Black Hearted Mage

Although this was a richly decorated carriage that belied its aristocratic status, as it slowly entered the inner city of the imperial capital, it was mercilessly stopped by the heavily armed guards. For a moment, the atmosphere became somewhat tense.

Fortunately, Caesars, who was sitting inside the carriage, reacted in time. He quickly pulled out a mysteriously glowing mage badge from his pocket and handed it to the guards. Seeing the badge, which symbolized powerful magic, the guards, who had been stern, suddenly changed their attitude. They saluted Caesars respectfully and signaled to let the carriage pass without further inspection.

At this moment, the little girl riding in the carriage with Caesars couldn't help but complain, "Caesars, how dare the guards here stop the Viscount's carriage! That's too much!"

Caesars smiled slightly and patiently explained, "Jessica, don't underestimate the inner city of Fire Maple City. Here, a Viscount is merely the lowest-ranking noble. And our Viscount Sarath is merely a minor noble from the countryside, so his title is of no use here!"

Since the driver wasn't familiar with the complex roads of the imperial capital's inner city, Caesars had to stay by the window, guiding him. Meanwhile, the little girl, Jessica, was completely captivated by the bustling scene outside. Like a curious kitten, she clung to the window, watching everything unfold with unblinking eyes.

After a while, Jessica turned around and asked Caesar expectantly, "Caesar, where are we going?"

Caesars smiled mysteriously and replied, "Don't worry, we are going to visit an old man's castle and sell him the dead leaf snake we caught. Then you can use the snake bag to fill it with golden coins!"

Hearing this, Jessica almost jumped up with excitement. Her eyes turned into crescent moons and she nodded without hesitation, indicating that she believed every word Caesars said.

In this way, under Caesar's accurate guidance, the carriage galloped all the way, and soon it stopped steadily in front of a towering and huge castle.

At the castle gate stood an extremely burly guard. He took a sharp look at the emblem on the carriage and said to the coachman expressionlessly, "Carriages are not allowed to enter the castle yard. They must be parked outside!"

Caesars was a little helpless. Delon didn't recognize the emblem of the country nobles, so he could only lead Jessica out of the car.

"Commander Delon, the Duke is in the castle, right?"

"Yes, I just came out of the castle. The Duke said that you got a large amount of gold coins in the Black Prison. I admire you very much. It has always been the spy chief who snatched the gold coins. I didn't expect that he could still take out the gold coins!" Delon looked like a thief and whispered to Caesars.

"You've heard about this! Are there any secrets left in Fire Maple City?"

Caesar pretended to be very confused, but in fact he was blaming the damned commander of the guards. Even if he knew it, he didn't need to say it out loud.

"It's a secret to others, but it's certainly not a secret to us!"

"Delong, have you seen my magic badge? In a few years, I'll be able to beat you to the ground!"

Caesar spoke modestly, and the guard commander beside him stared wide-eyed, carefully examining the magic badge he wore. It was the badge of a high-level magician from the North Tower. If the two of them were at a distance, Caesar would have beaten him to the ground right now.

Delon wanted to say a few flattering words, but Caesars didn't give him a chance and led Jessica towards the castle.

In the spacious and bright hall of the Duke's Castle, there were five or six figures dressed in gorgeous aristocratic robes standing respectfully, listening attentively to the majestic speech of Duke Solomon.

At this moment, a cheerful voice suddenly broke the solemnity: "Your Excellency the Duke, it seems that I have come at a really bad time!"

The speaker was Caesars, a bright smile on his face as he strode into the hall. Although he apologized, his actions were unceremonious. He led Jessica calmly to the hall and sat down on a plush sofa to one side. He waved to the maids nearby, asking them to quickly serve him and Jessica fragrant hot tea and delicious snacks.

Duke Solomon turned to look at the uninvited guy, frowned slightly, and said with a hint of dissatisfaction: "Why are you here again? You don't even inform me every time you come in. You treat this place like your own home!"

However, facing the Duke's rebuke, Caesars didn't seem to care. Instead, he responded with a playful smile: "Oh, Your Excellency, do we still need so much formality between us? Besides, I have brought you a surprise!"

As he spoke, Caesars opened the hide bag and pulled out a two-meter-long, sturdy leaf snake. The snake's scales were covered in diamond-shaped markings of varying shades, like withered leaves.

Seeing these precious prey, Duke Solomon couldn't help but show surprise and asked, "Caesars, you have no shortage of gold coins, why are you catching these snakes?"

The old duke slowly sat down on the sofa, and his descendants of varying ages gathered around him curiously. Seeing Caesars holding the dangerous leaf snake in his hands, their hearts trembled.

Caesars chuckled and explained, "Duke Solomon, to be honest, I'm really short of gold! My magic training requires a lot of resources, and I consume five or six magic crystals every day. I only got a small portion of the magic crystals I received from Lord Carlos before, which is not enough! That's why I wanted to get some rare items and exchange them for some gold coins from you."

"Anyone of you who wants the dead leaf snake has to pay with gold coins!" said the old duke lightly.

"Five hundred gold coins each, I want them all!"

A young man said impatiently. As soon as he finished speaking, the old duke coughed. "One per person, don't embarrass yourself here!"

Duke Solomon knew that if he didn't intervene, his descendants would immediately quarrel. He also knew that having too many heirs was an irreconcilable conflict. He knew even more clearly that if he died, the entire Dukedom would immediately erupt in bloodshed.

Each of the old duke's descendants held an exquisitely crafted magic steel cage. All Caesar had to do was place the captured dead leaf snakes into their cages.

