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Chapter 364: Old Acquaintance

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

A few days after the arrival of the initial group of Knights of Light, another group of Shield of Light legion's forces arrived at Moramatch. In addition to the Knights of Light, there were around four hundred priests.

For most people, knowledge and patience would grow with age. Apparently, Marquis Djoser was not in the majority. He had changed drastically since the last time Anfey saw him. This was caused by the murder of his son and Yolanthe's unjust treatment. He was driven by anger and hatred. As soon as he arrived, he immediately took his people and went into Moramatch to look for Anfey. He did not know what he would do or how he would react when he saw Anfey, but he knew that he had to find and confront him.

Anfey, meanwhile, was hanging out with the mercenaries. He was originally planning on welcoming the new arrivals with Alice after he received the news of the new soldiers' approach, but changed his mind at the last minute. The conflict between the mercenaries and the knights had not disappeared. Instead, the tension only grew. He could welcome the new arrivals with a smile, but he knew they might not greet him in a similar fashion. He didn't want things to spiral out of his control again. He saw Ozzic and his men arm wrestling and thought it'd be fun to join them.

Combat power was not allowed in arm wrestling matches. The mercenaries wanted to see who was the strongest with the assistance of other powers. Tiger was the champion and the others were challenging him.

Alice appeared around the corner. She hurried over when she saw Anfey, looking at their game curiously.

"Let me join," Anfey said, as the last match came to an end. The mercenaries all laughed and moved aside to let Anfey sit down across from Tiger.

As they were getting ready, the mercenaries began betting on the match. Unfortunately, the only person betting in favor of Anfey was Alice. His reputation could only carry him so far.

"Really?" Anfey asked, hurt. He only had one gold coin from Alice, a meager amount compared to the coins on Tiger.

Next to him, Ozzic chuckled but did not say anything.

"Don't blame us, my lord," Orsie said. "Prove us wrong."

Khufu turned to Alice and said, "Why don't you bet more, my lady?"

"Fine," Alice said, smiling. She found a handful of gold and put it down next to Anfey. The mercenaries laughed and clapped at her generosity. She glanced at Tiger and squeezed her eyes. She wanted Tiger to let Anfey win so he wouldn't be embarrassed in front of his men.

"Let's do it," Anfey said, holding out his hand. Tiger gripped his hand with a smirk.

Anfey's hand appeared very small in Tiger's large one, but when the match began, he did not immediately lose. Tiger had gotten Alice's signal and wasn't using all of his power. He also did not want to embarrass Anfey. After almost a minute, Tiger gave a low growl and began fighting back. He began slowly pushing Anfey's hand towards the stump of the tree. Before they could finish the game, they were interrupted by a newcomer.

"Why, if it isn't Count Anfey?" Marquis Djoser said. His voice was quiet but carried far.

Anfey and Tiger jumped up, turning to the marquis. The old marquis stopped in front of Anfey with a grin on his face. He had brought only a few guards. Next to him was a wizened man with a small smile on his face. Anfey recognized Jacob, who looked very different from the last time he saw the old alchemist.

Anfey rolled his wrist and held out his hand. It seems like he made the right choice not to join the welcome party. The marquis shook his hand stiffly.

"How have you been, Count Anfey?" Djoser asked.

"Good, good," Anfey said, narrowing his eyes. "I didn't expect to see you here, marquis. This is a place for soldiers. A very dangerous place. What business does an old marquis have here?"

"The necromancers threaten us all," Djoser said with a smile. "I am obligated to contribute to the cause." Djoser chuckled and continued, "You should be more worried, shouldn't you, my lord? You so young. Surely your young wife will be sad should anything happen to you."

"Like you've said, my lord, it is my responsibility to fight the necromancers," Anfey said. "Plus, I am proud to die for my country and His Majesty Yolanthe. I owe him almost everything."

Marquis Djoser narrowed his eyes at the mention of Yolanthe. In any other country, the murder of a nobleman was punishable by death. Yolanthe had not punished Anfey and instead rewarded him. Djoser was very angry about Yolanthe's decision and knew that it had angered quite a few nobles.

Djoser smiled and took a few steps back. His smile was very fake, but he had to maintain it to avoid outright conflicts. He turned to whisper something to Jacob, who nodded and muttered something back. Then Jacob turned and marched over to Anfey and the mercenaries. Djoser watched without any emotion on his face.

Anfey sighed. He had just given Martin a wake-up call a few days ago. It seems like he had become Martin in this situation.

The mercenaries, uncertain about what was about to happen, jumped from where they sat and drew their weapons. Even though Jacob's steps were confident and relaxed, they were not sure what this strange old man was capable of. Clearly, Jacob was with Marquis Djoser. The mercenaries did not know the history between Anfey and Djoser, but they could deduce that it must be unpleasant from their short exchange.

Jacob was not hindered by the sight of the swords and axes. He kept walking towards Anfey confidently, his expression very calm and betraying nothing of his thoughts. The line between overconfidence and self-assurance was very blurry. Judging from Jacob's age, the mercenaries thought it wouldn't be the former. Obviously, Jacob was very powerful: more powerful than a few mercenaries could take on. Ozzic waved his hand and his men took a few steps back. They looked at Anfey, waiting for his instructions.

Anfey sighed. He wasn't sure if he should be immediately defeated or if he should try and hold out for a few minutes. Luckily, Suzanna wasn't present, or else she would surely be very embarrassed that her husband was easily humiliated by a man she respected.

Jacob stopped. He looked past the mercenaries and down the street. Ernest and Entos appeared around the corner and were heading toward them. Jacob lifted a brow and glanced at Anfey with a small grin. Djoser appeared very confused. He wasn't sure why Jacob stopped. Jacob turned and walked back to Djoser, whispering something to the marquis. Djoser's eyes widened.

"Really?" he asked quietly. Jacob nodded. Djoser sighed and shook his head.

"Long time no see, Lord Ernest," Jacob said, walking over to greet the two newcomers.

"Lord Jacob," Ernest said, surprised. "What are you doing here?" He saw Djoser behind Jacob and narrowed his eyes. The marquis shuffled uncomfortably. He knew that he could command Jacob to humiliate Anfey, but he was not foolish enough to pit Jacob against Ernest.

"Well, my lord," Djoser said, choosing a strategical retreat. "I will be going back to my place now. I hope to see you there sometime?"

"Of course," Anfey said coolly. "You must be exhausted from your travels, Marquis Djoser. My men will take you there." He waved his hand at Ozzic.

"No need," Djoser said, shaking his head. He waved at Jacob and left without looking back.

Chapter 365: The Agent of Elves

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Master, I did not know you had offended so many people," Alice sighed.

"Not that many," said Anfey, shaking his head. "To be specific, I only have two enemies, Philip and Marquis Djoser. I have been keeping a low profile."

Everybody felt awkward. The Anfey they knew was very aggressive. He didn't do anything with a low profile.

Alice smiled. "Philip and Marquis Djoser are not any two people. Strictly speaking, you have offended two groups and two powers."

"Master, let Ye and me handle it. We can find an opportunity to assassinate Marquis Djoser," Orsie suddenly said with hatred in his voice. He continued, "Don't forget Archalchemist Jacob. It would be really hard to kill Marquis Djoser in front of him."

"Master, you can ask Master Ernest to lure Jacob out," Ozzic said. It would not be a problem if there were some faults in the plan. As long as they could discuss and improve it, like what they were doing now, it would be fine.

"How about those Knights of Light and the Priest group? Can we distract them as well?" Blavi said. He was intrigued by this plan. Anfey's enemies were his enemies. If they could assassinate Marquis Djoser, it would a good thing for everybody.

"It does not have to be so complicated. I can do it myself," Ye said quietly. "They have never seen me before, and even if they had, they would not remember someone like me."

"The problem is not whether they remember you or not. Are you sure you can kill him by yourself?" Orsie asked.

"Even if I fail, they would not know who I am and could not give master a hard time," Ye said.

"You make it sound too simple. Other than us, there would only be their people in Moramatch. If there were an assassination, everyone would know we did it," Christian said, shaking his head.

"The key would be whether they have any evidence. I can promise you that I would not be caught alive," Ye said with a smile.

"Even if you killed him, you would not be able to come back safely" Christian said.

Ye was quiet for a moment. "This is not important. I know how to do it," Ye said.

Everyone was quiet. Obviously, Ye was the first one to be willing to risk his life for this mission. They could neither simply support him nor restrain him. They waited for Anfey's final decision.

"You do not have to worry much about Marquis Djoser. As an old dog, his bark is much worse than his bite," Anfey said casually.

"We are not worried about him, but he has an archalchemist with him. If Marquis Djoser asked Jacob to do something, we could not predict the outcome, neither could Master Ernest protect us all time," Orsie said with a concerned look.

"Don't worry. Master Jacob would not give us such a hard time," Blavi smiled.

"Why?" Ozzic and others all looked shocked.

Anfey had been glancing at Blavi when no one paid attention to him. He said in a low voice, "Because our professor is Saul and Uncle Ernest is on our side. In addition, Christian's uncle is Baery. Do you think Jacob would help Marquis Djoser without considering who is on our side?"

Blavi realized he said something he should not have. He had an awkward smile and looked down. Ozzic and others looked like they understood what Anfey said. No matter what relationship Jacob and Marquis Djoser had, and no matter how confident Jacob was, he had to be crazy to be the enemy of three other top powers.

"We do not have to worry about Marquis Djoser. We'd better think about which direction we should attack from when Shield of Light legion gathers. Christian will be the supervisor of the Shield of Light legion. Fernando is an outsider and not familiar with the Country of Mercenaries. He would ask our opinion for sure. We cannot make any mistakes," Anfey said slowly.

