Chapter 61: Michelle's Purpose
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Michelle frowned upon hearing him and said, "Things were already blown out of proportion today. You still want to go back to the Lithur family and be your nobleman? It’s impossible."
Benjamin asked, "Why is it impossible?"
Michelle stopped walking, and examined their surroundings. After making sure that it was secluded enough and no one was passing by, she turned around and explained to Benjamin.
"A whole squad of Cleaners died, the Church would definitely not stand idly by. Even though there has been an agreement between the Church and the noblemen that the Church would not interrogate the noblemen, the Church would eventually find a way to read your memories. You are a mage, the Church’s ability to read your memories will not work, and once their method fails, your identity as a mage will be exposed."
…...What were you talking about?
Benjamin felt as if his whole world was turned upside down upon hearing this.
The existing agreement between the Church and the noblemen was negligible but Benjamin was perplexed by the fact that the Church was unable to read a mage’s memories. If the Church was really unable to read a mage’s memories, how did Benjamin get his memories read twice previously? Was Michelle kidding?
But Benjamin felt that Michelle was telling the truth judging from her sullen voice.
Well…..what was really going on?
"I think she is right." The System emerged and said," The first time your memories were read, it was this body’s original memories that were being read, and the second time it happened, it was I who brought forth the forged memories to be read. Your actual memories were never read before, that proves that this method does not work on mages."
Benjamin was stunned.
After thinking carefully, he realised Michelle was right...
Now that he got the facts clarified, he realised what happened in the past made sense. No wonder the bishop never suspected him at all. He was proved innocent merely because the bishop was able to read his memories.
The pact between the Church and the noblemen also really did exist. He recalled both times when his memories were read, they were done covertly by the Church. The Church took advantage of Benjamin because he was young and did not know of this pact.
When Benjamin thought about these, his good opinion of the Church had gone -1 again.
What a heinous bunch of people.
But...
This meant his plan to act innocent was never interfered with.
"I can fake my memories and let them read those memories. They will not find out I am a mage after reading these fake memories." Benjamin thought about these and responded to Michelle, "Actually, my memories have already been read twice by the Church, but look at me, I’m still alive aren’t I?"
Michelle showed an unusual surprised expression.
To the people of this world, forging memories was an extraordinary thing, especially capable of fooling the Church enough to make them think a failure is a success.
The System was his cheat code, and finally it felt like it had some use.
"I see." Michelle accepted his explanation, then thought for a while and said, "Then we can use this tactic again, as the Church has absolute trust in this memory reading method. You have to create a memory where a person from the Academy of Silence appeared and killed all of the Cleaners, then kidnapping you so all this can be blamed onto them."
"The Academy of Silence?"
It was Benjamin’s turn to be surprised.
Why would the Academy of Silence suddenly get involved?
After some thought, Benjamin believed that this suggestion was not problematic, but it was unnecessary.
Probably who who took the blame would not matter because the end result would be the same. The Church would not annihilate the Academy of Silence because of this ------if they wanted to, they would have done it long ago, would they not?
"Right, the Academy of Silence, they are the kingdom’s only mage organization. They are hidden in the western mountain range." Michelle thought that Benjamin did not know what the Academy of Silence was, then explained," The letter I made you deliver to the Church, on the back part of it, I scribbled down the exact location of the Academy of Silence, the Church probably noticed. If we blame it all on the Academy of Silence for what happened today, the Church will surely wage war against them."
Michelle’s words contained a lot of information. Benjamin was overwhelmed.
"That letter…...are you saying that letter that you made me deliver to the Church, the one with ‘Five days later, meet me at the prison site’ written on that letter?" He was confused, thus he asked further, trying to confirm that he did not hear wrongly.
The exact location of the Academy of Silence was written on the back of the letter?
Michelle nodded her head and said:" Under normal circumstances, you wouldn’t be able to see it, but if you apply some heat, those words will appear. This old trick is obvious, the bishop would notice for sure."
Benjamin was left speechless.
Damn, only he did not find out.
This pawn was too deep behind enemy lines!
