Spellcaster (Part 1)

The carriage rolled slowly down the avenue, and Merlin was resting with his eyes closed inside the carriage. But all of a sudden, he felt the carriage violently lurch, accompanied by the neighing of horses outside.

"Moss, what's going on?"

Merlin lifted the carriage curtain, frowning as he asked Moss.

Moss was currently struggling to control the panicked black horse. Hearing the displeasure in Merlin's tone, Moss said with some unease, "Young Master Merlin, a troop of knights just came charging from behind. I don't know who they are, but they're tearing wildly through the streets."

Merlin raised his head, casting his gaze into the distance. Sure enough, he saw a troop of knights in bright armor galloping forward, completely ignoring the pedestrians and carriages on the street. For a moment, the entire street appeared somewhat chaotic, interspersed with the cursing of many people.

The attire of these knights did not look like that of the City Defense Corps, and Merlin had never seen them before.

"Oh? Merlin?"

Suddenly, a familiar voice reached Merlin's ears. Merlin turned his head and saw that on the right side of the street, a carriage was parked on the roadside where the driver was desperately trying to soothe the startled horses. The person inside the carriage was none other than Kailisi, whom he had not seen for over ten days.

"Miss Kailisi."

Merlin hurriedly got out of the carriage, came over to Kailisi's carriage, and asked, "Miss Kailisi, are you alright?"

Kailisi shook her head slightly and said, "It's just that the horses got startled, I'm fine. Right, a few days ago I went to visit Mr. Aita again, but Mr. Aita wasn't home. Do you know what's going on?"

"Teacher Aita said he had some personal matters to handle and needed to leave Blackwater City for a while. Are you going to see if Teacher Aita is back today?"

A hint of a smile appeared on Kailisi's face as she said, "What a coincidence, I was also planning to go see Mr. Aita again. Why don't we go together?"

Merlin nodded, and so their two carriages proceeded one after the other toward Old Aita's small wooden cabin.

Before long, the carriages gradually came to a stop. Moss lifted the carriage curtain and said helplessly to Merlin, "Young Master Merlin, we can't get through up ahead. The road is blocked."

"Blocked?"

Merlin frowned, looking up. Not far from Old Aita's small wooden cabin, a crowd of people had gathered, blocking the road completely.

"What's going on?"

Kailisi also got off the carriage and glanced at Merlin, looking very puzzled.

"Miss Kailisi, the road seems to be blocked. Let's go see what's happening."

So both Merlin and Kailisi got off their carriages and walked forward a few steps into the crowd. They were both relatively tall people, so even on the outer edge of the crowd, they could see the situation inside.

"It's this group of knights again? Miss Kailisi, do you know these people?"

Merlin saw that in the inner circle of the crowd, there were over twenty knights wearing silver-white armor. They had previously rampaged through the streets, causing chaos, and now they were blocking the road here, refusing to let people pass, which was why so many people had gathered.

Kailisi frowned, carefully observing the attire of this group of knights. After a long while, she spoke in a low voice, "I'm not entirely certain, but judging by their outfits, they look a bit like Guardian Swordsmen of the Light Church. However, we don't have Guardian Swordsmen in Blackwater City, so I can't be sure."

"Guardian Swordsmen?"

Merlin muttered to himself, and he immediately thought of Kadoron, who had directly become a Guardian Swordsman of the Gran City Church precisely because he became a Light Swordsman.

"Could they be the Guardian Swordsmen of Gran City?" Merlin guessed quietly.

"Gran City? That's possible, but to dispatch so many Guardian Swordsmen to Blackwater City all at once—could something major have happened?"

Neither Kailisi nor Merlin dared to be certain. One had to know that every single Guardian Swordsman was a big deal, especially in a small city like Blackwater City. In a sense, a Church Guardian Swordsman was equivalent to a noble.

Dispatching over twenty Guardian Swordsmen equivalent to nobles all at once definitely meant something big was happening.

Just then, another troop of knights approached from behind. Merlin was very familiar with the attire of this troop; they were the knight brigade of the Blackwater City City Defense Corps.

The crowd immediately parted to let the City Defense Corps knight troop through. The lead knight shouted to the unidentified knights, "Which knights are you?"

A knight wearing a silver helmet stepped forward and said to the City Defense Corps knights with an arrogant expression, "We are Guardian Swordsmen of the Light Church from Gran City!"

"Guardian Swordsmen of Gran City?"

The City Defense Corps knights were deeply shocked. Normally, if a single Guardian Swordsman came from Gran City, even the city lord would have to treat them with caution, let alone twenty-some Guardian Swordsmen arriving all at once.

"May I ask what business the honored swordsmen have in coming to Blackwater City?"

The City Defense Corps knight asked cautiously.

"We are under orders from the bishop to capture the evil heretic of the Black Moon Kingdom. All of you, disperse quickly, or you will be harmed by the heretic's evil spells."

"Evil heretic?"

Hearing what seemed to be a terrifying matter, the crowd, which had been dense just moments before, now rapidly retreated backward, putting a wide distance between themselves and the Guardian Swordsmen in the blink of an eye.

Even the young knights in the City Defense Corps were startled, fear showing on their faces.

