It seemed the reason his teacher was being hunted by the Knight Order was because she had stumbled upon this ugly affair.

The Order Church and the Holy Kingdom had long suspected Istani of having ties to the Sect. At first, everyone assumed it was simply a case of Mother Earth’s followers developing and infiltrating Istani with organizations that worshipped Her. No one expected the ruling faction, the Knight Order, to get involved personally.

"At first, I didn’t suspect the authorities were involved either, not until the cops and other officials tried to stop me from leaving the country and searched my residence." At this, Caroline’s brow furrowed slightly; she was clearly offended by the Kingdom’s actions.

Rorschach asked, "Doesn’t the Magic Guild do anything about it?"

"I tried to contact the Magic Guild, but they refused to help me get in touch with anyone across the border. The other Magic Towers also refused."

’This... Is the Kingdom pressuring them directly?’ Rorschach found the idea absurd. When he had contacted the Magic Guild in Storm City, the staff had certainly been indifferent, but they hadn’t overtly obstructed him... though, in truth, he hadn’t made any progress at the time.

"The attitude of the Magic Towers here is so strange; there must be a reason. But the worst-case scenario is that these Mages are also involved, colluding with the Sect." Caroline concluded, "To put it cautiously, we can no longer consider the Guild here to be on our side."

"Then let’s ask for help—from Master Kano, the Tower of Stars..."

Hearing Rorschach say Kano’s name, Caroline paused for a moment, then smiled. "From your letter, it seems Teacher Kano has changed quite a bit. Perhaps our dear Rorschach here deserves some of the credit." As she spoke, she patted the young man’s shoulder. The sudden gesture made Rorschach quickly take a sip of tea to calm his nerves.

However, Caroline rejected Rorschach’s idea. "If our lives were threatened, trying to contact Kano or our colleagues in the Empire might get us some help from the shadows, but dealing with the Underground Sect isn’t that easy."

"Think about it. If the local Magic Towers and authorities won’t cooperate, can forces from the Holy Kingdom or the Empire openly cross the border to strike at the Sect? Especially when the Sect is a partner of the local authorities."

"Heh, that sounds a lot like us." One of them, a citizen of the Holy Kingdom from the Empire, had been dragged into this mess. The other, a citizen of the Empire who had studied in the Holy Kingdom, was here investigating of his own volition. And they had met in the Shadow Land of Istani.

"That’s why I said it couldn’t be done ’openly’," Caroline said as she refilled Rorschach’s teacup. Through the rising steam, Rorschach’s thoughts turned to the Marquis of the Shadow Land:

"The Sect’s expansion in the Shadow City will clearly undermine his rule, so why did the Marquis reject my offer to cooperate? He’s said to have the power of a Great Mage, so there’s no need for him to just sit back and await his doom."

"First of all, the Marquis was actually quite receptive to me at the beginning. Our combined forces did manage to deal with a few Sect leaders and clear out some of their tainted strongholds. But he’s very conflicted."

"Conflicted?"

"He’s afraid of more Mages entering the Shadow Land. Wouldn’t that undermine his rule just the same? It’s better for him if things stay as they have for the past hundred years, with only the old, the weak, the sick, the disabled, and society’s outcasts falling in. They’re easier for him to manage."

"Secondly, the Marquis realized the Earth Sect is a fairly large organization in the Upper Realm, so he quickly adopted a more passive, defensive posture—you must have seen the ’distinctive road signs’ in the Core Area."

’Prisoner-pendants impaled from bottom to top...’ Rorschach felt a little sick just recalling the sight. "Yes. It’s quite a waste of people."

"That is precisely the Marquis’s method. He believes that as long as the citizens of the Shadow Land do not worship Mother Earth, it will be difficult for that entity to infiltrate the Shadow City. Therefore, he uses violence and torture to intimidate the residents of the Core Area, seeking to maintain a state of mutual non-aggression with the Sect."

Rorschach didn’t think the Marquis’s strategy would be effective. All signs indicated that Mother Earth was gradually reawakening, which meant this "sewer where reality and the Symbolic Realm intertwine" was bound to be infiltrated by Her power. In fact, due to its unique nature, it would likely bear the brunt of the impact. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

In that case, the reason the Sect placed so much importance on this area was easy to explain—as the subterranean mirror of Storm City, controlling this place meant the Sect could take Storm City with ease.

Caroline wasn’t finished. "Also, you just said the Marquis has the power of a Great Mage, right?"

"Yes. Oh, it was a Black Cultivator from the Inverted Church who told me..."

Caroline shook her head. "I don’t know much about this so-called Cultivator, but I do know Great Mages, like Master Kano and Master Poincare... The gap between a Great Mage and us Middle Level Mages is even greater than the one between an ordinary person and a Low Tier Mage."

"I don’t agree with the claim that the Marquis’s power is equivalent to a Great Mage’s. At the end of the day, he’s merely an agent for the power of the Shadow Land. This place is like a beast lurking in the fissure between reality and illusion, constantly devouring people to sustain itself, and he was simply chosen as the agent to maintain order within it."

"The Marquis is slightly stronger than us Middle Level Mages, but he’s absolutely not on the level of a Great Mage."

When Rorschach had interacted with Kano and Poincare, they had seemed quite amiable and hadn’t displayed any particular power.

But he had momentarily forgotten: these two had, without any external aid, directly faced a descended Angel—a being that could be called the strongest existence beneath the gods. Of the Order Church’s "own people" who had witnessed the event, all but Dipresy and Joseph had been absorbed by the Angel Corpse.

In comparison, Granor probably deserved the title "Disgrace of the Great Mages."

"So what exactly *is* a Great Mage?"

"You’re asking me? I haven’t advanced to that rank... Like most Middle Level Mages, I’ll probably never reach it in my lifetime." Caroline shrugged, her gesture a mix of playfulness and, more so, resignation.

"It is said that to a Legendary Mage, reality is as fragile as paper. If they are willing to pay a terrifying price, they can rewrite reality and even history... But from what I know of Master Kano, he’d much rather savor a gourmet meal than use Magic to dominate others or reshape the world."

’Perhaps what maintains the world as it is... is balance? A mutual check between great powers?’ Rorschach could only speculate. Bringing his mind back to the present, they had been talking for so long, yet the conclusion seemed to be that their situation was hopeless.

Rorschach looked directly into Caroline’s eyes and urged, "Teacher, if that’s the case, let’s just leave. Let’s get out of this godforsaken place, out of the Istani Kingdom. I have a way to contact Master Kano; we can have him extract us. If a Great Mage is as powerful as you say, rescuing two people should be a piece of cake for him."

’From her description, continuing the investigation meant going against the entire Kingdom. Just let them sprint all the way into the Holy Mother’s embrace,’ he thought. ’Worst comes to worst, we could just build a wall along the coast. Out of sight, out of mind...’

"Who said it’s hopeless? I’ve been waiting here for the right moment... Have you heard of the Rebel Army on El Island?... I was only able to hide in here in the first place thanks to their help..."

「Meanwhile, on El Island.」

At the edge of a swamp, the moonlight fell gently upon the earth, yet it could not conceal the grim, murderous atmosphere.

The Burning Lion Knight Order was assembled in the mire. Fully armed, their commander rallied them with a ferocious look on his face. "Ahead is the stronghold of those mud-blooded rebels! Anything with Long Ears—kill them all, burn them all, leave no one alive! For Her Majesty the Queen!"

"For Her Majesty the Queen!"