The siblings looked at each other and said doubtfully, "But… The scene you’ve just described definitely sounds like the manifestation of ancestral spirits, as written in a book. Their spirits will latch on to the body of some creature, and they will have an extremely strong ability to control the elements."
Benjamin raised his eyebrows.
He had his reservations about the phrase "extremely strong"; everything else, however, was rather spot on. This seemed to be a special approach that the worshipper across the sea had developed, getting the spirit to unleash a different effect.
So… What was the difference between their methods as compared to Benjamin’s?
Thinking this, he suddenly opened his mouth and asked in a provocative manner, "If I let you do whatever you want to this spirit, would you be able to research and figure out this ‘ancestral spirit taming’ method?"
"This… We can’t do it."
"Just try it. Our mages’ methods are very deficient on this sort of spiritual beings, and I suppose it would also be very difficult to find out anything this way," Benjamin advised, "You have received the most proper training of psychic powers, you would definitely be able to make some discovery in this area."
Hearing this, the two siblings turned around to look at the spirit behind the glass covers and finally decided to nod their heads.
Benjamin turned around to leave, feeling satisfied.
He had given these two people the authority to freely enter and exit the building where they did research on spirits of the dead and had introduced the concept of psychic powers to the others in the building. Up until then, psychic powers and spirits of the dead were both secrets hidden in the academy that only a few people knew of. However, Benjamin guessed that the matter of the spirits of the dead would probably be exposed a step before psychic powers.
Even if their research on the spirits of the dead was exposed, the Church would not be able to use the powers from there, so it did not matter.
And so, the academy had settled down for the moment. The research on various subjects advanced together, but there were temporarily no huge breakthroughs. Even after the old man had extracted the remains containing the aura of death from the carcass, he had not been able to discover anything else from them.
Benjamin still had to wait until the holidays had come around and the mages of the academy had some free time before he could pay another visit to the netherworld.
Other than that, the early structures of the academy’s business had been set up. The first batch of the cooperating businesses had completed their shops; more than ten franchises had been opened up in various places in the three countries. The responses remained to be seen, but even right now, the academy was already receiving an income of a few hundred gold pieces daily.
Benjamin had thought that the days before the semester ended would be spent settling such miscellaneous matters, but he had not expected that, after half a month, there would be a surprise guest in the director’s office.
"Director Benjamin, I have admired your reputation for a long time."
Seeing the peaceful face revealed after the robe had been taken off, and the cross hanging on his chest, this person was, without a doubt, a priest.
Benjamin sat on the chair, watching the other person thoughtfully.
"A priest coming over to my territory in the Academy of Magic. You have guts," He spoke slowly, "Who sent you here? Grant? Or have you decided to betray your so-called faith, to become a mage specializing in the light element?"
The priest lowered his head, speaking without a change in expression, "His Highness the Pope has sent me."
"Oh? What has he sent you here for? Does he feel that if I kill another priest, I would be punished by the heavens above? So, are you sent here to sacrifice yourself?"
"Director, you are funny," The priest was completely unabashed by the sarcasm and threat in Benjamin’s words, and continued to speak, "Some time ago, we have lost something extremely important. We guessed that it is very likely to be in your hands, so we have come over to inquire about it."
Hearing that, Benjamin’s heart moved.
…It was the key.
Realizing this, his feeling at the moment was one of surprise.
Could such a huge church be forced to this? The key was of such a crucial importance to them, and they had not been able to stop them at the borders. In the end, they had sent a priest over to beg for it in a low voice.
Benjamin almost wanted to laugh.
"What thing is this? Your Church can’t take care of your own things, why are you coming over and asking me about it for?" He, however, put on an innocent look, asking as such.
"Is that so?" The priest took a deep breath, as though he was somewhat irritated by Benjamin’s words, "Then half a month ago, who could have been the one who had gone on a killing spree in the Kingdom of Helius, killing hundreds of our priests and holy knights?"
Benjamin put up his hands, faking a surprised look, "Really, now? That’s powerful… But I really do not know. If you find the man, please let me know. I must reward that hero with at least tens of thousands gold pieces, to express the gratitude in my heart."
