A Wizard’s Secret

In the main foyer of the palace, four men dressed in polished armor stood still. On his throne, King Roger’s eyes crinkled, and a smile lingered on his face.

When Merlin and the rest had reached the foyer, King Roger said hurriedly, “My four Captains, these six are the Grand Dukes I’ve personally conferred not long ago. They’re all powerful Sky Knights!”

“Sky Knights?”

The four Captains’ gazes swept across Merlin and the rest constantly. Merlin could sense that these four Captains were different from the rest, even intimidating him slightly.

Although it was a very faint sense of threat, this indicated that the four Captains could pose a certain threat to them. Among them, there must be formidable individuals on par with Ninth-level Spell Casters.

“Grand Duke Saturn, the six of you have mentioned that all of your strength combined is comparable to a Holy Knight. Although I have faith in all six of you Grand Dukes, it’s quite an outrageous statement, after all. Therefore, I’ve invited my four Captains to carry out a demonstration with you six. I wonder what you think about this?”

King Roger looked at his four Captains and Merlin’s group, a strange look flashing in his eyes. He had summoned the four Captains in order to see if Merlin and the rest were truly as powerful as a Holy Knight.

Saturn nodded curtly. They had already planned this. They would use Vic’s puppet to fight against these four Captains hence there should not be a problem.

“Very well, if there are no problems, please come along to the training grounds. It’s spacious there, and we won’t have to worry about wreaking havoc.”

King Roger appeared to be in buoyant spirits. After all, the Sky Knights were noble Captains, and it was rare to see them in action. Now, he was about to see so many of them in battle.

“Hold on!”

Just then, one of the Captains – a well-built, bearded man, bellowed deeply, following which his sharp gaze passed across Merlin and the rest, one by one.

“Your Majesty, these people aren’t Sky Knights but troublemakers!”

With that, the four Captains promptly broke formation and subtly shielded the king behind them, their wary gazes directed unto Merlin and the rest.

Saturn furrowed his brows slightly, still unable to figure out what was happening. That strapping Captain who was at the lead laughed icily, then said, “The six of you aren’t Captains but Spell Casters instead. Isn’t that right?”

“What?”

On his throne, King Roger did not seem to know what “Spell Casters” signified hence his face flashed a surprised look. Nonetheless, Merlin and the rest felt a jolt in their hearts. These Sky Knights knew about Spell Casters. In that case, their plans were now thwarted.

With this in mind, Wizard Saturn did not hesitate in the slightest and growled, “Move now. Control them first!”

“Whoosh…”

As soon as Wizard Saturn spoke, Merlin was the first to move. His Darkness-type spell instantly covered the entire foyer. Everyone within was trapped in darkness, unable to even see their own hands.

“Crack.”

Saturn and the rest each displayed their skills too. Every spell from these freakishly powerful Wizards was comparable to a Ninth-level Spell Caster’s. In the blink of an eye, they had restrained those Sky Knights.

The only one who gave them a bit of trouble was the leading Captain, whose strength was in fact on par with a Ninth-level Spell Caster. Faint golden fighting spirit rose from his body, mildly dispersing the ice crystals on his body as well as Merlin’s Darkness spell.

Nevertheless, Wizard Vic unleashed his puppet who dealt a blow to this Sky Knight, causing serious injury. Merlin obtained a more direct understanding of Vic’s puppet. It was terrifying indeed that a puppet could be transfigured to this level. Even a Great Legendary Wizard would have to spend a lot of effort to do so.

“Alright, Wizard Merlin, cut off your spell.”

Soon enough, Merlin and the rest had gained control of the situation. They were genius Wizards of Arcane City, the first-class prodigies among the myriad of dimensions of the Spell Caster civilization. At the Seventh-level, they were able to challenge Ninth-level Spell Casters, so it was a walk in the park to deal with a few Sky Knights.

After the Darkness spell was withdrawn, King Roger awoke. He stared, flabbergasted, at the four Captains who were restrained, and an expression of alarm worked its way across his face. He pointed at Merlin and the rest. “Sir Grand Dukes, what’s this about?”

“Your Majesty, they’re troublemakers! They’re Spell Casters from beyond the heavens, here to annihilate our Kingdom of Seeden…”

The well-built Captain who was restrained now burst with grief and indignation. It looked like he had a certain understanding of Spell Casters, which made Merlin and the rest suspicious.

Spell Casters and the Rock Tribe had mutually agreed back then to not interfere with the matters of the Seely Dimension. Therefore, very few people, or perhaps no one in the Seely Dimension knew of Spell Casters or the Rock Tribe.

However, these Sky Knights evidently knew about Spell Casters. Some major developments must have taken place in the Seely Dimension.

“How do you know of our identities?”

Saturn asked in an icy voice.

“Heh, not just your identities. We also know the identities of the despicable Rock Tribe but their forces are too mighty. They are now capturing great dragons with the support of some puppets to give to certain greedy Sky Knights, making them into Holy Knights. They are brewing up a massive conspiracy.”

The words of this sturdy man made Merlin and the rest stunned to their core, for he actually knew so much about the Rock Tribe.

“Your Majesty, we have some information to convey to you and your Captains. Therefore, we’ll need to have you give the order to seal off the palace and not allow anyone in.”

Saturn’s tone carried a subtle threat. King Roger was powerless as well. Even his four strongest Captains were overpowered with barely a fight. What else could he do?

