The carriage was driven slowly on the main road. Merlin had his eyes closed, resting in the carriage. Suddenly, he felt the carriage being jolted around violently and heard the horses outside neighing and whinnying.
"Moss, what's wrong?"
Merlin pulled open the curtains of the carriage asked Moss with a frown.
At the same time, Moss was exerting as much energy as he could to control the panicking black horse. Hearing the dissatisfaction in Merlin's tone of voice, Moss said with some unease, "Master Merlin, a team of knights had rushed in from the back. I don't know who on earth they are, rampaging on the street."
Merlin raised his head and looked into the distance. Indeed, he saw a team of knights in bright and shining armor in front. They were currently rushing forward, completely ignoring the passersby and carriages on the road. The entire street was chaotic with the curses of many people.
The outfits on these knights' bodies were unlike those of the City Defense Troop knights. Merlin had never seen them before.
"Aye? Merlin?"
Suddenly, a familiar voice drifted into Merlin's ear from the side. Merlin turned his head to see a carriage stopping by the roadside on the right side of the street. The coachman was doing his best to calm the shocked horses down. As for the person in the carriage, it was surprisingly Carice, whom he had not seen for more than ten days.
"Miss Carice."
Merlin hurriedly got down from his carriage and went to Carice's carriage and asked, "Miss Carice, are you alright?"
Carice shook her head gently and said, "It's just that the horses have been frightened, I'm fine. Right, I've gone to visit Mr. Etha a few days ago but Mr. Etha wasn't home. Do you know what's going on?"
"Teacher Etha said he has some personal matters to attend to and has to leave Blackwater City for a period of time. I want to go and see if Teacher Etha has returned today."
A hint of a smile appeared on Carice's face. "Such a coincidence, I'm also preparing to go see Mr. Etha. Shall we go together?"
Merlin nodded. With their carriages in a single file, they drove toward Mr. Etha's small wooden house.
After a short while, the carriages came to a halt slowly. Moss pulled open the carriage curtains and said to Merlin helplessly, "Master Merlin, we're unable to go forward; it's been blocked."
"Blocked?"
Merlin frowned and lifted his head to look outside. At a location not far from old man Etha's small wooden house was a circle of people blocking the road.
"What's going on?"
Carice had also gone down from her carriage. She glanced at Merlin, looking very mystified.
"Miss Carice, the road seems to have been blocked. Shall we go and see what the matter is?"
So, Merlin and Carice got down the carriage and walked a few steps forward, arriving in the midst of the crowd. Merlin and Carice were tall so they were still able to see the situation inside even though they were outside of the crowd.
"This bunch of knights again? Miss Carice, do you know these people?"
Merlin saw over twenty knights wearing silver-white armor in the midst of the crowd. They had been the ones who had rampaged on the street and caused the chaos. Now, they were blocking the road and not letting anyone pass, resulting in a large crowd around them.
Carice frowned and observed the outfits of this group of knights carefully for a long time. Then, she lowered her voice and said, "I don't really dare to confirm it but looking at their attire, they seem somewhat like the Guardian Swordsmen of the Church of Light. But we don't have Guardian Swordsmen in Blackwater City, so I don't dare say for sure."
"Guardian Swordsmen?"
Merlin repeated the words. Immediately, he remembered Cawthon because he had become a Light Swordsman and a Guardian Swordsman of the church in Grand City.
"Could it be the Guardian Swordsmen of Grand City?" Merlin guessed in a low voice.
"Grand City? It's possible but they've mobilized so many Guardian Swordsmen to Blackwater City all at once. Could there be some great trouble?"
Carice and Merlin did not dare to say for sure. It was known that every Guardian Swordsman was a big personality, especially in a small city like Blackwater City. In a sense, the Guardian Swordsmen of the church were equal to aristocrats.
There could have been something serious to have all twenty Guardian Swordsmen who were equal to aristocrats to be sent out all at once.
It was at this moment that another team of knights came from behind. Merlin was very familiar with the attire of this team of knights. They were the knights brigade of the City Defense Troop in Blackwater City.
The crowd immediately split apart, letting the team of knights from the City Defense Troop through. The leading knight yelled at the unidentified knights, "Where are you knights from?"
A knight wearing a silver helmet walked forward. With a high and mighty expression, he said to the knight of the City Defense Troop, "We're the Guardian Swordsmen from the Church of Light in Grand City!"
"Guardian Swordsmen from Grand City?"
The knights of the City Defense Troop were shocked. On normal days, even the castellan had to give a Guardian Swordsman careful treatment if one was to come from Grand City. Therefore today, it was needless to talk about it when more than twenty Guardian Swordsmen had come all at once.
"May I know what business do these few honorable Swordsmen have to come to Blackwater City?"
The knight from the City Defense Troop asked cautiously.
"We've received orders from sir bishop to come and capture the evil heretic of the Kingdom of Blackmoon. You should leave quickly or you'll be hurt by the magic of the evil heretic."
"The evil heretic?"
As though they had heard about some frightening thing, the crowd which had just been densely packed retreated speedily. In the blink of an eye, they were far away from these Guardian Swordsmen.
Even the young knights in the City Defense Troop were shocked with looks of horror on their faces.
