Chapter 147 - 147 Weighing the Situation (1)
Of course, in the era when the Astral Laws were established, the Magic Academy was already a rather outdated concept. The Astral Lighthouses everywhere had directly taken over local magic education. As for Blackwater Offa University, it wasn’t relying on its extraordinary heritage or the suppression of long-lived powerhouses as one of the few remaining colleges in the Riel Empire that still maintained operations.
It was only because they had taken the right side in the enlightenment established by the Astral Laws back then that they received special care from the Astral Council.
The Astral Lighthouse’s preparatory class or the ‘Astral Councillors’ nursing home’ were what people privately called this millennium-old academy that used to rank in the top five on the continent.
However, the current president of Offa University, Grimm Gordon, didn’t mind these teasing names.
Be it a preparatory class or a nursing home, at the very least, they could maintain their existence.
Only things that existed had the right to be teased.
This was just like 800 years ago when the other magic academies on the continent jointly resisted the promotion of the Astral Laws. The chancellor of Blackwater Offa University back then had weighed the situation and chosen a side that was more in line with history. He widened the school’s door and welcomed the Astral believers whose robes were embroidered with different constellations, allowing them to remove the magic books from the school’s library.
It was said that the chancellor back then was cursed by his peers from the other magic academies as a traitor. He was reprimanded for being in cahoots with the Book Burners and that he wasn’t worthy of being a magic chanter.
But so what? 800 years later, the magic academies that chose to resist back then only ended up being a name written in history. Even the names of the few academies that chose to resist to the end had been erased.
Only Blackwater Offa University continued with the support of the Astral Council.
“Weighing the situation”—this was the principle followed by the Blackwater Offa University’s chancellor.
Therefore, Grimm needed to continue reviewing the situation and do what he needed to do.
After informing his subordinates to bring the girl over, Grimm sat back in his armchair and spun a floating stone on the table in boredom.
After more than a month of chaos, the situation in Thorn City had calmed down on the surface, but Grimm knew that it was just an illusion.
Countless undercurrents were surging under the peaceful surface of this city.
Vincent, who seized the Thorn throne, is a complete idiot. Alright… Perhaps he’s a rare magic genius, but he’s a complete idiot politically.
After he took office, he implemented a series of measures that included the sealing of the Astral Lighthouse, completely pushing the entire Rose Palace regime to take the opposite side of the Astral Council. Before Grimm could even mediate, the Astral Council severed all contact with them, and the Stranger Astral Lighthouse directly froze all eligibility for enlightenment and advancement.
Blackwater Offa University had inexplicably lost its greatest backer in the past 800 years.
Thorn City had always been known as the City of Silver and Blood. A coup was like a series of bloodstained embellishments in the city’s history. However, no matter who took power in a coup, the first thing they had to do was ensure the normal operation of the Astral Lighthouse to obtain the recognition and support of the Astral Council.
You could try bargaining with the Riel Empire’s royal family or even have some conflict with the Holy Spirits Church over faith, but the support of the Astral Council was non-negotiable.
Unless you planned on completely throwing yourself into the Moon Realm’s arms.
However, from the fact that the other party brought people into the academy every other day to search for Moon Realm believers, the other party didn’t appear to have any intentions of doing so.
He didn’t seek the support of the Astral Council, nor was he willing to use the Moon Realm believers. What was the use of actively dealing with the blight plague and improving the treatment of the miners to win the hearts of the people?
Strength was power. No matter how many hearts were won over, they were a rabble that collapsed at the slightest touch under the Battle Mage Legion’s spell bombardment.
Idealists were the most impossible to achieve since ancient times.
If he wanted to succeed, he needed the support of a solid and reliable absolute force.
“Chancellor, were you looking for me?”
There were two light knocks on the office door, and a calm female voice sounded from outside.
Grimm tapped the wooden table lightly with his finger, and the door to the room automatically opened.
Outside the door, a girl with short hair that reached her ears and a Sunbird pendant around her neck looked at him in confusion.
“Come in, Liliana.”
Grimm wiped off his previous expression and greeted her with a warm smile.
The other party walked in front of him cautiously, as if she was very puzzled as to why the chancellor had suddenly summoned her.
“I heard that you’ve been improving at lightning speed in the Illusion course. Alina said that if you continue improving at this speed, you can complete the Expert-level promotion test for the Illusion course this year… Ah, there’s no need to be reserved. Just sit down.”
As Grimm spoke, he pointed at the chair opposite the table and offered her a seat.