Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Abel didn’t check the state that Frost City was in now. He knew that the Blizzard clan wasn’t going to give him much trouble in the short term. He was finally spared the time to resume his training.
He was more concerned with something else at the moment. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to head back to the lightning clan. On the one hand, it was like a new home for him. All the advanced wizards there treated him very kindly. He didn’t spend too much time with the members, but the bonds he made were already firm and long-lasting. On the other hand, however, he didn’t want to risk having others going after his brothers in arms. Wizard Malon tried to hunt him down just for Johnson’s excavation ability. There was no telling if other law-defying wizards would want to try to rob him of everything he had in possession.
Yes, the lightning clan was a clan notorious for its strength, but it’s not like he could just stay at the Land of Lightning Fall. He was starting to regret everything already. He regretted revealing Johnson’s ability. It was a blunder to think that no one would recognize it to be a stone giant. The preferable option was actually just handing Johnson over to the lightning clan. Instead of keeping it as his personal property, he might as well just let the lightning clan’s law-defying wizards publicly announce their ownership over it. The issue was that there were just too many secrets he had on Johnsons. The “special quickening,” the “mana burning,” and just about every other hell enhancement abilities. There were too many perceivable “accidents” that might happen if the law-defying wizards were to do some sort of examination.
That was certainly a valid point. Johnson’s gemstone excavation ability was enough to let one law-defying wizard go after him. He didn’t want to start anything anymore. After thinking for a bit more, he placed his wizard crest right into the Horadric Cube. He did it because that’s the only place that he could conceal the wizard crest essence completely. For now, he was not planning on using his identity as “Wizard Abel” to do anything. He thought things through at this point. There was no point using a name if it’s just going to get him unwanted attention.
But under what title should he go by, then? He was now a rank eighteen advanced wizard, one that had promoted himself at a speed that was unprecedented anywhere. That was going to bring a lot of skepticism from other wizards. Even if there weren’t any advanced wizards among the lightning clan that wanted him, what about the other wizard organizations, then? What about the other law-defying wizards that were out there? If the interest became too tempting, even the Wizard Union couldn’t handle what could very much become the potential start of a prodigy hunt.
So, with that, Abel turned himself into Bennett the elf once again. This was the disguise that he was most familiar with after spending a long time with the elves. Because of this, he was now perfectly capable of blending in among the elves. His druid class status also helped him with that, and he was open to using his alchemy skills to get his hands on whatever better resources there were.
In his mind, he spoke to his old friends, “See you another time, third squad.”
He wasn’t planning on heading back to the Lightning Clan until he was truly powerful. For now, at least, he also wasn’t going to use his title as Wizard Abel.
Since Wizard Abel was put under captivity, Wizard Hal of the lightning clan requested an open investigation from the Wizard Union. This was probably the most humiliating thing the Wizard Union had to do in the last few centuries. A prodigy wizard they planned on training to become their leader was openly kidnapped in front of everyone. That was not just devastating. It was an open declaration of war on everyone from the lightning clan. Retaliation was mandatory.
Anyways, Hal and the law-defying wizards came to the headquarter of the Wizard Union to request an immediate investigation from the Wizard Union. He could search all by himself, but having a whole organization help him out was definitely going to hasten the process. It’s not like he could just go to Frost City, given his title as a law-defying wizard. Unlike Wizard Malon, he actually didn’t think of his comrades from the lightning clan as disposable tools. He also had a reputation to uphold, so he preferred being more subtle than bold.
Inside a very ancient hallroom, six law-defying wizards apart from Hal sat together. Each of them was backed by organizations that were much, much more powerful than the lightning clan. Right now, six law-defying wizards and Hal became representatives of the seven most influential wizard organizations across the entire central continent. Needless to say, the lightning clan was much weaker than the other law-defying wizards. It was their top elites’ strength that pushed the entire group’s status to be equal to the other big organizations.
Wizard Hal was clearly not in a good mood, “It’s been an hour already, Wizard Clemens. How much more do you want me to wait?”
Wizard Hal held the other six law-defying wizards here to get them to start the investigation he requested and go after one law-defying wizard. At least half need to vote in support of it.
Wizard Clemens shook his head, “You should head to the Land of Lightning Fall for a result, Wizard Hal. We’ll make sure that you’ll be the first one to know if anything comes up. It’s better if you consolidate what you’ve gained after promotion.”
Wizard Clemens sighed at how troubling this all was. He hated conflicts just as much as anyone else, and he certainly wanted to eliminate any risk that would start warfare between the law-defying wizards.
Wizard Hal kept his voice low, “I’ve already given you a target, Wizard Clamens. Are you saying that you don’t have any information?”
Wizard Clemens explained, “The man you pointed out, Malon, seems to be a very discrete figure. He had no friends, and he seldom attended our events. Out of suspicion that there’s something wrong with the way he’s been prolonging his lifespan, we decided to do an extended version of a search on him.”
“You’ve heard the man now,” Wizard Hume of the Resource Department laughed, “Come on, Wizard Hal! Your time is much better spent getting some rest first, don’t you think?”
Wizard Hal responded with a finger pointed towards the table, “I’d like to remind you all something. The conflict between Wizard Abel and the Blizzard clan has and will, under the premise that the Wizard Union will handle this in a square and fair manner, be resolved. If the Wizard Union does not start settling things immediately, we of the lightning clan will act on our accord. The latter you are, the more danger you’ll be putting Wizard Abel into.”
