Pursuers
Previously, Leylin held himself back from taking action, not because he was afraid of doing something, but because he didn’t want to be inconvenienced.
However, this girl in front of him had something that interested him. Furthermore, once his research was a success, he would greatly benefit from it.
It was only natural, that he now intended to take action.
However, for prudence's sake, he still chose to lay low on the sidelines and observe the strength of his enemies first.
If their might was average, he would definitely not be modest. He would immediately abduct or coerce the girl to follow him and not be afraid of the pursuers.
If they were too strong, he could only give up. In any case, the world was so big, and she was not the only one with a Warlock’s bloodline. There might be very few of them on the south coast, but there were definitely many in the Central Continent.
Several days later, the horse carriage entered the district of York City.
This was already along the borders of the Inlan Dukedom. As for the old man, his anxiety had already intensified to the maximum. Most of the time he would stay on the horse carriage, seldom leaving it. He even closely guarded the little girl by his side, as if being afraid of something.
The hazy night had dyed the sky an overcast grey. Only somewhere far away in the horizon was there a little light.
The horse carriage stopped by the roadside, and the weary passengers began to alight, and then sat in a circle around a bonfire for refreshments and rest.
After so many days of travel, the people in the horse carriage also got close with each other. Especially that little merchant, who took out a flute and played an upbeat tune and the beautiful woman beside him followed suit by performing a gorgeous dance.
There were several middle-aged men who took out wine flasks from their sacks and walked forward to the beautiful woman to ingratiate themselves. As for that woman, she chuckled, seemingly not rejecting these suitors.
After the atmosphere reached a climax, the people began to sing and dance. Even the horse keeper gulped down several mouthfuls of strong wine and had a tinge of red at the end of his nose.
Leylin reclined against the trunk of a tree, his hand holding a wine flask from which he drank occasionally. He shot a glance inside the horse carriage and grinned.
Although the sky had already dimmed tonight, the old geezer still urged the carriage driver to move on.
However, travelling in the middle of the night was extremely dangerous. Hence, this suggestion was rejected by carriage driver and all of the passengers.
That old geezer’s expression then was really a sight to be seen.
Furthermore, tonight the old geezer had decided to stay within the horse carriage, not even letting his granddaughter leave half a step away from the horse carriage. Ugly rumours had already begun to have gossiped amongst the travellers.
However, Leylin knew that this pair who pretended to be a grandfather with his granddaughter was afraid of pursuers, that’s why they hid in the horse carriage. Looking on at the situation, the pursuers were almost arriving too.
No, they were already here. Leylin turned his head, and with the A.I. Chip, he saw several acolytes, who did not hold back their energy waves radiation, hiding in a dark corner.
Looking at the strength of the energy waves, there were all level 3 acolytes.
*Bang!*
A red arrow was released and it directly shot through the brains of a muscled, half-naked man who was dancing by the fire.
“Ahhh!” The blood splattered onto a woman nearby. Her expression turned sluggish, only letting off an ear piercing scream several seconds later.
“Bandits!” “Help!” Various cries sounded in the camp.
As for the carriage driver, he very quickly donned a leather armour and crouched, hugging his head and not moving at all.
The horse carriage providers had a promise with the nearby bandits, that they would only rob the passengers. As for the drivers, the bandits would often let them go scot-free — after all, they would not have much money on them.
However, tonight the carriage driver’s plans were in vain.
*Xiu!* Another red arrow was shot, directly piercing through the driver’s neck! He clutched his neck with both hands, his eyes popping out and frothing blood at the corner of his lips. His mouth gaped open and close for air as if wanting to enjoy the freshness of the air one last time before he died.
“A sharpening spell added on the arrow? Interesting!”
Beside the chaotic campsite, Leylin was still reclining against the tree. He gulped down another mouthful of wine, his expression appearing indifferent.
At this moment, his lax behaviour was vastly different from the current situation, yet nobody was paying him any attention.
The second arrow obviously caused greater chaos within the camp. Be they man or woman, young or old — they were all wildly running away.
Several minutes later, the campsite that had once had a lively and jovial atmosphere, now only had a crackling bonfire and several wine flasks which had been forsaken.
*Crash!* 3 figures wearing black robes appeared from within the forest.
Leylin’s outstanding vision allowed him to see clearly the appearance of this trio.
There were two men and a woman, all of them were of middling years. The woman had applied a very thick layer lipstick, which seemed like she had just drank a mouthful of blood.
These 3 were obviously not students of an academy. Their attire were rather casual, however, there was an image of a dodo-bird stitched on their robes, seemingly a family emblem.
These were the acolytes nurtured by a family.
Some of them from Magi families, who had poor aptitudes, could not be accepted into academies, so they could only be nurtured by their families themselves.
Most of them could not even advance to a level 3 acolyte, so the majority of them remained as a level 1 acolyte or level 2 acolyte.
