Chapter 491: The Resentful General
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Teacher Benjamin! You actually came to rescue us!"
Half an hour after the line of blockades was toppled, Benjamin was reunited with more than a hundred mages that were led by Varys at a secluded forest. Both sides were relieved.
They had not seen Benjamin for quite a few days now, and their faces were coloured with excitement.
With a wave of his hand, Benjamin answered happily, "This is nothing to be fussed over. After all, you’re the ones who left the plains to rescue me. I just returned and helped you out a little."
Honestly, the spreading of the news about the plague was largely done by these mages. Benjamin’s restless endeavour in chatting up people outside the enclosure did not have much of an impact.
But, the biggest reason for their success was the church’s hasty decisions.
Benjamin could only imagine how agitated the church had been. The bishop disregarded the livelihood of the people in this area and started a siege at a time when the inflow of people was at its peak. All this was done just to capture Benjamin. Hence, an overwhelming amount of people were all stuck in one place, and as the church could not provide sufficient manpower to handle them under such short notice, chaos was inevitable.
This state of turmoil was the perfect petri dish for the rumours started by Benjamin and his people to spread.
The church’s mindset was the very cause of their own defeat.
"What should we do next?" Varys asked. "Shall we return to the plains? The situation there is still stable, though, so if you have any other plans, we could help carry them out first."
Benjamin shook his head. "Nevermind, you can go back to be plains for now. The results from this two-pronged approach were quite satisfactory. If anything happens on our end, I’ll be sure to inform you then."
They needed to stay spread out if they were to successfully restrict the actions of the church.
The mages obviously understood that and nodded in agreement. The circumstances did not allow them a chance to unwind, and they bid their goodbyes after a brief rest before rushing back towards the plains as fast as they could.
Meanwhile, Benjamin turned in the opposite direction and flew East.
He needed to reunite with the King and the apprentices and continue his previous task of trying to win the people over in the villages.
As he flew in the sky, Benjamin held the Transmission Woodpiece in his hand was just about to inform his team about his whereabouts when the piece of wood started to glow by itself the moment he took it out.
Benjamin’s eyebrows arched in curiosity. He then activated the Woodpiece with his Spiritual Energy.
Suddenly, the King’s terrified crackled out from within the Woodpiece. "Bad- Bad news, that General Rexton came with his army out of nowhere and surrounded the village. We’re now hiding in the house of the village chief, and we have don’t know how long we can hold our ground. Basically… Basically just hurry to our rescue!"
"...."
This is not really happening, right?
Benjamin rubbed his forehead when he realised what was happening. The joy he felt from rescuing the hundreds of mages was immediately replaced with frustration.
General Rexton….
That f*cker.
He sent the King and the others to develop the villages at the East because the manpower of the church was concentrated on Amber City and no one would be available to surround them. What he never expected was the general that they previously met to emerge as an unstable variable.
The General probably still held a grudge against Benjamin.
More importantly, General Rexton completely trusted the fake King that the Church had cranked out. If he caught the real King, he would most definitely hand him over to the church.
He could never let this happen.
Thus, Benjamin took a deep breath and kept the Woodpiece. Then, he flew towards the village in the East as fast as he could.
At the same time, at Kerr Village, just East of Carretas.
"Oh, no…. Oh, no…. Why isn’t Mage Benjamin here yet?" Inside the house of the village chief, the King held the sigil in his palm as he paced about, his forehead covered with a sheen of sweat.
He inhaled deeply midstep and peered out the window again.
The village was surrounded by six circles of soldiers, three inner layers and three outer layers. The village chief led a few villagers and walked towards the entrance to the village nervously. He then attempted to converse with General Rexton, who was riding a horse.
"General, there are really no wanted criminals here. You surrounding our village with your soldiers is in direct violation of the honour of the royals. Please, order your men to retreat."
"No wanted criminals, you say? Why then why are you so persistent in keeping us out? You’re just a lowly chief of a village, so scram!"
"General, this is my responsibility as a village chief. I really cannot let you in…."
This deadlock continued for a few hours.
No one knew where General Rexton had gotten the news that led him to surround the village. The village chief, on the other hand, was surprisingly loyal, unwavering in the face of the army, adamant on forbidding them from entering the village.
The king was very grateful for this.
"What tremendous loyalty!" said the king as he looked on at the chief.
"Your majesty, um…. I do not mean to be a Dabby downer, but the main reason the chief is doing this is that his son has magical talent. His son is one of us now." Lara cleared her throat and whispered as she stood just beside the king.
"....." The king glared at Lara but no longer said anything.
Meanwhile, Joanna looked as nervous as a cat. "There’s no use staying here! Might as well just rush out! I checked, and these soldiers are just ordinary soldiers – there are no priests within their ranks."
"With just a few of us? Less than hundred mages?" Lara rolled her eyes. "Those apprentices are hopeless. There are tens of thousands of soldiers out there, you wouldn’t be able to kill them all even with your last drop of spiritual energy.
Joanna sulked, "Then, what should we do? They will eventually barge into this if we don’t do something."
"That might not be the case." Lara shook her head as she pointed at the General, far away from the window. "This dude is quite block-headed. He likes to do things according to the rules, and since attacking the village is going against the rules, as the chief had pointed out, the General might not actually go through with it."
Joanna paused and looked out the window as well.
General Rexton was still arguing with the chief but the soldiers behind him were already starting to look uninterested. Judging from the situation….. it would be quite long before any action was to happen.
Joanna sighed at the scene. "Yeah, you’re right. He could actually kick the chief aside, but he doesn’t dare do so."
The king was slightly relieved after listening to their conversation.
"Hopefully the chief can remain as determined as he is now," interrupted Tony. "Everything will be ok as long as he manages to drag the proceedings until Mage Benjamin arrives."
A few other mages who heard this nodded in agreement.
They had no idea when Benjamin would arrive, nor did they know what would Benjamin do to lead them out from the situation, but for some reason, they just believed.
Benjamin always found a way.
They were used to this, but this time, their long-standing expectations were broke.
Before Benjamin could arrive, the situation at the village entrance changed once again.