When A Mage Revolts

It wasn’t until the priest collapsed, did the soldiers around them knew what was happening.

Among them, there were still people who thought the priest was still alive and wanted to go and save him; some had drawn their swords, ready to move, some turned and ran, calling anyone left in the gateway to come and help.

And the mages definitely had a better response.

Among the sacks of food scattered on the ground, suddenly came a sound of continuous curses chanting. And those who were pushing the carts didn’t pretend anymore, and followed along chanting curses. Before the soldiers could take the next step, almost twenty fireballs were formed in the midair. At that moment, the temperature at the aisle rose up.

The mages that were hiding in the sacks of food, cut open the sacks one by one and emerged, as though they were being called from beyond the grave.

Aside from the fact that they look like puppies shaking themselves off after a bath to remove the grains stuck to their bodies, they presented quite an imposing picture.

"Wh-, What… you, you are all mages..."

Facing the crowded aisle, and the fireballs in the air have almost become a fire dragon, making the soldiers almost passing out from fear.

"I have been waiting for this day." Boss lady also stood up from the sack, fireball in hand, and glared at one of the soldiers, "the last time you were in my shop, you haggled for a pair of shoes for almost two hours, and in the end I reduced the price, and this son of a bitch didn’t buy it. I must collect my debt for this offense."

Upon hearing that, the faces of the soldiers looked stunned. As though it was only at that moment, did they realize, the mages are actually the regular citizens of the town of Crewe.

The boss lady of the handmade textile shop, the old blacksmith from the blacksmith forge, the hotel partner... everyone was unremarkable and ordinary, and they turned out to be mages, lifting fireballs as big as a person’s head, aiming it at them.

It made them feel the absurdity and despair all at the same time.

So, before they even had the chance to sound the alarm, Varys waved a hand, a signal to the other mages to fight. The fireballs merged together, layer by layer, as though it was becoming a dragon, and charged towards the soldiers who had nowhere to hide.

The crosses in the soldiers’ hands broke one after another, protecting them. In the end, there were only eight left, how was it supposed to defend against twenty fireballs firing continuously at them? Very quickly, in the fiery inferno, the soldiers that guarded the door went up in flames, leaving nothing behind.

The ten soldiers on duty, added on with the others who heard the commotion, they were all destroyed.

Seeing this, Varys strode to the handle and turned it, opening the door once again.

"Hey, you two, come on in. The only priest in here has been eradicated by us." He said to the mages defending the door, the slack jawed, clueless Joanna and Andy.

The two mages stood in amazement.

"You guys were too fast, and you didn’t even leave any for me." Said Joanna with regret on her face as she led Andy in.

When they entered, Varys shut the door again. At the same time, the other mages went to the other door and shut it as well.

During the whole process, a few other soldiers who didn’t know what was going on, curiously walked in from the two side doors, and were promptly killed by the mages.

"It’s done, now the whole gateway is sealed, no one else can come in." Varys looked around at the other mages, and took a deep breath in, and said, "the next step is to get rid of the remaining soldiers that are in here, then the Crusader Gateway will be ours!"

Hearing this, every one excitedly nodded their heads. They were eager to carry it out, some were so excited their hands were shaking.

This was… this was the Crusader Gateway!

Even until noon, they stared up at the tall towers, which can only be described as awe-inspiring, but didn’t take another step closer. They have been blocked by this door for too long, so long that they were used to this existence, used to having "the Crusader Gateway cannot be crossed" thought in their heads.

But now, they actually crossed into the gate, and took over this famous military fortress. Throughout the whole process, the opposition they faced wasn’t much, in fact in was too easy they could hardly believe it.

"No matter how big its doors, how thick its wall, those are all dead things, the people who are protected inside are the most important ones." They couldn’t help but remember, when they were making the plans, Benjamin said this to them.

Maybe the people within its walls has had peace for too long, and they were too used to the impenetrable walls of the gateway, but they were unable to match the will of the gateway.

Tonight, it will only be an empty city.

Just like that, under Varys’ command, the mages divided themselves, going in from the side door, and began to clear the remaining soldiers in the gateway.

They had a fireball each, kicking down every door, and prepared to throw the fireballs in. However, they were surprised to find that al lot of the rooms were empty, the desertedness of the gateway was worse than what they expected.

No wonder, no wonder despite the ruckus they caused in the aisle, they were only so few soldiers that came out to see.

After about an hour, they managed to sweep through the entire Crusader Gateway. And during this process, they didn’t even have to kill one person.

Maybe the soldiers who just got off their night shift from the previous night were still sleeping in their beds; or when they opened the doors, the soldiers were already on their knees with their hands on their heads, pleading for their lives. In reality, the fireball the mages held in their hands, was the only thing they could do, there wasn’t even the slightest chance of throwing it.

They tied up the rest of the soldiers, and locked them up in several rooms, turning them into their prisoners.

After sweeping through the place, only then did they discover, the total number of soldiers in the Crusader Gateway didn’t even hit two hundred.

Twenty mages against two hundred soldiers, everyone felt that it sucked the fun out of it.

"The remaining people...is anyone protecting Sir Benjamin?" Seeing the situation, one of the mages suddenly said worriedly.

Once the he said that, it was like someone poured a bucket of cold water over everyone’s heads, everyone was pulled down from their high from the victory.

They thought about the usual thousands of soldiers at the gateway, and also about the Bishop and the Priest who always guarded the gateway. They were very sure, it was so easy to attack the gateway because these people were all led away by Benjamin.

Looking at it from a different angle, they didn’t face the true might of the Crusader Gateway. At that moment, in the mountains in the northern part of the kingdom, Benjamin was facing the full force of the Crusader Gateway.

"I...I have to save Teacher Benjamin!" Joanna suddenly stood up and yelled, "I did not do anything, and you guy already conquered this place, I want to kill the Priest too!"

"Agreed! I want to go too!"

"Teacher Benjamin cannot die..."

"We’ll go together, and take those fellows from the church by surprise!"

"..."

At that moment, the crowd seem to get a new direction, and they all got excited all at once.

"Enough!" Varys yelled out in a loud voice, stopping the crowd dead in their tracks, "what is the point of us going over there? Can we really beat the Bishop? We might as well be walking to our deaths, Sir Benjamin will not want us to go there and mess things up for him."

"But... What if teacher does not return, what would we do then?" someone didn’t give up and asked.

Maybe they have not realized this, but they have only known Benjamin for less than half a month, but because of the law of meditation enabled them to come up with this plan, in their eyes, Benjamin was slowly becoming irreplaceable.

As though... he was becoming the heart and soul of the guild.

"He will return." Varys’ voice sounded steady.

"Are you sure..."

Varys shook his head, paused before arrogantly saying: "That is because you don’t know, Sir Benjamin is the legendary Water Demon. He already escaped from under the pope’s nose, how can that compare to one tiny Bishop? You are worried about Sir Benjamin when you should be worrying about the Bishop!"

Hearing this, the muttering amongst the crowd hushed, as though a teacher had entered the class. Everyone had disbelief on their faces.

There was no sound from the aisle.