Chapter 28
No one is more suitable for this job than Sylvain.
Sylvan was taught by him personally, and his understanding of magic was far beyond what the other instructors in the academy could match. If he were to be frank, there were no more than five people in the entire continent of Icarus who could clearly understand the structure of magic.
Veris also had a selfish motive.
The first generation of magical revolution can be said to have started with Sylvain, who hoped that hundreds of years later, today, it would also be restarted by Sylvain—even though Sylvain no longer has the memories of the past.
This idea had been lingering in his mind for a long time, but when he saw Sylvain tonight, it suddenly struck him like a bolt of lightning. It was as if something he had been waiting for had finally made a good start, and he couldn't wait to get Sylvain involved and do it together.
So he held up a finger, a seductive smile on his face: "Don't try to fob me off with the Grand Papacy or the Academy. The Academy can't even order you around, and as for the Grand Papacy..."
He waved his long, slender, white fingertips in front of his eyes: "As the Holy Son, you only need to obey the Pope, understand?"
Sylvain pursed his lips, then said helplessly, "I have no such intention."
During his time back at the Papacy, he had come to realize that love was too distant for Veris; he could no longer verify what had happened hundreds of years ago. But now, he had plenty of time to spend with Veris.
The person before me is the true bright moon hanging in the sky, eternal and unfading, while he is just a mortal. Even if he prolongs his life by other means, he will eventually come to an end.
Beneath the wide sleeves embroidered with exquisite beauty, Sylvain's fingers curled up, his eyes lowered, his green eyes hidden by silver-white eyelashes, revealing no emotion whatsoever.
Whether he was seen as the same as those younger people in Veris's eyes, he didn't know.
Veris's attitude towards him... was different from that of the others.
The conversation in the attic that day suddenly flashed through his mind, and Sylvain's face paled slightly. Perhaps Veris treated him differently because he resembled his dear friend who had died young.
No one knows exactly how similar they are; it's a memory from the past, a secret he couldn't find even after searching through the entire Papal archives.
The waiter brought in dinner, and Veris went to open the door to take it. Seeing Sylvain still standing there, she greeted him, "Please sit down first. Are you going back tonight? You haven't changed your clothes yet."
Sylvain snapped back to reality. Half-moon-shaped marks had been pricked into the skin of his palm, but he seemed not to feel the pain. His face was docile as he said, "I'll go back first and come back to find you tomorrow."
A white magic circle lit up, and Sylvain took two steps back, standing in the center of the circle. Soon, the light flashed, and he disappeared from the room.
Veris placed the dinner on the table, frowned slightly, and then slapped his forehead: This hotel doesn't have any teleportation points for spatial magic, so how did Sylvain land so precisely?
Even after finishing dinner, Veris still couldn't figure it out, and he was somewhat troubled.
Short-distance spatial traversal, such as his direct journey from Mercury City to capture the fugitive duke, is feasible.
But the Papacy is a good distance from here, spanning most of Lortheran and the entire city of Milford.
"I'll ask Sylvain again tomorrow," Veris thought to himself. He placed the tableware on the table by the door, waiting for the waiter to clean it up, then closed the door, intending to wash up and rest.
The city is not peaceful tonight. Those who were originally staying in the Duke's mansion, the Duke's guests, or relatives and friends have been locked up in the mansion by the priests. All it takes is a third-tier magic scroll to trap the strongest guards in the mansion.
They then went to the prison in Mercury and released those who had been arrested in recent days.
Inside Keith's mansion, after the underground prison was opened, the three men walked out one after the other.
Upon going out, Arnold was startled to see the guards frozen in place. Just as he was about to turn and run away, Allen grabbed him and said, "No, these people are frozen."
"Frozen?" Arnold asked blankly. How could anyone freeze in this weather?
Moreover, neither Mercury nor his hometown of Amberley experienced snowfall. The boy only saw snow in the mountains when he was very young, and most of the winters were frost.
Although it's almost late autumn, it's not cold yet.
Allen nodded, walked over, carefully examined the guard who was standing upright, and turned to Arnold: "He has a magic circle on him."
Upon hearing the word "magic," Arnold remembered that he could already access magical elements. He quickly held his breath and carefully examined the guard.
Dark blue magical elements swirled around the man, and his expression changed slightly, his pupils trembling.
Allen, however, assumed he had seen a magic circle and asked, "Is it a magic circle?"
Arnold pursed his lips and nodded: "Yes, it's still a very powerful magic circle."
He turned his head and looked at the thin boy following behind them, saying with great interest, "Murphy, come and take a look too. This magic circle looks really powerful."
However, the boy merely glanced at him before coldly refusing, "No."
After saying that, he seemed to remember something and added, "I need to go get my things."
Upon hearing this, Arnold and Allen exchanged a glance, remembering that their weapons had been confiscated. In fact, their belongings had also been taken, including their recommendation letters for admission to the Royal Academy. However, perhaps because they were not far away, they were still within the protection zone of that recommendation letter.
“Let’s go look for it together!” Arnold immediately suggested.
Allen had some sense of his weapon. After frowning for a moment, he pointed in a direction: "It's probably over there. Let's search the houses one by one."
