AK - The Alchemy Kingdom

Chapter 101: Johann I

Year 3, Spring, First Month, First Week.

Release me immediately!

The furious wind waves raged around the Mage, assaulting the light-blue barrier at all sides. Johann never felt so strong in his whole life, like he was the wind and the wind was him, which made staying in this cage even more suffocating. When he realized the change in his power, he got a little carried by excitement and started to sweep everything around him. The earth shelter resisted for a few minutes before being destroyed and revealing Johanns real situation, he was imprisoned inside of a thick blue barrier in the middle of the Forest.

After attacking the barrier for ten minutes and making a lot of noise, someone finally noticed him and came to hear his demands. Unfortunately, the trembling girl didnt release or told him anything besides Wait until they call the Councilors. Who in the Originless grounds were these Councilors?

You better release me or else

Or else what? Stop tormenting the girl Youre the one whos caged, not the other way around

The sudden appearance of Lew, who was angry for having his sleep interrupted, calmed the girls heart but only made Johann furious. Instead of stopping, he continued to curse and demand his release while throwing stronger attacks against the barrier. Fortunately, other Councilors also arrived at this time. Marlen ignored the mans attitude and spoke calmly:

Young man, please calm yourself and hear us... If you continue to threaten us, do you think we would release you?

After hearing her logic, the anger in Johanns mind receded a few levels. Why did he lose control so easily? Was his element influencing him? He always mocked Thunderys lack of control, but now he was doing the same thing, maybe this was the price for a high affinity. Fortunately, wind was quick to anger but also easy to calm. The wind waves around him stopped attacking the barrier as he calmed down and looked for the woman who had said those words.

So, explain

Marlen looked through the Councilors asking their approval, which they gave with agreement nods.

Two months ago, you tried to attack us and forced us to defend ourselves We found you almost dead and decided to save you, but we couldnt leave a potential enemy free to hurt our people. So, we restrained you until you recovered and we decided what to do

Surprisingly, they didnt saw anger in his expression, only understanding and some sorrow.

How did you escape after killing her? Mas the Wind Lord wouldnt let you walk away Did you do this to me?

Marlen was a little confused, but Omero stepped in to help.

He came He even killed a few, but in the end, he gave up He couldnt bear the consequences of following us

The threats were deliberately placed in the sentence to show the Mage that there would be a cost with he chose to attack them. As for the crystal in his body, they finally got the confirmation that it was caused by the explosion. Omero wanted to establish a respectable position in the Mages regard to negotiate from a similar place, so he asked Karl to explain about the crystal, after all, even a Mage had to respect knowledge.

We found you like this You seemed to have formed a wind core, similar to wind beasts. However, the core ended up occupying more than it's seen on beasts and its still uncertain how much of your original body it replaced We dont know exactly how this happened, but its probably a result of the interaction of HQ energy and wind energy. The consequences are also unclear, but you should be able to manipulate wind naturally now.

Karl's explanation was also formulated to bait him, but Johann seemed to be focused on another detail of the incident.

He came? Did he looked for me?

How could Omero miss the meaning behind these words? Without hesitating, he answered:

No, he didnt even ask about you, though, he seemed to be looking for someone else

I see

The Mages sad response told Omero that his bet was successful. Earlier, when the Mage mentioned that the Wind Lord wouldnt forgive them for killing someone, he sensed a trace of jealousy in his words. So, he had to strike while the iron was still hot.

Now, lets discuss your situation. Even though your previous Master probably wouldnt accept you back, you could still reveal our position once youre free However, we wouldnt mistreat you if you chose to help us

Johann tried to push away the pain of being rejected by his Master and focus on his trapper's words, but he couldnt understand their purpose. Actually, the Council also didnt know what to do with Johann, he was like a hot potato. Besides giving them information, which would arguably be of any interest to the escapees, the only other use they could make of him was as a hostage in case of an attack. The only reason why they kept him alive was that Karl asked.

So, Johann was just a liability and not even Karl knew what to do with him at this point. Because of their pressing priorities, he had been delaying the research on the mans condition. The fact that he didnt know from where to start also contributed to delaying the wind cores study. Unfortunately, it appeared that he wouldnt have time to look into it before they left, and bringing the hostage with them would be impractical.

I dont know what you want, but I wouldnt help the Wind Lord He didnt care about me so, why should I do anything to help him I also dont care if you escape or anything, in the end, that explosion gave me something

However, Omero didnt felt relieved. He would prefer for the Mage to attack them and be hostile, so they wouldnt hesitate to kill him before leaving. They couldnt allow any loose ends, not now.

Thats good to hear, I hope you dont blame us for maintaining you here for a few more days If you could give us some leverage against the Wind Lord, it would help to speed your release

Hmm If His Gra If he really gave up on pursuing you, you shouldnt be facing any problems from his side, but the Wind Castle City Lord would have to account for the villages disappearance and the problem with the tributes, so you might face some persecuting from his forces The situation in the Wind region isnt very stable, so they might just ignore you for good

The information couldnt be trusted, but it ended up comforting the Councilors anyway. They left Johann and only the girl stayed to watch over him. Since he was being kept outside the camp, the risk of exposing their secrets was reduced, not that this made him any less of a problem. Sooner or later they would have to deal with him.