More than half an hour later, Zuke returned carrying the unconscious Bartholomew.
"That took quite a while."
Waver, who had been waiting in the office for some time, saw Zuke enter through the window with Bartholomew and couldn't help but comment.
Of course, his use of the word "long" was mainly because when Zuke dealt with the other Lords before, he resolved the issues in an instant.
Among the previous Lords, there were those who tried to resist like Bartholomew, but after having "Black Bird: Lovers" strike their brains once, they immediately became obedient.
So compared to the other Lords, the time Zuke spent on Bartholomew could indeed be called "long"—longer than the combined time spent dealing with all the other Lords.
"This was already quite fast."
Zuke gave Waver a meaningful smile, then placed Bartholomew's limp body on the office sofa.
Bartholomew's face was pale at this moment, her entire state very weak, looking as if she were about to die—clearly, Zuke had shown her no mercy.
Had he not considered that Bartholomew's death might result in the Clock Tower losing a Lord and delay his progress in controlling the Mages Association, Bartholomew likely wouldn't have survived in Zuke's hands.
"...I see, I understand why it took so long."
Seeing Zuke's smile and looking at the exhausted and unconscious Bartholomew, Waver couldn't help but cover his face, seeming to guess what had happened.
However, he clearly didn't plan to delve too deeply into Zuke's actions. What concerned him more now was whether Zuke had already achieved his objective.
"So, has Zuke-san completed his requirements now?"
"About that... it should be fine. Let me test it."
Hearing this, Zuke looked down at the still-unconscious Bartholomew—just now while "educating" Bartholomew, Zuke had already used "Black Bird: Lovers" to control her brain.
Although Bartholomew's mouth was still hard, judging from her body's reactions just now, she had actually accepted reality and probably wouldn't dare resist Zuke anymore.
In other words, Zuke had effectively dealt with all the Lords of the Mages Association. Only the so-called "Dean," who didn't manage anything in the Mages Association anyway, remained unresolved.
However, for Zuke, that "Dean" who was rarely seen was completely unimportant.
Because as long as the Mages Association became part of Zuke's "King's Army," then everyone in the Mages Association would become Zuke's subordinates—including that "Dean," who would be unable to disobey Zuke's commands.
"King's Army..."
Zuke murmured softly, then used his "King's Army" on the Clock Tower—sure enough, Zuke immediately felt changes occurring in this area.
The originally somewhat unfamiliar area suddenly became familiar in Zuke's perception, as if the Clock Tower had belonged to Zuke from the very beginning.
The Mages Association had become part of Zuke's "King's Army." Zuke now had an area in this world that could be used for teleportation.
"Huh?"
Just as Zuke used "King's Army" to bring the Clock Tower under his control, Waver also froze for a moment, involuntarily letting out a puzzled sound.
In that instant just now, he suddenly felt as if he and Zuke had established some strange connection—but when asked to specify what kind of connection it was, he couldn't say.
If Zuke knew about Waver's feeling, he would probably tell him that this was the sensation of being bound by Zuke's "King's Army" as a member of the Mages Association.
Waver was familiar with Iskandar's "King's Army," so perhaps it was precisely because of this that he could vaguely sense something—but it was limited to sensing it.
"Mmm..."
Before long, Bartholomew also awoke from her unconscious state.
The moment she woke up, she recalled what had just happened and hurriedly rolled off the sofa, then looked at another figure in the room with vigilant eyes.
Sure enough, Zuke was still in the room, and moreover, he was sitting quite rudely on her desk, holding in his hands a report about Dead Apostles that her subordinates had just delivered.
"Oh? Awake?"
Zuke also noticed Bartholomew's movement and looked at her—discovering that she still seemed to be on guard against him, Zuke couldn't help but laugh.
"Still on guard against me? You should recognize your position by now, right?"
"..."
Bartholomew seemed to want to say something, but the words reached her lips and she didn't know what to say for a moment.
Indeed, although she had been stubborn until she lost consciousness, Bartholomew already understood very clearly that now she had no choice but to obey Zuke.
She wasn't someone who feared death. As a proper magus, she was actually quite indifferent to life, even her own life.
It was just that she didn't only bear the burden of her own life—she also carried the future of her entire family. The Bartholomew family's Magic Circuits were still within her body.
The other Lords who surrendered to Zuke probably weren't just worried about their own lives either, but most likely also considered the continuation of their magical families.
"...I understand. I will obey your commands."
After a long silence, Bartholomew finally lowered her head.
Zuke's strength was formidable. No matter how hard Bartholomew tried, she couldn't hurt him. Instead, she was simply and brutally suppressed by Zuke, who did those unspeakable things.
Now, it seemed she had no other choice.
Seeing Bartholomew lower her head, Zuke also put down the Dead Apostle intelligence report in his hands—he wasn't interested in these things anyway, he was just casually flipping through them while idle.
However, Bartholomew giving up resistance so easily was somewhat unexpected to Zuke. He had thought Bartholomew would continue to resist.
Zuke had even planned to use Bartholomew to further test the forced obedience level of "King's Army," but now that Bartholomew had wisely submitted, Zuke abandoned that idea.
He beckoned to Bartholomew, and Bartholomew seemed to realize what Zuke wanted to do.
Although somewhat hesitant, she still lowered her head, walked to Zuke's front, then slowly bent down.
Although she had never done this sort of thing before, after Zuke's education just now, she roughly understood what she should do.
Seeing that Bartholomew had indeed submitted, Zuke nodded in satisfaction.
Since the stronghold of "King's Army" in this world had been established, all that remained was to resolve the cleanup work of the Holy Grail War.
To be continued…