Chapter 219 – Black Magician Alliance[1]
With the information she held in her hands, Laura smiled wryly and said to Zhao Hai, “This situation is somewhat difficult to handle. Boric even told the Purcell clan to not interfere with what’s going to happen tonight, and the Purcell clan agreed. Luckily, Grand Duke Evan is a good person, else he would just pretend to cooperate with us, but is in fact working with Southern King Boric to deal with us. Even if we have Brother Hai’s Space, I fear it will be difficult to escape this unharmed.”
Quinn John nodded as he understood what Laura meant. Although Zhao Hai had the Space, if not for Evan being in an alliance with them, Zhao Hai wouldn’t have been able to travel to Casa City. If not for all of these matters being pushed forward, Zhao Hai and Laura wouldn’t have come to such a result.
These kinds of feelings required a due process. Love at first sight. Such a thing only existed in legends. Even if there was truly such a thing, it wouldn’t have been borne within Zhao Hai and Laura’s bodies.
What was undeniable was the fact that Zhao Hai had saved Laura’s life. This had created a favorable impression of Zhao Hai from Laura. Zhao Hai, on the other hand, also had a favorable impression of Laura, and this was somewhat due to her likeness of Taylor Swift[2]. Aside from that, Laura had helped him a lot by selling the crops he harvested from within the Space. This was equal to helping Zhao Hai in a big way and deepened his impression of Laura.
Although they had a very good impression of each other, the time they’d spent with one another was still too short to reveal much. Now, however, they were being forced to leave their homes and face an unclear future. This was a person’s most vulnerable time, and was also a time where sentiment can be easily built up. They would be more impulsive and even the smallest of emotions could be boundlessly enlarged.
Zhao Hai and Laura had a mutually favorable impression of one another. Adding their emotions to this fact, and the couple had sparked something to life. Their hearts and minds were open to the other and had reached this current stage.
Now, after deciding upon this matter, Zhao Hai and Laura were able to confidently face the opposing party. Their feelings have already reached the destination and their hearts have already recognized the other as their lover. This naturally calmed them and made them more confident.
Individuals were like this. When things happen, their hearts would feel uneasy and cower easily in the absence of positivity. When they truly faced something head on, however, and solved the matter, they would naturally feel more confident.
All that had happened were a series of coincidences. If not for Carlo pressing harder and harder, some of this may not have been borne. Even if it did, it wouldn’t have been so quick. One could say that Carlo’s actions had been the catalyst that sped up this relationship.
Zhao Hai smiled lightly. “No wonder Evan, though he has a large clan, is still able to manage it. He has achieved this degree of power and is still good. After all, unlike us, he didn’t have to give up everything here and leave the Aksu Empire. So long as he is still within the Aksu Empire, he has no choice but to give Boric several points of face. This, however, doesn’t apply to us. As such, we can just deal with this attack.”
Laura faintly smiled. “Yes, we can deal with it. These days there has been a foul air. The feelings in my heart haven’t yet been released.”
Quinn John and the others smiled. They weren’t afraid of the oncoming attacks at all. Even though they could also be attacked by strong Rank Nine experts, they also had two of their own Rank Nine experts. So long as the black smog continued to cover Faith Mansion, people on the outside wouldn’t be able to see what happened within. With this, they could openly fight.
Boric, however, probably didn’t dare to truly send Rank Nine experts to Casa City just to chase them down. If he really did send one, then it would be equal to giving no consideration for the Purcell clan’s face. This would cause the Purcell clan’s Rank Nine expert to be impolite.
There was an unwritten rule within the continent. For a city guarded by a Rank Nine expert, other Rank Nines weren’t allowed to enter without a reason. Otherwise, it would be seen as a challenge towards the guarding Rank Nine expert.
Although the Purcell clan was still uncertain of Wind Saint Buffy’s fate after he’d entered the Carrion Swamp, they still had the Universal Origin Sword Saint to assume command. The Universal Origin Sword Saint was very famous within the continent. Most wouldn’t dare to stroke a tiger lightly.
It was precisely due to this that Zhao Hai wasn’t worried. So long as there wasn’t a Rank Nine expert, Green could just deal with them. As such, they needn’t be afraid.
Just then, Green’s complexion suddenly changed. With a cold voice, he said, “You out there, come out. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being impolite.”
A gloomy voice sounded, “You are indeed ferocious. Worthy of being a peak Rank Eight expert to be able to see through my Ghost Sneaks Technique[3].”
Upon hearing the voice, Zhao Hai immediately stood up. Meg took out her Sealed Magic Iron Tome and cast a great deal of light element protection magic upon Zhao Hai. Quinn John also moved to protect Laura’s back.
Green stared at a corner of the room and coldly said, “Rank Eight black magician. A powerful existence has suddenly appeared. It’s a pity you aren’t all that proficient in using the Ghost Sneaks Technique.”
Ghost Sneaks Technique was an advanced level black magic. This magic was mainly used for assassination or for running away from an enemy. This was a specialized black magic technique and there was no way for other magicians to learn it.
This Ghost Sneaks Technique, once used, allowed one to become invisible like a ghost and stop others from feeling their existence. Due to these characteristics, it was called Ghost Sneaks Technique.
