Clearing The World That's Inside A Novel

Chapter 51: The Sheer Insanity

(Aurelias Von Fergusa VI)

He descended from the throne, took the crown from his head and came forward towards me, and placed the rusted crown on me.

"Sure, crybaby." He said.

It irked me.

And I asked, "What do you intend to gain from this all?"

I still don't understand what he might gain from helping me.

"A dark mage becoming the new king? Why would I not sign up?"

Ah, so that's what his goal is.

"Besides, if things remain as they are it won't end on a good note for anyone, the kingdom will be ruined. Your brother is not king material, well, you aren't either but I will shape you up"

"The kingdom will be ruined?" I questioned, taken aback by his proclamation.

"Welp, you brother's gonna use dark mages to kill people in the kingdom to achieve immortality, not like he can, all he can do is just prolong his life but whatever, it is what it is and I gotta stop it. I mean, making you king, securing the stability of the kingdom, and changing the reputation of 'Dark Magicians' is also my job. Damn... so many things to do, how is it easy?"

What?

What!?

Immortality!? Killing the people of the kingdom!?

Just what is going through his head!?

Was my brother this deranged? How have I failed to notice it till now?

Frustration took root inside of me, as the unease began to build up.

"We will use this place as your castle, gather the dark magicians, have the souls whose voices you can hear-yeah, I know about your ability- help us out too keeping an eye on these dark magicians we will gather, use the other kingdoms to put a puppet king on the throne. What I mean is, that you are gonna make a comeback with the help of other kingdoms who want to see the doom of this kingdom. What's the context? Welp, you were swapped with someone else when you were a kid, so now you were brought by whichever kingdom wants to infiltrate the kingdom with your help. Of course, they won't know you are the real deal" He said as he started to leave the throne room, urging me to follow him with his hand gesture.

What in the heavens is he saying?

"I was switched? Do you think it's a joke?

"No, and switching stories would help garner sympathy towards you and the people won't talk anything about your competence at all. You will be in the spotlight. Change everything from there, somewhere in the castle, your fiance is trapped, you can't get her unless you go there and.." he paused before continuing "Your brother would be thrown off guard with the whole story, unable to know what to do, that is the time I will deal with the shit and as a Dark mage you will reveal yourself on grand stage set by your brother where you and other gathered dark mages will save everyone, improving the image of dark magicians" He said with his dead tone as he started moving towards a nearby chair and sat on it as I sat in front of him.

"Basically, use other kingdoms as puppets, you can just start working in some place in another kingdom, your familiar looks will make them suspicious, we will changes your face so you won't be questioned for being a twin or some shit, we will create a false past of yours and manipulate them, then enter back to this kingdom, use the other kingdom as shields and start creating ripples, find Rachael, become strong and deal with the upcoming large scale attack of you brother, simple. Just the first part is gonna be hard since you need to manipulate a whole other kingdom in about 3 months" He said brewing something, he took the materials out of thin air once again like that healing potion.

I realized something at that moment.

This guy is crazy.

No, crazy isn't enough.

This guy is out of his mind!

He is absolutely nuts!

"How is anyone going to believe in the story of swapping kids, that's absurd!"

I shouted

"Ah, about that, let me tell you about my escapade"

..Escapade?

With my confusion apparent on my face, he explained.

"You see when I was escaping, I took your baby brother as a hostage.."

And then he began to tell me about his breaking out of the prison, my heart lept out when I heard what he did with my newborn brother.

I felt hurt for the maid.

"And that is how I made it out. The maid wouldn't be able to tell the king that the baby was hers, if she did she would be punished for trying to save her own child and letting a criminal like me escape, stupid but it is what it is and now the baby has been swapped, I mean newborn looks all same, right?"

I remembered that dark mages are called evil and this person in front of me is absolutely evil.

"Tell me you are screwed in the head without telling me you are screwed in the head," I said, letting out a sigh as I scruffled through my hair.

He continued drinking whatever drink he made.

"Yeah, you are right. The plan would work. No, let me correct myself, 'I will make it work'"

I said firmly.

There are lots of points in his plan that would need a lot of reworking but I can do that much.

This was honestly the most evil and ridiculous plan I have ever heard which played with the emotions of various individuals, and used their desires, all for one's own needs.

But I wanted to see Rachel.

I wanted to hold her and tell her everything would be fine and for that, I was ready to do anything. I thought to myself, holding the paper ring delicately.

