Knights and Magic Wand
Chapter 698: 326 Long Time No See_2

Chapter 698: Chapter 326 Long Time No See_2

“Do you know how that rebellion army was ultimately annihilated? Just six years after the kingdom’s fall, without any intervention from the empire’s upper echelon, the mountain folks themselves drove the restorationists out of Villania… After living good days for so long, who would reminisce about the times when they served as beasts of burden for the lords and still couldn’t eat their fill?”

Leon was amazed at Athias’s ability to govern conquered territories, prompting him to recall what Acro had once said about the living conditions in Villania after its conquest.

If the situations of the two empires were similar, then Villania, regardless of the timeline, was likely destined to become mere dust in history.

“Is the rule of the Athias Empire truly so fair and enlightened?”

Kovis put down his cup of red tea, shook his head, and said, “Not necessarily fair. The empire is highly hierarchical, and mages never consider those without magical talent, the ‘commoners,’ as their peers;

nor are they necessarily enlightened, with some provincial mage governors exhibiting what I consider brutal severity.

But the empire’s administrative measures and magical methods for governing lands are at least direct and effective enough.

Moreover, the upper echelons of Athias regard the lives of billions as private property, while non-mage ministers and generals are merely slightly more valuable assets among them, with their power and wealth strictly limited.

In some sense, when you speak of fairness… for the people under the empire’s rule, compared to the era of kingdoms, most people in the empire might indeed feel it fairer.”

Leon nodded thoughtfully.

With a population of hundreds of millions… compared to the number of the empire’s upper mage classes, most ordinary people of the Athias Empire would consider themselves lucky if they saw a mage apprentice in their lifetime. Thus, even if mages disdain ordinary people, the common populace simply has no chance to interact with these conceited “Sky Dragon People.”

And the empire bureaucrats in the lower layers of governance… not only are their powers tightly restricted by the mages, but even their personal abilities must meet the mages’ minimum requirements.

It seems that in the Athias Empire, for mortals within the bureaucracy, attempting to serve themselves, deceive their superiors, or engage in corruption is as difficult as going through hell compared to ordinary nations.

After all, various mind-reading, suggestion, hallucinatory magics, and truth serums are not uncommon means for spellcasters. Bureaucrats without magical abilities, unless their willpower is far beyond ordinary, cannot conceal their thoughts from the ruling mages.

Especially if the Magus of Athias has no mood to play power games with mortals, they would not hesitate to use mind-reading and soul-searching techniques, without regard for whether the soul or body of the one under examination gets harmed.

This method, in a bizarre way, achieves a balance toward “good governance.”

“The situation sounds so good, yet with your detached attitude, it seems you’re not quite in agreement?” Leon looked at the other person, with his understanding of Kovis’s character, the current expression and gaze didn’t match the laudatory content that Kovis described.

Kovis’s golden eyes narrowed slightly, surprised by the other’s sharpness.

Standing in different positions, the view seen is bound to be different, especially for someone like him… who has not completely detached himself from the human race as a spellcaster.

Compared to mundane aristocracy, the cruelty and terror of the Athias mages are actually greater in another aspect. The fearful extent of the empire’s dark side far exceeds the imagination of ordinary people.

If he hadn’t been unable to integrate into that cold and cruel non-human gaze, how could he have been squeezed out of the core of empire’s power, sent on a semi-exile to a cushy position on the Western Continent?

However, far away from the imperial mage class, he has otherwise enjoyed peace of mind these years.

“I’ve answered enough for now. So, let’s see your sincerity.” Kovis didn’t continue the topic but directly pushed toward his intended purpose.

To change the status quo, one must climb higher, and in the Athias Empire, nothing is more valuable than discovering a powerful and novel spell and magical theory, even more so than conquering a kingdom.

Seeing this, Leon had no choice but to stop his series of yet unfinished questions.

“I have not actually learned the ‘Venerable Body,’ but I have studied the original ancient Lorelette protective spell from which the Venerable Body evolved, named ‘Quenching Life Technique.’ It is more difficult and complex than the Venerable Body… Naturally, it is also more powerful.”

As Leon spoke, he kept his guard up. He actually knows the spell principle of the Venerable Body, remembering that his own Kovis… deduced it through the Magic Guidebook in the Mage Tower.

But at this moment, he had no intention of directly teaching the easier-to-learn Venerable Body to the other party.

Unlike the former that only covers the surface with a magic technique effect, the Quenching Life Technique requires a spellcaster to spend years gradually adjusting the metabolism and growth of various body parts to permanently integrate this magical system into the flesh, until the final step of completely unifying the quenched techniques within the physical body.

Upon completion, it not only doesn’t affect tactile and sensory functions, nor interfere with the normal operation of internal organs, and has no weak points or blind spots.

This ancient magic is, of course, more formidable, but it cannot be completed quickly – even Leon, over two years, had only just begun the fortification progress on his eyes and front chest, with completion still far off.

Now presenting the “Quenching Life Technique” to the other in exchange for assistance carries enough weight, neither breaking the current power disparity between the two nor giving away the crucial last step of the spell to prevent the “Imperial Mage Kovis” before him from backing out midway.