In just a few moments, five withered, yellow snakes, resembling fallen leaves, were successfully placed in the cage. With the transaction complete, a total of 2,500 glittering gold coins fell into the animal hide bag Jessica was carrying.

Caesars didn't choose to stay at the Duke's Mansion. After he successfully sold the dead leaf snake, he immediately took Jessica to the bustling commercial district. Along the way, the two talked and laughed, and their mood was particularly happy.

"Jessica, how is it? I told you that you can earn gold coins, and now they are all in your pocket!" Caesar shook the heavy animal skin bag in his hand with a proud look on his face, and a crisp and pleasant collision sound came from it.

"Uh-huh!"

Jessica nodded excitedly, her big eyes sparkling with surprise. After all, for this innocent and lovely little girl, this was the first time she had ever seen such a large number of gold coins. She was filled with admiration for Caesar.

The smile on Caesar's face quickly disappeared. He looked at Jessica beside him seriously and said, "Jessica, the adulterated maple leaf candy I bought before was sold by this shop in front. How dare they cheat me out of my gold coins!"

The shop, specializing in selling all kinds of fire maple products, stood quietly there. The fire maple syrup Caesars had purchased earlier had come from this shop. He couldn't help but feel a surge of rage at the thought of being tricked by this merchant. Today, he would show these unscrupulous merchants the terrible price they would pay for deceiving a magician!

"Don't worry, I can tell if it's fake just by tasting it!" said the little girl seriously.

"Master Mage, what would you like to buy?"

The guys in the shop still remembered Caesar and greeted the customers with great enthusiasm.

“Take a taste of everything you can eat!”

"Okay, Master Mage, please wait a moment!"

When the clerk turned around to go about his business, he saw a fat middle-aged man in his forties or fifties sitting behind the counter, smiling happily. His smile was very obscene, as if he had foreseen countless glittering gold coins about to fall into his pocket.

Just then, a clear and surprised voice rang out: "Huh? They actually sell leaves here, and they're not even the bright red leaves of autumn!"

The person who spoke was Jessica. At this moment, she was staring at the bags of fire maple leaves in front of her with wide eyes, her eyes full of confusion and curiosity. Because these leaves in front of her were not as bright red as people imagined, but showed a relatively dull hue.

Caesars, standing nearby, nodded in agreement after hearing Jessica's words. He knew that only in autumn could the Flame Maple leaves emit their most intense and intoxicating fragrance. As for Flame Maple leaves in other seasons, they were just ordinary leaves, nothing special.

Before long, the nimble servant brought a variety of fire maple products to them, including crystal-clear fire maple sap, sweet and rich fire maple syrup, and hard fire maple sugar cubes.

Jessica picked up a glass of fire maple sap, as pure and transparent as water. She carefully brought it close to her nose and sniffed the unique aroma. Then she frowned slightly, as if she was not very satisfied with the taste, and slowly put down the exquisite crystal glass in her hand.

"There's not even a drop of fire maple sap in it!" Jessica widened her eyes, looked at the thing in front of her in disbelief, and shouted angrily.

"Don't be in a hurry. How about trying this fire maple syrup?" Caesars said as he handed a cup of red and slightly sticky syrup to Jessica.

Jessica took the bottle, sniffed it gently, then frowned, put the crystal glass in her hand heavily on the table, and said with disgust: "What is this? It smells bitter and burnt. It must be brewed with fire maple leaves! It smells so bad!"

Seeing this, Caesars quickly took out another piece of candy and handed it to her, "Then try this piece of fire maple candy!"

Jessica stretched out her delicate little hand, grabbed the candy, and stuffed it into her mouth without hesitation. However, the next second, she spat it out with a "poof," fanning her mouth with her hands, complaining, "Oh, Caesars, this is terrible! It's not even as good as the last time you bought it. There's no maple syrup in it at all; it's all made with maltose and tree leaves. It tastes terrible!"

"Little girl, don't talk nonsense here. Open your eyes and take a good look. Everything in our store is genuine and we don't cheat anyone!"

The middle-aged man with a ferocious face sitting at the counter slammed the table and roared with his eyes wide open. The sound was deafening, as if it would overturn the whole room. He stared at the thin Jessica fiercely and scolded her loudly without mercy.

However, before the middle-aged man could continue his outburst, Caesars, standing nearby, suddenly took action. He extended his right hand and pointed at the middle-aged man. A mysterious light instantly shot out from his fingertips, flying straight towards the roaring middle-aged man. In an instant, a verbal curse was cast.

The middle-aged man felt his throat tighten, and the curse words on the tip of his tongue were forcibly bitten back. But that wasn't the end yet. Caesars cast another spell—the Curse of Weakness. The arrogant middle-aged man, so arrogant just moments ago, collapsed to the ground like a deflated ball. He opened his mouth to speak, but only a faint, mumbled sound came out, and he finally collapsed to the ground, exhausted.

Seeing this, Caesars turned to look at the guys who were already trembling with fear, his eyes revealing a hint of anger and impatience: "Don't just stand there, get this ignorant old man out of here! Also, get everyone else who doesn't care to leave here, I'm going to tear this shabby shop to pieces!"

Upon hearing this, one of the braver shop assistants stepped forward tremblingly and stammered, "M-Mage, please calm down! This shop belongs to Earl Solam. If you destroy it like this, I'm afraid it will cause a lot of trouble!"

"Humph! I don't care whose shop this is! If anyone dares to stop me today, don't blame me for being ruthless and make him stay here forever!"

Caesars folded his arms and responded with a look of disdain. He glanced at the hushed crowd around him and shouted, "Are you leaving or not? If you don't want to live, stay and try!"