Chapter 276: The mage’s leeway

The mage stood in front of Kant with extreme respect.

With so many grand knights watching from the side, his so-called pride and self-respect as a mage had actually flown to god knows where with his dead companions.

It was just groveling, as long as he could live.

Thus, he planned to tell Kant everything he knew.

He was very cooperative.

Kant nodded in satisfaction.

He rode on his warhorse, the Sword of the King was sheathed again.

However, the aura of a superior and the power of victory made the mage break out in cold sweat. It was obvious that he was extremely afraid of Kant and the grand knights around him.

Mages were weaker than grand knights in close combat.

The battlefield was cleared.

The Swadian knights had already placed the corpses together.

Including the charred corpses in half, the thick smell of blood mixed with the charred smell filled the air. It was very unpleasant to smell.

The mage scanned the corpses. They were all familiar figures. Although they had only known each other for a week and there were even some frictions and grudges, these people had turned into corpses just like that and were slaughtered like lambs, it still made his heart jumped in fear. He turned his head to look to the side.

Kant’s lips curled into a smile when he saw that he could not bear to look directly at them. He reached into his arms and took out a handkerchief. He covered his mouth and nose to avoid the stench of corpses and asked in a muffled voice, “Who are they?”

“They… they…”

The mage opened his mouth and wanted to answer, but his lips trembled and he did not know what to say.

He had just joined the team.

And he had only joined the assassination team temporarily for the sake of profit.

As for the seven grand knight-level attackers and the two top-level archers, he actually did not know them at all. However, the mage raised his head and saw Kant and the surrounding grand knights staring at him like tigers watching their prey. His heart trembled, he could not say the word “Don’t know” no matter how hard he tried.

Kant was not surprised that he could not say it.

From the looks of it, he knew that they were not a long-term team. Instead, they were more like a team that was put together in a short period of time.

“Don’t know them?”

Kant still covered his mouth and nose and asked.

“Yes.”, the mage swallowed his saliva, his tone trembling.

He did not get angry like Kant expect.

Kant looked at him and continued to ask, “I used to study in the academy not far from the Mage Tower of Leo. I know many faces of mages, but you seem very unfamiliar. My memory is very good. I can confirm that you have never appeared in the Mage Tower of Leo, and you do not seem to be a mage in the Mage Tower. This makes me very confused.”

“I’m a wandering mage from the Silver Platter Kingdom.”

The mage quickly replied, “The holy church of the Silver Platter Kingdom has started to expel all mage forces this year. The Mage Tower we’re in can’t be maintained, so we can only choose to leave.”. After hesitating for a moment, he continued, “I’m just an expelled mage, and I don’t belong to the Mage Tower’s inheritance mage. Thus, when I leave, I could only be abandoned. I came to the Dukedom of Leo in order to earn a living, and I wanted to find a place to settle down.”

“Oh, is that so.”, Kant nodded. He had some understanding of the Silver Platter Kingdom. The Holy Church, which believed in the God of Holy Light, was indeed expelling non-Holy Church forces.

For example, the Mage Tower, which also had magical powers, was within the range of expulsion.

This was caused by the history of the Silver Platter Kingdom.

After all, when this country was founded, it was supported and established by the Holy Church. Therefore, the power of the pope was comparable to that of a king. It was a country with a system of combining politics and religion. It also had its own court-protecting knights, which belonged to the top religious armed forces.

There was a saying in the Silver Platter Kingdom.

The body belonged to the king, and the soul belonged to the Holy Light.

The meaning was very clear. The king and his noble forces had the right to rule over the kingdom and the people, while the Holy Church was the pillar of faith for the people and even the noble. There were occasional unpleasant between the two sides, but there was no conflict.

However, where there were people, there were fights.

The noble forces were not willing to share their power with the Holy Church.

The mage forces were the target of the noble forces. After all, a mage who had the power of the elements was much stronger than a priest who had the divine spell of healing and some weak attack spells.

Both sides colluded to suppress the position of the Holy Church.

However, from the looks of it.

The Holy Church had obtained the final victory and expelled all the mages in the whole country.

This had even obtained the king’s permission.

Perhaps there was also a compromise.

The matters of the Silver Platter Kingdom naturally had nothing to do with Kant. On the contrary, he had a good impression of this mage who spoke everything he knew. He nodded his head in satisfaction and asked the final question.

“Do you know your employer?”, Kant asked.

“Employer…”

Mages clearly did not have the professional ethics of assassins.

He was not an assassin either.

After hesitating for a moment, he said to Kant, “My employer seems to be from the Dukedom of Leo, the East County. The one who interacted with me was just an ordinary gentleman, but I think the real employer must be hiding behind the scenes.”

“The East County.”, Kant narrowed his eyes. “This is really unexpected.”

He had thought that it would be the South County, or not the North County.

He really did not expect the employer of the mage was from East County.

