Agostino Austin was horrified when he heard the shocking words spoken by Belendil Rogrides. He sprang to his feet from the chair.
"Scrrr—"
The high-backed chair scraped violently against the floor, producing a piercing noise, followed by a heavy thud as it toppled over.
"Has your Rogrides family gone mad?!!"
Agostino Austin pointed at Belendil Rogrides and shouted, completely losing his composure: "That's Tissaia de Vries, Narses de la Roche, and Borhn Drummond! The three of them have been sitting firmly on the highest thrones of the Supreme Council for hundreds of years—no one can replace them…"
"Yes, hundreds of years," Belendil Rogrides nodded calmly, forming a stark contrast to the flushed, agitated Agostino Austin. "The throne of Redania has changed hands more than a dozen times, yet the highest place in the extraordinary world is still occupied by those same five people."
"No matter how fiercely those below argue or debate, no matter whether the people seated there represent noble lineages passed down for centuries, or the proxies of royal power or divine authority—so long as those five so much as cough once, everything can be overturned and restarted, without any reason at all."
"Agostino Austin, Redania is the most powerful kingdom on the Northern Continent—at the very least, one of the two strongest. You are the spokesperson of Redanian royal authority…"
Belendil Rogrides slowly rose, unhurriedly setting the overturned high-backed chair upright. He walked up to Agostino Austin and lowered his voice: "Have you… never felt an urge?"
"What urge?" Agostino Austin held his breath, his face expressionless.
The corner of Belendil Rogrides' mouth curled upward. "When you cultivate magic, pursue truth, and probe the depths of alchemy, haven't you ever been shackled by those impractical rules set by the great figures above, rules that prevent you from ever achieving the best possible results?"
"And at the same time, you know very well that those rules cannot restrain the people above your head at all. At least I know—and many others know as well—that Ortolan and several of his most favored disciples are openly researching necromancy, even taking pride in successfully summoning demons."
"Every year, the Rogrides family also helps Ban Ard clean up quite a few loose ends. I know there are people in Ban Ard using ordinary humans as research material."
"Because they transcend the rules, Ban Ard and Rissberg Group's Civil Cooperative Organization have become the most productive extraordinary forces within the Brotherhood of Sorcerers—and the Brotherhood is almost naturally controlled by these two."
"And these taboos, in turn, have firmly locked down the development of the Crowned Silver Eagle and the Rogrides family."
"In fact, our Rogrides family is still a bit better off—at least we aren't subjected to frequent inspections."
"But your Crowned Silver Eagle, precisely because of its close relationship with the Redanian royal family, is a key target of the Inspecting Sorcerers."
"Having to be humble and cautious in front of juniors who aren't even a fraction of your age—it doesn't feel very good, does it?"
"At times like that, have you never wondered whether, without those five people pressing down from above, the Crowned Silver Eagle—and even the Brotherhood of Sorcerers as a whole—might develop better?"
"You represent supreme royal authority, possess noble blood, and even boast top-tier achievements in alchemy and magic. Have you never thought of raising your own position higher—higher still?"
Staring into Belendil Rogrides' brown eyes, Agostino Austin felt as though he were listening to a demon's whisper, a devil's temptation.
He unconsciously retreated step by step under Belendil Rogrides' advance, only stopping in panic when his back hit the cold stone wall.
He swallowed hard and said hoarsely: "Who wouldn't want that? But those are Tissaia de Vries, Narses de la Roche, and Borhn Drummond."
"The only ones who can be their opponents are themselves."
"If your target were just Tissaia de Vries, I might think you had already won over the other two—that would at least be realistic, at least possible."
"But all three—every single one of them…"
Agostino Austin shook his head. "That's not ambition. That's delusion!"
At that thought, he suddenly recalled Belendil Rogrides' background. After a brief pause, he pressed on: "Unless the other member of the Supreme Council you've found is Hen Gedymdeith? If Ortolan were still on the Northern Continent, he couldn't possibly remain hidden—so it must be Hen Gedymdeith…"
"No, that's not right!"
