Chapter 307: Best out of 36 Strategies
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Anfey, should we go?" Christian asked quietly.
"Are we that hungry? Do we need this dinner that bad?" Anfey smiled.
"Of course not. Who cares about this dinner?" Blavi burst into laughter.
"Then we are not going to his dinner." Anfey looked firm about this decision.
"Is it appropriate?" Riska said hesitantly. "Prince Granden would feel embarrassed and get mad if we do not go."
"We are madder than him!" Blavi said. He looked like a person who just worried that the world might not be in a chaos. That way he would have no entertainment to watch.
"I agree with Blavi. Christian, if you go, Granden would look down upon you even more. We need to let him know that it is not that easy to make up for what he did. Next time, he would think more carefully before he made a similar mistake," Anfey said calmly.
"Right! If we just let it go and forgive him this time, he would ask us to forgive him again next time." Blavi was so excited that he jumped on the chair after he received support from Anfey. "We need act to show him he should stop dreaming that we would forgive him so easily."
"Ok. We are not going." Christian had decided not to go. His announcement meant everything.
"Send a servant to tell them that we got stuck with something right now and could not go. As for the reason we cannot go…just pick any reason." Anfey suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right. Hagan, can you unlock an Element lock?"
"Element lock? Did you see an Element lock?" Hagan asked.
"Yes. Can you unlock it?" Anfey asked.
"Yes. In fact, it is pretty easy. As long as you have the spells, you can easily unlock it," Hagan said.
"Why would I ask you if we had the spells?" Anfey shook his head. "Can you unlock it without spells?"
"No. If Master Jacob is here, he may be able to unlock it. If we want to force it open, we have to know the permutation of the elements. Do you think I can do that?" Hagan smiled bitterly. "Where did you see the Element lock?"
"In a secret chamber," Anfey said.
"Secret chamber?" Hagan was intrigued. "What’s in the chamber?"
"We have taken out all the other stuff. Only a big case is left. It is locked with an Element lock," Anfey said.
"What’s in the case?" Hagan asked.
"Are you stupid?" Blavi could not help yelling at Hagan. "The Element lock is not unlocked yet, how could we know what is inside the case?" Blavi glanced at Anfey. In fact, he did know what was in the case. Suzanna had made it very clear that secrets should be kept among them and they should not let anyone else know about it. Anfey also stressed that they could not let anyone else know about it, so Blavi spoke before anyone else could because he was worried someone could have talked about the secret by accident.
"Hagan, can you unlock it?" Anfey repeated the same question.
"Without spells, we cannot unlock an Element lock, but I should be able to move the Element lock," Hagan said.
"If you can, say you can. If you cannot, then just say you cannot. What do you mean when you say you should be able to?" Anfey frowned. This was a big deal. He had to get an accurate answer.
"Don’t push me too hard. I am just an alchemist." Hagan smiled bitterly. "Theoretically, I can make the volatility of elements freeze for a short amount of time, but I have never dealt with an Element lock before. How could I be too sure about it?"
"Will you possibly fail?" Riska asked.
"Yes," Hagan said.
"What would happen if you failed?" Riska asked.
"You will never see me." Hagan heaved a deep sigh. He chose to be an alchemist because the timing had been right and he was timid. He neither wanted to face death in battle nor see those evil-looking magic beasts. Being an alchemist was not only a safe job, but also had a lot of benefits. Alchemists received more respect than mages. They had poor ability to protect themselves. However, people rarely gave alchemists a hard time. Hagan never thought he would become an "EOD expert." The power of an Element lock would be the same as the power of more than a dozen intermediate magic arrays of Chaos together. He definitely would disappear if he failed.
"Anfey, do we have to move the Element lock?" Christian asked.
"Yes, this time is different than last time. We secretly left Sacred City last time, but we have received others’ attention this time. There must be many people stalking us. The secret of the secret chamber will leak, so we have to move that case away from the chamber," Anfey said.
"Let’s kill all those stalkers!" Blavi said with hatred. They used to be a group of kids only knowing about practicing magic, but now they talked about killing all the time. On the bright side, they had matured. On the other hand, it showed the pathetic side of human nature. This group of kids had learned sometimes it is better to kill others before they could get killed themselves.
"What if the king sent them? Do we kill them? Do you want to rebel against the king?" Zubin asked.