1
Wizard Hal was extremely worried about Abel’s safety at the moment. Being captured by a law-defying wizard meant that the chance of surviving was almost zero. He’s already been three days late after coming out of his promotion. For now, he just wanted to get as much evidence as he could in a short period of time and make sure that the law-defying wizards pay the price.
The latest news came throughout Wizard Clemen’s wizard crest, “Wait, something’s up!”
Wizard Hal spoke calmly, “I hope it’s good news.”
Wizard Clemens spoke apologetically, “Um, firstly, I’m so sorry that we couldn’t make it certain that it was Wizard Malon. Right now, I have information on every usage record, the tenth mission point, and all the nearby teleportation circles. Wizard Malon’s name can’t be seen anywhere, and my intel department hasn’t come up with any reports that are related to spotting Wizard Malon.”
Of course, if a law-defying wizard wanted to hide his tracks, it wouldn’t matter what sort of methods Wizard Clemens tried. The way he gave his response worked very conveniently for him, because in a way if there was no official evidence of any sort, the Wizard Union would have no need nor the right to interfere any further.
A look of disappointment flashed across Wizard Hal’s eyes, “I guess I’ll talk about it with Wizard Malon myself.”
Wizard Clemens replied abruptly, “Please don’t, Wizard Hal. If you want to speak to Wizard Malon, do it only when you can guarantee that you don’t start a conflict.”
Wizard Hal was not going to listen, “It’s Wizard Malon. It’s just him! He started all this, and we of the lightning clan will pay back in the same amount. It’s only fair!”
“Please calm down, WIzard Hal! The Wizard Union is not going to let their law-defying wizards cross the line.”
“Right,” Wizard Hall scoffed, “not if there’s no evidence.”
The six other law-defying wizards all looked at each other. Whatever trouble that was starting this time, it’s only going to get bigger. They all knew that Wizard Malon was the most likely suspect, of course, but the lack of evidence just showed that there was no way of capturing him in the short term. Under situations like this, what the Wizard Union was going to do was deploy a lot of their experienced researchers to do everything they could to dive deep into this. At the same time, they would place Wizard Malon as the main observation target. That meant that every one of his movements would be paid more attention in the future.
Still, this way of resolving things was not going to ease down the lightning clan’s anger. All the law-defying wizards knew that. There were still two law-defying wizards left inside the lightning clan, and if three came to fight, Wizard Malon would either be heavily injured or killed in an instance. That’s just going to trigger major chaos that’s going to demolish the laws and order of the Wizard Union.
Wizard Clemens tried to stall as much as he could, “Um, well, how about a few more days? Wizard Hal, give me ten. I’ll make sure to give you a satisfying response.”
He thought that it was better to let him do the talking instead of Wizard Hal. Yes, anything was better than a major fight between the law-defying wizards of the two clans. They were all precious men of the Wizard Union, and the wizards had more enemies to fight than just each other. There was the nation of evil and other powerful classes. They were the pillars that held the world in order, metaphorically speaking.
Just when Wizard Hal was about to relay his disapproval of this proposal, the wizard crest Wizard Clemens was wearing suddenly made a vibration. A new message was just sent over. Wizard Clemens wasn’t sure what was happening here, but he knew that whatever information this was, this was definitely going to be top confidential ones that couldn’t be shared with others.
As he inserted his power of the Will, his mouth started widening on its own.
Wizard Hume asked, “What happened, Wizard Clemens?”
Wizard Hal spoke quietly, “You know me, Wizard Clemens. I wouldn’t be here if I wanted to start the fight myself.”
Wizard Clemens was too shocked, so he just passed on the information he read, “The Blizzard clan’s gone. Some unknown explosives just decimated the whole Frost City. At least forty-five advanced wizards of the Blizzard clan just died. None of the intermediate beginner wizards made it out. They just evaporated along with the explosion.”
One thing was clear at this point. It wasn’t the lightning clan. The method didn’t match.
Wizard Hal’s eyes flashed, “You sure it was an explosion, Wizard Clemens?”
Wizard Clemens couldn’t help but to speak, “Yes, I thought Wizard Abel was using some unknown explosives.”
Wizard Hal thought otherwise, “It’s got to be Malon! He got Abel already, and he’s just using the things he stole from Abel! There’s no need for an investigation. I’ll go after him now!”
Wizard Clemens looked quite afraid, “Wizard Malon…. He’s gone, Wizard Hal!”
Wizard Hal spoke in a perplexed tone, “What do you mean, Wizard Clemens?”
Wizard Clemens couldn’t believe the words he was saying, “Frost City’s been turned into ruins, but Wizard Malon didn’t show up. He’s either not there, or he was just…”
But law-defying wizards didn’t die easily, no. Not one law-defying wizard has been killed in the past century. Even with the war against the nation of evil, the law-defying wizard still didn’t die. Wizard Hal got what Wizard Clemens was trying to say. If Abel were the one that started the explosion, it would mean that he was, indeed, captured by Wizard Malon. That way, he’s got no ways of returning to Frost City.
Wizard Clemens changed his mind very quickly, “I’ll be heading over to Frost City with you, Wizard Hal. I’ll find Wizard Abel with you!”