"You…"
The priest was at a loss for words; it seemed that this messenger’s professional competence was nothing to crow about.
Seeing this, Benjamin shook his head.
"Enough. Get out of here," He opened up his palm; a few snowflakes floated above it, gathering and dispersing continuously, "Since you have been rather polite, coming in here with no magical instruments, I will spare your life. Please do not say or do anything outrageous when you leave, or else…"
Saying this, he smiled and stopped there. The snowflakes on his palm had turned into an intricate ice sculpture, dancing in midair ominously.
"No, that item is very important to us. I will not leave," The priest steeled his gaze, saying, "It is of no use to you. If you are willing to make a trade, we are able to pay the price."
"Price?’ Benjamin gave a cold laugh, saying, "Are you still worthy of your faith? Mages are the manifestation of the devil, you are now making a deal with the devil himself!"
"You don’t have to worry about this. Just return it to us."
Benjamin shook his head, saying, "What price are you willing to pay?"
"Various elemental crystals, a total of one hundred," The priest raised his chin, speaking slowly, "In addition, we will call back all the spies we have set in every country. Is this sufficient?"
In his mind, Benjamin rolled his eyes.
"Who do you intend to dismiss with those petty things?" He could not be bothered to continue acting and said, "Do you really think I do not know what that piece of leaf represents? The door into another world, the inheritance of the Church, the deep secret of St. Peter’s Cathedral… Save it, I know more than you think."
As expected, after speaking of all these relevant information, the priest had an alarmed expression.
"You… How do you know?"
Benjamin spoke expressionlessly, "From a source, one which you will never think of."
"..."
The priest clenched his fist, and did not say anything for a moment; it was probably because the conditions he had laid out from the very beginning were not worthy of the value of the key, and he was unable to come up with better terms, therefore he had fallen into a very awkward situation.
Seeing this, Benjamin was silent for a moment, before suddenly speaking: "An interesting sincerity… You do know that your pope murdered his own father himself, right?"
The siblings looked at each other and said doubtfully, "But… The scene you’ve just described definitely sounds like the manifestation of ancestral spirits, as written in a book. Their spirits will latch on to the body of some creature, and they will have an extremely strong ability to control the elements."
Benjamin raised his eyebrows.
He had his reservations about the phrase "extremely strong"; everything else, however, was rather spot on. This seemed to be a special approach that the worshipper across the sea had developed, getting the spirit to unleash a different effect.
So… What was the difference between their methods as compared to Benjamin’s?
Thinking this, he suddenly opened his mouth and asked in a provocative manner, "If I let you do whatever you want to this spirit, would you be able to research and figure out this ‘ancestral spirit taming’ method?"
"This… We can’t do it."
"Just try it. Our mages’ methods are very deficient on this sort of spiritual beings, and I suppose it would also be very difficult to find out anything this way," Benjamin advised, "You have received the most proper training of psychic powers, you would definitely be able to make some discovery in this area."
Hearing this, the two siblings turned around to look at the spirit behind the glass covers and finally decided to nod their heads.
Benjamin turned around to leave, feeling satisfied.
He had given these two people the authority to freely enter and exit the building where they did research on spirits of the dead and had introduced the concept of psychic powers to the others in the building. Up until then, psychic powers and spirits of the dead were both secrets hidden in the academy that only a few people knew of. However, Benjamin guessed that the matter of the spirits of the dead would probably be exposed a step before psychic powers.
Even if their research on the spirits of the dead was exposed, the Church would not be able to use the powers from there, so it did not matter.
And so, the academy had settled down for the moment. The research on various subjects advanced together, but there were temporarily no huge breakthroughs. Even after the old man had extracted the remains containing the aura of death from the carcass, he had not been able to discover anything else from them.
Benjamin still had to wait until the holidays had come around and the mages of the academy had some free time before he could pay another visit to the netherworld.
Other than that, the early structures of the academy’s business had been set up. The first batch of the cooperating businesses had completed their shops; more than ten franchises had been opened up in various places in the three countries. The responses remained to be seen, but even right now, the academy was already receiving an income of a few hundred gold pieces daily.