"We are all stuck here and do not know the situation outside of Moramtach. What should we do if we make mistakes?" Ozzic said.

"Actually, it is quite simple. Between Blackwater City and White Mountain City, which one would be easier for the necromancers to defeat?" Anfey asked.

Ozzic and others looked at each other and said in unison, "White Mountain City."

"White Mountain City?" Anfey was shocked. This answer was different than he expected. "As far as I know, Master Swordsman Anthony has been staying in White Mountain City. Even though Glory mercenary group suffered huge losses in the civil war, their fighting ability cannot be neglected. In addition, the Archmage Mike of Ellisen Empire is in White Mountain City as well. With the help of the mercenaries of Storm mercenary group, couldn't they counter the necromancers? Blackwater City only has Tiger of Tawau mercenary group: could their fighting ability be better than White Mountain City's?"

"Master, Blackwater City has reinforcements," Ozzic said.

"Oh? Tell me more," Anfey said.

"Even though Tiger of Tawau mercenary group won the civil war in Blackwater City, the commander of Glory mercenary group is still a famous top power," Ossic said. "Hotchbini is afraid that Anthony would take revenge on her and has asked help from elves. I heard a large group of elves travelled to Blackwater City, including over three hundred powerful druids."

"Anthony has kept quiet since the civil war," Orsie said. "Because the elves' fighting ability is way better than he thought, he and Mike could wipe out the entire Blackwater City. Luckily, they did not really fight, otherwise both parties would have suffered huge losses. With this Death War, the Country of Mercenaries would be in huge troubles."

"How could druids help Hotchbini? Hotchbini has that much influence?" Anfey asked, confused. He knew a little bit about the relationship between elves and druids. As far as he knew, both parties were allies in wars, but elves had no right to order druids to do anything. It was a big deal to have over 300 druids join them. Elves definitely could not ask so many druids to help. They usually would get support only from some druids.

"Hotchbini's influence is not big, but her brother in-law is very famous," Ozzic said.

"Who is her brother in-law?" Anfey asked.

"Wolf King Manstuly-the Reaper." Ozzic thought for a second. "Hotchbini's sister seems to be an elf pharaoh with huge power."

"Even an elf pharaoh should not help Tiger of Tawau mercenary group." Alice looked like she was deep in thought. "Elves could use Mourtta to assimilate rather than be rejected by human society. In other words, Mourtta could be an agent they could use and help him get stronger."

Anfey paused before slowly leaning back in the chair. Alice's guess was not exactly right, but pretty accurate. He understood why they did not think Manstuly was friendly, even though he had not been hostile when Anfey saw him the first time in Sacred City. Now Anfey seemed to understand it must have something to do with Hotchbini. Bruzuryano had been very nice to Anfey. He did not mean to simply pay attention to the younger generation. He was similarly kind to elves. In other words, Bruzuryano thought Anfey was a good choice, since he had a complicated background, good relations with top powers and kings, and unpredictable potential. Mourtta did not compare to Anfey.

Of course, there was another possibility: groups looking for another agent to help and support thought Mourtta could be a good candidate, and they started to reject other groups. Bruzuryano had given Anfey a few elves, so he must have something going with the elves. It was not clear which side druids and elves would take.

Everyone felt strange when they saw Anfey lost in thought. "Anfey? Christian called quietly.

"Yes." Anfey perked up. "That means we should go help White Mountain City first?"

"Yes." Ozzic nodded.

"I think their situation is like ours. They united to fight against death spirits. It is the job of Shield of Light legion to help White Mountain City. Our job is to find those mercenaries and recruit them," Alice said.

"Let's take small steps," Anfey said. If they could think of this, Marino would probably think of it too. Marino's timing had not been good when the Death War broke out because he had still been in Sacred City in Maho Empire. He could not lose a second chance. Everybody wanted to increase their power, including Marino. It was not easy to find an ally they could trust and work together with, so they had to avoid conflicts as much as possible. What Marino did would affect how Yolanthe made plans. He could not interfere with Yolanthe's plans.

"Anfey, are we just letting Marquis Djoser go?" Ozzic asked.

"Not letting him go. We are just letting him mess around for a few more days," Anfey said.

"I agree with Anfey. We should not make the relationship with him worse than it needs to be," Alice said. "Fernando should be here soon. I hope he is not a nasty person, otherwise we will have too much trouble."

"Master Alice, what kind of trouble are you talking about?" Orsie asked in surprise.

"I am not sure. I think we should get ready for any situation. At least, we have to be able to retreat back to underground city at any time," Alice said.

"Alice, would the dwarves cause us any trouble?" Anfey suddenly asked.

"No, Master. Why are you asking this?" Alice asked.

"Transfer some weapons to them. It think crossbows are good for them," Anfey said in a low voice. "They might be able to help when it is needed."

"Ok," Alice said.

"Let's call it a day," Anfey said, rubbing is forehead. "You guys get to bed early. Remember, you have to control yourselves a little bit. Don't cause any conflict. We will discuss further after I see Fernando."

Chapter 366: Dedication

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Entos! How did you make this?" Anfey asked, shocked by the power of the magic arrow in his hand. He was still only a beginner, but even he could feel the elemental surges from the arrow. He knew that this arrow must be very powerful. It must have been Entos's creation. He was the only one among them that could make something like this.

Entos grinned but did not say anything.

Anfey lifted a brow and turned to Alice, who dismissed all the dwarves. She waited until the dwarves were out of earshot and rejoined the two.

Before Anfey could make a decision about whether or not he should ask Alice to leave as well, Entos sighed. "Jacob came to find me last night," he said.

Next to him, Alice frowned at the implications. Anfey leaned closer, intrigued by Jacob's visit to Entos.

"Why? How did he get past the dwarves?" Anfey asked, suddenly concerned. If Jacob could get past the dwarves guarding the underground tunnels, so could others. He must update the entire security system to prevent security breaches.

"No," Entos said, shaking his head. "Don't worry about that. I took him down there."

Anfey nodded, relieved. "Why does he want to go to the tunnels?"

"He saw those soldiers carrying magic arrows and thought Hagan was here," Entos said. "He wanted to check on Hagan. I told him that the arrows are made by the dwarves. He wanted to see it for himself." Entos paused as if waiting for Anfey and Alice to take in what he was saying. "Dwarves were the original alchemists. Unfortunately, their knowledge is mostly lost. What they have right now is a meager portion of what we have, and what we have is still a small portion what they had."

"Did he give any tips to the dwarves?"

"No," Entos said with a laugh. "He's too busy for that. Hagan would have given them plenty of advice, though. He only made this arrow because he was bored."

"Is he going again tonight?"

"You really think he would work for you for free?" Entos asked with a grin. "Maybe, who knows? I asked for a favor last night. He agreed."

"What's the favor?"

"Secret," Entos said, smirking.

Anfey sighed and shook his head. "Of course," he said.

"I have some other business to attend to," Entos said, standing up. "See you later." He waved and disappeared.

Anfey sighed again. "He won't even walk anymore," he said jokingly. He knew that this was because Entos had incorporated magic into his daily routine. There were many senior magisters, but very few could achieve what Entos achieved. Even an archmage like Saul could not use the same spell twice in a short period of time.

"Anfey," Alice suddenly said, "can you tell me how you know Jacob?"

Anfey shrugged. "He was a friend of my teacher's."

"This is important," Alice said gravely.

"My teacher has his own circle of associates," Anfey said. "Politicians aside, he has other friends as well. Like Baery, Miorich, Steger, Bruzuryano. Jacob is one of them."

"Is that why you told us he wouldn't hurt us?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Why didn't you tell us, then?" Alice demanded. "You had us all worry for no reason. Let me guess: Blavi knows, doesn't he?"

"The fewer people who know, the better," Anfey said with a shrug.

"Secrets, I see," Alice said, shaking her head. "So much for trusting us."

"There are things I must keep to myself," Anfey said. "Maybe one day you will learn them."

Alice pursed her lips and did not say anything.

"Let's go check on the men," Anfey said. "I know we warned them yesterday, but who knows what they will do when left unattended." Alice nodded and trailed after him.

As they rounded the corner, Anfey saw a group of dwarves in front of a house. The house was filled with people, and he could hear them reciting something.

"What are they doing?" Anfey asked, curious.

Alice frowned and clapped. Two dwarves heard her and turned. "What is it, my lady?" one of the dwarves asked quietly, not wanting to disrupt the reciting.

"What are they doing in there?"

"Oh," the dwarf said, glancing at the house. "It's Lord Warner, my lady. He is preaching."

"Warner?" Anfey asked, surprised. "Interesting. I want to talk to him."

The dwarf glanced at Alice, who nodded, and turned and ran into the house. After a few moments, the reciting stopped and Warner appeared. He walked confidently, as if the terrified man in the cage was a different man. "My lord," Warner said, nodding. "My lady."

"You're dedicated," Anfey said.

"I have nothing better to do, my lord."

"How are you liking the town?"

Warner glanced around and shrugged. "There is plenty of light, but for some reason, it is always cold." Warner shuddered and shook his head.

"Wait for a bit longer," Anfey said.

"When can I leave this place, my lord? Boredom is driving me mad."

"I would let you out but there are a lot of priests and Knights of Light here. I don't want to risk anything. Of course, if you insist, I'm sure I could accommodate you."

"Who's here?" Warner asked nervously.

"Those knights are mostly under command of Fernando," Anfey said. "Do you know him?"

Warner gasped. "Sweet god," he said.

"What is it?"

"Do I know Fernando!" Warner said mockingly, shaking his head. "Do I know him! He sides with Salmado. If he sees me, I'm as good as dead."

