Pretense
The half-elf in front of Leylin was called Helen Carter. She claimed to be a survivor of the ancient arcanist empire who dabbled in the arcane arts.
The inheritance of her family had been badly damaged by the oppression of the churches. She was actually a rank 11 wizard, and other than Arcane Fire which she used to prove her identity, she knew no other arcane spell models. If things were put in perspective, she was weaker than Leylin.
As for her motive in going north, she’d found something akin to the inheritance of an ancient arcanist in her old family tome. She was hoping she could find something there to revive her bloodline.
“Even with this world’s strict prohibition of them, arcanists still exist?” Leylin touched his chin. As a matter of fact, this was a very good thing. It meant that even if he managed to become an arcanist in the future, he wouldn’t have to work too hard to conceal his identity.
“Yes. Even with the disapproval of the churches, any wizard that has reached the rank of Legend will have to set foot into the essential step of Weaveless Casting. The Netheril empire didn’t leave their inheritance in a single place. Even though most were destroyed in war, some people have managed to luck across remnants of it.”
Helen tucked a few strands of hair neatly behind her jade-like ear. Her beauty was really on another level.
“That being said, Legends still have to do their research on arcane spells in secret, and once non-legendary wizards are found to be affiliated with any form of arcane spells, they’re absolutely done for.” Helen laughed bitterly as she spoke about it, as if she was was reminded of something she didn’t want to be.
It seems like she and her family had endured their fair share of suffering at the hands of the gods and their churches.
“In any case, thank you for saving me from the werecreatures. I can tell you everything my family knows about the arcanist inheritance in return.” Helen told Leylin sincerely.
That was a wise choice. Even if she rebelled, Leylin would have his own methods of achieving what he wanted, such as spells like Memory Retrieval. Helen wasn’t a match for him. Additionally, she recognised that Leylin was someone related to the arcane arts anyway. That alone had led to her lowering her guard against him.
“Thank you. When I find the documents and information I’ll make a copy for you.” Leylin didn’t reject her offer. He certainly thought that he deserved it all, “Before I discover any remnants of the arcanists, I’ll need you to move within range of my detection, is that okay?”
“Yes, that will be alright!” A consequence like this was already a whole lot better than being imprisoned by the werecreatures, where she might eventually become a sacrifice. Helen readily agreed to Leylin’s request without any negotiation, she was aware that her life was in his hands now.
“My Lord!” Tiff showed no signs of surprise when he saw Leylin bringing Helen out of the room.
“Right, this is Miss Helen. You can consider her our client.” Leylin said ambiguously. Helen wasn’t pleased about how she was being introduced but she chose to not voice it out.
“We’ve cleared the entire campsite. The high-ranked werecreature and tens of normal ones that we’ve knocked out have been put aside.” Tiff resembled a hard working housekeeper, reporting everything to his owner.
“There’s enough food for 200 people here, and enough weapons to equip an elite combat squad. I also found some half-done high-grade magic potions and other magic items in the leader’s room. They’re all very strong, probably intended to kill the dragon.”
“Got it, take away all the weapons and armour and leave half of the food.” Leylin kept the high-grade ingredients that Tiff handed him. These materials were valuable even outside their use for killing dragons.
“Bring me all the captives, I have some use for them!”
Things got simpler after he saw the people who participated in the battle and helped transform their bloodlines. He then asked Tiff to bring Helen along and lead the rest to bring the supplies away before changing his appearance back to how he looked before.
“Why took you so long?” Rafiniya’s grumble could be heard the moment Leylin returned to the campsite, “If you were a little more late, I will already be on my way to find you!”
“Something cropped up, gather everyone now and prepare for attack!” Leylin was flushed with excitement.
“Why?” Rafiniya mumbled to herself but the rest of the men had very quickly assembled themselves.
“I recced the area just now, and I found that the werecreatures’ campsite was completely transformed.” Leylin sounded ecstatic.
“They were attacked and a few of their leaders died. If we go there now, we will be able to wipe them out completely and uproot them! We can finish this damned mission!”
All the eyes of the soldiers’ lit up upon hearing Leylin’s words.
……
Alec opened his eyes, and that wizard’s face surfaced in his mind once more.
“Damn it! My head- Ugh-” Alec stood up with much difficulty and saw his almost-destroyed campsite and collapsed captives. Looking at the few survivors between the corpses, even if he wasn’t that intelligent, he knew that the mission had failed.
He kicked the fainted captives violently in an attempt to wake them up and ordered them to do the same to the others as he sat down. His head still hurt, and messed up his already chaotic thoughts.
“Human, wizards, attack…captives! Where’s the captive?” Alec ran to where Helen was imprisoned before, only to arrive at an empty cell.
“Those bloody humans–” Alec growled in anger causing everyone around him to cower in fear.
“I’m the biggest here, I’m the head of you all!” He struck a few of the stronger werecreatures to show his authority. The rest could only whimper in submission, he was a high-grade werecreature after all. He exceeded the rest in both strength and speed.
“We, go back— Blackblood…” Alec made a decision, he could only abandon the campsite in its current state. But before anyone could object, a voice sounded in his head.
‘Don’t go back! Those darned humans, I haven’t made my revenge on them. The others will mock me if I go back!’ The voice circled his head and overtook his previous decision. Alec got dizzy for a bit and decided to abandon his decision and gathered all his subordinates.
“Those despicable humans, me, Alec, your new head will avenge!” After announcing his decision, he received stares of fear instead of excited growling— Leylin’s previous attack had frightened them.
Before Alec could think of anything else, chaos erupted at the entrance of their campsite. A group of human adventurers barged in. No, it was the city guards, but they seemed to be few in number.
Alec scratched his head. He’d attacked both guards and adventurers before, the only distinction in his mind was that guards were greater in number and had more tender flesh.
“They want to attack us just based on that amount of people?” Alec was triggered despite his low intellect.
“Kill them!” He bellowed before charging forward in front of the rest. The first person he saw was an armoured young female knight emitting a dazzling aura.
“A strong one from the humans!” Alec was taken aback, but that didn’t last for too long before he charged at her.
“Kill them!” The remaining city guards were filled with bloodlust, charging forward for their future and life, as well as for vengeance. They burst forth with bloodshot eyes and the last remnants of their strength.
The werecreatures who had endured the previous battle were only at half their strengths, and the rest carried injuries that made them weaker than before.
“Perhaps we really can win this time!” The soldiers watched Leylin, who ran before all of them, with a glimpse of hope.
Mass Bull’s Strength! Cloudkill! Enchant Weapon!
“Charge! Victory is ours!” Leylin roared, spells shooting out from his hands as the knights slashed at the werecreatures with their swords, sending a werecreature’s skull rolling to the floor.
‘The paralysis effect is still not over, especially on the high-ranked werecreature. The spiritual suggestion is still working though!’ Deep inside, Leylin was actually observing the battle quietly.
He’d left these captives behind on purpose, to give the city guard some achievements, How else would he return? Light from a large-scale spell shone, and Rafiniya noticed in shock that her strength had increased greatly.
“A mass buff? Rank 6 spell?” She looked at Leylin in confusion.