9 The master of the Jade Manor

The Master of the Jade Manor was called Greem. Having reached 24, he was considered a young apprentice from the [Arcane Tower], a magical academy said to have influence on several kingdoms, one of them being the Greenhill Kingdom.

Although he could roam through the Greenhill Kingdom freely, he knew that he was far from being able to rival its most powerful knights. After all, despite reaching 24 years of age, he could not find any way to break through the 'intermediate acolyte realm', and could only remain as a lowly 'beginner rank acolyte'.

Still, over the past decade of magical studies, he had amassed a lot of knowledge, most of which he noted in enormous books made of goat skin paper. Not finding much success in his experiments back in the [Arcane Tower], he volunteered for a long-term investigation mission about werewolves running rampant in the [Greenhill Kingdom].

Thanks to the divinations from the [Grand Oracle] of the [Arcane Tower], he had received the names of several cities in which werewolves were expected to pass through. The two cities he came accross before arriving at Black Bear City were completely massacred, with not a single human soul remaining alive. It was not the work of a single werewolf, but the work of an entire pack.

The more he thought about the mission, the more Greem felt anxious about the mission.

Although werewolves could be considered 'magical entities', they were hardly considered dangerous in the [Arcane Tower]. After all, their only magical feature was the ability to shift from a human to a werewolf, gaining physical strength. However, any offensive spell from acolytes would be lethal to them, contrary to some strong magical beasts.

In fact, a trained army of soldiers would easily be able to take care of dozens of werewolves in a frontal attack.

However, werewolves were known for their cunning and their patience. The two cities which were massacred were proof of a very strong and wise alpha werewolf. Capable of hiding among humans, werewolves were very difficult to tell apart from humans. Suspicion and fear create chaos, and chaos is the preferred hunting ground of predators. It was no wonder that small cities could not fare against a pack of werewolves.

The problem is that the pack of werewolves probably gained much experience and strength from its past massacres, and they were thus several times more difficult to deal with, now that they encountered the usual human response to them.

Plus, there were an abnormal amount of gangsters and bandits in Black Bear City. Although it looks quite alright from the outside, living inside the [White Jade Manor] allowed Greem to have a clearer understanding of the politics inside the city.

With limited resources, there was only so much that Knight Robert, the unliked heir of the Yale Barony, could do. With only 30 average city militia under his command, he was outnumbered by the [Blood Cult Brotherhood], and outskilled by experts such as the [Black Serpent Siblings], who recently conquered the Western District of the city.

'Fortunately, I have brought Luna with me', Greem thought with relief.

Luna was a beastman, capable of smelling the scent of a flower hundreds of feet away from it, thus qualifying as a werewolf detector. Although she was still young, she was as strong as a preparatory knight, and she could easily take on several grown men on her own with her speed and high mastery of short swords.

Of course, Greem was also very attracted to her. As a slave, Luna could only obey her master. Otherwise, the magic seal on her neck would activate and first cause tremendous pain. Rebellion was not an option. This was one of the reason why the [Arcane Tower] was so powerful, yet so discreet. If words of such magic spread, there would be many knights wary of their magical power.

Although the [Arcane Tower] was a very strong entity with plenty of geniuses, it had been more than two hundred years since the last acolyte ascended to the [Magus Realm] due to the degradation of the mana density in the plane. With less mana in the air, the rarity of magical resources and talent grades of acolytes started to decline.

As the process continued to worsen over thousands and thousands of years, the once glorious Arcane Tower had lost tremendous influence, and could not compare to its glorious past. Although it could still influence many kingdoms in the shadows, it would not last very long against a frontal confrontation against several kingdom or an empire capable of mobilizing thousands of knights and siege weapons. There was a limit to what a single Magus could do against armies of men.

As a result, the [Arcane Tower] decided to opt for discrecy and isolation.

Using apprentices as emissaries, it would only seldomly help kingdoms in exchange for favours...

In the grand scheme of things, Greem was just a mere pawn.

In this world, you could only understand and influence the grand plan if you were powerful. Otherwise, you could only accept your fate and be commanded by more powerful entities.