"So you're saying Fernando is on Salmado's side?" Anfey asked. Warner nodded. "When you were attacked, how did Bergkamp die?" Anfey asked. "Did they want to kill him or capture him?"

"They wanted to capture Lord Bergkamp, but they made a mistake," Warner said with a sigh. "They forgot that he could still use forbidden spells. Lord Bergkamp sacrificed himself so we could have a chance."

"That means they don't know how to activate the Book of Life," Anfey said. "Right? That's why they had to capture him."

Warner nodded. "We were attacked near the transportation portal. Thankfully they didn't bribe the guards, or else I wouldn't be standing here right now."

"Does Fernando know you?"

"I'm not sure," Warner said. "But I'd rather be safe than sorry. I can't let Salmado get away with his deceit."

"Why didn't Bergkamp tell you more, then?" Alice asked.

"He was going to, once we reached our destination," Warner said. "But we never did."

"Now is not the time, but in a few days I need you to appear before Fernando," Anfey said. "I want to see his reaction. In the meantime you should study the Book of Life more. Spend more time learning about the book instead of preaching, understand?" Anfey asked, glancing at the house full of dwarves.

Warner nodded, then walked back into the room to dismiss the dwarves.

Chapter 367: Dalit

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

What was supposed to happen would happen anyway. Five days later, Archknight Fernando finally led his Shield of Light legion's main force to Moramatch. At the same time, Suzanna had quietly left Sacred City.

For the past few days, Suzanna had experienced ups and downs. It was hard to describe in words what she had experienced, from shock at the very beginning to denial, recognition, caring, and depending on each other. Suzanna experienced so much alternating confusion, surprise, pain, sadness and other emotions that she almost went crazy. She had to protect her mother as much as possible and force her smiles to try to cheer her mother. Suzanna never cried. If Anfey were with her, she probably would have thrown herself in Anfey's arms and cried as much as possible to vent her pain. Unfortunately, she had to experience the darkest days in her life by herself.

Maybe, being a daughter, Suzanna had to return the favor and love her mother the way she had brought Suzanna into the world. Suzanna did not recognize her mother at first, but that old woman recognized Suzanna right away and stared at her. She only had a breath left in her, but suddenly showed strength when she saw Suzanna.

Suzanna' mother actually had been sleeping a lot the past few days. Even Suzanna's appearance did not change that. Every time when she woke up, she would talk to Suzanna a lot. She repeated some stories many times, while other times she just talked as she remembered something. When she felt tired, she would fall asleep and talk again when she woke up.

In the depths of night, Suzanna was bragging about how well Anfey treated her, which made her mother so happy. Her mother fell asleep with a smile on her face. Suzanna fell asleep alongside her for a while. As she opened her eyes, she found her mother had passed away.

Saul organized the funeral for her. Suzanna was like a log throughout the funeral. She was placed here and there by others. She neither talked, nor cried. Even when Yolanthe showed up at the funeral, she did not interact with him.

As Suzanna left Sacred City, a regular wagon quietly travelled to the north for about twenty miles and then turned into a small alley to the east. It drove fast as it went into a forest. The driver suddenly fell away and hit on a tree in the valley. Blood burst from his mouth as he fell to the ground. People with good vision could see that he was bleeding internally. It did not seem he could survive.

A grey shadow appeared in the driver's seat. The sun was bright, but did not seem to light the person's face. The wagon automatically stopped, since there was no one controlling the horse.

Philip was stunned in the wagon and looked angry, but then terrified as a frog looking at a snake. As terror overtook him, Philip said with a coarse voice, "Here you are."

"Master Philip, where are you going?" the grey shadow said quietly. He sounded gloomy. In his gloom, he tried to sound nice but still made others feel threatened and terrified.

"I am going to see a friend." Maybe Philip did not like the way he asked, so he raised his voice. "Do I have to get your permission when I leave Sacred City?"

"As far as I know, Ms. Suzanna is not your friend." The grey shadow ignored Philip's question. In other words, he did not care to answer the question. "Master Philip, I think you need go back."

Philip went quiet, but he looked even firmer. They say that a baby cow is not afraid of tigers to describe ignorant people who are not afraid of difficulties. When people are young, they are not afraid of death. When they grew older, they started to fear death. However, this did not apply to Philip. He was not scared of death, but afraid of dying for nothing. Today he thought he had found himself a good opportunity to risk his life.

"For decades, I never left the king. I think you know that. If the king asked me to stop you, you know what it means. The king is already very angry at you, very, very angry." The grey shadow did not seem to notice Philip had perk up and was ready to fight. He still said calmly, "The king not only wants a good beginning, but also a good ending. This is the attitude of the king towards all the officials who have contributed so much for the country, including you, Master Philip. I hope you would not waste the king's good intention and would not test his patience either."

"Yolanthe's good intention? Hahaha…" Philip suddenly laughed loud. "I have worked for Yolanthe for many years. I know what kind of a person Yolanthe is. Prince Deswright and Prince Dionysos both contributed so much for the empire. What happened to them? Hahaha, they were blamed for leading the troops in a couop. You could lie to everyone else, but not to me. You have killed them and used puppets to act like they were taking the troops to the palace to overthrow the king, so Yolanthe had reason to kill them along with many other government officials he did not like!"

That grey shadow did not respond to him, but just took a casual look at Philip.

"If Yolanthe could kill his brothers, he would not show any mercy to anyone else. Now he sent you to fight me only because I am old and not useful for him anymore. I am telling you that you will one day be like me," Philip yelled fiercely.

The grey shadow looked at Philip sympathetically, "Do you know why the king never gave you any real power? Because you are too simple. You are good as a swordsman, but if you are asked to be in charge of anything, you would cause trouble. If the king had to punish you for your mistakes, you would not understand it and even hate him for that."

"Bullsh*t!" Philip yelled.

"After the king made reforms, many royals were against it, including Prince Deswright and Prince Dionysos. They were the leaders of nobility and controlled half of the entire military. What did that mean to the king? He would have had to stop his reforms unless they died." The grey shadow shook his head. "I know what I told you means nothing to you because you were one of those against the reforms. I support every decision of the king. If Prince Deswright and Prince Dionysos had not died, how could Maho Empire get as strong as it has become?"

"You are the victors. People will believe whatever you say," Philip said with a sarcastic tone.

"I also know you are still bothered that the king did not allow you to take revenge on Anfey," the grey shadow snorted. "You and I both know what kind of a person Zeda was. If you do an investigation, you will know Zeda was behind more than a dozen murders."

"There are so many dalits in the world. It is not a big deal for some of them to die," Philip said.

"It seems that whatever I told you did not go through your brain. You think Anfey killed Zeda. In fact, you killed him. If you had not spoiled him, how could Zeda have grown into what he became?" the grey shadow said helplessly. "This is another reason the king did not want to give you a high title. How to put it? Maybe you have different values than the king. He thinks nobles should enjoy their lives, but he hopes they know who provided them food, shelter and entertainment at the same time. They need to learn to appreciate, respect others. If they cannot do that, at least they need to learn to treat others with respects."

"Appreciate? Don't you think it is ridiculous to ask us to appreciate those dalits? Hahaha…" Philip laughed out again.

"Dalits? Right, you liked to call them dalits to show your nobility when you were young. You probably think I am a dalit as well." The grey shadow looked up at the sky to check the time. The temperature had suddenly dropped. "It's getting late. I have talked too much with you. I think I have done what I am supposed to do. Philip, are you going back?"

The smile on Philip's face got bigger and brighter, and he looked so arrogant. "Do you think you stopped me so you can save that bitch? Do you think Wester and Granden would do nothing about it? Do you think Wolf King Manstuly would just stay in Sacred City?"

"The king thinks you are simple, and so do I. It seems like I am wrong. You are more stupid than I thought," the grey shadow said calmly. "If you know about it, don't you think the king also knows. Besides, you should have not told me about these. With your reminder, the king could quickly make up his mistakes."

Philip's face got frigid. The crazy look on his face suddenly withered. He knew the grey shadow's fighting ability well. He was thinking of a suicidal fight with him to bring some loss to Yolanth,e and then Yolanthe would not be able to protect Suzanna. Saul and Steger would go to the northern border soon, while Miorich had to say in Tumen Commercial Union. Philip wanted to take advantage and kill Anfey' wife, since Anfey killed his grandson.

"Philip, I do not want to waste my time talking to you anymore. You either go back or draw your sword," the grey shadow said slowly.

"I…" Phillip grit his teeth and forced an embarrassing answer out. "Ok, I am going back to see king."

"Please," the grey shadow said casually.

Philip broke out of the wagon and ran toward Sacred City as fast as a meteor. Perhaps because he could not bear the embarrassment, he did not look back at all.

"Dalit? What a nobleman, that Philip!" the grey shadow murmured. The wagon he stood on suddenly shattered into pieces as he was covered with white light combat power. The four horses of the wagon were knocked far away, neighing loudly, as the grey shadow disappeared. His disappearance was as sudden as his appearance. If Yolanthe were there, he would have known how mad his old friend, Philip was now. The consequence of making Philip mad would be really, really bad.

Chapter 368: Unjust

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The atmosphere in Moramatch was strangely peaceful. Fernando was an amicable and talkative man. Anfey knew that Fernando wouldn't try to make the mercenaries his enemies. This was the first time he came into contact with mercenaries, and if the relationship between them was bad, it could affect the pope's plan in Country of Mercenaries.

When they were sitting down for the meeting, Fernando purposely stated several times that Anfey was the head of the town and that he should not sit on the seat prepared for the most important guest, since Christian was more important than he was. The two spent a good five minutes trying to get each other to sit, before Fernando finally compromised and sat down.

