A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 187 Amelia's Resolve

"What does this mean?" Bart asked, trembling as he held a stack of identification documents.

"Young Master, you're being watched," the assistant concluded.

Rorschach pushed the young assistant out of the guest room and instructed the servant at the door, "He is Mr. Bart's assistant. He suffered some emotional distress earlier. Take this young gentleman to rest first."

As he closed the door and returned to Mariano's bedside, he felt as if he had passed through a barrier, which Elizabeth must have cast in the room again.

Bart wanted nothing more than to pick up a scimitar and stab the list and all the documents through it: "Is it the Imperial Council or His Majesty the Emperor? Who?"

"I don't think it came from above, at least not from either of these two sides," Rorschach analyzed. "If it were the Emperor or the Imperial Council, they could easily use proper procedures to transfer mages from the South to different positions. Besides, this assassination list targeting mages is too amateurish."

Rorschach is more inclined to believe it was the work of a secret society or underground organization. His radical and naive act of blatantly excluding the Southern Mage is ridiculous. Just as Bart took over the work of the deceased Finn, as long as the council does not change the system for appointing and dismissing resident mages, such assassinations are useless to the entire empire, except to accelerate the depletion of spellcasters.

Of course, it's impossible for the "Cult of the Holy Mother" to bear all the blame. Rorschach recalled that the fighting style of the gypsy-like half-elf was more like that of an assassin who specialized in targeting mages and liked to kill at close range.

Rorschach took the scimitar and examined it closely. Its shape seemed to come from the Sand Kingdom, and the enchantment used a rare technique similar to gold and silver inlay. The perfectly inlaid mithril wires formed an exquisite magical circuit, and the blade was inlaid with a high-grade energy storage crystal.

"Mr. Mariano hasn't woken up yet, and we have no more leads," Ou Yeni concluded after reviewing the report.

Luo Xia had a headache: "The question now is, should the wedding still go ahead?"

Bart remained silent for a long time, then sighed, "Whether to proceed or cancel is not a decision you or I can make."

Rorschach placed the back of his hand on Mariano's forehead and felt a slight warmth. Sure enough, the [Resurrection Technique] had brought him back, but it had also nourished the bacteria that had invaded his body, leaving him with a low-grade fever.

Elizabeth promised, "I will inform the Arcane Tower of Würzburg about what happened."

Luo Xia thought that in order to bring the key witness to justice, he would need to summon a healer, and said, "Mage Mariano's condition is not optimistic. I've written to the mages in the Forest Tower." He believed that Master Humboldt, the healer, had a solution, but he didn't know if he could actually get him or provide guidance.

Of course, the three mages couldn't guard Mariano forever. Elizabeth seemed to be particularly skilled in domain and barrier magic. She used her staff to draw a barrier with citrine powder and asked everyone to leave the room.

The lights in the room flickered, and the feeling inside changed instantly. Even though nothing seemed to be happening to the naked eye, Luo Xia's intuition told him that if he stepped inside, he would feel stuck.

Mariano's wounds were almost healed, but the blue light remained, turning into thin "light strips." After Ouyene finished casting her spell, the fluctuations of the blue light and the breathing pattern ceased.

"Time magic?"

"No, I didn't change the flow of time, but everything within the barrier has been slowed down to the extreme. This can last for more than a day now, and since I've been here recently, it can continue indefinitely."

There are less than three days left until the wedding.

Inside the palace's meeting room, Barth stood silently with his arms crossed and elbows propped on the table.

Rorschach, sitting here as a witness to the incident and a friend of the groom, reports to Prince Otto, who has arrived.

"Only three days left, and this happens!" Otto slammed his fist on the table. His eyes widened in fury. "The wedding must be called off!"

Bart shook his head: "Impossible, Your Highness. There's no such thing as a pause. If everything stops, then everything is over. Just say the wedding is canceled!"

"I'm asking you, you bastard, are you after Amelia or her status? If you love her, how dare you put her in danger!"

Bart wanted to say that he could protect Millie, but he didn't say it in the end. He was indeed not a qualified spellcaster in the past year. Without Rorschach's special training, he could even say that he had been stagnating on the path of magic.

I always made excuses that I had too many things to do and no time to study and practice, but today I suddenly felt powerless.

At the round table was also the "representative of the Arcane Tower," Elizabeth, dressed in black, especially her veil: "The Arcane Tower is willing to provide the highest level of protection for Mr. Bart and Her Highness the Princess's wedding."

The assassination attempt on the Southern Mage by unidentified attackers has aroused great indignation throughout the Arcane Tower, which is dominated by people from Bain and the surrounding area. Many intermediate and archmages have also vowed to take the initiative to retaliate.

"Grand Mage Humboldt von Alexander of the Forest Tower will also arrive in Würzburg today. After treating the eyewitness Mariano, he can also guard the wedding site."

Rorschach has already contacted Master Kober and Master Humboldt, who are also interested in the intelligence from the Forest Tower near the Southern Black Forest. Humboldt will arrive today via teleportation.

The prince was taken aback by Bart's extensive network of connections. His expression softened slightly: "And what about after that? Does this mean there won't be any death threats after the wedding, or that my sister won't be implicated?"

Bart, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up: "Since the list targets the resident mage, I am willing to resign from my position as resident mage after marriage."

In this way, the selection of trade representatives should not be affected, but the original hope of obtaining a seat in the Imperial Diet is slim. If one dares to resign from the Diet appointment, the review of the candidate's qualifications will inevitably be retaliated against.

Otto sneered: "You think it's that easy to solve? Someone wants to kill you, and now your friend has killed one of them, and you're just going to abandon them?"

"I'm afraid the list is still there, and there will be other assassins." Rorschach also acknowledged this situation.

Bart clenched his fists tightly, and the magic within his body began to boil slightly. Regret and anger mingled together, rushing straight to his brain along with the magic.

However, he did not explode. Instead, he said very seriously, gritting his teeth, "After I resign, I will separate from Millie first, then apply to go to the magic tower to train until I am able to protect her before I come back."

This almost means giving up one's future, and whether or not one can get promoted, and how long it will take, are all unknowns.

Rorschach desperately wanted to escape the suffocating atmosphere. It wasn't that he was heartless and would stand by and watch Bart die, but rather that he couldn't make the decision in this situation. If asked for his opinion, Rorschach would only say, "Have you forgotten about a very important person involved?"

With that thought in mind, the person in question pushed open the door and entered. Amelia, dressed in riding attire, barged in without being stopped by the servants.

"Amelia? When did you arrive?"

"I've been here from the beginning. But I wanted to hear everyone's thoughts first, so I stood outside the door for a while longer." At this moment, the princess's demeanor was completely different from what Luo Xia had seen before. She must have just finished riding a horse, as she was slightly sweaty, her damp sideburns clung to her face, and the rest of her hair was tied up, making her look very heroic.

She straightened her back, stood before the table, and declared like a monarch issuing an inviolable command to her subjects: "Nothing can stand in the way of Bart and my wedding!"

(End of this chapter)