The Choice of a Pawn

"Young Master, there doesn't seem to be anything to eat in the kitchen. Only these two pieces of bread are left!"

While Benjamin sat on his bed, clutching the letter and lost in thought, Jeremy returned from the kitchen. Before he had even stepped through the door, Benjamin heard him shout this.

Benjamin felt another jolt of alarm. To prevent anyone from noticing anything unusual, he hurriedly shoved the letter and envelope back under his pillow, smoothed away any traces of abnormality, and turned around to watch Jeremy walk in.

Jeremy stood at the doorway holding the bread, looking at him, and he looked back at Jeremy. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

"Young Master, did something happen?" Jeremy asked, sounding puzzled as he seemed to sense the strange atmosphere.

"It's nothing. Give me the bread; this is enough. It's hard to get other food at a time like this, isn't it?" Benjamin quickly spoke up, changing the subject.

"Oh, yes." Jeremy responded blankly. He didn't seem to think much of it and handed the bread to Benjamin.

Benjamin took the bread and looked at Jeremy. Still afraid that he might ask more questions, he immediately followed up, giving Jeremy no room to think:

"What about the task I gave you earlier? How did that go?"

At this question, Jeremy's attention was completely diverted. He wore a flustered expression, his hands fumbling in his pockets for a long time until he finally pulled out a wooden cross from his jacket pocket.

He handed the cross to Benjamin. "Young Master, I bought it for you."

Benjamin's emotions had mostly stabilized. He glanced at the cross in Jeremy's hand, put on his best "leader inspecting the troops" poker face, and let out a hum through his nose without saying a word, appearing completely inscrutable.

"Young Master?" Jeremy grew nervous all of a sudden and asked cautiously.

Benjamin glanced at Jeremy again and suddenly said, "This isn't the right thing."

Jeremy's expression became even more flustered; he had likely forgotten all about the previous matter.

"Go back, find the carpenter in the east, and tell him this isn't what I wanted. He will understand what I mean." Benjamin remained silent for a moment before continuing to issue orders.

Hearing this, Jeremy's eyebrows knitted together again. "Now?"

Benjamin nodded. "Yes, leave right now."

Jeremy's face drooped once more.

Sending a manservant out in the middle of the night was sure to attract the attention of The Church, and once The Church found nothing, their focus on Jeremy would likely diminish significantly. Therefore, even if it was late at night, Benjamin had no choice but to put Jeremy through a bit more trouble.

Everything was for the sake of obtaining Annie's relic.

Although Michelle's letter had disrupted all of Benjamin's plans, he did not intend to give up on this piece. He did not believe Michelle would sincerely teach him magic. On the other hand, he dared not follow her every wish; who knew what kind of conspiracy this woman might have?

He still trusted himself more.

"Young Master, I'm leaving. If the butler asks, please remember to explain it clearly to him, otherwise, my pay will be docked."

Having already experienced one long errand, Jeremy didn't complain anymore. He left the room with a mournful face, clutching the cross. Benjamin nodded, offered an encouraging smile, and watched him head off on another long-distance delivery.

He trusted Jeremy relatively well, but not to the extent of letting him know so much. After all, since it involved magic, he had to send this simple-minded and timid servant away.

One had to realize that the brainwashing work of The Church was quite effective. In the eyes of the general public, mages were the embodiment of demons, unforgivable villains. No matter how loyal Jeremy was to him, it would likely be difficult for him to understand his actions. Keeping him in the dark was a good thing for both parties.

Once Jeremy was far away, Benjamin stepped forward and closed the door.

He let out a sigh of relief.

It was fortunate that it was just his manservant, who wasn't very bright and was easy to dismiss. If someone else had come, he really wouldn't have known what to do. Even if it had been the previous butler, he would likely have harbored suspicions and spread rumors.

Having few and dim-witted servants was indeed frustrating, but from another perspective, it was a good thing.

He closed the windows, drew the curtains, and confirmed that he would not be disturbed by anyone else. Benjamin reached under his pillow and took out Michelle's letter again.

To him, the importance of this letter at this moment was self-evident. He had only read the beginning and was already breaking out in a cold sweat.

He had to finish the rest.

In fact, there were two sheets of paper in the envelope. At first, Benjamin thought Michelle had a lot to say, which was why she wrote on two sheets. But soon, he realized how wrong he was.

The entire content of the first sheet, aside from the first sentence—"You have great talent for magic; in ten days, I will come to teach you"—was just a specific instruction:

"After reading this, burn this page, then take the second page to the Bishop of St. Peter's Cathedral and convince him to believe the contents. There are many ways to contact the Bishop; I don't think I need to teach you that."

Seeing Michelle's demand to hand the letter to The Church, Benjamin already felt a sense of foreboding. And after reading the second page, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh, a wave of intense powerlessness surging in his heart.

The content on the second sheet was: "In five days, meet me at the Prison Ruins in the Lower District. Don't try anything clever; the first time the curse takes effect is almost here, and you will wish you were dead."

Benjamin felt a chill run down his spine.

He had underestimated Michelle once again.

