I Pioneered Scientific Magic

Within the City of Fire Oil, headquarters of the school faction.

Monroe carefully inspected the room once again, ensuring that no listening magic had been secretly set up by those wizards, before placing the crystal ball on the desk.

The red light grew increasingly intense, and a strange magical fluctuation quickly spread in all directions.

Monroe wasn't worried about the energy fluctuation alerting the wizards.

Although the entire City of Fire Oil was enchanted with detection spells, the crystal ball in his hand was essentially a magical device, which was why it passed through the previous search.

With wizards carrying various alchemical tools, the council couldn't meticulously inspect each one, nor would they risk causing discontent.

Moreover, it was quite normal for a wizard to use magic in the room, generating some magical fluctuations, with nothing suspicious about it.

However, a hint of disgust and frustration appeared on Monroe's face; he, a deputy of the Divine Punishment Legion, had fallen to the point of relying on such dark magical devices!

It was simply disgraceful!

As he pondered, the red light gradually faded, revealing a blurry image before him, vaguely recognizable as the current ruler of the Holy See—the Pope Alves!

"Under the Pope's Crown!" Monroe kneeled on one knee, excited yet respectful.

As an ordinary deputy in the Divine Punishment Legion, he usually only had the chance to see this earthly envoy of the divine during ceremonies, but now he could converse with him alone.

"These days, you haven't drawn the attention of those wizards, have you?" Pope Alves looked at Monroe kneeling before him, asking indifferently.

"I don't think so, Your Holiness." Monroe hesitated for a moment. Although he had engaged in debates and refutations during his lectures at the academy over the past week, it was all within normal limits.

In fact, due to some overly peculiar remarks by those professors, there were almost always inquiries and challenges in every class.

Not more, not less.

Monroe estimated that he probably hadn't attracted the wizards' attention yet. At least he hadn't noticed any signs of being followed or monitored when he went out.

"In that case, how much progress have you made on the task I assigned to you?" Alves asked again.

"I haven't yet found out about the location of Lord Joshua's confinement. The wizards are very vigilant; I suspect only a very few members of the council, or even the speakers, know this information."

"As for the Star of Magic, his movements are unclear. He should be staying in the City of Fire Oil recently. I've only gathered some information about him..."

At this point, Monroe felt extremely ashamed.

The Pope had placed such a heavy task in his hands out of immense trust, yet he had made no significant progress in a whole week...

After successfully infiltrating the City of Fire Oil, the wizards seemed magnanimous, not restricting anyone's freedom, but in reality, they were confined within the wizard's academy for easy monitoring.

Not to mention they had to waste a lot of time listening to those professors' nonsense.

Alves naturally understood the risks of infiltrating enemy territory, so he didn't blame Monroe. Instead, he inquired about the current situation in the City of Fire Oil, then sighed and added,

"How many of the Lord's people remain under the rule of those wizards?"

Reluctant to say so, but in a sense, they had indeed been forced to abandon the City of Fire Oil and even the entire kingdom to the control of the wizards, letting them fall into the hands of evil.

Perhaps now there were corpses littering the ground, a scene of massacre...

But I feel like they're... doing quite well?

Monroe hesitated for a moment, struggling to find words. In recent days, he had conducted some investigations, intending to expose the superficial prosperity of the City of Fire Oil, but the results surprised him.

The wizards not only were willing to 'hire' the labor of the poor for 'high wages', ensuring their three meals a day, but even the temporary recruits from the slums could enjoy tasty white bread for lunch, occasionally with a piece of fish.

With the salary of five imperial silver coins, they received treatment even better than the elite soldiers of the empire!

Monroe recounted everything he had seen and heard, concluding, "I believe these wizards are trying to corrupt the piety of the poor towards the Lord with money!"

"This is indeed noteworthy." Alves's expression became extremely serious.

If the wizards continued their cruel rule, they would be easier to deal with, but this excessive flattery, this costly appeasement, was actually undermining the foundation of the church!

Monroe added, "Moreover, they are rapidly upgrading their weapons. Every day, a large number of new weapons are being produced."

"I've also heard that these wizards are building something called a 'train,' which can transport nearly a thousand tons of goods and a legion of a thousand soldiers from any corner of the kingdom to the City of Fire Oil in a matter of hours!"

Upon hearing this, Alves's face turned extremely grim, realizing immediately the immense threat posed by this thing called a train.

This meant that the wizards would possess a terrifying war potential, able to deploy soldiers and supplies from the entire kingdom as reinforcements whenever they needed.

Just as Alves was furrowing his brows, contemplating countermeasures, Monroe suddenly spoke up.

"But in my opinion, it won't be long before the entire kingdom collapses on its own!"

"Oh?" Alves looked at Monroe with considerable surprise, wondering why he would suddenly say such a thing.

Monroe confidently explained, "The wizards are massacring the local nobles on a large scale, but they are not good at governance. They recklessly squander the wealth they plunder, allowing even the poor of the City of Fire Oil to eat meat and white bread and receive extremely high rewards..."

"Yet they do not care about cultivation and production, only greedy for more money. Now large tracts of land in the City of Fire Oil have been abandoned, and I believe the other cities in the eastern part of the kingdom under the wizards' rule are no exception!"

The more Monroe spoke, the more excited he became, and gradually, Pope Alves also understood the meaning behind his words.

The wizards, in order to gain wealth, dragged peasants from the fields into workshops to produce weapons and even more valuable alchemical creations. Such shortsighted measures were undoubtedly a path to destruction!

"The kingdom can still maintain its dignity because they have tempted traitorous merchants with money, enabling them to buy enough food from the empire. If we cut off this trade route, I dare say that within three months at most, the wizards will collapse on their own!" Monroe concluded proudly.

"This is the best news I've heard!" Alves's tightly furrowed brow immediately relaxed, and he looked admiringly at Monroe.

Indeed, he was recommended by Gustav, the commander of the Divine Punishment Legion, and he proved himself worthy.

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