"You will need to do a lot of spy work, to manipulate a kingdom I need a lot of info"

"I know, that was supposed to be the easiest part but no longer is, I will do it and of course, it mainly depends on you, I will just rest most of the time, besides, I am a pro with that kinda stuff anyway. Also dark magic is such a stupid term, call it soul magic." He shruggingly said.

And so, that day became the start of the story that would be told for ages to come.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Third Person Pov)

Mihertm.

That was the kingdom Aurelias decided to go to, after all, their hatred for Serendill that they hid made them perfect to use but before going there he found himself a boy adept in the use of dark magic, a boy merely 12 years old, the perfect person he needed.

The boy knew how to manipulate the memories of people, that is how he had survived till now.

Of course, Noah led Aurelias to meet the boy, he knew how special the boy was because of the novel.

With his help, Aurelias forged a new identity, an orphan who grew up working in the stables, stables of none other than the Duke of the kingdom.

Manipulating the memories of all the households, they managed to get their past written.

Ah, yes.

How could we forget our protagonist and his little complaint?

"For the love of my sanity, that's not soul magic, manipulating memories is different shit, and must fall under myst, most probably which I don't know much about myself, regardless, guess dark magic here mean just bad stuff magic, doesn't change anything about the fact that I can't do it. My proficiency is lower than a kid.... this is not what I have been working hard for"

"Shut up, Noah. You were never sane" Aurelias replied while the boy clinging on to Aurelias, Aurelias patted his head "You did good, Greg", Greg smiled receiving the compliment.

It wasn't easy though, it took them about a month to just get to this point.

During this time, Aurelias also found Noah for all his craziness was a pretty diligent worker, he trained his body every day for long amounts of hours and practiced aura and mana, he and Greg were both shocked when they learned Noah could use both aura and mana, Noah also spend most of his time reading a book. It was none other than the book he took from Eliza for clearing the hidden dungeon.

Noah also spied on the palace workings, in less than a week, he dug every little dirty secret of every important figure.

Aurelias had told Noah "Would it kill you to sleep?"

Noah in turn said "Normally, I had the potion but I really do need rest, a natural one for my soul, so this was my last work, don't fuck up while I go away and sleep"

And then Aurelias didn't hear another word from him for a whole week!

Soon someone who recognized Aurelia appeared in the ducal house, Aurelias of course played the part of someone who had never met them while Noah harvested the seed he planted when he came to this world. The Serendill kingdom was going through a huge change when the baby switch was discovered and the Greywoods were becoming more aggressive in their search for their daughter.

Aurelias who kept hearing the news from Noah, resolved himself and practiced his dark magic to become more adept at using it while Greg went to the abandoned castle and searched for other dark magicians.

They both decided to not use Greg to manipulate the memories of others in the castle. There are countermeasures set in every kingdom for dealing with dark mages, more so in the castle.

From here on out, Aurelias has to be more careful about his every step.

3 months and 15 days, Aurelias returned back to his kingdom just like Noah had planned.

It wasn't as easy as he made it sound but Aurelias made it work.

Every day wanting to go to Rachel.

According to Noah, she had locked herself in a mana cage created by her own mana, no one can approach her but she can't approach anyone either, all to protect herself from Harry.

From time to time, Noah would bring Aurelias some words from Rachel.

It angered Aurelias how Noah absolutely refused to help Rachel escape despite being capable of doing so but Noah always replied with

"I don't want your motivation to waver, I am visiting her and bringing messages for you, that's pretty kind of me, don't be entitled."

Noah, of course, was simply gaslighting Aurelias, he goes there to pick a fight with Sofia Amsburg, to train his aura.

Sofia Amsburg, every time he visits becomes angered but soon she realized that there is a schedule to Noah's visits and always prepares herself, keeping her schedule free in an isolated place where they both can fight each other off.

She was starting to like it.

Of course, Noah was slowly but surely changing the views she held of dark magicians in her mind.

Good old scummy Noah, doing his usual thing.

After Aurelias managed to get back and the news of the baby switch, he shocked everyone. Aurelias didn't tell the truth to his parents, he needed to play the part for now.

Slowly he started building connections with everyone once again, acting as he never knew them.

'Since Aurelias worked in stables and lived as an orphan', it shocked and impressed everyone how fast he seemed to be learning the royal etiquettes and absorbing the studies.

Aurelias knew this was just a lie, a stupid lie, it was just that he was pretending to 'not' know anything and it was as if he was learning for the first time.

He gained attention, and his popularity rose faster and faster.

And surely, his younger brother didn't like getting overshadowed, exactly like Noah had planned.

Soon, Aurelias managed to find Rachel, all while cursing Noah for simply not telling him her location and exposing what his younger brother did to Rachel and how he killed 'Aurelias' by trapping him in the abandoned castle.

