1
The autumn wind blew across the water surface like a nimble paintbrush, instantly creating ripples one after another. The sunlight shone down, making the water glitter. The lake seemed to be paved with a layer of broken gold, shining with a brilliant light, as if in a dream.
The climate in the south was warm and pleasant, so the grass by the lake was still emerald green, just like an endless green velvet carpet stretching into the distance. The rich vitality seemed to be telling the generosity and tenderness of nature.
Life here was as happy and peaceful as in paradise, like a soothing pastoral poem.
Ivan stood on the dock, and the breadcrumbs in his hand fell gently onto the lake surface like snowflakes. In an instant, the calm lake became lively. The fish swam merrily towards it, vying to snatch this sudden delicacy. They shuttled and tumbled in the water, spitting out strings of crystal-clear bubbles and stirring up gentle waves on the lake. Not far behind him, his beloved purebred horse was running freely and joyfully on the grassland. Ivan never restrained it and let it enjoy this free time.
It had been four days since he came here, and everything seemed calm. Except for going to the prefecture government office accompanied by Count Fesinan yesterday, Ivan had never left this villa. Miss Medin seemed to have forgotten him. Since that meeting, she had never been seen again. Except for Miss Betty chatting with him for a while during morning tea, Ivan was always alone at other times.
When he was bored, feeding the fish by the lake or galloping on the grassland on horseback became his only entertainment. Of course, this peaceful life was also extremely suitable for magic cultivation. Although the effect of meditating on the grassland by the lake was far less significant than that in the depths of the forest, since two days ago when he rode alone to the edge of the forest for cultivation and was severely scolded by Miss Betty after coming back, Ivan dared not run around anymore. The opposite side of the lake was the farthest place he could reach.
In Ivan's impression, Miss Betty was like an amiable elder sister and was the person who made him feel the warmest and closest besides Aunt Jenny. If it weren't for Miss Betty, Ivan might have been unable to endure life here long ago. Most areas of this villa were off-limits to him. His bedroom on the first floor and the garden living room at the back of the villa were the only places he could set foot in. His bedroom was located at the innermost side of the row of rooms where the maids lived on the first floor. Ivan had no complaints about sharing a room with the maids. After all, in his past aspiration, being a decent manservant in a noble family was already an unattainable luxury. Compared with those nobles, he felt that he and the maids were of the same kind. Even now when he was playing the role of the heir of the noble lord, this feeling had never changed. He could never forget the years spent in Southport.
However, what puzzled Ivan was that the maids always avoided him as if he were a plague carrier and would run away when they saw him from a distance. This made him quite confused.
After a long period of peaceful days, Ivan gradually felt bored. At this moment, what he cared about most was when Mr. Hyde could send him the magic experiment materials and instruments. Mr. Hyde had promised him that he would handle this matter properly. Although the parchment was with him, without the materials, everything was just empty talk. The only thing he could do was to study the pronunciation of those divine scripts. Although he had learned from the wind spirit the description and expression of wind in the divine scripts, this world was not only composed of the wind element. For the perception and understanding of other elemental spirits, Ivan was far less profound than that of wind.
Besides anxiously waiting for the arrival of the magic experiment materials, Ivan was also full of curiosity about the news that Mr. Hyde had told him that there would be a new teacher. Although he could guess that this teacher might also be a liar or killer who wandered in the darkness like Audrey and Herbert, he didn't dislike it. In his opinion, Audrey and Herbert were both top masters, and Mr. Hyde was even more powerful. Their abilities were far superior to those of the famous big shots. Being able to learn from them was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Of course, learning from them didn't mean that he had to become the same kind of person as them. Ivan neither wanted to be a liar nor wanted to make a living by killing people. He was full of curiosity, wondering what the new teacher would teach him and what kind of person he or she would be. Would it be a thief like Pam? Or a spy like Firth? Ivan fell into endless speculation.
Just as he was standing on the dock and thinking wildly, a carriage was slowly approaching from a distance. There was a beautiful angel relief inlaid on the door of the carriage. Undoubtedly, it was a carriage of the church. Presumably, it was sent by Mr. Hyde to pick him up. The carriage slowly stopped in front of Ivan, and the coachman was dressed in the novice priest's clothing with a black base and a white collar. He asked, "Are you Mr. Ivan Byndit?"
"Yes."
"Elder Monldi sent me to take you to the cathedral." The novice priest said.
"Okay, but please wait a moment. I need to tell my great-aunt first." With that, Ivan threw all the remaining breadcrumbs into the lake and turned around to walk towards the villa.
Walking into the villa, Ivan raised his head and shouted upstairs at the top of his voice, "Miss Betty, Mr. Hyde has sent someone to pick me up. Can I go?"
"Come upstairs." Miss Medin's voice came from the second floor.
Ivan walked up to the second floor and saw Miss Medin and Miss Betty standing by the window, looking towards the carriage in the distance.
"Great-aunt, what are your instructions?" Ivan asked carefully.
"Do you know that coachman?" The old lady asked.
"I haven't seen him before." Ivan replied.
Miss Medin clearly understood Ivan's thoughts. She said coldly, "So many people in the family have died. You should have become smarter and more cautious."
