In the dead of the night, while everyone else was asleep, Melgor suddenly asked, “How’d you do it?”
The spooked horses had already been calmed down by Qian Weining and his men. The entire camp was silent, so Melgor had to whisper to Ren Xiaosu.
Ren Xiaosu glanced at Melgor but did not answer his question. “What’s your dream?”
“Dream?” Melgor was slightly taken aback. Ren Xiaosu was acting like his life coach.
“Yeah, your dream,” Ren Xiaosu repeated.
“I don’t have any dreams.” Melgor said in a low voice, “When I was young, my greatest wish was for my father to stop gambling on stones and give up on his sorcerer dreams.”
“Then did you talk to your father about it?” Ren Xiaosu asked.
“Yes, but he said that as long as there were no sorcerers in the family, the entire family’s wealth would just be a bag of money others could easily take away from us.” Melgor said in a low voice, “Of course, I also understand this principle. Power is the moat that protects one’s wealth. Otherwise, it just slips away like sand in one’s hand.”
“Actually, the sales of the Eyes of True Sight are just a scam backed by the magus order.” Ren Xiaosu sighed and said, “And it’s specifically designed to target the middle class like you.”
“Mhm, I understand that.” Melgor said, “You asked me what my dreams are, but actually, I don’t have any at all, nor do I have any ambitions. It’s just that after becoming a sorcerer, I thought that this was an opportunity that my father had exchanged with his life, so I decided I had to make a name for myself no matter what.”
Ren Xiaosu thought to himself, ‘It’s good that you don’t have any dreams or ambitions. You’re just the kind of talent that the Prosperous Northwest’s branch is looking for.‘
“By the way, Ren Xiaosu, do you have any dreams?” Melgor asked in turn.
“Me?” Ren Xiaosu recalled for a moment and said with a laugh, “I don’t have one either. In the past, I only wanted to help my little brother survive. But now, I want to lead a group of people to survive. I can’t call it a dream. I’m more like the little guy going with the flow in this era. It’s just that this era needed me, so I appeared.”
In conclusion, Ren Xiaosu just drifted with the current for the past 19 years of his life. The places he went to were not places he wanted to go to but places he was forced to go.
He had no choice but to go to the Li Consortium, the Yang Consortium, the Central Plains, the Sacred Mountains, Mt. Zuoyun, and the Zhou Consortium. Only going to the Northwest was a decision he had made seriously on his own.
But what could he do about it? Even people like Qing Zhen, Luo Lan, and Yang Xiaojin, who hailed from prominent families, had their struggles in this era. It was already the blessing of a lifetime that a refugee like him could get to where he was today.
In this era, everyone had their own sorrows. The only thing everyone could do was to try their best to swim upstream while trying not to drown, all so they could struggle out of the water and get a breath of fresh air.
But most hopeless of all was that when you thought you were safe, the next wave might already be crashing down on you.
Melgor asked next, “What’s your purpose in coming to the Kingdom of Sorcerers?”
Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment and answered, “Actually, it’s fine even if I tell you. At the beginning, my goal was to destroy the Kingdom of Sorcerers. But after meeting you, I changed my mind. My plan now is to support you in governing the Kingdom of Sorcerers!”
Melgor thought he must have fucking gone crazy to actually hear such an understated yet extremely aggressive reply from someone.
Melgor lowered his voice and roared, “Am I crazy or are you crazy? Destroy the Kingdom of Sorcerers? Support me in governing it? You know nothing about the power of those sorcerer clans!”
This time, Ren Xiaosu finally spoke his mind. He said with a smile, “You don’t know anything about the Northwest’s power either. Calculating the time, it’s been almost a month since my people found out that I was held hostage. They should already be on their way.”
Melgor was stunned. “Who?”
“Those who would like nothing more than to turn the entire Kingdom of Sorcerers upside down with me.”
Melgor was stunned for a long time. He suddenly realized the conversation had gone back and forth and he still did not know how Ren Xiaosu had killed those people.
…
In the darkness of the night, 200 enemy soldiers who attacked the trade caravan retreated unscathed. They rode their warhorses and sped northwards, bypassing all the main roads along the way. It was as though they had the power of clairvoyance as they narrowly avoided the sentries set up by the House of Winston.
These people had been lurking in the Winston family’s territory for many years, so they naturally knew how the sorcerer clan would handle any unforeseen situations.
The leading rider stopped his horse in the mountains and said, “Dismount.”
After that, the 200-odd knights jumped off their horses. Then they drew their daggers from their waists and stabbed their horses in the necks.
The sound of the horses collapsing could be heard. The soldiers were going to have to take the mountain route from here, and the horses could not take them. Rather than leaving these warhorses for the Winston family, they might as well be killed here.
As a matter of fact, a warhorse was extremely valuable in current times.
But most importantly, if they did not kill these warhorses, they would lead the Winston family to their previous hiding place when they were found.
Of course, the horses were not aware of the situation. They just wanted to go home.
Before dawn, this group of knights nimbly scaled small hills and walked for dozens of kilometers. Finally, at daybreak, they located a small village.
The villagers did not panic when they saw them. A middle-aged man, who looked like a farmer, led them back to the village without saying a word.
The leading knight called out to the villagers, “Pack your clothes and prepare the carriages. We’ll take a detour and evacuate via the Voss family’s territory.”
After that, everyone in the village got down to business.
No one could have expected this small village hidden in the mountains of the Winstons’ territory was actually an evacuation hub arranged by the House of Tudor.
This place was only a hundred kilometers from the Voss family’s territory. As long as they moved fast enough, they could get there within a day. At that time, the House of Voss would naturally help them to fend off the pursuit of the House of Winston.
The Voss family had the same deference for the Tudors as the Winstons had for the Berkeleys.
The leading knight came to a secluded hut and closed the door behind him. He said to the young man inside, “I want to relay some intel.”
Afterwards, the young man hesitated for a moment before taking out a dagger and slitting his wrist. He allowed his blood to drip onto the ground, which then formed into a strange magic circle.
When the ice sculpture fully materialized, the knight knelt down on one knee and said, “Esteemed Lord Kayle Jefferson William Kris Tudor, the mission has failed. Melgor has mastered the Norman family’s Boiling Airburst spell. This was an ambush by the Norman family!”
The ice sculpture said, “Understood. You all are to lie low in the Voss’s territory for now. I’ll bring some people and handle the matter personally.”
