章節 64: A Mage’s Dignity (Part 1)
編輯: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Aini!" The laboratory’s door was thrown open with a bang. A fully equipped soldier charged in and pointed his sword blade at a still excited Aini saying, "What is your relationship with that black mage? Why are you setting us up!"
Sika removed the cudgel on her back and used it to block Saleen’s front. Nailisi moved to hide behind Saleen instead.
Sijia was awoken with a start. She stared at the soldier, stunned. Then she said, "Ken, you are mad. Put down your weapon!"
The soldier named Ken said angrily, "Master, he is a spy. Quinn has died in battle. Those arrowheads...
Quinn was dead?!
Sijia was stupefied. Quinn had been a promising swordsman under her charge. In another three months, he would have become an intermediate swordsman. He had been the best in Chinese martial arts among her nine men. How could such a swordsman have been the first to die in battle?
"What was wrong with the arrowhead?" Saleen asked calmly, feeling uneasy.
"See for yourself!" Ken removed a quiver from his back and threw it across the room. Sika caught it and drew an arrow from it. She saw that the metal arrowhead had split. She flicked it with her finger, crack, and the arrowhead crumbled.
Saleen understood at once. In order to speed things up and put all of his energy into catalyzing the array, Aini had used a Grade 5 magic nucleus to add the magic patterns onto the arrowheads. This was something that he, as a moronic mage without any magic chords, had not been able to control.
If someone of mage apprentice standard could produce a hundred and eleven thousand arrowheads within a day, then what use would there be for alchemists?
"Ken, no need to panic. How many arrowheads need to be discarded?" Saleen had no reason to suspect Aini. There was no reason for Aini to associate with the black mage. If he had done so, he would have caused him harm a long time ago.
Sijia stood up and put on her armor as she spoke to Ken, "Where is Lord Baron?"
Since a large number of the arrowheads were to be discarded, the city walls would not be well-guarded. Saleen was not a spy, Sijia deduced. Otherwise, he could have easily killed her earlier. Once she had died, the four of them would have been able to control this laboratory. With the help of magic medicine, the castle could have been controlled from within, and the outside could have been destroyed with a single attack.
Ken wanted to kill Aini immediately but Sijia did not give any orders. He could only wait for Aini and replied, "The Lord had brought someone to the tower."
Sijia put on her helmet and turned around to tell Saleen, "Mage Saleen, the tower is the last foothold of the castle. Will you go?"
When Saleen heard that the city gate had been conquered, his heart turned ice cold. The tower was a dead man’s land to defend, as there was no place to retreat to. If he did not go, even if Sijia trusted him, the baron would not.
Kill Sijia and escape? There were still tens of thousands of black puppets outside.
"Aini?" Saleen called out softly.
Aini’s face had turned blood red, his illness getting more serious. He started to cough heavily. He put the magic medicine on the table into his leather sack, looked at Ken coldly, and said, "I am going to the tower. This was only an accident. If there is a need, I will die with you."
"Okay. I will go too." Saleen indicated for Sijia to lead the way while he followed carefully behind Sika, not letting Ken come close. He had just lost a brother and might not have been mentally stable. Saleen did not want to die a wronged death.
Aini walked in front with an icy smile, ignoring Ken’s ferocious glare.
This had been his mistake. Once the castle was broken into, everyone would die. Why would he care anymore?
Nailisi sensed that something was amiss and whispered from behind Saleen, "Master, are the enemies here? How about we escape?" For Nailisi, escaping from demons was a common occurrence. If there was a chance of running away, it was preferrable over going to battle.
"If it is a must, then you can run off on your own," Saleen did not agree to Nailisi’s request. If he ran away and there were survivors in the castle, he would be suspected of having been a spy sent by the black mage. Then, no one would listen to his explanation. Where could he escape to now anyway?
He could not return to Sikeqinya, and the Tanggulasi Empire was the home of the Holy See. Could he go to the Cloudflow Empire? The Cloudflow Empire had previously been the Fourth Dynasty, which black mages had hated the most. If he went there, the ending would not be positive anyway.
Ken suddenly drew the dagger from his waist and held it against Aini’s neck. Aini continued to smile icily, taking long strides as he walked towards the tower.
Nailisi put on a frown as she followed behind Saleen. If she had been able to run away, she would have. She had a soul bond with Saleen. If Saleen were killed, she would have an even more miserable ending. To demons, death was not the end.
There was a spatial corridor between the laboratory and the tower, so there was no need to go by ground. Looking down from the wide stone bridge, the scarecrows had already entered the swamps and were moving towards the tower.
A total of four spatial corridors could access the tower. If there had been sufficient soldiers inside of the castle, there would have been less of a hurry to enter the tower. Surrounding the tower were four huge buildings which could be used against intruders. However, given the severe shortage of soldiers, they could only concentrate their forces and use the tower as their last line of defense.
The ground level entrance of the tower had already been sealed shut by the metal gate. If the scarecrows wanted to attack, they would need to climb up the inside of the four buildings and cross the stone bridge to enter the tower.
