Chapter 245: Mr. Evans
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
Lucien put on his upgraded magic badge, and although the magic steam train had recently introduced a new route from Allyn to Kapas, he didn’t board it to get his task done, but instead hired a coach and headed for the magic tower of the Will of Elements.
The task was given to Lucien in way that he considered suspicious, because it arrived right after Lucien upgraded. He wanted to have some senior-rank arcanists from his own group check it first to make sure everything was fine there.
In an office of the magic tower of the Will of Elements, Gaston listened to Lucien’s description of the task quietly with his fingers crossed. His dark yellow eyes looked a bit suspicious and Gaston said seriously, “This doesn’t look like a dangerous task. With your ring, even if you cannot fulfill the task, protecting yourself and escaping should not be a problem. But for your safety, I still need to ask Florencia… maybe she knows something else.”
Letting Lucien wait for him in the office, Gaston walked into another room and talked to Florencia via Fernando’s Electromagnetic Message.
Lucien took the chance and started to think carefully whether he had some potential enemies in the Congress who might want him dead. The issue about Life Force Theory was gone now, and it was Felipe who drew most of the attention, and with regards to placing the cleansing magic circles, Lucien did not think that someone would want to kill him because of that, especially because in the end it was just an option for those factories.
Lucien wondered whether he could draw the conclusion that no one was trying to use the task to kill him.
After a while, Gaston came back.
Gaston elegantly sat down first and then he said to Lucien, smiling, “I’ve talked to Florencia. She said that it was an emergency thing, and it should be safe. But because we value you very much, Evans, and you’ve become a middle-rank sorcerer within a year, I can lend you a magic item.”
Gaston took out a nice monocle with a fine silver chain and handed it to Lucien, “This monocle has been enchanted with Fernando’s Electromagnetic Message permanently. If anything goes wrong, contact me immediately. This is my exclusive frequency and code…”
As he was saying, he wrote down all the information for Lucien on a piece of paper.
Obviously, Lord of Storm, when inventing that spell, had already taken confidentiality into consideration.
Lucien left his spiritual power mark in the monocle following Gaston’s instructions, and then put it on. The gold-rimmed glasses he was wearing before were put into his right pocket, and there was a pocket watch on the left one.
When Lucien picked up his top hat and was about to leave, Gaston stood up and smiled, “Evans, congratulations for upgrading to the third circle, which is a very important threshold for many sorcerers. The fact that you’ve made it means that you’ve surpassed seventy percent of the sorcerers, and from now on, the Will of Elements will be giving you forty arcana points every month as your subsidy.”
“Thank you very much, Mr. Gaston.” Hearing that, Lucien sincerely grinned.
…
Near the entrance of Mount Kapas, Fraser town.
The town was very remote. One needed to first take a six-hour train from Allyn to Kapas’ city center, then spend half a day riding a long-distance coach to get to a town named Tenning, and then bump along the mountain road for another two hours to get there. Of course, sorcerers who could fly did not have to worry about it.
There were lots of trees and wild animals in the mountains. Most residents here in the small town worked as hunters or lumbermen. Several sorcerer castles here controlled part of the mineral veins, and because some sorcerers, many magic apprentices, and also miners lived there, this remote town was actually quite lively instead of being very isolated as one would image. Many adventures and mercenaries even came here to seek for precious gems, ores, plants or secret fortune.
The most popular tavern in Fraser was called Gold Cup. Many adventures and mercenaries were there right now, drinking and chatting. They were used to carousing every night before they entered the mountains, as they had no idea that whether they would still get a chance to see the next day’s sunrise once they went in there.
In the strong smell of alcohol, some adventures were chatting in low voice, “Have you heard that the third-circle sorcerer in Bertren Castle was killed by the demons summoned by himself?” A dwarf with long blond beard asked the guy who he just met in this tavern.
The guy, who was of middle age and got a scary scar on his face, nodded seriously, “The two apprentices who managed to escape said that castle was like hell. People were burnt to death, corroded by strong acid, torn into pieces by sharp claws, hacked in half… There was blood and guts everywhere.”
As the man was saying, he carefully pointed at the two apprentices who were beyond drunk in the corner of the tavern. One was male and one was female. Although they were drunk, they still looked very terrified, as if they were stuck in the nightmare.
