When A Mage Revolts

Finally, the funeral ended after having lasted for over three hours. The body of the King was laid to rest behind the city hall. Benjamin instructed his subordinates to clean the City Square. As for himself... he turned around and got into a disguise before slipping into the crowds, off to afflict those few troublemakers.

"Who instructed you guys to come?"

In a remote alley in Worchester, he kept those few religious fanatics there and asked them condescendingly.

Those few believers were all squatting on the ground, their bodies trembling slightly. They lifted their heads to look at Benjamin with gritted teeth, with expressions that shifted continuously between terror and hostility. Someone tried to yell for help, but his voice had been sealed inside the alley by a layer of water film, unable to get through in the slightest bit.

Finally, perhaps because they had grown tired from yelling, they also realized that they would never be able to escape. Because of that, they glared angrily at Benjamin and finally spoke. "...You will go down to hell."

"Whatever, then." Benjamin waved his hands. He had heard this so many times that his ears were about to get blisters, so he did not care at all. Rather, he continued his interrogation. "Where do you come from? What orders have you received? Who got you to cause trouble at the funeral?"

As he spoke, Ice Needles appeared in the air one by one, floating. They glistened in a frightening, icy manner, and were aimed right at those few people.

"You... What do you mean? We are carrying out God's orders!" The religious fanatic did not seem to be too scared, and opened his mouth to speak in agitation, "No one is instigating us, this is on our own volition! God will not allow you devils to continue scourging this world!"

Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

Were they that stubborn about talking? Or perhaps, there was really no one who had instructed them to do so...

Whatever it was, he should just get started with the interrogation first. Thinking thus, he controlled the Ice Needles and inflicted a torture upon those few believes that felt like hell on earth for them. After approximately fifteen minutes, those few people had screamed so much that they had lost their voices. They fell to the ground, their entire bodies fraught with exhaustion. Every muscle was cramping; it was impossible for even the most fanatical believer to endure it.

However, they still maintained that no one had instigated them. Their actions today had been initiated by themselves.

"...Forget it."

In the end, Benjamin could only shake his head and give up on the interrogation. He got a few soldiers to come over and carry the religious fanatics, tossing them out of Worchester. They were never allowed in again.

After that, he turned around and left. Borrowing the System's scanner, he found the small beggar who had been yelling in the city as well.

"Who taught you to say those words?" Benjamin caught him and dragged him to an abandoned house where no one was, and began to interrogate him. "I don't believe that a beggar like you would know about the Academy of Magic having done research on Divine Arts, there must've been someone instructing you from behind!"

The small beggar was so frightened that he trembled. He hurriedly smiled in an apologetic manner. "Mage, mage sir... What are you talking about? I don't understand what you mean? Eh?"

Hearing that, Benjamin could only summon a few dozen Ice Needles once more. With a cold, hard face, he said, "Still want to act dumb? You had the guts to create a ruckus in the City Square, so why don't you have the guts to admit to that now? I advise you to think about this properly. It won't feel good to have so many needles piercing through you. Is it worth it to suffer so much for the people behind you?"

Being targeted by the points of needles that were glistening with a cold, menacing light, the small beggar shrunk backwards again. It was obvious that he did not have the will that the typical priests and religious fanatics had to endure to the end. After a moment's hesitation, he suddenly fell to the floor, sobbing and admitting what he had done.

"I... Don't kill me, it's, it's that man who taught me to say it... He gave me ten gold pieces, saying, saying if only I repeated these words at the City Square once, he... He would give me another twenty. I believed him, but in the end... In the end that man has disappeared too..."

Benjamin felt as though he seemed to have discovered something, and hurriedly inquired, "What man? Say it a bit more clearly."

"I, I don't know him either..." the small beggar whimpered, continuing to say, "It was this morning, I met him on the street in the west side of the city, felt like he looked really rich... He was wearing a mask so I couldn't see his face, and he wore an especially long robe... Sir, I really can't recognize him!"

