Chapter 303 (1): Great Secret
The Red Leaf Asylum was located in the northwestern part of suburban Londan. Driving along the highway outside the city into a forest path for fifty kilometers, one would see the asylum’s towering walls. The watchtowers in the four corners swept the area with searchlights at night. The sign that said restricted military area served as a warning of the airtight defense around the asylum.
There were a total of three checkpoints for personnel access, where posted guards checked the vehicles, including the trunks and chassis, to ensure that no patients could escape.
It was easy for mages to become Forgotten Ones: they only had to learn one too many things and break their balance. It was much harder for the Forgotten Ones to become normal again.
Therefore, the Red Leaf Asylum saw many more admissions than discharges. There had been few cases of successful treatment. Even those who had recovered fully would be shunned by other mages due to their record, so they had no choice but to stay at the asylum as a staff member.
When the Church of Heavenly Father was at the peak of its power, the Red Leaf Asylum was the Inquisition in Windsor. The church alone decided whether someone had lost their sanity. It was hard to tell if the tradition continued to this day.
It wasn’t difficult to imagine what the Red Leaf Asylum meant to any normal mages. It was a taboo, and receiving the asylum’s official documents was more terrifying than a visit from the tax authority.
Wayne drove to the Red Leaf Asylum. The first thing he saw was an ancient castle in the embrace of dense forests, all eight underground levels housing a great number of Forgotten Ones who had lost their sanity.
In the back of the castle were rows upon rows of wooden mansions, which were the residences of the medical personnel and other staff members.
The Red Leaf Asylum was now under the jurisdiction of the Windsor Ministry of Magic, but due to its unique value, the asylum didn’t fully belong to Windsor. All churches had the right to appoint attending physicians to the asylum.
Planck, as the asylum director and a legendary mage, managed the Gold-ranked mages on behalf of Windsor. To welcome a newblood today, he organized a brief meeting to introduce Wayne to his future colleagues.
“This is attending physician Brandon, from the Church of Sun...”
“This is attending physician Channing, from the Church of Moonlight...”