Advance

Richard’s demands were absolutely unacceptable to the Mage Association, and that was what he wanted as well. He wanted the war to be unavoidable.

He had already shown his talent as a tactician during the Bloodstained Highway project, However, the Mage Association was no ordinary organisation. Just the thought of sixteen grand mages would leave anyone with a heavy heart; even the nobles who had followed Richard through his campaign in the Bloodstained Lands were not optimistic of his chances this time.

The smarter ones thought he was posturing so he could retreat more gracefully, his final motive being to talk things out with the Mage Association and settling on a compromise. This was a normal thing in politics. However, the declaration from the Association Chairman the next day utterly crushed these conjectures. Theodore’s statement was concise and left no loopholes, “The Mage Association will go all out to annihilate...