Volume 1: Stranger in a Strange Land Chapter 24: The Three Kings
"why is that……"
The supervisor looked around, but the lightning from the teleportation magic that he had expected did not appear.
“Strange?”
William asked.
Without waiting for the other party to answer, William appeared next to the supervisor in the next moment.
He put a hand gently on the other's shoulder and said.
"Didn't I tell you? You're the only one who will die here today. There's no need for you to call a few more people to die together."
Why? When? How?
Cold sweat instantly ran down the supervisor's forehead and he stammered.
"You... wait a minute. I am the court mage of Duke Simon. If I die, the Duke will know it soon. Then you will be against the entire Thorn City..."
"Oh, so?"
Before he could say the next words, the hand on his shoulder flashed with lightning, and with a "click", his knees went weak and he fell to the ground. The lightning made him lose consciousness.
"Are you... crazy? This is the court wizard sent by the Duke!"
Seeing the man who claimed to be the presiding judge knock the supervisor to the ground in one blow, Sigmund finally came to his senses, but the other party's next move made his scalp tingle.
A sharp ice pick appeared in the man's hand, trembling slightly towards the supervisor's neck.
Too many things beyond his understanding happened in the mine today, whether it was this skull temple, the soul-eating spider demon that was parasitic in his throat, or the fact that his own cognition had been modified in the past two months.
Previously, his brain had been in a buzzing state, perhaps because those things were too far away from what he usually came into contact with, and even if he actually witnessed them, he could not feel much reality.
However, when he saw that the presiding judge was planning to kill the Duke's court wizard directly, he finally found something he could understand and came back to his senses.
Sigmunds had a clear idea of what it meant to kill a registered wizard, especially a registered court wizard.
William looked back at Sigmunds, and without stopping, the ice pick in his hand pierced the overseer's throat cleanly.
"Any questions?"
The man asked.
Looking at the overseer who had already died, Sigmunds took a deep, trembling breath.
"Every registered wizard has a recording spell called 'Reverberation' engraved on his body. That spell is connected to the Star Lighthouse and will record the last scene he saw before his death. Duke Simon has the power to check the records in the Star Lighthouse. He will soon know that you just killed the court wizard. By then, you will be wanted throughout the entire Blackwater Province."
Magic casters are extremely rare in this era.
Limited by the number of star lighthouses and the density of etheric circuits built in the astral realm, the total amount of magic power that the Star Law can guide from the astral realm into the human world is very limited, so the number of registered mages who can utilize that magic power is also very limited.
According to the public data of the Platinum Circle Alliance, the entire Star Law System can only sustain the existence of about 20,000 mages at the same time, and the actual number of legally registered mages on the continent of Vic is only a little over 12,000.
Compared with the population of the Vic continent, those people can be regarded as truly elites selected from thousands of people.
Bloodline, resources, talent, diligence, only those who possess multiple characteristics, or even all four of the above, can become a true magician.
Because mages are so precious and rare, the laws of the empire clearly stipulate that killing a registered mage is an absolutely unforgivable capital crime.
Generally speaking, the one who can kill a mage is often another mage, so there is an entire chapter in the Star Law about reducing the killing of mages among each other: for example, it strictly stipulates the applicable circumstances and combat rules of mage duels, so as to minimize casualties in mage duels.
For example, when registering a mage's title at the Star Lighthouse, the awakening instructor will set up a spell called "reverberation" in each mage's etheric domain. On the one hand, it makes those who attempt to murder mages hesitate to act rashly, and on the other hand, even if a mage is killed, the local law enforcement agency can identify the murderer based on the last scene he saw before his death.
"It's interesting, but isn't this something a miner should know?"
After listening to his explanation, the other party did not seem to be very worried about his upcoming fate of being wanted. Instead, he was somewhat curious about why he knew so much about magic casters.
"Where did you learn about the 'Reverberation' technique?"
Sigmunds looked at the other party, who showed no sign of panic, and hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"I used to be a magic-affinity person, and even attended the preparatory class at Offa University."
"What do you mean 'once upon a time'? I've never heard of a magical talent disappearing."
Sigmunds smiled sadly when he heard this.
"Of course it didn't disappear, but was bought by someone."
"Bought it?"
William became interested.
"I don't know how I did it. At that time, my mother was seriously ill, but it would cost a lot of money to go to the church for treatment. A mysterious man in a mask came to me and asked if I was willing to sell my magical talent to him."
Sigmunds said this and fell into reminiscence.
"Because I was in urgent need of money, I agreed to his request. He took out a transfer contract and asked me to sign it with blood, and then used a serrated dagger to carve a mirror image of my horoscope on my chest. He gave me ten gold Riels afterwards. From that day on, my sensitivity to magic power became worse and worse. About a year later, I couldn't feel any magic power even in the Star Lighthouse. It was also at that time that I was persuaded to drop out of Offa University. I went to many places and finally came here."
While the other party was talking about his past, William used the spell [Magic Detection ] to simply detect Sigmund's magic fluctuations.
The etheric domain of ordinary people forms a human-shaped outline like mist and wraps around the body, while the etheric domain of a magic caster is concentrated in the brain or heart, and then flows out as magic power and circulates throughout the body.
But Sigmund's etheric domain was a reversed constellation diagram formed by several stars on his chest, and magic power continued to escape from there.
His sensitivity to the astrological signs was grafted onto other people, which also prevented him from accumulating more magic power in the etheric realm.
Like a bucket that keeps leaking.
Theoretically, if he relied on meditation to build his own circuits in the etheric domain, rather than relying on the resonance of his own astrological constellation and the laws of the stars, he could still recover his magical talent, but his talent for those types of magic related to his astrological constellation was completely lost.
