Chapter 48: The Council of Seven

Thanks to Anna, before the expedition began, Beyond was forced to temporarily attend an emergency meeting led by the current Pope.

On the stained glass of the dome church was a long sword representing justice and order. Around the square table beneath the vault sat six people in vastly different attires, and Beyond, as the current commander of the royal army promoted by His Majesty Henry, attended the meeting in the capacity of a councilor.

The system of a seven-member council was a glorious tradition left behind by the first king, with the original intention of allowing him to hear voices from various fields so as to make decisions more favorable to the future of the empire.

These seven representatives came from the seven fields that exerted the most profound influence on the empire.

The Holy See, the nobility, the chamber of commerce, the academy, the Astrological Society, the Inquisition, and the military represented by Beyond.

Although the current news indicated that no one had died and only a grand magus of the Astrological Society had been severely wounded, the spells that appeared in the imperial capital were enough to arouse everyone's vigilance, making them involuntarily recall an "old friend."

Several years ago, that "old friend" had also been a member of the seven-member council, representing the academy at a meeting summoned by Henry VI.

However, that was before the War of the Fall. The king was gravely wounded after the war, and his health deteriorated day by day, so the authority to summon meetings was transferred to the current Pope.

No one spoke in the meeting hall. The six people present were waiting for the arrival of the last council representative—the current dean of the academy. Following the War of the Fall, this elderly man of over a hundred years old had no choice but to take back the authority of the seven-member council.

Before long, an elderly man in white robes walked in, looking travel-worn. His eyes were dim, and he appeared much older than when they had last met.

"Mr. 'Hermit,' I hope you can bring us some good news."

The Pope's dignified tone kicked off the meeting.

"I am afraid I must disappoint you." After taking his seat, the white-haired old man said calmly, "Your worries are not misplaced. The three elemental evocation spells that appeared in the imperial capital are... highly similar to the spells of the person you know, with only some minor differences in the details."

The Pope gave the old man a deep look. "Are you saying the Witch is still alive?"

The expressions of several councilors varied; this was undoubtedly a dangerous question.

Admitting that the Winter Witch was still alive was equivalent to declaring to the world that the public execution two years ago was a farce orchestrated by the Pope himself.

Ever since the War of the Fall, quite a few people had raised the possibility that the Winter Witch was still alive, but those people were either exiled to the imperial border or exposed as followers of evil gods attempting to spread heresies and incite public panic.

As for whether they were truly bewitched by evil gods...

The authority of faith arbitration had always been firmly held in the hands of the Holy See.

"She may not necessarily still be alive, but the person who crafted these magic scrolls has certainly been deeply influenced by her. This explains why these scrolls were able to trigger an ice elemental riot of such a massive scale."

"Mr. 'Hermit,' please elaborate."

It was the representative of the Astrological Society who spoke. Judging by her appearance, one would only take her for a kind old lady full of wrinkles. She smiled gently, seemingly not taking the severely injured grand magus to heart at all.

Crafting magic scrolls was not the exclusive domain of elemental evocators. In fact, in recent years, magicians represented by the Astrological Society had become the empire's primary creators of magic scrolls, whereas elemental evocation magic was gradually being phased out by the public.

The Saint's magic was uniquely independent, and as a grand magus, she was eager to know more details.

"That person... you all know who, during her tenure teaching at the academy, once put forward a theory concerning the relationship between elemental evocators and natural elements."

Upon hearing this, the chamber of commerce representative of the Rofique Consortium even took out a notebook and a quill. Clearly, the Astrological Society was not the only faction interested in these secrets.

Even though a trace of displeasure flashed across the Pope's eyes, he did not interrupt the old man, letting him continue.

"This theory proposed an unprecedented concept: 'the resonance between elemental evocators and natural elements stems primarily from emotion.' She believed that the inherent theory of elemental evocation is essentially a form of imprisonment; although it allows apprentices to quickly master a particular spell, from a long-term perspective, it cuts off their possibility of resonating with natural elements."

"Resonance!"

The current president of the Astrological Society tried her best to restrain her excitement, yet the frequency with which her fingers tapped on the conference table grew faster and faster. She felt she truly ought to thank the person who crafted these magic scrolls, otherwise it would have been difficult for her to learn of these secrets from the academy.

She then asked, "Incantations are essentially commands, and the manner of command disrupts the relationship between the caster and natural elements... A very interesting perspective. Then, did she mean to let casters become friends with natural elements?"

"Establishing resonance with natural elements and becoming friends is merely the most rudimentary stage of this theory. This entire system was devised for a ultimate goal, or rather, a concept of her ideal."

The representative of the Rofique Consortium also joined the discussion, asking eagerly, "What concept?"

"The caster is the element itself."

In an instant, the room fell dead silent.

Everyone held their breath, digesting this astonishing amount of information.

They all knew what these calm sentences represented—it was the mystery of the Saint's magic!

They could hardly believe that the old man had so easily told them these palatial-grade theories. The representative of the Rofique Consortium shared the same thought as the faction of nobles: once this meeting concluded, they would put this theory into practice.

Yet Beyond saw through the clues and asked, "That being the case, why hasn't the academy compiled this theory into a textbook?"

Over the past two years, she had encountered quite a few outstanding elemental evocators, and the things they used were still the "old ways."

"Because no one could master this theory, or rather, this theory could not achieve success in a short period of time."

That sweeping educational reform ultimately ended in failure.

"The academy gave her one semester to promote her theory, and after one semester, her students voluntarily abandoned it."

The progress was simply too slow, so much so that it could even be described as completely stagnant.

Not only that, but they also watched their peers who studied traditional elemental magic stand out in various academy activities. Under such sharp contrast, whether students or teachers, everyone arrived at the same question.

Is a Saint necessarily a good teacher?

Perhaps she was simply uniquely gifted, enabling her to develop a theory that no one else in the world could learn.

What was worse, even the experienced professors at the academy could not prove the feasibility of this theory; their ways of interacting with elements were already too deeply ingrained.

Even the professors who still believed in this theory ultimately reached a conclusion.

The elemental evocator capable of mastering this theory would only be someone outside of the academy.

And now, that person had appeared.

"This is the secret hidden within those magic scrolls. He did not record a certain spell within the magic scroll, but rather sent a letter to the elemental spirits. Miss Anna tore open the envelope, allowing the elemental spirits to see the contents of the letter."

At this point, the old man paused for a long time and uttered the final conclusion of the investigation, "The one who fought Mr. Silver Fox was nature itself."