Chapter 55: The Uninvited Guest
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
To Benjamin, the identity as a mage was his lifeline, so it must not be revealed under any circumstances. For the knife-scarred man to discover his identity so easily made him feel uneasy.
Could it be that he exposed himself in some way?
He felt the need to find the answer so he could at least prevent it from happening again. What if he were to accidentally make the same mistake again in front of the bishop? He would be dead on the spot if that happened.
And so, Benjamin questioned him.
However, what came out from the mouth of the knife scarred man was this:
"I... I didn’t realize you are a m-mage. I felt suspicious and simply... simply asked you... to test you. I didn’t expect... you to be a real mage."
"..."
Damn, I thought too much again.
Benjamin felt a little disappointed to receive such an answer. However, from another perspective this proved that there were no flaw in his disguise, right?
He relaxed a little.
Now that the problem is solved, Benjamin continued his questioning: "Your underling -- that new bamboo stick -- tell me everything about him."
The knife-scarred man shivered for a long time and finally said:" I.... I don’t know where he is from. These underlings... these underlings were gathered by my friend... He simply gathered a bunch of people, I don’t have the skill... to know everyone’s background...."
Benjamin was even more disappointed.
He didn’t expect that such a fearsome thief would know nothing at all.
Whatever, it seemed that Benjamin would not be able to extract anything useful from this guy anymore.
If that’s the case, it would be pointless for him to stay in this place any longer. He decided to silent the knife-scarred man and leave this place immediately. If luck was in his favour, he would encounter the assassin in this area. If not, he would just bring Jeremy home.
He had already wasted too much time on this issue.
Benjamin then unlocked the safety lock of the gun and prepared to kill him with one shot.
"Please! Please... Master Mage! Don’t kill me... My underlings will rush in if they were to hear the gunshot... and your identity will be discovered... don’t kill me!" The knife-scarred man panicked. Even though his hands and legs were frozen, he crawled to Benjamin’s leg and begged for mercy.
Benjamin listened and nodded.
"It is true, it would be troublesome if the gunshot were to attract people to come here."
Moreover, now that he thought about it, there was no need to waste any bullet at all.
The damage the iced needle inflicted on the knife-scarred man seemed to be very severe, his whole body looked as if it might not recover from the frostbite.He might be able to speak and struggle for now, but he should be dead after a while as his muscles degenerate over time.
He was also no longer able to call his subordinates for help. He had been communicating with his underlings through shouting before this. But with his current state, he has to struggle to even speak, much less shout. His underlings would never be able to hear him. After a while more, He would be unable to speak anymore.
In short, he was a dead man, so to fire the gun at him makes no difference at all.
Benjamin began to keep his gun.
But what Benjamin could conclude from the situation, the knife-scarred man naturally knew better. As soon as he realized that Benjamin planned to leave him alone to die, he quickly begged:" Mage, can... you save me, please? I... I can be your subordinate, I can do a lot of things for you... I... I also know a lot of things, most of them are related to mages..."
Benjamin ignored him and walked towards Jeremy, preparing to drag the unconscious Jeremy out of this place.
"Don’t leave! M...Mage! Save me! Only your spell can save me, I ... I know where to find the crystallized particle ... I will tell you immediately as soon as you save me... mage..."
All of the sudden, Benjamin stopped moving.
He decided to not leave the knife-scarred man here.
He turned around, walked towards the knife-scarred man and stared at him silently.
"It’s true, master mage... I... I only got to know the girl because of the crystallized particle... I know where to find the crystallized particle, I will bring you there as soon as you save me!"
At this moment, the knife-scarred man’s eyes were brimming with hope, just like those of a fish that saw incoming waves after being stranded on a beach.
Benjamin didn’t utter a word. He just stared at the knife-scarred man, deep in thought.
The knife-scarred man became agitated. He repeated what he said before and desperately begged Benjamin. His will to live was fully expressed in his behavior.
