Mage's Profound Truths

Chapter 15: The Spellcaster (Part One)

The carriage was slowly moving along the main road, and Merlin was resting inside with his eyes closed, but suddenly, he felt the carriage shake violently, accompanied by the neighing of horses outside.

“Moss, what’s going on?”

Merlin lifted the curtain and frowned as he asked Moss.

Moss was struggling to control the panicked black horse. Hearing the dissatisfaction in Merlin’s tone, Moss said nervously, “Young Master Merlin, a group of knights just charged from behind. I don’t know who they are—they're rampaging through the street.”

Merlin looked up and gazed into the distance. Sure enough, he saw a group of knights in gleaming armor galloping ahead, completely ignoring the pedestrians and carriages on the street. For a moment, the entire street was in chaos, filled with curses and shouting.

The attire of these knights didn’t resemble that of the city defense regiment, and Merlin had never seen them before.

“Huh? Merlin?”

Suddenly, a familiar voice reached Merlin’s ears. He turned his head and saw a carriage pulled over to the side of the road. The coachman was trying to calm the frightened horses, and inside the carriage was none other than Kalis, whom he hadn't seen in over ten days.

“Miss Kalis.”

Merlin quickly got out of the carriage and went over to hers, asking, “Miss Kalis, are you alright?”

Kalis shook her head slightly and said, “It’s just the horses got spooked. I’m fine. By the way, I visited Mr. Etta again a few days ago, but he wasn’t home. Do you know what happened?”

“Teacher Etta said he had some private matters to deal with and needed to leave Blackwater City for a while. I was just planning to check if he’s back today.”

Kalis showed a hint of a smile and said, “What a coincidence, I was also planning to visit Mr. Etta. Why don’t we go together?”

Merlin nodded, so the two carriages moved one after the other toward Old Etta’s small wooden cabin.

Before long, the carriage gradually came to a stop. Moss lifted the curtain and said helplessly to Merlin, “Young Master Merlin, we can’t go any further. The way ahead is blocked.”

“Blocked?”

Merlin frowned and looked up. Not far from Old Etta’s cabin, a crowd had gathered, completely blocking the road.

“What’s going on?”

Kalis also got off the carriage and glanced at Merlin, looking puzzled.

“Miss Kalis, it seems the road is blocked. Let’s go see what’s happening.”

So Merlin and Kalis both got out of their carriages and walked ahead. Even standing on the edge of the crowd, their tall statures allowed them to see what was going on inside.

“These knights again? Miss Kalis, do you recognize them?”

Merlin saw more than twenty knights in silver armor among the crowd. These were the same ones who had caused chaos in the streets earlier. Now they were blocking the road and refusing passage, drawing a large crowd.

Kalis frowned and studied the knights' outfits. After a while, she said in a low voice, “I’m not entirely sure, but judging by their gear, they look like Guardian Swordsmen from the Church of Light. But Blackwater City doesn’t have Guardian Swordsmen, so I can’t be certain.”

“Guardian Swordsmen?”

Merlin muttered to himself, and immediately thought of Cardron, who had become a Guardian Swordsman of the Church in Gran City after becoming a Light Swordsman.

“Could they be Guardian Swordsmen from Gran City?” Merlin speculated in a low voice.

“Gran City? That’s possible. But to send so many Guardian Swordsmen to Blackwater City at once, could something big have happened?”

Neither Kalis nor Merlin could be sure. Each Guardian Swordsman was a prominent figure—especially in a small city like Blackwater. In a sense, they were equivalent to nobles.

For so many Guardian Swordsmen—each equivalent to a noble—to appear at once, something major must be going on.

Just then, another group of knights arrived from behind. Merlin recognized their attire—they were the city defense regiment of Blackwater City.

The crowd immediately parted to let the city defense knights through. The leading knight shouted at the unknown group, “Where are you knights from?”

A knight wearing a silver helmet stepped forward arrogantly and replied, “We are the Guardian Swordsmen of the Church of Light from Gran City!”

“Guardian Swordsmen from Gran City?”

The city defense knight was shocked. Normally, even the arrival of a single Guardian Swordsman would cause the city lord to tread carefully—let alone over twenty at once.

“May I ask what business brings you all to Blackwater City?”

“We are here under orders from the Bishop, to capture an evil heretic from the Blackmoon Kingdom. All of you should leave quickly, or you might be harmed by the heretic’s wicked spells.”

“Evil heretic?”