Merlin did not know what an evil heretic was, but seeing the reactions of the people around him, he roughly guessed that it must be someone extremely terrifying and frightening.

"Swordsman Borg, the evil heretic is inside the small wooden cabin ahead. Take men and surround the cabin."

A man in a white robe, layered over with light armor, instructed the surrounding Guardian Swordsmen.

Borg felt a chill in his heart; they had indeed found the evil heretic. Not daring to delay, he hurriedly drew his greatsword and, treating the situation as a formidable enemy, had a dozen or so knights quickly move forward to surround the small wooden cabin.

"Ah? Isn't that Mr. Aita's house?"

Kailisi let out a cry of shock. Fortunately, the noise of the surrounding crowd was chaotic, covering up her voice.

Merlin hurriedly grabbed Kailisi's hand, too frantic to care about the tactile feel, and said in a low, urgent voice, "Miss Kailisi, don't make a sound."

Merlin certainly saw that the target of this group of Guardian Swordsmen was the small wooden cabin of the perpetually mysterious Old Aita. He knew that since these Guardian Swordsmen had come, they must have obtained some information.

"Merlin, I wonder if Mr. Aita has returned? But given the current situation, it seems very unfavorable for Mr. Aita. I hope he won't be implicated."

Kailisi said in a soft voice.

Merlin's expression was grave as he shook his head slightly. He had a bad premonition in his heart that this matter was inextricably linked to the mysterious Old Aita.

A dozen or so Guardian Swordsmen tightly surrounded Old Aita's small wooden cabin. Borg, wearing a silver helmet, respectfully asked the white-robed man, "Lord Jason, what should we do now?"

The white-robed man's eyes narrowed slightly as he attempted to see through the situation inside the small wooden cabin, but its doors and windows were tightly shut, and no one could see what was inside.

After a long while, the white-robed man waved his hand and said, "Swordsman Borg, go in. It would be best to capture the heretic alive."

Swordsman Borg was slightly stunned, feeling bitter in his heart. Everyone knew how terrifying an evil heretic was, but since Jason had given the order, even though Borg was a Second-Level Light Swordsman, he had no choice but to obey.

Thus, Borg waved three Guardian Swordsmen over, and together they rushed into the small wooden cabin.

Everyone stared intently at the small wooden cabin. After those four Guardian Swordsmen went inside, there seemed to be no further movement. Even the white-robed man frowned, murmuring softly, "Could the intelligence be mistaken?"

"Bang, bang, bang."

Suddenly, several muffled sounds erupted from within the previously tranquil small wooden cabin. The few Guardian Swordsmen who had just rushed inside flew backward straight out of the cabin, their bodies completely charred as if they had been scorched by flames, and even emitting a foul, scorched odor of roasted meat.

The bodies of these Guardian Swordsmen smashed heavily onto the ground and then fell completely still, all of them dead.

The City Defense Corps knights who had been relatively close to the small wooden cabin could no longer suppress the fear in their hearts upon seeing the three charred corpses, and they hastily turned and retreated far away.

One had to know that these Guardian Swordsmen were no ordinary people. Every single Guardian Swordsman was at least a First-level Light Swordsman, meaning they were all powerful Elemental Swordsmen.

Yet now, these Elemental Swordsmen had only been inside for a short moment before dying inexplicably.

"Holy Light Slash!"

Right at that moment, a loud roar came from within the small wooden cabin. There had been a total of four Guardian Swordsmen who entered the cabin; now three were dead, and Swordsman Borg was still inside.

This shout was issued by Swordsman Borg.

As soon as the voice rang out, a figure accompanied by dazzling white light leaped straight out of the small wooden cabin—it was none other than Swordsman Borg.

"Lord Jason, the evil heretic is inside."

At this moment, Borg was entirely shrouded in dazzling white light, though one could vaguely see that his body was battered and torn, with blood dripping from his right arm onto the ground. He was clearly injured as well.

"A Second-Level Swordsman! To think it's a Second-Level Elemental Swordsman!"

Kailisi, standing beside Merlin, said in a tone of disbelief. Merlin's heart also tightened slightly; a Second-Level Elemental Swordsman was probably undisputed as the absolute top expert in the entire Blackwater City.

Swordsman Pero was only a First-Flame Swordsman, and Old Wilson, seasoned through many battles, seemed to be a First-level Peak Elemental Swordsman, yet neither of them had broken through to the second level.

Yet now, a powerful Second-Level Elemental Swordsman had ended up in such a wretched state, fleeing the small wooden cabin in almost utter panic.

The white-robed man cast a cold glance at Swordsman Borg, then took a deep breath, raised his voice, and shouted toward the small wooden cabin, "Heretic, God is merciful. As long as you submit to God's embrace, believe in God, and become a child of God, the sins upon you will be cleansed."

"God? Is there such a thing as a God in this world? After all these years, your Light Church is still as hypocritical, ridiculous, and utterly laughable! As a first-level spellcaster, surely you aren't still ignorant of your church's laughable lies? I only believe in truth and the true meaning of magic, not the illusory gods you speak of."

A hoarse voice came from within the small wooden cabin, and then a figure slowly walked out of it.

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