Volume 7 Chapter 9 - You Are More Valuable
Winnie and Joshua were limited to the horse carriage, they couldn’t see what was happening outside. However, based on the sunlight that came into the horse carriage, they could tell a few things.
The horse carriage was naturally not as fast as the Magic Sedan, so once it started moving, it shouldn’t have gone north first, but rather to the northwest.
As well, the horse carriage only moved at twenty to thirty kilometers per hour and it had never stopped since they boarded. The sunlight that came from outside the window kept getting dimmer and soon they couldn’t see any light at all, which was when they made their first stop.
“Get out, we’re resting here first.”
The middle aged magician coldly said before looking at the two men who were keeping Joshua and Winnie in the horse carriage.
After the two got out, they found that they were at the foot of a barren hill and there weren’t any signs of civilization around them.
Even a road……they should have left the road at least two hours ago.
It was clear that the other side needed to keep their actions hidden, so they avoided places with many people and choosing to rest in this barren mountain was very normal.
Joshua looked into the west at the setting sun before looking at the stars that were in the sky above them, confirming that it was around seven at night.
As for where they were……Based on the estimate along the way, they should be already two hundred kilometers from where they had been kidnapped.
Based on the direction they had gone on, they should be close or at the border of the Falk Kingdom.
The only other country that bordered the Falk Kingdom in this direction other than the Antila Kingdom was a small duchy called the Yash Duchy.
As for where they were exactly, he couldn’t make that judgement.
Perhaps it was because they were a bit further away, the middle aged magician seemed to relax a bit. He indicated for the two of them to find a place to sit and after they sat down, they waited for the other men to cook dinner.
The men that the middle aged magician brought along seemed well trained and had experience camping, so it didn’t take them long to set up a small camp.
What surprised Joshua and Winnie and what they also found funny was that these two people didn’t build camp fires as they had expected. Rather they took out two Magic Stoves from another horse carriage and used the Magic Stoves to quickly make a simple dinner.
The fragrance spread all around them. When they had this meal that tasted decent, Winnie and Joshua couldn’t help mistaking that they weren’t kidnapped, but they had come here for a camping trip.
If it wasn’t for the people threatening them with blades, this might have been a good trip.
“Now can you tell me why you kidnapped us?” After Joshua had a few bites, he asked the middle aged magician this.
The middle aged magician looked at him before looking at Winnie beside him and gave a cold snort, “Kid, our main target is her, you’re not that important.”
Joshua was surprised. Winnie couldn’t help laughing before asking, “Why is my value higher than his?”
“It’s very simple. It’s because you are a researcher of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s magic research facility and this kid isn’t.”
Hearing this answer, Joshua and Winnie looked at each other before finally having some ideas in their hearts.
“This means that you are after her ident.i.ty as a researcher. Then if my guesses aren’t wrong, you have ideas about the technology that she grasps?” Joshua asked.
The middle aged magician gave a snort, but he didn’t reply.
But based on the fact that he didn’t deny this, it meant that Joshua’s guess was right.
Joshua couldn’t help shaking his head, “Since it’s for technology, you clearly aren’t normal bandits and you even have a powerful magician here. You should have been sent by some country, right?”
“Stop guessing. When we get there, you’ll know.” The middle aged magician said in a deep voice.
Joshua couldn’t help shaking his head, “If it’s just for technology, your approach isn’t right. Winnie is only a normal researcher in the magic research facility, she only has a small part of the technology. It’s impossible to get the technological data that you want from her.”
“That’s right.” Winnie also said, “There are over one thousand and five hundred researchers at the magic research facility and each researcher only partic.i.p.ates in certain projects. Even if you wanted me to hand you the data that I have, it won’t be of any use, not to mention that it wouldn’t help you manufacture any magic machines. Oh…..what you want the most is naturally the military magic machines and I’ve never worked on any projects related to the military magic machines before, so it’s no use if you catch me.”
The middle aged magician looked at Winnie without any expressions before taking out a small item from his chest.
“If you haven’t partic.i.p.ated in them before, how did you get this thing?”
The small thing that he took out was the Magic Barrier Booster item that Winnie had before.
Winnie gave a shrug, “This was something that I got through internal channels to defend myself, that doesn’t mean that I partic.i.p.ate in this project. Not to mention that even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to give you any valuable information. You might not know this, but in any research project, there would be at least several dozen or even several hundred researchers working on the same project. The role that a single person can play is limited.”
The middle aged magician focused on Winnie, trying to tell if she was telling the truth.
After a while, he shook his head and put the item back into his chest.
“No matter what, we’ll take what we can get.”
Winnie and Joshua looked at each other before giving nods at the same time.
