Arcadia's Ignoble Knight: The Sorceress' Knights Tournament

Chapter 52

The aftermath of the attack on the Axium's Colosseum had left Sylvia de Floresca with mountains of paperwork, which explained why, for the past several days, she'd been stuck behind a desk.

Looking over the reports, Sylvia carefully read all of the details of each one. Unlike others, who hurried to get their work done, she understood the importance of being thorough. Also, having lived for as long as she had, she knew that patience was a virtue during instances such as this.

Most of the reports were about the reconstruction of Axium. The city around the epicenter had suffered terrible damage thanks to her final attack. Had there been any other option, she would have never used such a powerful spell in the middle of a city. Unfortunately, she'd been up against a spirit—albeit, one that had been greatly weakened due to having been forcibly summoned from its plane of existence—and therefore, her options had been limited.

The damage itself was going to be expensive, according to the report, which stated that the total reparations would be close to five-million drachma. Naturally, all of these expenses would be paid by the council coffers. They had the money thanks to their methods of taxation, which placed most of the burden on the nobility instead of the commonwealth.

The real problem lay not in the damage done to the city, but in the number of injuries and deaths. At last count, there had been around 5,000 people injured and over 1,000 dead. Not only were the deaths regrettable, but it had instilled a sense of fear in the citizens. What's more, it not only left them feeling insecure, but cast doubt about the abilities of the Sorceress Council.

Seven sorceresses had been present at this tournament—eight if she included Elincia. Despite this, someone had not only managed to successfully launch an attack on the stadium, but they'd also placed a barrier around the sorceresses, keeping them from responding for 15 precious minutes. Fortunately, Caspian and the other knight candidates had been able to evacuate the civilians with minimal casualties.

At least there is one good thing to have come out of this.

Caspian's esteem among the commonwealth and some of the nobility had risen. According to the report that she was reading, he had been responsible for saving many lives and directing the other candidates to battle against the automatons, which had since been designated Samurai.

They remind me of the Peacekeepers from Takama no Hara.

Takama no Hara was known as the land of honor and tradition. Their armor reflected their believes. The Peacekeepers in that area called themselves Samurai, a title held by those who believed in upholding honor above all else.

Rumors were stirring within Arcadia. They were nothing but whispers now, but several people believed that Takama no Hara had been the ones who'd launched the attack. This troubled Sylvia a great deal, since it cast doubt upon one of her own sorceresses.

Could Akane have been involved in their creation? But why? And for what purpose?

There was no evidence to suggest that Akane was involved. She seemed just as surprised by the automatons as everyone else. Then again, she could have been acting. There was no way to know for sure.

Either way, I think I shall have to keep an eye on Akane and Takama no Hara from now on.

Even with her decision made, those Samurai were going to be a large problem. A thorough analysis of their internal components had revealed that these automatons had an incredibly complex matrix, and they were embedded with a large number of spirit crystals. They were also mass produced creations, or so Karen believed.

Mass production was a recent term used to describe the process of creating large quantities of magical technology with the least amount of effort. A decade ago, magitech was created by hand, and crafters who were capable of building magical technology were in short supply. Now there were assembly lines where dozens of people worked on a single step in the process to create magictech. It was impressive and even a little frightening. Sylvia actually regretted letting Karen reveal magical technology to the world.