Chapter 92: The End of Weise

Macht trains Denken in magic, and the boy comes to enjoy the lessons. Under Glück's standing order to act as both teacher and the rival the boy must one day surpass, the demon shapes Denken into an accomplished military mage who eventually marries the lord's daughter, Lektüre, his childhood sweetheart. Around then, a fortress city far to the north is annihilated by a single powerful demon, and a frightened populace demands that Macht be bound by the Stone Bracelet of Servitude to keep him in check.

Macht accepts the mind controlling shackle without complaint and goes on serving Glück for many more years. He stands witness as Lektüre sickens and dies, as a heartbroken Denken leaves Weise behind for good, and as the lord, now aged, falls into the habit of praying daily at his daughter's grave. When the moment finally comes, Macht resolves to carry out the plan he set long ago, to destroy everything he has come to treasure in the hope of feeling malice and guilt.

Walking back from the grave, the demon confesses that the years beside Glück, however brief to one of his kind, are irreplaceable to him, then begins to unleash his gilding curse upon the city. Rather than resist, Glück smiles and asks for a final cigarette, which Macht kneels to light. The lord reveals he had always expected this betrayal, since he had studied the demon across more than three decades, and as the gold claims him he names Macht his treasured partner in crime and a villain bound to face his own reckoning. Both agree the time together had been fun before Glück hardens into gold and Macht sweeps the curse across all of Weise, ending the city in an instant.

Denken matures under Macht's tutelage into a celebrated military mage and weds Glück's daughter Lektüre. The northern city's destruction by a powerful demon leads the people of Weise to lock Macht inside the Stone Bracelet of Servitude. After Lektüre's death and Denken's departure, an aged Glück is gilded by his own demon mage, who then transmutes the whole of Weise into gold, giving the Golden Land its grim birth.

Published May 11, 2022, the chapter bears the title The End of Weise and continues volume ten of The Golden Land arc. It introduces Lektüre and reveals that the Stone Bracelet of Servitude was the work of the Sage Ewig in the Mythical Era. The chapter explains how the Golden Land came to be and underscores that Glück, far from a deceived victim, foresaw his fate and met it on his own terms.