At the end of the stone bridge was a platform, and on it were the alchemy crossbows. Four alchemy crossbows were turned and aimed at the stone bridge. Whoever wanted to cross the stone bridge would have to pay a hefty price for doing so.
Upon entering the tower, Saleen saw that Baron Cook’s body was covered with blood. He was seated on the ground, surrounded by a group of soldiers, and evidently injured.
There were not many soldiers left in the tower. Probably less than a hundred of them remained since a large number of them had surely fallen at the city wall. Flamenco’s Nut Mercenary regiment was short two people. He and four of the mercenaries who were using eight-faceted swords had been protecting the baron as well. They would lose their lives if the baron were to die.
In reality, it was thanks to the habits formed from their training that they had held up. As long as Baron Cook was not dead, these soldiers would feel that there was still hope.
Upon entering the tower, Ken gave the back of Aini’s waist a kick. As Aini fell to the ground, without hesitation, Saleen deployed a previously prepared spell – Frost Array.
Ken was frozen to the ground. He struggled, but since he had already exhausted his sword aura, he had shockingly low defenses against even a Grade 1 spell. This move by Saleen had shocked the soldiers next to Baron Cook. They raised their weapons and were about to dash over.
"Stop!" Saleen yelled. He told Baron Cook coldly, "Baron, we are not criminals. By doing this, are your soldiers belittling the dignity of a mage?"
There was none of Saleen’s former amicable demeanor left, as he knew that if he did not suppress the situation, he and his people could become prisoners. It was possible that Baron Cook did not care whether he was a spy so long as he could increase morale among his men. Only if he stayed tough could he reverse the situation.
As he spoke, a white light emerged from his hands, stimulating the three spells on his robe – Invisible Shield, Potency spell and Fire Ring of Resistance. The magic nuclei in the inlay of his belt were now Grade 5, which were sufficient for him to call upon thunder.
At this time, Sika struck the ground with the cudgel in her hand. With a booming sound, the dust from the ceiling fell as the ground cracked.
Sijia frowned and Baron Cook was silent. Saleen suddenly smiled and said to Ken who was still under the Frost Array spell, "Do you know how foolish you are? None of you will be able to live without me. Do you think you can defend the tower and will manage to wait for reinforcements?" Ken glared at Saleen in anger. Ignoring him, Saleen continued, "A grown man can only survive seven days without water. During battle, one perspires and blood coagulates, speeding up death. If I were a spy, I would have need not followed you here. You would die trapped in here in no time."
Upon hearing Saleen, the expressions on the faces of the previously zealous soldiers changed as they put down their weapons. Saleen was a mage and could produce water. It had been said that mages could even produce food. If they killed Saleen, there would be nothing to eat in the tower.
"Even more foolish was that you kicked someone from the Clyde clan. If you had killed him and word got out, your entire family would have been wiped out. If my guess is not wrong, would your home be in the imperial capital?"
Ken looked at Saleen stubbornly. He was unable to speak and was using the last bit of his sword aura to resist the freezing effects of the Frost Array.
"Or perhaps the baron would have helped you conceal the secret, although I don’t think the Nut Mercenary regiment would have needed to offend the Clyde clan over a soldier like you? Unless you plan on killing everyone to shut them up?"
If Ken had not been frozen, he would have been sweating. Saleen had finally said the most important point, which was that he could not possibly have killed everyone there, and could therefore not kill Aini. If he had killed Aini, he would not only have lost his life, but also caused his family to suffer.
"Even more foolish was that you believed this was the end. Is this hopeless? Are you giving up? To think that it was no big deal offending a small mage like me?" Saleen spoke aggressively as he looked at Baron Cook.
Baron Cook remained silent, and Saleen said coldly, "I am a mage. Even if I were to die here, I could make sure you get your just desserts. Baron, if you do not trust me, you had best make your move now. If you let me make my move first, then you will be the most foolish one."
Sika had drawn her boomerang with her other hand. As soon as Saleen gave the order, she would chop off someone’s head for the baron to understand that Saleen was not to be trifled with. She could not be bothered to understand what Saleen and the baron were speaking about, but it could not have been anything good given the tension and drawn swords.
"What do you want?" Baron Cook asked plainly with no expression. He had wanted to control Saleen into helping him escape, but now it appeared that the little mage was too smart and had dared to challenge him. Under such circumstances, it would do him no good to fall out with him.
"I only wanted to ask, Lord Baron, had you planned on silencing me?"
"Silence? Mage Saleen, you must be kidding." Baron Cook suppressed the impulse in his heart. This little mage did not understand the severity of the matter, and if he continued to force his hand, he would have no way of getting out of this predicament.
Saleen took two steps forward and helped Aini up, saying, "Aini is a descendent of the Clyde clan. Even if he had done something wrong, he should not have been dealt with by outsiders. Baron Cook, did you think he was someone of no importance?"
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