Chapter 325: Started
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Passing the crossing ahead of them and make a turn, they would be able to get to the earl’s residence, but Urter led Anfey in the opposite direction. They walked to a regular house and knocked on the door.
There was a rhythm to Urter’s knocking. Without giving it too much thought, Anfey knew Urter was sending a signal, since he had so much experience in it.
A roughly 60-year-old old man opened the door. Seeing Anfey behind Urter, he looked surprised, but calmed down quickly. He stepped to the side to make a path for them. As Anfey followed Urter into the yard, the door quietly closed. Magic surges radiated from the old man. Over a dozen of people came from all directions like ghosts. Some of them held swords while others had drawn their bows and targeted Anfey.
Anfey raised an eyebrow. He trusted Urter and knew these people were his people, but he did not feel comfortable when about eight people pointed arrows at him from a short distance, especially when he saw they all looked extremely nervous. If he made any moves, those arrows might shoot at him.
"Let me introduce you. This is Earl Anfey," Urter said in a low voice and then turned to Anfey. "Master, please do not take it personally. I have sent out signals to them, but they were worried that I was caught and threatened by others and looked a little too nervous about it. I have never brought anyone here before."
"That’s ok," Anfey replied.
Those swordsmen and archers looked at each other and let their weapons down, and then kneeled with one leg on the floor to Anfey.
"Ok. You guys can leave now." Urter waved his hand and the swordsmen and archers left in formation. They disappeared into the pitch dark in the blink of an eye. Anfey cleared his throat and said in a low voice, "Urter, did you recruit them too?" The swordsmen and archers were trained well. Their movements were so well coordinated that Anfey was surprised Urter could have trained them so well in such a short time.
"No, they were the bodyguards of Aroben. He said he would submit his resignation letter to you when came you back. He did not feel he had the need to keep these bodyguards anymore, so he asked me to be in charge of them," Urter said.
"Bodyguards? Then when Shansa Empire took over Violet City…" Anfey said.
"When Master Aroben got the news that Shansa Empire had invaded Violet City, he said everyone could leave, but not him. Master Aroben had dedicated his whole life to serving the empire. He did not want to be charged or make a bad name for himself and become a joke for others when he was about to leave his position," Urter said as he pushed a bedroom door open. "These bodyguards have followed Master Aroben for many years. Master Aroben did not want them to die for nothing. He asked them to send a top secret memo to Blackania City. In fact, that memo was an order to ask them to stay and fight for Blackania City. By the time they found out that situation in Blackania was getting bad, the city already had been surrounded by the Shansa Empire military."
"How many of them in total?" Anfey heaved a sigh.
"There are a little over 40 of them left," Urter said.
"Left? Are you saying…" Anfey asked.
"There used to be over 80 of them. Some of them stayed in Violet City. They died to protect Master Aroben. Many of the ones in Blackania City died in the battle," Urter said sadly. "Master, they have not attained high levels of fighting, but are very experienced. When Blackania City was in the battle, those guards did a lot to help defend the city."
"It is a waste to have them on watch in this house," Anfey said.
"I have no other options. I cannot find others I trust." Urter walked to the bed. He gave a little push on the queen-sized bed: it opened. A big black hole with barely visible stairs showed. "Master, please follow me." He stepped down the hole first.
The tunnel was narrow, but wide enough for one person to walk straight. It was high enough that Anfey did not have to bend over while he walked. Urter reached his hands out and searched along the wall. A small light appeared. "Master, I cannot afford Forever-Lasting magic light. I had to set up a simple light magic array, so be careful."
"My vision is better than you think." Anfey smiled. "Urter, would this tunnel lead us to the maze?"
"I planned that way," Urter said, shaking his head, "but the walls of the maze were built with pieces of steel rock. Steel rock and elements can fuse well. It is also a good material for a magic array. The texture of the steel rock was hard and very difficult to pierce through. There was a time that they made too much noise. The patrols above noticed something. They sent people to let me know about it while they dug a few holes and buried big buckets in them to listen to the noise underground. I did not know how to explain it to them. I had to change the plan to dig the tunnel in the basement of the earl’s residence."
