As Felix read on, he discovered that the writer had viciously berated Stormwind City's corrupt, incompetent, and greedy nobles, claiming to be a noble with a conscience who could not bear to see the stonemasons receive nothing after devoting five years of effort to rebuilding Stormwind City.
At that moment, the scene of his mother's tragic death replayed over and over in Joseph's mind.
In his imagined vision, he clearly saw an officer of Stormwind City reach out and strangle his mother, simply because her son was a worker in the Stonemasons' Guild!
Bazil Thredd was in much the same state.
In the illusion in his mind, a sanctimonious noble led soldiers charging into the monastery, searching everywhere for the family members of guild members. Then he lifted Bazil's son and hurled him hard onto the ground...
Felix was so absorbed in reading that he did not notice the fury in his two friends' eyes growing increasingly feverish, their emotions becoming increasingly agitated, or the veins on their arms bulging more and more.
"Careful, there's mental magic in this letter!" a team leader named Dudmore suddenly shouted, hurriedly shoving Joseph and Bazil away.
"Mental magic?" Felix was rather bewildered, because he did not think his mind had been affected at all.
"Sorry, Dudmore." Joseph held his head. "You're quite right. When I saw this letter, I felt... I felt awful."
"What just... what just happened to me?" Bazil said. "I almost wanted to rush out and fight them to the death, regardless of anything else! Thank you, Dudmore."
"What I'm curious about, Felix, is why you weren't affected at all." Dudmore looked at him suspiciously. "I can tell your emotions are very stable. Is your will stronger than theirs?"
"Let's leave that question aside for now." Felix hurriedly put the letter away to prevent it from affecting the other workers. "Dudmore, how did you know? Are you a warlock?"
"Uh..." Dudmore gave an awkward laugh. "I have a friend-just a friend... She's studying some rather dark magical knowledge under the Darkbinder. Oh, right, she's doing pretty well."
Felix remembered.
Gakin the Darkbinder had once offered a quest: his prized student, Surena Caledon, had eloped with a petty thief from the Defias Brotherhood, and Gakin intended to have adventurers kill his student for him.
Presumably, Dudmore's "friend" was this Surena. Was she really "just a friend"? Felix could not bear to expose him.
But the more pressing question now was how to handle this letter. Felix was ten thousand percent certain that its author was Katrana Prestor, the true mastermind behind the massacre in the cathedral square.
Even if the other brothers thought Katrana was a "kindhearted Countess," Felix had never considered her trustworthy. She surely had some other agenda.
Katrana was a true devil. Could Felix risk negotiating with her and seeking her help?
-In politics, people could even form an alliance with the devil to achieve a particular purpose. They simply had to be certain that they were leading the devil, rather than being led by the devil.
Felix had already made his decision. Now he needed to seek the others' opinions.
"All right, brothers," he said in a ringing voice. "I've finished reading this letter. A noble who calls herself a 'good person with a conscience' has offered to help us."
"To be precise, she intends to provide us with a shipment of weapons, which is currently stored at Stormwind City's docks. She also says that Stormwind City's main force has now gone to the Redridge Mountains, leaving the city short of troops. This is the perfect opportunity for us to take up arms and take revenge on them."
Everyone immediately began discussing it, all talking at once.
Some thought they might as well take the weapons, and that the mysterious writer was absolutely right: Varian was in Lakeshire, making this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Felix scoffed at that idea. They did not even realize they were being used as pawns. If they followed the letter's instructions to the letter, it would certainly end badly.
Others suspected it might be a trap, and that Stormwind City's troops might be waiting to ambush them at the weapons handover site.
Felix likewise thought that argument did not hold up. The glass bottle had been thrown precisely near their hiding place, which meant the other party knew they were here. If they really wanted to wipe them out, Stormwind City's troops could simply charge down. Why go to all the trouble of arranging an ambush?
Still others thought the other party could not be trusted at all. If the letter's author truly put herself in their shoes and considered their interests, why would she use mental magic?
The argument continued without end, with Joseph, Bazil, Dudmore, Lightfinger, and the others all holding to their own views. Thus, the actual power to decide fell to Felix.
He glanced at Vladimir and noticed that he was looking back at him in the same way. Suddenly, both of them laughed in unison, leaving the other brothers around them baffled.
Felix put away his smile and said solemnly, "Brothers, we can accept the weapons she is offering."
"Felix, have you gone mad?" Lightfinger shouted. "Do you really think these nobles, who devour people bones and all, can be trusted?"
"I never said I would trust her," Felix said in a low voice. "In fact, I only want to use her."
Stormwind City's docks lay on the western side of the city, near the sea.
Since Marshal Windsor had recently declared martial law, the harbor had been temporarily closed, and no unauthorized people were allowed to approach.
Under the marshal's orders, C Company of the city defense force was originally supposed to patrol this area.
But just two hours earlier, an order from the Council of Nobles had suddenly reassigned C Company to reinforce the defenses at the canal bridges around the Trade District, on the grounds that "the Stonemasons' Guild might flee the city through the Valley of Heroes."
According to the order, patrol duties at the harbor would be handed over to an elite squad from the Royal Guard.
In the utter silence, this squad moved some things draped in black cloth from the harbor into the docks under cover of night. They worked very carefully, without making even a sound.
"Is everything ready?"
"Yes, mistress."
"Good." A woman's quiet voice rang out. "Our guests will be here soon."
Before you continue