They didn’t count on the other side letting them go with a conversation because they already spent that much effort in catching them, so it was impossible for them to be easily released.
But through this conversation, they had confirmed the other side’s goal.
Since they knew that the other side was definitely after the magic machine related material that Winnie as a Frestech Chamber of Commerce researcher had, they were much more relieved.
Of course, that didn’t mean that they were planning on just accepting it.
After they reach the goal of these people, although their lives wouldn’t be in danger, they would lose their freedom.
That was not something they were willing to accept.
Winnie softly held Joshau’s hands, making it seem like the two of them were comforting each other and snuggling up together, but in reality, she had reached out a finger to tap Joshua’s palm.
If one looked carefully, they would find that her finger was tapping on Joshua’s palm in a very orderly manner and it wasn’t random at all.
This was a little game that was popular in the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s magic research facility.
The reason for this game was the “morse code” that sir chairman had mentioned to chief Evita before. It was said that they could pa.s.s on information based on the frequency of the tapping.
Sir chairman had only just casually mentioned it, but chief Evita had remembered it. When she was free, she studied if this tapping could actually be used.
Although it wasn’t as amazing as the “morse code” that sir chairman had mentioned, it wasn’t a problem to pa.s.s on some simple information.
Chief Evita had promoted this game in the magic research facility and had attracted the attention of many researchers.
Winnie was one of the best among them and she had taught Joshua this, letting it become a small game that they used to flirt with each other.
She never thought that she would be able to use it now.
“Did you leave behind the signal device?” Winnie asked.
“I did, but I put it on a delay to avoid it being discovered.” This was Joshua’s reply as he tapped on Winnie’s palm.
“How long is the delay?”
“Around half an hour.”
“Then if nothing goes wrong, we should be found soon.”
“Yes.”
Feeling the three stable taps that Joshua put on her palm, Winnie felt much more calm and couldn’t help revealing a faith smile.
The middle aged magician was surprised as he looked at her. He didn’t know how this little girl who was only around twenty years old could still smile in this situation. Could it be that she wasn’t afraid?
Then he remembered that although she was around twenty, she was already a Sixth Grade Magician and was only two grades away from him.
With the military magic machines that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce made, she could even face him in a fight.
Then adding in her status as a researcher for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, the value hidden on her was far beyond a normal Eighth Grade Magician like him.
This made the middle aged magician feel very dissatisfied.
Since Arch Magus Levin Hasko fell five years ago from attacking the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s prestige on the Sines Continent had swelled. It also let everyone have a new understanding of magic machines, or rather the might of military magic machines.
This caused all the countries of the continent to see the importance of the military magic machine industry the Frestech Chamber of Commerce led.
As the magic machine industry developed on the continent over the last five years with the cooperation of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, the countries of the continent and all the people who had enjoyed the benefits of the magic machine industry had a new understanding of magicians.
If it was said that the magicians were the most powerful and most feared before, then as the magic machine industry developed and gained more influence, the current demand that people had now was to have magicians contribute in developing the magic machine industry.
Compared to when magicians were feared, people respected magicians with outstanding research results with magic machines even more.
So in just five years, the position of magicians on the continent had undergone a great change.
It didn’t mean that the positions of magicians dropped, but instead of magicians having a high position because they were powerful, there was now another type of magician that had a higher position because of their great research results.
This was not big enough to affect the aloof Great Magicians and Arch Magi, but it affected normal magicians like him very much.
With his and Winnie’s power, he was an Eighth Grade Magician while Winnie was a Sixth Grade Magician. If it was the Sines Continent of the past, he would definitely be more respected by people because of his power.
But on the current continent, there was no doubt that Winnie was more respected compared to him.
It wasn’t for anything else, it was just because she was a Frestech Chamber of Commerce researcher.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce was without a doubt the leader in the magic machine industry, so as a Frestech Chamber of Commerce researcher, her research results naturally surpa.s.sed other magicians.
It was because of this status that the people behind the middle aged magician had thought of every way to kidnap Winnie.
Thinking of how important Winnie was to those important people and how he was only treated as a goon, the middle aged magician couldn’t help feeling dissatisfied.
It was just developing this little thing, could it really give this little girl a higher position than me?
But reaching into his chest to touch the item there, the middle aged magician’s expression couldn’t help sinking.
That was right, it was because of this little thing that Winnie as a Sixth Grade Magician had the ability to resist the attacks of an Eighth Grade Magician like him.
Thinking of how the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had even more powerful military magic machines that could kill Arch Magi, the middle aged magician couldn’t help feeling a deep helplessness.
Perhaps……continuing to increase the power of his own magic had already changed its meaning?