When A Mage Revolts

"You... You people..."

The holy knight extended his arm and pointed the trio in disbelief. He was speechless. It was as inconceivable as seeing the sun rising from the west.

"What? Can’t recognize me?" Benjamin flashed a friendly smile, "We did, after all helped you steal away such a large crowd of magic beasts. Isn’t it a bit much to repay us for saving your lives like this?"

Perhaps they were shocked, the holy knights were still caught in this jaw dropping moment, as they mumbled on, "You... How could it be... Isn’t the ones locked up inside..."

Benjamin shook his head.

"Your prison only restricted us from using psychic powers but it can’t stop us from using magic." He flung his arm outwards, and millions of ice needles appeared and pierced these helpless holy knights in a blink of an eye.

The silent ship had now new additions of corpses.

The crew that witnessed this were all stunned.

Unaware of the flow of time, one of them finally returned to his senses. He gazed at Benjamin with fearful eyes, "You... Are you..."

"Don’t worry." Benjamin flung his arms, cutting him off, "All of the Church’s men that stand guard has been taken care of. You are the last ship I’m setting free. Nobody will be forcing you to navigate now."

The people was caught in another daze.

After a long period of silence, the older captain cautiously spoke, "... You guys are mages, right?"

"So what?" Benjamin shrugged, nodding openly, "I know you think that mages are the demon’s advocate but at an earlier crucial moment, it was mages that saved you from the octopuses’ attack."

"But..."

Benjamin wasn’t finished, he cut him off and continued, "And who disregarded your safety and forced you in this crisis ridden waters? I’m sure you remember, it’s the Church."

This exchanged had everyone on the ship speechless.

It seemed that... this mage was actually taking some sense?

They were beginning to waver. They were originally enlisted against their will and without pay. These crews had convinced themselves that they were in servitude of the lord. But after several days of seeing and hearing on the ship, they started to realize that these priests weren’t as perfect as they had imagined.

Honestly speaking, they were pretty dissatisfied themselves — Especially those arrogant holy knight prancing about on the ship.

And therefore, when the legendary evil mage appeared before them, they instead... weren’t that resentful.

"Si-Sir Mage... What do you want us to do?"

After an internal struggle, the captain finally accept their fate to serve the mage. He hesitantly asked.

"Sail the ship back. We don’t need you to do anything." Benjamin had already turned his head away and looked at the direction the crowd of the Church disappeared to.

"Back where..."

Benjamin turned back, "Surely you can’t return to Kingdom of Helius, the Church will not let you go. But if you sail to Carretas, the Church will have a hard time tracking you down."

"Ca-Carretas?"

"Yes." Benjamin threw them a nautical map, "This part of the waters lurk many magic beasts. If you leave by yourselves, you’ll bode ill rather than well. However, if you follow the route on this map, you’ll be guaranteed your safety."

The captain blankly picked up the map with his trembling hands. He opened it up and took one glance before the crew beside him rushed over one after the other. In the end, they carefully kept away the map and looked at the Benjamin and the sibling duo with perplexity.

"... Thank you, Sir Mage." The captain lowered in head in response.

Benjamin did not respond but rather scurried them off, "Be gone now, leave here the fastest you can."

The captain nodded.

All of the crews started rushing to set sail. The anchor was lifted and the sails were raised... Benjamin did not need to press further. In reality, they themselves could not linger another moment in this strange place.

It was soon when the fleet that ported on shore embarked without the knowledge of the Church, swiftly leaving this archipelago. The people on the ship were still in a daze, as if they were dreaming, unable to believe what had just happened.

"So there really are good... mages?"

Standing on the deck, the captain stared at the direction of the archipelago as he mumbled to himself.

Having been brainwashed by the Church for most of his life, his strong faith, crumbled on this very day.

And at the same time.

On the other side, Benjamin set foot on the archipelago and rushed to the settlement. It was not that he wanted to be the good guy but if the entire fleet remained on the island, Benjamin really couldn’t split himself to take care of them. What if the crew furnished the Church with information? Hence, it was better if he send them away. It was also his good deed of the day.

It wasn’t long when Benjamin put aside matters concerning the fleet and its crews. He entered the forest in the island with his water element sensing technique in full power, carefully scanning his surroundings.

"What an interesting place. The ecology here is different from the mainland, you could say it’s entirely new system." The System made itself present and sighed seriously.

"It seems so." Benjamin stared at this tropical vegetation and nodded, "But... Now is not the time for biology. Don’t you think it’s strange?"

"What’s strange?"

"Such a large forest yet there is no trace of animal activity."

Benjamin scavenged around but couldn’t find any living being. The nearby area was terrifyingly still. If it weren’t for the footprints left by the Church, he would have thought he went the wrong way.

The System didn’t display any interest, "Who knows? Maybe it’s normal at a place like this here."

Benjamin was helpless and so he turned to the sibling duo beside him.

Perhaps it was returning home with a vengeful heart, they looked overwhelmed. While on their way, the young lady couldn’t help but stretched her arm to stroke the trees. She looked upset.

"You can finally avenge the death of your parents, are you nervous?" Benjamin asked out of the blue.

The siblings nodded. However, the young lady was in hesitation before opening up, "Sir Mage... Your trip this time, is it really to wipe out everyone here?"

Benjamin shook his head.

"I know what you’re worried about." He paced himself, "There are some people that can’t be saved. These people are like patients with deadly infectious disease. To prevent the disease from spreading, we must take care of the source. But..... Those who are salvageable, why must I annihilate them?"

It was a slow process to the academy to nurture a psychic from zero. Therefore, Benjamin didn’t plan to extinguish everyone on the island. He believed that the majority of them were kept in the dark and played a fool by the ruling class. He also believed that he was able to let the people here see the light.

— Just as how he convinced this sibling duo.

The brother sister combo let out a sigh of relief. Obviously, although they hated the elder and the religion that harmed their parents, this was still their homeland.

The young lady took a deep breath and was about to express her gratitude. But it was then when Benjamin suddenly raised his hand and gestured silence. His entire presence reeked of solemnity.

She could only swallow her words.

"Shh... Could you feel that? Magic oscillation coming from afar." Benjamin lowered his voice, "Seeing that it could spread this far out, the situation there must be intense."

The sibling duo were stunned.

‘You’re saying..."

Benjamin nodded and continued, "The Church and overseas worshippers, must have engaged their enemies."