I became a legion lich

Despite being on the brink of war, the order of magic was more divided than ever, with one faction accusing the dark elder of betraying the order, while another faction tried to defend him from the accusations. There was a third faction that was neutral and was just watching events unfold rather than getting involved, but that did nothing to resolve the situation.

‘It sucks, I know. With the war imminent, I tried my best to ease the case so that the elder could continue to exercise his role and just share his knowledge and pay a fine as compensation for his crimes, but new crimes continued to be revealed until recently and the investigation of the facts dragged on.’ Eirin was as frustrated as Canan, but there wasn’t much she could do.

Unlike Adula empires which were ruled by emperors who had absolute power, the authority of the order was divided among the elders. Although Eirin had authority above an elder as the founder of the order of magic, the dark elder had committed many crimes and was seen fleeing the crime scene alone by three elders and a master of magic, as well as dozens of staff at the scene.

He wouldn’t be sentenced to death, but he would definitely lose his position and spend at least a century in prison, something Eirin had to avoid at all costs. There was no necromancer or dark mage who could take his position and become an elder, so the position of elder of the Mirkor realm would be vacant until a powerful enough dark mage appeared.

Just as the adventurers’ guild assigned a guild master to be in charge of each kingdom, the order placed one elder in each kingdom, while four others resided in the Makima empire.

With Mirkor becoming the front line against Doravon, Eirin had to prevent the elder Louis from being arrested at all costs, or at least ensure he paid for his crimes by fighting on the front lines.

‘I understood. We need that necromancer. I’ll cancel my appointments for the day and give you the time you need.’ Canan responded after Eirin explained the dark elder’s importance to war.

‘Thanks.’ Eirin responded and stopped talking, letting Canan refocus on the subordinate in front of her.

.....

He waited for the man to finish speaking and nodded as if he had heard everything before he spoke.

“Thank you for the report. I’ll discuss the matter with my advisors, then you can go now. You are excused.” Canan waved his hand and the man reporting nodded and withdrew from the throne room.

“Sir, may I let the next one in?” A royal guard beside the throne room gate asked, but Canan shook his head in denial.

“No, the dark elder’s judgment is today and Eirin will participate as a founder. I had forgotten and scheduled meetings for the whole day, but I’m going to have to cancel them all.” Canan spoke clearly, not caring one bit about keeping it a secret from the surrounding royal guards.

He trusted each of them with his life and they knew all of his secrets, so there was no reason to keep such a small thing a secret.

‘You know, I’m a little jealous of the confidence you have in them. I wish I had trusted subordinates like that.’ Eirin spoke in her mind, interrupting the conversation.

‘What are you talking about all of a sudden? They are your subordinates as well and are as loyal to you as they are to me.’ Canan replied confused, I don’t understand her words.

‘No, they are loyal to me because you and I are one. It was you who founded this empire and ensured their loyalty.’ Eirin spoke in a self-deprecating tone. ‘By comparison, I founded the order of magic, a place where even on the brink of war, they still pettily fight in mindless squabbles for power.’

‘The empire’s mages, on the other hand, work together and share knowledge among themselves freely, rather than being forced to cover up crimes or out of ambition. They believe in our ideal that we are doing this for humanity.’

‘Didn’t you create the order to be like this? Create a competitive environment where mages would compete using their knowledge or skills to develop themselves?’ Canan asked, somewhat confused by Eirin’s sudden sentimentality.

As Canan said, Eirin created the order to be a competitive environment and they actually evolved many different magical disciplines, developing technologies like the portal tower, but the order’s mages were greedy, arrogant and jealous.

They trampled on each other to climb higher positions, sometimes even stealing each other’s knowledge and sharing it as their own.

‘I know and still believe that this kind of environment is the best for magical development. Unlike empire mages, order mages don’t have proper inhibitions or laws restricting them within the order, so they can experiment that would be forbidden in the empire and achieve things we could only dream of.’ Eirin spoke, making Canan frown in displeasure.

The only laws that restricted mages in the Makima empire were the prohibition of experiments on humans and the protection of the rights of non-mages, to ensure that mages would not abuse their power to commit crimes.

The laws that Eirin readily admitted the order’s mages didn’t abide by was something he’d created to protect humanity from mages and ensure that magical progress didn’t infringe on human rights. He knew that many order mages didn’t follow the laws, but hear her admit it to her mind was still irritating.

‘We’ll talk about some rule changes once the situation calms down.’ Canan spoke and Eirin mentally cringed, knowing she had said too much. She just wanted to vent a little because she was jealous of her brother’s achievements, but realized that she would be scolded for talking too much.

“My king, is it over yet?” one of the royal guards asked once Canan’s eyes focused again. They knew that when Canan and Eirin were standing and looking off into space, they were talking and kept silent so as not to disturb.

“Yes, just realizing I need to discuss some things with my little sister.” Canan complained, but still ceded control of the body to Eirin.

The royal guards didn’t even blink when they saw their emperor and god transform into a beautiful woman and a female royal guard stepped forward and handed over a sky blue dress with silver details and a small bag with underwear and shoes suitable for her.

Eirin thanked the female guard and conjured a barrier of darkness that darkened their surroundings, causing more than one royal guard to grunt in disappointment and the female royal guard to stare coldly at them.

‘These bastards.’ Canan thought in exasperation but kept the thought to himself.

Eirin finished changing and undid the barrier of darkness, earning more than one flattering whistle and making Canan rethink her trusted subordinates.

“A joke never gets old.” Eirin laughed along with the royal guards, reading her overprotective brother’s thoughts.

She took a communication cube and called one of the mages who worked as a jailer in the dungeon of the forgotten. The dungeon had been created by her and was in an unknown location even for the elders of the order like the tower of the portals, it had no entrance, the only way to access it was by teleportation and had to be notified in advance, or the automatic defenses would pulverize the invaders.

Eirin wouldn’t die from something like that, but being attacked by spells capable of laying waste to a mountain was no fun.

“Defensive spells and forced teleportation are currently disabled, so you can teleport now.” The mage on the other end of the line spoke after a few seconds of conversation.

The process would normally take much longer, but the jailers knew about the trial and the fact that all the elders would be visiting the prison, so the process was quick.

Eirin bid farewell to the royal guards and grabbed a teleportation crystal and disappeared, reaching the dungeon of the damned in an instant. The place where she teleported was a small but luxurious waiting room, destined to receive important guests.

Wine and snacks were set out on a small table in the middle of the room, with comfortable sofas on either side of the room. A mage was standing on the other side and as soon as he saw the purple light from the teleport, he knelt down with his head down.

“Supreme Elder, it is an honor to see you in such good shape. My name is Vishen and I will be your assistant for as long as your stay in our prison lasts.” The man spoke the lines he had spent all morning memorizing.

‘Supreme Elder.’ Canan repeated in his mind, but his tone was the exact opposite of the fawning mage. Eirin had chosen that pompous title for herself because she thought it sounded cool, only to regret it later when she realized that being called the oldest of the oldest was not a good compliment.

‘Shut up.’ She replied dryly, before focusing on the mage in front of her.