Supreme Magus novel Chapter 3129

Chapter 3129 The Wall (Part 1)

3129 The Wall (Part 1)

The wall was over two meters (7') high and twenty meters (66') long, entirely made of obsidian. The stone formed a black frame around what seemed to be a uniform coat of silvery paint at the center of the wall.

Once the Divine Beast got close enough, they realized the truth.

There was no paint, just thousands of closely spaced names. Names engraved with enchanted silver to resist the passing of time with the same strength as the stone they rested upon.

"Great Mother almighty." Protheus spoke out loud in surprise. "Did Verhen really kill so many people?"

'No. You did.' Faluel replied and all eyes moved from the wall to her. 'Look at the plaque.'

It read:

"These are the names of some of those who have disappeared under the rule of Thrud Griffon. Most will remain lost because we've never bothered asking their names. We've never looked at their faces. We didn't consider them humans so when Thrud took them away, we rejoiced.

"Their fate is unknown. No corpse has ever been retrieved but we'll never stop looking. Their deaths are on our hands and we'll never forget the price of our foolishness."

Under the plaque, there was a small booklet, a quill, and an inkwell. The booklet carried the signature of those who visited the wall and took responsibility for the massacre of the less fortunate of Zeska.

'How? When? Why?' Protheus started to weep. The thought that the woman they considered as a mother could have done such a thing tore their gelatinous body apart.

One more person crying in front of the wall was like one more drop of water in the ocean. No one bothered the Doppelganger if not for patting their shoulder and offering their condolences.

'I don't know. Nobody does.' Faluel shrugged. 'Most likely Thrud had the Forgotten do the dirty work while you were busy fighting on the frontlines. Even the why is a mystery. She might have used those people to fuel the Golden Griffon.

'Or maybe she harvested their life forces. Or maybe she turned them into food rations to feed her soldiers and gain the upper hand during the famine. Nobody knows.' Those words made seven bodies and dozens of gelatinous masses churn.

'What I know for sure, is that there is a wall like this in every city you occupied. That by getting rid of the poor, the homeless, and the destitute, Thrud got to save lots of her resources and funnel them into her war efforts.

'I'm not blaming you because she manipulated you like everyone else, but this is what would have happened if the Mad Queen won the war. We'd have walls like this in every city of the Kingdom instead of just half of it.

'Knowing her, the plaque would have praised the sacrifice of Thrud's victims and claimed it was all for the greater good instead of taking accountability for their deaths.'

Thrud's former vassals stood there in silence for a few minutes. Not in respect for the fallen but because it was hard for them to accept that so many people had died under their watch yet they hadn't noticed.

Divine Beasts and Doppelgangers all stared at the ground, frozen, while the revelation slowly sunk in.

'Can we please go to another city?' Leari asked. 'We can get back here and talk with the people of Zeska later. I need to know if you are telling the truth!'

'Pick a city. Any city.' Faluel echoed Leegaain's words with a wry smile on her face.

Each one of the generals chose the fortress they had been administered the longest while the Doppelgangers the places they had infiltrated. They always found a wall.