Chapter 212: Crowd Stuck in the Square
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Chapter 212 Crowd Stuck in the Square
Perhaps the guards took the longer route so that they could rob Benjamin. So there weren’t any witnesses to his murder.
After getting rid of the bodies, Benjamin hid in the crack near the wall, and used a water sphere to wash the dirt off his body. Then he removed the beggar’s disguise and changed into the military outfit that he just stole.
After quickly checking the outfit for rips and tears, he emerged again.
Disguised as a patrol guard, he suddenly had an idea. Of course, he didn’t have any chance of blending in with the guards – he wasn’t even a real guard, he didn’t know the commands, it will not be long before the others discover him.
The thing was, the beggar’s disguise can’t be used anymore, and he could now only act as one of the patrol guards on duty. If they were to only pass them by, and not draw any special attention, he believed that he could get away with it.
"How far away is the Anti-Magic Prison from here?" he asked the System in his mind.
"It’s very near, just walk straight for five minutes, turn at the corner and it’s there." The System answered.
After making sure he had the right directions, Benjamin tried to copy the other guards, pushing out his chest, and with a calm demeanor, he headed forward.
At the same time, he also used the water particle sensing method to avoid other people’s line of sight. Since it was the city center, there were more patrol guards around, Benjamin met a few groups of them on the way. But, Benjamin followed the don’t-open-your-mouth principle, and when he met any patrol guards, he just nodded in acknowledgement, and then coolly walked past them.
Maybe his attitude was natural, so no one noticed anything out of place with him. Not long after that, he smoothly entered the entrance of the Anti-Magic Prison.
At the entrance of the prison, there was a small house, there were a lot of patrol guards watching the door, they didn’t look like they would let anyone through.
If the blond woman wasn’t lying, in the basement of this house, would be where the mages who were captured are kept.
Without even asking, there was no way Benjamin could go in – unless he revealed his identity as a mage, and be dragged in. Besides that, just relying on this half-baked patrol guard disguise, he definitely would not be able to go in.
So, he could only use the water particle sensing method to do some reconnaissance.
There were not many empty spaces around the entrance, only a bit of cover from the nearby trees and plants. And so, as Benjamin observed the patrol guards around him, carefully hiding himself behind the tree closest to the entrance.
Then, he closed his eyes, using the feedback from the water particle sensing method, he tried to get a sense of the prison for the mages.
In this world, there are many ways to stop a mage, just like the Cleansing Centre in the Imperial Capital, by just using some special ingredients to make iron railings, it interferes with the nearby elements, resulting in the failure of casting spells – on principle, this method is similar to Benjamin’s Anti-Magic Water Sphere.
Regarding the prison in Regina, after a general observation, Benjamin noticed that they used another method.
Maybe due to the fact that this area does not produce those required special ingredients and so, every captive mage has to wear some weird bracelet. The bracelet looked as though it was made with the bones of some magical creature, it was abnormally strong, and it could limit the mental strength of the mage, preventing them from casting any magic, or escape.
Benjamin could sense that with the mages in the prison, there was no difference between the elements around them and elements around a normal mage, but the part that was sensitive to the mental strength had disappeared, he could not sense that anymore.
Seriously...different places uses different methods.
Through the water particle sensing method, the image that appeared in Benjamin’s mind’s eye was quite solid. Men, women, old and young, all kinds of mages, they were stuffed to the brim in the prison. There were kept two to three in a cell, their faces were either worried or angry, some had their mouths open and were screaming. Unfortunately, the patrol guards on duty did not care at all.
And Benjamin...
He was squatting down in the dark corner, and looked in cell by cell.
The prison wasn’t big, in order to go through all of it at least once, he even changed his hiding place once in a while in the middle of his search. After half an hour, he had looked through all the cells in the prison.
He did not recognize a single person in the prison at all.
Benjamin let out a sigh.
From the looks of things, the mages that escaped with him out of the kingdom were quick thinking on their feet. When the patrol guards were hunting and capturing mages, they felt something was not right and hid, and no one was captured and brought to the prison.
But...
Where are they hiding?
As he was thinking about what to do next, Benjamin carefully avoided the other guards, and slowly made his way away from the dangerous city center.
After giving it some thought, he headed to the West City Square.
From what he heard from the guards, they were gathering the homeless in the City Square. If the mages in the group were outside getting news, there was a chance that someone went there.
Whatever it is, he has to find the others first, then only can he make the next decision. If not, even if he made a light pillar appear, what kind of trouble would it stir up in this town?
So, it was very important for him to go to the Square to take a look.
Nothing happened to Benjamin while he was on his way to the square. He knew all the patrol guards’ location through his water particle sensing method, and avoided them. Looking at the miserable street, even he could tell that the city just recently went through a disaster.
But, as he approached the square, the silence in his ears were slowly being filled with noise again.
He hid at the corner of the street, and peeped out, the place in front of him was not a square anymore but a market. A wide open space that was no longer wide or open. The movement of pitch black human heads, all across the Square, the scene made him restless. All kinds of noise came from all over, it was more chaotic than the usual haggling of prices at the market.
As Benjamin took in all of this, he can’t help but frown.
Why are there so many people?
Even though he only just reached here, but by a rough estimate, there was about more than a thousand people at the Square.
What the hell was this, are there really so many homeless people in Regina?
As he thought about it, Benjamin stayed behind the building, using the water particle sensing method, to carefully observe the situation at the Square. what he didn’t expect was that just as he began to search, among the closely packed people, he already found a few familiar silhouettes.
Joanna, Frank, the old blacksmith... there were about five mages, at the corner of the Square, looking around with worried expressions on their faces, looking just as helpless as the people around them.
Just then, Benjamin felt his head started to ache.
They were actually here.
After a moment of doubt, he continued searching the crowd, but in the end, aside from the five people, he couldn’t find the other mages, he had no clue where the other ten plus mages went.
Did they get separated?
This could be problematic...
After giving it some thought, Benjamin came up with a decision.
He should just ask the five that were present here.
And so, he changed back to the beggar’s disguise, and with an ignorant look on his face, he walked out of his hiding place openly. The patrol guards around the Square noticed him in an instant, and just like that, after a few questions, he was thrown into the crowd at the Square.
The hot wind blew against his face, as well as the headless crowd, Benjamin joined the fray; just like the Great Wall of China on National Day, if you sneeze you will sneeze into someone’s mouth. But, following the directions from the water particle sensing method, he was still able to move slowly through the crowd, and in the end, squeeze himself next to the five mages.
After he wiped the sweat of his forehead, he reached out a hand and patted Frank on the back, and with a soft voice he asked: "Hey, where are the rest? Why is it only the few of you here?"