"Anfey, what are you doing?" Ernest walked out of a bush, looking curiously at Anfey.
Ernest had no idea where Anfey brought a huge pot from. Anfey had built a simple stove with stones. There was a big fire inside the stove and no water in the pot. The pot contained very fine, greyish-white stones, which Anfey was constantly stirring with an iron stick.
"A gadget." Anfey smiled. "Uncle Ernest, why didn’t I see you yesterday? I went to your room to look for you several times, but you weren’t there."
"Yesterday you asked that little girl to send me a letter, saying you had some unavoidable trouble which had to be dealt with immediately. I sent Christian to look for you. He could help you if anything happened, and I was following the two of you as well."
"How about this evening?"
"I walked around here at night, but didn’t see any suspicious people." Ernest smiled.
"You didn’t find anything?"
Ernest shook his head. "Not even a shadow."
"It might… be me being too cautious, haha." Anfey decided to solve this problem on his own. He should not have involved others.
"No!" Ernest had a sly smile on his face. "Do you still remember the Rose House Hotel?"
"Yes, that night was so dangerous!"
"You told Saul that you felt something was wrong before you went to sleep that night, right?"
"Huh… yes, that day I felt…"
"You don’t need to explain anything; I trust you." Ernest smiled. "After I received your letter, I got really nervous. You wouldn’t ask for help from me if you didn’t run into serious trouble."
Anfey didn’t respond with anything. "Thank you" was not enough to show how much he appreciated it.
"Anfey, what are you going to do with this?" Ernest looked inside the pot.
"You will know later." Anfey gave him a sly smile and poured the powder in the pot into a small iron wok he had prepared.
"You…" Ernest grinned and shook his head. "Huh? Anfey, why did you pick those flowers?"
"I like their fragrance."
Ernest grabbed a handful of withered petals and smelled them. "Fragrance? I cannot smell anything."
"Uncle Ernest, is there anything wrong with your nose?"
"Nonsense!" Ernest threw the petals away. "You could have practiced magic with all this time. Why would you act like a little girl, picking flowers everywhere?"
"These petals are good for your body!" Anfey rolled his eyes.
"Bullshit. Why don’t you buy some perfume if you like the fragrance?" Ernest stood up slowly. "Move, let me see that… Snake Spear!"
"Uncle Ernest, I am busy now. Tomorrow, ok?" Anfey smiled grimly. He went to pick up all the petals Ernest had tossed away, putting them on a stone and placing an iron stick on top of them.
"Making it so mysterious, I think you are already qualified to be an alchemist." Ernest felt helpless and sat down.
Anfey gave Ernest a big smile but didn’t say a word to him. He continued to focus on his work.
"Anfey, from now on, I will have someone take you to school. Don’t worry, I will follow you without anyone seeing."
"Christian already agreed to go with me." Anfey smiled.
"Ok." Ernest nodded. "Christian is a good kid."
Anfey did not stop working until breakfast time. He put all the stuff away carefully. Ernest was still quite confused about what Anfey was doing. Ernest tried to test him a few times, but Anfey didn’t tell him anything, so Ernest didn’t bother asking again.
Christian usually meditated until midnight and woke up late in the morning. He rarely had any breakfast, but he remembered his promise to Anfey and woke up very early this morning.
Anfey chatted with Ernest in private for a while before leaving the house together with Christian.
It had been a safe trip so far and they already saw the gate of the Mage Academy in front of them. Anfey was a little disappointed. "Christian, you can go back now. I think I will be fine today."
"Okay, be careful." Christian nodded.
Suddenly, there was a quarrel in front of them. A woman with long light-green hair and a graceful figure was arguing with a big man with a long sword hanging on his waist.
No matter where it was, there was never a lack of onlookers. In a second, there was a big crowd around the couple.
"You b*tch. Will you go with me or not?"
"Go f*ck yourself. You are trash. Stop bothering me!"
"Do you f*cking dare to say that again?"
"I said it. What are you going to do?"
Their argument was clearly getting intense. Onlookers were chatting and laughing quietly. They were either guessing the reasons behind the couple’s fight or talking about the woman’s figure and appearance. Most people held the attitude that the argument was none of their business. At the end, a high-level swordsman with an ugly face walked into the scene, trying to stop their argument.