After listening to him, Benjamin's face sunk. He did not feel so good about it. Was that a member of the Church? The people of the Church might have used some sort of trick to mix in and slip through the security checks at the city gates, and wormed their way into Worchester, before employing a small beggar by the roadside so that he would cause trouble at the funeral?

If that was the case, then he had a really big trouble on his hands...

If the priests had come especially close to observe them, they would have been able to see the telltale signs of that group of fake mages. In the Black Nightmare Army's current condition, they definitely could not allow spellcaster spies to sneak in. Even the Princess had been kept under house arrest most of the time so that she would not see anything. Otherwise, if the news were to leak out, it would be a devastating disaster to them!

"After he was done talking to you, where did that man go?" he immediately asked.

"I... I don't know!" The small beggar said while trembling. "I took the money, and being too excited, I'd ran straight towards the City Square... I did not see the direction in which he'd gone."

"Then how about the others? What other information do you have? Height, body build?" Benjamin was also beginning to feel rather anxious. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly asked, "Why did you just say that you felt as though he was very rich? Where did that feeling come from? Wasn't he entirely covered in his robe?"

Hearing that, the small beggar was stunned. After that, he furrowed his eyebrows and thought back for a moment, before suddenly shouting out, "That... That's because he was wearing lots and lots of rings on his hands!"

"Rings?"

"Yes! Almost every finger had them, huge precious stones they were! There were red ones, white ones... Flashing with light, really pretty, as though they were magical, I didn't dare stare too long, I felt like if I looked at them for too long, my brain would ache slightly..."

Hearing this, Benjamin's heart made a thumping sound.

"Then... height and body build?"

After thinking for a while, the beggar spoke with a struggling expression. "Roughly... About as tall as you are, sir, and then... Oh right! Your size is really similar as well! There was really a similarity between you that I can't pinpoint!"

Before his voice had died away, Benjamin had turned around and left, flying straight out the house.

That uneasy premonition had become a strong sense of impending danger.

Only a few magical instruments passed down from ancient times would be able to match those rings that could cause commoners to feel disorientated. Then, he had his hands full of them; associating this to the images he had seen in the past... Without a doubt, Grant had already slipped into Worchester.

What had he come here for?

Flying in the air, Benjamin hesitated for a few seconds before immediately rushing towards the direction of the army camp. The number of mages in the Black Nightmare Army had plummeted; it was definitely impossible for them to be able to defend against Grant's ambush. It might even play out into an instant massacre! Furthermore... Furthermore, even if he did not have time to launch an ambush, the situation would still become extremely bad if he were only to see through the identities of those fake mages.

With an abnormally panicked feeling in his heart, Benjamin continuously accelerated, hurrying towards the army camp in the south of the city.

"It's actually rather interesting, now that you've mentioned it," the System emerged at an unsuitable time, saying, "at the beginning, you weren't able to beat him face to face, so you'd sneak into his lair to do this and that everyday. Now, though, he can't win in a direct fight with you, so he has come sneaking into your old home. This is really... Tut tut..."

Benjamin ignored it.

After half a minute, he immediately charged into the army camp of the Black Nightmare Army. The camp still looked very normal, so that was good; the soldiers were also busy with their drills and patrols, as usual. Thus, he activated the water elemental sensing technique and covered the entire camp with in, checking for possible traces and clues.

The System also joined in the detection work. After a few seconds, it said, "There are no abnormal traces of light elements in the air, and no strange footprints in the surroundings, at least... Within the past half an hour, Grant has not come to this place."

Benjamin gave a sigh of relief, but the uncertainty in his heart had become even stronger.

"Ben, Benjamin, sir! So this is where you are!" All of a sudden, a soldier ran over. Upon seeing Benjamin above the camp, he hurriedly shouted out, "Not... Not good! Someone has just broken into the city hall and kidnapped the Princess!"