Mage's Profound Truths

Chapter 37: Thieves (Part One)

The Great Fireball Spell could only be cast after Merlin performed the ordinary Fireball Spell three times.

Therefore, in the room, Merlin quickly cast the ordinary Fireball Spell three times, and when the gray horizontal bar in his consciousness turned red, he enveloped the Bell Pendant with his mental power and simultaneously activated the red bar with force.

“Great Fireball Spell!”

In an instant, a wave of scorching heat seemed to surge up rapidly, but fortunately Merlin had already aimed the Bell Pendant at the huge fireball, and under the stimulation of Merlin’s mental power, the Bell Pendant quickly generated a powerful suction force.

This suction force directly absorbed the newly formed giant fireball into the pendant.

Merlin was overjoyed and quickly extended his mental power into the Bell Pendant, discovering that the giant fireball was indeed sealed inside one of the small compartments, very stable, and could be released with just a slight mental stimulation.

“Success! The Bell Pendant can withstand the Great Fireball Spell!”

Merlin finally breathed a sigh of relief. The Bell Pendant had a total of eighteen small compartments, which meant it could store eighteen Great Fireball Spells. That meant Merlin could unleash eighteen Great Fireball Spells at any time, an unimaginably powerful force.

“Very good. With this Bell Pendant, my combat strength will increase significantly!”

Thus, in the room, Merlin kept using up his magic power to cast the ordinary Fireball Spell. Once he met the conditions for the Great Fireball Spell, he would store it in the Bell Pendant.

Although this process was troublesome and consumed a lot of magic power, fortunately Merlin had an entire night, which was enough to fill the remaining eighteen compartments in the Bell Pendant.

※※※

At an abandoned ranch, thick snow covered the grass. Several men in white robes, draped with silver armor, were sitting around a fire, seemingly discussing something.

The bonfire blazed, emitting waves of heat that melted the surrounding snow into puddles.

These three men were thin and wore golden masks on their faces, making their appearances unrecognizable. One of them, a slightly shorter man, threw a piece of firewood into the fire and said with a sneer, “Hehe, it’s finally time to act. But to deal with just one Wilson, a Level 2 Flame Swordsman, do all three of us need to act?”

“Quero, a mere Wilson naturally doesn’t require the three of us. But this matter concerns the Church’s important affairs, and we must not be careless.”

“Relo, Angus, when the time comes, I’ll handle Wilson myself. I want to see how long a minor noble from Blackwater City can last under my hands.”

“All right, both of you stop arguing. The Church wouldn’t care about just Wilson, or even Blackwater City alone. But Blackwater City, along with Glan City to the east and Lute City to the west, form a strategic triangle. That’s why we must take these three cities at the lowest cost, to prepare for the Blackmoon Kingdom possibly exploiting our moment of chaos to invade.”

The final man seemed to be the leader of the three, possessing great authority. Once he spoke, the other two listened quietly.

“Angus, this time the bishop has ordered that among the three of us, you are to take the lead. Tell us the specific plan.”

Angus looked up into the dark void and said in a low voice, “Affairs inside Blackwater City are handled by Lord Jason, there won’t be any problems. But outside the city, we are responsible, and there must be no mistakes! The other small towns are too weak to matter, but Wilson’s territory even has a unit of heavy cavalry stationed. If they break into Blackwater City, they might cause trouble for Lord Jason’s control.”

“Therefore, the bishop has ordered us to leave Wilson in his territory at all costs! The God will bless us, and the God of Light is always with us!”

“May the God of Light be with us!”

The other two men wearing golden masks also suddenly stood up, their expressions solemn.

※※※

At the break of dawn, Merlin's door was knocked on.

"Young Master Merlin, the Baron wants you to come out quickly. We are departing for Blackwater City."

A maid in grey clothes called out softly.

"I got it."

At this moment, Merlin was inside his room, his face slightly pale and looking very tired, but his eyes were gleaming with excitement.

That was because Merlin had spent the entire night constantly casting fireball spells, then quietly waiting for his mana to recover, and then casting again.

So the whole night, Merlin did not sleep at all, but he finally managed to fill all the small compartments inside the Bell Pendant before dawn.

With the Bell Pendant, Merlin didn’t even need mana — just using his mental power to guide it, he could continuously release the great fireball spell eighteen times.

Merlin stood up, threaded a thin hemp cord through the Bell Pendant, and hung it around his neck.

This way, it wouldn’t attract much attention but still allowed him to easily cast the spells stored inside the Bell Pendant.

"So we're departing this early?"

Merlin left his room and came downstairs, finding that outside the castle was already packed with knights.

Among them, the approximately two hundred knights in heavy armor were the most eye-catching — they were personally trained by Old Wilson and had astonishing combat power.

At that moment, Old Wilson was also wearing black armor, standing on the stone steps outside the castle.

When he saw Merlin coming down, he slightly frowned and said, "What’s wrong? Didn’t sleep well last night?"

Merlin shook his head and smiled, "It's nothing. I'm just not used to the castle yet. Are you planning to take all the knights from the territory?"

"No need to take them all. I’m only taking the heavy-armored knights. The rest will stay behind to guard the territory against those thieves."

Old Wilson shook his head slightly — he had no intention of withdrawing all the defense forces from the territory.

"Hm? What’s that sound?"

Old Wilson was just about to set off, but suddenly, his gaze turned toward the distance.

A chaotic and noisy sound of hooves arose, and dust clouds could be clearly seen rising in the distance.

"This is bad — it's bandits! All knights, prepare for battle!"

Old Wilson immediately assessed the situation, his expression changing drastically as he shouted loudly.

At once, the many knights outside the castle became alert, all drawing their greatswords and forming defensive formations, their eyes fixed ahead.