"Saul did not meet up with Basdack. It ruined our plan. Luckily, Eddie tracked him down. We still have a chance to make it up!" a very thin old man said gloomily.
"Very difficult," another old man commented. "Don’t forget, Saul is a top archmage and has power we cannot even think of! If it’s in the city of Basdack… we might have a slight chance, but right now… probably isn’t a good idea!" That old man shook his head. It was obvious they could not act without doubt or hesitation, considering it was Saul.
"Layton, you practiced in the Magic Beast Forest for three years, but I think… your vision and risk-taking skills have not improved at all."
The gloomy-looking old man sneered. "Archmage? So what? I used to challenge master swordsmen when I was only a medium-level swordsman. I did it, didn’t I? Levels are not everything, wisdom matters!"
Layton’s face turned purple with rage. Words lingered infuriatingly on his tongue.
Golden light shone on a young man standing at the door. He cleared his throat and said, "Sir, I think Mr. Layton’s concerns are right. If something goes wrong and affects our whole scheme, it would do more harm than good." That young man looked sincere and respectful, but he had no respect for that old man. Of course, the old man did kill a master swordsman, but not in a fair fight. He killed the whole family of the master swordsman and disguised himself as a family member lying among the dead bodies. He attacked the master swordsman by surprise when he was still in shock from seeing the bloody scene.
It might gain some respect if it was mentioned only once. It would get very annoying if it was talked about all the time.
"Eddie, there is no place for you to talk. Get out!" The gloomy-looking old man yelled.
"Yes, sir," Eddie answered in a low pitch, then turned himself away. The moment he stepped outside of the door, a ferocious look appeared on his face. His face returned to normal after he walked out of the room. He continued to walk along the corridor and went downstairs.
The gloomy-looking old man said, "Tanane, you go first… Everybody, relax. My plan will work without a doubt."
"Alvin, what are you doing here? Anything urgent?" Eddie stopped a man in a black jumpsuit who was rushing into the building’s entrance
"Mr. Eddie, I recognized the middle aged man standing next to Saul. He is Ernest!" Alvin said hastily.
"Who?" Eddie was shocked.
"It’s Ernest! Master Swordsman Ernest!!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!" Alvin breathed heavily as he said, "Where is my master? I need to report to him immediately!"
"He’s in the lab. Ok, I will take you there." Eddie’s eyes were moving fast.
"Thank you, Mr. Eddie."
"No worries, we are together." Eddie smiled while he was talking to Alvin. He showed the way and Alvin followed him leniently.
"It’s right here." Eddie moved to the side, "Alvin, you did a good job, your master will definitely reward you for it. Don’t forget about me at that time."
"Mr. Eddie, you must be joking." Alvin pushed the lab door open with a bright smile on his face. No one was in the lab and only two candles flickered. The moment Alvin was shocked by what he saw, his mouth was covered by Eddie. He felt a tremendous pain from his back. Alvin slid down to the ground after a few attempts to struggle.
"Stupid, go, you will never come back…" Eddie said grimly.
The gloomy-looking old man had set up the lab upstairs. "It’s done! There is no chance for Saul if Layton and I are fighting against him together. Saul will be taken off guard if he is in deep sorrow. Do you all understand?"
"Yes, sir." It didn’t really matter whether or not they agreed to fight against Archmage Saul. They had to obey their leader’s order.
Saul, Ernest and Anfey returned to their hotel after walking around for quite a long time. There was no doubt that Saul had been taking good care of Anfey. Even though he had decided to personally craft a space ring for Anfey when they got back, he bought a substitute ring at a magic shop which cost him over 50 gold coins.
It seemed that Anfey liked the ring a lot, as he kept staring at it. In fact, he was thinking about Yagor’s space ring he had hidden since he did not know what to do with it. Anfey wouldn’t know how much joy it would bring him until he returned to the deserted island.
"Anfey, are you tired?" Saul smiled at Anfey. Saul was happy to see Anfey really liked his gift.
"No, Professor," Anfey responded with a smile. "Professor, can I borrow a silver coin?"
Saul took out a few gold coins without hesitation and asked curiously, "What do you want to buy?"
Anfey shook his head. "I don’t need that much. One silver coin is enough."
"Take them if the archmage is giving them to you," Ernest suggested. He snickered. This dumb kid would have passed out if he knew that ring cost over 50 gold coins. Luckily, Saul sent Anfey to do something else while he was buying the ring, so Anfey did not see how much Saul paid for the ring. Everyone believed themselves to be correct. However, Ernest would be the most shocked by who Anfey really was.
"Then… I will borrow a gold coin." Anfey reached towards one of the gold coins and picked it up with two fingers.
"Stupid…" Ernest didn’t know whether or not he should be happy. Ernest knew Anfey was simple and kind. He still could not help cursing when he saw Anfey did not take those free gold coins.
