Chapter 213: Tinder Beneath the Clear Skies
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Maybe it was because it has been a long time since Benjamin disguised himself as a beggar, when the mages turned their heads, they could not recognize Benjamin.
"I’m sorry, we are also very poor, we have no money to give you."
Hearing this, Benjamin impatiently shook his head. He wiped the dirt off his face and looked at the five people again, and said with a soft voice: "It’s me, Benjamin, do you really not recognize me?"
Immediately, the five of them recognized Benjamin, a few of them were so surprised they quickly covered their mouths, almost yelling out loud.
Benjamin could only quickly gesture for them to be quiet, to not be so excited.
"Tea… Teacher Benjamin." Joanna said in a low voice, "why are you here also? Did those guards bring you in? They say they are capturing mages under the command of the queen, what is going on?"
Instead Benjamin replied: "I’m here to look for you, where are the others? Where did they go?"
As they heard this, the five of them exchanged glances, but only one could give an acceptable answer.
"At the time, we were still at the hotel getting information from other people." Frank said with a clueless expression, "then, suddenly a group of patrol guards came in and said they are here for the mages, and they brought us all here. We did not dare tell them who we were, so we did not retaliate. But everyone was separated to get the news; we are not too sure about the others."
So that’s what happened...
Hearing this, Benjamin sighed impatiently.
Even though he did not know what happened to the others, but since they were not in the prison, and they weren’t here either, then that meant that they were smart and when the guards appeared, they found a way to hide.
He could only comfort himself this way.
"Teacher Benjamin, what is going on?" Frank asked hurriedly, "I thought the church was not here, why are they capturing mages now?"
Hearing this, Benjamin shook his head and let out a bitter laugh.
Because they could not let the people around them hear what they were talking about, they moved closer together and he told the five of them in a soft voice about the coup. And when they heard that the church had taken control of Regina, in that instant, their faces fell. Their expressions told him that they could not accept it.
As to why they could not accept it...
The old nightmare was resurfacing again.
Benjamin could understand their feelings.
Shit, after all that trouble of coming here from another country, and in the end the church still managed to get here, bringing all sorts of problems here. Why was this day so difficult?
And so, the five were quick to come up with a conclusion.
"Teacher Benjamin, we can’t let them succeed!" Joanna said in an angry voice.
Even though there was a sticking-their-nose-where-it-didn’t-belong feeling, but...
Benjamin nodded his head, showing his approval.
As the only free mages in the entire city of Regina, they couldn’t just watch from the sidelines anymore. So what if they brought trouble on to themselves? To let the church continued to be this arrogant, did they even belong on this earth?
And so, they couldn’t not get involved.
"The mages of the Mages Guild are now locked in the Anti-Magic Prison. If only they can be rescued, and realize that the church has falsified the queen’s command, they should be able to settle the rest of the problems on their own." After giving it some thought, Benjamin said this to the five of them as they stood closely huddled together.
The five of them didn’t give an opinion, and only nodded their heads.
"But... Teacher Benjamin." Suddenly, there was a concerned look on Frank’s face as he said, "We are stuck here, I don’t think we can leave. The Square is surrounded by countless knights in magic-resistant armor, if we show our hand here, we will just invite the people of the church over."
Hearing this, Benjamin also sank deep in thought.
That’s true...
They should think of a plan.
As he looked up at the people stuck in the square, aside from the vagrants and the beggars, there were a lot of the local citizens or tourists from other countries clueless about why they were brought here. Without question, they were definitely not willing to be locked up here. With so many people around, the higher ups will need to do something about it.
Benjamin guessed that the order will come in another hour or two, and once they have been properly examined they will be set free.
Of course, how the church will decide that, he had no idea. Letting them go is only one option, another is to kill them all, allowing this day to become the bloodiest and most painful moment in history, this was also another possibility.
The words that he wanted to share, the situation at the Square...was similar to a pit. The guards were surrounding the steps leaving the Square. They were surrounded like pigs.