Therefore, Merlin and the rest brought the king and his Captains to a hidden room and began asking careful questions.

“Captain Thunderdragon!”

The burly man at the head of the four Captains was the strongest of them, comparable to most Ninth-level Spell Casters. If he was able to tame a giant dragon, Thunderdragon would become a powerful Holy Knight in an instant.

Thunderdragon was the person with the highest chance of becoming a Holy Knight in the Kingdom of Seeden.

“Speak. How do you know about us?”

Wizard Saturn asked, wearing a calm demeanor.

Thunderdragon was silent in thought and was no longer as incensed as he was before, and instead appeared rather subdued.

After a long moment, he slowly raised his head. “Although you may not have good intentions, only you can resolve this issue. I know of your identities because three years ago, I captured a Spell Caster who was just like you.

“At that time, the Spell Caster was extremely weak, having been injured grievously, and was easily captured by me. After I used my methods, that Spell Caster had no choice but to tell me everything he knew. It turns out that Spell Casters like you and the Rock Tribe are hidden among us. Our fates have been in your grasp from the beginning.

“That Spell Caster was being hunted down by the Rock Tribe, and he mentioned that nearly all of the Spell Casters hiding in the Seely Dimension were wiped out by the Rock Tribe. However, it wasn’t the Rock Tribe who killed them but Holy Knights. Those Holy Knights are no more than puppets whom the Rock Tribe controlled from behind the scenes.

“The Rock Tribe is brewing their schemes. In each kingdom, Holy Knights appeared in twos and threes. The number of Holy Knights over the past decades has surpassed the total number of Holy Knights accumulated over a thousand years. This is extremely abnormal. This great number of Holy Knights led to a war between kingdoms. A fearsome battle now hovers above all the kingdoms like a dark cloud.

“I don’t know what the Rock Tribe’s plan really is but I can sense its danger. Perhaps only you Spell Casters can stop the Rock Tribe’s plot.”

Thunderdragon’s tone was heavy. He had incidentally learned that the Seely people were being manipulated. Their destinies were not in their own hands but the hands of the two more powerful civilizations controlling them.

Even if he wanted to rebel against them, his strength was weak and pitiful. That powerless feeling was a great source of suffering. He could only watch helplessly as the dimension was used as a wrestling ground for two great civilizations. It might even become a battlefield in the future. A sorrow like this was hard to describe.

Merlin looked at Thunderdragon and his downcast face. The other Captains were the same, powerless in the face of everything. That heavy emotion roused some sympathy in Merlin.

This was the price the weak had to pay. If the Spell Caster civilization had not produced Honored Legends in the first place, and had no Honored Legends to lead the charge out of their dimension and into the Void Zone or if the Spell Caster civilization had not produced the three Ultimate Arcane Wizards, their fate would not have been much better than the Seely people’s fate.

“Even if we didn’t come, you would be under the gods’ rule.”

Merlin suddenly spoke. Thunderdragon trembled all over at his words as if he knew about the gods as well, and said nothing else. Still, Merlin was able to discern a glint of determination in his eyes.

“This is rather troublesome. The situation is much more serious than we imagined.”

Wizard Saturn was not concerned with Thunderdragon and the rest. His face had turned gloomy. After hearing Thunderdragon’s narration, he realized how severe the situation was in the Seely Dimension.

The Rock Tribe evidently was plotting something big. They had brazenly attacked the Spell Casters concealed in the Seely Dimension, and had utilized the forces of the Seely people to avoid the detection of Spell Casters.

When the Spell Casters had realized what was happening, it was too late. The Spell Casters who were hidden all over the Seely Dimension were generally wiped out over the past decades. Perhaps some of them had sent a message back but it would be incomplete.

As a result, Arcane City had sent Merlin and the rest to investigate this issue in the Seely Dimension but this was a mission of enormous risk.

“It’s not surprising that everyone would obtain at least two thousand and five hundred Adventure points… The state of affairs in the Seely Dimension is so serious. We’re in great danger.”

Wizard Rael spoke with a solemn face. The most direct threat was naturally the Rock Tribe, who had plotted so actively, very likely to be brewing up some massive conspiracy.

“We still have a chance!’

Merlin suddenly interjected. “Since the Rock Tribe is acting surreptitiously, employing the forces of the Seely people, this means that they wouldn’t dare to act hostile openly. At least for now, they wouldn’t dare to start a war against Spell Casters! So, we still have a chance to get to the bottom of this issue and seize our moment. This time, it’s our mission. If we leave now, we won’t even get a single Adventure point.”

Saturn and the rest were silent for a moment. It was true that if they returned to Arcane City now, it would mean that they had failed the mission, achieving not a single Adventure point.

After a long silence, Saturn asked, “Wizard Merlin, do you have a plan?”

“It’s simple – we’ll make the first move. We’ll pretend that we agree to Princess Fleur’s marriage to the Kingdom of Seeway but we’ll request that they send their Holy Knight to escort her. Then, we’ll take down the Holy Knight as fast as we can, after which we should be able to learn the Rock Tribe’s plans. At that point, we’ll return to Arcane City, and our mission would be considered complete. The following developments will be the dealings between the Great Arcane Wizards and the Rock Tribe, nothing to do with us.”

“Not bad, a perfect plan!”

Wizard Saturn and Wizard Rael both nodded their approval.

“Your Honorable Majesty, we’ll have to trouble you on this matter.”

A smile stretched across Saturn’s face but his tone indicated that there was no room for bargain.