At first glance, they seemed like ordinary names, but Benjamin instantly recognized them as the names of his followers.

... But was it just sheer coincidence?

The whole name list contained about thirty names, with at least a quarter of them being people from Benjamin’s mage squad. A cold chill ran down Benjamin’s spine.

How had they been discovered?

Without a doubt, his followers had been found out. According to the System, the mages in the name list were all a.s.signed to a group of cities south of Carretas; they were in close proximity to one another.

Perhaps they had accidentally left clues behind when trying to spread the news,

Benjamin quickly hid and used the magic communication tool to inform everybody on the list about his discovery. He asked them to be careful and be ready to change their base of operations at any given time.

Following this, he observed the priest from a distance.

He wanted to know why the Church had this list.

Thus, after some thought, he carefully approached the priest. This priest was disguised as a villager and was busy drawing water from the well. Benjamin waited for the perfect opportunity and swiftly used an icy mist to surround the opponent.

"What? Help!"

In the blink of an eye, the priest’s face changed. He tried calling for help but Benjamin was prepared; he used a wall of water to block out the cries to make sure the sound did not escape the area.

The crosses on his body all started to break, struggling to hold off the cold temperature from the icy mist.

"Stop your shouting, they can’t hear you." Benjamin walked out from the darkness and looked at the s.h.i.+vering priest with a cruel smirk.

"What... what are you trying to do? G.o.d will not forgive you!" The priests replied, with as much bravery in his voice as he could possibly muster.

"I’m not trying to do anything." Benjamin shrugged, "I just want to know what the name list of yours is for."

Hearing this, the priest’s expression immediately changed.

"What… what name list? I don’t understand what you’re talking about..."

Benjamin got frustrated and was ready to start torturing him to get the information he wanted. But just as he was ready to break the final barrier, the priest’s body suddenly went limp and blood started flowing from his nose - he had used magic to commit suicide.

Benjamin saw this and shook his head.

"How troublesome..."

There was no way of preventing his opponent from using this kind of suicide technique. All his work had now gone to waste.

Thus, he shook his head and walked over to start searching the body for the name list. Upon closer inspection, the ink and paper seemed rather new, revealing that it should have been written recently.

Benjamin entered deep thought. The more he thought about it... the more suspicious it seemed.

He felt that something was wrong.

Because of this, he decided not to leave the small town. Instead, he quickly disposed of the corpse and started walking towards the house of the merchant.

He had an appointment to attend.

He knew there were many guards around the town, but if he wanted to escape, they could do nothing to stop him. If this was the case, then he might as well interrogate this Tark guy about what exactly was going on.

After handing over the invitation, he was asked politely to enter. The formalities went on as usual and nothing seemed out of place – yet. Very quickly, Benjamin was brought to the merchant in a small room.

"You must be Mage Benjamin, it is an honour to meet you. Your reputation has spread all over Carr

etas with everyone claiming that you are the most selfless mage in the world."

Benjamin did bother playing along.

He clapped his hands and a ball of steam appeared, binding Mr Tark in mid-air.

Suddenly, Tark’s faced changed. He was unable to move and started panicking, "Mage Benjamin, what... what are you trying to do!?"

"You’re asking me? I should be the one asking that question." Benjamin's eyes locked coldly on his floating target, "Mr Tark, what are you trying to pull?"

Just as he said this, the ceiling opened up, and a metal net dropped down from above. However, Benjamin was on his toes and was able to cut it in half with his ice blade.

Benjamin flashed his eyes across the net to quickly examine it. Just as he thought… it was made from the kind of metal that could interfere with magic. If it was specially made to counter magic, then it was obviously a trap laid out specifically for him.

The Church had put in some effort in catching him.

After the metal net trap failed, Tark did not bother to continue acting, his face revealed genuine fear as he said nervously, "S… Sir Mage... don’t kill me! I don’t want to die! They forced me to do it, I never wanted to..."

Benjamin scanned outwards and saw that the soldiers were still standing guard patiently outside. They seemed to be oblivious to the situation inside the room.

He now knew he had time to interrogate. In addition to this, his prey was a normal merchant and should not be able to commit suicide with magic, right?

"Tell me everything you know. If not, I will torture you." Benjamin smiled. He had soundproofed the whole room and conjured tens of small ice needles, which he dangled menacingly in front of Tark.

Tark was not one for willpower and immediately started talking.

"Sir Mage, some weird people kidnapped my daughter and forced me to lure you here. I don’t know who they nor do I have anything to do with them, please don’t see me as one of them!"

Benjamin showed an unsatisfied frown, "And? Is that all you know?"

"This..."

Benjamin saw Tark’s hesitation and knew the merchant was hiding something. He waved his right hand and the ice needles flew forward. The ensuing noises sounded like they came from a slaughterhouse.

After a few minutes, Benjamin looked at Tark’s blood-soaked body and nodded satisfactorily.

"Are you willing to talk now?"

"You... demon, G.o.d will punish you! You... you..."

Benjamin snorted. This guy sounded exactly like the Church. Benjamin was convinced that everything he had said before about his daughter getting kidnapped, being forced by the Church were blatant lies.

This guy was no doubt a member of the church.

"No cigar, huh? Well then, let’s continue."

After a few minutes, the cries were replaced with sobs.

"Stop... stop the stabbing." All of Tark’s fingertips now had holes going straight through them. If he had the option to, he would have gladly committed suicide by now, "I’ll speak... I’ll tell you everything!"

Benjamin saw this and temporarily called off the ice needles, "What is your purpose? To catch me? Or is it to misdirect me?"

Tark opened his mouth and panted out a reply, "The bishop’s plan was to use that... that blasted name list to distract you and while you were distracted, he would go capture all of your followers…"