Chapter 6: Loyalty
Translator: Nyoi_Bo_Studio Editor: Tennesh
Standing in front of Yagor’s tombstone, Saul and Ernest looked a little dazed. Anfey was taking advantage of this rare opportunity to carefully examine their expressions, secretly guessing at their thoughts.
Ernest's face had little expression. He just sighed and seemed to relax. Compared to Ernest, Saul had initially looked surprised, followed by a look of sadness, and finally a look of doubt. Saul slowly stretched out his hand, hovering in the air for a long, silent moment. Finally, he said, "I can feel the fire element radiating from here… It really is Yagor that is sleeping here."
"Archmage Saul, did you think I was lying?" Anfey looked surprised. In his words hid a trap. If Saul acknowledged his title of archmage, it would prove he was of high status, equal to Yagor. But if Saul looked unnatural or did not take the name, he would not quite yet be on the same level as Yagor.
"I'm sorry, little friend. This situation is very critical, so every step must be taken cautiously," said Saul. After a moment, he said, "I have not asked for your name yet, little friend."
"My name is Anfey." His heart shook a little. Was this man named Saul also an archmage? Hiding his excitement, Anfey calmly asked, "Excuse me, may I ask where you are from, Archmage Saul?"
"I am from the Maho Empire, where I am a court archmage. Ernest is my old friend." Saul replied. "Anfey, tell me, how exactly did Archmage Yagor die?"
"Archmage Yagor was conducting a magic experiment when he suffered an accident. The injury was very severe. After two days, he passed away." Anfey started liking Saul as a person. Saul, as a high ranking archmage, calmly spoke to him without a trace of arrogance or impatience. He was surely a well-educated, reserved man.
"Could a great archmage like him suffer an accident like that?" Saul asked himself incredulously. He turned to Anfey with another question. "Are you Archmage Yagor’s apprentice?"
"Yes, Archmage Saul," Anfey replied. "Since Archmage Yagor started living in seclusion, he no longer studied fire magic. Instead, he tried to find a breakthrough in other areas. Who knew that an accident would occur?"
"What magic was Yagor studying?" Saul stared at Anfey. From the corner of his eyes, Anfey could see that Ernest and Saul’s faces had become even more solemn. Anfey knew that this subject was of great importance to the two. He deliberately hesitated for a moment.
"Um…"
"You do not need to tell us if you do not wish to." Saul smiled and said, "This is Yagor’s secret, and if you want to keep this secret, I will not force you."
"Thank you for your understanding, Archmage Saul." Anfey gave a secret sigh of relief.
"But... I have one thing I want to ask; hopefully it doesn’t hurt your feelings." Saul looked up at the sky but kept an eye on Anfey.
"You can ask me anything, Archmage Saul." replied Anfey.
"You are Yagor’s apprentice, but... I couldn’t find a trace of sadness on your face while we were talking about this sad topic, which I don’t understand," Saul said cautiously.
"Archmage Saul, you aren’t aware, but Archmage Yagor died in peace. He said that this accident had let him find a piece of himself he had lost. I am not sad, but rather happy for him." After Anfey had answered Saul's question, he gave another sigh of relief. In fact, Anfey had thought about how to explain the death of Yagor for a long time. If he acted too sad and grief-stricken, people would start to suspect him. He had to evaluate how to act, and how much others would believe him.
From another point of view, people with ulterior motives, in order to not raise suspicion in others, would deliberately act in a grief-stricken way. Instead, Anfey had acted in the opposite way, leading others to a wrong conclusion.
After listening to Saul's question, Anfey knew that Saul was not a suspicious man. If he had been in Saul’s place, Anfey would have waited to take fatal action after acquiring enough evidence, instead of asking a question as soon as it rose up. Of course, there was the possibility of another factor, which was the power difference between the two parties. Saul clearly did not want to antagonize such a small figure as Anfey.
"Oh, even facing death, Yagor was still peaceful?" Saul's attention was readily attracted to another facet of this matter, just as Anfey had intended.
"Yes, Archmage Yagor passed away with a smile on his face."
"I am getting more and more curious. Can tell me why?"
"This..." Anfey slightly sighed. "I'm sorry, I cannot tell you why."
"In the past few years, Yagor has been practicing dark magic!" Ernest suddenly inserted a sentence. His blade-like eyes were staring at Anfey’s face, making Anfey feel uncomfortable.
"What’s that?" Anfey asked, frightened. "No, no, no... You make no sense!"
"In these graves, there are young men buried because of Yagor’s failed experiments, right!" Ernest stretched out his hand, pointing forward. Not far from the tombstone of Yagor, there were many graves. Anfei intentionally dug out the bones of those juveniles and re-buried them. He was concerned that some careless people would not notice this, so he purposefully built these graves less than 100 meters apart from each other.
"..." Anfei kept silent, cold sweat dripping down his head. In this scenario, others would think he was scared.
