Benjamin stayed up and flew all night, arriving at Riley City around noon the next day.
From the beginning, he was prepared that his name and portrait would be posted on the city gate for people to see. He even felt that Aldrich might issue an injunction and seal off Riley City and not allow anyone to enter or leave.
However, he found that he was wrong.
Riley City was as lively as ever, with nothing out of the ordinary.
With doubts in his heart, Benjamin re-disguised himself, entered the city, and inquired around the city. Strangely, such shocking news as the king's death was not heard in the city at all.
how come
It was already noon the next day, and the transmission of information in this world was not that slow. As one of the most prosperous cities in Frieden, there shouldn't be no reaction here.
Could it be... that Aldrich kept it secret
Benjamin thought about it and felt that it was not impossible. The situation in the palace was in chaos at that time. The most powerful person present was Aldrich, who probably took control of the palace and blocked the news of the king's death.
After all, the king's identity is the most critical key to the church's plans.
Nine times out of ten... This guy wants to sit in the palace, seal up the news of the king's death, declare to the outside world that the king is ill or something, and then exercise power as an agent, at least to control the situation and not cause another incident such as Frieden's split again.
After that, he might be free to deal with Benjamin.
Thinking of this, Benjamin also nodded.
Although there is no evidence, if in a few days there is still no national mourning for the death of the king, then his conjecture can basically be said to be verified.
However, Benjamin was not relieved.
The purpose of killing the king was to disrupt the situation in Frieden and prevent Aldrich from controlling the country. And now, although the king is unable to show up, Freden has actually fallen into the hands of the church. Even if those plans are delayed for a few years, they will still be implemented.
He had to stop this.
With all kinds of thoughts in his heart, Benjamin quickly found the secret code left for him by his mage. In the end, twenty-three veteran-level mages met in a remote abandoned house in the city.
"How is the situation now?" Benjamin asked.
"There is no special situation." Wallis replied, "Everyone hid and did not reveal their traces. As for the one hundred and fifty people, we have separately informed that tonight, they will be in an abandoned warehouse in the north of the city. Assemble here.”
Hearing this, Benjamin nodded: "Well done."
How to deal with these one hundred and fifty people is already a very difficult problem at the moment. They have just been recruited and have no cohesion. It may be a bit difficult for them to follow Benjamin and fight against the superiors.
However, Benjamin would also feel it would be a pity if they were to be disbanded like this.
How to do it…
Benjamin was lost in thought. When other mages saw this, they also looked at each other. Finally, Wallis spoke, interrupting Benjamin's thinking.
"What happened?" he asked with a puzzled look on his face.
Benjamin came back to his senses, looked at the eyes of everyone looking at him, and couldn't help but sigh.
After a moment of silence, he finally spoke and told everyone everything he knew in the past few days - the church controlled the Master Freemasonry behind the scenes, wanted to turn Frieden into the next Kingdom of Hori, and the news of the king's death...
After hearing this news, even if they were as receptive as them, they could not help but be stunned and speechless for a long time.
"...Teacher, did you really kill the king?"
Benjamin nodded and said: "He has completely turned to the side of the church. If he continues to live, we will never have a peaceful life."
But Laila looked envious and said, "It's so awesome. It seems so fun to kill the king."
“…”
Andy took a deep breath and looked a little uneasy: "They will definitely come back with revenge. What should we do? Are we going to start running away again?"
Hearing this, the other mages looked at Benjamin with doubts, obviously also concerned about this issue.
Benjamin shook his head.
"We are no longer a bunch of half-baked mages." He smiled and patted Andy on the shoulder, "What's more, the king just died, so they must be very busy. As long as we act carefully, they can't do anything to us. "
To be honest, after the previous training in escaping, everyone's underground party skills are almost perfected. On this day alone, they each found a secluded place to live in Riley City. Some of them even made up a new identity for themselves, which was unlikely to be found.
And when they heard that they didn't have to flee again, everyone nodded happily.
"How powerful is that Aldrich?" Joanna looked a little unconvinced, "Can't we just find a group of people and kill him directly?"
Benjamin shook his head and said: "It would be nice if it was that simple. If we really want to fight in a group, he definitely has more people than us. What's more, simply killing him will not help the current situation. On the contrary, it may make the situation worse." We are pitting ourselves against the entire country."
"Then what should we do?"
Benjamin thought for a moment and said, "We have to defeat him."
"Defeat him?" Everyone was confused.
"Aldrich represents the entire force of Freemasonry, and is also the chess piece laid by the church in Freden." Benjamin nodded, and then said, "We must defeat him completely and destroy their power in Freden." The foundation they have climbed on will prevent them from getting up again. Otherwise, everything will happen again."
In other words, they had to wrest control of Freden away from the Mages and Freemasons.
Hearing this, everyone looked at each other in shock.
"This...sounds like it's much harder than killing that Aldrich."
Benjamin continued to nod.
The difficulty was indeed quite high, but everyone's expressions did not appear to be very fearful after being surprised.
"Tell us what to do." Augustine asked, and everyone nodded, with a determined look in their eyes.
Benjamin smiled, clapped his fists, and said: "First of all... we have to let everyone in Freden see clearly the true face of the Mage Freemasonry, especially the mages, so that they can stand on the same side as us. "
After hearing this, everyone looked at each other and nodded thoughtfully.
In this way, with his concluding words, the secret meeting came to an end. Everyone left one after another and hid in various corners of Riley City. Using Benjamin's words as a guideline, they began to prepare for the next plan.
They began writing a pamphlet.
Initially, in the Kingdom of Horli, Benjamin was deeply moved by the mage version of the Bible that Michelle threw to Benjamin. That's not just a rudimentary spellbook that tells an alternate version of the origin story. More importantly, that book passed down magic in the Kingdom of Hori, arguing that magic is not a sin, but a talent worthy of respect.
The mages in Freden have been lax for too long and need a different booklet.
Benjamin decided to call it the "Declaration of Free Magic."