After he sat down, Fernando glanced around the room and his eyes landed to Alice. Most of the important people had already introduced themselves, but Alice was a stranger to him. Fernando needed to understand the situation at all time, and he could not allow anyone to slip by without knowing her name.

"Who is this?" Fernando leaned over and asked Anfey quietly.

"This is Lady Alice," Anfey told him. "She runs this town. She is the one that expanded and stabilized Moramatch."

Fernando nodded and smiled in admiration. "You are as capable as you are beautiful, my lady," he said. "It is rare to find someone with both beauty and brilliance. You are very special, my lady."

"Thank you," Alice said with a prim smile.

Fernando grinned. "I've always known that God is unjust. Some people are born into money and nobility, and others into poverty and destitution. Some people, like Lady Alice, are born with grace and virtue. Some others, though…" Fernando sighed and waved his hand.

A few of Fernando's men left the room and quickly returned with two men. Fernando looked at them and shook his head. "Some others barely have any redeeming qualities. It still escapes me how these two became Knights of Light."

The two men stood in the middle of the room, uncertain of what to do. One of them peered at Fernando fearfully.

"What is the meaning of this?" Anfey asked, surprised.

"I know that weapons supplies are a major problem for you, my lord," Fernando said. "But I believe that as long as we have honest conversations, we can come to an understanding. These two, however, attempted to disrupt peace and abused their power. Not only did they cause unnecessary conflicts, they also created a rift in our relationship. I cannot allow that, especially during such a crucial time." Fernando paused and glanced at Martin and Hilde, who were staring at the ground. "I will hand them over to you. What you do with them is your business."

"It's not a big deal," Anfey said, smiling. "Let them go. I think they've learned their lesson. To be fair, the mercenaries weren't exactly acting properly, either. They are mercenaries, after all, and did not care for formalities. If there's any misunderstanding, it's likely because of them. It's partly my fault, too. I've never managed this many people at a time and I didn't establish any rules. If you want to punish them, you must punish my men as well."

"You are kind, my lord," Fernando said. He turned to the two knights and asked, "Do you want to say anything?"

"Thank you, my lord," Martin said hurriedly.

"Yes, thank you, my lord," Hilde whispered.

"Take them away," Fernando said, waving his hand. He turned back to Anfey and said, "My lord, eliminating those zombies and necromancers is our utmost responsibility. I don't want any disagreements from the past to affect our future relationship."

"I understand," Anfey said. "I believe that no one wants to see the necromancers win this war."

Fernando smiled. "You are very sensible, my lord." He waved his hand and dismissed his men. The priests and knights stood up slowly and left the room. Only one knight remained. He found a map and laid it out on the table.

Fernando had dismissed his people, but did not request the mercenaries to leave. This, combined with his attitude towards the two rogue knights, lessened the mercenaries' hostility towards him.

"I understand that this may be a difficult topic and it may be better to wait until tomorrow, but this is pressing matter," Fernando said. "We encountered a few small groups of zombies on our way here. I believe that the necromancers are now aware of our presence in this nation. They haven't attacked yet, but I don't think they will wait for much longer. We must strike before they can to achieve maximum damage." Fernando pointed at a location near Moramatch and said, "I have a plan, but I want to consult with everyone before formalizing it."

The mercenaries glanced at each other and then turned their attention to the map. Country of Mercenaries was their home. It was where they grew up and the only place they've ever known. They did not want to lose it to the necromancers. Now that they had backup, they would try anything in their power to defend their home.

"This red circles are the remaining strongholds," Fernando said. "Besides Moramatch, Blackwater and White Mountain City, there are thirty-seven of these. But most of these are understaffed due to prolonged conflict. A lot of them have only a few hundred combatants."

"How did you come to find this map, my lord?" Anfey asked, impressed. Fernando must have conducted a thorough investigation to find everything. It must be difficult to investigate in areas infested with zombies.

"It is thanks to the help of Lord Mauso," Fernando said.

"The Hawk King?"

Fernando nodded. "I had two plans before coming by this map. One was to go through Transverse Mountains, and another was to take my men through Shansa Empire. The second plan was not as efficient, but it was more secure."

"Why did you not use the second one?" Anfey asked.

"His Majesty Yolanthe and General Baery did not agree to it," Fernando said, shaking his head.

Anfey nodded. Most of the Shield of Light legion were men from Maho Empire and Tumen Commercial Union. Yolanthe wanted to secure the major supply providers. He couldn't allow this coalition to have a third member. It would be too hard for him to control a situation like that.

Fernando was the actual commander of the legion and knew what sort of influence he had over the men. He wanted the legion to expand and include more people from different nations. If he could recruit men from Shansa Empire, he could expand his power.

"What is your plan, my lord?" Anfey asked. He could tell that Fernando was a capable commander and he couldn't do anything but trust him for now.

"We attack from here," Fernando said, pointing at the map. "We have to eliminate the mercenaries and save those mercenaries in blockaded strongholds. This is the fastest and most direct route."

"What do you think?" Anfey turned to the mercenaries and asked.

The mercenaries hesitated, then nodded slowly. They couldn't understand the map, but they wanted to save the trapped mercenaries and agreed with Fernando.

Chapter 369: The Disappeared Death Spirits

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

When the moon came out, Fernando finally said what he wanted to say. This was supposed to be his welcome party. No matter how unsettling their conflicts were, they still had to act decently, otherwise he would look like he had no class and become the butt of jokes. No one would expect Fernando to totally change this welcome party into a military conference, since no one in the Moramatch knew about military strategy except Kumaraghosha. However, Kumaraghosha was not in Moramatch. If Fernando talked to them about military strategy, it would be like playing piano to cows.

Fernando not only talked about his plan, but also showed them various strategic objectives. Neither party exchanged information they had about Blackwater City, but Fernando proposed a plan to attack from both the south and north. Obviously, he knew Blackwater City's current situation, and even knew that Blackwater City had the ability to change from defense to offense. Anfey thought about the Hawk King Mauso, whom Fernando mentioned, and felt relieved.

Fernando even told everyone something that had confused all the countries. Since the beginning, all the countries had used their resources to set up defense lines and stabilize the frontline in order to win themselves some time, but the death spirits' attacks were not as strong as before. They were much smaller in number than had been expected. Necromancers seemed to disappear at the same time.

Taking the Country of Mercenaries as an example, the population in Transverse Mountain was not big. The further north in Transverse Mountain, the more populated. Villages of different sizes were everywhere. Only a dozen of miles, or sometimes even a few miles, separated two villages. This expansive area had been wiped out by death spirits from the very beginning, and no one survived the attack. By conservative estimates, the number of death spirits should have reached 250,000. This number of death spirits should have been enough to support about one hundred necromancers to move up a level up and allow hundreds of necromancers maintain their energy. In other words, this area should have had a necromancer group.

The reality was quite different. The death spirits numbered between 100,000 and 150,000 at most. They did not see any necromancer. Where did the other 100,000 death spirits go? This area was not the only place experiencing this situation. Almost every country reported the same.

Death spirits had evolved to be intelligent. It was not abnormal to see them fighting and killing each other, but it did not make sense that cannibalism would cause them to lose almost half of the total number. It was even more strange that necromancers did not stop death spirits from killing each other.

Victory belonged to the party who knew themselves and their opponents well. This was common sense. The problem lay with those necromancers who knew Pan Continent very well. Necromancers did not know everything about Pan Continent, but very close to it. Some conquered people on Pan Continent even fed necromancers information as spies. On the other hand, agents in other countries only received superficial information about the structure of necromancers' forces. They could not get more information because they had no way to return to normal life if they decided to join the necromancers. To gain the trust of necromancers, they first had to become one of them, but if they were already death spirits, how could they come back and work for kings?

Fernando had no time to pay attention to this. He had decided his troops would leave the following day. The vanguard of his troops would travel north along the commercial route. The middle unit would follow the vanguard. Christian would supervise the troops. Fernando had asked Anfey to lead some mercenaries to go with him. One of his goals was to save the mercenaries who were stuck in Blackwater City. He wanted to show his mercy and build the foundation for the church. He had a hard time dealing with mercenaries. He would rather have mercenaries communicate with their peers.

Anfey hesitated for a while before he agreed with Fernando's request. Anfey's goal was to recruit more mercenaries. Even if Fernando did not ask, he would figure out a way to go with him. Since Fernando had requested it first, Anfey regarded him with disdain. Fernando seemed to be turning those mercenaries over to Anfey, and Anfey knew they were on two different sides. Maybe he was too young, which led Fernando to underestimate him. No matter who underestimated whom, they would know one day who was better. Anfey was not afraid of it because he had powerful and influential people behind him to crush Fernando.

Fernando did not show much concern for those who stayed in Moramatch and their weapons and supplies. He would take most of the weapons and supplies with him, leaving the rest in Moramatch. Anfey would make the final decision where to keep the weapons and supplies. Fernando would not object. He could even take all the soldiers with him and leave Moramatch in absolute freedom. Alice spoke up against his suggestions before Anfey could even say anything. She asked to Fernando to leave at least 30,000 cavalry and a priest group, and of course they would have access to the underground city.

Fernando told Alice that Shield of Light legion had cleaned up all the death spirits on the way. Moramatch was very safe and had no need for so many soldiers to stay behind. Those soldiers should be allocated to the battle field. But Alice insisted. Fernando was quiet for a while and finally agreed to Alice's request.

Watching Fernando walk out of the conference room, Tiger jumped up first. He moved his rigid body and said quietly, "Master, I think Fernando is not a bad guy." Anfey and Alice could talk with Fernando, but Ozzic and others could only partially get what Fernando said. Only Tiger and Khufu had no idea what was implied between the lines when they talked about strategic plans or appointing people to different jobs.

