Chapter 838: The Trail Disappears
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Within ten minutes, the Church had quickly sealed up the capital. No one was allowed to enter or leave. A barrier covering the entire city was even activated. There were no gaps in the 360 degrees shield. Not even a fly could get out.
They had an irrefutable reason: The King had been kidnapped by an evil mage!
Although the situation in Havenwright had become extremely chaotic, but faced with such a fact, naturally, no one could protest. The things that had just happened in St. Peter’s Cathedral were witnessed by everyone. A mage had flown out the main entrance, with the King in tow, and swept down the street, vanished at the end of it. Numerous people had seen that happen with their own eyes. What could they possibly bring up to protest the lockdown of the city this time?
In just half an hour, pictures of Benjamin and the King had been pasted on the walls in every street, big and small. Even the army troops were mobilized, in a desperate search for the whereabouts of the two men. Regrettably, they could not find a single clue, not even until the evening of the same day. Everyone was certain that the mage was still within the city, but they could not find him.
These included the nobles, who were very anxious at the moment...
"Duke Collin, has the honorable Director contacted you yet?"
In the basement of a remote casino located within the outer city district, the heads of a few important noble families of the capital seemed to have all gathered here. Of course they knew the plan this time: to get Benjamin to rescue the King. Even the rioters at the entrance of the cathedral had been employed by them.
Only... The situation before their eyes were somewhat beyond their expectations.
Benjamin had, indeed, successfully rescued the King, but since then, he had disappeared and left no information behind whatsoever. They could only gathered together hurriedly, anxious and panicked, to discuss their next move.
"Not yet," Duke Collin’s face was without a hint of a smile. His face was hard, and he spoke in a difficult to read voice, "I don’t know what on earth happened, but since the situation has reached this point, he should be thinking of a way to contact me."
The other nobles looked at each other. They did not look too good.
"I have a very bad feeling," A fat count suddenly spoked, sounding doubtful. "Duke, sir, do you think... Could it be that the Director has noticed something?"
"Noticed something? How could it be?" Duke Collin’s face changed as he immediately retorted.
"After all, I heard that he had a great battle with the bishops in the cathedral. Perhaps that has caused suspicion to rise in his heart," Nevertheless, the fat count continued to speak. "If he really does vanish with the King and completely loses contact with us, what shall we do?"
"..."
Everyone fell into a deep silence.
This seemed to be a dead end for them. Within that half day, while the Church was searching, they were obviously searching in secret as well. However, Benjamin seemed to have evaporated into thin air, disappearing from the midst of men and completely gone from Havenwright. Not a trace of him could be discovered, anywhere.
Where on earth had he gone to hide?
This was a question that not only the nobles had, but many in the city were scratching their heads about.
At the same time.
In the outer city district of Havenwright, at a remote house in a southern street, a few royal soldiers who were searching for Benjamin everywhere was just about to leave.
"Are you sure that you’ve never seen the man in this picture, and His Majesty the King, who has been kidnapped?"
Hearing that, the old man, who seemed to be the head of the household, squinted and shook his head.
The royal soldier asked again, "So there are only five of you in the family? Your son is sick and bedridden, and the three young ones are your grandchildren."
The old man nodded.
Next to him, a tall and slender young man came forwards, and smiled apologetically at the royal soldier, "This... Look at our grandfather, he is so old now. How is it possible for him to be involved in something as shocking as the kidnapping of His Majesty? Our family is small, what can we hide? Don’t you agree?"
The royal soldier frowned. There were still doubts in his heart, but for some unknown reason, an instinctive feeling was surging up in his heart, telling him that there was nothing wrong with this family, and the truth was... It seemed that there was definitely nothing wrong with this family.
Thus, they turned and left within moments, and continued their search at the next destination.
After the troop left...
"Not bad, but are you sure that influencing the royal soldiers with psychic powers won’t leave clues for the Church to discover?" The young lad suddenly shut the door and turned around to speak to the younger "grandson and granddaughter" behind him.
The grandchildren shook their heads.
"Director, sir, don’t worry. We did not directly influence their spiritual energy. All we did was to add a little hint. No one will discover any trace of it."
Hearing that, the young man- a disguised Benjamin, looked satisfied and nodded.
The process of hiding his identity was going smoother than he had thought.
After escaping the cathedral with the King, he originally had the chance to fly straight out of Havenwright, but a sudden idea had stopped him from doing so. Instead, he escaped to the outer city district and found the mark left by the two siblings, meeting with them here.
This was the task given by Benjamin to the two siblings previously.
Finally, they found an excellent hiding place. It was in a remote area, and there was only an old man who lived alone, with no neighbors nearby. After the old man was hypnotized by psychic powers, they naturally became a normal family of five. Even if it was the royal army who were searching every inch of the place, or the nobles who were secretly digging for information, no one could discover their trail.
Like the interrogation just now.
However, there were still some concerns in Benjamin’s heart. "This old man... Can’t you get him to speak as well? It looks suspicious that he only nods and shakes his head."
"That’s a bit tough," The young lad explained helplessly, "Psychic powers cast within a short period of time can only influence his mental abilities and cause him to imagine things. It’s very difficult to completely control a person’s actions. The nodding and shaking of his head just now was only possible because we’ve implanted an extremely complicated illusion in his brain, to induce those actions out of him. It’s actually really troublesome."
"Alright..."
Benjamin could only accept the fact.
After settling the hypnotized old man, they walked into the bedroom and looked at the "bedridden" King. The two siblings had already studied the spiritual imprint in his brain, but... To successfully control the King seemed to still be quite difficult.
"How long do you need?"
"Another three days, approximately," The young girl answered. "However, even if we succeed, it’s impossible for us to control his every move. At most, we can implant some ideas into his head and cause him to make up some illusions."
Benjamin nodded. "That’s enough."
The crux of the entire matter was for him to have the King in his hands, and cause the Church and those nobles to think so as well.
After encountering the attack by over a dozen bishops in the cathedral, he was beginning to understand something: The Church obviously knew that he had been coming, and had set such a battle plan for him. If it were not that Benjamin had gone a level higher, he might have really fallen into their trap.
So, who leaked the secret?
The nobles were unquestionably involved. Now, what Benjamin suspected was, did Duke Collin know of it? If he had really leaked the secret to the Church, then what on earth was he planning to do?
Benjamin did not forget that the Duke’s own daughter was a mage. Once this secret was revealed, the impact on the Wood family would be humongous.
Because of that, Benjamin decided to stay temporarily in the capital and figure out what was going on in secret here. Otherwise, he would not be able to distinguish friend from foe in the future.
"Quickly activate that spiritual imprint. I need it for something very important," He instructed the two siblings before turning and leaving the bedroom.