These 3 who were able to advance to level 3 acolytes, either had good aptitudes or were expelled from an academy or had graduated.
“Miles, come out! We know you’re inside the horse carriage!”
The three of them took on a triangular formation to surround the horse carriage, and a silver-haired man laughed smugly.
*Boom!*
What replied him was a burning red fireball.
*Pa!* As the middle-aged man dodged the fireball, the horse carriage suddenly shattered and a black figure with a smaller figure wrapped on his lower body rapidly sneaked past the gap that the middle-aged man exposed.
“Thinking of escaping?” The woman smirked and hurriedly chanted an incantation, casting a speed reducing spell.
A layer of murky green shone on the black figure and his speed dropped drastically.
“Xiu!” The eyes of the third person who held a bow flashed, and immediately he fired another red arrow.
*Pu!* The arrow bore into the left chest of the black figure, drawing fresh blood from it. The black figure groaned and fell to the ground, revealing the face of the white-bearded geezer.
“Run! Why don’t you keep running?”
The man, who had been the target of that fireball shot previously, was in a miserable state. Seeing the old geezer on the ground, his expression turned malevolent and he drew out a curved blade, hacking at the old geezer Mile’s left leg.
*Ka-Cha!* The old geezer’s left leg was immediately chopped off.
“Ahhh!” The little girl fainted immediately after having blood spurting on her.
“Such a beautiful little girl, killing her outright is such a pity!” The man who held the bow licked his lips, revealing a lusty grin. “Why don’t you let me have some fun first?”
“It’s your call, we still have plenty of time!”
It was very obvious that these three acolytes did not have any regard for the old geezer, Miles, at all. They were extremely relaxed and had their guard down.
In fact, this was the reality. Miles was only a level 3 acolyte and the little girl was not even an acolyte. Such a line-up can be easily destroyed by just sending one level 3 acolyte.
It was only for added assurance that 3 such acolytes had been sent.
When the bowman grinned lewdly, a lazy voice sounded.
“I say, you guys seem to have forgotten about me!”
Leylin flung the flask away and announced himself in a crisp voice.
“You… You actually didn’t run away?” The other male acolyte was somewhat shocked. Normally, wasn't the reaction of people, after seeing someone get killed, to run away? Much less to mention encountering magicians of the sorts.
“Just right, I wish to loosen my muscles after pursuing this old geezer. Leave him to me!”
The only female acolyte among them looked at the handsome Leylin and her eyes flashed. Her mouth gaped open and close with the heavy lipstick as if wanting to swallow Leylin immediately.
Right now, Leylin’s charm factor had increased significantly after advancing to a Warlock. Along the way, he met many girls who cast flirtatious glances at him. However, meeting this kind of elderly woman, he felt rather disgusted.
“My apologies, but I don't have any interest towards aunties!”
Leylin spoke very ‘sincerely’, turning the face of this female acolyte red.
“Brat! I will let you feel the most unbearable pain on earth. An hour later, if you don't prostate yourself like a dog in front of me, you will have my admiration!”
The female acolyte looked at Leylin as if she wanted to bite a piece of meat off him that very instant.
“No need for that, if you don't prostate yourself like a dog right now in front of me, you will have my admiration!”
Leylin’s eyes flashed icily as he dispelled the concealment spell. An immense force field immediately surrounded the area of the horse carriage.
“Of… Official Magus!” The eyes of the male leader of the trio popped out as he collapsed feebly onto the ground.
“Lo... Lord! Please pardon our accidental intrusion!”
The bowman acolyte, too, no longer had any interest in defiling the little girl. He immediately knelt in front of Leylin, cursing the damned bitch thousands and tens of thousands of times.
“How is it?”
Leylin looked at that female acolyte with a toying expression.
“Lo… Lo… Lo...“ The female acolyte also fell to the ground, her jaws trembling, not being able to speak a single word.
“Lord, we are from the Yale family… Our family head is also an official Magus!”
The leader noticed that Leylin’s gaze was hostile, immediately bringing up the backing of his group.
“Yale family?” Leylin shook his head, indicating that he did not recognise this name.
Leylin had already scrutinised the large families around the Poolfield Kingdom before and did not recall any Yale family of the sorts.
“A.I. Chip, scan database!”
[Beep! Yale family: Situated in the Denisque Province of the Inlan Dukedom. The family head’s name is Sam Yale. Originally an acolyte from the Sage Gotham Hut, he advanced to an official Magus at thirty years of age. Information source: History of Magi families, page 1928!]
An extremely simple introduction. From the information recorded on the A.I. Chip, it seemed like a newly founded Magus family which was completely reliant on a Magus who had shockingly advanced as an acolyte.
It was far from being comparable with the Lilytell family and only slightly stronger than Bicky’s family. There was not much backing and easily classified by the Magus World as the nouveau rich.
“Wait! Wait! I have the secret imprint of our family’s head!”
Seeing that Leylin was about to take action, the leader immediately shouted and ripped his clothes apart.