Chapter 294: Lack of Evidence
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Benjamin summoned the Waterball of healing to destroy any traces of torture on the man. He then turned to bring the fainted captive to lord knight Lance’s location.
He had a change of plans. Since he wouldn’t be able to capture the two other men in black, he wouldn’t be able to frame the cult anymore. Hence, the original plan was now useless.
Benjamin now had more important matters to attend to.
On one hand he was tricked by the three men but on the other, he had obtained a lot of information. An entirely new plan started to form within him.
He didn’t need to frame the cult. These people were dirty enough.
Benjamin quickened his place and reached his destination before long.
"Quick! I am the mage that came here a few days ago. Please inform Lord Knight Lance that I have a decisive clue that could help him crack the case!"
The soldiers guarding the entrance looked at Benjamin and then at the man in black that was bounded by magic in mid-air. They were a little confused.
"What are you standing around for? Quickly inform the Sir Lord Knight!"
The soldiers came to their senses and hurriedly nodded. They turned and ran inside.
Benjamin couldn’t help but shake his head. Time was a wasting and who knew what was happening within the cult. He didn’t want to waste my time and rushed inside with the man once they had opened the gates.
Passing through the corridors, he quickly found Lord Knight Lance who had just finished his meal.
"Sir Lord Knight, I have an important clue there that you must listen to." Benjamin immediately pushed open the dining hall’s door, ignoring the soldiers stopping him at the entrance and walked in.
"You... are the mage from the other day?" Lance looked surprised. He wiped his mouth and frowned, "What’s the rush? What happened? And... Who is that man in black?"
Benjamin tossed the man onto the ground and snorted, "This is the man was they sent to assassinate me."
Lance was caught off guard.
"You’re saying that the cult is under investigation? How can that be?" He quickly got up and walked to the man. He took off the veil covering the man’s face.
His face immediately changed.
"Sir Lord Knight... This man is really the guy from those streets." The solider beside him cried, "He was a worker at the temple. We had a word with him before!"
Hearing this, Benjamin felt that even the heavens were helping him. He need not say more since they could recognize him.
This small-scale cult would not use someone from the outside to do their dirty work, they would surely use their own members. Since Lance’s men managed to recognize this man in black, well, he could only blame his own dumb luck.
"That’s right... we have spoken with him before." Lance looked at the man’s face and nodded, "Sir Mage, we have a pressing issue at hand. Could you permit me to bring him to the basement for interrogation?"
Benjamin nodded, "But of course."
Without even removing the serviette placed around his neck, he dragged the man down to the basement to start the interrogation. As for Benjamin? Naturally, he wouldn’t be able to join the interrogation, so he merely sat down at the dining hall enjoying a glass of wine to him by a soldier.
He didn’t have to wait long.
"Isn’t this Mage Benjamin? Welcome, welcome. Why didn’t you let us know of your arrival?" A happy Inspector Mikel popped in after hearing of Benjamin’s presence from who knows where.
Benjamin wasn’t the least bit impatient, he smiled back, "Sir Mikel, we meet again."
Mikel walked over and sat next to him. He asked curiously, "Sir Benjamin, I heard you have brought over a weird man in black and found a really important clue. Is that true?"
Benjamin nodded, "That’s right. Lord Knight Lance is on it. He is currently interrogating him in the basement."
"What? He..." Mikel immediately looked a little dissatisfied. However, he quickly regained his composure, "What really happened? Sir Benjamin, could you let me know?"
Benjamin smiled, "Yes, of course."
Honestly speaking, he intended to walk Mikel through the whole ordeal.
Instincts told Benjamin that although the lead investigator was Lance, Mikel had influence and power over the political side. Hence, Mikel was the man to speak to.
"I had mentioned to Sir before that I wasn’t on good terms with the cult. You know that, right?" He spoke with great solemn, "I could never have imagined that this evening, they would send a man to assassinate me. If it wasn’t because of my agile Spiritual Energy, I wouldn’t be able to make it out alive. While escaping, I actually caught one of the assassins!"
"What? Are you okay, sir?" Mikel looked surprised. Whether or not it was genuine or just polite, no one would know.
"Don’t worry, sir. They won’t be able to harm me." Benjamin said with vigor, "I believe you have asked the Mage Freemasonry over these past few days about the ruins, as well as the danger of the cult? Surely, they must have warned you."
Mikel sighed and nodded.
Benjamin took the opportunity to press on, "If that’s the case, why are we allowing such a cult to exist within Fereldan? If this continues, we could be the next Kingdom of Helius."
"Sir Benjamin, I understand where you’re coming from." Mikel shook his head, "It’s just that to put the cult on the ban list, is a complicated matter."
Benjamin could sense the heaviness in his tactful tone.
"Having discovered ruins with high danger, inclination to develop armed forces and sending assassins to threaten the wellbeing of mages, aren’t these reasons enough?" He asked with knitted brows.
"Of course, they are. But Sir, it’s not that we don’t trust you, but you don’t have proof." Mikel patted Benjamin’s shoulder, "The Mages Freemasonry were ambitious in their statement. Although it did coincide with what you said after working with them, but they were unwilling act as witnesses. There is nothing much we could do."
Benjamin was caught in a rut.
Ambitious statement? Unwilling to become witnesses?
He couldn’t think of any reason the Mages Freemasonry was so jittery. Abolishing the cult was only beneficial to the mages. Perhaps they were unaware of the seriousness of the issue or they wouldn’t be so nonchalant about it.
It looked like the few freemasonry members that he had rescued from the ruins had limited say in the group.
At least... not as influential as Mage Vinci.
Benjamin found it hard to swallow this fact.
Here he was, scratching head to help all mages to abolish a mutual enemy before it developed, while the mages freemasonry on the other hand, who supposedly worked toward the benefit of mages, struggled with its internal politics and refused to cooperate.
How... disappointing.
No wonder during the divide of the empire, the mage guild took all the goods and left only the tattered literature to them — who wouldn’t take advantage of their cowardly attitude?
"But, I have now caught one of their men; this could count as evidence, right?" Benjamin shook his head and pressed the matter further.
Mikel nodded perplexingly. He was about to comment when his eyes changed, and he looked behind Benjamin.
Benjamin noticed the change and turned his head.
At the entrance of the dining hall, Lord Knight Lance slowly walked in – his face was stone-cold serious. It looked like he was done with the interrogation.
... What could he interrogate in such a short time frame?
Honestly speaking, Benjamin did not have much hope but asked anyway, "Sir Lord Knight, what did you manage to find out?"