Chương 70: Waking Up the Count

Adolin stared at Luna, who was already lying unconscious on the ground. Whatever mind magic had been used on her was powerful, but not at the Archmage tier. Otherwise, she would be dead. He felt a pang of guilt building up. She was in this state because of him. He should have waited for his mana to recover so he could do something to counteract the spell. Maybe even then he wouldn't have been able to do anything, but at least he could have tried.

He had already checked her spark, and it was fine, so he wasn't worried about her as he lifted her. Well, that confirmed at least one thing. Finding the traitors would be much easier than he had thought if everyone else had the same restrictions as Luna. As much as the restrictions helped the organization, they also made the traitors easier to find. All they needed to do was ask everyone a few simple questions and watch for any signs of discomfort or pain. Every traitor could be identified that way.

That also meant neither his presence nor the butler's was needed. Every soldier on the estate could do it. Now, what would the questions be? He needed a question that would pry at multiple things so it could work on anyone. What is your ulterior motive? He cringed at that. It sounded awful and probably was a terrible question. Everyone had ulterior motives, whether they knew it or not. He needed something better.

The main issue was that he couldn't test the questions on Luna at the moment, and everything he had asked her so far had been questions specific to her mission or the orders implanted in her. But did he really need to do the thinking part? No, he could just give the task to his men and let them deal with it, or find someone more capable. He nodded. That sounded like a great plan to him, but first, he needed to know if he could trust his men.

And the best place to start was with Sir Tristan, who stood just beyond the door.

"Sir Tristan," Adolin called, a little louder than he usually spoke. The door opened, and the knight stepped inside.

"Lord?" Sir Tristan asked, glancing past him toward Lady Luna. Adolin glanced back as well.

"She's fine." The knight didn't say anything at that.

"What do you know about the organization?" Adolin said.

"The organization, Lord?" Maybe that wasn't the best approach for finding the traitors. He scratched the back of his head.

"If you wanted to find traitors among the soldiers," Adolin said. The knight simply nodded, giving him his full attention.

"What questions would you ask? But questions about loyalty or harming the Count don't count." The knight fell into thought. Adolin quickly added, "The traitors probably have orders they must carry out, but they can't or won't disclose who or what gave them. But if they try to answer, a spell prevents them from doing so, and the discomfort is clearly visible on their faces."

"It would also trigger if they even think about it," he added. He wasn't certain, but based on everything he had observed so far, it seemed likely. Tristan nodded slightly.

"If they have any orders they can't disclose?" Tristan said.

"It wouldn't work on everyone, because a lot of soldiers have orders they can't disclose. But if it's as you said, the traitors will have a reaction. That would do it." Fuck. It really was that simple. He truly thought it would work. Adolin kept his expression neutral and asked, "What else?" The knight proceeded to list dozens of questions, of which Adolin thought at least half would work and root out any traitors. He really needed to work with people more. Things became much simpler when he had help.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Sir Tristan," Adolin said.

"Do you have any orders you can't tell me about?" Tristan chuckled.

"Yes." Of course, there were. He was a knight in the Count's service, not Adolin's. They were merely lending him. But there was no change in his expression or anything else that suggested a mind spell was restricting him. He asked him a few more questions that came to mind. It wouldn't hurt to be thorough. Adolin nodded after he was satisfied with the answers Sir Tristan had given him.

"Now, go and ask these questions to everyone on our team. If there is any sign of discomfort, bring them to me." The knight left the room to carry out his orders. After that was done, Adolin planned to recruit more men to sweep through the entire estate and ask the same questions to everyone. It seemed like the best course of action. But first, he needed a break and some meditation to recover some of his mana and inject life force into the Count so he could recover faster.

Then Adolin could finally be on his way out of the mess he had found himself in. He left the room and went back to the Count's room. The man looked better than before, but not by much, so Adolin sat on the ground in his meditative pose and closed his eyes. Meditation didn't help him regenerate mana, but he continued anyway. His stomach was in chaos from the overconsumption of potions, but he ignored it for now. That wouldn't be possible for long, but he needed to calm himself first.

As time passed, it became harder for Adolin to focus on the technique. Although it calmed his mind slightly, the sense of betrayal he felt from Eduard remained. Maybe it wasn't betrayal, but he couldn't think of it as anything else. Eduard was trying to use him, just as he had been used in his previous life, although not to the same extent as back then. His heart still raged and wanted to let loose, but he forced it down.

If it weren't for everything that had happened, and for the fact that Eduard had left him ways to get out of the situation, he would have already done something stupid. So he continued with his meditation and used a spell to settle the chaos in his stomach. Finding the traitor had done him some good. It had helped him push Eduard to the back of his mind, and for now, that was enough, with his lack of mana keeping him from doing something he would regret.

There was also the fact that he didn't want to do something stupid in his new life. He had been enjoying it so far, and he didn't want that to end just because he couldn't control himself. That didn't mean Eduard would be left unscathed, but it wouldn't be anywhere near what Adolin might have done before regaining control of himself. He pushed those thoughts aside and focused on his meditation. Some time later, there was a knock on the door, and Tristan walked in.

"Everyone is cleared." Adolin nodded slowly.

"Find some more soldiers. Make sure they are cleared, then order them to start sweeping the entire estate. There is at least one more traitor, and it would be better to find them before they can cause more damage."

"Yes, Lord," Tristan said before leaving the room. The young knight was truly good at following orders, and at following them thoroughly. Well, maybe he wasn't that young, but he sounded young. Adolin still hadn't seen his face. The man wore his armor with the helmet on at all times. He shrugged the thought off and returned to meditating. When half of his mana had recovered, he stood up from the ground. No one had visited the Count, not even Nicholas or Eduard.

He knew they were planning, or doing whatever needed to be done to make their operation successful. But he wanted to be gone before anything happened, after helping evacuate the civilians. He didn't feel comfortable leaving before the civilians were safe, or at least on their way to safety. But first, he needed to wake the Count and do what Revel had asked of him: talk about the alliance between their houses. So, he needed to speed up the Count's recovery. That wouldn't be difficult.

It would only require a few healing and life force spells. His mana had recovered enough that he could cast a couple of the spells he needed. He stopped in front of the Count and touched his hand as he cast Life Force, a spell that flooded the Count's body with life force. Now the Count's body had enough life force to heal on its own, but it would still take another two weeks in a coma. At least, that was his estimate. But he didn't have the time to wait, nor did he want to.

His next spell was a healing spell, one that healed every issue within the body, but it wouldn't be enough on its own. The man had been plagued by the curse for so long that his body was riddled with injuries and scars, along with the lingering aftereffects the curse had left behind. So the healing spell first needed to get through the aftereffects left by the curse before it could even begin healing the Count. That was why he needed to cast the spell multiple times and flood the Count's body with life force.

He cast the same spell again. And again. The Count let out a groan, and his body shook from everything that was happening to him. After the last spell finished its work, the Count let out a relieved groan, and his hands moved toward his face. A slow exhale followed as his hands rubbed over his eyes. Then he opened them and stared at Adolin.

"Who... are you?" the Count asked slowly, his voice hoarse.