Benjamin felt his hair stand on end the more he thought about it.
Truthfully, to the church, the people of Regina are just a group of heathens who deserved to go to hell, no? Regarding them, they won’t have any mercy. So, to kill them or a massacre, they have a high chance of carrying it out.
The current situation was an effect of the coup, and the church was still trying to take complete control of Regina by capturing the mages in the city. But after the hunt was over, the church will take control of the government officials, and soldiers with questionable opinions will be removed from the army, what else would they do?
At that moment, Benjamin suddenly realized that they were at a turning point of history.
Every small thing that happens today can change the fate of the countless lives, pushing the country towards an unknown territory.
A sense of urgency came upon him.
Time was of the essence and they needed to move fast.
With this train of thought, Benjamin took a deep breath. Suddenly, he gestured to the five people, and said something in their ears. Once the five heard it, they nodded their heads, turned around and headed towards different directions, blending into the crowd.
After delegating jobs to the five, Benjamin, with a resolute look, also moved forward and disappeared into the crowd in a different direction.
The chaotic crowd did not notice the six determined and suspicious people.
"Hey, did you hear? These people plan to keep us here, they don’t even plan to give us food!"
"No way, didn’t they say that the Guild will betray them? What does that have to do with us? Why is the queen doing this to us?"
"I don’t know either, I hear what others are saying, shouldn’t you ask someone else?"
"..."
"Brothers, the queen plans to let us starve to death here!"
"Hey, what did you say? The guards chased all of us beggars here, how can they not prepare something for us to eat, I don’t believe this."
"It’s true, just go to the square and hear, those rich people are saying the same thing. You see us, a group of beggars, we have stayed on the streets for years and have not starved to death, in the end we are going to starve to death in this godforsaken place. This is injustice."
"No way, I have to ask someone."
"..."
The square, that was already oddly noisy, was suddenly plunged into countless conversations. The story that was created spread like black ink dripped into water, and was fast as lightning. Very quickly, it changed the tank of clear water black.
The group of people who were stuck there stood under the hot midday sun, their hearts full of doubts. Their confusion added to the fear. Under the instigation by the six of them, the fear turned into disappointment and anger.
There was no need to say that they were very unsatisfied with the guards.
Under the instigation of the different rumors, soon, people were moving to the edges of the square, facing the guards and the knights, wanting to leave this place. The results were unchanged. The guards were still the same, using their combat skills to intimidate and force the people to go back.
The problem was that any form of violence will not deter people who believe they are about to starve to death.
"Get lost! I want to go home!"
"Enough! Hit again! You just try hitting again! Do you really think we won’t touch you?"
"Let me out! No, I don’t want to die here!"
In the end, under the watchful eyes of a thousand people at the square, a guard drew a long sword impatiently, and in one swift motion pierced it through the other’s chest. Fresh blood spewed out into the clear sky, right into the hearts of everyone present.
Everyone glared at the guard.
"Ungrateful fool, look at this, if you still dare to come here, this is your end." The guard, standing on a high platform, angrily pulled back his sword and yelled. He thought that this bloody act would shock the other citizens.
From a point of view, he really did "shock" everyone.
The noisy and chaotic square suddenly became as silent as a winter’s night in the cemetery. No one said a thing, no one made even a sound. They were miraculously quiet, and only observed quietly, their eyes on the guard standing on the higher platform.
Maybe the silence was too loud that the guards and knights were also starting to realize something was wrong, and looked suspiciously at them.
"What is wrong with them? Did they eat the wrong medicine?"
Among the silent crowd...
Silence always brings about a new challenge.
Suddenly, no one knew who it was who rushed out towards the guard and made a noise like someone was pulling apart his flesh and blood.
"Damn it! I’ll fight with you all!"
Just like the tinder on an autumn day in the jungle, the first tree was lit, and in a moment, the whole forest was on fire. The huge embers shot towards the sky with a sense of recklessness in life, determined to stain the sky fiery red.