Merlin did not know what that evil heretic was. However, seeing the reaction from those around him, he could more or less guess that it was someone who was extremely horrifying and scary.
"Swordsman Bogg, the evil heretic is in the small wooden house in front. Bring your men and surround the place."
A man wearing white robes with light armor instructed the Guardian Swordsmen around him.
There was a chill in Bogg's heart. As expected, they had found the evil heretic. He did not dare to waste any time. Unsheathing his greatsword in a hurry as though he was about to face a great enemy, he got a dozen or so knights to quickly run forward and surround the small wooden house.
"Ah? Isn't that Mr. Etha's house?"
Alarmed, Carice cried out involuntarily. It was fortunate that the noises of the surrounding crowd were very loud, covering her voice.
Merlin hurriedly grabbed and pulled Carice's hand. He could not bother himself with how it felt, and hurriedly said in a low voice, "Miss Carice, don't make a sound."
Of course, Merlin could see that the target of this group of Guardian Swordsmen was the small wooden house of the mysterious old man Etha. He knew that since this group of Guardian Swordsmen had arrived, they must have had obtained some sort of news.
"Merlin, don't know if Mr. Etha's back yet, huh? But the situation now seems to be very disadvantageous for Mr. Etha. I hope it won't involve him."
Carice spoke in a low voice.
Merlin's expression was grave and heavy where he shook his head slightly. There was a bad premonition in his heart as though this matter and the mysterious old man Etha were irreversibly linked.
A few dozen Guardian Swordsmen surrounded old man Etha's small wooden house in groups. Swordsman Bogg, who was wearing the silver helmet on his head, asked the white-robed man respectfully, "Sir Jason, what do we do now?"
The white-robed man narrowed his eyes slightly, trying to see the situation in the small wooden house. However, the doors and the windows of the small wooden house were shut tight. No one could see what was inside properly.
After a long time, the white-robed man waved his hand and said, "Swordsman Bogg, go in. It'll be best if the heretic can be captured alive."
Swordsman Bogg was slightly stunned. He felt suffering in his heart as everyone knew how horrifying the evil heretic was, but Jason had already given the order. Although Bogg was a Second-level Light Swordsman, he could only obey.
So, Swordsman Bogg summoned three Guardian Swordsmen and rushed into the small wooden house together.
Everyone stared nervously at the small wooden house. After those four Guardian Swordsmen had entered, there did not seem to be any movement. Even the white-robed man frowned and muttered under his breath, "Could the information be wrong?"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Suddenly, there were a few muffled sounds came out from the originally calm and quiet small wooden house. The bodies of the few Guardian Swordsmen who had rushed into the house earlier flew out immediately from the small wooden house. Their bodies were charred black as though they had been burnt by fire. There was even the charred stench of grilled meat.
The bodies of the few Guardian Swordsmen fell to the ground heavily, unmoving. They were all dead.
The knights of the City Defense Troop who had been nearer to the small wooden house were no longer able to hide the horror in their hearts after seeing the three charred bodies. All of them turned and ran, retreating far away.
These Guardian Swordsmen were not ordinary men. Every Guardian Swordsman was at least a First-level Light Swordsman and can be concluded that they were all great and powerful Elemental Swordsmen.
Nevertheless, now, these Elemental Swordsmen had only gone in for a while to only die mysteriously.
"Holy Light Cleave!"
It was at this time that a loud roaring voice rang out from within the small wooden house. There had been four Guardian Swordsmen who entered the house. Three were now dead and Swordsman Bogg was still inside.
This voice came from Swordsman Bogg.
A figure immediately jumped out from the small wooden house accompanied by a dazzling white light. Astonishingly, it was Swordsman Bogg.
"Sir Jason, the evil heretic is inside."
Bogg's body was shrouded in dazzling white light. However, the tattered clothes on his body could still be vaguely seen. There was also fresh blood dripping to the ground from his right arm. It was obvious that he had also been injured.
"Second-level Swordsman, it's a Second-level Swordsman!"
Carice, who was standing next to Merlin, said in a tone of disbelief. There was also a slight chill in Merlin's heart. He was afraid that a Second-level Elemental Swordsman would be the number one master in the entire Blackwater City, and in a way that was rightfully deserving.
Swordsman Pero was only a First-level Fire Swordsman and Old Wilson who had been through the battle for a long time seemed also to be a First-Level Elemental Swordsman at his peak. However, they had never broken through to the Second-level.
However, right now, a great and powerful Second-level Elemental Swordsman was in such an unexpected and pitiful state. He had practically escaped out of the small wooden house in a flurry.
The white-robed man gave a cold glance at Swordsman Bogg. Then, he took a deep breath and shouted at the small wooden house, "Heretic, God is forgiving. If you could only return into God's embrace, believe in God and be one of God's people, then the sin on you shall be cleansed."
"God? Is there a God in this world? You Church of Light have been around for so many years, and you're still so pretentious. Laughable, really laughable! You, as a First-level Spell Caster, could you still not know about those laughable lies of your church? I only believe in the truth, I believe in the true essence of magic, and not the imaginary God that you men speak of."
A hoarse voice rang out from the small wooden house. Subsequently, a figure slowly walked out from there.