Anfey and Christian walked into the crowd. Something happened which moved Christian to the front of the crowd. Before he could stop, Anfey dragged him through half of the circle, ending up in front of a few females students of the Mage Academy. These female students gave them a lot of dirty looks. They were unable to move anywhere else, as the crowd seemed packed, and had to stand on the tips of their toes to watch the couple.
The couple’s argument was getting hotter and hotter. It was unexpected to see a woman with a nice figure and a beautiful face have such a hot temper. She yelled out a curse and then pulled out her sword, thrusting it backhanded towards the man’s chest.
The man had a quick reaction as well. He moved sideways and slid diagonally. He avoided the blade of the sword and then hit her hard in the back. In other words, he pushed hard on her back.
The woman failed at stabbing his chest and could not control her body, continuing to rush forward. With the push on her back, her rush was sped up. However, her sword was pointing at Anfey in the crowd, not anyone else.
Once Anfey was in fighting mode, nothing seemed to be unexpected to him. Assassinating, guarding, tracking, and covering tracks were nothing to Anfey. He was exceptionally experienced with these. In any unusual situation, he would be 120% alert and would not allow himself to miss any details.
The moment the woman pulled out her sword, Anfey had already grabbed the paper package under his belt with his left hand and tossed his simple-looking wand out with his right hand. What he tossed out later was that paper package. In other people’s eyes, this magic apprentice was panicking in shock. He threw away the wand and the gadget he carried around. They must have thought Anfey was thinking of neither attacking nor defending. He must have acted on instinct.
The woman did not show any fierceness in her eyes until the sword was two meters away from Anfey’s chest. The man followed next to the woman. The high-level swordsman showed his true colors as well, throwing himself at Anfey from the side. Obviously, this was plan A, B, and C. If one missed, the next one would continue the attack. If the second strike failed, then the third one would attack.
Anfey could finally show off the fireballs he had practiced so long and hard. He swung his hand out, and a fireball rapidly shot towards the paper package. The fireball’s speed was a lot faster than what most magic apprentices could do.
With a huge noise, the fireball splattered the contents of the paper package. The quicklime inside the paper package formed into a cloud of smog, and all three of them were submerged in this smog.
Anfey did not randomly switch his position. The girls standing behind him were real students from the Mage Academy. He didn’t have to worry about any attack from behind. Where he stood was upwind, which ensured the quicklime would not blow back to him.
The couple did not know what Anfey had thrown out and laughed inside when they saw his fireball falling before it hit them. They were rushing forward with no idea of what was going to happen to them. Their cries and screams rose in the air. The high-level swordsman behind them was confused when he heard his fellows screaming. He stopped himself and take a few steps back, watching what was happening ahead of him.
Christian’s reaction time was a lot slower than Anfey’s. Christian shot out an entry-level lightning arrow which hit the woman in the front. She was rubbing her eyes hard, not able to see anything. She even forgot to use her combat power to protect herself. With a numb feeling, she could not help but fall to the ground. The man was running around like a blindfolded donkey. He accidentally tripped over the woman’s leg and fell on the floor.
Christian now had time to chant. Anfey took out a paper package from his shirt, tossing it towards the high-level swordsman.
The high-level swordsman realized his fellows must have been hurt by the "dirt" Anfey tossed out at this moment. He knew they had failed when he saw Anfey tossing out another paper package, and the entry-level mage was chanting next to him. He didn’t dare to stay where he was, so he turned around and slashed his sword toward the crowd.
The people in the crowd scattered in all directions, making a path for the high-level swordsman. By the time Christian finished chanting, he swung magic wand forward. There was an electric arc cleaving towards the high-level swordsman.
The high-level swordsman was quite alert. He lifted his sword, tossing it into the air. The electric arc hit the sword. The sword span in the air and fell to the ground. Luckily, no one got hurt.
Soldiers didn’t usually throw their weapons in battle, since they wouldn’t be able to continue to fight even if they could escape. However, it was to save his life, so he didn’t hesitate.
Christian was so enraged that his teeth clenched. Before he could use his magic again, that high-level swordsman had already run into a store and disappeared.
"Chase!" Christian yelled.
"No need," Anfey said as he held Christian back.