Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 220: Bounty for Killing
In the Evil Moon Mountains, Blackstone City is a frontier war fortress on the border of the Wizard Kingdom of Orland.

After nightfall, a man in a black double-breasted suit walked through the bustling streets of the pub district and pushed open the door of a private club.

"Mr. Willy! Good evening!"

"Matthews, you're finally here!"

There weren't many guests in the lobby on the first floor of this private club. The scattered people sitting on the sofas kept greeting the man who came in.

Matthews Willy touched his black top hat with his finger, saluted everyone, and then hurried up to the second floor.

Two people were already waiting for him in a lounge on the second floor.

"Have you also received Duncan's magical message? Can you confirm the authenticity of the letter?" Matthews asked impatiently as soon as he sat down.

The two people in the room exchanged a glance and replied affirmatively, "Even if your location is exposed, the enemy will never know our locations. All matters concerning Duncan were handled through you alone..."

Matthews nodded in agreement and sighed deeply. "The mystery is great. We all thought he'd died, but... where has he been hiding for the past six years? And what exactly happened during that battle?"

The letter sent by the spell messenger simply stated his identity. This high-level spellcaster, who used to be a close comrade of Matthews and the other three, directly asked them for help - to help him investigate Tyrion White, a high-level priest of the Church of Light who was currently in the Black Market City.

If necessary, it would be best to secretly kill the person after he has obtained clues to the truth of the unsolved case.

To this end, Duncan expressed his willingness to pay a price that made the three of them very interested, an ancient secret technique inherited from his family, a creative eight-ring high-level spell from a legendary spellcaster.

"Before we find out what has happened to Duncan over the years, I don't recommend agreeing to his request..." Matthews pondered for a moment and made a cautious judgment.

"Yes, although Tyrion White has always been on our kill list, we must also be on guard against the possibility that this is a sinister trap, a trap that wants to catch us all in one fell swoop."

The three people in the room, including Matthews Willy, were all members of the battle mage corps stationed at the Evil Moon Mountains battlefield all year round. The only difference was that Matthews was a native of the Wizarding Kingdom of Orland, while his two companions were spellcasters from the Federation.

There is a Divine Punishment faction within the Church of Light that is hostile to magicians, and the magical world also has radical groups that hate the church. They often form small secret societies, active in the dark, and occasionally attack the church. It can be said that under the less than 100-year peace covenant between spellcasters and the church, the undercurrents and bloody conflicts have never stopped.

"Then don't act rashly. Find a way to test the church and see how they react. That will clearly tell you if there's a problem... Eric, have the church's spies stationed in Blackrock City start moving as soon as possible."

The three-person group was clearly led by Matthews Willy, while the other two listened quietly to his arrangements and plans. "I will find a special channel to find out about Duncan's situation. At the same time, I will contact spellcasters from other secret societies to assist us in our operations..."

……

There are not many high-level battle mages stationed in Blackrock City all year round. Unlike the Federation spellcasters who serve in rotation, most of them have their own residences in the mage district of the city, and are often equipped with laboratories that are convenient for conducting spell research.

Matthews Willy returned to his residence and carefully checked whether the warning magic left in the laboratory before leaving was triggered manually. Then he added a shielding spell to cover the entire laboratory to prevent his next actions from being secretly spied on by people with bad intentions.

He took out a delicate brass instrument from the safe that was sealed with a magic contract, carefully placed it on the desk in the laboratory, and skillfully took out a magic stone and embedded it in the groove on the side of the instrument.

The miniature magic circle at the bottom of the instrument instantly activated. Matthews expertly pressed the keypad and entered his anonymous codename. [Stormwalker: Mr. Son of Flame, have you arrived in Blackrock City? When can we meet?]

After waiting patiently for about half an hour, the member code of the Son of Flame in the forum finally slowly flashed with silver light, which meant that the other party was now online and had received the separate message sent by Matthews.

Son of Flame: Mr. Stormrunner, you're not going to tell everyone I'm in Blackrock City, are you? Bullshit! I don't want to be mercilessly mocked by my former battle mage colleagues the moment I step foot in Blackrock City!

The two of them had experienced the attack on the church witch hunters not long ago, and had already exchanged secret codes in private, revealing their real identities. It turned out that they were wizard comrades who had worked together briefly. It could only be said that it was fate.

The reason why the Son of Fire, Phil Holden, came to Blackrock City was because he helped Harvey deal with the attackers from within the Federation. He was implicated and could not clear himself of suspicion, so he was forced to serve for a short period of time as punishment.

Although the pro-church faction of the combat department made the first mistake in this internal conflict, Fair's act of leaving no room for maneuver and decisively killing his nominal colleague on the spot also made him seem to be to blame in the arguments among the parties.

However, this man, who holds the title of the Federation's chief disciple, is actually a lonely elemental ruffian who has long been half-expelled by his master. He doesn't care about the rhetoric of these magic politicians at all, and pleads guilty and accepts punishment with an air of recklessness. This forces Chief Sarath to personally intervene and reluctantly arrange a short-term service in the demon battlefield for him as a punishment.

Stormwalker: Do you still remember the unsolved case that happened in the Andes Valley six years ago?

Fair was sitting in the carriage with the magic brain device on his knees. He suddenly saw the incoherent words sent by the other party and felt confused and puzzled.

[Son of Flame: Of course. Why are you asking this all of a sudden? I wasn't there at the time, and I only heard about it afterwards.]

The exploration mission to the ancient ruins near the Andes Valley, which was jointly led by the Federation and the Alliance of Wizard Kingdoms, was suddenly attacked by a group of mysterious people when the exploration team finally returned.

However, since the majority of the exploration team at that time were research spellcasters, and the operation was kept secret within the Federation, they did not carry too many combat followers and bloodline warriors. They were completely no match for the attackers who outnumbered them by several times, and ended up being almost annihilated. Only a few mage apprentices and spellcaster students who were sent back midway managed to escape.

Although most spellcasters believed that this was just another targeted attack from the Church's Divine Punishment Faction, during the investigation of the incident, it was discovered that the attackers not only possessed many of the Church's usual methods, but also showed traces of spellcaster attacks... However, it was obvious that even wizard families close to the Church would not completely turn against the Church and cooperate with the other side in attacking fellow spellcasters.

After years of endless debate and perfunctory subsequent investigations, the incident was eventually classified as a private vendetta between certain wizarding families and gradually became an open cold case that no one cared about.

Stormrunner: A close friend who witnessed this incident, a friend we thought had tragically perished, has suddenly returned to life and found us... Do you want to know the truth? We need your help!

[Son of Flame: What help? I'm not one of those captive hounds the Federation keeps. I can't help you solve a cold case from a few years ago. Besides, what good would I get from doing that?]

Stormwalker: Let me rephrase this... Would you be interested in joining us to sneak into the home of a church priest with a disgusting pedophilia habit and teach this sanctimonious hypocrite a lesson? And while we're at it, could we also investigate any insider information he may have had when he was involved in this case?

[Son of Flame: These churches are hypocritical shit. Fine! I agree to join, but how do I cooperate with you?]

Matthews Willy looked at the message on the crystal screen, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, and he quickly pressed the typewriter keys to send a reply.

[Son of the Storm: Let’s talk about it when we meet! ]

(End of this chapter)