Black Hearted Mage

"I heard that the convoy carrying food to Gravel Castle was set on fire by the Saint Laurents. You only killed a few attackers, and most of them jumped into the Emerald River to escape!"

After Geralt left, Caesar asked the three people.

"That's true. Until now, we haven't figured out how the Saint Laurent people got here. We have more than ten teams patrolling the banks of the Emerald River day and night, but we haven't found anything!" The spy chief said helplessly.

"Sir Carlos, if I knew how the Saint Laurents got here, could I get some of the bounty? Oh, and I killed three of Saint Laurent's assassins yesterday. I'll collect the bounty from you as well!"

Caesars brought out the three bodies and sat back on the sofa. The bodies were incredibly strange. Two of them had extremely pale skin, and one looked like a mummy. Even Duke Solomon, not to mention the experienced Carlos, noticed something was amiss.

"Gad, look at the cause of death of these people!"

Duke Solomon looked at the corpses and said to the old magician.

Old Gard nodded. He, too, was intrigued by the strange corpse. As a magician, he always harbored an inquisitive mind. He crouched down and meticulously examined the corpse with his magical tentacles, leaving no inch untouched.

Carlos, who was wearing a mask, was also watching with great interest. He was not in a hurry to know the means by which the Saint Laurent people came.

After a few minutes, Old Gad stopped casting the spell, stood up, and sat back in his chair.

"Both bodies died of natural causes. They were first struck by a powerful impact spell and then collided with a hard object. Their bones have multiple cracks and their internal organs are almost completely shattered. They lost their ability to resist almost instantly and died in agonizing pain!"

After saying this, Old Gard picked up the teacup, took a sip, and stroked the beard hanging on his chest.

"Gad, you haven't told me there's a body left!" Duke Solomon urged.

"Don't worry, I need to sort out my thoughts first!"

"Then hurry up!"

A few minutes later, Old Gad spoke up, "The third corpse was struck by a dark spell, an incredibly powerful one. I've never seen this spell in books, so it must be new. This spell directly destroys vitality and the body at the same time, which is why the corpse looks like a mummy!"

"Gad, how strong is the attack of this spell?" Carlos asked.

Old Gard said, "It's hard to say. We need to use magic instruments to test it. However, magicians have higher spell resistance, which can slightly reduce some of the spell damage. But for other professions, they should bear the full amount of such spell damage!"

Old Gard's detailed comments surprised Caesar. The opponent's magic detection was too powerful.

"Kaissa, how did those Saint Laurents who like to launch sneak attacks come here so quietly?"

The three corpses took the spy chief away, and now it was his turn to worry about other things. Caesars did not answer him directly, but took out a crystal bottle from his space ring, which contained some milky white potion.

“That’s how the Saint Laurents cross the river!”

Carlos took the crystal bottle, opened the cap and smelled it. He also got a few bottles of this potion, which were found on the bodies of the Saint Laurents. Even Gad didn't know the purpose of this potion.

"Kaisas, I have a few bottles of the same potion. Gad has studied it for a few days, but I still don't know its specific use. Tell me, what exactly are these potions used for!"

"The Saint Laurent people relied on this potion to come from the bottom of the Emerald River. This is an underwater breathing potion, a very unpopular alchemical potion. The formula of this potion should have flowed out from the Ludwig School of Magic!" Kaisas said slowly.

"This is an alchemical formula from six thousand years ago. No wonder I can't see the purpose of this potion. The Ludwig School of Magic has been destroyed, and it was destroyed by its students. This is a heartbreaking result!"

The old magician sighed a few words. With the destruction of the ancient magic academy, a large number of magic books were also destroyed, and hundreds of magicians were buried with them.

"Can I really breathe underwater after drinking this potion?"

Duke Solomon asked, and Gad and Carlos were waiting for the answer.

"No, after drinking this potion, you don't need to breathe for half an hour, that is, you hold your breath for half an hour. The Emerald River is not too wide, and the Saint Laurent people came from the bottom of the river, so your people patrolled the river day and night and did not find any enemies. Lord Carlos, please cash the bounty first!" Caesar said with a smile.

