Chapter 498: 455 Personal Time Magic_2
"————"
Ridton, who was charging towards Reiger, suddenly froze in place.
His eyes were filled with anger and hatred.
His face was contorted and twisted.
He remained in that state as if he had been frozen there, completely motionless.
"This..."
The people who were about to react were stunned by this scene.
The spectacle before their eyes was something they could not understand.
This was indeed a spell that could completely stop the opponent’s time. Although it could not inflict any damage on the motionless opponent, it rendered them completely ineffective—the Ninth Rank personal time magic, "Time Stasis."
Reiger, who had cast this spell, stood up and slowly walked towards Ridton.
"[Magic’s strongest effect postponement - Energy Absorption]."
Reiger played his trump card, calculated the timing of the time magic’s release, and launched this increasingly proficient touch-based spell on Ridton.
Thus, when "Time Stasis" was lifted and Ridton’s time was restored, the postponed magic activated.
Ridton’s power was drastically weakened while Reiger absorbed those powers right in front of him, transforming them into a temporary enhancement for himself, causing the magic power to ripple over his body.
"Damn it..."
Clearly unlike Maya, even after losing most of his strength, Ridton couldn’t maintain a certain level of power, and his whole body seemed to turn into a limp shrimp, collapsing onto the ground.
"Master!" Liz finally snapped out of it and hurriedly ran to Reiger’s side, asking, "Are you, are you alright?"
"Do I look like something is wrong?" Reiger chuckled and shook his head, then turned his gaze to Revin and said, "Can I look into this guy’s memories?"
Hearing this, Revin gave Reiger a deep look, then nodded.
"Go ahead, you do it."
Revin didn’t ask anything and directly agreed.
"No! Don’t!" Ridton immediately shouted loudly, "You can’t let him do this! Brother-in-law!"
Unfortunately, Revin completely ignored Ridton’s shouting, standing there coldly without even glancing at his sister’s brother.
Reiger then placed his hand on the struggling Ridton’s head.
"[Memory Manipulation]."
As the spell was cast, Reiger’s consciousness delved into Ridton’s memory domain, starting to sift through the memories of Earl Hadi.
He didn’t inspect them closely; he simply skimmed through them roughly, eliminating some insignificant memories and identifying some that contained important intelligence.
Even so, Reiger still saw many disgraceful acts in Ridton’s memories, proving that everything Revin had said was not without basis.
This Lord Earl indeed deserved to die; although he wasn’t as utterly corrupt as his son, a charge of felony was definitely undeniable.
After knowing the disgraceful acts this man had committed, Reiger’s way of examining the memories became increasingly rough, no longer caring about this person’s life or death.
Finally, Reiger found the memory he needed.
It was about the dealings between Ridton and that magician automaton called Jack.
From Ridton’s memories, it was evident that after he had formed a cooperation with the Magic automaton named Jack in his own home, he not only promised to deliver a thousand refugees as compensation but also assisted them in infiltrating Bessare.
The Magic automatons that appeared inside the body of the underground monster Yarakulon were sent by Ridton. Ridton arranged for the carriages to transport these Magic automatons to Yarakulon’s location. Upon entering Yarakulon’s body, they followed Jack’s instructions to bury a stick full of cold energy in the ground of Bessare.
That stick served as a guiding light, helping Yarakulon find its way, which is why it was able to travel from underground all the way to Bessare and even to the underground arena, arriving at precisely the right location.
In his resolve to kill Reiger for sure, Ridton even prepared to send men to Peace Town to hold Antie, Fannie, and Gel and others hostage. If necessary, he planned to use them as hostages to force Reiger’s hand.
Thus, it was clear the extent to which the Earl was determined to avenge his son by killing Reiger.
"You indeed did quite a bit."
Reiger emerged from Ridton’s realm of memories and calmly said to Ridton who had collapsed in front of him.
"Unfortunately, you failed."
Ridton could no longer hear those words.
Having his memories crudely sifted through by Reiger’s "Memory Manipulation," the Earl’s mind had become completely scrambled. He lay there slack, saliva pooling on the floor, bearing a striking resemblance to a profoundly feeble-minded individual.
"...Take him away."
Revin glanced at Ridton with mixed feelings, then reined in all his emotions.
A Knight nearby immediately dragged Ridton away and closed the doors of the council chamber.
"Sorry." Only then did Revin turn to Reiger, bowed, and said, "If I had discovered their father and son’s actions sooner, perhaps things wouldn’t have escalated to this point."
Revin offered his apologies to Reiger for everything that had happened previously.
"It’s not your fault." Reiger glanced at Revin and said, "But, you’re being quite an inadequate Lord. At first, I even thought you knew all of this but chose to condone those guys."
"...It’s normal for you to think that." Revin sighed and said, "Despite being a Marquis and a Sword Saint, I haven’t even been aware of what’s been happening in my own territory. Nobody would expect that."
Like Reiger, he had not anticipated that the Border Guardian Sword Saint, despite being strong and dominant, was not adept at managing his own territory. Then again, he wasn’t a Managerial Sword Saint; the kingdom had stationed him there to fend off foreign enemies, to slaughter grandly on the battlefield, and not to cultivate a prosperous Golden Village. Revin’s main duties were focused on the battlefield, not on his land, and it was somewhat understandable that he would neglect the management of his territory upon careful consideration.
"Going forward, I will thoroughly clean out all the local nobles and bureaucrats within Meipros territory who dare to assist that mysterious organization and trade with them." Revin told Reiger, adding, "I will also ask the King to send someone again to investigate, to find out the previously hidden clues and see if we can track down that mysterious organization."
Upon hearing this, Reiger pondered for a moment and brought up an issue to Revin.
"If possible, you should also look into the organization of Heretic Assassins."
At this, Revin couldn’t help but be taken aback.
"Heretic Assassins?" Kazi couldn’t help but say, "Isn’t that the organization rumored to kill talented Magicians?"
"I’ve heard about them." Axel thoughtfully said, "It’s said that the organization specifically targets individuals who could become Tactical Level Magicians and Strategic Level Magicians, in order to resist the continent’s countries overly focussing on the development of military Magic power."
"Yes, there is such an organization, and many people believe it’s backed by national powers." Diego, who had also heard of it, expressed his confusion, "But why investigate this organization?"
Because, I suspect they are connected to that mysterious organization, or they might even be the same organization." Reiger told the group, "The intelligence comes from Maya, and I will not go into details; just look into it if possible, maybe some clues can be found from this angle."
"Okay." Revin pondered for a while, then agreed, saying, "I will thoroughly investigate both that and the Heretic Assassins."
Reiger nodded.
The conflict between Reiger and the Meipros family was completely settled at this point.
What the Meipros family would do next, Reiger didn’t know.
All he hoped was that the major actions of the Meipros family would somewhat improve the conditions of the territory, allowing the refugees to have enough food to eat.