Chapter 64

Sigh... I sighed. Mel, don't let your personal feelings get in the way. Reynold is still a speaker, and he's not just good at pleasing people. That's why I left the teacher behind to protect him.

"Well... let's deal with these dwarves and then go back to him," Mel said reluctantly.

Chapter 64

Seeing us talking so casually, the dwarves waited for quite a while before finally mustering their courage and saying rather obsequiously, "'Evil Shadow Manipulator' (I saw Mel visibly tremble when he said that title), we have information to tell you! We are all kidnapped engineers, some of us even mecha designers. We were forced to design many new weapons here, but the blueprints have all been taken away... However, we've secretly observed where they take the blueprints, and also, at night we can hear the sounds of the armory's assembly line! As top-notch engineers, we would never mistake such sounds!"

New weapons?

Ignoring the dwarf's boastful self-promotion, Mel and I took the new weapon very seriously. We weren't just here to rescue the two girls; we also needed to investigate what kind of conspiracy the base was plotting, and if there was one, we'd dismantle it along the way... It was a pity that Lusien and the others hadn't come along, otherwise they would have been able to determine the purpose of those new weapons.

But it doesn't matter if we don't consider the intended use; a new weapon can't possibly fire with pink hearts popping out of the muzzle and background music still praising love and justice, right?

Even in the legendary era, those who could use special abilities and possessed class ranks were still a minority. The armies of most countries still relied on ordinary people. Therefore, the improvement of weapons and equipment to a certain extent represented the enhancement of combat power. Dwarves had outstanding talent in mechanical technology. Even though they could not use magic, many dwarves were able to learn magical theories, thereby guiding the research of magical engineers.

"And what about this little cutie?" Moli suddenly asked, sensing something amiss. "You're all engineers, she can't be one too, can she?"

I looked at the little sprite in my arms, and she stretched out her arm, hooking her little hand around my neck. She tilted her head and rested it against my face, her chubby ears rubbing against my neck, probably tickled by my hair, and kept twitching. Then she opened her mouth and uttered her first syllable of the day. "Ah~~~~"

The dwarf scratched his head. "We don't know either, because she's often taken away alone, and today it just so happens that she's locked up with us. Normally she should be locked up alone."

The little elf, whom I just named Ruiduo, was still perched on my shoulder, looking drowsy. I figured I wouldn't get any useful information out of her—we'd probably have to keep her with us for now and send her back to the Elven Sanctuary after this was all over.

"Let's go, let's take a look at your weapons first," Mel said.

Led by the dwarf, we quickly entered a larger, empty room that resembled a research lab. The people here had probably fled beforehand, knowing about our attack; they left in such a hurry that they hadn't even turned off the television on the wall. So we began searching the room, hoping to find some materials they hadn't had time to take with them.

We were delayed after all. Perhaps it's because organizations that do bad things are good at leaving themselves an escape route. As we continued to penetrate deeper into the base, we no longer encountered any large-scale resistance, but we couldn't capture a single high-ranking person in charge. Apart from the remaining cannon fodder cyborgs, we didn't gain anything of value. The same was true in this laboratory. After searching for a long time, Moli and Anna slapped their foreheads and sighed loudly.

"What?" Mel and I straightened up and put down the scraps of paper we were holding.

"Teacher!" Anna glared at us, her eyes almost bloodshot. "It's all because of your bad influence that we've been transported here too! These days, who still writes important information by hand? Of course, we store it on a smartphone, copy it to a portable hard drive when we run away, and then just slip it in our pockets and disappear!"

Mel expressionlessly pulled out his thick spellbook from his spatial ring.

Anna immediately changed her tune. "Of course, the mage's precious manuscripts are an exception..."

Only then did Mel put away the dark expression that had been enough to frighten the man in the black robe into calling him "teacher."

Suddenly, the TV signal flickered with static for a moment, and the soap opera that was playing disappeared, replaced by a guy wearing a metal mask and speaking in a deep, muffled voice.

"Hello everyone watching the news." This person, upon entering the scene, spoke in an affected, strange accent, "Please allow me to introduce someone to you—"

We were inexplicably drawn to this, but it was definitely not a normal TV program. Even if the announcer didn't have to pronounce every word perfectly, he shouldn't have such a strange accent. He sounded like a goblin trying to learn Elvish, his tongue tied in a bow.

Then, on the screen, he moved a step to the side, and then--

We were surprised because I saw Reynold's face on TV... Even though the poor man was tied up, blindfolded, and gagged, we were familiar with him; I recognized the nose—it was Reynold!

I immediately sensed my teacher—I realized that the other party had probably used some kind of shielding device—besides traditional anti-magic runes and sealing arrays, some Magitech products could also achieve regional shielding effects. Although most of those devices were similar to the useless ones I had seen in prison, they had the advantage of distance. Therefore, the effectiveness of the magical shielding device exceeded my remote control of my teacher.

This made me even more dissatisfied with my teacher. It seems I really need to practice using him more. Reynold was just kidnapped right under my teacher's nose, and then immediately put on live television? Is this some kind of professional kidnapping company?

And when I get home, I really need to dismantle my teacher and check if any of his bones are stuck. Even when I'm not around, Reynold shouldn't have been taken away so easily. He wasn't this weak when he was alive.

"The Speaker of the Osland Federation Magic Council —Lord Reynold Scott!" The man, clearly a terrorist with ambitions of becoming a high-profile demon lord, addressed the camera in a bizarre, theatrical tone, "Come on, Speaker, say hello to everyone?"

In the shot, Reynold's hands were strapped to his head with leather straps and bound to an iron frame. His body was also tightly bound, and he seemed to be wearing some kind of electronic collar... I guessed it was for magic suppression, but that was really unnecessary. As the camera zoomed in, we also saw a pitiful line of saliva dripping from his mouth, which was gagged. The arrogant villain pointed the camera at him, and he was twisting his body angrily, making muffled noises. From what I know of Reynold, he was probably about to explode with rage.

Because all the light in the live stream was focused on Reynold, we couldn't tell from the screen where Reynold was tied up.

The camera captured every subtle struggle of Reynold with crystal clarity, while the kidnapper seemed quite cautious, wearing a metal mask and not a single hair showing; we couldn't even tell if he had any hair at all. He was also wearing leather gloves, which rubbed against my hands when I pinched Reynold's chin, leaving them shiny. Because the gloves were so thick, even I couldn't quite tell if it was a man or a woman.

We stared at the television screen in an eerie silence.

Only Moli and Anna uttered dreamlike, faint sounds. "Wow..."

The thug pointed a magic pistol at Reynold's thigh and said, "As Federation modern political system, what kind of awkward existence is the Magic Council? Why should a bunch of magicians interfere with how we normal people who can't do magic live? What do you say, Speaker Reynold? When you're showing off your magic tricks on that high platform, have you ever imagined that one day you'd have a magic gun pointed at your nose?"

Reynold: "Waaaaah--"

"This is the dawn of technology! We ordinary people, ravaged by magic, will stand up today and let the whole world hear our cries! We don't want to hear a magician talking on stage every day anymore!" As he spoke, he fired a shot into Reynold's thigh. I saw Reynold's body tremble violently, and the chains and belts rattled as he pulled them.