Ivan thought for a moment and then said, "I will be fully prepared. Although I'm not sure what will happen, I think I can deal with the danger. And there's also a bodyguard secretly protecting me."
"You just like taking risks and that exciting feeling, don't you? Foolish." The old lady said coldly. "If you insist on taking risks, then go and get ready quickly."
Hearing this, Ivan immediately took his leave and went downstairs and ran back to his room.
There was a special set of formal attire hidden in the room. The snow-white shirt had long silk lace curling around the cuffs and collar, like elegant dancers twirling gracefully. However, from the elbows to the waist, it was made of cloth woven with steel wire mixed with coarse linen. It looked ordinary but was extremely tough. The waistcoat was wrapped on the outside with beautiful silk embroidered with dark patterns in bright yellow, like a fine work of art. But inside it were actually two thin steel plates in the front and back. Although it wasn't comfortable to wear, it could make the waistcoat look smooth and straight. The formal dress was carefully cut from the cloth spun from high-quality wool. It was both magnificent and solemn. The lining of the dress was made of tough wolfskin, adding a bit of mysterious color to it. To protect the head, the lining of the top hat was rhinoceros hide, and when wrapped with the scarf woven with thick wool and steel wire, it seemed like a solid defense line built to resist unknown dangers. It could be said that wearing this whole outfit, even on the battlefield, it wouldn't be difficult to get out unscathed. However, compared to real armor, although this set of formal attire was lighter, it was really a torture to wear it usually. Only on special occasions like today could it come in handy. As for the hand crossbow and the magic wand, Ivan never left them aside. They were his most loyal companions.
After getting everything ready, Ivan walked out of the door and headed towards the carriage. Getting on the carriage, he carefully searched around. The knowledge of preventing assassination traps taught by Herbert came into play at this moment. Ivan even used the ring given to him by Teacher Lavash, but didn't find anything suspicious. It seemed that there was nothing wrong with the carriage. After entering the city, Ivan paid even closer attention to the movements on both sides.
That coachman was really suspicious. Although the carriage was heading in the right direction, indeed towards the cathedral. However, there was a straight and wide avenue, but he ignored it and deliberately drove towards a narrow and crowded side road instead. The knowledge of setting up assassination traps taught by Herbert gradually became clear in Ivan's mind at this moment. At a glance, many tiny details that usually wouldn't attract attention became dangerous places full of hidden murderous intentions in Ivan's eyes.
Ivan silently estimated in his heart the timing when the killers might make a move. Every time he passed an intersection, his vigilance increased a bit, because he knew very well that the area near the cathedral was undoubtedly the best place to make a move. For most people, when they were about to reach their destination, it was often the moment when their vigilance was the most relaxed.
The large circular dome of the cathedral gradually came into Ivan's sight. There were only two streets left before the square in front of the church. Just as Ivan had expected, the two carriages that had been following behind him, one on the left and one on the right, were slowly approaching him. The coachman also gradually slowed down the speed of the carriage. Ivan knew in his heart that when these two carriages sandwiched him in the middle, it would be the moment for the killers to make a move.
Ivan pulled out his magic wand from his pocket and quietly recited mysterious incantations. When the magic was ready, he pointed the wand gently, and a droplet quietly floated onto the face of the coachman of the carriage on the right. The effect of the hallucinogenic powder was immediate. The coachman swayed twice and then fell off the carriage. Ivan, who had been prepared for a long time, was waiting for this moment. He gently opened the door and jumped to the ground. For Ivan, who had received Herbert's high-difficulty escape training, this height and movement were nothing difficult at all.
After landing steadily, Ivan walked towards the carriage behind him. Since the coachman on that carriage had already fallen down, the people on the carriage surely couldn't escape. What's more, even if someone managed to escape, there was still this unconscious coachman. Judging by his appearance, he probably couldn't even crawl. Sure enough, when the coachmen of the other two carriages saw that the operation had failed, they immediately whipped the horses and drove away madly. After turning a corner, they disappeared at the end of the street. Ivan didn't care about these two carriages. If they escaped, then so be it. Anyway, there was still one here.
Ivan walked towards that carriage. At this time, a circle of people had gathered around the carriage, and two people were craning their necks to look inside the carriage. Ivan walked closer and was shocked. The scene in front of him was extremely bloody and terrifying!
Not far in front of the wheels of the carriage lay a corpse. The fatal wound wasn't the abrasion on the forehead caused by falling from the seat. What really took his life was the crossbow bolt deeply inserted into the back of his head. This crossbow bolt was completely different from the hand crossbow that Ivan was good at using. It was as thick as a thumb and about a foot long, fired by a bulky military crossbow. In front of this amazingly powerful weapon, the steel armor on a knight's body was as fragile as thin cardboard. The crossbow bolt was nailed into the back of the head, and the arrowhead pierced out between the eyes and the bridge of the nose. To increase the lethality, the arrowhead was covered with sharp barbs. The facial muscles were completely torn apart, and the blood-red wound was rolled up, exposing the ghastly white bones. The huge penetrating force even pulled out the eyeballs, which were hanging outside the eye sockets by a bloody tendon. From that horrible wound, besides the continuously gushing bright red blood, there was also milky-white brain matter. The scene was like a nightmare.