Chapter 205: Chapter 204: Are You Worthy?
“Come back!” Seeing Macbeth suddenly disappear, Dempsey was not surprised but just shouted with a dark expression.
Just as abruptly as he had vanished, Macbeth reappeared on deck.
“Ha ha.” Macbeth looked at Dempsey with a grin, his face not serious at all, “What do you need me for? If it’s really about helping, forget it.
I have seen that Siv, Louis, and Quinton, who walked with you, have all disappeared, and you yourself have been seriously injured. This means you’ve gotten involved with someone very dangerous. I want to live a few more years, so I can’t help you with your problem.”
Dempsey’s expression darkened even more, and he said, “About my injury and the disappearance of Siv, Louis, and Quinton, I have already resolved it, so you don’t need to worry. What I need your help with is another matter.”
“Oh, is that so?” Macbeth nodded, his expression slightly relaxed, though he still did not agree, “Then tell me, I’ll listen.”
“It’s simple, I need you to help escort the giant ship back to White Stone Tower.”
“Hmm?” Macbeth was slightly taken aback, but then he realized, laughing, “Ah, so that’s it. You’ve been injured, so you can’t deal with the sea tax officers of the various island countries along the way. You’re tired of being constantly extorted and had to call me for help.”
“As long as you understand,” Dempsey said expressionlessly, “So, will you help or not?”
“I can help. After all, I have to find a way back to White Stone Tower after completing my task, and going back with your giant ship doesn’t hold me up,” Macbeth raised an eyebrow, “But, I have a condition.”
“Yes, a condition.” Macbeth shrugged, “As I said, I will return to White Stone Tower after I complete my task. In other words, I still haven’t finished my task yet. If I escort the giant ship back now, and my task fails, what happens then? Will you compensate me?”
“What about first completing your task?”
“Hey, it’s not that simple.” Macbeth squinted, “You have to help me complete the task. I’m not afraid to tell you that my task location is just less than two days away here in ‘Lisben,’ so I came here quickly, and now I need some assistance. You’re injured, so you don’t have to take part personally. But you have to lend me a few of your people.”
“I only have a few wizard apprentices left under my command right now; if I lend them to you, I can’t maintain order on the ship,” Dempsey said, “So, I cannot agree to this.”
“Heh, don’t be so definitive,” Macbeth didn’t give up.
“So what do you suggest…” Dempsey was speaking when Third Level Apprentice Potter suddenly ran up with a serious expression and whispered a few words in Dempsey’s ear.
Dempsey stopped talking, his expression slightly changed, and looked sharply at Macbeth, questioning, “Aren’t you here alone?”
“Hmm? What about it?”
“You came with a tail!” Dempsey sternly said.
“Uh, about that…” Macbeth neither admitted nor denied.
Dempsey’s expression darkened as he looked towards the distant sea and saw several black dots rapidly approaching the giant ship.
The people on the deck also noticed, craning their necks to look, with Nancy, Richard, and Gro among them. After a moment, they shockingly saw three black medium-sized military ships, cutting through the waves and quickly closing in.
As they neared, an imposing old man in his fifties appeared on the deck of the middle ship, dressed in a gray uniform, with a longsword hanging at his waist. He spoke loudly, “Giant ship ahead, listen carefully, I suspect that you are harboring a fugitive we are pursuing. He is accused of murdering our country’s Duke, and I intend to capture him.
Next, we will board and search the ship, and we hope for your cooperation, or else we will use force! I’m not afraid to tell you that we have forces aboard capable of contending with wizards, so I hope you won’t do anything foolish.”
On the deck of the giant ship, Dempsey looked at Macbeth with an ugly expression.
Macbeth, however, still had a grin, and looking at Dempsey, he playfully yet threateningly said slowly, “What do you think would happen if I just turn around now and let this military ship attack the giant ship?
Hmm, it probably wouldn’t sink. But given your current situation, dealing with these three military ships wouldn’t be easy, and it would definitely come at a great cost. Perhaps, it would end with both sides losing.”
Upon hearing this, Dempsey’s expression turned icy as he looked at Macbeth and gravely said, “If you really intend to do that, then I would rather sacrifice all the students on this ship and return to the White Stone Tower alone to report your actions. Hmph, you deliberately murdering the academy’s students, let’s see how the academy will punish you!”
“Ha, the way you put it,” Macbeth also adopted an icy tone, “I committed murder? The true murderers are you recruiters. Do you think I’ve never been on this kind of ship? When I first came to the White Stone Tower, do you really think I am unaware of what I experienced?
Trials, over and over. Isn’t it just to make the recruiters look good, keep the better students, and under the guise of testing, weed out the weaker ones? That’s the real murder!
If you didn’t want the weaker students, you shouldn’t have allowed them on the ship in the first place. But you didn’t do that, because you needed to collect Crystal Coins. You’d rather kill the weaker students than let them remain and develop on their own, let alone let other Wizard Organizations benefit from them.
Ridiculous, preaching morality to me, Dempsey, do you really think you’re worthy? Do you really believe that you, a person like you, have less blood on your hands than I do? Do you really think your heart is cleaner than mine?”
Listening to Macbeth’s words, Dempsey did not get angry but calmed down instead, his gaze turning as cold as ice, he said to Macbeth, “What I’m talking about now is not morality, but rules. The testing behavior is sanctioned by the White Stone Tower, and not just by us; other Wizard Organizations also engage in it to some extent. Unless you want to plunge the whole Wizard World into chaos, some control is necessary. If true chaos were to erupt, more people would die.
Moreover, for the White Stone Tower to survive, it needs profits; it needs to suppress other Wizard Organizations, and you know this better than anyone. So even if I don’t do certain things, someone else will. I don’t think I’m clean, nor do I think I have less blood on my hands; I just want to do my duty.
Now you rant at me, showing your dissatisfaction and anger about past experiences? Hmph, where was your dissatisfaction and anger when I was unharmed?! Where was it when you faced those people in White Stone Tower?!
What are you, really, and what have you ever contributed to the White Stone Tower, to stand here and criticize me and the rules of the White Stone Tower? You—do you qualify?!”
After speaking, Dempsey stared at Macbeth, and Macbeth stared back at Dempsey.
The atmosphere at that instant felt like a tightrope suddenly pulled taut.