Myths Reawakened

Red orbs lit up in the helmet, and the knight armor suddenly came to life, swinging its longsword at Wayne’s neck. Waves of roars heralded the reanimation of all the armor sets in the exhibition hall. Only when the heated currents brought about by the sword swing swept toward him did Wayne realize the unusual quality of the knightly sword.

It was a magical sword, capable of gathering the fire elements in the air!

He raised his arm to grip the blade, fingers pressing into the metal. A Knight Does Not Die with Empty Hands![1]He took the sword for himself and made a backhanded swing, bisecting the armor set that ambushed him.

The other armor sets gathered around them, forming a circle with their longswords raised. Virna and Diede unleashed their magic to defend against the enemies. With their twin telepathy, their combined power was more than the sum of their individual strengths, and fighting in concert, they blocked the dozens of armor sets.

Filomina still had her arm around Wayne’s elbow. Eyes frosty, she said, “Going after the person identifying the problem because you can’t resolve the problem? Is this how the Ministry of Magic shows your hospitality?”

“Of course not. I’m still here. Why would I put myself in danger?”

“Hmph!”

“Mina, this is a purposeful instigation. The Ministry of Magic wouldn’t attack you when it would bring nothing but trouble. It’s either the traitor or the other churches.”

Wayne proposed a few suspects. “For example, the Church of Moonlight’s allies in the Life Alliance, the Church of Darkness and Death, or the Church of Heavenly Father... Yes, it has to be the Church of Heavenly Father. Those who wield holy light are despicable. They dream of being able to expand their influence in Windsor.”

“Keep going,” Filomina scoffed sarcastically. “I’d like to hear more nonsense from you.”

Wayne shut his mouth. Even those earning a few hundred sillings wouldn’t be willing to risk their lives, and he wasn’t paid a damn silker for being a tour guide; he was already doing the ministry a favor by putting in a few words. To whitewash the ministry... Well, although he hadn’t seen the culprit, he was eighty percent sure that the ministry was the culprit. Unlike the attack at the Capital Hotel in Luzerbourg, this was another faction’s doing.

The traitor wouldn’t have made a move now. It was too late to kill the witnesses, and adding fuel to the fire would only make things worse. In the heat of the moment, the Minister of Magic might sentence the traitor to death rather than life imprisonment.

Someone believed that the Queen was being too soft, it seemed. They wanted the traitor to die without leaving behind a corpse!

Wayne corrected himself, “You’re right. Dirty politics are rampant. This ambush is meant to pressure Her Majesty.”

Filomina scoffed. She didn’t care who was trying to pressure the Windsor royal family. They shouldn’t use the Church of Moonlight as a stepping stone.

During their conversation, Virna and Diede had made quick work of the armor sets around them, throwing hostile glances at Wayne.

“Why are you looking at me? I didn’t lead them here. The Ministry of Magic made the schedule.”

Irritated, he put an arm around Filomina, warning the two foolish girls to control themselves when he had the hostage. Filomina pushed his naughty hand away, lifting her hand and drawing a line in the air. Two Pistols of Full Moon and Shortswords of Waning Moon fell from the black crack, hovering before the twins.

They grabbed the weapons and readied for more threats. It didn’t matter who was responsible for the ambush now. What mattered was that the mana disturbance was coming in tides. The ambush was far from over, and greater threats awaited.

Wayne looked at Filomina’s pocket space, hiding his envy. Only a Gold-rank mage could use their thoughts to forge a dark domain.

Dark domains came in two types: static ones and mobile ones.

Static dark domains could be considered a storage, usually hidden in the Gold-ranked mage’s home base. Creating it required a steep cost of thoughts, and after it took shape, it would be unmovable, unshakable, and immutable. Only the Gold-ranked mage who owned it could erase it—or a legendary mage. Greater power enabled one to do anything, but it wasn’t the point here.

A static dark domain cost no thoughts to maintain after its formation. Even after its owner died, it would remain. That was why a great amount of riches were often found in a Gold-ranked mage’s storage after their death.

Mobile dark domains were the opposite. Compared to the thoughts required to create one, the maintenance cost was much higher. It wasn’t cost-effective to invest too much, so most Gold-ranked mages only created a small one to store their most precious items, such as the weapons and other equipment they fought with.

The thoughts required to access the mobile dark domains were unaffected by anti-magic domains, which was why Filomina didn’t drop her magical gun back in Luzerbourg.

The weapons the twins were using appeared similar to Filomina’s, only their rarity wasn’t as high. They were likely mass-produced weapons that the Church of Moonlight provided to their armed forces.

Wayne had asked Kristen about it before. According to her, mages of the Church of Moonlight rarely used guns, much less magical guns. Filomina came from the headquarters, so it was likely that only the armed forces of the headquarters were provided with swords and guns. They weren’t popularized in other branches of the church yet.

“Why, cat got your tongue?” Filomina said icily while clutching his arm.

Without the coy mask she put on, her cold attitude suddenly made her seem so much more attractive, and Wayne was able to consider her a first love again.

“I’ll report to the church headquarters,” she said without showing any emotion. “Tell the Ministry of Magic to come up with a good excuse and prepare to give compensation!”

“Of course.” Wayne’s eyes lit up. He lowered his voice and suggested, “Since there’s no outsider around, I’ll be frank with you. We can exaggerate the damages as much as we want to demand greater compensation from the Ministry of Magic. I’ll give a statement to support you. You’ll benefit from it, and I won’t lose anything.”

Filomina’s scowl stiffened. “Be honest. Are you really the Jack who saved me that night?”

“I took the briefcase that night, remember?”

Right! Without hesitation, Filomina agreed to the suggestion and discussed how they should make their statement with Wayne. They disagreed on whether they should destroy the museum.

She insisted that they tear down the building, making the ambush as serious as possible to maximize the compensation. Wayne opposed that. They could act without restraint, but at least they had to keep up the pretense and maintain their bottom line. Otherwise, they would turn to the dark side and stop at nothing to make profits; there would be no turning back.

That made sense to Filomina. Since she didn’t want a completely shameless disciple of Moonlight, she agreed to Wayne’s plan.

The second wave of knights came. This time, in addition to the armor sets, the other items in the history exhibition hall had also been reanimated. Most absurd was an army of clay soldiers, which arrived at the battlefield with a black archaic cannon.

The twins had to push themselves harder. Wielding both their guns and swords, they moved about to protect the High Reverend and her boy toy from getting hurt.

While they fought with everything, Wayne and Filomina got into another argument.

“Only thirty percent?” Wayne was disgruntled. It was his idea and his statement to make, but he only got thirty percent and had to be Filomina’s punching bag? What was he, a beggar?

Filomina hadn’t bent over for him; why should he get on his knees for her?

“No, I want another twenty percent. If I don’t play along, you’ll get nothing.” Wayne wouldn’t budge. Fifty percent was already a discount. It was the least he deserved.

“I don’t care if I get anything,” Filomina said coolly.

Wayne glared at her. When she refused to step back, he said through clenched teeth, “Fine, Auntie Mina. I’ll take thirty percent. Consider the twenty percent as my demonstration of respect for the elderly.”

Filomina glared back at him. She wasn’t old; she just wasn’t very young. She was only born a few dozen months earlier than a twenty-year-old girl.

Even without anyone sowing discord between them, they were already at each other’s throats for the uneven distribution of swindled money.

And they hadn’t even gotten the money!

1. A reference to Fate/Zero. It’s an ability that allows the user to wield anything that can be conceptualized as a weapon. ☜