"Despicable Yagor, what a lost soul! If—"
"Shut up!" Anfey interrupted Ernest. He began to remember the pieces from Yagor’s Diary. Yagor recorded his concerns and anxiety from lacking experimental subjects, and the responses from Tumen Commercial Union and Maho Empire. Yagor also emphasized that the court archmage of the Maho Empire took a lot of apprentices out travelling without returning shortly after. Anfei could feel Yagor’s anger and hatred for the court archmage. Yagor always thought about leaving the island and looking for another place to hide. If he was right, then Saul should be the court archmage Yagor mentioned in his diary. He finally came back to find Yagor with an assistant!
"Whom do you want to shut up?" Ernest gave Anfey an extremely cold, serious look. Although he didn’t move his body at all, his powerful charisma, like a lion ready to pounce, made others frightened.
"Yes! Archmage Yagor did some bad things in order to break through the bottleneck in his magic, but… but he finally came to realize the truth! Who has never been confused? Who has never done wrong? Archmage Yagor is gone, and gone forever. How could you still blame the deceased?!" Anfey’s eyes brimmed with tears. "Please leave now. You are not welcome here!!" Ernest's threat confirmed Anfey’s judgement. If there were two sides to this matter, Saul and Ernest were undoubtedly the ones on the side of justice. Such a person would not kill anyone for no reason, not to mention that the body Anfey was in now was that of a teenager!
Ernest walked towards Anfey without any facial expression. "I want to dig out the body of Yagor and hang it on the gallows. I want him to be treated with contempt by the public!"
"No!" Anfey opened his arms, trying to block Ernest.
"Oh, go away!" Ernest roared, hitting Anfey with a backhand swing of his sword.
Anfey proudly blocked Yagor’s tombstone, looking at the soon approaching sword, motionless. His eyes showed stubbornness, but also despair. In fact, Ernest's actions were not fast, and Anfey could have easily escaped. However, now was the time to gamble, so he had to stick with it.
"Don’t freak out the kid..." Saul started talking.
Ernest recovered his sword quickly, as if nothing had happened, with his eyes full of curiosity. His frightening power also disappeared.
Anfey staggered a few steps, slightly out of breath, which proved that he used all of his strength to block the sword.
"Are you really Yagor’s apprentice?" asked Saul in a milder tone.
"Yes!"
"Why did you not discourage Yagor when he practiced dark magic?"
"I..." Anfey paused, his eyes looking at the cemetery in the distance and a bitter smile on his face. A knowledgeable archmage would not easily believe in what others said to them, but preferred to find their own answers. Anfey used the right body language to lure him into finding the answer. This conclusion would be the most convincing, because people could doubt others, but would not doubt themselves!
"Were you kidnapped by Yagor too?" Saul laughed.
"You... How did you know?" Anfey looked at Saul with shock.
"Hehe... When did you become his apprentice?"
"Right before Archmage Yagor died." Anfey lowered his head.
"Was it after the accident?"
"Yes."
"At that time how many people were left on the island?"
"Only Ajia and I... Ajia went with Archmage Yagor to do the experiment that day."
"Ajia? If that day Archmage Yagor took you to do the experiment, it would be Ajia talking to me now, right?" Saul laughed.
"Yes."
"You are a poor but lucky child." Saul sighed.
"Yagor is dead, so who taught you magic? I could feel the fire in your body fluctuating. Have you been self-studying? Did Yagor leave anything to you?" In the end, he was the court archmage. He couldn’t say three sentences without talking about magic.
"Archmage Yagor gave me a book, and I have been studying it."
"Can I take a look at the book?"
"Sure." Anfey took the fire magic book out of his chest naturally, handing it to Saul. But he took it back when Saul reached out to him. "Archmage Saul, you... Archmage Yagor has died. I hope you can forgive him for what he has done, to preserve his reputation and integrity?
"No worries, we will not go after the deceased. What has passed is in the past," Saul said with a smile.
"Ah!" Anfey nodded his head and sincerely handed over the fire magic book. Although a magic book written by an archmage was priceless, Anfey thought Saul was not into the magic book, but feeling out his temptation.
Saul took the magic book, glancing over it for a moment, and gave it back to Anfey. "Keep it safe. It's the estate that Yagor left for you. Don’t lose it."
"I know." Anfey put the fire magic book carefully back into his chest area.
Saul looked at Yagor’s tombstone for a long time and sighed. He turned and walked back. Ernest slowly followed Saul by walking at his side, leaving Anfey blankly staring at their backs.
"Do you want to stay on the deserted island forever?" Ernest suddenly turned and said.
"You... You want to take me?" Anfey asked with surprise and delight.
"If you want to stay, we will not force you." Saul laughed.
Anfey cheered, dancing up and down. "Wait a minute, wait a minute, I will go and pick up my stuff!
Saul and Ernest looked straight into each other’s eyes, spontaneously giving a smile. Who could be more loyal than one that protected the deceased at the expense of his own life? Anfey's stubbornness had successfully won the trust of Saul and Ernest.