Chapter 570
It was unlikely that the Empire would have a vast amount of information on dark magic, especially since it had never conducted any research on it before. If they had a large-scale dark magic project underway, they had to have gained that knowledge from somewhere.
The Black Order had suffered significant losses across the continent as they responded to the Gate Incident in their own way. They had also invested most of their remaining forces into killing the Demon King. However, even their Master-class swordsmen and the previous leader of the Black Order, a Master-class grand mage, had not been able to stand against the Demon King. Once the survivors realized that there was no hope, they fled.
After that significant blow, the Black Order could no longer intervene militarily. However, even if their combat power had been depleted, they still retained their vast trove of knowledge. It was possible that the remnants of the Black Order were collaborating with the Empire and providing them with knowledge, and the Empire was in no position to refuse such forbidden knowledge.
The Senate meeting hadn’t succeeded in reaching a decisive conclusion about what the Empire was doing, and only resulted in a set of completely different suspicions being mooted. However, this suspicion had to be considered significant.
“The Black Order actually tried to kill His Highness. If this is true, then it can’t be anything good, whatever the Empire’s intentions are,” Eleris said.
Harriet nodded in agreement.
Both the Empire and Reinhart shared the idea that anything that could help in the war was good. Reinhart would not feel the need to intervene if he knew the knowledge of the Black Order could help end the war.
Lruien, who had remained silent thus far, crossed her arms and looked out the window.
“Whatever it is, the Empire isn’t just conducting research—they’re carrying out a deliberate operation with a clear goal, and it’s highly likely that the foundation of this project is built on the knowledge of the Black Order.
“The Black Order is an ancient magical society. The forbidden knowledge they possess far surpasses that of any other magical organization in the world. Not even the Empire, the Mage Guild, or the Magic Tower come close to matching them. They are practically the successors to the now-vanished Cantus Magna. No other group holds as much material on forbidden magic as they do.”
She paused, then continued, “The question is, what exactly is the Empire trying to accomplish with such knowledge? It’s clear now that it’s not just about creating Death Knights. Before we go any further, there’s something we need to confirm.”
She looked over at Harriet. “You said the bodies had been removed from the Imperial Mausoleum and the Hall of Heroes, and that the corpses of the fallen in the national cemetery had been swapped. Is that correct, Secretary?”