However, it seemed like Benjamin wasn’t even paying attention.
He thought for a while and started moving. He bent down and started searching for items on the knife-scarred man’s body. A dagger, a small pouch of coins, a gun, a few boxes of bullets and a map... He took out whatever he found on the knife-scarred man’s body and kept anything that was useful and threw away what was not.
After that, he started chanting and summoned the healing water ball with his hand.
"Thank you! Thank you master mage!" The knife-scarred man was excited. Judging by his looks, it was as if he could not wait to worship Benjamin if he were not frozen.
As soon as the water ball splashed onto the knife-scarred man’s body, Benjamin immediately summoned another water ball.
The knife-scarred man’s injury was severe. It was not something a few water balls could heal. Luckily, Benjamin has greatly improved his skill. The water balls that he summoned were huge and fully capable of healing the injuries.
After twenty plus healing water balls, the knife-scarred man’s injuries were completely healed.
He stood up and excitedly move his limbs. His body was as agile as it was before and not a single hint of frostbite could be observed on his body.
"Master mage, your spells are amazing..." He looked up to Benjamin while praising him.
But what he saw was the gun muzzle.
Bam!
Benjamin held the gun, which the knife-scarred man used to kill the holy knight, aimed in the middle of the eyebrows and pulled the trigger.
The knife-scarred man fell down with an expression full of disbelief, horror and despair. Blood slowly oozed out of the gunshot wound on his forehead. His gaze remained stunned as if he would never understand why Benjamin suddenly changed his mind and killed him after spending so much energy to heal him.
But Benjamin actually never changed his mind. He was going to kill the knife-scarred man from the very beginning.
The knife-scarred man was wicked. Even if he were to be killed a thousand times, Benjamin would not pity him at all. He also did not believe what the knife-scarred man said about the "crystallized particle". A man this cunning and ambitious would not surrender this sincerely. It would be foolish to trust him.
There was only one reason why Benjamin healed him before killing him off: To let the knife-scarred man look as if he did not die under a mage’s hand.
The trip today to the outskirts has already caused a lot of trouble, even the holy knight sent by the church to protect him was dead. If the church found out about this, they will definitely investigate the matter thoroughly. As Benjamin was one of the main characters in this incident, he had better make sure he looked innocent and make up a convincing story.
This was his story: After the holy knight was killed by the knife-scarred man, Jeremy and Benjamin were brought away by the knife-scarred man. He brought them down into the sewers to interrogate Benjamin about Michelle. He killed the knife-scarred man with the gun when the knife-scarred man let his guard down.
While the story sounded a little bit farfetched, it was not impossible to happen.
The knife-scarred man had to die by a gun wound so that his death would perfectly fit into Benjamin’s made up story. This is why he spent so much effort in healing the knife-scarred man, so that there would not be a trace of frostbite on his body.
This was the reason behind his actions just now.
He had to be very careful as he was in the church’s territory.
After killing the knife-scarred man, Benjamin did not even have the time to commemorate his first kill. He needed to carry Jeremy and leave this place immediately. The gunshot would have surely startled the underlings. Benjamin was not sure if they would come down to check things out but he didn’t want to bring on any more problems.
In short, he had to leave this area as soon as possible.
Luckily for him, he had increased his stamina through military training recently. If not for this, he would not be able to carry the unconscious Jeremy. To escape this premise was out of the question too.
However...
Just as he managed to put Jeremy on his back, he suddenly heard a voice behind him.
"Benjamin Lithur, are you the one who used a spell in this premise just now?"
Benjamin was stunned and turned around, only to see a team of holy knights standing at the entrance of the sewer looking at him.
There were a total of fourteen people, each wearing a gorgeous armor that shone even in the sewers.They were positioned neatly with golden sword in their hands. The one who led the team pointed his sword at Benjamin’s throat.
Benjamin’s heart skipped a beat and he felt like his blood rush to his brain.
It was over.
They were the "cleaners."