This witch's ambition was too great. She didn't just want Benjamin to obtain the Riser Family's Treasure Vault for her; she had even calculated The Church into her plans. She wanted to use Benjamin to set a trap, lure the people of The Church to the Lower District in five days, and then take fierce revenge on them.

This was no longer a struggle between him and Michelle; this was a struggle between Michelle and The Church. And he was merely a pawn in Michelle's hand.

What should he do? What could he do?

Michelle had truly seen through all his thoughts.

If he really did as Michelle said and handed the second page to The Church, they would likely fall for the trap, head to the Prison Ruins in five days, and walk right into Michelle's snare. In this way, The Church would be struck, and Michelle could act even more unscrupulously.

If Benjamin didn't hand the second page to The Church, the curse would make him suffer immensely. At the same time, he would lose the aid of The Church and face Michelle alone, which would also be a very dangerous situation.

And if Benjamin used reverse psychology and handed both pages to The Church... they would discover his magic and purify him on the spot.

Not to mention if he burned both letters and lied, claiming the letter had spontaneously combusted, and tried to persuade The Church with empty words. The Bishop was a cunning old fox; without concrete clues from Michelle, would he believe him? He would pretend to believe him, then, just like last time, spout a bunch of flowery words and throw out some irrelevant information without providing any substantial aid—he didn't have another relic to find, so this time, the information would truly be irrelevant.

All roads led to hell; no matter how he played this move, it was a narrow escape from death.

Benjamin found himself sinking into despair once again.

"Ahhhhh... what do I do?" He covered his face, looking completely distraught, not even in the mood to eat the bread in his hand.

"Hmm... perhaps you should listen to Michelle. Didn't she also say she would teach you magic?" The system pondered for a moment and then offered this suggestion.

"And then what? I learn her magic and become the next Sally, the next Annie, or even worse. My life is in her hands; do you think she'll sincerely treat me as a companion? Or do you think she'll voluntarily lift the curse for me? That's wishful thinking." Benjamin shook his head and said.

"That's true." The system gave a rare normal response, though its normalcy was completely useless.

Benjamin fell into deep thought. He felt all his thoughts flying around in his mind, a massive pressure weighing down on him, shadows looming, forcing him to make a choice in a short amount of time.

He had to decide as soon as possible.

If he wanted to hand the letter to the Bishop, he had to set off tonight. After today, the "five days" in the letter would become "four days," and it would be very difficult for him to explain all this to the Bishop; any explanation would only lead to the Bishop's distrust.

And if he tried to use the time difference between "five days" and "four days" to stir up trouble, the result would only be worse. The Bishop would arrive to find nothing and then lower his trust in Benjamin; Michelle would feel that Benjamin was disobedient, and the curse would make his life a living hell.

Benjamin was caught in a dilemma.

He was caught between The Church and Michelle; The Church wanted to use him to catch Michelle, and Michelle wanted to use him to strike at The Church. One wrong move, and he would end up with a result that pleased neither side. It was truly difficult to handle both sides with ease. But he had to do it, otherwise, he would have little chance of turning the tables.

Ultimately, he had to make a decision that would maximize his own interests.

—In this extremely short amount of time.

The wall clock in the corner emitted nine chimes, as if even it had become tactless, urging the distraught Benjamin.

Dong... dong... dong... dong...

When the ninth chime ended, he finally stood up.

The Royal Capital had a curfew starting at ten o'clock; no one was allowed to wander the streets after ten. If he wanted to return to the Riser Family before ten, he had to set off now.

That's right, set off. He had finally made his decision. He would do as Michelle said, hand the second page of the letter to the Bishop, and lead the people from the cathedral to the Lower District for Michelle.

He took the letter to the table, burned the first page with the flame of an oil lamp, and poured the ashes into the chamber pot.

As he did so, he thought that his fate with the chamber pot was quite deep.

"Are you really planning to follow Michelle's plan entirely? If The Church suffers a heavy blow, who knows if they'll take their anger out on you? Don't be impulsive." The system gave a rare, kind reminder.

Benjamin did not show a surprised expression. While preparing to go to the cathedral, he answered in his heart: "The Church might indeed get angry at me. But, if I also fall into the trap and suffer heavy injuries, or even nearly lose my life, would The Church still suspect me?"

The system suddenly realized: "You're planning to use a bitter-meat trick!"

Benjamin sighed, nodded, and answered helplessly: "If you want to gain something, you have to sacrifice something. If I'm injured badly enough, I might even gain the trust of The Church, and then everything will be worth it."

The system fell silent again upon hearing this, perhaps weighing Benjamin's choice, or perhaps just looping a series of commercials in its head.

Benjamin paused for a moment, then continued, as if answering the system, yet also talking to himself:

"As an insignificant pawn, if I don't pull some tricks, what else can I rely on to accumulate the capital to become a player?"

After preparing everything, he quietly left the Riser Family under the cover of night and hurried toward St. Peter's Cathedral.

Thanks to "Pure Lich King" for the tip, thanks to "matt." for 4 recommendation votes and "Feng Shaofeng" for 11 recommendation votes, and of course "13erserker" for the daily vote. I'm so moved, I'm overwhelmed by the votes.