Richard took a few hours to mark all the members of the healers guild with curses while also enhancing their magical abilities.

Yet, even after all that, those that resisted continued to wallow in sorrow.

"Move them"

It was the first time women had not fallen under his spell, but that didn’t faze him.

Even if they wanted to resist, the curse was already implanted on them.

Sleeping with an unwilling partner was only good for a single turn, after that, things get stale and the women would only get stronger which would improve their resistance and strength.

Even if they won’t fight back, an unwilling partner who didn’t flinch was no better than a doll.

More than half of those who were punished remained resistant to Richard’s charm, some even had a look of rage hidden deep beneath their gaze.

Those women would be sent back to the manor.

Morgana would be responsible for training them.

Since they won’t accept Richard fully, they could only be turned into frontline combatants.

Richard was not dropping the possibility of getting dragged into a war.

Even the peace that seems to be encroaching upon the US was just a facade.

The witches would obtain peace in America but the rest of the world would need to suffer the burden.

Companies that would be pushed out by mystics, industries that would be hit hard by the incorporation of mystical products into daily life-

That chunk of the economy won’t go down without a fight.

But they were not idiots who’d rush to their death aiming to "go down swinging".

The assholes that lead the world of capitalism were the type to bide their time.

Richard can’t really predict much, even his ability of clairvoyance could do little at this point. It was obvious that there were individuals who knew about such abilities among mystics.

The rather "peaceful" end to the chaos worried Richard and he had a good feeling that something big was brewing.

Maybe in a few days, weeks, months or even years.

It all depends on how the people who are leading the changes act and Richard had no control over that.

All he could do was prepare for the worst.

Trust was something that could not be given randomly and the women who had defiant expressions were all potential weak points.

Richard watched as the women who had just awakened to their mystical power but kept their defiant natures were led away.

As all the dangerous women were led away, those that remained were immediately joined by Angelica and her group.

"You’ve been having huh?"

Richard smirked as his gaze went over the women who were all surprisingly wet.

"We... for you... Master..."

Nodding his head, Richard approached the women and so the madness continues-

— — —

While Richard was busy causing a disturbance in the capital, back in B City, Morgana observed the massive formation that had enveloped the whole province with a smile on her face.

"Isn’t this a bit too much? I thought the plan was to create a secret society?"

Samantha stared at the mystical formation that she had been able to observe because of the chance she was given to sleep with Richard.

"It’s fine, this is what you’d call "overachieving"- Richard would be happy if he saw what I did"

Morgana said with a smile but if Samantha knew what Morgana really did-

Before meeting Richard, Morgana would have had a hard time to- no, it would have been impossible for her to make something like this-

"The world Merlin created in London will fall soon... When that happens, millions of mystics and mystical beings would lose their homes. This whole mountainous region is 18 times larger than London. Merlin struggled to make the London mystical world, I created this without much struggle... huhuhu- all thanks to Richard..."

Morgana’s statements made Samantha understand that what she created was not something "normal" even in the world of international mystics.

But she could never have expected that Morgana’s creation was not simply "abnormal".

It was something that was considered impossible.

But Samantha who had only recently gotten exposed to true magic, everything to her was on the same level.

She didn’t have much knowledge about the overseas mystical community.

Moreover, given their intense secrecy which is still maintained even after all the revelations-

"Samantha, be a dear and check the pillars"

Morgana disturbed Samantha’s thoughts as she ordered her to go out.

"Yes Milady"

Samantha answered in a way which seemed archaic but it was the way Morgana demanded to be called in the absence of Richard.

It may sound like insubordination but Morgana did not do so in order to take power from Richard.

Morgana was simply enforcing her position, everything starts from somewhere and if her subordinates believe that they had the power to ignore her authority- they would slowly gain the confidence to take more and more.

As the saying goes- "give them an inch and they’ll ask for a mile"

Morgana was maintaining her authority and by doing so further improving Richard’s own status.

Merlin never deserved this

Morgana recalled the idiot who was never able to achieve the same level as Richard.

While Richard was still young and had a lot of things to learn.

What he lacks, he could slowly gain in due time.

On the other hand, the mentality Richard carried is what separated him from Merlin, it was for that very personality of his that made Morgana willingly become subservient to Richard.

I’ll show Richard, compared to that little girl who he loves on mere companionship... a woman who could offer him the world...

Morgana made sure that Samantha followed her orders, leaving a curse on her secretly which allowed her to monitor Samantha.

All you need to do is serve, there is no need for you to think of anything else.

Unaware of Morgana’s thoughts and actions, Samantha made her way to the "pillars" which Morgana asked her to check.

The formation surrounded a whole Region within the country, it created an entire separate world which her people were now busy developing.

Samantha entered a large hollowed tree- well, it was not exactly hollow.

It was a local strangler fig, a tree that grows roots from its trunks and branches.

This local variety is known as a "balete" in the local language and had many stories around it.

Of course, many of those stories were based on truth but with how superstitious people in the Philippines were, many would respect and stay clear of these trees that are well known to house ghosts and monsters.

That said, Morgana had conquered the truly mystical trees of this kind, the mystical creatures that had taken root in the trees were subdued and used by Morgana while the tree had become a mode of transportation.

Using a formation that was built upon Richard’s blood, the trees became interconnected allowing people to use the trees to rapidly move across the land without asking for help from Richard.

In essence, Morgana had turned mystical "balete trees" into teleportation pods and each of them were positioned strategically all over the region.

There were a total of seven pillars that were established at the borders of the region and a single core that was centered in B city.

Samantha and everyone else were not allowed to know or even see the core of the formation but with how the pillars were made...

"Samantha?"

Appearing within a different tree, Samantha met one of her people.

Her hands were stained red with blood and she was dragging the corpse of a stranger.

"This is?"

"Another criminal, L city and B city have quite a large number of criminals, some of them have life sentences and this is one of them"

The pillars were made using the bodies and souls of people, Samantha did not know about Richard’s avoidance of creating systems of magic based on human lives.

But she did see how Richard dealt with the men of her group.

To her, there was no difference between what Morgana was doing and what Richard had done.

But if she knew- she would have spoken up. Unfortunately, Cindy and the others who were aware of Richard’s beliefs and methods had given the green light.

Samantha had already told herself that she would need to get used to these kind of actions as it was a norm in the mystical community but-

"What’s he in for?"

She still wanted to know if the selection of "materials" were done with as much consideration as possible.

"Statutory r*pe"

But the declaration of his crime was enough to transform what should have been empathy into disgust.

Despite the body being nothing more than a corpse, Samantha could still see that the soul was locked within the tortured body.

"... who dealt with him?"

She asked, wanting to know just how "well" the corpse was treated before death.

"I did"

The witch who was dragging the corpse proudly declared while puffing up her chest.

"Did you deal with him properly?"

Samantha asked and to answer her, the witch lifted up the tarp revealing just how "good" the final moments of the man was.

"As best as I could!"

Looking at the corpse’s state, Samantha nodded leaving only one word-

"Good"