Chapter 273: Forever Benefits
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"The angel was too powerful." Slanbrea heaved a sigh. "So…"
"You are right. The angel was too powerful, otherwise a priest of Light would not listen to her." Someone said that before Anfey could even speak. A middle-aged mage suddenly appeared about a dozen yards behind Slanbrea.
"May I ask who is speaking?" Slanbrea raised his eyebrows and said coldly. His body slowly turned around. Suzanna, standing next to him, grabbed her sword.
"Master, I am just a regular mage who wants to spend his whole life on magic," that mage said with a smile. He turned to take a look at Suzanna. "Is she the product of God’s Punishment? It is too bad."
Niya was surprised first, and then the corners of her mouth curled up when she saw that middle-aged mage. It looked like even her eyebrows were smiling. As she was ready to call him, Christian lightly tugged on Niya’s sleeve. Niya realized what Christian signaled her. She immediately covered her mouth with her hand. At the same time, Slanbrea had already turned around, otherwise he would have seen Niya’s face. It would be easy to guess who that middle-aged mage was.
"Too bad? What do you mean?" Slanbrea looked very cautious because Instant Transportation was a magic regular mages could not master. A mage with Instant Transportation magic could be a pain for his opponents. Instant Transportation magic did not need magic coordinates. It could transport people with telepathy a short distance in any direction. The stronger the magic was, the further it could transport. If swordsmen or knights fought against a mage with Instant Transportation magic, the chances for them to win were slim.
Slanbrea did not know Entos was very interested in Levitation, Instant Transportation, Fourth Dimensional Door and other magic that could help him escape. His Instant Transportation magic was almost as good as Saul’s. Entos had brought people back to his home country and got ambushed by a group of people. If he had fled with the Instant Transportation magic as they ambushed him, he would have not gotten hurt at all. Even if Philip was there, attacking him, he would not get hurt either. However, to save his companions, he had to stay and fight with them. He did not flee with the Instant Transportation magic until he realized the situation was so bad that more than half of his companions got hurt or died and he was seriously injured.
Entos was very special in terms of his magic study. For example, he was interested in Transformation Magic and made friends with some druids, which was against his will, to discuss the principle of Transformation Magic. He was more interested in transforming into rats, snakes, birds than wolves and bears, which made others not know whether to laugh or cry. His study failed at the end though.
Among the few top powers in the Country of Mercenaries, Entos was the most mysterious one. No one knew about his real fighting ability because he was rarely the main force in a physical fight and turned other top powers’ challenges down. Of course, if the challengers were not top powers, he would take the challenge.
"You know what I meant by too bad." Entos smiled. He slowly walked around Slanbrea and stood right between Anfey and Slanbrea. At that moment, Anfey almost could not suppress his rage and was ready to fight Slanbrea. He had to have the control over him before he could even ask him anything because he would not just tell Anfey the answers. Slanbrea was a Priest of Light, but Anfey felt he could beat him since Slanbrea was hurt.
People were not machines. Nobody could be absolutely calm. The reason Anfey was able to stay calm in difficult times and in dangerous situations was that he could take a lot of things. However, what he could take was limited. As he saw his wife-to-be turned into a monster, even a coward would just let Slanbrea go. Calm? F*#k it!
Anfey was shocked for a second when he saw the middle-aged mage block the shortest and fastest way to attack Slanbrea. He thought the mage was conspiring with Slanbrea. Reading between the lines, it did not seem he could be on Anfey’s side.
"I don’t get it." Slanbrea shook his head.
"I am just curious. I studied Light magic, but only a little bit. You are a Priest of Light. Would it be possible you know less than me?" Entos said, smiling. "You made a mistake. Why didn’t you let the angel fall on you?"
Christian and Black Eleven looked surprised.
Entos looked around and realized what Christian and Black Eleven were surprised about. He said, "You guys do not need to think it was weird. The angel was neutral. Hm…in other words, it could either male or female. Our Priest of Light, Slanbrea, could take the glory of the angel."
Slanbrea’s face did not change at all, but he was shocked inside. God’s Punishment was a top secret in the Church of Light. Besides few archpriests, regular priests never had the chance to know about it, not to mention study it. This middle-aged mage knew about their top secret magic, which made Slanbrea want to kill him. He wanted to order Suzanna to start the attack to shut him up. However, Saul had already come. This mage could be a person Saul brought with him. His Instant Transportation gave him headaches as well. Slanbrea had to hide his intention of killing this mage.
