Chapter 839 — Why Not Make Use of It

Lord Beaumel sat there quietly, doing his utmost to pretend he was some piece of furnishings native to the room. The Empire's ruler sat across from him, wearing a calm smile that Beaumel could not read, and he heard the other's voice come through: "This 'Outlander Wanderer'—is that a title he gave himself, or a name you people gave him?"

"Apart from displaying formidable psychic power and revealing those 'memory fragments,' does he show any other inhuman traits?"

"Have you ever come into direct contact with him?"

Lord Beaumel licked his somewhat dry lips and answered Luo Yan Augustus's questions honestly, but what he could answer with any accuracy remained limited—as a convert drawn in by knowledge, his rank among the Sleepers was not high, and within that stern and mysterious cult, a secular title could not be fully converted into standing in the order. To put it plainly, the benefits a mere "lord" could bring were not enough to lift him into the sect's middle tier, and a believer like him knew of the "Outlander Wanderer" only through the small amount of intelligence that had been made public.

In fact, it was not until the order for the great evacuation came down that he learned the Outlander Wanderer had already infiltrated the mind network.

Only after the lord had poured out everything in his belly did Luo Yan Augustus give a slight nod: "Good, Beaumel. You made the right choice."

Beaumel hastily lowered his head. "Y-yes, Your Majesty."

"But I am still curious why you came to inform on them," Luo Yan said, looking at Beaumel as though asking casually. "You clearly knew the risks, and even setting aside the cult's reckoning with traitors, you—a Typhon noble—falling into a dark cult is in itself a grievous crime, yet you came of your own accord and confessed all of it to me. Why?"

Lord Beaumel lifted his head and with difficulty met Luo Yan Augustus's calm gaze. He opened his mouth several times before he finally had the courage to put words together: "Your Majesty, I joined the Sleepers only for hidden knowledge, but I never meant to betray you for it—I know that saying this now carries no persuasive weight, but if I must choose between an unspeakable demon god and the Empire, I would still rather die on Typhon's side..."

As he spoke, bitterness welled up in Lord Beaumel's heart despite himself. Years ago, when he first came into contact with the Sleepers' mysterious knowledge and grasped their formidable psychic power, he had never imagined he would sink so deep into this darkness. The hidden cults of this world were not limited to the Sleepers; far too many shadowy bands of supernaturals proclaimed their eerie, sinister doctrines and announced that they held dealings with unspeakable powers, but most were merely swindles to lure the ignorant. He had once assumed the Sleepers were no different, and believed himself shrewd enough to obtain the knowledge and power he wanted from a dark cult without being drawn into their fanatical, benighted "myth of horrors." But who could have known...

Who could have known they were playing for real—and that the unspeakable power would come knocking at his door in the blink of an eye!

Windsor Mapel gave Lord Beaumel a glance tinged with pity and said, shaking her head, "Too many people harbor the same notion as you, Mr. Beaumel. Such people trust too much in their luck and their 'caution,' believing that so long as they are careful, knowledge and power may be had for the taking—yet nearly all of them have paid a steep price for it."

Thinking of the believers who had tried to inform before him and died, Lord Beaumel could not suppress a shudder. "I understand all of it deeply now."

"Beaumel, I will judge everything you have done fairly—the crimes you committed after throwing in with the dark cult, and the service you have rendered at this moment," Luo Yan Augustus said. "But before that, I need you to do a great many things, and perhaps that may make amends for your errors.

"As for now, you may go and rest in the next room—rest assured, Lady Windsor Mapel can guarantee your safety. So long as you stay within the Obsidian Palace, you need not fear for your life."

Lord Beaumel rose excitedly and bowed in salute. "Ten thousand thanks for your mercy, Your Majesty."

After the court noble had left the reception room, only Luo Yan and Windsor Mapel remained; the royal head maid in black hair and black gown had at some point already departed.

"Your Majesty," Windsor Mapel said, looking to Emperor Luo Yan, "I have already sent word to the duty archmages of the Royal Mages' Association, ordering them to transmit the intelligence to the relay towers across the land at once, so that every stronghold of the Association may begin hunting the Long Dusk cultists."

"Very good. Also contact the regional governor of Orlandel and have him begin an investigation at once," Luo Yan said with a nod. "Moreover, the intelligence Beaumel holds is not extensive, and the Sleepers everywhere have likely begun their evacuation by now—most of those strongholds are probably already empty. The key to the hunt, then, lies in intercepting the cultists who are withdrawing..."

"Their destination is Cecil," Windsor Mapel said. "The Cecil side will surely have made preparations to receive them—indeed, some may already have crossed the border by now."

"Send warnings to the relay towers nearest the border: have them intercept and inspect all persons and vehicles entering Cecil territory, especially along the newest railway lines. And remind them that a reasonably powerful mage must be present at every checkpoint—the Long Dusk cultists possess supernatural power in the psychic domain, and checkpoints manned by ordinary folk are all too easily deceived and breached..."

Luo Yan spoke on, and after arranging a series of border interception and inspection measures, he fell briefly silent.

"In addition, we need to draft a proclamation of amnesty and resettlement..."

Windsor Mapel's eyebrows rose instinctively. "A proclamation of amnesty and resettlement?"

Luo Yan nodded. "Sleepers who are willing to return to normal society and willingly swear loyalty to the Empire—the Augustus family will pardon their past crimes. So long as they are willing to keep the order and cause no further harm, the Royal Mages' Association or the Imperial Artificers' Association will consider taking them in."

"Your Majesty," Windsor Mapel could not help saying, "do you truly mean to pardon those Sleepers so lightly? To pardon an entire cult of the Ashen Hades on such a scale, and even admit them into the Mages' Association and the Artificers' Association... I fear that..."

"They are withdrawing westward, and the Cecil Empire has chosen to take them in. Why do you suppose that is?" Luo Yan cut Windsor off. "Lady Mapel, why do you think Gaoyang Cecil needs those Sleepers?"

Windsor Mapel had only felt instinctive confusion and resistance at Luo Yan's astonishing order; now, with this small prompting, a thoughtful look came over her face, and the threads of the matter gradually took shape in her mind: "...Gaoyang Cecil is a ruler—at least for now. He would not take in the Sleepers simply because they are his 'kin,' unless doing so served his rule..."

"The mind network... an incredible technology, is it not?" Luo Yan said mildly. "Do you remember those rune combinations we found in that 'arcane-net terminal'?"

Windsor Mapel's brows drew together, little by little.

"The Sleepers are more than an Ashen Hades cult—they also possess advanced technology. Perhaps Gaoyang Cecil sought them out for precisely this from the very beginning," Luo Yan said. "And what I regret and lament most is that those Sleepers were right under my nose, yet I was a step behind him—it was slow, entrenched thinking and rigid vision that cost us this treasure. Fortunately, we still have a chance to make amends.