Blavi did not know how to respond for a second. "What good ideas do you have?"
"How about letting me read through Master Jacob’s scripts to see if there is anything about the Element lock," Hagan said. "Even if there is nothing about an Element lock, Master Jacob is coming to Sacred City in a few days. I could ask him in person and learn something new. I would be more confident when I have to move the Element lock."
"Hagan, you have to be more alert. Ok? Don’t mention anything about treasure. Just tell him you are interested in an Element lock," Anfey said.
"Don’t worry. I am not a little kid." Hagan suddenly remembered something. "Anfey, are we leaving Sacred City for sure?"
"Yes," Anfey said.
"How about my lab?" Hagan felt pained when he thought about how much time and effort he had put into the lab. He spent a couple of sleepless nights building the lab. He finally built his first lab. Before he could enjoy it for a few days, they had to leave. No matter what others would think, Hagan really did not want to leave.
"It was not a long term plan to have a lab in Sacred City, because we have to leave here soon or later," Anfey said slowly. "Don’t worry. Either in Violet City or Sword Tomb Principality, we definitely will build a new lab for you. For the next few days, you can take down anything you feel will be useful."
"Ok." Hagan helplessly nodded.
Anfey looked around. "I think you guys could tell Sacred City is getting more complicated. It would not do us any good to stay here. Prince Granden thinks we are causing trouble for him. Prince Wester thinks we would be his opponents and never get along with him. We will have trouble sooner or later if we stay here. Christian, if you have decided not to fight for the throne, you should make it more clear and look more determined. You’d better leave Sacred City and get away from the troubles."
Zubin cleared his throat, "Anfey, Wester is not quite like you think he is."
"Oh?" Anfey said.
"Today I met two mages. They were very nice to me and wanted to be friends with me. They also let me know they are with Prince Wester. It seems that Prince Wester wanted to make friends with us," Zubin said.
"Why didn’t you say it earlier?" Blavi said, frowning.
"Anfey called us over and started talking about Granden’s invitation right away. I did not get a chance," Zubin said.
"This only makes the situation even more complicated," Anfey said quietly. "We are not going to keep neutral in Sacred City. In addition, we might make our professor take on more weight. If something happens to us, the professor would have to take care of us. If we leave, the professor does not have to worry about us."
"I agreed with Anfey from the beginning. I think we all can agree on this. I just do not know what choice the others would make." Christian sighed. This conversation involved Suzanna, Hui Wei, and six others, not even half of the legion. It was hard to know what the other half of the legion would choose because they would not want to leave Saul. Choosing the right teacher was important in terms of magical study, and sometimes could be a determining factor.
"Christian, can you represent us and talk to the professor about how we see the situation. As long as the professor supports us, they would come with us," Anfey said.
"Ok." Christian nodded.
"If we leave Sacred City now, there is another benefit for us," Anfey said, smiling.
"What benefit?" Christian was shocked.
"Leaving Sacred City means you have no interest in the throne," Anfey said. "Right now the king should feel the most secure about you. I think he knows what happened on your birthday. We should not say Granden and Wester had any evil intentions towards you, but at the very least they were not nice to you. How would you protect yourself in the future?" Anfey said.
"Didn’t you say we are going to build our own Sword Tomb Principality?" Christian asked.
"We think so." Anfey smiled. "The king should have made one, or even a few, plans for you, because he is your father. I think it will not take long after we reach Violet City for the king to ask you to take over Sword Tomb Principality. We have nothing right now, but once we are in charge of Sword Tomb Principality, we will be in much better shape."
"I see," Christian said.
"When we leave, we’d better ask Brother Entos to go with us," Anfey said.
"I overheard the conversation between Brother Entos and Marino. They were discussing the time to go back to the Country of Mercenaries. I do not think Bro Entos would come with us," Christian said.
"Christian, we need you to talk to our professor. You’d better make us look really sympathetic. If our professor asks him to go with us, then he does not have a say where he wants to go."
"Good idea." Christian’s eyes brightened. "Brother Entos has been travelling for so many years. He is a lot more experienced than us. He has been senior magister for a long time, so we can ask him if we have any question about magic."
"Anfey, it would be even better if you could ask Master Ernest to join us," Blavi blurted out.
"Well…I will try." Anfey slowly nodded.