Chapter 423: Stalking Thieves
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Benjamin and the group finally left after he felt that they had spread enough influence over the area.
Outside the grasslands were wide flatlands and towns. They quickly entered a small town called the city of Hunter and found a hotel to stay in. They had been slaughtering wolves throughout their entire trip and were finally back in civilization; it was time for them to get a good rest.
Not to mention, the city of Hunter was much more civilized compared to the graziers that they had been encountering up until now.
Except for the fact that there were no signs of any mages.
Benjamin and the group were desperate to get rid of all their resources from the magical creatures. So, they were obviously devastated to find that without any mages, not a single person was interested in buying their goods. How desolate.
Benjamin was also surprised. After taking a short break, he immediately sent out mages to gather information. They went everywhere, from hotels to markets to simply talking to the people on the street. In the end, they found that the people in this small town knew about magic and have heard of mages, but always assumed it was just the stuff of legend.
"I know! My father used to tell me about magic, but after so many decades, I have yet to meet a mage. I think it’s just something that somebody made up."
One of the patrons of the drinking parlour said as he smacked Benjamin’s shoulder.
Benjamin felt a little awkward.
If he knew that the person seated in front of him was a mage and a famous mage at that, what would he think?
But after intensive questioning, they could confirm that the people here had never met any mages. The mages had disappeared from this small town for so long that they have become nothing more than a bedtime story to the locals.
The more Benjamin thought about it, the stranger the situation seemed to him.
Where did all the mages go?
After discussing it with the other, Benjamin decided against staying here; He reckoned they should head towards the central region of this country to see if he could find any trace of the mages there.
If there was no branch of the Mages Freemasonry here, then perhaps he should look in the bigger cities.
Another thing was that Benjamin found a way for them to get some income.
Right now, the mages hanging on to his every order and having to feed a hundred of them was like trying to feed an army. Even though he still had money on him and there was still a couple of thousand gold coins in the treasury, it wasn’t going to last forever.
Due to various reasons, they didn’t stay in the town long. After getting some supplies, they left and headed towards the central region of Carretas. Benjamin didn’t want to try to sneak around anymore so they headed straight towards the country’s capital, Gloria.
There should definitely be a division of the Mages Freemasonry there, and it was near the newspaper office – in case he needed to ask any questions that regular civilians couldn’t answer. There was also a branch of the Mercenary Association there, which would allow Benjamin to re-open several sources of revenue; not to mention it would also allow him to find Miles trail.
But the place might already be the church’s territory, so they had to be careful. When they arrived, they would make sure to use the water element sensing technique to detect if anything was out of the ordinary.
A few days after leaving the town of Hunter, things started to go wrong.
"Pay attention, I think someone is following us."
They had set up their camp in the wilderness. Benjamin was resting in his tent when the System suddenly woke him up with a stern voice.
Benjamin got a fright.
He immediately used the water element sensing technique to scan his surroundings. What he found gave him goosebumps all over his body.
There were a few people hiding silently behind the group.
But why was this happening? They had concealed their identity after entering the town of Hunter. He also knew that a group of a hundred people would draw attention, so he simply said that they were merchants. They also made sure to never use any magic in front of other people to avoid spreading rumours.
Considering all this, they must have been targeted by someone.
Through the water element sensing technique, Benjamin could tell that there were three people who weren’t mages with several bottles of potions on them. They looked more like thieves. There was nothing on them that he could use to identify them, so Benjamin didn’t know where they were from.
After observing them for some time, Benjamin felt that the three men did not look as though they were going to make a move; it was as though they were just sent here to spy on them.
Benjamin frowned.
At that moment, Benjamin wanted to attack, capture, and interrogate them thoroughly. But, when he realized that this would only alert the enemy, he controlled himself.
If they were only here to observe them, then they should be reporting to someone. He would just have to wait for the right time to act.
So, Benjamin acted as though nothing had happened and went to sleep in his tent. However, he told the System to keep an eye on the three men.
The next day, nothing out of the ordinary happened. The mages once again set out and the three men followed silently behind them, carefully staying out of sight.
Suddenly, one of them pulled out a piece of paper and started writing on it.
Benjamin instantly became alert.
This is it.
He immediately scanned the man’s direction.
As he looked at the letterhead, he saw the clear bold words, "To his Majesty the King."
Shit…
Benjamin was stunned. They hadn’t even been in Carretas for long and they were already being watched by the king? And wouldn’t that also mean that the church knew of their existence since the king of this country works closely with the church?
Shit…
At that moment, Benjamin became even tenser.
"Walking really is taking too long." He suddenly said impatiently, "Since there is no one around, let us just fly."
The mages looked at him funny. They didn’t know why Benjamin was suddenly saying this, but they definitely preferred flying and did not object.
They stopped walking and took their things off the carts. They cast the flying spell, and everything rose to the sky together, leaving the three uninvited guest far behind.
After flying for about half an hour.
"Just now, the king of Carretas’ men were following us." There was no one else around them anymore so Benjamin didn’t have to act. He continued with a serious voice, "The church may be aware of our arrival."
When they heard this, the mages were all stunned.
"No way…" Varys said in disbelief, "We were so careful when we left the grasslands. Unless news of the events on the grasslands had truly spread so fast, it would be unlikely that they had found out through conventional methods."
"True." Benjamin nodded his head in agreement.
He did not know where the leak was from.
Even if the news had reached the king, he would first discuss it with the church before sending people to follow them. The whole process should take close to twenty days. How could they react so fast when Benjamin had been in Carretas for just over two weeks?
Unless… they had prior knowledge of Benjamin’s trip to Carretas.