Green had, however, seen this Ghost Sneaks Technique before. On the battlefield, the opposing force would do anything to kill the other side. Green became famous and was known as the Spiritwind Battle General during such a time. As such, assassinations aimed for his life was a common occurrence. This Ghost Sneaks Technique was something he’d witnessed several times. This had caused him to become experienced in its use, otherwise he’d have been unable to detect the presence of the black magician just now.
As soon as the person heard what Green said, he chuckled a few times. Although it was a laugh, there was a gloomy air about it. It didn’t weaken the sound, but it did make them feel uncomfortable.
As the laughter echoed, a man slowly emerged. He wore a black magic robe that looked a bit old and held a wooden magic staff. Although it was made of wood, it was completely black. At two meters long, it was covered in many strange symbols and the head of the staff was carved into an odd shape. It looked very strange.
Green looked coldly at the person and said, “Who are you? Who sent you?”
The black magician smiled and bowed to them. “Please allow me to introduce myself. This one is an elder of the Black Magician Alliance, Maru[4].”
Zhao Hai and the others looked puzzledly at Maru. This was the first time they had heard of this so-called Black Magician Alliance. Don’t even mention Zhao Hai, the well-informed Laura also hadn’t heard of such an alliance on the continent.
Maru obviously saw their puzzled looks and faintly smiled. “I see everybody hasn’t heard of the Black Magician Alliance, but this isn’t surprising. The establishment of the Black Magician Alliance dated back only five years ago. As such, besides the black magicians that have joined, nobody else knows of the organization’s existence.”
Green knitted his brow and said, “Don’t waste your breath with so many words. Just tell us your purpose for coming here.”
Maru wasn’t angry. Instead, he smiled faintly and turned to Zhao Hai. “I came here this time to invite Mister Zhao Hai to join the Black Magician Alliance.”
As soon as Zhao Hai and the others heard what Maru said, they all gawked. Zhao Hai looked at Maru and asked with confusion, “What is the reason for inviting me?”
Maru smiled and said, “Please allow me to sit before explaining.”
Aside from appearing without warning in the beginning, Maru’s words had been very polite and he seemed like a gentleman. Zhao Hai and the others’ vigilance within their hearts had lowered. With Green’s presence, Zhao Hai wasn’t worried about his own security, so he let Meg put away her Angel of Protection[5] and allowed Maru to sit down.
After he sat down, Meg gave Maru a cup of tea. Maru’s expression showed politeness and this made Zhao Hai curious about him. From the beginning until now, Maru’s performance gave off the air of a noble, one that was a great deal higher in status than him who was just an ungraceful aristocrat.
Maur sipped his tea before placing the cup down. He looked at Zhao Hai and said, “Mister Zhao Hai is a black magician, so you should certainly feel that black magicians have been isolated on the continent. Walking outside is very inconvenient. Most feel badly of us and compare us to mercenaries, that is, killers, thieves, swindlers. They look at us as though we are evil, that we would eat humans at any time.”
With regards to this, Zhao Hai had felt it as well. Although it could be said that when a black magician arrived, no one would dare to annoy them, in truth it was just as Maru said. Black magicians were being pushed into isolation by the humans of the continent. In their eyes, black magicians were synonymous with evil, which wasn’t a good thing.
Maru saw Zhao Hai’s nod and continued, “In fact, it wasn’t like this in the beginning and people didn’t think of black magicians like that. Although black magicians are somewhat strange, we do develop pharmaceuticals and research black magic to treat people of their wounds in order to help them. We black magicians were once called creatures of the dark and were an indispensable part of an aristocrat’s or major force’s army. Our essential battle strength had made it so that none would dare go wild at night.”
This time around, it was Quinn John’s turn to nod. Quinn John had dealt with many people, so he knew what Maru said was true. Before, many aristocrats and countries tried to please black magicians. It was due to their characteristics of increasing their battle efficiency during the night that black magicians became an indispensable part of their army. As of now, however, most national armies didn’t have a single black magician within their ranks.
Maru watched them and the smile on his face grew larger. He quickly put away the smile and said to Zhao Hai and the others, “This situation, however, has slowly changed. I don’t know when such a rumor spread throughout the continent, but black magicians soon became a symbol of evil, the incarnations of devils. People slowly began to isolate the black magicians. At first, we didn’t realise the problem, but later on this became a very big issue and we had already been isolated from the people on the continent.
Here, Maru’s voice held a trace of heaviness. It was very obvious that the seriousness of the problem had exceeded his imagination. As such, he became very solemn.
Notes:
-This chapter was MTL’ed. Please leave a comment for constructive criticisms and advice. Thanks.
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-Please check out the Editor’s footnotes, thanks.
Footnotes:
[1] 黑魔法师联盟 – Hēi mófǎ shī liánméng. No real confusion here. ↩
[2] Which makes every other reader go dull-eyed. ↩
[3] 幽灵潜行术 – Yōulíng qiánxíng shù. Ghost/Spectre. Sneak. Technique/Art/Method. I like the use of Ghost Sneaks cause it’s a rather nice image. ↩
[4] 玛鲁 – Mǎ lǔ. ↩
[5] 天使之护 – Tiānshǐ zhī hù. Questionable whether this is the actual technique name.