Chapter 227 - What Happened?

Fenrir, an ancient creature thought to be extinct in Alterna. They are massive wolves that have either black or white fur.

If a Fenrir had white fur, then it meant that the wolf was aligned towards the good or lawful side. They were symbols of victory and hope. They also served as protectors to one particular ancient kingdom.

Fenrirs that have black fur were symbols of chaos and destruction, they weren't inherently violent or anything, but compared to their white furred counterparts, they tended to be more cruel and bloodthirsty once provoked. They'd normally behave just like any other white furred Fenrir, but once provoked their bloodthirsty nature immediately awakens and they'll wrought everything around them with chaos and destruction.

White Fenrirs have lightning and wind type elemental attributes and they could use all forms of magic pertaining to those two elements. Black Fenrirs have Dark elemental attributes and could use spells aligned with this element. They could also use Soul Magic to some degree.

Black Fenrirs also have a poison and corruption attribute that they unintentionally leak out which causes the land around them to wither and die.

A Black Fenrir's Soul Magic could also let them control or bring out the bloodthirsty nature of the monsters around them.

Once Cecil heard about this explanation from Yuna, he turned up to look at Silver who was napping on top of his head.

"So...Silver's a Fenrir?"

"Yes, but he's not just your ordinary Fenrir...he's one of the rare hybrids that are able to freely transition between White and Black. They're called Astral Fenrirs."

"Woah! That's a pretty cool name~"

"Stop joking around...this is serious...Silver's still a child and he's got absolutely NO control over his powers...he nearly wiped out this Kingdom's border territory in his rage!"

"Wh-what?"

"I did tell you earlier that Black Fenrirs can use Soul Magic right? They can control the minds of the monsters around them or make them go wild and bloodthirsty..."

"Don't tell me..."

"When he first transformed, he began howling madly into the air, but what Silver didn't know was that he was subconsciously mixing in Soul Magic with his roars and that caused the monsters in the border regions to riot and gather together where he was at."

"..."

"He caused the monster ti—"

"Does anyone else know about this?"

Cecil immediately cut Yuna off and asked everyone else who was in the room. His party members only shook their heads. None of them had bothered to report this to anyone and they all kept it to themselves.

"Good..."

Eli looked at him and shrugged.

"Don't worry, we won't say anything. Besides, we found a decent scapegoat~"

"Who?"

"The Empire's taking the entire fault for the monster tide!"

"Why?"

"...Ehehehe..."

Eli began laughing nervously at Cecil's question. Fina was the one who explained it to him.

"It's because Eli made a rather 'convenient' mistake and shouted out that the beastmen were the ones who caused the monster tide."

"What? Why?"

"Because right when the monster tide came, the beastmen who were attacking you and Silver were misunderstood as the culprits...just imagine, when the city's being attacked by the beastmen, then all of a sudden a monster tide ensues..."

Cecil immediately understood what she was getting at.

"The beastmen's assault was pre-mediated and they had planned to distract the city's guards with the monster tide while they were attacking the Darkfang Family's Estate.

"Exactly... Technically it was only a misunderstanding, but it's pretty convenient for us, right?"

"Right...nice going Eli," Cecil gave a thumbs up to the girl.

Elizabeth only smiled awkwardly at Cecil's praise. It wasn't like she wanted to do it. Look at the situation now, the already strained relationship the Kingdom and Empire had was now at a boiling point where the Kingdom might just launch an attack on the Empire's borders.

"There's also an update...the Empire's Army was spotted garrisoning in various border territory cities just a couple of days ago. This strengthens the misunderstanding even further. Why would the Empire's Army be at the border if they hadn't planned to launch an attack while the Kingdom was still recuperating from the losses?" Ainz said.

Cecil understood this as well, but...

"Even with that, couldn't the act also be seen as an attempt to ensure their safety since the Kingdom might attack them? Also, it might just be a precautionary action to defend against a monster tide in case another one followed and it was aimed at their territory..."