"Kaisas, the bounty is just a few magic crystals. As long as you can provide the alchemical formula for underwater breathing potion, I can give you 20,000 magic crystals!"

The spy chief offered a very tempting price, but Caesars really didn't know the alchemy formula.

"Lord Carlos, I'm not an alchemist, so how can I know the specific alchemical formula? But I do know the main ingredients for the underwater breathing potion. Since we are old friends, I will give you a friendly price of two thousand magic crystals!"

"make a deal!"

Carlos took out a small wooden box and placed it directly next to Caesar's hand. This was not a reward for Caesar, but to establish a long-term beneficial relationship.

"The liver of the deep-sea black-scaled fish! Since Lord Carlos is so forthcoming, I'll tell you where the black-scaled fish comes from. The Black Water Bay in the northeast of the Roland Empire is only three or four hundred miles away from Fire Maple City!"

"That place is the fief of a minor noble. It's so remote and covered with rocks that there's almost no arable land!"

As soon as Caesar finished speaking, Duke Solomon thought of the Blackwater Bay and asked, "Caesar, is the production of black-scaled fish high?"

"Very low. Black-scaled fish are bottom-dwelling fish, living only on the seabed. The Blackwater Bay is too deep to catch them with a net, so they can only be caught with a hook. This fish has hard bones on its body, with almost no meat. Most people wouldn't eat it!"

Although Kaisas didn't understand alchemy, he had a clear memory of the diagrams of various alchemical materials. Black-scaled fish preferred to live in reefs. While they didn't prey on each other, they were very fond of eating the eggs of their own kind, which was the main reason for their relative rarity.

Duke Solomon continued, "Are there no black-scaled fish in other places?"

"Black-scaled fish are cold-water fish. They can also be found in the polar ice seas. I don't think anyone would go fishing there!"

Reaching the polar seas is impossible by sea; the massive icebergs could shred ships. Traveling overland is also extremely difficult, requiring passage through the northern steppes, the desolate northern plateau, and the frozen canyons of the Icecrown Mountains. Once in the vast expanse of ice, one faces a variety of ferocious ice beasts. It takes more than two months of trekking across the ice to reach the bone-chilling polar seas.

Duke Solomon said with emotion: "Without the permission of the northerners, we can't even cross the prairie!"

"Lord Carlos, please give me a token that allows me to enter and exit Gravel Castle freely. I want to take a look around. The bottom of the Emerald River is not flat, and the water is quite turbulent. It is not easy to cross the river. I guess the Saint Laurents have built a steel cable at the bottom of the river!"

When the spy chief heard this, he trembled all over and then took out a silver metal plate and threw it to Caesar.

"When you hold this token, you will become Hawkeye's deputy commander, and the patrol team can be deployed at any time. As long as you can cut off the Saint Laurent people's underwater route, I will commend you to His Majesty!"

Carlos said loudly, which surprised Duke Solomon, because that was the token of Deputy Commander Hawkeye.

"I only want the magic crystal. Killing the Saint Laurents will earn me a bounty. I don't care about the title of honorary noble at all, and I don't even want the title of actual noble!"

Caesar's mission is to overthrow the Saint Laurent Church, but the Saint Laurent Empire is a huge roadblock. For the time being, he can only rely on the power of the Roland Empire to weaken the extremely hypocritical Saint Laurent Empire first.

Duke Solomon asked, "Caesars, what if I give you an earldom?"

"I don't care about the Dukedom either! I'm a magician. Territory is just an invisible constraint for me, and power is the same constraint. For example, this magician Gad, if I remember correctly, we met twenty years ago. It was in the ruins of Ludwig Castle. You were already a great magician back then, and I was just a magic apprentice!"

The old magician widened his eyes and looked at Caesar in shock. He still vaguely remembered what happened that year.

"You were the apprentice who followed Roman back then!"

"Yes, I was the apprentice back then. You were just bound, and you are still the same after twenty years!" Caesars said bluntly.

