Hit the Right Cheek Again

At that moment, a wall of ice suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the trajectory of [Pyroblast]. The massive fireball slammed into the bone-chilling ice wall, sending sparks flying everywhere. The scattered flames caught Brando's servants, burning those arrogant bullies until they howled like ghosts and wolves.

For a time, the entire inn hall was thrown into chaos. In truth, when the argument had first begun, some cowardly people had already slipped away. But many who wanted to see Brando suffer had stayed behind. Now, they had nearly been caught in the crossfire.

Some crashed through doors, while others climbed out windows. Within seconds, everyone except the miserable innkeeper and those directly involved had fled in a panic.

Old Norton had only acted now because he had his reasons. At first, he had intended to mediate. After all, Stormwind's mages had countless ties to the nobility, and it would not do to make things too tense. Unlike Dalaran, the transcendent holy land of human mages devoted purely to magical research, Stormwind's mages often held public office within the Stormwind Kingdom.

Even Norton himself was a member of the Royal Mage Corps. But seeing that Brando had gone beyond mere intimidation and begun making death threats, Old Norton had already made up his mind. Even if Duke had not acted, he would have stepped in to deal with Fam Brando.

He had not expected Brando to say, right in front of him, that he wanted to kill his mage apprentice. It was practically a slap across his face. He had been about to intervene, but who would have thought that Duke, this so-called apprentice, knew a godlike skill as absurdly overpowered as [Presence of Mind]?

In that brief moment of distraction, disaster had nearly struck.

If Duke had truly killed Brando while Norton was present, it would have become an incident that shook the entire kingdom.

He had no choice but to block that fireball for Brando first.

When Duke suddenly turned and shot him two murderous looks, Old Norton could not help but smile bitterly. This kid actually hated him too.

Just as Old Norton was about to say something, he suddenly noticed that the guards from Northshire Abbey had arrived. The one leading them was Vice Captain Viri. More surprisingly, four guards behind him carried in a crude stretcher.

Without a word, Viri directly lifted the covering cloth from the stretcher.

What useless noble like Brando had ever seen such a bloody, horrifying corpse?

The moment he saw the blood-red human leg bones that had been gnawed down to bare bone in several places, Brando vomited on the spot. "Blech!"

Viri spoke. "I recognize this pair of expensive boots. He should be one of your men, Sir Brando, right?"

Faced with Viri's questioning, Brando finally nodded after struggling to finish vomiting. "Yes! He was Gasco! My servant, a rogue!" Then Brando pointed at Duke. "He killed my servant!"

Duke sneered and was about to say something when Viri unexpectedly cut him off.

"That can't be right! I ran into him when he left Northshire Abbey in the middle of last night. I advised him not to enter Elwynn Forest at night, but he refused to listen... In the end... he must have been unlucky enough to be attacked by Murlocs."

Viri's vivid explanation left Duke momentarily stunned instead.

Then he saw Viri turn toward him and wink.

Duke immediately understood and chimed in, "That's right! Mr. Gasco must have only just arrived at Northshire Abbey. Alone and unfamiliar with the area, he was probably too excited to sleep at night. Then he accidentally wandered into Elwynn Forest, ran into some Murlocs that would eat anything with meat on it, and ended up getting eaten."

When Fam Brando heard that, he was so angry his lungs nearly exploded.

Wasn't that the very script he had made up for Gasco to carry out?

Just as no one could produce evidence proving that he had been responsible, with the patrol captain as a witness, he likewise could not prove that Duke had done it.

Covering his face with one hand, Brando pointed at Duke with a trembling finger. "You... you... you..."

After saying "you" three times in a row, he could not continue. Then an idea flashed through his mind, and he immediately said, "Then what about him hitting me? The grave sin of insulting Thoradin's bloodline..."

"Enough!" Old Norton, who had seemed the most composed of them all, suddenly roared. The magic-laden shout nearly shattered every pane of glass in the inn hall.

He picked up the dagger lying beside the corpse, his wrinkled old hand trembling.

As an exceptionally experienced old mage, how could he fail to recognize the [Mind-Numbing Poison] on it? This was something rogues specifically used against mages. A mage stabbed by it would have a high chance of needing significantly more time to cast spells for a short period.

This stuff was not easy to obtain!

It was not only expensive, but extremely rare. Other than those wealthy nobles who deeply feared mages, ordinary rogues simply could not get their hands on it!

Even if Norton had been an idiot, he would have known how vicious and underhanded Brando had been this time.

He had been too careless. He had assumed that, with the status of an apprentice from the Royal Academy of Magic, Brando would not dare lay a hand on Duke. Now it seemed he had still underestimated Brando's madness. What had happened last night was obvious: Brando had sent this rogue named Gasco to assassinate Duke. For some reason, Duke had escaped disaster and killed Gasco instead.

No wonder Duke was so furious.

Anyone would be furious after nearly being killed.

Old Norton's deduction was basically correct. The only thing he got wrong was that it had not been "nearly killed." Duke had truly been killed.

Old Norton was furious too. He pointed at Brando's still-intact face and said—

"Ah! A mosquito!"

How could Duke fail to understand? He lunged forward in a single step, his left hand whipping out like a cyclone.

Smack— Right in front of Brando's servants, the guards, and nearly a hundred spectators who had once been bullied by Brando, Duke slapped him again.

They could clearly see that one of Brando's molars near his right cheek had been knocked flying. The blood-streaked tooth spun through the air countless times before landing on a table with a clatter, still spinning even after it fell.

Looking at Norton standing before him, his white hair and beard billowing with intense magical fluctuations, Brando was completely dumbfounded. His once-overbearing eyes held nothing but bewilderment and fear.

"Tell your elders that if I find out you try anything against Duke again, then wait for me to burn your castle to the ground." With that, Norton turned and left without looking back. As he went, he grabbed Duke by the shoulder and dragged him away.

Almost as soon as they stepped outside, he tossed back one final sentence from afar. "Oh, and your mage apprentice qualification for this year has been revoked. I'm the chief examiner, and what I say goes. Not even Medivh could make me change my mind!"