Saul did not say anything. He put away the rest of the gold coins. There was no doubt that Saul was rich, but he never showed this generosity in front of his other students. Anfey was the exception.
Anfey walked quickly towards a stand that sold magic tools across the street. He looked at those crafts at the stand. Saul and Ernest gave each other a wry smile. Those crafts on the stand were not comparable with the ones in a famous store. They were almost like toys for kids. The ones in the famous stores could actually perform magic and save lives when they were needed!
"Sir, you have good eyes. This is the best one at my stand!" The peddler was showing him the items. "Sir, look at this bracelet, look at the pure and strong magic flow. It’s only four silver coins. Look at this one…"
"Here!" Anfey gave the peddler a gold coin.
The peddler was shocked and hesitated for a second, before reaching out with his hand. Anfey put the gold coin in his palm and brushed it lightly with his fingers. It seemed that he did not do it on purpose.
"Sir, what else do you want to buy?" The peddler gave a friendly smile. "Everything here is…" He stopped talking when he noticed Anfey was staring at him. The disdain in Anfey’s eyes turned into killing intent.
The peddler felt uneasy. "Sir, which one would you like to buy? You… Can you say something! You…"
Anfey stared at the peddler for a while, then smiled. "I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else. I was cheated last month by a guy who looked like you. He had an incisor missing, but you do not. I am sorry."
"No worries." The peddler smiled. "Sir, which one do you like?"
"This bracelet." Anfey picked up a bracelet.
"Sir, you have great taste. This bracelet was passed down through generations of my family. Ahh… I wouldn’t sell it if I didn’t need money urgently." The peddler said with some regret.
"How much is this bracelet?"
"Ten silver coins."
"What? Didn’t you say four silver coins before?!"
"No, I didn’t, sir! This bracelet is so nice that I would never sell it for just four silver coins." The peddler scowled. "You must have heard it wrong. It’s ten, not four!"
"Nonsense! I heard four!" Anfey angrily said, "Are you bullying me now? Because I am a newcomer? Ok. I will ask my master to come. He can back me up."
"Don’t…" That peddler was worried, "Sir, you… you really heard it wrong. Alright, alright, take it. It’s just my bad luck, alright?"
"Just joking." Anfey laughed, "You can just give me a silver coin back as change. 99 is my lucky number."
"You… What did you say?" The peddler was lost.
"You can just give me a silver coin back. Didn’t you say you need money? I am just helping you out this time, what do you think?"
"Thank you, I really appreciate it. You are a kind man," the peddler gratefully said. " Sir, you are a nice man!" That peddler took out a silver coin from his inside pocket and carefully passed it to Anfey.
Anfey rubbed the seller’s palm with his fingertips again when he picked up the silver coin. Anfey grinned at the peddler after putting the silver coin away. He hastily walked back to the hotel with the bracelet.
"Professor, does this bracelet look nice?" Anfey showed the bracelet to Saul.
"Yes, very nice." Saul would not say anything to upset Anfey. "Anfey, what will you do with the bracelet?"
"Professor, you’re allowing me to move in with you after you admit me to the Mage Academy, so I don’t have to stay in the dorm. At the very least, I need to buy you some gifts."
"Good kid, you are very considerate." Saul laughed.
Anfey pretended to smile in front of Saul. However, he knew there was nothing worth smiling about at all.
As an assassin, Anfey had a great short-term memory. He could remember everything his eyes captured within a certain period of time, regardless of how important or unimportant it was to him. For example, Anfey walked into a messy room and came out right away. He could correctly tell exactly where everything was at. He would wipe any useless memories from his brain after several hours. Assassins might experience many unexpected situations. It was very possible that some minor things an assassin saw a few seconds earlier, which most people would easily neglect, could save their lives. Short-term memory was the most basic skill assassins needed to learn.
Anfey was suspicious of the peddler. It was confirmed when he saw the movements of the peddler’s sly eyes. Anfey had seen this pair of eyes three times in two hours. One time was when he walked out of the hotel room. Another time was at the magic store. The last time was across from the hotel!
Anfey had a very simple but effective way to test out any suspect. It was to create an opportunity to look at the suspect’s eyes. The eyes would tell if the suspect was scheming something. Anfey might be scolded for being a psycho if the suspect was innocent. However, it was better to be scolded than to make mistakes and fall into another’s trap.
The peddler’s pam felt dry when Anfey first touched his hand. Then Anfey sent out hostile vibes when he stared at the seller. The peddler’s hand was wet, along with the silver coin, the second time Anfey touched his hand, after he mentioned calling Saul over. People’s hands would become wet only under three circumstances. One was when exercising. Second was the weather. The third was nervousness. The first two possibilities were eliminated, so what was the peddler nervous about?
It would be an eventful night today… Anfey secretly moved his fingers a little bit. This was his habit.