The public went from elated and curious who had managed to trigger such a once-in-a-history event, to shocked when they learned that the legendary Archmage Dana Velias, Head Strategist and General of the nation's mage military branch, had died. Died at the hands of none other than the Sage of Fluff.

At first no one even believed it. The Sage's popularity in the capital was so grand that quite literally even the most senile elder wouldn't have believed it. But soon enough, as a couple of days passed, the story began to be leaked.

Apparently Archmage Dana was the Sage's maternal grandmother, and a family dispute broke out when she stormed the Church after his Class ceremony. The family dispute turned violent and while no one knew the exact details of what took place inside, outside those few who had viewed from the doorway, what was known… was that Dana had somehow died by the Sage of Fluff's own hands.

–

But even so… the public supported Rou's innocence, refusing to believe he could ever do something so awful without a reason. No matter how much of a hero Archmage Dana was, his reputation had surpassed hers by such a large margin that she was instantly cast as the villain despite no one knowing the truth.

Especially when they found out that the Sage had been arrested and forcibly dragged through custody and the capital to the castle's dungeons where the most heinous traitors were kept. The most vile members of society, as their land wasn't one where executions directly took place terribly often, were simply locked up in perpetuity.

The public nearly began to riot, the military deployed to try and keep the peace as Rou's parents were taken in as guests in the castle. Millet had been allowed to go back and find her siblings and they went and stayed as W'elma's guests at her trading company for the time being.

–

The place where Rou had been locked, after being stripped of everything in his possession, was rather simply described as awful. Deep in the earth at the bottom of a winding stairway, with many layers of magical safeties put in place, in a simple cell with a guard station not terribly far away. Down at this depth there weren't really any others present.

Just Rou.

Given what was considered the basic prisoners' clothing in the form of a thin gown and nothing more. Of course, Rou could have simply opened an aether node and stayed in Affection's domain if he wanted, but his existence at the moment was pure, unadulterated self hate and guilt. As he'd cut off the shared senses with Affection shortly before he took the blow for his father, and hadn't reconnected them, he'd even silenced the [Contact: Affection] perk and left himself in silence as he tried to sort himself out.

The broken arm hadn't been healed, either, as he was simply thrown inside and left to rot by the military after they realized in short order what had happened to their highest-ranking mage.

–

The castle was in chaos as two sides had been drawn quite strictly. The Royal Family and, ironically, the Erials on one side, and the Military on the other. Given it was a Military leader who had been killed, the Military would not back down, under any circumstance, regarding the killer. No matter the reasons, no matter the context, he had killed the highest ranked mage in the country, not a soldier who was acting out of line.

It was publicly known.

As far as they were concerned, even if it was the King's own child that did it they would not relent.

Of course, as it was the military, the Royal Family's side didn't have the strength to forcibly free Rou from his confinement. They had the head of the Fangs and the Claws, their personal guards, but if they were to send them to do it, they'd be leaving themselves open and the military could easily just take them out while they were exposed.

–

That said, Rou was ignorant of all this. Perhaps if he knew he would put aside his own despair to try and get things to go peaceably, but more and more lines were drawn. The Church sided with Rou. Archmage Dana had attacked the High Priest, violated the holy sanctity of the Church, and destroyed their property. She had assaulted the family of not only a Chosen, but a Chosen Sage!

The Public also blindly sided with Rou, given all he had given them, even if he /was/ actually a killer, they would still give him a second chance or at least ask him why. The Adventurers in the town, being passingly familiar with the Fluff Sage's personality, went to protect his various known acquaintances from the W'elma trading company to various other individuals in case the Military tried to capture them.

–

The old gopher blacksmith? Had somehow managed to galvanize nearly every craftsman in the capital into boycotting the military and actively threatened to revolt, leading to tensions accordingly.

–

Siding with the military was the nobles, strangely. Archmage Dana was a well known and well regarded Noble of the highest tier. The idea that her own grandson, estranged though he might have been because of his mother, killed her with his bare hands? The savagery was awful. The poor Archmage, killed by her own grandson, how sad she must have been as it happened.

The mages in general were split, at least those unaffiliated with the military. Fluff Sage had done so much for the advancement of magic and had personally led a boom for them, and helped raise their standard of living across the board. There wasn't a mage alive who hadn't benefited from Rou. But Archmage Dana was a light and legend to them all.

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The merchants naturally did not pick a side at all, supporting both and trying to profit off the chaos. At least those who lacked a conscience.

–

But what caused the most concern? Were the Gods. All statues in all the churches around the world fell over and no matter how much effort was spent trying to right them, they would simply fall over, again and again. Even the Gods, it seemed, were protesting something that was taking place. But no oracles, no proclamations were made. Though it wasn't hard to imagine they sided with their 'Chosen' they had unilaterally supported before it all went down.

