The Executed Sage Reincarnates as a Lich and Begins a War of Aggression

Two days later, the location of the mystical stone was revealed.

Although I said that, I hadn’t contributed much to its discovery.

It was the result of the combined efforts of the elves, led by Logan, and our spies, led by Luciana.

Logan had played an active role during the early parts of the endeavor.

He’d used spirit magic to detect its location.

The mystical stone contained the power of the Great Spirit.

It was very difficult, nay, practically impossible to conceal such a thing.

Magic power and spirit power both dwelt inside of it, so it was not possible to conceal it with ordinary magic and magic tools.

Therefore, we came to the conclusion that Logan’s spirit magic would be capable of detecting it.

However, with just his power alone, his ability to detect it was limited to a small range.

No matter how hard he tried, the largest range he could detect in would simply be around the size of the capital.

It would take too much time if we relied on that alone to find out where the mystical stone was.

We wouldn’t make the time limit of three days given by the Great Spirit.

However, I was incapable of detecting power related to that of spirits.

It was a matter of racial aptitude, and it wasn’t something that could be managed merely by coming up with new magic.

In the future someday, I would probably be capable of creating magic that was capable of mimicking such an effect, but it was hard to do so within the three day limit.

Based on all the factors above, I decided to devote myself to transferring my magic power to Logan.

I paid close attention to make sure that only harmless magic power was transferred, without any miasma mixed into it. 

This drastically improved the power of Logan's magic, which improved his detection range by a hundred times over.

In addition, we deployed 100 elves who were proficient in detection, and continued to search in rotation.

Finally last night, we successfully found out where the mystical stone was located.

It was at the Magic Kingdom.

It was quite far from the Imperial territory.

It wasn’t at a distance one could achieve with a single transfer.

Considering its geographical location, the people who took the mystical stone away should have passed through the Demon Lord’s Territory and the Holy Scepter Kingdom’s Territory.

Apparently, the Great Spirit had failed to detect this.

This was just speculation, but it was probably because their offshoots had a short range for detection and were not as accurate on it.

There was also the fact that the concealment technique they applied to the mystical stone was quite excellent.

It was a magic system that had just recently been developed.

It was an unknown technique to the Great Spirit, so it must have missed it.

In the first place, there were only a few occasions that required a Great Spirit to do a precise detection.

It was more difficult for it to detect an item since it wasn’t used to it.

We could say a weakness has been revealed through this occasion.

It should be something fortunate for those nobles.

Anyway, it would only take a short time after knowing its location.

I only sent Luciana and her spies to investigate the time and the travel route they took for the incident.

The report outlining the investigation arrived to me this morning.

The people who took away the mystical stones were the imperial’s nobles.

They took their family and escort along with them, destroying their evidence and arrived at the Magic Kingdom.

According to the spies, they had apparently requested asylum.

It likely hadn’t been a sudden action.

They seemed to have already been planning it in secret.

They’d given up on the declining empire.

Perhaps their request had been accepted.

Those imperial nobles who’d abandoned the empire provided the mystical stone to the Magic Kingdom.

Perhaps that’d been the condition for their asylum to be accepted.

I didn’t know what it would be used for, but the mystical stone was the only one of its existence and was very valuable.

Considering the technological capabilities of the Magic Kingdom, they likely had numerous methods to make use of it.

Once I knew the truth, it wasn’t hard to piece together the whole story.

The imperial noble who’d accepted the condition of the asylum had taken the mystical stone away from where it belonged.

They’d concealed the mystical stone at the imperial capital and escaped before the Great Spirit obliterated that place.

They’d then provided the stone to the Magic Kingdom and had their request for asylum accepted.

Perhaps that was the chronological order of the story.

The whole plan itself was a simple one.

It must be very fortunate for them that they'd managed to escape from the Great Spirit’s pursuit.

Personally, I would've preferred for her to have succeeded in her purpose before they managed to get their asylum.

Thanks to that, I had to fix her mistake.

Regarding the nobles in asylum, I planned to drag them all the way to the Great Spirit.

There was no sympathy for them.

It was a cheap price to pay to make the wrath of the Great Spirit subside.

It wasn’t a problem that could be forgiven by simple remorse.

By the way, the emperor was not included amongst the people who sought asylum.

In other words, the theft of the mystical stone was done in secret by the nobles.

It was supposed to be unbearable for people who had to bear the consequence of their action, but the imperial capital had already been obliterated.

Nobody survived to denounce their asylum.

The destruction brought on by the Great Spirit had been fatal to the empire.

They lost the imperial capital, which was the center of their nation, along with their new emperor.

It wasn’t even comparable to the damage I’d done to them prior.

They were obliterated without any chance to recover.

It would be impossible for the empire to recover from this.

The undamaged territory they still had would be absorbed by the other nations.

Or maybe they would declare independence and become a city-state.

It was a sure fact that the former powerhouse of the nations would never return.

“What was your impression when you read the report?”

Luciana asked me as she leaned against the throne.

I shook my head and responded.

“I could only say it was foolish. Even the current me won’t do something that would risk the wrath of the Great Spirit.”

It wasn’t even something that could be categorized as a crime.

It was an insult toward a greater being, who was unable to be measured by human standards.

While I understand their intentions to seek asylum to keep their advantage, the price they had to pay was too great.

I would let out a great sigh if I were still alive.

If I hadn’t entered negotiations, the disaster brought on by the Great Spirit would’ve been greater in her rage.

The whole territory of the empire would’ve been erased from the map.

Even as an offshoot, the Great Spirit still was an incomparable existence.

Humans would be powerless to stop her.

Why did they take the mystical stone of the Great Spirit? Of all things they could’ve brought along…

The thoughts of the nobles in asylum were incomprehensible to me. 

Didn’t they think the Great Spirit would eventually move on once the mystical stone was taken away?

Was their position and power worth that much to them?

Perhaps for them, the death of others was none of their concern.

But that was how humans were.

They were people who had gladly executed the sage and the hero who’d managed to subjugate the Demon Lord once their duty was fulfilled.

It wasn’t something so new for me to be unable to understand such ideas and feelings.

Humans were foolish in nature.

In that sense, one could say that it couldn’t be helped.

Even I, who had become a Demon Lord for the sake of peace, was included amongst them.

“Regarding the empire’s territory, why don’t we take it for ourselves? I think it'll be okay to take a bit of it.”

“Indeed. Once this matter is resolved, we’ll expand our borders.”

Reclaiming the mystical stone was our top priority, but we had to consider the empire that lost its capital.

The empire's location was adjacent to the Demon Lord’s Territory.

It was okay to watch how it would eventually be consumed by various nations, but I think I should also do the same.

If I wanted to continue to develop the Demon Lord’s territory for the future, I would include the empire into it.

However, I needed to consider how to invade the Magic Kingdom first.

Regardless of the circumstances, it was a great sin to offend a Great Spirit.

They’d exercised a taboo that couldn’t be overlooked.

I needed to reclaim the mystical stone as soon as possible.

— Because of the Great Spirit’s intervention, the world’s equilibrium was undergoing a major transformation.