Time rewound to late at night.
A black sedan stopped in front of a villa, the lookout entered and met with his teacher, Joy Dobin.
"How come you’re the only one back, where are the others?"
"They infiltrated quite some time ago and haven’t returned, the address is... I was afraid something had changed, so I came back to report to you first."
"You weren’t followed, were you?"
"No, I circled several blocks, made absolutely sure no one was behind me, and there were no owls following either."
"That’s good, go out of town and hide for a few days, and don’t contact me without my orders."
The black sedan departed, heading straight out of Lundan Town.
Joy waited at home for several hours until dawn broke, finally confirming that his three students were not coming back, before he picked up the phone and made a call.
"Teacher, the plan failed, we didn’t capture him."
"Why did it fail, how do you handle things?"
On the other end of the phone, Sidney scolded, "I’ve told you so many times not to underestimate them just because they’re an apprentice. Mages aren’t invincible; guns and bullets can take our lives at any moment."
"You misunderstand, Teacher. I wasn’t careless; on the contrary, I sent out four of our best students..."
Seeing Sidney angry, Joy hastened to explain, "Only one student who was on lookout returned, the other three haven’t been heard from all night, and the target was just a magic apprentice without any resistance. I suspect someone is helping him."
"Tell me, where did your students go missing?"
"The address is 13 Manor Avenue in the West District."
"The people living there are no ordinary individuals; why didn’t you tell me before taking action?" Sidney said discontentedly.
"Teacher, I just found out myself..."
"All right, go out of town and hide for a few days, and don’t contact me without my orders."
"I am very sorry to have let you down."
Joy respectfully waited for Sidney to hang up first, then packed his luggage, took a few changes of clothes, and prepared to retreat to his old home in the countryside for a few days.
As the vehicle drove out of Lundan Town, it was stopped by two police cars, and before Joy knew what was happening, he was presented with a pair of silver handcuffs.
"Damn it, do you know who I am? How dare you do this!"
Joy raged; after all, he was a Silver Mage, not someone who could be so easily manipulated.
"Joy Dobin, we know you are a disciple of the Naturalism Church and that you are a mage. You have the right to remain silent, and believe me, if you resist, the next batch to apprehend you won’t be as nice as we are."
Joy fell silent; clearly, the officers arresting him were no ordinary people.
He didn’t understand what had happened and even suspected Sidney had betrayed him, that his teacher, to save himself, had thrown him out as a scapegoat.
On the other end, Sidney hung up the phone and pronounced a career death sentence for his student.
Unable to handle a minor matter, how could he serve him in the future? Such an incompetent student was not worth keeping.
What irritated him was that Joy was one of his most reliable students, and the rest were even worse, consistently incompetent.
Sidney was still unaware that his students had been targeted. He called an old friend to inquire about the ’13 Manor Avenue in the West District’ address, wanting to see who the owners were.
The news wasn’t good; the mansion belonged to the Lando Family.
Sidney shot up from his seat with a menacing look on his face. The Randao Family was one of the 14 Tulip Families of the Windsor Kingdom, also one of the Knight’s Swords most relied upon by the Royal Family.
Other people might not know, but he did. The 14 Tulip Families in Windsor had established a well-known organization—the Liberty Mage Alliance.
And the Liberty Mage Alliance influenced the entire Magic Realm of Windsor; seemingly understated, any church could have a hand in it, yet, truly unseen and underplayed, only the tip of the iceberg was visible above the water.
Him sending people to snatch someone from the Lando Family— the consequences were imaginable.
Austin Lando: Your Majesty the Queen, if Sidney dared to break into my house to snatch people today, he might dare to break into the royal palace to take you tomorrow. His heart must be condemned, better to execute wrong than to pardon and let go!
It wasn’t just the Lando Family that was frightening, but also the lady of the house, Slyphy Lando, the current High Priest of Windsor District.
Sidney well knew how much Slyphy wanted to uproot his influence in Lundan, only refraining due to her limited power.
He had been lying low for days, so as not to give her an excuse to act.
He had never imagined that by trying to snatch a mere magic apprentice, he would hand her the leverage on a platter.
Who exactly was this magic apprentice, and how could he have such wild connections? Was his name Wayne Lando?
Sidney, frustrated, saw his days of patience come to nothing and blamed it all on the Void Lord; had it not been for the other’s repeated "last times," he would not have ended up in such a passive situation.
Sidney hurried to the study, pushed open the secret door into the dark void, where his thoughts and willpower collided against the Golden Statue.
Wake up, old man, stop f**king sleeping.
A wisp of thought dispersed from the Golden Statue, carrying the Void Lord’s voice: "Sidney, my dear disciple, have you brought the person?"
"Who, that Wayne, the magic apprentice?!"
Grinding his teeth, Sidney said, "Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused me? It’s true he’s a common person, but he has backup, and because of this, I might have been targeted."
"What kind of person can make a Golden Mage so flustered, my student, you’re underestimating yourself."
The Void Lord was nonchalant: "You are bound by false power and honor, but once you break free from this shackle you can see your complete self, perhaps an opportunity to advance on the Path of Legends..."