When A Mage Revolts

Within the hideout, the peaceful night went by.

Benjamin awoke the morning of the next day. The soldiers outside had left and so he was prepared to leave as well.

However, the unconscious Jessica has also woken up as well. She brought over Bernard to see Benjamin before he left, to thank him for his help the night before.

"Sir Benjamin, I’m really thankful for your help. We will most certainly cooperate as much as we can regarding your wishes."

Benjamin smiled and couldn’t help but ask, "Are you sure you’ve fully recovered?"

Jessica kneaded her temple, "I should be alright now. However... I’m not sure why but I feel nauseated since getting up this morning, like I was riding a horse all night."

"..."

Bernard who stood behind Jessica, carried a weird expression.

Benjamin expressionlessly nodded, "This is normal, and this symptom will quickly disappear. You need not worry about it."

Jessica felt it was odd but said nothing more.

"Right, Sir Benjamin, about that letter." She thought for a moment before changing the topic, "I have no intention to intrude but... do you have a thing with Mage Vinci?"

Benjamin did not elaborate on it and briefly said, "Just a disagreement, which will not affect you. You just need to help me to spread those rumors."

Jessica continued, "I just wanted to warn you that the influence Mage Vinci has in Fereldan is not to be underestimated. If you have any conflict with him, you need to be extra cautious."

Benjamin shrugged at the comment and did not speak.

If he had a choice, he would not want to step into this mess. It was unfortunate that the guy has a close relation with Icor and he has offended the queen, and there was nothing he could do about it.

After learning more about the situation from the Crows, it didn’t seem they required his help in this short time frame. And so, he said his goodbyes to Jessica and Bernard and left the place quietly.

He went straight back home.

Although everybody were curious about him staying out for the night, but they did not say much about it. He returned to his room and continued to mediate while waiting patiently.

Two days later.

Based on the information that the Crows reported back to him, Lord Knight Lance’s widened stakeout scope has been called off and the preparation for the framing plan was completed.

They could begin their operation.

This evening, Benjamin was disguised as a middle aged mercenary. He made way to the streets of the ‘Rabkauhalla’ Cult.

He sat in the reopened shop, just as before, and ordered beef noodles. He massaged his shoulders and pretended to casually take out the goat skin scroll from his bag.

The moment he took out the scroll.

He didn’t have to use the water element sensing technique to know that countless obscured gazes was focused on him.

But of course.

For the cult, the ruins of the parallel world was their sacred land, and so the scroll that could access the ruins was their sacred item. This thing was perfect to lure them into taking action.

They wouldn’t be able to resist it!

Benjamin thought as he acted suspicious, staring here and there. He looked at his surroundings and the gazes quickly turned away, feigning nonchalance.

The middle aged mercenary that Benjamin was disguised as, "realized" something was not right.

He nervously kept the scroll and left his untouched beef noodles, paid up and left the shop in a hurry.

Just as he left the shop.

He could clearly see that the customers as well as the boss’ change of expression and got up in unison, clenching their fists and breathing heavily through his water element sensing technique.

"Here they come."

He let out a smile and whispered in his heart.

He quickened his pace and headed towards the outer streets.

Everything was happening so fast that in half a minute, Benjamin left the streets of the cult. Nobody came out to stop him but he did not turn back and rush to the city’s remote corner.

Flashes of white and green buildings followed behind him as he moved further away. Under the rays of the sunset, it was silent as if uninhabited.

Half an hour later.

The night grew darker as the sun set. Benjamin hurriedly made a turn around the corner and his back on the wall. He started to remove his make up in the hidden shadows of an unobtrusive building.

His face returned to his normal self and changed his clothes to the regular outfit of Mage Benjamin.

He started to trace back his steps casually.

He wasn’t sure how would the cult track him but he only needed to lure these people out.

He chose a route that was more remote in the City of Rayleigh where there were less passerbys. He activated his water element sensing technique and not long after, found a few men hidden within the shadows.

Just as the fellas at the entrance of the ruins, these people had their faces covered and dressed in dark robes. They blended in with the night. There were a total of three men, scattered in the lanes and streets, searching for traces of Benjamin.

Benjamin frowned.

Just three of them, huh...

It wasn’t that he was complaining of the lack of men. It was just that he flashed an important thing like the scroll and the cult only sent three assassin looking fellas after him. It didn’t make any sense.

It was then Benjamin decided to not hastily strike but instead, hid within the darkness and summoned the water element sensing technique to follow them from behind.

The three men in black quickly reached Benjamin’s return point. They crouched and touched the ground, sniffing at times, to track down the direction Benjamin headed.

It was pity because he removed all traces of him at the return point.

It wasn’t long until three of them got up and looked at each other with disbelief, as if saying "Where did he go?"

Benjamin smirked in his heart.

If he guessed right, these three has some tracking mechanism that allowed them to follow from behind.

However, their ability to attack was weak. Their body build wasn’t even close to a mercenary’s and did not bring along any magic potions. Even their weapons were simple.

They wanted to depend on these three to retrieve the scroll? The cult seemed too naive.

Then... their task would probably be tracking.

Benjamin quickly analyzed his thoughts.

That probably was it. Lance’s soldiers were patrolling the streets and so they did not dare to openly come out. They could only send these three assassins to track the trail Benjamin left.

— They wanted to check on Benjamin before sending men to retrieve the scroll.

It was pretty well planned out.

Unfortunately, they met him.

Benjamin gathered from the water element sensing technique that the men in black were getting restless. They were going back and forth investigating and conversing at times in inaudible language and yet, they weren’t able to determine Benjamin’s location.

Was it time to strike?

Benjamin took a look at the time of the day. Although it was late, but the sun has yet to fully set.

Perhaps it was wise to strike after it was fully dark. This time, the plan was to frame, so he must not leave any trace or else the success rate of the frame would decrease immensely.

After all, he has the patience. Moreover, he was hidden in the dark and seeing these three in a panic was pretty interesting.

As time passed by, the sky was getting darker by the minute. The three remained in the cover, desperately looking for clues on Benjamin’s whereabouts. They even took out an odd tool - something like a magnifying glass to check. They then took some dirt front he ground and placed inside a little bottle, like a professional.

Suddenly, they exchanged a few words and one of them got up, seemingly to leave.

Benjamin’s heart skipped a beat.

This….. were they sending one back to report while the rest continued the search?

Benjamin was instantly filled with a murderous intent.

They were three that were not that capable in offense, and now they were splitting up, what was there to be worriedabout?

Here came the opportunity!