Lucian had the sorcerers who had surrendered earlier come forward and clean up the bodies and debris.
Meanwhile, he began thinking about the Academy's future.
The remaining ordinary sorcerers could stay behind, continue studying within the Academy, and later take on teaching roles.
Although the very top leaders couldn't be kept, there were still plenty of elite sorcerers from each lecture hall left behind, all of them fairly strong.
What Sellen had said earlier made a lot of sense.
Even though these sorcerers had once chosen to betray the Carian Royal Family and had that stain on their record, in terms of sheer capability they were far stronger, and far more useful than the ones who had been expelled.
In the future, the Academy would be handed over to Sellen to manage.
Then, some of the sorcerers from Sellia, Town of Sorcery could be brought in to help with administration.
Once that was done, Raya Lucaria would be firmly under control.
These elite sorcerers from the various lecture halls could serve as instructors, passing down the knowledge of their respective schools.
Once things stabilized, Lucian planned to allow large numbers of Tarnished to come here to learn sorcery.
On the battlefield, the destructive power of sorcerers was not to be underestimated.
That wasn't all.
Lucian also intended to give the Academy a new name.
Strictly speaking, the Academy probably wasn't originally called Raya Lucaria.
That name meant Royal Carian Academy of Sorcery.
It was most likely adopted after Queen Rennala conquered the Academy and the Carian Royal Family took control.
As for its original name, it had been lost to time.
Even after the rebellion, the sorcerers of the Academy hadn't changed it—probably because there had never been a single, absolutely dominant leader to make that decision.
After all, the Academy existed as a loose coalition of lecture halls and factions.
In the end, no one could agree on anything.
Lucian thought to himself:
'The Carians did it, so I'll do it too.'
From now on, this Academy belonged to him.
It was only right to draw a clear line between the past and the present.
Unfortunately, Lucian couldn't come up with a meaningful, profound name of his own.
So he decided to make full use of his greatest advantage as a transmigrator.
Borrow shamelessly.
When it came to famous magical academies in other worlds, nothing topped the globally renowned IP—the Harry Potter series' Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
A new name meant a new beginning.
Lucian even asked Sellen for her opinion.
Although Sellen didn't understand what significance this new name carried, renaming a place after conquest was common enough.
If her disciple wanted to do it, then so be it.
Besides, a name was just a name.
What truly mattered was the knowledge contained within the Academy.
As for the Cuckoo Knights outside in Liurnia, who had long maintained a cooperative relationship with the Academy, Lucian hadn't yet decided how to deal with them.
For now, he would have the Academy bring out the details of their existing arrangements and negotiate with them.
If the Cuckoos were willing to maintain cooperation, there was no need to fight them.
For the moment, though, Lucian had something else to do.
He intended to meet the imprisoned sorcerer–blacksmith held within the Academy.
This was a craftsman personally guided by old Master Iji himself.
Lucian was very interested.
He was sorely lacking this kind of talent under his command and was eager to recruit him, to help restore the Ha—ahem, to help build up the Storm King's domain.
—
Before long, under Sellen's guidance, Lucian arrived at the study room of the Lazuli Conspectus.
This was the location Iji had deciphered through encrypted information, the place where the blacksmith was held.
The room had been modified later on.
Originally, it had just been an ordinary study room, not very large.
Lucian pushed the door open and was greeted by a dim, oppressive scene.
The space had been altered into something extremely enclosed, eerily similar to the underground chamber where Sellen herself had once been imprisoned.
The surroundings were pitch-dark.
All the windows had been sealed shut, not a single ray of light coming through.
Only a single lamp in the center provided illumination.
A Haima Conspectus sorcerer was imprisoned here.
Both his feet were bound by shackles formed from glintstone crystal, connected to the stone block beneath him—this stone was his "chair."
The shackles were almost identical in design to the ones that had once restrained Sellen.
They not only suppressed magic, but could also inflict pain.
In front of him stood two forging tables of vastly different designs.
One was a very common iron anvil—ordinary, familiar, the kind any blacksmith would use to forge weapons.
Beside it stood a second, unusual forge.
This one was much smaller—about half the size of a normal anvil, and was made entirely of gray-white stone.
Star-like glintstone crystals were embedded across its surface, crisscrossed with grooves through which deep-blue magical energy flowed, forming strange patterns.
At a glance, it was obvious this forge was deeply tied to sorcery.
The Haima sorcerer didn't react at all to the sound of the door opening.
He sat motionless on the stone block, not even bothering to raise his head.
