Even if he settled them in other nations, Grant would just send the Church to assassinate them to prevent any secret from being leaked. And the academy was in need of laborers. Having them was no concern at all.
— This was probably the only thing Benjamin was able to do for the Lithur family.
He couldn’t possibly charge to the Church and single-handedly challenge Grant to avenge Claude’s death. Truth be told, following Claude’s pattern of thinking, even if it was avenging his death, he would never want to see his two sons at each other’s throats.
However, Benjamin was fated to stand against Grant.
But besides this, he had also taken care of some matters, in place of the Lithur family.
"Gather the current intelligence, and try to search for a sixty or seventy year old lady within the Kingdom of Helius... or within every nation." Benjamin left an order to the black ops, "I will manage a portrait and you guys will seek out based on that portrait. But you need to be aware that this old lady has her mood swings. Once you have gotten a lead, do not contact her. You just need to inform me."
The person in charge nodded and enquired, "This old lady... Is she a mage?"
"No..." Benjamin frowned as he measured, "What she really is, I’m not too sure myself. Anyway, don’t need to bother about this. Just investigate first."
"Yes, sir."
The person in charge bowed and dismissed himself.
Benjamin was left in the room, grabbing his chin while deep in his thoughts.
Old Madame...
The last member of the Lithur household, apart from the two siblings and that cast away mother, was the old Madame. Honestly speaking, the time of her disappearance was a sensitive period, which was when Benjamin escaped the capital. Benjamin also believed that if the old Madame was still with the family, perhaps... such tragedy wouldn’t even happened in the first place.
Where the hell did she go?
More importantly, thinking back to the old madame’s actions, Benjamin felt there were more secrets to uncover with her. Perhaps it was as suspected by the back ops’ person in charge, she…. Could be a mage?
Benjamin has this sense of inconceivability.
If she was indeed a mage, wouldn’t it be too implausible she was able to camp out in the capital for so many years?
"Have you analyzed the old madame’s Spiritual Energy?" Benjamin couldn’t help but ask in his head.
"I hadn’t especially taken note before but the data still remains." The System listlessly responded, "Her Spiritual Energy was average, just as a regular old person would be like."
"Alright then."
Flipping through his thoughts, Benjamin decided to first put this issue aside. It didn’t matter how many questionable points there was on the old Madame, the Lithur family had already fallen and he needed to assume the duty in searching for her.
Completing these tasks, he took a deep breath and walked out the room.
Although he wasn’t around the academy in the past few days but the research on the runes’ method of meditation was still ongoing. Benjamin did not allow the sudden change of events to affect his mood. They needed to continue on with this research to build their foundations so that they will have a chance to overturn the Church.
— Benjamin felt that the large barrier that suddenly appeared in Havenwright was similar to the defense formation of the runes.
Who knew how much more the Church had up their sleeve? Before the big showdown, they must prepare enough trump cards to take down this deeply rooted huge monster.
He swiftly arrived at the building of the runes research team.
"Hello, director."
Entering the research lab, the mages inside nodded at him. Benjamin paced around the room. Most of them were meditating. He could feel that the elements in this room were active where twenty-something of them were absorbed in their runes.
The room was carved with the new affinity formation that gathered the elements here better than the outdoors. A few elemental crystals were placed on the surface in a pattern to provide more elements.
After observing for a moment, Benjamin turned and asked the mage besides him, "Right, where’s Mage Randall? I have not seen him."
"He went to the loo, and should be back any time now."
Benjamin’s brows were in a knot.
Perhaps he was overthinking it but the talk about the loo would always get him thinking about hiding in toilets and checking up on the mobile phone for answers to exams. Moreover, using the law of meditation on runes could be the biggest breakthrough in the world of mages. This level of secret could seduce people into malicious intentions.
Previously he was on all around the clock surveillance so there was no possibility of leakage. But he has left for a while now, although there were others who kept watch, one would never know.
After giving a thought, Benjamin turned and casually walked towards the toilet. He then activated the water element sensing technique...
Entering the range, a scene entered his head.
— An old man stood by the window sill and held onto a black bird. In his hand was a small parchment of paper which he tied to the foot of the bird. He then released the bird to fly out the window.
At that instant, Benjamin’s face darkened.
Holy fuck, he didn’t think his thoughts came true...
"Sir, and where is this letter being sent to?"
In the shortest amount of time, the water elemental domain was initiated, he quickly flew out the building and froze the bird into an ice sculpture. He grabbed it in his head and turned back. Still floating outside the window, he glared at this Mage Randall with utmost disdain.
At that very moment, the other party looked as if he had seen a ghost.
"Di-Director Benjamin... When did you return?"
Benjamin let out a cold snort.
He kept a low profile on his return. Most of the people in the academy were not aware. Hence, it lowered the guard this fella and allowing him to be exposed of his information leaking actions.
"Mage Randall, I am disappointed in you." He stared at Randall’s guilty eyes, pacing himself, "I remember that you agreed that the secret of the runes will never see the light of day."
"I... I am not spilling the beans. What is written in the letter has nothing to do with that. If you don’t believe, you can take a look at it."
Benjamin snorted and held the sculptured black bird up.
"Alright, then let’s see what was actually written then."
Taking down the paper tied to the bird, he unfolded the scroll. During the process, he even realized that this black bird was actually a pigeon that was dyed with unknown substance so as to not draw attention.
These people really took great pains to hide this information.
The second he opened the parchment, Mage Randall suddenly whipped out a magic potion and smashed it on the window sill. Instantly, green gas diffused around the window. Benjamin was alarmed and summoned a layer of water bubble to block the poisonous gas on the outside.
"Despicable fella..."
Although his visuals were hindered but with the water element sensing technique, he could see that Mage Randall had already turned and took flight, escaping through another window.