"Tiger, why are you saying he is not bad?" Orsie smiled.

"He is nice and polite. When Master Alice slammed the table in reaction to him, he did even get mad," Tiger said.

"You are right," Khufu agreed.

"When you hunt magic crystals in the forest, would you yell on purpose to tell the magic beasts that you are coming to hunt them?" Orsie shook his head and smiled.

"Of course not. I am not stupid, ok?" Tiger yelled.

"We all know you are not stupid. I have no comment on it." Orsie smiled. "I have to tell you that Fernando would not do that either."

"Orsie, what do you mean?" Tiger said angrily.

"Ok, Tiger, Orsie did not try to give you a hard time. I also think Fernando is not bad. However, people like him would usually show it on their faces if they wanted to set us up. Do not compare him with those stupid magic beasts. You will know if magic beasts are scared—want to flee or fight with us—when you look at them. You would never know what Fernando is thinking even if you watched him for a whole day," Ozzic said.

Tiger scratched his head without saying anything.

"Let's put it this way, Tiger: do you know what Master Anfey and Alice are thinking now?" Orsie asked.

"How could I know?" Tiger said.

"Exactly. You'd better talk less and just listen to Master Anfey and Alice." Orsie was doing Tiger a favor. Tiger had agreed to work for Anfey. Now Fernando had led Shield of Light legion to Moramatch, and he started to talk about how nice Fernando was, which might give Anfey a feeling that he could change to whichever side was stronger. Orsie knew Tiger was not that kind of person. He just said everything on his mind. His head was bigger than others, but had fewer brains in it.

Unfortunately, Tiger did not understand what Orsie had done for him. He even gave Orsie a look before he plopped into a seat.

"Ozzic and Orsie are right. I have some experience working with Church of Light. We have to be more aware. Wolves are not scary because we know how to deal with them. Wolves disguised as sheep are more scary. They could take a bite at your throat when you are not alert," Anfey said calmly.

"Master, let's put Fernando's issue aside for a while. Recently, he has to rely on us to serve his needs, so he would not give us a hard time. We have six units in total. How many will you take?" Alice said quietly.

"If I take too few people, we would not be able to recruit more mercenaries. Instead, we could be assimilated into their group. If I take too many people with me, Moramatch could be in trouble," Anfey said, frowning. "I will take Ozzic, Orsie and Khufu, and the rest of you will stay here."

"Don't you want to take Shinbella?" Alice asked in surprise.

"No. You would not have strong fighting ability if I take her." Anfey shook his head. "Let Shinbella be your assistant, which will help you maintain control of the situation."

"How about Master Ernest?" Alice asked.

"I am not a kid who needs to take Uncle Ernest with me everywhere," Anfey responded. "Besides, Uncle Ernest likes to practice sword skills and dislikes socialization. It was already asking too much when I asked him to welcome Fernando. I do not want to bother him too much." Anfey knew well that Ernest had been taking good care of him and protecting him. That was love from a father-like figure, but he could not ask Ernest to go everywhere with him, which would interfere with his freedom and affect his practice. Moreover, he did not want to be caught in a bluff. If he kept doing this to Ernest, Ernest would change his opinion of Anfey. People needed to learn to be more independent instead of relying on others; otherwise they would be looked down upon by others. It would not be good for his own development.

"How about Maser Entos?" Alice asked.

"I will ask him in a little bit,." Anfey said.

"Master, how about having Khufu stay and you take Shinbella with you. If you do not have powers with you, our mercenaries would behave fine, but the mercenaries you want to recruit would not listen to you. You do not have to worry about Moramatch," Alice said quietly.

Chapter 370: Runaway

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Don't worry?" Anfey asked, smiling. "Then why did you make Fernando leave his men?"

"He's right, my lady," Ozzic said. "Just send them away. We need some peace around here."

"Fernando promised to take care of the zombies and the necromancers, but we cannot leave our security in someone else's hands," Alice said sternly. "We have to have some priests and Knights of Light here in order for Moramatch to become a stronghold against the necromancers.

"You are a count appointed by Yolanthe himself, but you still rose up in rank too quickly. I am sure that you are not as well loved as you think you are. You will be fine if you never lose a fight, but the moment you do, those who are jealous will rise up against you."

"Are you threatening me?" Anfey demanded.

Alice smiled, staring at Anfey. "I'm not threatening you, my lord. I am merely stating the truth."

Anfey sighed. He knew she was right. "Fine," he said, "I see your point."

"Good," Alice said. "As long as Fernando's men are here, we can ensure that we have decent protection should any zombie or necromancer break through the frontline. If anything goes wrong, we can always blame Fernando."

"And Fernando can blame someone else," Orsie said.

"Which is why I requested those priests," Alice said. "We can easily blame it on them."

Anfey nodded.

"You heard what Fernando just said," Alice continued. "The number of zombies is off. Mauso is called the Observer for a reason. He is not only a wise man but also a powerful druid. He could see through disguises, including magical ones. If he couldn't find the zombies, something must be wrong. Just because we can't see them, doesn't mean the necromancers are gone. If Fernando gained an upper hand, they will likely ambush Moramatch. We have to be prepared."

"You have a good plan, I see," Anfey said.

Alice shrugged. "I'm not a mage or a swordsman. I cannot even fend for myself. If Moramatch falls, I fall with it. I have to plan for my future." She paused and glanced around, then lowered her voice and said, "Fernando is too careless. Makes me think maybe he is feigning ignorance."

Anfey nodded. "I will keep an eye on him. Do you want Shinbella here?"

"No," Alice said. "Other than Lady Suzanna, Shinbella is your biggest asset. You need her."

"You're right," Anfey agreed. "As long as you have Ernest with you, you will be safe."

------------

"Suzanna!" Shally exclaimed when she saw her sister. She dashed towards Suzanna and threw herself at her sister. Suzanna held Shally close to her, happy to be reunited with her sister. When Suzanna left Sacred City, Saul had advised her to take the long way around and relax, since Moramatch had Shield of Light legion. Suzanna had accepted Saul's advice and agreed to spend more time traveling. However, this was all part of Yolanthe's plan. He knew the conflicts in Country of Mercenaries very well and needed to avoid conflicts.

The others gathered around in surprise, Riska and Zubin at their head. Urter appeared as well. Suzanna's trip to Sacred City was a secret, and the only one who knew was Urter. Not only did he know that she had returned to Sacred City, he also knew that she had just buried her mother.

Suzanna forced a smile, but her acting was too forced and her friends knew her well enough to know that something was bothering her.

"What's wrong?" Zubin asked, unsettled. "Did something happen in Moramatch?"

Riska frowned. "Don't curse it," he said, poking Zubin. Then he turned to Suzanna and asked, "What's wrong? Are you alright?"

"What happened to Moramatch?" Niya asked as she pushed through the crowd.

"Nothing," Suzanna said, shaking her head. "Moramatch is fine. I am on my way there but I wanted to see you guys."

"On your way there? Where were you?" Zubin asked.

"Sacred City."

"You were in Sacred City?" Niya asked, surprised.

Suzanna nodded. "I don't want to talk too much about it," she said. Zubin opened his mouth and wanted to ask something, but Niya poked him on the shoulder and shook her head. They all knew that there was no use pressuring Suzanna into doing something she did not want to do. All they can do was wait for Suzanna to be ready to explain what had happened.

"Why don't you come in and rest for a bit?" Riska asked. "You don't have to rush. The mansion's construction is almost done. You want to check it out?"

Suzanna shook her head and tightened her arms around Shally. She was very sad, and the only thing she wanted to do was stay with her sister. She did not care about mansions and rooms.

"Suzanna," Niya asked quietly. "Did you…did you…"

"I did," Suzanna said. She was very sad, but still smiled when she saw Niya's hesitance.

"Is he angry?" Niya asked, nervous. She had run away from home and wouldn't blame Saul if he was furious.

"No," Suzanna said, shaking her head. "Don't worry. I think he expected this."

"Thank god," Niya said with a long sigh. "I was so worried that he would send people to fetch me."

Suddenly, something burst through a nearby door. A few moments later, Hagan appeared, panting. "Wait!" Hagan called. "Goddammit, stop!" He froze when he saw Suzanna. "Hey Suzanna," he said. "When did you arrive?"

"Just now," Suzanna said. The unicorn galloped over to her and nudged her with its head. It had a vial in its mouth. The vial had some red liquid in it, and some of the liquid was leaking onto the floor.

"What is this?" Suzanna asked, taking the vial from the unicorn.

"It's my new potion," Hagan said angrily. "I should have known better than to trust this thing. Why are you all standing here? Let's go inside."

"Suzanna's leaving in a bit," Zubin said.

"So soon?"

"I'm worried about Moramatch," Suzanna said. The unicorn pranced around Suzanna and glanced around, whinnying. Suzanna smiled and scratched the unicorn's neck.

"How is Moramatch?" Riska asked.

"It was good when I left," Suzanna said, handing the small vial to Niya. "Do you need me to send any messages to Anfey?"

"We're good," Riska said. "Just a bit bored. When are we heading over?"

Suzanna shrugged. "Anfey and Alice make the plan. I just execute it. I can ask them for you, though." She stood up and smiled. "I have to go. I will see you all soon, hopefully."

Shally grabbed Suzanna's shirt and said, "Are you leaving already?" She knew that she couldn't keep Suzanna with her, but she was too sad to think about that.

Suzanna stroked Shally's hair and left a kiss on her forehead. "I'll see you again soon, I promise," Suzanna said. Shally sobbed but did not try to stop her again.