Before Belendil Rogrides could answer, Agostino Austin immediately rejected the idea himself.
"Even if you saved his life, Hen Gedymdeith would never move against the other members of the Supreme Council. So why—what gives you such confidence?"
"It certainly isn't Hen Gedymdeith," Belendil Rogrides smiled faintly. "But there's one thing you got wrong."
"If the Dean knew our plan, then whether there was a life-saving debt or not wouldn't matter at all."
"He would unleash violent magic, the fury of the magic source itself, and uproot the entire Rogrides family."
"Fortunately, the Dean is not only missing, but in all likelihood, won't survive."
On this point, Agostino Austin had no objections.
By any measure, Hen Gedymdeith had already been missing for three or four months. In that time, there had been Sunny's betrayal, followed by the intervention of his old enemy Ortolan and Rissberg Group's Civil Cooperative Organization. If he were truly still alive, he would have appeared long ago.
Although the expedition to Dol Dhu Lokke was carried out under the banner of aiding Ban Ard and Rissberg, no one in the Brotherhood of Sorcerers believed Hen Gedymdeith was still alive. They simply didn't say it aloud.
Agostino Austin even felt that the reason the members of the High Council and the various sorcerer organizations—especially the large ones—had been behaving so obediently these past few days, responding readily even though Tissaia de Vries had scarcely rallied them, was precisely because of this.
What was said at the assembly—about some witcher famed for taming a royal griffin—was merely a joke.
The real intention was fixed on the vacant seat at the very top, hoping to put on a good performance in front of Tissaia de Vries and Narses de la Roche.
"So what gives your Rogrides family the confidence?" Agostino Austin genuinely could not understand.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't that no force existed that could confront Tissaia de Vries, Narses de la Roche, and Borhn Drummond at the same time.
The Druid Circle, the Temple of the True God, secular royal power…
But the Druid Circle would never intervene in such matters; the same went for the Temple of the True God.
Secular kings and nobles could surround and annihilate them with massive armies—Tissaia de Vries, Narses de la Roche, and Borhn Drummond wouldn't be able to withstand that—but a single portal would still allow them to escape.
And weren't those kings and nobles afraid of retaliation from legendary mages, or the covetous gazes of other monarchs and aristocrats?
After careful calculation, Agostino Austin concluded that there truly was no such force on the Northern Continent.
"This is a secret of the Rogrides family," Belendil Rogrides said with a meaningful smile. Then, before Agostino Austin could finish processing it and fly into a rage, he soothed him, "But trust me—the Rogrides family isn't insane. You said we resemble a merchant family, and merchants never pursue deals that lose money."
"But you can make others lose money," Agostino Austin retorted irritably. "Quite a few forces have been ruined by your Rogrides family."
Belendil Rogrides didn't get angry. He replied calmly, "But it will absolutely not be the Crowned Silver Eagle."
"We don't need the Crowned Silver Eagle's sorcerers to charge at the front. If nothing unexpected happens, once everything is over, no one will even know you existed."
"Think about it, Lord Austin. If the plan succeeds, why would the Crowned Silver Eagle need to humbly and timidly imitate a witcher's potions? You could directly annex Aretuza's alchemy workshops."
"No need to split off Vera's private workshop—or anyone else's. The entirety of Aretuza's alchemy facilities could be handed over to the Crowned Silver Eagle."
"Why?" Agostino Austin wasn't swayed by such empty promises. He asked suspiciously, "You make it sound like we'd receive a great gift without paying anything. Would the Rogrides family really be that generous?"
"How could it cost you nothing?" Belendil Rogrides shook his head.
Agostino Austin, wearing an expression of as expected, pressed further. "So what does the Rogrides family need us to do?"
"I want the Crowned Silver Eagle to commit more to the expedition to Dol Dhu Lokke…"
"Our Crowned Silver Eagle already promised Tissaia that we'd join the expedi—" Agostino Austin's expression suddenly changed. After a one-second pause, he fixed his gaze on Belendil Rogrides. "You wouldn't be thinking of…"
"That's right," Belendil Rogrides met his eyes without flinching, staring straight back at him as he enunciated each word. "We need the Crowned Silver Eagle to invest more in the expedition to Dol Dhu Lokke—not just the handful of mid-tier sorcerers you're sending now, along with a pile of worthless potions."