He led the way, while Arnold lagged two steps behind, trying his best to strike up a conversation with Murphy, but the boy remained silent, only occasionally responding to him.
Arnold wore a bright smile, showing no trace of gloom.
He spoke warmly to Murphy, but no one could have imagined that he was internally questioning the remnant soul he had made a pact with: "That magic circle clearly contains your magic power; you must have secretly left my body."
The remnant soul, silent for many days, finally spoke: "So what if it is? At this rate, when will you ever complete the great task of defeating the Demon King?"
You want to kill the Demon King? Why?
"That is your mission." After saying this, the remnant soul fell silent.
The magical fluctuations belonging to the remnant soul subsided and returned to silence. Arnold knew that the guy was asleep again, but he didn't know if it was a real sleep or a trick to deceive his consciousness.
“We’re here.” Following the scent, Allen arrived at a room. Guards stood on both sides of the room, just like those guarding the exit of the underground prison, standing straight and motionless.
Arnold looked around: "Are these people still breathing?"
Allen pushed open the door and went in. Hearing this, he paused for a moment and replied, "I don't know either." He couldn't very well go over and feel if those people could breathe, could he?
The room was cluttered with a lot of things, probably belonging to people who had suffered the same fate as them, who had taken dangerous items from their bodies and left them there.
Murphy glanced at it but didn't go in.
Arnold slung his longsword back on his back, and Allen picked up his large scythe. The luggage was found in the corner. Allen looked up and saw that Murphy hadn't come in, so he asked, "Are your things in there too?"
The boy shook his head: "No."
Arnold immediately said, "Then let's go find your things; we can't just leave them here."
Murphy looked at him: "I have nothing."
"Huh?"
“I’m a beggar, and they ‘invited’ me over after the magic selection.”
Upon hearing this, Arnold's face immediately showed sympathy: "I see. So where are you going now? Why don't you come with us?"
This time, Murphy didn't refuse. He just paused for a moment and said, "I need to go to the church. There are many good people in the church who have been arrested."
Inside the underground prison, various smells mingled, with the stench of decay being the most prominent. Just as Arnold and Allen entered, a member of the church had been tortured to death.
The body was taken out, and no one knows what was done with it.
Murphy sat in the corner, watching the novice pastor who had always smiled kindly at him die in agony, and could only shrug his shoulders.
Upon hearing this, the two young men exchanged a glance and immediately decided happily, "Let's go to church together."
Murphy looks so thin and small; I hope nothing bad happens to him on the way.
Before leaving, Allen took the two of them to Keith's room again. They searched the master bedroom thoroughly and soon left Keith's mansion with a large bag of gold and silver jewelry.
Arnold had never seen anything like this before, and he swallowed hard: "Is this really okay?"
Allen shrugged: "What's this? That heretic's money all comes from the Duke, or from selling magic scrolls. We've suffered for several days, so of course we deserve some compensation."
He then turned to look at Murphy: "It's okay, we'll share half with you later."
Murphy remained silent. He hadn't expected these two seemingly righteous people to do such a thing... It seemed they weren't as righteous as they appeared on the surface.
After discussing it, Allen and Arnold went to the back of Keith's mansion, where the stables were located, and casually took three ponies with them.
Mercury City is so large, of course we need a means of transportation!
Arnold and Allen looked completely justified.
Murphy couldn't ride a horse, but the horse was very friendly to him. After he awkwardly sat on the horse's back, the pony even walked forward on its own.
"Hey, does it know where it's going?" Arno pulled on the reins and quickly caught up with Murphy.
“I told it we were going to church,” the boy replied, gripping the reins tightly, his body tense.
Arnold's eyes lit up: "It can even walk on its own, what an amazing little pony!"
The little pony under Murphy's bottom moved even more lightly.
There were many soldiers on the street, just like the frozen guards in Keith's mansion. Arnold and Allen had to carefully maneuver their pony around them, while Murphy's pony would dodge on its own, drawing envious glances from the two.
Murphy frowned; he remembered... he wasn't popular with animals before.
He had some doubts.
When they arrived at the Church of Mercury, it was already late at night. The church was still lit, but it was even more deserted. Only the two magicians were sitting in the foyer.
—They decided to wait here until dawn for the people the cardinal had assigned.
Hearing the noise at the door, the two quickly got up. In their spare time, they had even brought over the crystal ball used to test magical talent, just in case they mistook someone for someone else.
This crystal ball is only the size of a fist. Unlike the large crystal ball used for magic selection in the countryside, this one can determine magical talent with just a glance if enough magic is injected into it.
Turning his head, he saw that the magic crystal ball in his hand had also turned around, reflecting the thin boy at the church entrance.
Suddenly, a burst of light shone brightly, and the magician holding the crystal ball nearly dropped it.
Your Holiness! They had never seen such a dazzling light before!
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Author's note: I actually uploaded a map of the Icarus continent to the character card, but it's not displaying completely.
It looks like a round, big chicken leg, but it actually has sharp edges!
The clip will be updated tomorrow, around 11 PM.
Updates will resume at 1 PM the day after tomorrow. [Let me see!]
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