Chapter 196: Unclear Path Forward
The Nobles were unsure of their path forward, but the Cygnia Princess had saved many lives after the battle.
If she had a full regiment of Noblemen to secure the Albroles Palace, it would be seen as a capitulation by the Dagos Throne. But most considered the war to be lost already, and the succession to be a concession by Cygnia to avoid angering their other neighbours with an attempt to expand their own holdings by too much.
A man in white robes joined them on the stage. "Who do we have here that can use mana at the level fifteen or higher flow rate? There is an archpriest in the city, and he has just arrived to perform a revitalization ritual. It’s not quite resurrection, but if there is any chance of saving a life, he will be able to heal them with enough mana."
Princess Alexis nodded and gestured to Dominic. "Both of us are capable. The Second Prince is as well, but he is indisposed at the moment, hunting the perpetrator of today’s attack."
A few other Nobles came forward, including all of the Bostoveria Royals.
"This will have to do. Generally, Revitalization will work within thirty minutes of death, but it takes a massive amount of mana to restart their bodily functions, and there are no guarantees. Especially if the body is too damaged." The Priest explained.
Everyone in the room already knew that, but it was good to hear it, so they didn’t get their hopes too high.
The Priest came running into the room with a dozen other elderly clergy members, and then motioned for tables to be moved.
"The ritual requires a spell circle on the ground. Do any of you speak the ancient mystic languages? I don’t have my usual proofreader with me." The old man wheezed, trying to catch his breath.
"I can read and write most of the ancient runic languages, Elder. Go ahead and work, I will check the runes and grammar for you." Dominic insisted.
The Priest looked dubious, but when Dominic took off his hat, the old man smiled and nodded.
The Priest began drawing the magical circle, while Dominic watched and whispered a few changes to him to make the spell more efficient on a large group. They only wanted to target the ones who were still in this room, which was easy. They just needed to remove the bodies of the mercenaries, so they didn’t revive enemies in the process.
"Are we ready?" The elderly Priest asked as he finished drawing the circle.
"We have removed the attackers, the recently deceased are bandaged as well as possible to make the spell easier." His assistant informed him.
"Alright, everyone, pass me mana, and I will begin the spell."
All of the magically adept Nobles began to send mana to the Priest, and the spell circle glowed bright white, a light that spread across the room.
The Priest was panting with exertion, but the spell was still getting stronger.
"Sorcerer, put as much mana as you can directly into the spell. It is stable enough now." He mumbled, struggling to hold the spell together.
Dominic changed his focus to pulling as much mana as he could from the Palace and feeding it to the spell circle.
The white light went from bright to blinding, and then so bright that Dominic could see the veins in his eyelids after he shut them against the light. Then, the bones in his hand when he covered his eyes instead.
Then, the light abruptly faded, leaving them all temporarily blinded.
"It worked." Princess Alexis declared, and Dominic wondered how she knew that.
He couldn’t see anything.
As his vision cleared, he saw that the same was true of nearly everyone else, but the Princess had pressed a folded piece of leather over her eyes, dimming the light enough that when it faded she wasn’t totally blind.
Not all of the Nobles were moving, but most of the deceased were beginning to move, and over half of the guards who had been the first casualties.
That was better than Dominic had expected. He hadn’t seen many high levelled clerics in action, but this one certainly had lived up to every hope that an outsider could have for them.
In theory, Resurrection was also possible. But it was more akin to necromancy, and you never knew if you’d get the person back intact, or as some sort of soulless undead. Revitalization didn’t have that problem.
The fallen Nobles’ friends and relatives swarmed to them, ensuring that they were properly healed, and not likely to die again in a few minutes.
But the spell had done its job properly, and no open wounds were found on the living.
"Well, at least we won’t be sending dozens of condolence letters back to every King we share a border with." Dominic heard the Albroles Duke’s chief advisor mutter.
That was one way of looking at it.
But also, having them all alive to tell the story of how Prince Kaizon’s mercenaries turned on them would go a long way to quelling the rage of the foreign Royals over this incident.
What would really matter is whether the Prince could be captured alive, and how Viscount Boscom handled things in the next few days while they rushed his coronation ceremony.
"Thank you, High Priest, you saved so many of our people." One of the Bostoverian Princesses cried, hanging off the old man’s sleeve.
The old man looked at Dominic, intending to place the blame on him, but the Sorcerer was looking away with his arm around the Princess of Cygnia.
That route was out.
"You’re welcome, Princess. But it’s no more than my duty, and every magic user in the room assisted." He replied instead.
"But you’re the only one who knows the ancient language and the healing spell. Without you, none of this would be possible. Surely, there is some reward that we can offer you?" She pleaded.
"Princess, my order takes vows of both poverty and chastity, there really aren’t any worldly desires that will tempt us." The High Priest assured her, while the nearby Nobles tried not to laugh.
She had not meant it in a physical way at all, she was just so used to flirting with potential suitors that she did it unconsciously.