Agostino Austin's face darkened and brightened in turns.
He wasn't surprised that Belendil Rogrides knew the Crowned Silver Eagle's expedition roster.
Because of that private execution, the Crowned Silver Eagle—closely tied to the Redanian royal family—couldn't possibly avoid participating in the expedition altogether. But expecting them to be as "generous," whether willingly or not, as other factions was naturally impossible.
The other factions would not fault them for this either—it was understandable—so they could act openly and without fear.
"Just as I said earlier," Belendil Rogrides spoke up at this moment, "we don't need the Crowned Silver Eagle to charge at the front. We only need a Crowned Silver Eagle with sufficient influence within the expedition, and then…"
"You only need to do the right thing at the right time."
"You will judge the timing yourselves."
"That's all it takes," Belendil Rogrides clapped his hands sharply. "Aretuza's alchemy workshops will be yours, and the Rogrides family will also be willing to maneuver for you among those five highest seats. Isn't that a profitable deal?"
"But Dol Dhu Lokke is also extremely dangerous… the Crowned Silver Eagle are all alchemists…" Agostino Austin still hesitated after hearing this.
"Oh, come on," Belendil Rogrides shook his head helplessly. "That's Aretuza's alchemy workshops, the Supreme Council, and Chapter of the Gift and the Art we're talking about. How could there be no risk at all?"
"But those are just promissory notes from the dwarf banks—who knows whether they can even be honored," Agostino Austin clenched his teeth, still unwilling to relent. "Once we join the expedition and enter that hellhole called Dol Dhu Lokke, the Crowned Silver Eagle could suffer heavy losses."
"Then what do you need us to pay right now?" Belendil Rogrides raised his eyebrows mockingly. "Gold? Potions? Formulas? Or another contract?"
Agostino Austin said nothing, staring at him unblinkingly.
Just like that.
The secret chamber remained silent for a long time before Belendil Rogrides finally shook his head in resignation.
"All right, all right. There's really nothing I can do about you."
"But I can't tell you anything concrete. I can only say this…"
"Because of the Sorcerer Kingdom, because of the chaos caused by Sunny, and even because of the constraints imposed by the Brotherhood of Sorcerers over countless ages—there is more than just King Radovid IV who is dissatisfied with the Brotherhood."
"That is an immensely, immensely, immensely vast force, enough to crush everything standing in its way."
Belendil Rogrides paused, his tone laden with meaning: "For five centuries, ever since the Novigradian Union, the extraordinary order jointly established by mages, rulers, druids, and clergy—it's time for it to change."
"Think it over carefully, my dear 'Crowned' master alchemist…"
With that said,
Belendil Rogrides did not worry that Agostino Austin would refuse or leak the information. After giving a slight nod, he turned and walked straight out of the secret chamber.
Only Agostino Austin was left standing there alone, his expression shifting unpredictably.
—
"Hu—"
He suddenly opened his eyes and sat bolt upright in bed, gasping for air. His entire body was drenched in sweat, as if he had just been pulled out of water.
Azure, cat-like pupils contracted, dilated, and trembled violently. Only after a long while did they finally stabilize.
"This is…"
He looked around blankly. His gaze wandered aimlessly for a long time—over the two longswords by his pillow, the leather armor leaning against the wall, the plain wooden table, and the dust motes dancing in the golden morning sunlight—before he finally snapped back to himself, feeling as though a lifetime had passed.
"Mayena… the Druid Circle. I… came back?"
After confirming his location, the witcher immediately became fully alert, quickly grasping the situation and reaching to open the Witcher Journal.
"Tap, tap, tap~"
The footsteps of Mentor Zebi Ortega sounded from outside the door, followed by a knock on the wooden door—
And at the same time,
[Ding, clue discovered…]
[Ding, clue discovered…]
[Ding, clue discovered…]
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A chaotic barrage of system notification sounds rang out one after another…
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