“You wanna go there to see if we can find something there?” asked the greedy dwarf, “Maybe get around those demons and get some treasures there. That guy was a middle-rank sorcerer, so think about how wealthy he could be!”
Another middle-aged woman looked at the dwarf contemptuously, “Are you out of your mind? Those demons killed a third-circle sorcerer! Do you just want to die that bad?”
“I agree. And the Congress definitely has sent some sorcerers here to handle this. Don’t tell me you want to take those treasures from those crazy people… Your power from the magic potion is nothing in front of them…” said the scar-faced man.
At this time, the tavern’s door opened, and there came in a young battle sorcerer wearing a black magic robe. He first looked around at the people in the tavern with his blue, threatening eyes. Feeling his oppressive aura, no one in the tavern dared look at him directly. Then, he walked to the two apprentices in the corner who were still drinking although they were already beyond drunk.
The battle sorcerer grabbed their wood cups and threw them onto the ground, and the golden liquor was everywhere. The two apprentices slowly looked up at the sorcerer, confusedly.
“I’m Charlie. I’m here to solve the problem in Castle Bertren. You two answer my questions carefully,” said the young man seriously. His years of experience in fighting gave him this kind of oppressive manner.
The two apprentices looked a bit more sober now, and they started trembling. The female apprentice with burgundy-colored hair responded in trembling voice, “Mr. Charlie… I’m Susan and this is Scott. We were Mr. Bertren’s apprentices… At that night, Mr. Bertren tried to summon… those things… in his chamber….”
At this time, a black, short-haired lady came into the tavern. She was wearing an elegant, purple magic robe, and her brownish-yellow eyes were cold and sharp. After looking around, she directly walked to Charlie and introduced herself, “Hi, I’m Sandra, middle rank. I’m also with the task.”
“I’m Charlie, middle rank.” Charlie nodded. Neither Charlie nor Sandra wanted to reveal their specific level right in front of so many people, and both of them were wearing their badges underneath their robes.
The golden-bearded dwarf turned around and took a quick glance at them, then murmured to the middle-aged woman and the scar-faced man, “Of course, the Congress has sent people here already… Look at them… They’re at least of fourth circle. Just one of them could just destroy the whole castle… even the whole town.”
Those adventures rarely saw real sorcerers, not to mention middle-ranked ones, so they were curious and regarded those sorcerers with fear and reverence.
“I told you…” The scar-faced man looked a bit intimidated.
Charlie and Sandra, on the other side, were listening to the apprentices carefully, and they did not care how those adventurers were commenting on them at all, because they were just too powerful and confident to be bothered by things like that.
This kind of attitude impressed the adventurers even more.
“I heard that we have one more sorcerer for this task?” After listening to the apprentices, Sandra asked Charlie.
“That’s right.” Charlie nodded, “He’s not here yet. Let’s wait for him a bit longer. We can be safer with one more person’s power, and I think he should be middle-rank, shouldn’t he?”
“For sure,” answered Sandra simply.
“Are they waiting for someone?” The middle-aged woman looked at the tavern door.
“Come on… They don’t have to…” the dwarf murmured, “They’re of at least fourth circle!”
“It’s always good to be cautious.” When the scar-faced man was saying this, the tavern door was opened again.
Subconsciously, all the people in the tavern turned around and looked at the person who just came in.
It was a young, good-looking man, who was wearing a black, double-breasted coat, a black top hat and a fine monocle, which made him look gentle and elegant.
Those adventurers in the tavern all wondered why a young noble would come there.
Charlie and Sandra looked at him cautiously, as they were not sure whether he was the sorcerer that they were waiting for. After all, the man just looked too young to be a middle-rank.
At this time, both Charlie and Sandra noticed the purple-gem ring on the young man’s right hand. The ring was very unique and gorgeous.
They recognized the young man immediately.
The man was the youngest winner of Holm Crown prize, an honorary member of Holm Royal Magic Academy, the genius who managed to upgrade to middle rank within a year!
Watching the young man walking to them elegantly with a smile on his face, both Charlie and Sandra suddenly stood up together and greeted him respectfully, “Nice to meet you, Mr. Evans.”
Their attitude surprised everyone present.
