Chapter 686: Luring a Snake from its Den
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Without a moment’s hesitation, Benjamin waved his hand in front of the King’s face and asked, "How are you feeling, Your Majesty? Do you feel like you’re being controlled by some form of energy? How much do you remember?"
The King sat up from his position and scratched his head, still struggling for his bearings.
"I...I have a headache." He was quiet for a moment before he continued, still confused, "What am I doing here? Aren’t I supposed to be at the Three Kingdoms Conference?"
Benjamin was dumbfounded.
Spencer’s spell had left a blank slate in the King’s memories.
But it seems that for now, the King has regained his consciousness. The dormant energy fragment in his brain has not activated yet, so the King is communicating quite normally.
Without further delay, Benjamin explained to the King on what had happened. At the same time, the surrounding officials also gradually came to; they looked around with confusion and asked each other to find out what had happened.
Things seemed to be getting increasingly troublesome, so Benjamin decided to gather everyone around and explained the situation again. Afterwards, he realized that everyone’s state after awakening was different. Some had not lost their memories and only had slight dizziness but some had lost their memories from the past month and were also experiencing a severe head-splitting headache.
Benjamin could only conclude that the effects differed because of differing body types.
However, the King was the most affected of all. After Benjamin’s explanation, he had stood in his spot for a long time, gaze distant. Benjamin didn’t tell anyone about the Spiritual Energy fragment embedded in the King’s brain, though.
The situation right now was already alarming enough, he didn’t want the panic to escalate.
"Advisor Spencer...was a cult worshipper from overseas? How is that possible?"
"What magic did he use actually? I had always felt that he was very trustworthy, for some reason. Although he was only in the palace for a short amount of time, it felt like everyone idolized him a lot."
From the look of things, Spencer didn’t fully control all these people; he had just bewitched them to a certain extent.
Finally, when the situation had calmed down substantially, the fallen palace gradually returned to normal. Benjamin could not be sure if Spencer’s associates were still in Gealorre, but he had already warned everyone to be extra careful.
Besides, the King also decreed that all who believed in the religion that Spencer preached were to be executed. He also ordered for the detailed investigations to be launched in the seaside cities as a precautionary action against further invasion by the cult.
Quiet returned to the palace as the day drew to an end and as the crowd dispersed, only Benjamin and the King were left in the great hall.
"Are you...speaking the truth? Is there really a Spiritual Energy fragment in my brain?"
After listening to Benjamin, the King took a deep breath; he had the expression of a cancer patient that had just found out about their illness.
Benjamin could only nod his head.
"Do not worry too much, Your Majesty. I will use all my power to exterminate it."
"Do you...currently have a plan?"
"No." Benjamin heaved a sigh, but immediately took on a consoling tone, "but right now it’s just hiding there. As long as nobody activates it, it should do Your Majesty no harm."
With the King’s emotions still unstable, it was best for Benjamin to placate him as much as possible.
Thankfully, after being in numerous situations, the King had a calmer outlook now. After a moment’s silence, he said, "I see. As long as I do not let any suspicious persons near me, I will not be controlled again?"
"That’s about right."
"But, how am I to tell? I am the King, I have to handle government affairs, so I always receive visits from people I have never seen before. It would be difficult for me to do checks on everybody that visits me."
Benjamin could not help but feel helpless.
That cult priest had use an underhanded trick, if someone similar were to appear, the palace guards would not be able to do a thing to fight him. As long as the person could bewitch an official, the chance to approach the King would fall straight into their lap.
It was no wonder that the King was so panicked, he had not only been controlled by someone else, he had also lost a chunk of his memories. It must feel worse than being tortured.
"Sir Benjamin, with your power, are you sure you cannot remove the thing from my brain by force?" asked the King, urgency lacing his tone.
"I cannot do that." Benjamin shook his head before continuing, "It is an extremely complex Spiritual Energy technique. Although I do not lose to him in Spiritual Energy, I’m afraid his spell can only be lifted by someone who knows the same."
"And we...cannot find somebody like that?"
Benjamin tugged at his hands. "I’m afraid that his cult would be the only people that practice this magic."
The King could only hold his head in his hands upon hearing what Benjamin said. He sat on his throne, face pulled into one of despair.
...Wait a minute.
Benjamin suddenly thought of something.
"Your Majesty, since the only people that know that form of magic are the priests from the cult, as long as we find another one, would we not then be able to remove the fragment?"
The King looked up, "How do you suppose we find one?"
A smile tugged at Benjamin’s lips as he said, "We won’t need to. Since they’ve planted that thing in Your Majesty’s brain, I’m sure they will return to look for Your Majesty! As long as we wait patiently, we can lure them right out of their dens."
"Are you implying...that I act as bait?"
Benjamin nodded his head.
The King’s expression fell. After mulling it over, he finally nodded his head painstakingly.
"Alright, I suppose there is no other way."
And so, the situation had finally been taken care of. The decree to execute the cult still held, but Benjamin knew that regular soldiers would not be able to cleanly exterminate them all. Somebody would definitely escape and return to the King by using their underhanded techniques.
Therefore, Benjamin had to temporarily stay in Gealorre so that he would not be too far from the King.
Thankfully, the issues regarding his academy were about done. Now that the King and the officials had all regained their consciousness thanks to Benjamin, their hostility had automatically disappeared. Benjamin could just send a transmission back to Varys to proceed; he would then be left with little to worry about.
As for that rune...it was certainly troublesome. After pondering about it, Benjamin finally decided to hide it in a remote cave so that he could bring it back to the academy after the issue with the cult was settled.
The next afternoon, Benjamin left Gealorre under the farewells of the officials. However, a bodyguard had silently appeared by the King under their noses, watching all who entered the palace.