Seeing that Suzanna was about to leave, the unicorn whined and grabbed her shirt with its teeth, trying to stop her. Suzanna gently pulled her shirt out of the unicorn's mouth and hugged Shally again. Then she turned and mounted her horse.

"Bye, Suzanna!" Shally called. Suzanna turned and waved at her sister, then she rode down the road and disappeared around the corner.

"What do you think happened?" Riska asked. "She's acting strange."

"Who knows?" Niya said with a sigh. "But I know she is strong. Whatever happened, she endure it." She paused and glanced around. "Where's the unicorn?"

Riska glanced around and said, "Wasn't it just…"

"It's not chasing Suzanna, is it?" Sante asked, anxiously.

Chapter 371: Gifts

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Anfey turned around and saw Jacob standing next to Entos. He was so surprised that he could not help calling, "Master Jacob?"

Jacob nodded at Anfey and then turned to playfully look at Entos. Entos had been cheerful most of the time, but he looked serious now. He took a close look at the magic wand in his hand and did not seem to see Anfey at all.

"Bro Entos, what are you doing?" Anfey slowly moved toward Entos. He cleared his throat and said, "Master Jacob, thank you so much for your help. If it were not of you, it would have taken those gnomes hundreds of years to make senior magic arrows."

"You are welcome. I had nothing else to do anyway," Jacob said with a smile.

It would be wonderful if you could be free like this for a long time, Anfey thought to himself. Anfey could not help feeling admiration for Jacob. For the past seven days, Jacob had been walking around in the underground city. He was so bored that he made some gadgets. Some were gadgets for himself, but others were amazing magic crafts of high quality to give to other people.

"Is it daylight outside now?" Entos suddenly asked.

"Yes. The vanguard of Shield of Light legion has left," Anfey nodded.

"We should leave too." Entos passed the wand to Anfey.

Anfey was shocked. He thought Jacob had made some changes to the wand and wanted to test his reaction time. Anfey took the wand. An electric arch suddenly appeared as his fingers touched wand. The arch moved fast towards the ends of the wand. At that moment, Anfey felt the changes this wand gave him.

He had experienced the same feeling when Saul put the Dimensional ring on him or when the blood on his finger went into the bowstring. They all gave Anfey similar feelings, a feeling that these objects had some special bond with him.

"This…" Anfey was stunned.

"Jacob wiped my memories from this wand. This wand is now yours," Entos said casually. "I hope you can take a good care of it. Don't just treat it as an object. Instead, this wand is your friend now."

Anfey froze. This gift was so valuable that Anfey did not how to respond. He had said things to give Entos a hard time, but never meant to take the wand from him. He was just joking with him and hoping Entos could figure a short cut for him to learn Instant Transportation since he wanted to learn it so badly and wished to master it as fast as possible.

Seeing Entos holding the wand, Anfey felt bad for him. He did not mean to take it away from him, but Entos seemed to remember what he said. Entos might have misunderstood, or perhaps Entos was a very serious, even though he looked playful.

"Why are you staring, wide-eyed?" Jacob said. "You and Entos are not pretentious people. If Entos is giving it to you, just take it, Anfey. This wand indeed is not that helpful for him anymore."

Anfey went quiet for a while, and said in a low voice, "Ok." He did not say thank you. It did not seem right, since words could not express his gratitude.

"Good." Jacob picked up a sword from a stone table and chuckled. "This is my gift. It could release series of lightning, but it takes a little time to cool down. Only use it when it is needed. I did not prepare any gift for your wedding so I played a joke on you. Saul made fun of me a few times because of that. Now I finally can tell him I got you a gift."

"Series of lightning." Anfey was stunned again. He knew well how powerful the Series of Lightning was. When he was on the run, Christian released a Series of Lightning magic scroll and killed all the knights in a Sacred Flame legion unit.

Alice stood behind Anfey, also shocked. She had to cover her mouth with her hand to keep from yelling. As a princess, she not only knew how powerful the Series of Lightning was, but also how many magical ingredients it took to make such a magic sword.

"Take it!" Jacob raised his voice and then tried to sound nice again to convince Anfey. "Anfey, don't feel any pressure, Ok? Saul, Mioritch, and I all received help from previous top powers. Do you really think it was easy to become a top power? No one could easily become a top power without others' help. I would never have been able to survive till now if I was on my own."

Anfey took a deep breath. His fingers looked a little shaky, but they became stable again when they touched the shaft of the sword. He slowly took the sword and carefully hung it on his belt. He stood as straight as a spear, with lips tightly pressed. He knew that no matter what he said now would not be enough. He also knew Jacob selflessly helped him and cared about him, just as Saul had done.

They had overcome greed, killings, envy, hatred, desires and other sins in human nature in order to unite together as a whole and selfishly help each other, which magic beasts could not do.

"Right now there are just a few capable and talented young men. Even fewer of them are trustworthy," Jacob said quietly. "I still can help, but I might not have the ability to help you when the real Death War breaks out."

"Real Death War? The current one…" Anfey could not help looking surprised.

"Right now is just a preview. Necromancers haven't made any moves yet," Jacob said. "The optimism from Fernando has affected many people. They thought killing all the death spirits in the Country of Mercenaries would help them turn their defensive position into an offensive one. Anfey, do you know Annunciata?"

"Yes." Anfey nodded.

"Necromancers have a long lifespan. Annunciata was a young one among them." Jacob had a bitter smile on his face. "I am telling you that Annunciata's teacher, Morgan, is still alive. Morgan's teacher, Minos, is alive too. Their top powers are no less than ours. How can you be optimistic knowing this?"

Anfey went quiet for a while and said slowly, "We will win in the end!"

"Of course," Jacob smiled. "but many people will give their lives in battle. Maybe I am one of them."

"Don't say that, Master Jacob!" Entos said bitterly. "I know you are good at astrology. Don't you know a prophecy could come true?"

"As an astrologist, I do not care about superstition," Jacob said, shaking his head. "I care about how much we could tell and explain from the astrological phenomenon."

"When you gave your dairy to Hagan, were you thinking…?" Anfey did not finish the whole sentence because he had a bad feeling about it.

Jacob chuckled. "It has nothing to do with it. The Death War had not broken out yet at that time. When I saw Hagan, I just felt like giving my dairy to him, and then I did."

Anfey went quiet. He could tell Jacob liked to do whatever was on his mind.

"Ok, it's time for us to leave," Jacob said quietly. "If I stay too long, I am afraid Marquis Djoser will suspect me."

Anfey opened his mouth, trying to say something, but then closed it. He had come down to the underground city to find Jacob and ask him a favor. He really did not feel right asking favors now that he had accepted such an expensive gift from Jacob.

"Anything else?" Jacob saw Anfey was trying to say something.

"The thing is . . ." Alice understood Anfey had a hard time asking a favor from Jacob now. She was smart and asked on behalf of Anfey. "Master Anfey hoped you could turn these crystals into a sword shaft and sheath. It would be best if you could seal them together."

Anfey blushed. Anfey had a decent amount of experience and good vision among young people, but he still dared not look Jacob in the eyes. Anfey felt he was so greedy, but he had no one else to ask. This sword shaft and sheath were so important for Anfey so he had to ask Jacob.

Jacob took the crystal from the gnome. He thought for a while. "Do you only want a sword shaft and sheath? What size do you want?"

"Any size," Anfey murmured.

"Any size? Ok." Jacob could not help laughing.

This was the first time Anfey had watched Jacob make magic crafts in person. No wonder Jacob was an archalchemist. It was enjoyable to watch him making magic crafts. He poured out a half bottle of a light green chemical and quickly turned a dozen of crystals into a puddle of liquid. The liquid followed Jacob's fingers, like the stars floating upwards into the dark sky.

Jacob took out a crystal stick and casually moved it to draft the shape of a sword shaft and sheath. He took out another magic chemical and pointed and moved along the liquid about twenty times before he complete his job.

"Do you like it?" Jacob did not even need to test the connection between the shaft and sheath before he passed it to Anfey. Confidence and capability were connected. As an archalchemist, he would never make stupid mistakes.

"Yes, I do." Anfey nodded. He did not test it either. He just put them in his Dimensional ring.

"Anfey, what do you need it for?" Entos asked out of curiosity.

"It takes too long for me to make magic weapons, which is really inconvenient. I am thinking of keeping elements in the sheath. That way I could join the battle at any time," Anfey said.

"It is not the best approach, but you can take advantage of this opportunity to practice your telepathy," Entos said.

"Telepathy?" Anfey asked.

"Yes." Entos walked up to Anfey and whispered something to him. Anfey looked like he had come to a sudden realization.

Chapter 372: Sadness

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The Shield of Light legion separated into two groups to cross the Transverse Mountains and headed to the north. The two groups then separated into several smaller forces and swept across the plain. Fernando wanted to eliminate as many zombies as possible, and this plan was an effective way to achieve that. After two days, the legion had already eliminated more than a thousand zombies. Most of the zombies were alone or in small groups of less than five hundred. It only took a small squadron of knights to eliminate them. There were only a few injured and they were all taken care of quickly.

Blavi, Ozzic, and Orsie arrived in a nearby village to rest. They were staying by the edge of the town so they didn't have to face a town ravaged by zombies. Their job was to contact the remaining resisting mercenaries and detect nearby necromancer and zombie activity. Necromancers were very sensitive to light magic and could sense it from miles away. The best thing to do was the have the mercenaries take care of gathering information.

Their next destination was a larger town called Hardikan. According to Fernando's intel, there were still around six hundred mercenaries there. Most of the mercenaries belonged to Green Wilderness mercenary group. Blavi, Orsie, and Ozzic needed to decide how they should approach the town and whether or not they should allow the mercenaries there to join them at Moramatch. This was the first stronghold they would come into contact with, and they were determined to do things right.

