When A Mage Revolts

Benjamin was in the crowds with his ears perked up as he listened to conversations around him.

"The steak here is great but I heard that there is an old restaurant in West City that has the best steak. It is much cheaper than this place too."

"Say, why do you guys think that Bonnie’s Pub at the city outskirt had been closed down?"

"Excuse me beautiful lady, have we met somewhere before?"

"..."

After hearing all these complicated conversations, Benjamin illuded that he was in an English listening exam. Yes Mr Jack, Ms Nancy is not interested in having lunch with you tomorrow. So the answer to this question is C.

His disappointment grew as he listened more.

These were all unhealthy conversations. These aristocrats’ lifestyle must've been very boring. He heard nothing about the church’s movement at all.

However, he was not discouraged as the royal ball had just begun. Everyone had just started drinking so their topics were still being filtered out. There was no need to rush as he just needed to wait for them to drink more.

Benjamin took a bite from the bread he had taken from the table and its taste was good.

"Long time no see Grant, I do not expect you to be here,"

Said someone as she patted on Benjamin’s shoulder from behind out of nowhere.

Benjamin was stunned as he turned around to see a red-hair lady wearing a white dress smiling at him.

"..."

Benjamin swallowed his bread without any expression and said: "I’m not Grant, I’m Benjamin."

The girl’s smile disappeared instantly and she even almost exposed her annoyed expression at him.

However, she smiled at him again after expressing a range of emotions on her face most likely out of politeness. She recollected her composure and said to Benjamin: "I’m sorry, that was rude of me."

Benjamin looked at her coldly: "It’s alright."

He ignored her and continuing munching down his bread after the conversation.

It was a bitter experience to have been hit up by someone and only to find out that she had mistaken him for somebody else. He was not to blame to give her the cold shoulder.

However, what surprised him was that the red-hair lady did not leave.

"So… How… Are you lately?"

She was stuttering as she talked to him.

Benjamin looked at her suspiciously and said.

"Didn’t you mistaken me for someone else? Do you still want to chat?"

The red hair girl curled her lips and softly said:" There’s nothing I can do about it. Two of my sisters have mistaken you for someone else. I bet with them that I can hit on Grant and have a conversation with him for up to thirty minutes. They will laugh at me and say that mistaking you for someone else is an excuse if I go back now."

"..."

These urban people can really play around.

Benjamin was speechless. He had no time to entertain these girls in this so called "who was the most charming princess" game as he came here with an objective in mind.

He was not that interested in this girl as she was obviously going after Grant. There was no need for him to be affectionate towards her.

"Do you expect me to act with you here for half an hour?" He told the girl.

"Fifteen minutes is enough instead of thirty." The girl then continued with a resolved tone: "I have bet my purse with them. It’s a draw if I can converse with Grant for more than fifteen minutes, it will be a draw. They have to give me their most precious shirt and shoes if I can converse for more than thirty minutes."

She stopped for a while and continued fiercely: "Don’t even think about getting my favorite limited edition purse!"

"..."

Benjamin really wanted to ignore her.

However, this girl was not giving up that easily, or should he say that the love of this girl to her purse knew no bounds. It even made her to act cheekily and actively "attack" Benjamin.

"So… Benjamin, I heard about you. You’re Grant’s brother right? You’re famous in the capital. I heard… I heard that you got kidnapped right? It’s so interesting, can you tell me more about it?"

Benjamin sighed.

This lady’s ability to keep the conversation was very bad.

However, he realized that he did not have to resent this lady as the sh*tty feeling of him being wrongly recognized was slowly fading.

It did not matter where or who he could obtain the information from. Since this lady was using him to secure her purse, he could use the lady to know more about the church’s movement.

Hence, as the girl asked him "How was your liver lately?", he cut her off and said: "Did you hear that the church have been summoning the holy knights across the country to the capital recently?"

The lady was stunned and after revealing a relaxing expression, she said: "Thank you Mr. Benjamin. I often go to the church to pray but I do not know about the movement of the holy knights."

"Is that so? Good bye then."

"Hold on! I… I heard something about it."

Benjamin finally smiled with satisfaction.

He knew that he had to pressure these people or they would not say anything.

The girl was clearly annoyed. She stared at Benjamin and said: "Do you really have to talk about the church? If my mum found out that I’ve been discussing the church with outsiders she will definitely ground me."

"Which one is more important, your purse or your freedom?"

"The purse of course." The girl said with confidence. "Alright, let’s chat about the church then. I will even talk about the scandals between my mum and the general!"

"..."

Sorry, I would be uncomfortable if I were to know too much about this.

Benjamin shook his head and said: "who wants to talk about that. Let’s talk about the church."

The girl furrowed her eyebrow and said: "Why are you so interested in the church? I heard that you do not have the talent in the divine arts. You do not stand a chance to be part of the church."

"Who said I wanted to be part of the church?" After some thought, Benjamin came up with a reasonable excuse. "I heard that the church had been gathering the holy knights. I am worried whether we are going to war and we can prepare ourselves if that is the case."

He had to be careful about it as he did not want to raise any suspicion that he was inquiring about the church everywhere.

After listening him out, the girl sighed and finally said something Benjamin wanted to hear:

"Alright, I’ll tell you. The church had already made their move on the day they cornered the mages. My uncle is a holy knight and he left our house during tea time after he received a notice from the church. At first we thought that everything would be over once the mages were captured but I still have not seen that uncle since then. We have no idea what happened to him."

Benjamin nodded as he listened on.

That made sense.

He found out the reason why Michelle had not appeared in front of him. The church was still recruiting for more holy knights. There were no news from Michelle as she was still in the holy knight’s team and was not able to leave at all.

Benjamin almost assumed that Michelle had died somewhere in the sewer.

However, while one problem was solved, another problem arose.

What was the church up to as they recruited so many holy knights?

"I heard that a group of mages had form a group in the country and the church wanted to kill all of them. Hence the recruitment." Benjamin probed further.

The girl shook her head.

"That can’t be right, at least the story I know is not so." Suddenly, she tensed up and whispered: "I heard that the holy knights are summoned because His Highness the Pope was almost assassinated by an assassin from another country!"