Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Rewind time to half an hour ago: Bettel was frantically rushing toward the castle with his soldiers.
However, suddenly the sky lit up and immediately went dark again!
This was actually an illusion. When their backs were turned to the intense and rapid flash of light, it created this reversed visual disorientation.
Bettel, who was riding on a horse, froze for a moment, not knowing what was going on. Then, he heard a loud bang like thunder erupting a little behind his head.
His eardrums were almost shattered.
Even the well-trained horses were now neighing uneasily in fear.
Bettel was not a bad rider, and the horse beneath him was quite stout and spirited. He spent less than two seconds to calm it down, and then he looked back and his eyes and mouth gradually widened.
A huge “firework” flew up from the wall, covering the sky in a vertebral pattern. The dense red and blue fireworks scattered like rain in the air, filling people’s vision and falling again.
Bettel watched with his mouth agape as these fireworks fell from high in the sky, watched them extinguish in midair, and turn into small black rocks that crackled and fell down a short distance behind. It was like a shower of rocks.
The cries of many children in the city rang out but were quickly muffled by the adults.
There were sounds of doors and windows being shut hastily on both sides of the street.
Soon, the city quieted down.
Bettel stared dumbly at the wall that had collapsed in the distance, his face pale.
After a while, he looked in disbelief at Wade, who was equally stunned. “An… Archmage?”
Because mages had quite a high status, Master-level mages had their own exclusive title of Archmage.
When Wade heard Bettel’s words, he returned to his senses and swallowed hard. “An evocation one. Bettel, this is no longer something the Wade family can interfere with.”
With that, he spurred his horse to slowly backtrack out of the squad and stood at the opening of the alley by the side of the road. It seemed as if he would turn and flee at the first sign of any unusual behavior from Bettel.
Bettel smiled miserably and said nothing, waving his hand and departing swiftly with his soldiers. He didn’t go back to the castle but ran toward the east gate.
As a noble, Bettel knew very well that he had really provoked the wrong person this time. He had no idea that Allie, who was stupid but had rather decent supporting and strengthening abilities, actually had such a terrifying power behind her.
Why didn’t she tell him? Had he known that he would still have made use of Allie, but he definitely wouldn’t have treated her as a tool to be used up and discarded. He would have truly treated her as the future mayor’s wife—even if she couldn’t make use of the power behind her, Allie’s supporting and strengthening effects on the army were still very powerful.
The regret was like a viper devouring his heart.
If he was given a chance, he would have spoiled Allie to the heavens.
But it was all too late.
The gates had broken down, the castle had been burned, and now he could only flee to his grandmother’s house, hoping that his grandfather and grandmother would shelter him.
After all, his grandfather was an earl with an even more powerful army. Even the Golden Sons would have to weigh their choices.
With that thought, Bettel left through the east gate without hesitation.
However, when he left the city and trotted down the dirt road with his soldiers, he found five people hanging far behind them. By their looks, their movements, and their body shape and gait, they were either bandits or scouts, the professional kind.
Was this to eradicate him and his army?
Bettel clenched his teeth in hatred and waved his arms to make the army hurry at a faster pace.
Only he himself sat on his horse while the soldiers ran on two legs. At first, the soldiers could just barely keep up, but as time slowly passed, the number of soldiers who fell behind increased.
However, those five people weren’t interested in the soldiers who fell behind. They took a slight detour and didn’t try to clash with those desperate soldiers who might have mistakenly thought they were going to be killed because they had fallen behind.
Was he the only target?
Bettel gritted his teeth, not daring to run too fast.
Since many of the soldiers found that the pursuers, who were behind them, seemed to have no interest in them, apparently harboring other intentions, many of them deliberately fell behind and deserted. If he ran faster and the soldiers couldn’t take it anymore and all fled, then he, who was all alone, would definitely be caught by those five bandits.
Soldiers were the guarantee of his personal safety. So, he had to slow down.
But even so, the number of soldiers behind him was dwindling.
By the time evening came, the number of soldiers still able to follow him was less than forty, all of them panting, looking like they would be wasted and unconscious if they continued to run.
Bettel knew very well that he could not run any further.
It was necessary to sit down and give the soldiers rest and something to eat and drink.
But they’d left in such a hurry that they hadn’t brought a supply line, only a little bit of water and food on their persons. And after running most of the day, they had eaten all that was available.
Bettel got off from his horse. He looked at his beloved horse and saw that it was not well. There was a little foam on the side of its mouth, and if he did not give it water, the horse would die a sudden death.
However, where was there water right now? The surroundings consisted of a meadow and a small forest.
Meanwhile, the five people who had tracked them came closer, about forty meters away.
Some of the soldiers strenuously picked up their knives to be on guard. The five people stopped approaching and just watched them from a distance.
One of them took out a large muskmelon from somewhere, divided it into several portions with their short sword, and each of them took a piece, chewing in large mouthfuls, and even from a distance of 30 to 40 meters, the crisp gnawing sounds could be heard.
One could tell that the melon was sweet and juicy.
These five people were staring at them teasingly as they ate the melon.
Many soldiers were subconsciously licking their lips.
Bettel also felt unusually thirsty.
He stood up and shouted to the five people, “Two gold coins to sell me a muskmelon. I know you Golden Sons have spatial storage on you. There should be some extra.”
The five players smiled strangely and didn’t answer.
Was the money offered not enough? Or did they only bring one muskmelon?
Bettel took a deep breath and continued, “Then we’ll work together in a different way. If you don’t chase us, I’m willing to give each one of you five gold coins as a token of gratitude. If you’re willing to escort us, I’m willing to hire you for one gold coin a day until I’m safe.”
The five players laughed even more oddly and mockingly to the point of even sounding a bit vulgar.
“If you guys think that’s too little, we can still negotiate.”
Bettel believed that there was no one in this world who didn’t love money, even gods—otherwise, how could a god like the goddess of wealth, Waukeen, exist?
At this moment, a player burst out in laughter, spewing out all the melon directly from his mouth, appearing extremely indecent.
He wiped his mouth and laughed. “Bettel, your castle was set on fire by us. We turned your castle over long before we set it on fire! A total of sixty-three gold coins and thirty or so cyan crystals—the gems are more valuable, right? By the way, this melon was also stolen from your house.”
All of the bandit players activated the three intrinsic skills of Secret Door Intuition, Scavenge, and Pilfer. Because of the time limit, they might miss a few things, but they would never leave behind anything that was truly valuable.
Bettel instantly felt like his head was hit by a battering ram. It buzzed with pain, and he almost couldn’t stand up straight, his eyes flashing with black and white.