A dozen riders rode toward the town and stopped just outside of it. Christian jumped off of the first horse and walked over to Blavi.

"What are you doing here?" Blavi asked, surprised.

Christian shrugged. "I'm bored," he said. "How everything going?"

"Good," Blavi said. "If you're looking for Anfey, he's over there."

Christian frowned. "What is he doing?"

"Practicing, I think," Blavi said with a shrug.

Anfey was sitting on the ground, staring intently at the fiery longsword in his hand. The sword had melted the snow around him, exposing the dark earth and dried tufts of grass. The sword caused the water to evaporate, and the earth became increasingly dry.

Shinbella watched Anfey quietly from about ten feet away. She didn't mind the heat but she knew that using combat power could potentially affect Anfey's concentration. She hated it when people interrupted her practice, so she did not want to interrupt someone else.

Anfey's grip around the sword tightened. Everything around him seemed to have faded because he was so focused on the elements. He felt the pulsing of the fire elements that made up the sword and concentrated on that. His mind closed in on that pulsing, his heightened senses able to sense the flow of the elements perfectly.

Nearby, a small snake poked its head out of the ground, fooled by the warmth of its surroundings. It slithered out of its hiding place, then quickly ducked back into its hole when its body came in contact with the unmelted snow. Shinbella narrowed her eyes when she saw the red glow in Anfey's hand.

Seeing that the fire sword had changed into a red blade, Anfey finally leaned back and relaxed. The blade's elements had completely solidified, and it was glowing a dull red light. The sword looked more like a sword that just came out of a dwarf's forge instead of an element sword. Anfey waved the sword a bit then returned it to the sheath. As soon as the sword was returned to the sheath, the elemental surges disappeared and the heat in the air dissipated. Anfey stood up and stumbled due to sudden dizziness.

Shinbella hurried over and grabbed his arm, helping him stand up straight. "You alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Anfey said, nodding. This was a warning to him. He knew that he had pushed himself too far and he should rest. If not, he should at least try another way to practice. If he kept on pushing himself, he might achieve the exact opposite of what he wanted.

"This is the most dangerous thing to practice," Shinbella said. "One misstep could lead you to lose everything. You need to be more careful."

"I understand," Anfey said. He stretched and relaxed his body, which was stiff from sitting on the ground for too long. "Thanks for the warning." He could tell that not only was he physically exhausted, he was also mentally exhausted. He could sense that his inner power had been disrupted. However, he was also optimistic. This was the most he had achieved in magic so far, and he knew he could not relax just yet.

"If Lady Suzanna were here, she would have the same opinion," Shinbella said.

Anfey shrugged and smiled. "You should've seen her," he said. "She's even worse than I am when it comes to knowing her limits."

Shinbella sighed and shook her head. She was older than Suzanna, but she was not as powerful. She could tell that Suzanna must have spent a lot of time pushing herself to the limit and practicing her craft.

Anfey and Shinbella turned to walk towards the village. He narrowed his eyes when he saw the horses, then smiled when he saw who was standing nearby. "Is that Christian over there?"

Shinbella looked at the village and smiled. "Looks like it," she said. She was a senior swordsmaster and her eyesight was superb. Whatever Anfey could see, she could see as well.

Christian smiled when he saw Anfey and Shinbella approach. Then he frowned and asked, "You don't look so well. What happened?"

"Just tired," Anfey said. "Don't worry about me. Why are you here?"

"It's a little boring back in Moramatch," Christian said. "I wanted to check on you guys."

"You're the overseer," Anfey said with a smile. "You of all people shouldn't be bored."

Christian shrugged. "Most of the troops are away, anyway. Plus, it's not like I have any actual power over the army."

"You still do," Anfey said jokingly. "What, do you want to be a general?" Overseers don't usually have power over an army, but the composition of the Shield of Light legion was very complicated. There was no telling what would happen and what the soldiers would do if Christian really questioned Fernando's authority.

"I'm good," Christian said. "I don't need an army. There's another thing. The Church has ordered Fernando to look for a man. A fugitive."

"Who is it?" Anfey asked, surprised.

"Warner."

"What?" Warner jumped up and asked. His eyes widened and his arms flailed. "Why? A fugitive? What did I do? This must be Salmado's doing!"

"You killed Cardinal Bergkamp and stole the Book of Life. That is enough to execute you ten times over."

Warner gasped and stumbled back. He sat down on the ground, angry. He knew that it was Salmado and his men who had caused the death of Bergkamp, but what was his word against a cardinal's?

"Is it from the pope?" Anfey asked.

"No," Christian said. "It's from the Holy Court." He paused then said, "I also heard the pope is sick."

"How did Fernando react?"

"He is hesitant," Christian said. "He knew that this order was wrong. Warner was Bergkamp's servant. He couldn't have killed so many people. Fernando knows this."

Anfey nodded. "Maybe this order is from Bergkamp's people. They would use it to imply Warner's innocence. There are too many things we don't know yet. Warner, you have to be careful."

Warner nodded. He sat on the ground quietly, then suddenly covered his face with his hands and wept. He was a dedicated priest and this order from the Church of Light made him feel like he was betrayed by the very thing he had dedicated his life to.

Chapter 373: Embraced by Death

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Alice leaned across a bench. She looked calm and relaxed, like she did not put too much effort into skimming the report in her hands. She read quickly, skimming all the reports and making decisions on priority issues. In fact, she had less work than before. Anfey had restored order in Moramatch. They did not have to spend a lot of time and effort on malicious competition at least. Everything seemed to be in order.

"Master." Kumaraghosha's voice rose from outside.

"What is it?" Alice asked. Anfey had taken Alice's advice to take Shinbella with him, and had left Kumaraghosha in Moramatch to protect her. Alice was concerned about having contact with Kumaraghosha. Kumaraghosha seemed to feel it as well. He showed more respect to Alice. Sometimes, respect meant keeping a distance. She did not know if Kumaraghosha did that on purpose, but she was not interested in figuring it out.

"General Hilgy has something urgent to tell you," Kumaraghosha said.

"General Hilgy?" Alice was shocked for a second and stood up immediately. "Please ask him in. Hurry up!"

General Hilgy walked into the yard, and Alice went out to welcome him. Hilgy commanded over 30,000 border guards in Blackania City. Alice dared not show any disrespect. She was surprised to see Hilgy with many armed guards and two wagons quickly fill the yard.

"General Hilgy, what are you…?" Alice asked.

"Master," Hilgy looked up with a bitter smile and tapped on the wagon.

The curtain of the wagon was lifted as a girl as beautiful as Alice, but displaying a different persona, stuck her head out of the wagon. Alice could not help gasping. "Miss Niya. What are you doing here?"

"Alice!" Niya smiled and jumped off the wagon. She looked around and asked quietly, "Where is Suzanna?"

More than a dozen people jumped from the wagon before Alice realized what had happened. Riska, Zubin, Sante, Hagan and other members from Alibaba mercenary group all had come to Moramatch. Alice was stunned and did not know what to say. She knew Moramatch was a dangerous place, so Anfey would never had agreed for them to come here.

"Alice, why are you not talking? Where is Suzanna?" Niya asked again.

"Don't you know Ms. Suzanna went to Sacred City?" Alice said.

"Didn't she come back yet?" Niya's face suddenly changed.

"She would not be back so soon." Alice had a warm smile on her face. She had to keep them here and contact Anfey as fast as possible. She had no right to manage them, but she had to take care of them, because she would have to take responsibility if anything happened to them. "You guys must be tired. Come on in. Rest a little."

Niya did not have time to respond to Alice's hospitality. Instead, she grabbed Alice's arm. "Alice, what is happening? Are you sure Suzanna is not back yet?"

"I just told you Suzanna went to Sacred City. She would not come back so soon." Alice noticed something unusual.

"How could it be? She should be here already. She left a half day earlier than us." Niya looked worried.

"Did you see Ms. Suzanna?" Alice asked in surprise.

"Yes, Suzanna came back to Violet City the day before yesterday, but left that night," Riska said. "Alice, you cannot joke about it. Is Suzanna really not back yet?"

"How could I joke about this?" Alice shook her head with a bitter smile. "I thought Ms. Suzanna has been in Sacred City."

"Damn, Damn!" Niya was so worried that she stomped on the ground. Suzanna was the most disciplined in Alibaba mercenary group. Of course, this had to do with her training. Unlike others, Suzanna would not change her itinerary unless something unexpected had happened.

Like Niya, Riska and others did not look well. Suzanna was lost, so was the little unicorn. One was Anfey's wife while the other one was Anfey's baby. If anything happened to them, they could only imagine how upset and sad Anfey would feel.

"Don't worry, don't worry." Alice tried to comfort them. "Suzanna is a senior swordswoman. Even if something happened, she has the ability to protect herself. Try to think, did Ms. Suzanna say anything to you guys?" Capable people usually take on more responsibility. This made sense. Alice did not only have to control her emotions but also comfort everyone else. However, no one was taking care of Alice.

"Suzanna did not say anything. She said she would come back to Moramatch as fast as possible and then she left," Niya said.

Shally worriedly looked at them and then started crying. Even though she was an experienced swordsgirl, she was also Suzanna's sister and a spoiled princess. People with different backgrounds and experiences acted differently.

"You guys do not have to worry about it." Besides Alice, General Hilgy was the most calm one. He said in a low voice, "I am going back to the station right now to prepare a search party." He was calm, but did not look too good. He knew the price some spy organizations had to pay to protect Suzanna's mother. Could they let Suzanna walk away without paying anything? Personally, he liked Suzanna. He thought she was a quiet and polite girl. He could not have anything happen to her.