Benjamin had thought that the days before the semester ended would be spent settling such miscellaneous matters, but he had not expected that, after half a month, there would be a surprise guest in the director’s office.
"Director Benjamin, I have admired your reputation for a long time."
Seeing the peaceful face revealed after the robe had been taken off, and the cross hanging on his chest, this person was, without a doubt, a priest.
Benjamin sat on the chair, watching the other person thoughtfully.
"A priest coming over to my territory in the Academy of Magic. You have guts," He spoke slowly, "Who sent you here? Grant? Or have you decided to betray your so-called faith, to become a mage specializing in the light element?"
The priest lowered his head, speaking without a change in expression, "His Highness the Pope has sent me."
"Oh? What has he sent you here for? Does he feel that if I kill another priest, I would be punished by the heavens above? So, are you sent here to sacrifice yourself?"
"Director, you are funny," The priest was completely unabashed by the sarcasm and threat in Benjamin’s words, and continued to speak, "Some time ago, we have lost something extremely important. We guessed that it is very likely to be in your hands, so we have come over to inquire about it."
Hearing that, Benjamin’s heart moved.
…It was the key.
Realizing this, his feeling at the moment was one of surprise.
Could such a huge church be forced to this? The key was of such a crucial importance to them, and they had not been able to stop them at the borders. In the end, they had sent a priest over to beg for it in a low voice.
Benjamin almost wanted to laugh.
"What thing is this? Your Church can’t take care of your own things, why are you coming over and asking me about it for?" He, however, put on an innocent look, asking as such.
"Is that so?" The priest took a deep breath, as though he was somewhat irritated by Benjamin’s words, "Then half a month ago, who could have been the one who had gone on a killing spree in the Kingdom of Helius, killing hundreds of our priests and holy knights?"
Benjamin put up his hands, faking a surprised look, "Really, now? That’s powerful… But I really do not know. If you find the man, please let me know. I must reward that hero with at least tens of thousands gold pieces, to express the gratitude in my heart."
"You…"
The priest was at a loss for words; it seemed that this messenger’s professional competence was nothing to crow about.
Seeing this, Benjamin shook his head.
"Enough. Get out of here," He opened up his palm; a few snowflakes floated above it, gathering and dispersing continuously, "Since you have been rather polite, coming in here with no magical instruments, I will spare your life. Please do not say or do anything outrageous when you leave, or else…"
Saying this, he smiled and stopped there. The snowflakes on his palm had turned into an intricate ice sculpture, dancing in midair ominously.
"No, that item is very important to us. I will not leave," The priest steeled his gaze, saying, "It is of no use to you. If you are willing to make a trade, we are able to pay the price."
"Price?’ Benjamin gave a cold laugh, saying, "Are you still worthy of your faith? Mages are the manifestation of the devil, you are now making a deal with the devil himself!"
"You don’t have to worry about this. Just return it to us."
Benjamin shook his head, saying, "What price are you willing to pay?"
"Various elemental crystals, a total of one hundred," The priest raised his chin, speaking slowly, "In addition, we will call back all the spies we have set in every country. Is this sufficient?"
In his mind, Benjamin rolled his eyes.
"Who do you intend to dismiss with those petty things?" He could not be bothered to continue acting and said, "Do you really think I do not know what that piece of leaf represents? The door into another world, the inheritance of the Church, the deep secret of St. Peter’s Cathedral… Save it, I know more than you think."
As expected, after speaking of all these relevant information, the priest had an alarmed expression.
"You… How do you know?"
Benjamin spoke expressionlessly, "From a source, one which you will never think of."
"..."
The priest clenched his fist, and did not say anything for a moment; it was probably because the conditions he had laid out from the very beginning were not worthy of the value of the key, and he was unable to come up with better terms, therefore he had fallen into a very awkward situation.
Seeing this, Benjamin was silent for a moment, before suddenly speaking: "An interesting sincerity… You do know that your pope murdered his own father himself, right?"