"The second reason is plausible, but first and foremost, they should have sent an ambassador or someone to clear up the situation if things were indeed a misunderstanding and those beastmen who assaulted the Darkfang Estate were only a bunch of rogues trying further ruin our already fragile relationship..."

"You mean they didn't?"

"Nope, they just sent the army to the border... funny, right?" Ainz derisively added.

"...They didn't even try to deny the accusations...that means those beastmen were really a part of the Empire's forces...they seemed pretty well-coordinated, not to mention those weird tools they used..."

"Speaking of that...what happened to you? Other than the corroded wounds on your body caused by Silver's miasma...we also found traces of bruises, cuts, and gouges on your body...were you beaten up by those beastmen?"

Cecil didn't know where to begin. It was indeed a little humiliating for him to explain, but he felt that he should.

"They...drugged me, I guess."

"Drugged you?"

"Yeah, they put some sort of incense into the room that disrupted my mana flow and made me experience Mana Disorder..."

"Huh? Only...that? Hey brat, Mana Disorder only makes you feel a little nauseous and tipsy! Sure, you can't use your mana for a while, but you've still got your martial arts, right? So how were you beaten up so badly then?"

"That's the thing...what I experienced was indeed Mana Disorder, but it's like...it was amplified a hundred, no—a thousand times over! I seriously couldn't move how I wanted to, I felt disorientated, confused, and my senses were all over the place, one minute they were dulled in the next they were amplified a hundred or a thousand folds, my response and movements were also lagging and I seriously couldn't control my body at all..."

"Huh?"

Everyone was bewildered when they heard his explanation. Mana Disorder wasn't supposed to be that severe...you'd only feel a little drunk and be incapable of using Mana for a minute or two.

It wasn't supposed to do all the things that Cecil had experienced, so how was he different?

"Cel...it's probably that..." Lucia spoke up.

"Huh?"

"Y'know...you have it 'everywhere'..."

With her emphasizing like that, Cecil immediately understood. Unlike a normal person, Cecil's mana wasn't only located inside his Mana Point near his navel, but instead it was present all throughout his body.

Unlike what normal people experiences, Cecil would instead feel like his entire body was unresponsive to his commands and his senses would be in total disarray.

It's like if a person had enhanced smelling and you placed them in the middle of a very smelly environment, then that enhanced sense of smell would no longer be a perk, but instead a disadvantage.

"Damn...this is one large upset..."

No one else understood what the two were talking about, but seeing how grim Cecil's expression had become, they didn't know how to respond.

"Shit...I have to fix this..."

"No rush Cel!"

"What do you mean NO RUSH?!"

Cecil snapped back at Lucia and she was shocked.

"I-I..."

"...sorry," Cecil apologized.

He turned to his friends who were also shocked at his anger. The party never actually saw him being angry at anyone, except maybe for Fina, but it shocked them that Cecil had actually snapped at Lucia for no reason.

"Sorry guys, thanks for visiting. I'll go out and stretch for a bit, haha~" Cecil said before he vanished from the room.

Lucia was still there on the bed where she was sitting next to him. Once Cecil disappeared, tears began to drop from Lucia's eyes.

"W-woah?! Brat?!"

"Lulu?!"

"Eh?"

Lucia immediately began to wipe her eyes, but the tears wouldn't stop.

"S-sorry..."

It was the first time that Cecil had ever been seriously angry with her and she felt scared.

"I-I'll return to my room now!" Lucia made a fl.u.s.tered escape. She quickly opened a Misty Gate and jumped right in.

"W-wait, Lucia!" Yuna called out, but the Misty Gate had already closed before she could chase after her.

"...what the hell?"

"..."

"I don't know what happened...but it was totally Cecil's fault..." Velicia said with a frown.

"Uhm...let's not jump to conclusions, okay? Cecil had that scary expression before and it seemed pretty serious..." Fina replied.

"Yeah, but that didn't mean he could just snap at Lucia like that?! She was probably only trying to console him or something?!"

"..."