"You… ... what are you talking about?"

Benjamin shook his head and sighed.

"You should stop the act." He quietly looked at the king, "What happened during this short period of time? Your majesty, I do not understand why you would make this choice."

He was very disappointed.

He was supposed to deal with the Mages Freemasonry, but, after just a month or so, the king had completely switched sides and now favored them over Benjamin. It was really disappointing.

He had initially even suspected that the man before him was an impostor. However, the system checked the database and confirmed that he was indeed the current king of Ferelden. Unless this world had cloning technology, he could not be an imposter.

Then what can Benjamin say?

The only thing that made him feel better was that the water elements told him that other than Aldrich, the place was empty. There was no need to worry about other mages or the threat of an ambush.

But this also made Benjamin suspicious.

Was Aldrich overly confident? Or... was he hiding something?

While Benjamin was thinking, the king became exceptionally silent. He now looked very puzzled and had his head bowed toward the ground, his regal att.i.tude all but gone.

Suddenly, a voice came from outside of the window and answered for the King.

"Because our Majesty had no choice."

A gust of wind blew the windows open. Aldrich was wearing a dark long robe as he glided into the room.

"Mage Benjamin, we meet again." He looked at Benjamin with a pleasant grin.

"Mage Aldrich." Benjamin calmly said, "Do you know, there have been moments when I wondered if you were a good man or not. Unfortunately, I was disappointed."

Aldrich shook his head, "Everyone follows different paths. You might think that I'm a bad guy, but I personally think I'm doing the right thing."

"Then we have nothing to talk about." Benjamin sneered then turned and look at the king, "Your majesty, are you not planning to justify anything?"

Even if they were to fight, it will only happen later. Right now, what he wanted to know now was what had happened.

However, the king did not say anything and once again Aldrich was the one who answered Benjamin.

"My majesty does not need to justify himself." Aldrich stretched out his hands as if preaching, "He simply chose the right side. It’s so naïve for you to think that you could change anything after just a month."

Benjamin replied, "I have changed many things."

Aldrich smiled contemptuously and said, "Perhaps. But the outcome has been fixed from the moment we took the Princess."

Hearing this, Benjamin frowned.

Did they do something to the Princess?

"What we did is beyond you." Aldrich confidently said, "When we took the princess, we completed a ceremony on her. Although she is still a naïve little girl, we can make her unconsciously do a lot of things for us."

Benjamin heard this and looked at the king, "So, were you controlling the king in the same way? "

"No, we can only influence the minds of children who have not yet matured." Aldrich shook his head, "But we have other methods."

He walked to the king's side, stretched out his hand and swept the King’s fringe aside. The king had a humiliated expression but kept his eyes shut and did not resist in any way.

Benjamin was stunned by what he was seeing.

He noticed that there was something in the middle of the king's forehead. When he looked at it closely, he realized that it was a small silver cross. He did not know what method they were using, but the cross had been deeply engraved in his flesh as if it were a birthmark.

Seeing this, Benjamin felt chills running through his body.

"This is our newly developed Divine Arts tool; although it can’t control human’s behavior, it can easily take a person’s life." Aldrich smiled, "Why are you surprised? Since you are from Havenwright, surely you would have heard of our ability. "

... From Havenwright?

Benjamin's expression changed.

He had been recognized?

Aldrich continued, "Benjamin? Really interesting. Grant Lithur, although you are blessed with G.o.d-given talent, you are willing to lower yourself and choose to become a mage. Not to mention use your brother's name to deceive others. G.o.d would be very disappointed."

Benjamin merely grunted. He was too lazy to defend his ident.i.ty.

In all honesty, it was no surprise that he had been recognized. He was the number one suspect on the church’s most wanted list. His portrait would have had no doubt reached the hands of Aldrich.

However, Aldrich was like Pandora’s Box, once he started talking, he would not stop.

"Do you know how excited I have been ever since I found out that you were the gifted one?", He looked overly pa.s.sionate as he spoke, "I think it must be G.o.d's will - since you’re the greatest sinner in the world! And I, a man who was born full of sin, now has the chance to repent."

Benjamin sarcastically replied, "So what now? Do you want to kill me?"

"Yes. By killing you, it will wash away all of my sins as a mage." Aldrich said while nodding, "I was planning to only kill you next month – by preparing a whole ceremony and letting you die slowly while you bathed in holy grace. However, you not only secretly contacted the King but even discovered that I was hiding outside. Because of this, I have no choice but to end your life now. "

Hearing this, Benjamin sneered and shook his head.

No wonder there wasn’t any ambush outside, he had not planned to kill Benjamin yet.

Benjamin could not help but think that if he did not expose him just now, Aldrich would most probably have let him leave safely.

That’s a pity…

"Do you honestly think that you have the ability to keep me here?" Benjamin said annoyedly.

Aldrich laughed loudly.

"As expected from G.o.d’s favorite son - speaking so confidently." He said while he wiped away tears of laughter, "I know of what you did in the Imperial Capital, but I also know that was not your own strength. You sold your soul to the devil to temporarily gain such great power."

...

So that was how the church explained the water ball?

Benjamin shook his head.

"Alright then, you can go ahead and try."