The Magistrate flew up into the air. The potion helped him recover his magic and he could now go to the Forest.
"I will be back soon. Bring the city back to operational capacity quickly." He said. He flew into the forest after saying that.
He quickly flew past the Magical Beasts that were fleeing into the Outer and Inner Forests and entered the Core Forest at lightning speed. He moved so quickly that he couldn't check what was under him in the Outer Forest.
By the time he had got to the Outer Forest, Leo had already gotten to his favorite hiding spot and started camping there. He didn't take out his loot yet because he wanted to be back home for that. He was just going to survive for the next two days and then somehow go back.
He suddenly felt chills in his body as he sensed a powerful figure zoom past him. He sighed with relief when he saw that it didn't stop. This meant that one of the powerhouses was coming for their loot. He sat back in the tiny place he had and put his legs in the water. He wasn't worried about anything happening to him since the 1st Circle Magical Beasts and Pseudo 1st Circle Magical Beasts couldn't do anything to him.
Meanwhile, the Magistrate got to the Core Forest and saw a sight that surprised him. When he got there, he felt massive magic energy remnants and a headless corpse. He went forward and took a closer look at the corpse.
The corpse belonged to the Viscount of Verdantia. He was able to figure it out by the fancy robe that he was wearing. It was an iconic robe that was worth millions of Starcoins. It enhanced fire magic greatly.
If Leo knew that he missed out on such a valuable item, he would be pissed with himself many times over. But he didn't know, and ignorance is bliss.
The Magistrate looked around quickly for the Purple-Eyed Golden Lion. If the Viscount was dead, it meant that the second lion killed him. But he couldn't find any energy that was stronger than a 3rd Circle Magical Beast around him at all.
He saw the cave in front of him and leaped to reach it. He looked inside and saw the mountain of treasure. He walked forward and saw the multiple corpses that were missing their dimensional rings. He saw that there weren't any valuable Magical Herbs there and the Radiant Apple wasn't there as well.
At this point, he was completely confused. The Viscount was dead and the second 4th Circle Magical Beast of the forest was missing. The Radiant Apple was also nowhere to be found. All of this was so complicated that he couldn't think of any way to explain it.
He decided to think about it later and went back to Solhaven. He was disappointed that he didn't have the Radiant Apple, but he was still happy that it wasn't in the hands of the Viscount of Verdantia. In fact, with him dead the city of Verdantia wouldn't have anyone close to becoming a 4th Circle Mage at all. This essentially guaranteed victory for the Ten Year War.
The Ten Year War was a competition that was held through out the province they were in every ten years. The major city in the province was Eldridge which oversaw the competition. The competition had the cities use mages and powerful Aura Knights to fight each other. The victors of the war gained access to more resources.
It might seem hard to divide resources, but it was still necessary. By winning against the city of Verdantia, Solhaven placed 4th among 8 cities. They gained majority access to Valkyr's Woods and any major Magical Herbs that were found there would belong to their city.
In fact, the Radiant Apple was rightfully theirs. The Viscount of Verdantia wasn't allowed to steal it. However, they wouldn't be able to prove the fact that he stole it after he took it and consumed it. That was why Baron Silvershade was very confident in telling them about what he did.
Along with access to the forest, they would also get money to manage the city as a reward. This money helped them manage the academy as well as make the lives of citizens better.
He got back to the wall quickly. When he got back in less than an hour, everyone was surprised. They thought he would take longer since he would have to talk with the Magical Beast. However, he was already back.
"What happened?" One of the mages asked. They had barely started cleaning up the battlefield at this point.
"The Radiant Apple is gone." The Magistrate said. Everyone turned glum. However, his next few words changed that.
"The Viscount of Verdantia is dead."
Everyone's eyes widened. Even the Aura Knights who were listening in were so deeply involved since they were listening in from the start. They were invested in the drama that was happening.
"What do you mean?" Everyone asked.
The Magistrate pulled out the headless corpse of the Viscount of Verdantia and dropped it on the ground. He had stored it beforehand because he could just show it to everyone to boost their morale.
"He was dead by the time I got there. The second 4th Circle Magical Beast is also missing. We don't know where the Radiant Apple is for now, but it definitely isn't with Verdantia." He said.
This meant that the Silvershade family had officially made the worst possible betrayal ever. They gave up their entire assets in Solhaven for a 1 Billion Starcoin check from the viscount. But because the viscount was dead, the check would bounce and they would be left with no money and in a city that would lose against Solhaven.
On top of that, they didn't even have any cash reserves since they used up all of that to buy the Purple Moon Wolf Cub their Baron gave up because he was so scared of dying. Overall, they were no longer going to be a powerhouse like they were in Solhaven.
"Do you know how many people died and how many are injured?" The Magistrate asked.
One of the guards came forward.
"Yes, Lord Magistrate. We had a total of 6000 1st Circle Aura Knights and 1000 2nd Circle Aura Knights. Out of them, 1487 1st Circle Aura Knights and 126 2nd Circle Aura Knights met their ends. We have around 5000 injured and 2000 among them are fatal. They might not be able to fight as they did before. As for the mages, there weren't any deaths." He said.
"Thank you. We will distribute the compensation in a week. We will set up places to distribute the monetary rewards. You will have to bring some proof to claim your money, so we will distribute tokens to everyone present. We will give tokens to the dead's family when they are presented with the news. My condolences to all the families who lost someone today. A respectful funeral will be conducted in a week for all these warriors! Citizens of Solhaven! We have successfully defended this Beast Wave!" The Magistrate started talking emotionally and suddenly roared, stirring up the emotions of everyone present.
