Aiden finally turned around as he sighed in relief; at least he had done a job befitting of his title.
Now that the danger had passed, he realized he hadn’t introduced himself to the Head Mage who had been fighting beside him.
She was standing a short distance away, looking at the destruction around them with a calm expression and a slight smile on her face. Then she noticed Aiden staring at her and raised an eyebrow.
"Is there something on my face?"
Aiden shook his head. "Nothing, we haven’t introduced ourselves properly"
"Ohh, that’s right," she said, maintaining the smile on her face as she stepped forward.
"My name is Katarina Thorn. I’m the Head Mage of the Elaris Magic Academy," She mouthed and extended her hand towards Aiden.
Aiden took her hand. "I’m...the new Head Priest"
Aiden couldn’t tell his real name since he had no idea how many people knew him as Adrian, which was the name that belonged to the former owner of this body. Since everyone was used to calling him Holiness, he didn’t care for the actual name anymore.
Katarina stared at Aiden with a smile, looking him up and down for a moment before glancing away towards the destroyed hall.
"To be honest, I wasn’t expecting you to be this capable. I mean, you’re really good at concealing your mana; I couldn’t sense a shred from you, and your barrier is really good, but you were just an ordinary priest some days ago," Kat replied.
"I’m honored to be hearing those words coming from you, but everything I do is led by the goddess. I don’t think I deserve praise," Aiden replied with a small smile.
"I’m sorry for the loss of your fellow priests. If I knew something like that was going to happen, I never would have left the capital"
"There’s no way anyone could have expected the attack to happen. At least we prevented more lives from being lost," Aiden replied.
"I think this was planned to happen. The first attack targeted the Head Church on a day all the priests were supposed to be present, and I think this was a follow-up attack to end the life of any priest that survived the first attack," Kat spoke.
"It seemed that way; even I could tell the man was aiming for me"
"There are too many unanswered questions about this attack, but that explosion is a really powerful alchemy. I know the Draken Empire must be dealing with forbidden magic, but I didn’t expect them to have progressed this far," Kat spoke.
"I would have loved to capture him alive and find out how exactly it works and ways to counter it, too bad"
"Does this kingdom have something like that or something similar to the explosion that just happened?" Aiden asked.
Since Kat had brought up forbidden magic, this was the right time to pry. Even though Aiden had decided he was going to leave the clone spellbook for now, he couldn’t pass up the chance to know more.
"The kingdom does have some knowledge regarding the subject, but not as much. Even with all the knowledge in the library, I don’t think any mage in this kingdom would be able to reproduce something close to that. My barriers were struggling to control just one explosion," Kat replied.
"I would really love to read about forbidden magic to improve my knowledge on how to handle spells like that. The Kingdom must be protected by all means," Aiden replied.
"It’s strange to see a priest saying something like that. After all, it was the church that banned the use of certain spells, confining them to the underground library, but you’re different; maybe we should get together and talk more," Kat replied before the prince stepped into the room.
Since it was safe, the Crown Prince stepped into the room. Both of their bodies had been completely covered by their cloak, so they turned towards the prince.
The prince walked towards them with several knights following behind him. His eyes immediately moved around the destroyed hall; from outside, he saw the damage when the ceiling burst open, but standing inside, he could see how powerful the blast truly was.
But in front of him, Aiden and Katarina didn’t have a single scratch on their bodies, apart from the fact that their clothes were gone.
"Is everyone alright?" The prince asked.
"Everyone is safe; fortunately, none of the refugees were affected, apart from the two rigged with explosive alchemy and mind control. And again, the culprit was among the refugees; he was a powerful mage with the same explosive alchemy embedded in his body," Kat replied.
"We took care of the situation, but unfortunately we couldn’t capture the culprit alive," Aiden replied.
The prince looked away and nodded; he wasn’t expecting something like this. He knew there was a possibility an enemy might be among the refugees, but he wasn’t expecting the enemy to possess an attack as powerful as this.
"Is it truly possible for a refugee to sneak something like this into the kingdom without the help of something inside?" The prince asked, turning to both of them.
Aiden didn’t know how to reply. Back in the council meeting, the same thing came up, and he knew there must be an insider, but it wasn’t his place to speak about it since he knew nothing about their politics, nor did he want to be involved.
As the Head Priest, he would definitely have a say, but Aiden was going to try to distance himself from politics.
"We have no idea, but I’ll do some research to determine the nature of the magic and how to counter it, but at the moment I can’t say anything for sure," Kat replied.
’A good answer, and now it’s up to her to find out the nature of the spell. I’m so tired, I just want to go back home’
"So all the refugees are free to go?" The prince asked, and Kat turned towards Aiden.
"Yes, none of them had any traces of mind control or the alchemy in them, so they are free to go," Aiden replied.
"Thank you both for protecting the kingdom. I’ll give a detailed report to my father, the King," The prince replied, and both of them nodded.
The prince then turned towards the knights and gave them a few orders before looking back at the destroyed hall. From where he stood, Aiden could tell the prince was angry; he had every right to be.
"We’ll have this place secured immediately, and the refugees will be moved somewhere else. Once again, thank you," The prince spoke as he walked outside.
’Phew, that was a hoot’
[This wasn’t an actual battle, but how did it feel?]
’I want to say exciting since I’ve never been in such a situation before, but the thought of not dying only made it less exciting. I felt like nothing could happen since I won’t die either way’
[You do know you’re not immortal, right? If you get caught in an explosion like this without protection, you will definitely die. Now imagine the healing system isn’t in effect; a single spell could end your life]
’That’s the only problem, but I’m definitely not putting myself in this position again’
Aiden was still talking to Zero when Katarina suddenly walked closer and lowered her voice.
"You said you wanted to learn more about forbidden magic, right? Since it’s come to this, I’ll have to do detailed research. You should come to the academy, and we’ll discuss a few things or head to the library if you’re interested," she said.
"That sounds like a good idea. I might have time to spare tomorrow," Aiden replied, and her eyes widened; she wasn’t expecting Aiden to take her up on her offer.
Any new priests and priestesses are first taught about the church and its doctrine. The goddess forbade the use, study, or tampering with forbidden magic, so it was placed underground, with only Katarina having the unique combination that unlocks the library.
But Aiden was different; he wanted to see the library. He was different from the other priests she had encountered in her lifetime.
She turned around before Aiden could say anything else. "I’ll be waiting for you, Your Holiness"
Aiden watched her walk away. He still had questions to ask; he had no idea where the academy was, how to get there, and currently the carriage that brought him here had already left with the prince.
His eyes left her body, and the next moment she was gone; Aiden couldn’t see her or feel even a trace of her mana anymore.
He stood at the entrance of the hall, facing outside; then he saw a carriage coming towards the hall and stopping a few meters away from where he was.
The door to the carriage opened, and from inside, Olena stepped outside along with four other priestesses.