As if they had heard something terrifying, the crowd that had just been densely packed now quickly retreated, and in the blink of an eye, they were far away from the guardian swordsmen.

Even the young knights from the city defense corps were frightened, with fear showing on their faces.

Merlin didn’t know what the “evil heretic” was, but judging from the reactions of the people around him, he could roughly guess—it must be someone extremely terrifying and fearsome.

“Borg Swordsman, the evil heretic is in the small wooden house ahead. Take men and surround it.”

The man in the white robe, wearing light armor over it, gave orders to the guardian swordsmen around him.

Borg's heart tightened. As expected, they had found the evil heretic. He dared not delay and immediately drew his greatsword, treating the situation as a dire threat, and led more than a dozen knights to quickly surround the small wooden house.

“Ah? Isn’t that Mr. Aetah’s house?”

Kailis cried out in surprise, but luckily the noise from the surrounding crowd covered her voice.

Merlin quickly grabbed Kailis’s hand without caring about how it felt, and said in a low voice, “Miss Kailis, don’t make a sound.”

Merlin had naturally realized that the target of these guardian swordsmen was the mysterious Mr. Aetah’s cabin. He understood that these people must have received some information to come here.

“Merlin, do you think Mr. Aetah has returned? But judging from the situation now, it doesn’t look good for him. I just hope he won’t be implicated.”

Merlin’s expression was grave as he slightly shook his head. He had a bad feeling that this matter might be closely related to the mysterious old man Aetah.

More than ten guardian swordsmen surrounded Aetah’s small wooden house. The silver-helmeted Swordsman Borg respectfully asked the man in white robes, “Lord Jason, what should we do now?”

The white-robed man squinted slightly, trying to see what was happening inside the cabin, but with the door and windows tightly shut, nothing was visible.

After a moment, the white-robed man waved his hand and said, “Borg Swordsman, go in. If possible, capture the heretic alive.”

Borg Swordsman was slightly stunned and felt bitter inside. Everyone knew how terrifying the evil heretics were. But since Jason had given the order, even though Borg was a Level Two Light Swordsman, he could only obey.

Thus, Borg called over three guardian swordsmen and together they rushed into the wooden house.

Everyone stared at the wooden house intently. After the four guardian swordsmen entered, there was no more movement. Even the white-robed man frowned slightly and muttered, “Could the information be wrong?”

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Suddenly, muffled thuds came from the previously quiet wooden house. The guardian swordsmen who had just rushed in were flung out, their bodies charred as if burned by flames, and a foul smell of scorched flesh filled the air.

These guardian swordsmen hit the ground hard and never moved again—all were dead.

The knights from the city defense corps who had been closer to the wooden house saw the three charred corpses and could no longer hide their fear. They all turned and fled far away.

Everyone knew that these guardian swordsmen were not ordinary people. Each was at least a Level One Light Swordsman, which meant they were powerful elemental swordsmen.

But now, these elemental swordsmen had died mysteriously soon after entering the cabin.

“Holy Light s***h!”

At that moment, a loud shout came from inside the cabin. Of the four guardian swordsmen who had entered, three were dead, and only Swordsman Borg remained.

The voice belonged to Swordsman Borg.

As the voice rang out, a figure enveloped in dazzling white light leapt from the wooden house—it was Borg Swordsman.

“Lord Jason, the evil heretic is inside.”

Borg was now covered in blinding white light, but his clothes were tattered, and blood dripped from his right arm—he was clearly wounded.

“A Level Two Swordsman—it’s a Level Two Elemental Swordsman!”

Kailis, standing beside Merlin, spoke in disbelief. Merlin also felt a chill in his heart—someone of that level would be the undisputed top expert in all of Heishui City.

Even Swordsman Perot was only a Level One Flame Swordsman, and the battle-hardened Old Wilson was only at the peak of Level One. Neither had broken through to Level Two.

But now, a powerful Level Two Elemental Swordsman had escaped from the cabin in such a sorry state.

The white-robed man gave Swordsman Borg a cold glance, then took a deep breath and shouted at the cabin, “Heretic, God is merciful. If you embrace Him, believe in Him, and become His follower, your sins will be cleansed.”

“God? Is there a God in this world? After so many years, your Light Church is still so hypocritical. Ridiculous, truly ridiculous! As a Level One spellcaster, do you still not realize the laughable lies of your church? I only believe in truth, in the essence of magic—not your so-called God.”

A hoarse voice came from inside the wooden house, and then a figure slowly walked out.