This world was too complicated. Who could have guessed, behind Michelle’s letter was her true purpose, and she used Benjamin as a messenger to send information about the Academy of Silence to the Church?
But, even so....
What did this move mean?
His curiosity had to do with Michelle’s revealed information earlier. It was hard for Benjamin to fathom it.
"Why did you give the location of the Academy of Silence to the Church, even trying to make them wage war against the Academy of Silence? Do you…...have something against them?" Benjamin asked.
They were all mages and if there was any dispute with the Academy, why would they not just sit down and settle the differences, rather than exposing the Academy?
Michelle’s way of using another’s blade to kill her target was really sneaky.
He had to be careful not to offend Michelle, or else he would not know how he would end up dying...
"It’s not really an act of revenge but we do have some differences. In fact, even if the Church knew of their exact location, that place is easy to defend, those bunch of mages have camped out there for so long, it would be hard for the Church to take them down." She replied.
Benjamin did not understand.
"Then why are you doing this?"
Michelle shook her head and said mockingly, "Because those bunch of people are a bunch of sticks-in-the-mud. They treat themselves as some sort of ancient order of mages, hiding in a mountain and worshipping some deity of magic. They have been at peace for too long, and have forgotten how the Church slaughtered mages in the past, and think that this would never happen again."
Benjamin seemed to have understood based on Michelle’s explanation. Suddenly, he appeared to have thought of something, and raised his eyebrows.
"You meant that..."
"I want the Church to attack them, just to remind them." Michelle continued, "Mages have to stand together to restore ourselves to our glory days, and those old people have to be the first to do it, and fight against the Church. They are the kingdom’s only mage organization no matter what, only they have the capability to create this sort of move."
Michelle paused her speech for a while, then added further with a more sullen tone, as a conclusion to everything she had just said.
"They are unwilling to stand up, thus, I plan to use the Church to force them to stand up."
Benjamin finally understood Michelle’s purpose.
This woman had an ambition.
The Church would definitely not let mages walk under sunlight, thus, in simple words, her whole purpose is to overthrow the Church’s government. This was no simple feat.
Benjamin inadvertently thought of when she and Annie were "bonding" and talking about "building a mage kingdom". Even though they were plotting against each other back then, these words now reflected their genuine intention.
She really had aspirations and dreams.
In order to realize such goal, Michelle had committed many misdeeds, and plotted against many people. Benjamin feared her for this, but somehow respected her.
Benjamin could not help but ask, "Right, so…...you really are a holy knight?"
This question had been bothering him for too long.
A mage toying around with the Church like that, even making a bishop worry, but was actually an impostor with the assumed identity of a holy knight of the Church? This made Benjamin feel that it was mocking and ridiculous.
How stupid were the people of the Church? They let a mage sneak into their ranks, to the point where she became a holy knight?
He had wanted to ask Michelle for a long time, but previously, because they were busy dealing with the Cleaners he could not. After dealing with them, they were met with other hiccups. Benjamin now finally had the chance to ask this question.
"The internal administration of the Church is not as systematic you think. The kingdom’s ten of thousands of holy knights are definitely not as tight-knit as a steel plate." Michelle said, " Before a knight becomes a holy knight, they would have their memory read once. After that, unless the knight gets involved in any significant incident, the Church would never read their memories again, and the disciplinary control of the knights is not too strict. Therefore I managed to conceal my identity and hide amongst the ranks of the knights."
So the Church would only read a knight’s memory at the very beginning? No wonder...
Benjamin nodded understandingly.
He thought that the knights had to return to the Church frequently to report themselves in the form of having their memories read!
Looks like he had overestimated the Church.
It would make sense that the larger an organization, the harder it would be to manage it. Even though the Church had dominated the kingdom for so many years, but it still had its enemies, yet continued to expand its kingdom. It was no surprise that the internal control became complacent.
But, if every knight was to have his memory read from the start...
Benjamin looked at Michelle suspiciously.
Michelle understood what Benjamin thought of, and nodded, saying: "That’s right, it was only after I became a knight, that I turned into a mage."