Chapter 326: Another Expert Level Mage
"So, we"re leaving?"
"Yes. But we will return. Will you stay here or you want to come with me?"
As soon as we return back to Arturo, we explained everything to Celestine who was standing by at Fabio"s house. Then we discussed our next action there before returning to the inn.
"Hmm… I think it"s best if I stay here so you can open a portal back here easily. You can be rest easy knowing that I"m here to detect if anyone nearby is expert level mage. Are you leaving right now?" Celestine asked.
"Yeah. It"s best if I leave now. You can make up some excuse why you"re alone in case someone asked." I said.
"I see. I hope you will return with good news. What about Crown Prince then?" Celestine asked.
"I will stay here acting as a guard like usual. Until it"s time for us to commence our plan. And just call me Fabio or my fake name, Albertus." Fabio said.
After discussing what each of us are going to do, we were about to leave when something unexpected happened.
"…this feeling. The mana in the surrounding is being affected greatly. Someone about to breakthrough!" I said.
It was late in the night when we feel someone is breaking through to the next level. But this feeling is much stronger than what I previously feel when the girls" level increased.
"It"s when someone about to enter expert level!"
Celestine as someone who has experienced it know what happened. It"s when someone in advanced level about to enter expert level.
This mean there will be another expert level mage in this kingdom. Is this person an ally or not? I guess I need to delay our plan for a bit.
"Let"s find out who it is quickly! Spot, camouflage and take us to the source of this." I asked Spot.
"Roget that."
Spot then quickly transformed into a serpent big enough for the three of us to ride on.
"Why are we going there?" Fabio asked.
"We need to know if this person is related to the cult or not. If not, we have to protect this mage. And since it"s near the capital, it might be someone that you know. We will delay our plan slightly and meet this mage. If possible, we will bring this mage to join us. And there"s a chance that expert level mages in the capital is going there to see as well. Celestine and I will take care of those mages approaching, while you go protect that mage closely." I said.
I hope this mage who is about to breakthrough is not a member of the cult.
There"s also a chance that this person is not alone. This person might have someone who will protect him or her. That bodyguard also might think that we are enemies. We have to be careful.
Riding on Spot"s back, we quickly leave the capital toward where we sense the magic affected the most. A few second after we leave, I can see other people flying toward the same direction as us. they must have been curious about the person behind this as well.
Some of them have explosive device in their mouth. And some flying cult members were carrying someone else and fly slower. The person they are carrying could be expert level mage.
But Spot fly faster than them and our distance grew. I can no longer see them, but I know they are going to the same direction. I told what I see to Celestine and Fabio to get them prepared.
"That cave. The person is inside that cave. And there are n.o.body guarding that cave. That person is… a woman. Probably in her late 40s, but she"s getting younger thanks to breaking through. As expected, raising magic level will make us younger. But the effect can only be seen once you"re breaking through expert level." I told the other what happened.
"Late 40s? Since you said she"s getting younger, she"s probably much older than that, right?" Fabio asked.
"Probably. The good thing is that there"s no one protecting her. That mean we don"t need to explain anything to anyone until she finished breaking through. And I don"t see any explosive device in her mouth. But we still need to be careful." I said.
Though I doubt that there"s a cult member who is breaking through alone. I asked Celestine, and she said that she was being protected heavily even though the people around her are her worshippers. I hope this one is not related to the cult.
"Alright. Fabio, you guard the entrance of the cave. Once she finished breaking through, explain everything and try to persuade her. You"re the Crown Prince so you should be able to do it. Celestine, build some wall to cover this place. Then you will protect this cave from the outside of the wall. Spot and I will fight those who approach. Let"s hope that there are no expert level earth mages here. Spot, you can kill everyone you see other than us. Even if they are not with the cult, we can put the blame on dangerous monster roaming here."
I gave the order to the others. Then, we jumped from Spot"s back, and Celestine build a wall around the cave. Fabio is inside the wall, but with my air magic, he and the mage inside won"t have any problem breathing.
Spot and I split up to fight anyone approaching while Celestine will stand guard in front of the wall.
"Spot! No need to hold back!" I shouted.
"Nice!"
Spot then instantly used his breath attack to destroy the landscape. Many of the people approaching us died. Most of them are cult members.
"…maybe hold back a little. Just don"t destroy the capital by mistake." I said.
If he really went all out, the whole capital will be destroyed and all our plan will be useless.
Not just that the cult will be even more wary than before. We also stopped them from taking control of Varadis, so they should have been alert to us and trying to find our ident.i.ties.
Thanks to Spot"s attack, most people decided to retreat. I choose to fight those who are coming from elsewhere. Spot can take care of those people.
…now that I think about it, isn"t it a good time to infiltrate the castle? Well, I doubt that all expert level mages in hiding are going here. But after this event end, the security in the castle should be increased.
Should I have another expert level mage join us, or should I save the king whose status is unknown?
Whatever. We"re already here, so let"s persuade her. But after we take care of these pests.
If this many people fight together, they should be able to defeat Spot. But these people don"t seem to know each other, so teamwork is impossible.
Oh? There are two mages fighting Spot. They seem to be expert level mages. I"ll help him later.
Those two let other mages pa.s.s to approach the cave. I need to take care of them first before helping Spot.
They are all members of the cult. And this is an open s.p.a.ce. It will be difficult for me to defeat them all. But good thing there are only five of them. Not more. Let"s snipe them from afar.
To surprise them, I shot the one behind first. The rest stopped, then I shot the two in front to death. Leaving only two left.
Those two created Wind Barrier to block the bullets and stopped. Trying to find my location.
While they are stopping, I aimed somewhere else where some people are still trying to approach the cave and kill them. And soon, other than those two and the other two who are fighting Spot, everyone else is either dead or retreated.
I approached the two mages and kill them with Reizpear, and about to help Spot when I notice that Spot, although he"s wounded badly, he"s winning.
I will contact Sonia to tell Kayla to heal him later. I don"t need to help Spot here. So, I returned back to Celestine who seems to have killed several people on her own, and told her that everything is over. Then, I see that the two expert level mages are dead after Spot attacked them with another breath attack. He will return as well soon.
"Seems like she has broken through. Fabio is talking with her. Let"s go in." I said to Celestine who destroyed the wall she built.
Hmm? They seem to be friendly. Do they know each other? What is Fabio"s relationship with that woman? They both happily hugged each other and cried.
We both have entered the cave, and with the torch illuminated the cave, Celestine also can see that the two here are hugging.
Then, Fabio released the hug first, and turned at us.
"Guys, I want to introduce you to my mother, the queen, Carmen." Fabio introduced us to the expert level mage.
"…excuse me?"