Ernest sprang up like a shooting rocket. The Forbiddance Array Saul set up only blinked once, then totally disappeared. Ernest had used all his combat power just now, so the Forbiddance Array did nothing to Ernest.
"Who is it?" A voice rose in the dark.
"Are you all right, kiddo?" Ernest asked, heaving a long sigh of relief after hearing Anfey’s voice. They went to chase after the wizard who brought out the flaming dragon; who would think that wizard would dive into the sewer? Neither Saul nor Ernest was willing to chase after him into the filthy sewer, so they had to give up and let him go. At the same time, Saul felt intense combative power from the Forbiddance Array. Both of them were surprised and rushed back to it.
In fact, Saul got back to Rose Home Hotel earlier than Ernest. He was a space archmage, allowing him to act a lot faster than other mages at the same level as him. Saul used his power to focus on sensing Anfey’s breath. He found Anfey was still alive. Saul also sensed that a man at his magic level was running away from the hotel. That mage was Layton. Saul did not get a chance to check on Anfey, but it would be alright since Ernest would come soon. Saul felt today’s happenings needed to be explained, so he left the hotel to chase after Layton.
"Is it Uncle Ernest? I’m okay," Anfey said. He lit the candle with his fireball.
Ernest’s attention was drawn to the dead body of Mott. Anfey had done some work on Mott’s body. It was now covered with hundreds of fireball burns. Mott’s clothes were almost burn down to nothing. His face was burned charcoal black and barely any hair remained. These burns could not cover the wound in his throat. Anfey used some sinister tactics and turned the two-fingers-wide wound into a fist-sized one. It looked horrible where the extruded muscle was mixed with blood vessels.
"Did you do this?" Ernest asked in surprise. He noticed a sign on Mott’s collar. Entry-level swordsman only had one small sword sign, medium-level had two, advanced-level had two swords with a shield print. The sign on Mott showed he was an advanced swordsman.
"Yes." Anfey nodded but was still startled. "Uncle Ernest, he was powerful! I could not beat him with my fireballs. In the end, I had to use all my fireballs to shoot his face and thrust my wand at his throat."
"Ahh?" Ernest had some doubts about what Anfey said. Anfey was merely a magic apprentice. He could only shoot out the lowest-level fireballs. This entry-level magic would not allow him to present any threat to an advanced level swordsman. Anfey was hiding something from him. "He should not have lied to me, what happened?" Ernest thought.
"Anfey, Can you tell me what happened—" Saul came in from the window before Ernest could finish his question. Ernest raised his brows, "You did not catch him, did you?"
"No." Saul did not look too good. It was almost an insult for Saul to let the antagonists escape twice. He was an archmage.
"How come?"
"He was a death mage."
Ernest’s eyes shone with coldness. He asked seriously, "A death mage?"
"Yes, I was not able to locate him in the death fog. He had already disappeared when I finally blew away the death fog."
"When did death mages become so aggressive? How daring was he to show up and do whatever he wanted? It’s going to be a mess…" Ernest sighed.
"Anfey, are you all right?" Saul asked again. "Is this person… You killed him?"
Saul and Ernest looked at each other. They both felt something wasn’t right. Ernest asked, "Anfey, can you describe what happened one more time?"
"He kicked the door open and ran into my room. I was woken up by him. I was shocked, but I quickly jumped off the bed and started shooting fireballs at him. Professor, he was very powerful, very powerful! My fireballs couldn’t even get close to him. He slashed his sword casually and all my fireballs were blocked by his sword. Later, he did not even need his sword to block my fireballs. He was catching them with his bare hands." There was confusion in his eyes as he tried to recall what happened back then. His eyes showed a hint of being "appropriately" startled.
"This is what was expected!" Saul and Ernest thought. They looked at each other again. "What happened later?
"Then he screamed ‘Ahhhhh’, and ran towards me. I was so frightened that I shot out as many fireballs as I could. I don’t know what happened, but he suddenly started acting silly. He didn’t care about my fireballs hitting him all over. He didn’t even bother to use a sword to knock them down."
"I finally had to hit his face with my fireballs and thrust my wand into his throat. Then he fell on the ground." Anfey thought about it a little bit and tried to sound smart. "Professor, is it because he used up his combat power?"
"No way." Ernest shook his head, checking the body carefully. He turned the body over by foot. His attention was drawn immediately to a serious sword wound Mott had on his back. The cut was so deep that the bones were exposed.
"Did you do this?" Ernest asked.
"No…" Anfey was shocked.
"Who did it?"
"No… I don’t know. I was facing him when we fought. After he fell down and died, I hid in the corner and waited for you and Professor to come back. I did not move. I don’t know what happened," Anfey murmured. This was his way of doing things. No matter what kind of secrets were out there, Anfey would not speak them directly. He would guide them to the secrets, but leave them to investigate and make their own judgements. Anfey acted like nothing happened and waited for Saul and Ernest to figure everything out. When given the choice of believing themselves or believing others, most people tended to choose the former. Saul and Ernest couldn’t help speculating based on Anfey’s story. They would trust whatever they found out themselves.