Lucian walked up and examined him.
From the outside, there was nothing particularly remarkable about this sorcerer.
But he really wasn't moving at all.
'Is he dead?'
Looking at the man's complete lack of response, Lucian spoke up:
"You're the Hettis that old Master Iji mentioned, right?"
"A sorcerer who studied blacksmithing, now that's rare."
At the mention of Iji's name, the Haima sorcerer finally reacted.
He slowly raised his head and looked toward Lucian.
"…Yes. And you are?"
Seeing that he was still alive—and seemingly sane, Lucian let out a small sigh of relief.
"My name is Lucian. I'm the King of Stormveil."
"I've received a lot of help from old Master Iji. He's done quite a bit for me."
"After learning about you, he thought you might be able to help me as well, and suggested I come save you while I was here."
"I've already conquered the Academy."
"You're free now."
"So," Lucian said, "are you interested in coming to work for me?"
Hettis froze in shock, his mouth hanging open beneath the glintstone crown.
The Academy… had been conquered?
It sounded unbelievable, but the man was standing right in front of him. That alone was proof enough.
Hettis swallowed hard.
"Th-then… what happens if I refuse?"
Lucian smiled.
"Nothing happens. I'm not some kind of demon."
"I do need excellent blacksmiths, but you're not irreplaceable."
"If you don't want the job, I'll release you. You can go wherever you like and do whatever you want."
Hettis didn't really know what a "demon" was.
He assumed Lucian had misspoken, perhaps confusing it with an Omen.
Still, the man before him didn't seem like a bad person.
"No... no, that's not what I meant," Hettis said hurriedly.
"You freed me from imprisonment. No matter what, I must repay that."
"It's just that… I have a few questions I'd like to ask. If that's alright."
Lucian rubbed his chin, glancing at Hettis's glintstone crown.
"Sure. Go ahead."
Hettis asked quietly:
"Do you believe… that one day, war will disappear from the Lands Between?"
Lucian raised an eyebrow.
He had expected questions about pay, status, conditions. Instead, he was asked something like this.
He thought for a moment, listening to his own heart.
"I desire that day more than anyone," he said slowly.
"And I've been working toward it this entire time."
"But unfortunately, no matter what… war will never truly disappear."
"I want to become Elden Lord. At first, I thought that as long as I took that throne, all wars in the Lands Between would end, and peace would finally arrive."
"But the closer I get to that position, the clearer it becomes."
"Even if I become Elden Lord, war won't vanish."
"There were Elden Lords before me. And war still existed."
Lucian paused, then laughed softly.
"But who can say what the distant future holds?"
"All I can say is that, for a time to come, the Lands Between should see a period of peace—however long it lasts."
"The Shattering has yet to truly end."
"And I will be the one to put a full stop to it."
"I will reignite the Shattering War—"
"—and this time, it will be the war that ends all wars."
Hettis was stunned by those words.
The Shattering was no small conflict, it was a cataclysm that engulfed the entire Lands Between.
"You're… going to continue the Shattering War?!"
"This... this is—"
"The Lands Between have already suffered unimaginably because of it. If another war begins—"
Lucian shook his head.
"Then what? Do you think maintaining the status quo is good?"
"Where I come from, there's a saying: better short pain than long pain."
"The Lands Between are already a diseased, deformed world."
"Only by cutting away the rot with a blade can a new era of peace be written."
"Only war and strength can pave the road to peace."
"Peace never comes from waiting. It's never handed down out of charity."
"It must be fought for."
"If I want peace in the Lands Between, then I must suppress every enemy before me."
"If there is no war, the current deadlock can never be broken."
"And if the deadlock can't be broken, the Lands Between will never return to peace."
If the Lands Between were truly peaceful, Lucian wouldn't have needed to snowball his power so desperately, growing stronger at all costs.
If he had transmigrated into something like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing, he could've just farmed in peace.
But in the Lands Between?
Only by becoming Elden Lord—only by possessing the power to suppress everything, could peace exist.
As for how long that peace would last afterward?
Who knew.
"Hettis," Lucian said, his voice steady.
"Offer me your loyalty."
"I will end the war."
Hettis looked at the man before him, and suddenly, a flame called hope ignited in his heart.
Lucian was right.
Was the Lands Between really in a good state right now?
It was nothing but a festering swamp, order itself had collapsed.
Perhaps only such methods could truly bring war to an end.
"Then," Hettis said slowly, resolutely, "I swear my loyalty to you."