As they were talking, they walked about a hundred yards. There was a wall in front of them and the tunnel had a 90 degree turn. Urter stood in front of the wall and flicked on it. The wall made a clear steel sound. "Master, look, this is steel rock."
Anfey walked closer to the wall and took a closer look. "Is steel rock rare?"
"It is not rare, but expensive," Urter said. "Master, after working on the tunnel for a few days, I had a new idea."
"What idea?" Anfey asked.
"We cannot let what happened before happen again, so I am thinking of digging a tunnel that could lead to the outside of the city. If we are in danger, we could escape from the tunnel." Urter looked a little awkward. "I know this sounds very selfish, because the civilians would not have any chance to use it. They do not even know about this tunnel, but…"
"It does not need to be so complicated. Violet City is going to have its own magic array soon," Anfey said.
"Really?" Urter looked surprised and excited. "Would parliament pass it?"
"We do not need them pass it. We are going to use our own magic crystals. We will have our professor help us in the palace so no one can stop us," Anfey said with a smile.
"Great!" Urter paused for a second. "But, Master, I think we still need a tunnel, just in case. In addition, we have more than six hundred captives. It would be a waste to keep them for nothing, since they are eating our food."
"Did captives build the tunnel?" Anfey asked.
"Yes," Urter said slowly. "Master, I know what you are thinking. Those captives are doomed. They would not be able to make it outside of the tunnel. I promise you this secret is not going to leak out."
"Ok. I trust you." This was already the second time that Anfey gave Urter such a comment.
Urter stood next to a crystal ball. He held his hand above it and moved his hand a little. The crystal ball lit up with an image of a room in it. Because of the dim light, the room looked gloomy.
Urter took a look before he pushed the stone door in front of him open. "Master, this is your basement. It was just built. It is not very big. You can use it for right now. We can expand it later."
Anfey walked into the basement after Urter. The room showing in the crystal ball was actually the basement. "The Eyes of Sky magic array?"
"Yes, but it is a very simple and basic one," Urter said.
"Did you come here often?" Anfey asked.
"Not too often. I am a bigwig now. It would be too obvious if I came here too frequently," Urter said, smiling.
"Wouldn’t the patrols be surprised when they saw you suddenly showing up here?" Anfey asked.
"Since I took the governor’s job, I have warned them many times that they should not ask and look at certain things, otherwise they would be in trouble," Urter said casually.
"They suspected someone doing something underground, and then you might show up here out of no where. Any person with some intelligence would be able to guess what was going on," Anfey said.
"That is fine." Urter shrugged. "I can promise you they would not leak any secret."
"Is this tunnel about one hundred yards long? I wasn’t gone very long. It is amazing that you have built a tunnel so fast," Anfely complimented Urter.
"Well…" Urter looked a little awkward after Anfey’s compliment. He cautiously took a look at Anfey. "Master, I did try. To protect this secret, I could not use all the laborers I have. If you can send me more people, it would take just a bit more than ten days to build a tunnel to the outside the city."
"Ten days?" Anfey was shocked. He suddenly remembered the biggest difference between this world and Anfey’s previous world. "Are you saying you built this tunnel with magic?"
"If we did not use magic, do you think we used our bare hands on the tunnel?" Urter felt Anfey’s question was ridiculous. "If those captives had taken even half a year to build the tunnel, I do not think they could dig the tunnel this far."
"Understood." Anfey felt a little bit of shame. He changed the topic, "Where does the basement lead to?"
"To your study. Please follow me," Urter said.
After passing a stone door, they came to a study without a roof. They could see the stars from the study.
"Master, what do you think? Pretty grand, right? There are very few buildings in Violet City are as grand as this one…" Before Urter finished talking, the sky suddenly lit up. Stars disappeared in the sky. A bright spotlight looking like a smaller version of the sun gradually formed into an image, a gigantic angel. The light sword in the angel’s hand was so long that it cross the whole sky. The light wings were so huge that their north and south ends were beyond what human eyes could see. It reached beyond the horizon. Urter was shocked, so were the patrols walking by and the slaves at work. They all looked terrified.
"What is that?" Anfey looked tense. He was super sensitive to angels.
"A necromancer war has started," Urter said, as if he was dreaming.