After all, compared to the South County noble who had enemies all over the place, the North County noble who was currently greedy for salt mines, the East County, which had been closed for ten years and did not have much communication with the outside world, was still in a neutral status with Kant.

There was no enmity, no goodwill, and there was also no connection.

“Your lordship, Baron Kant.”

The mage gulped, he said hesitantly, “That’s all I know. Can you let me go? I’m just an ordinary wandering mage, and I even had a conflict with these teammates. When I cast the firewall, I didn’t cast it directly at your team, but only blocked your path. So you and I should have some leeway.”

“Yes, I’m very clear.”, Kant nodded. He was telling the truth, so he said, “I won’t kill you.”

“I’m very grateful for your mercy!”

The mage immediately bowed in excitement.

But before he could raise his head, a golden light shone, and warhammer instantly hit the back of his head. His entire head was like an exploding watermelon, red and white splashed on the ground, and his body fell heavily to the ground.

“But someone will kill you.”

Kant’s voice trailed off, and he said calmly, “You know too much.”

The royal knight who had swung the warhammer dismounted and threw the mage’s body, whose head had exploded into pieces, to the side. At the same time, the knight dismounted and quickly searched for any valuable items on the bodies.

Kant rode his horse to the side.

The stench of the corpse and the smell of blood mixed together. It was very strong and made him somewhat disgusted.

It was his decision to kill this mage.

Although he was an elite, Kant did not intend to let his power be known to outsiders before he had fully digested the fruits of his victory and developed into a colossus.

A slight flexing of muscle was enough to arouse the vigilance of those with ulterior motives.

But to display absolute force.

What greeted him was not submission, but hostility.

Kant was not ready to completely fall out with the noble families of the Dukedom of Leo.

At present, he had no more than 2,000 soldiers.

Even if he could break through the Stone Pass and successfully enter the Dukedom of Leo, or even take over the barren North County, he could still attack the East and South Counties. However, the ruling of the estates would be especially ineffective afterward.

A mere 2,000 people, after he fully prepared, there would be a force of 5,000 people.

Could they completely rule the entire Dukedom of Leo?

That was impossible.

This was even more unrealistic!

If Kant did not have 5,000 people of regular army and 30,000 civilians, he would not start a war that could destroy the country.

Currently, his troops were mainly focused on strategic defense and tactical attack.

Defending the Nahrin Desert was not a problem.

Secretly plotting against the Dukedom of Leo was just like how he had let Manid infiltrate the Stone Pass and let the bankrupt businessman Borg return to the East County to develop secretly. He was like boiled the frog in warm water and slowly took control of the Dukedom of Leo in his hands.

With the help of the system, Kant could do it easily.

The knights finished searching the bodies.

They came to Kant’s back, they reported, “My lord, we have obtained a magic staff, two parchment scrolls with incantations, and 300 great silver coins. As for the warhorse they were riding, they seem to have exhausted their energy and died behind the dune. They are of no value.”

“Yes, I understand.”, Kant nodded.

These were all his spoils of war. Naturally, he had to plunder them.

Just as he was about to continue leading the team away, a large number of cavalries appeared at the dune in the south.

It should be a large-scale cavalry team advancing. Although the sound had yet to be heard, there was a lot of wind and dust behind them. They rode their horses at high speed, and yellow fine sand and dust filled the air.

The knights immediately gathered next to Kant.

But the alert was quickly lifted.

The cavalry team that came from afar were the desert bandits and Sarrandian horsemen.

Rolf was leading the team and riding in front.

When he saw the corpses under Kant and the knights’ feet, he looked a little embarrassed. He whipped the warhorse under his horse and rushed over at high speed. He asked Kant urgently, “Lord Kant, are you hurt? we are late!”

“It’s alright.”

Kant nodded and did not blame Rolf.

Most of these attackers had magical powers. Even if Rolf caught up and rushed over, he probably would not be able to deal with these attackers. Instead, he would definitely suffer heavy casualties. If he won, it would probably be a pyrrhic victory!

This was the suppression of the troop class.

After exchanging a few words, Rolf heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that no one was injured.

However, when he turned his head to look at the corpses, he felt some fear towards the grand knight’s combat strength.

He could not help but say to Kant, “This world actually possesses such strength. I dare not imagine what kind of danger my cavalry will face if they encounter these 10 fellows.”

“In the future, if we encounter them and do not have an advantage, we will immediately retreat.”. Kant said calmly, “Save the strength first.”

“Yes.”, Rolf sighed lightly, and a rarely seen desolate expression appeared on his face.

After all, such terrifying combat strength was indeed something that he, who had come from the original world of history, could not accept.

“Right.”, Kant said, “Since you’re here, then I’ll give you three Swadian royal knights. They are all top-tier knights comparable to these grand knights and possess great power. Even if we encounter these grand knights again, I think we can temporarily alleviate the plight of the central posthouse.”

“Thank you for your help.”, Rolf was instantly overjoyed.