Of course, this is what is now known as a heretic wizard.
"And then?"
Thinking of this, William continued to ask.
"What later?"
Sigmund asked curiously.
"How did your mother become? Was she saved?"
Sigmunds bowed his head at the question.
"No, one of the patients sent in at the same time was infected with vampire fever. The priest failed to discover and isolate him in time. That night, the patient had an attack and killed all the other patients. After completing the vampire ascension ritual, he ran away."
"Have you ever regretted it?"
William asked, looking Sigmunds in the eyes.
"What are you regretting? Are you regretting saving my mother?"
"I regret giving up my chance to become a magic caster."
Hearing this, Sigmund looked into William's eyes seriously and said.
"I do regret that I lost the chance to become a magic caster, but not for any other reason. It's because I lost the chance to kill that vampire with my own hands forever."
"very good."
William nodded and patted the other person on the shoulder.
"What's good?"
William suddenly changed the subject and looked at the overseer he had killed earlier.
"Weren't you curious about why I dared to kill this court wizard? To be honest, before you told me about the spell called 'Reverberation', I didn't even know there was such a thing."
"That doesn't mean..."
"Of course, even if I knew about this thing, I would still kill him. Because if I don't kill him, the thing hiding in his body will not be exposed."
"What?"
A flame shot out from William's magic medium. When the almost white flame was about to touch the supervisor's body, a black miasma suddenly spread out and eliminated the flame into nothingness.
The overseer's previously silent body stood up shakily like a puppet.
"So you've already noticed it? How boring! I was planning to let my children eat up all the people here one by one after you left."
A hoarse voice came out from the overseer's pierced throat, and then the body began to twitch and deform. It was as if something was treating the body as a cocoon that was about to break out and hatch .
With a heart-wrenching sound of flesh tearing, a Moon Realm monster with a graceful female upper body and eight spider legs in the lower body broke out of the corpse. A thick miasma filled the air around her, covering her private parts.
The Whispering Queen's followers, the Web Weavers.
"Then when you come back, you will see them waiting for you calmly. Before you can breathe a sigh of relief, everyone will suddenly shatter into pieces. At that time, your expression will definitely be very interesting."
"When I saw the Soul-Eating Spiders, I knew there must be Web-Spinners. They are to you what the Far-Demons are to the Shamblers, both fragments of the power of powerful Moon-Realm monsters."
William replied calmly.
The Web Weaver stretched out its limbs, and then the thick miasma condensed into a spear covered with barbs in its hand.
"Oh, I didn't expect that there are still people who know the characteristics of the Weavers. I thought that since the promulgation of the Star Law, all the information about the Weaver tribe has been destroyed."
"Is that supervisor your contractor?"
William asked.
The beautiful web weaver chuckled.
"Do you think that if he is, you can just destroy the statue of my Lord behind you to banish me back to the Moon Realm? I'm sorry to tell you that he is not. My true contractor only let me possess him as the last resort to protect this temple."
When Sigmund heard this, he felt a chill down his spine.
The evil creature in front of him was actually summoned by Duke Simon. Then everyone here today will definitely die. Duke Simon will not let the secrets here be exposed no matter what.
"Signing a contract and making a deal with the Whispering Queen, who symbolizes conspiracy and betrayal, Duke Simon must have some problems with his brain."
"You didn't run away when you saw a high-level Moon Realm Spirit. I think there is something wrong with your brain, little brother."
William smiled and said nothing, then continued.
"So what is the purpose of Duke Simon digging out this temple? Since he dared to offer sacrifices to the three Void Kings at the same time, I don't believe that he just wanted to dig up more source silver ore."
The Weaver was strolling around William in circles. After hearing this question, she stopped and placed the three statues of the goddesses behind her.
"Are you trying to trick me?"
"If you don't want to talk, you can choose to fight first."
As William spoke, the magic medium in his hand lit up with fire.
"Haha, you're really interesting. Now I'm a little curious about who you are. The paladins of the Demon Burial Agency all have problems with their brains, and the demon hunters of the Tower of Annihilation don't even have personalities. Now there are only these two organizations that can access the knowledge of the Moon Realm, but you don't look like any of them. Could it be that you are also a contractor of the Moon Realm?"
It said this and smiled charmingly at William.
"Well, I swore to never tell anyone the purpose of my contract, so although I really want to tell you the whole picture of that great cause and enjoy your terrified and desperate expression, unfortunately I can't do it at all."
Is it really like this?
William sighed slightly, feeling that the situation was much more serious than he had originally thought.
Since there are statues of three Void Kings here, it proves that Duke Simon has definitely signed more than just a contract with the Whispering Queen.
Although he was not quite clear about what the so-called "great cause" that he had to accomplish by signing a contract with the three Void Kings at the same time was, William had seen in the game what the three of them could accomplish together.
Those three troublesome and petty goddesses once joined forces to sink an island with hundreds of thousands of people into the sea, just because they were unwilling to openly believe in themselves.
"So, little brother, can you tell me which organization you belong to? Is it the Demon Burial Agency or the Tower of Annihilation, or some other cult in the Moon Realm?"
The Web Weaver asked him, stroking the spear.
"Is there a possibility that I am actually a member of the End Watcher?"
The Web Weaver burst out laughing.
"Hahahahahahaha, you really know how to tell a joke. End Watcher? This happened eight or nine hundred years ago, right? Have you listened to too many bards' stories or what?"
William raised the sword in his other hand, the weapon that could truly destroy the monsters in the Moon Realm - Judgment II.
"Then I'll be frank. I belong to the End Watchers and am a member of the Judgment Thirteen."