–

The sound of abuse could be heard throughout the lower level. Rou didn't even fight back as the would-be 'confessor' who tried to coax a confession out of Rou beat him like a drum with metal poles, as his flesh was too tough by default to use their normal methods. He could have defended himself a little, or asked for help from Affection, but Rou was so disgusted at having been unable to find a way to avoid killing Dana that part of him had just given up.

"We know you were paid off by Elaria! Admit it!" The current 'goal' of the military leaders, after this debacle, was to get a 'confession' from the Sage of Fluff that he was a spy from a neighboring nation and had lured his loving grandmother out on purpose and after her guard was let down, to kill her so they could invade. An attempt to war hawk things and promote a 'we have to act first' war of aggression.

That his parents had abandoned this nation due to their differences with the Archmage and had raised their child to betray her.

Naturally as Rou refused to confess to such, the beatings only got worse.

Nearby was the highest royal-sided official who was happily going along with this facade, the Chancellor to the King. As someone who had a long standing love for Archmage Dana and had tried to court her for most of his life, unsuccessfully, how would the fellow react when his beloved was announced as killed by her own grandson?

He wanted blood. He was the one who had secretly set all this up and was orchestrating things to make it more convenient. And in front of the Chancellor was a plain wooden box that was locked with many, many layers of magic.

–

Once the beatings had stopped for the moment and no success came, a light crystal was used to start recording visuals and the Chancellor stepped up while holding the box.

"Why do you insist on this futile resistance? We know you are a spy. Once you confess it we will even send you back to Elaria. The notion that all of our great military's data was wrong is simply unbelievable. How else would our great Archmage ever let her guard down enough to be killed by someone like you?"

The Chancellor spoke to Rou condescendingly, the broken Red Panda looking up at him in confusion. "She tried to kill my parents to get to me. Why… would I want to hurt her? That was the first time I had ever even heard her name." Rou's voice was soft, strained, hoarse as even his neck was beaten by the confessor. He was leaned against the wall on the far back side of the room, vision unfocused and quite a mess.

"Petty lies. You expect us to believe that you, someone who is well known to be quite weak magically, and only physically as strong as a mid-tier adventurer, broke through the Archmage's perfected defenses that not even an army could - by yourself, without trickery?"

Rou didn't even try to explain, his vision unfocused as it was with one of his eyes swollen shut and the other side of his face fractured from the abuse, reducing his vision further.

"Fine then." The Chancellor promptly undid the magical locks on the box and opened it, revealing the contents inside. A jello-like black substance. "There's no way a spy like you hasn't heard of this. While executions in most nations are unheard of, the most heinous and criminal of beings suffer a punishment that even the Gods have proclaimed as a crime against nature."

Of course, Rou had no idea what it was. It looked like slime. He'd heard of various slimes in the past, witnessed a few at public celebrations.

Blue Slime was a childrens toy, a type of plant that mimicked the 'slimes' in various fantasy stories from his old world. Sticky, weird, mildly cold and gross, it was used as a prank and toy by children and even adults to throw at each other.

Green Slime was mildly different in that it left an awful stink that most folks found unbearable and, while still a prank by some, was seen as in poor taste despite it still being legal in all capacities.

Even Pink Slime existed, though this plant was more of a marital aid than anything else and was illegal outside of controlled, agreed-upon use.

But he had never heard of black slime. Of course, most everyone else in every nation had heard of this substance. He might have too, had he a standard upbringing and education. But as he lost fifteen years, knowledge of this simply wasn't known.

How the feared 'Black Slime' was a legend akin to the boogeyman in his old world. Many didn't even think it was real, but those who were in government knew otherwise.

–

"I haven't a clue what that is… is it some kind of… slime?"

The Chancellor snorted in disbelief. "Go on then, spy. If you are truly innocent, prove it. I will personally free you and proclaim you innocent. Pick it up."

–

What the Chancellor didn't expect? That surprised even him, the one who hated Rou the most at the moment, who was abetting the military's lies? Was that Rou… actually didn't know what it was. He slowly raised his hand and grabbed at it.

'...the boy truly was innocent? Did… Dana really go crazy?' The man knew Dana was the aggressor, but surely there was something else going on. How else could the legendary Archmage's impenetrable shields be broken? But now, as he saw Rou's hand grasp the box, he shook his head and simply dumped it out onto Rou's hand, the slime causing Rou's body to seize and begin to convulse immediately despite it sloughing off his hand and fingertips and onto his face, lodging there.

It was a fate worse than death and /no one/ would wish it upon someone else. But the Chancellor stared down impassively at the grandchild of his old love.

The irony of which was Dana would have killed the Chancellor without hesitation for even suggesting it, because despite her killer being Rou… she would never truly want him gone.

–

"WHAT?!" Creation yelled in confusion, an alert ringing through his domain in the high-dimensional realm.