Slanbrea indeed had a secret mission. Yolanthe, Evil Mist, and Pope William were all interested in Anfey. There had been no supreme powers on Pan Continent for many years. Whoever got control over Anfey and found out his secret would have the ability to control the world. Church of Light had always dreamed of spreading its religion all over the Pan Continent. They would not let this opportunity go.
The problem was they did not know how to control Anfey. The friendship Slanbrea built in the fights with Anfey was not enough. Pope William concluded from all the information he collected from many sources that Anfey was cunning and low key. It would not be easy to have control over Anfey or have him volunteer to work with the church. The best way was to control the people around Anfey. After close observation, Slanbrea thought Suzanna was the closest one to Anfey. He used the excuse that the angel was too powerful and had to ask the Pope for help removing the magic from Suzanna. He planned to ask Suzanna to go back to the palace with him. Anfey would definitely worry about her and ask to go with her to the palace. Once they got to the palace, things would be much easier.
He did not know the sudden appearance of the middle-aged mage would ruin his whole plan. He did not talk about removing the magic from Suzanna, but strategically focused on the reasons why he asked Suzanna to take the glory of the angel. This completely broke the trust he had built with Anfey. His plan would definitely not work now.
Everybody went quiet for a short period of time. Each of them thought about totally different things. Suddenly, Niya screamed, "Dad!" Niya had already run towards the woods like a young bird seeing her dad flying back.
"Professor," Christian bowed as he greeted Saul.
Anfey’s body suddenly froze. He knew he would see Saul soon. The timing of Saul’s appearance was awkward and made him feel uneasy. If he missed this opportunity to talk about it, things could get messy. As a student of Saul, he could not just stay there without greeting him. That would be too rude. Anfey slowly turned his body around, but still watched Slanbrea out of the corner of his eye. He had thought about how to talk to Saul when he saw him, but now his mind went blank.
"Archmage Saul, you finally came." Slanbrea heaved a sigh of relief.
Saul still looked good. His gown was neat and clean, his hair combed very tidy, the wrinkled eyes had loving smiles. He reached his hand out and rubbed Niay’s hair. When he turned to look at Slanbrea, his smile disappeared. "Slanbrea, I have heard what you said. I think you should give us an explanation and give Anfey an explanation."
Anfey suddenly had the urge to cry. His eyes were moist. He wanted to start the fight with Slanbrea because he held so much anger towards him. He dared not think about the consequences of doing that. The Church of Light had kept Yolanthe in low profile and kept Evil Abyss in the dark. They must be really powerful. The moment he started the fight with Slanbrea, he could have been on the wanted list on Pan Continent. He would be no better than a necromancer, but he had no other choice.
Anfey felt it was just not fair. He only wanted justice for his wife-to-be. He could not have other people’s understandings and could be considered a sinful person. What he had done was nothing other than trying to survive. When he learned a little more about Pan Continent, he only wanted to live a better life under the protection of a person with power and influence. Was it too much to ask? Why were there always people who wanted to set him up. Even the people who were his allies and fought together with him shoulder by shoulder had evil intentions towards him.
Hearing what Saul said, Anfey was so grateful. Saul was so important that he did not only represent himself, but a group. The demand from Saul was politically sensitive. Anfey could not express how grateful he was when Saul demanded an explanation from an Archpriest of Light for him.
Slanbrea was shocked for a second and smiled bitterly. He did not think a gentle man, Saul, could be so aggressive and cold.
Most people thought Saul was such a perfect man. He was nice, knowledgeable, honest, helpful, but not ambitious. His reputation was only less than Yolanthe in Maho Empire. No one was perfect, neither was Saul. He was very protective. Niya was not that powerful, but very influential in Sacred City. The only grandson of Philip, Zeda, was a bully, but dared not make trouble for Niya because of Saul’s protectiveness. Niya even gave him a few lessons. Zeda chose to take it. Someone instigated him to make troubles with Niya. He did not dare take his people to Saul’s house to make trouble until Saul left Sacred City. Ignorant Zeda died only because he wanted revenge on Niya.