Harry Von Fergusa managed to run away.

Rachel knew about Aurelias being the 'Aurelias', Noah had told her about him and everything he was doing. She had thought that Aurelias had changed, she had feared and that's why when Aurelias told her everything that happened with his own lips, she felt relief wash over her.

The Greywood felt indebted to Aurelias for saving the life of Rachel and asked him to request anything of them.

Aurelias simply asked for an engagement with Rachel, Greywoods feared for their daughter, and knowing how much she loved 'Aurelias' were going to apologize to him but their daughter's acceptance took them by a shock and a bit of happiness that she found someone for herself.

...

Noah sitting atop a tree murmured "Man, this next level gaslighting" shaking his head as he contacted Greg, telling him to prepare 'everyone', Noah had turned innocent Greg into a menance who would kill anyone if Noah asked for.

"Let's prepare, ourselves too," He said to Sofia Amsburg.

"Hmm" she replied with a nod

This bastard made another one fall for him.

Good old Noah.

And on the day of Aurelia's crowning, it finally happened.

Harry attacked along with other dark magicians while Aurelias defended with his own team of dark magicians.

Noah on the other hand, was busy taking the gold coins from the treasury, planning to sell the gold coins to the outside world. He will later learn gold is not expensive in a world filled with 'World's Power'.

Money isn't something Noah cares for, it's the convenience that it brings which he does.

Afterwards the fight? There were lots of problems and discussions but seeing 'good' dark magicians and 'bad' dark magicians helped the world to realize there is a need to stop their 'extreme' biased views towards the dark magicians.

And not to mention, Aurelias revealed the story of the dark mage who once cursed a castle and why and that brought a lot of hatred towards the royal family.

But Aurelias was also supported by many as well.

His position was all secured.

All the while Harry Von Fergusa ran away.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two individuals were there in the night sky on the terrace. The black-haired boy with black empty eyes stood on the railing, creating his balance, and the other with a crown on his head, had blue colored hair and silver eyes as he remained seated, rolling his eyes watching the black-haired boy doing stupid stuff.

"Welp, things are gonna work out just fine from here on out, have the abandoned castle open up for you and take that rusty crown, I did say I will make you the king, a true one."

"Sofia is gonna be angry if you leave without a word," Aurelias said completely disregarding Noah's question.

"Welp, not my fault, she hasn't said anything to me about her feelings. So, I am in the clear. Besides, I am 16 and she is 21. The age gap says she needs to work on her feelings. It ain't right."

Noah raised both his hands.

"You are a bastard through and through"

"That I am"

"Did you learn it? You have been pastoring Greg to teach you memory manipulation"

"Nah, I couldn't. I need to raise my proficiency way more to be able to do this shit and even then other people's memory would be hard to manipulate, Greg is special in that regard, make sure to not give him a villain origin story, shit wouldn't be cool, he will be a menance."

"You already corrupted him." Aurelias retorted and Noah shrugged.

"What are you going to do now?" Aurelias asked

"Well, I have one more job to do, but yeah, this will be the last time you will ever see me"

Noah said and Aurelias fell silent,

"Thank you, really"

"Wow after how many times you cursed me? Now you are thanking me? Just give me all the books I asked about"

That caused Aurelias to laugh, even though he himself changed but Noah hadn't. He remained as he had been since the first time he met him.

Aurelias handed the book to Noah, it was a single book that had all the knowledge related to dark magic, Noah had asked for every information to be combined into one single thick book.

Noah didn't have much space left in his inventory, with this book his inventory showed 24/25.

It's about to be filled.

Welp, to be fair Noah had taken lots of things in his inventory that he will put in a simple dimensional storage ring later when he gets out of the hidden dungeon and a lot of crap that belongs in the trash can, who puts a coffee and water bottle in his inventory?

But it was okay, Noah had gotten everything that would help him survive the novel without much difficulty.

Even though that 'demon lord' is going to become more aggressive.

Noah jumped down the railing and disappeared while Aureliad stood up when he saw Rachel coming up.

"Is he gone?" She asked, she knew about Noah, during her lowest times Noah always brought her news about Aurelias and it made her happy, she didn't hold any ill feelings towards Noah for not helping her escape, she was grateful for simply being able to hear news about Aurelias.

"Yeah, he is" Aurelias replied, his eyes reflected solemnity for a moment, then he turned towards his soon-to-be wife "Let's go, everyone's waiting"

Rachel nodded.

Today was the day of their wedding ceremony.