Gad's face flushed slightly; a young man had touched a sore spot. Gad was born into a commoner family, but his exceptional magical talent allowed him to attend the Imperial Capital Magic Academy. He learned magic for free, but upon becoming a magician, he was required to serve the Roland Empire for a hundred years.

A hundred years had passed, and Garde had grown accustomed to the comforts of the Royal Mage Corps. After becoming a Grand Mage, he lost his ambition and instead became a frequent guest of honor at the Imperial Capital's nobles.

"Young man, it's good to have strength, but don't be too proud and complacent!"

As a great magician, Gad also had to save his face, so he said something to Caesar in a light tone.

"Since I became a Grand Mage, I've never had the opportunity to fight someone of equal strength. I wonder if Mage Gad is willing to engage in a magic battle with me?"

With a smile on his face and a sincere gaze, Caesars extended his right hand toward Gad, bowed slightly, and extended an invitation to Gad with an extremely elegant gesture. This invitation was like a fluttering butterfly, light yet solemn, attracting everyone's attention.

Duke Solomon and Carlos, standing nearby, were surprised. However, they didn't say anything to stop the two men. Instead, they watched them with great interest, seemingly full of anticipation for the exciting duel between the two great magicians.

Faced with Caesar's sudden invitation, Old Gard was stunned at first, then his eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief. He hadn't participated in any form of magical combat in years, and at this moment, he was inevitably uneasy.

After a moment's thought, Old Gard took a deep breath, shook his head without hesitation, and said, "I'm sorry, Magician Caesars, I have to decline your kindness. I'm old and frail, and I don't want to engage in these intense magical battles anymore."

Hearing Old Gard's refusal so bluntly, Caesars's eyes flashed with disappointment. He shrugged helplessly and sighed, "Alas, what a pity!"

Just as Caesars was feeling sorry for this, a rapid sound of bells suddenly broke the silence at the scene - "Ding Ding Ding Ding!"

The resounding, clear bell rang from Gravel Fort, as if foreshadowing something ominous. At the same time, the communication stone Carlos carried suddenly shimmered with magical light, followed by a burst of anxious cries. It turned out to be the Saint Laurent Empire's ironclad ship, which had once again crossed the centerline of the Emerald River and was conducting a thorough reconnaissance of Gravel Fort.

Carlos immediately turned around and walked towards the crystal wall in the south. On the wide river, a pitch-black ship was approaching the Roland Empire.

Caesars also walked over and looked at the strange-looking ship on the vast water.

"Master Carlos, is this ship built of magic steel?"

"No, it's made of ordinary steel, but it's a bit thick. Ironclad ships won't come to the north bank, they'll just float in the Emerald River. Heavy magic steel crossbows will have a hard time penetrating them."

"Are there any heavy weapons on the ironclad ship?"

Caesars stood by the parapet on the top floor of the rubble fortress, his gaze fixed on the distant river. There, a tortoise-shell-like ironclad ship loomed. The ship wasn't large, roughly estimated to be only six or seven meters long. It looked incredibly sturdy. Aside from a few narrow windows, it was impossible to see inside the cabin from the outside. Even more striking was the lack of weapons mounted on the exterior of the ironclad ship.

Carlos said, "There are no heavy weapons on this ship. It's only equipped with a few magic steel longbows. If they want to shoot arrows, they must first get out of the cabin. In the river, the water flow and wind and waves will cause the ship to shake constantly, so even if they can really shoot arrows, it's just a show!"

Hearing this, the corners of Kaisas' mouth curled up slightly, and a hint of excitement flashed in his eyes: "In that case, let me use it to test out new spells!"

Kaisas climbed up the half-man-high guardrail, quickly cast a series of buff spells on himself, and after activating the magic shield, he jumped.

Under the shocked gaze of the spy chief, Caesars jumped without hesitation and jumped directly from the rubble fortress which was more than 50 meters high!

Duke Solomon's heart suddenly tightened, and an ominous premonition came over him. He hurried towards the edge of the wall. When he finally arrived at the edge of the wall, the scene before him made him stand there in disbelief.