"Thank you, general," Alice said.

"Master, you do not have to thank me. This is my job." Hilgy waved his hand and walked out with his guards. He had no time to pay attention to courtesies.

"Kumaraghosha!" Alice called.

"Yes." Kumaraghosha straighten up.

"Tell Stein to take his fourth unit and leave right away. Can you go with them? No matter what it takes, we have to find Ms. Suzanna," Alice said.

"Yes, Master," Kumaraghosha said.

As Alice was giving orders, Suzanna was leaning against a tree, trying to take a breath to recover from losing so much energy. Her hair was messy and dirty, even mixed with some grass and leaves. Suzanna liked to be clean and tidy. She never forgot to clean herself even when she was on the run, which was the reason she had a life-threatening fight with Anfey. However, she really had no time to pay attention to her looks. She could not even sleep.

There were more than a dozen cracks in her upper armor, but the cracks were not long. The armor on her left leg was torn in half, showing her white skin and a red wound. The color contrast made it look scary. The little unicorn quietly lay next to her and licked Suzanna's wounds.

Magic beasts would fight to protect their own territory. It was inevitable for magic beasts to get hurt. The wounded magic beasts usually would lick their wounds. This was their instinct. From the scientific point of view, there were enzymes in the saliva. These enzymes had a lot of benefits, such as to disinfect and speed up healing. Suzanna did not know any of this, but she found her wound had healed very fast and left no scar. The former effect allowed her to rejoin the battle while the latter allow her to continue to be beautiful. When it was only Suzanna and Anfey together, Anfey usually touched her skin and often complimented her on her skin. She did not want to change the way she looked.

When Suzanna had just entered Transverse Mountain, a few druids stopped her. They were nice at the beginning, trying to invite Suzanna to their house. She knew Bruzuryano, so she did not want to be mean to them. In addition, Suzanna had a good impression of the druids. However, she was worried about Anfey and did not want to go anywhere else. She firmly turned down their invitation. The druids had shown their true colors at the end.

Four of the druids turned into wild wolves, while the other two turned into Wind Wolves to assist the other four druids. A few senior elf shooters hid themselves. This combination left no chance for Suzanna to win this battle. If she fought, she would not be able to counter the attack from every angle. She thought about fleeing, but the arrows the senior elves shot out shattered her escape plan.

Suzanna did not understand why druids would attack her. Weren't they allies? As a senior swordswoman, she was not afraid of danger, or even death. What bothered her was that she could not pass this warning to Anfey and lost the opportunity to spend the rest of her life with Anfey.

As Suzanna thought there was no chance for her to survive, the angry little unicorn rushed into the battle. A young magic beast did not know how to protect himself or judge how strong the enemies were. However, the little unicorn dare to fight them. He threw himself at the Wild Wolves, protecting Suzanna from their Wind Blades, sharp claws, flying arrows, or anything that could hurt her. He used his weak body to keep death away from Suzanna.

The little unicorn was not strong, but unicorns were the legendary rides of God of Nature and enjoyed high status among the followers of God of nature. Anyone who hurt holy beasts would get cursed by the God of Nature. It was taboo for the followers to hurt unicorns.

Suzanna was experienced in fights, so she grabbed the opportunity to escape. She grabbed the little unicorn and ran out, but prospects were not bright. Druids had strong tracking ability in the forests. They closely chased after her and even cut down the route to Moramatch. She was forced to run north. As a result, she was getting further away from Moramatch.

Chapter 374: Secrets and Surprises

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Anfey took a step forward and grabbed Shinbella, but it was too late. The two of them had already startled the zombies on the outskirts of the village. Those zombies warned the zombies in the village, and a large group soon emerged from the village.

Anfey and Shinbella both sighed. They didn't know each other very well and could not cooperate as smoothly.

"Should we signal the others?" Ozzic asked.

Anfey squinted and observed the zombies. Then he shook his head and said, "No need. These are the most basic zombies. We can take care of them."

Anfey drew his sword and waved his hand. The mercenaries around him all grinned and drew their own weapons. They were very eager to kill some zombies and reclaim their land.

Anfey stopped trying to repress the elements' flow and the sword suddenly grew longer in size and the edge became fuzzy with fire elements. The air around the sword shimmered due to the intense temperature.

Anfey lunged towards the zombies, holding the sword out in front of him. He spun the sword in his hand, turning it into a wheel of flame. The sword sheared through the zombies in its path like a hot knife through butter.

The sword did not slow Anfey down at all. He found that he had already dashed through at least two dozen zombies, leaving charred bodies in his wake. He skidded to a stop and turn to see where the mercenaries were. After he made sure the mercenaries were having no trouble with the zombies, he turned to look for his next target. A zombie jumped at him but he slashed at it with his sword and it disappeared.

Entos taught Anfey that all magical artifacts have expiration dates. The important thing wasn't conserving energy. Instead, it was using a limited amount of magic to achieve the maximum effect and prevent mistakes. Anfey had to practice teleportation with every chance he got. Like Jacob said, during an actual War against the Dead, even people like Saul and Jacob could not be certain about their survival. Someone like Anfey would stand no chance in the war. He had to practice in case one day his life was on the line.

Anfey swept the sword around himself and cut through the zombies that were swarming towards him. The sword's reach was limited and Anfey knew that he must use proper stances to achieve maximum effect.

This was the first time Anfey depended on magic during a fight. In the past, he did not know how to form a powerful weapon and relied on other things to make up for his weapon's lack of power.

The zombies all swarmed towards Anfey because they knew that once they killed him, they could easily kill the rest of the mercenaries. However, simple zombies stood no chance against a sword made of fire elements. The mercenaries soon found themselves without foes, as all the zombies turned their attention to Anfey.

Anfey killed the last zombie and returned to the sword to its sheath. He rolled his wrists as he look around, searching for stray zombies that might have escaped. The mercenaries looked around and Shinbella found a small zombie running away from the village. She dashed towards it and slew it.

"Is that the last one?" Anfey asked as Shinbella walked back, shaking blood off of her sword.

"As far as I can tell," Shinbella said, nodding. "That was impressive."

"Thanks," Anfey said.

"Who are they?" Ozzic suddenly asked, frowning and pointing towards the village. About half a dozen people in brown garb were walking over.

"Are those mercenaries?" Anfey asked.

"No," Shinbella said, narrowing her eyes. "Druids."

"Druids? Aren't they all in Blackwater?"

"That's the direction Shield of Light legion went, isn't it?" Orsie asked quietly.

Anfey turned to Long and lifted a brow. Long looked at those men and sighed. "They must be working for Manstuly," he said.

"The Wolf King?" Anfey asked, shocked.

Long nodded. "We can't be seen by them," he said.

"It's a long story and not a tale for now," Ling told Anfey as she grabbed Long's arm and drew him toward the back. "We will speak of it later."

Anfey nodded and turned to observe the druids. He knew that there were druids in Country of Mercenaries, but he thought that they were all trapped in Blackwater City by the necromancers. Did Tiger of Tawau mercenary group finally begin their counterattack? Or was it because they had urgent messages that needed to be delivered?

The druids saw them and quickened their pace. The leader walked up and asked, "Which one of you is Lord Anfey?"

"I am," Anfey said, surprised that the druids were asking for him. "You are…?"

"We are Lord Manstuly's men," the leader of the druids said with a small bow. "We have urgent news."

"Where did you come from?" Anfey asked.

"Blackwater City."

"I thought that city's surrounded," Anfey said. "How did you get out? Was there a counterattack we didn't hear about?"

"No, there wasn't," the druid said, shaking his head. "I wish there was. We are not strong enough for that. We snuck out of the city."

"You snuck out? What news is urgent enough to risk your lives like this?"

"We were scouts," the druid said. "But we discovered something major during one of our runs. The necromancers cut off our way back into the city, and the only thing we could do was to head south.

"On the way, we were surrounded by necromancers in Transverse Mountains. Lost half of my men there. If it wasn't for Lady Suzanna, we won't be standing here! She saved our lives and instructed us to head towards Moramatch to look for you, my lord."

"What is the secret?" Anfey asked, curious. "It must be important if the necromancers would spend so much manpower hunting you down."

The druid looked around hesitantly. "We must speak of this alone," he said.

"I trust everyone here."

"This is too important," the druid said. "It's better if we speak alone."

Anfey nodded. He ordered the mercenaries to stay put. The druid ordered his men to stay with the mercenaries as well.

"It is a very complicated thing," the druid said once they were out of earshot. "The necromancers are trying to protect it. If it wasn't for Lady Suzanna, there is no way we could deliver this news. This could be vital to ending the war."

"Why didn't Suzanna come back with you?"

"We discovered the necromancers' secret. She wanted to investigate," the druid said. "They were…" Before he could say anything more, his eyes widened and his arms flailed.

"You alright?" Anfey asked, grabbing the druid. The man stared at Anfey with wide eyes, then he became limp and fell to the ground, dead.

The other druids saw this and all dashed towards them. The mercenaries followed. The druid's death was so sudden it seemed like Anfey was the one that killed him.

"What happened?" Anfey asked the druids.

"He was injured during a battle," one of the druids said, shaking her head. "He said he would heal himself, but it seems like he never did. Did he give you the secret?"

"No," Anfey said. "It got to him just before he could finish. Do you know what it is?"

"No," the druid said with a sigh. "He was the only one who knew."

"He said Suzanna was investigating what he discovered," Anfey said. "He must have told her. Where is she now?"

"That we know," the druid said. "Come with us, my lord. We will take you to her."