"You are lucky, it looks like someone helped you again." Ernest checked the wound on the body carefully. The cut was deep, but it was not fatal. This only proved Anfey was telling the truth. If Mott was not attacked and wounded, Anfey would be gone for good. An advanced swordsman defeated by a magic apprentice was not a likely scenario.
Saul did not look good. He was blaming himself for putting Anfey in danger. Reality was laid out right in front of him. If this advanced swordsman were not hurt, what would have happened to Anfey? He would never forgive himself if things happened in that way. "Ernest, you are becoming even more impulsive! This time Anfey was lucky, what about next time? Next time, you have to stay to protect Anfey!" Saul complained.
"I…" Ernest did not know whether he should laugh or cry. He was blaming himself for leaving Anfey behind as well. However, shouldn’t Saul stay and protect Anfey, as Ernest was the first one to rush out?
"Professor, I can take care of myself," Anfey said quietly.
Saul sighed at him. This silly kid still had no idea how dangerous it was. Whom to blame? There was no one but him. He brought Anfey here and admitted Anfey as his apprentice. It would be a loud slap to his face if anything happened to Anfey in the Rose Home Hotel.
After giving it some thought, Saul wanted to set up a few touch-sensitive arrays for Anfey. However, to be honest, considering Anfey was only a magic apprentice and only understood entry-level magic, it might put him in danger if the elements in the magic array were accidentally disturbed. Saul did not have much material for building the magic arrays. He might build an unstable one, which could be interfered with and might not work properly. He’d rather wait to build one after he went back to the Maho Empire.
"Saul, can you stay here? I will check out a few other places." Ernest could tell Saul looked even worse than before. He did not want to stay here and have a conflict with Saul.
Saul nodded without saying anything. He was still thinking about how to protect Anfey.
Ernest gave Anfey a smile and walked out of the room. There was a person in the opposite room lurking outside and watching their room. The person in the opposite room slammed the door closed after seeing Ernest walking out of the room. Rose Home Hotel had more and more guests noticing something was wrong. They woke up from it. Ernest had strong and intense combat vibes, and he never meant to cover them either. Even normal people can feel the unease and fear, so none of them dared to walk out of their rooms.
Saul laid his eyes on Anfey’s "magic wand." "Anfey, why did you make your wand in this shape?" Saul hadn’t paid attention to Anfey’s wand until Anfey said he killed Mott with it. He just noticed the end part of the wand was shaped to be sharp and pointy.
"Professor, there were a lot of snakes on the island. I was almost bitten by them several times. I didn’t know how to shoot out fireballs back then, so I made this wand to kill the snakes."
"I see." Saul nodded. He was quiet for a few seconds, then slowly said, "Anfey, tell me, what series of magic interests you the most? Or… have you decided to be a fire mage?" Saul did not have the urge to ask before, but he felt it was time for Anfey to make a decision on his future path. Once Anfey made a decision, he could start systematically practicing magic. This way he could have the ability to protect himself, and Saul wouldn’t need to worry about him. The odds of Anfey getting so lucky again were very slim.
"I… I like space magic." Anfey was telling the truth. Anfey, as an assassin, was facing two problems. One was looking for opportunities to kill his targets, and the other was leaving the murder scene as fast as possible. If he couldn’t kill the target in one strike, he would be able to escape quickly with space magic. There would always be a second chance if he could escape and survive. A dead body could do nothing.
"Are you serious?" Saul was shocked by Anfey’s answer.
"Yes." Anfey nodded sincerely.
"Great… Great…" Saul was so happy that he wore a bright smile on his face. Anfey choosing space magic over fire magic showed that Saul had more influence on him than Ernest did. Now Anfey was literally his apprentice.
"Do you know about the Black Wraith?" Ernest appeared at the window. He jumped off the window and landed lightly on the floor.
"Black Wraith? Isn’t he the killer? That wretch! I know him!" Saul’s brows twitched. "I heard he successfully killed a master swordsman. Is it true?"
"Yes, that guy has a gloomy personality and is hard to track down. He never ever trusts anyone. He doesn’t have any family, so he spent all his life killing people for money," Ernest said slowly. "I also heard that he joined a secret organization and works for them now."
"Does what happened today have anything to do with them? Ernest, you are also a master swordsman, so… be careful!"
"You are an archmage, you should be even more careful!" Ernest smiled. "But he isn’t a threat anymore, because… he has already been killed!"
"Who was able to kill him?" Saul asked in surprise, "He should be the most dangerous killer on the Pan Continent. Who has the ability to kill him?"
"It should be… the one who secretly helped Anfey." Ernest turned to Anfey.
Anfey kept his face peaceful, but he was laughing inside. What is the definition of the most dangerous killer? The real killers always come and go on their own, making them hard to track down. Didn’t Ernest say that old man had joined an organization? It seemed this information was correct. For a killer, no matter what organization he joined, he would become less of a threat. Even if he was powerful and had an advanced ability level, he would only be an official in the organization. Killers without mystery have nothing to do with "danger."