveheart inquired curiously.
At the same time, Istana Gleriath also kept one ear open to listen. She really couldn't tell what led Ember Killian to target the cheap night bar.
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