An Ominous Presence (3)
"So you've no intention of helping, is that it? Your choice, then—there's nothing I can do about it. But don't you dare breathe a word of this plan anywhere else. If you do, you won't walk away unscathed either."
Brady lay back down.
"I won't say anything. But you people can't even use magic, can you? How do you plan to take on the guards like that? You're walking straight into a pointless death."
"With the Gronrid family gone, we have no other choice."
He spoke with a look of grim resolve.
"So a bunch of mages who can't cast a single spell are just going to rush them and somehow win? Why not take some time and think of another way?"
Brady sat up again.
"What's here that makes you so desperate?"
Curiosity seemed to have gotten the better of him.
"Haah."
Ellen let out a sigh. Calculations raced through his mind.
"As I told you, I was framed and sent here. The Chedleton bastards branded me a black mage. The evidence was flimsy—they threw it together in a hurry. But their power was more than enough to railroad the trial."
"Even so, without solid proof they shouldn't have been able to send you all the way to Enis."
Brady was right. Under normal circumstances, that is.
"If I'd contested it, I would have been investigated for a few weeks and released. But I didn't. They used my parents' lives as leverage. I planned to build my strength here, out of their sight. But if you people cause a ruckus, Enis will come under tight surveillance for sure."
"That's unfortunate, but it doesn't outweigh our cause."
Ellen sighed once more at Brady's words.
There's no way this half-baked approach will convince him.
He'd hoped to get through this the easy way. But there was no other option left. One way or another, he had to stop this uprising.
"I suppose I have no choice. Since you clearly won't let this go, I'll tell you. I am the disciple of a black mage. The reason I came here is to fully carry on my master's will. If an uprising breaks out, I won't be able to fulfill his wishes."
Brady looked unimpressed.
"Black mage? Pretty much everyone here is a black mage."
He was right—most of those sent to Enis were black mages. Among them were even some of fairly high rank.
"My master is Proveng."
In that instant, Brady's expression changed dramatically. His eyes burned with fury.
"You little bastard—spouting nonsense. His name is not something the likes of you dare to speak."
Proveng had been active a hundred years ago. And he had been executed for using forbidden magic. For some kid to suddenly claim to be his disciple—Brady's reaction was only natural.
"I learned magic directly from Proveng himself."
"Not worth listening to."
"What if I could enter his laboratory?"
Brady, who had been suppressing the rage boiling up from within, paused.
"His laboratory is here on Enis. As his disciple, I can enter it."
"Is that true?"
"I'll show you myself. Follow me."
Ellen stood at the door, checking outside as he spoke.
"Unlock, Hide."
When Brady saw the iron door open, he stared at Ellen with wide eyes.
"How did you do that?"
"Well, that's how it is. I'll explain the details later. Hurry and follow me."
Ellen dragged the stunned Brady to the communal laundry room.
Rumble.
When the laundry room floor opened, a tunnel leading to Proveng's laboratory was revealed.
"What in the world…"
Faced with one impossible thing after another, Brady could only let out a hollow laugh.
"This way."
Clunk.
Passing through the tunnel, they emerged into Mining Site No. 8. Brady followed Ellen out of the tunnel.
"How on earth do you have abilities like this and still stay locked up in here? You could escape right this—"
Whoosh.
Without waiting for Brady to finish, Ellen passed straight through the wall. He poked his head back out and gestured for Brady to follow.
"Hurry up. You can't get in without me here."
"Understood."
Thud.
Once inside Proveng's laboratory with Ellen, Brady suddenly dropped to his knees before him.
"Please forgive my rudeness earlier. I am a third-generation disciple of the Proveng school. Everything—from the method of entering the laboratory to its interior—matches exactly what I read in the books."
"There's no need to kneel. Stand up."
Ellen helped Brady to his feet.
"Being able to enter Proveng's laboratory is proof that you are his disciple. But I was under the impression he passed away some seventy years ago."
"On the day of his execution, Proveng used an illusion spell that deceived everyone present at the scaffold. Even for him, magic of that magnitude took its toll. Afterward, he was left unable to cast magic. I met him by chance and learned magic from him. My master passed away not long ago."
Ellen improvised Proveng's story on the spot. Revealing that he had become a Lich would have been extremely dangerous in this era.
"Is that so? Ah, to think he was alive until so recently. My own master would have been overjoyed to know. If he hadn't lost his power, black mages wouldn't have been oppressed to this extent."
Ellen looked at Brady, who seemed on the verge of tears.
I know that feeling all too well. Being persecuted by mages as a so-called Magic Assistant is still vivid in my memory.
"I'll ask you one more time. Brady, will you listen to me? This is also for the sake of realizing my master Proveng's will."
Brady bowed his head deeply.
"I shall follow Ellen, disciple of Proveng, the pure seeker of mana. From this moment on, the neutral faction will move according to your will."
Ellen was dumbfounded by the extreme honorifics he'd never heard before.
"You can move the entire neutral faction at once? Weren't they neutral precisely because they belonged to neither side?"
"In truth, there is no neutral faction on Enis. We simply split the black mage faction in two to maintain balance against the noble faction led by Gronrid. The conflict between the two factions needs to stay balanced so we can keep the guards in the dark."
Ellen had known nothing of the neutral faction's true nature. The neutral faction made up the largest number of prisoners. Brady coming under him meant Ellen now commanded the entire neutral faction.
"Then can I meet the leader of the black mage faction? I need to negotiate with them as well."
He had persuaded Brady, who was both the leader of the neutral faction and a key figure in the black mage faction. With this, he could negotiate to stop the black mage faction's uprising.
"Of course. I am the very leader of the black mage faction who split our ranks in two to maintain Enis's balance."