Above the mage

Chapter 257 Bipolar Reversal

The sounds in the room continued for a long time before gradually returning to silence.

For the mastermind behind everything, dealing with a hunter isn't actually a big problem.

The only difficulty is that the hunter is a saintess, a "rising star" highly regarded in the sect.

This means that if something happens to her, she will not be easily fooled like Baruch, and it will attract attention.

Therefore, this matter must be done perfectly.

This is a bit troublesome.

But it's only a little bit.

Catherine walked along Phoenix's main street.

The streets were bustling with people.

This is a scene unique in the North.

But she knew that this liveliness was only relative to the North.

From the outside world, Phoenix is ​​just an insignificant little city, and its so-called prosperity is nothing more than a trivial spectacle.

It is said that in big cities, during festivals, the streets are filled with people dressed in festive attire, parading around all sorts of floats.

The road, several times wider than Phoenix, was packed with enthusiastic people.

In front of those floats, there will be a band playing music and a clown on stilts with a big nose.

As the floats passed by, colorful ribbons fluttered and laughter filled the air.

Children lined both sides of the street to watch.

Back then, people on the floats would throw handfuls of candy down, causing children to scramble for it.

Candy? That's such a rare thing; she'd only ever heard of it, never actually seen it.

The thought of this filled Catherine, who was born in the North and had never left it, with a sense of longing.

What would such a bustling and prosperous scene be like?

However, Catherine's longing was not for the outside world.

What she longed for was to see such a prosperous scene in the North in her lifetime.

Although she knew perfectly well that it was almost impossible.

In all the years of history of the North, Phoenix is ​​the only one to have survived.

For her to witness such significant changes in the North within her relatively short lifespan compared to the North's history, it would require a miracle...

While thinking about these various things, Catherine walked towards the place where bounty missions were issued and accepted.

After about a week, they had completed the bounty mission they had been using to cover their tracks.

What she needs to do now is to complete the task.

Catherine had only gone halfway when she was stopped by a person in a hurry.

She looked closely and quickly recognized him as the servant she had seen with Elder Grant a few days ago.

"What's wrong?" Catherine asked curiously.

"Elder Grant has found some useful information and asked me to inform you so you can head over there immediately."

He seemed very anxious. "I went to your residence to call you, but you weren't there. I searched the streets for a long time, and thankfully I found you." The servant said breathlessly, sounding slightly nervous.

"I see." Catherine's heart skipped a beat, her attention already drawn to the "useful information" from the servant in front of her.

Of course, she also noticed the servant's nervousness.

However, she didn't pay much attention to it, simply taking it as the other party's nervousness towards the high-ringed ice-blooded mage and their panic at not being able to find the person they were trying to send a message to.

"Then I'll hurry over there, so as not to delay things," Catherine said.

Upon hearing this, the servant breathed a sigh of relief and quickly stopped Catherine, who was about to leave on her own, saying, "Elder Grant is waiting for you in another private residence. Please come with me, and I will lead the way."

"Oh, okay, then lead the way." Catherine didn't think much of it.

After all, Elder Grant's residence was located in the heart of Phoenix, and his comings and goings were somewhat conspicuous. It was only natural that they would change to a more private place to discuss matters.

Led by her servant, Catherine turned into a side alley next to the main road and then wandered through buildings of all sizes.

"Elder Grant actually has a private residence in a place like this." Catherine looked at the increasingly narrow streets with slight surprise.

"A private residence definitely needs to be hidden deeper in the ground," the servant paused slightly, then explained cautiously.

Catherine frowned slightly, and for some reason, she gradually sensed something strange.

But Phoenix is ​​ultimately just a "small city," so by this time, the two had already arrived at their destination.

It was a house in a dark alley, built of gray stones, with a door made of animal bones and hides.

Catherine glanced at it but didn't find anything special.

"Elder Grant is waiting for you inside."

Now that she was already here, Catherine temporarily put aside her doubts, lifted the curtain, and went inside.

The servant did not come in; he waited outside.

This is quite normal; their subsequent conversation involved some private matters, and these servants were naturally not suited to eavesdrop.

The house was neither too big nor too small. After Catherine entered, she glanced around but didn't see anyone.

She frowned slightly, walked inside, lifted the animal skin curtain of the inner room, and prepared to enter.

But the moment the animal skin curtain was lifted, Catherine's nose twitched slightly, and her brows furrowed instantly.

Her keen hunter's sense of smell detected an unusual odor of blood at that moment.

Catherine's heart tightened, and she reacted extremely quickly.

Something's not right!

But just as she realized something was wrong and was about to leave, she heard hurried but chaotic footsteps and a shout from outside.

"This is it. I heard some strange noises at night, then smelled blood. I mustered up my courage and peeked out, and sure enough, something was wrong."

The next moment, a loud explosion rang out.

One wall of the house, along with the main gate, was blasted open in an extremely brutal manner.

A group of Iceborn mages wearing armor bearing the emblem of the True Ice Tribe rushed over from outside the collapsed wall and surrounded Catherine in an instant.

Meanwhile, Catherine had completely lifted the animal skin curtain of the inner room and could see the scene inside.

There were seven or eight corpses, all wearing the armor of the Zhenbing tribe, lying inside the room.

The body was still very fresh, and it appeared that the time of death was no more than a day ago.

By now, Catherine knew perfectly well that she had fallen into a terrible trap that had been carefully set for her.

Elder Grant's servant made her lower her guard, and thus she fell for his trick so easily.

Given how things have developed, Catherine is certainly not foolish enough to claim that she was tricked into coming here and only just arrived, and that she wants to find the servant to prove her innocence.

A well-planned trap would not leave such a flaw.

The person behind the scenes has many ways to make the servant disappear, whether it's by silencing him or by having already set up an alibi.

The evidence at the scene has already been framed against her, and she has no way to defend herself.

The question is, who did it?

And what should we do now?

Although Catherine was burning with anger, she remained remarkably calm.

To be honest, with her strength, she could have easily killed all of them in the shortest amount of time and escaped Phoenix before the Zhenbing tribe could even react.

However, if she did that, it would no longer matter whether she killed these people or not.

As the holy maiden who protects the snowfield, bearing such a crime is not just a matter for her alone; it may even trigger conflicts and war between the Zhenbing tribe and the religious sect.

Even if you can't resist, at least you still have a chance to prove your innocence.

In an instant, Catherine made the wisest decision, and at the same time, her heart grew colder.

She was certain that since the other party had set up such a trap, they must have guessed her reaction, and there was a high probability that there would be follow-up arrangements.

This time, proving her innocence will clearly not be an easy task.

The only saving grace was that she didn't go with Loych.

Otherwise, if the two of them were framed together, they would truly be left with no one to turn to for help.

"Take her down and bring her back!" the leader of the group of Iceborn mages commanded.

Catherine lowered her head.

Having already made up her mind, she had no intention of changing it.

She was just starting to think about another problem.

who did it?

When she first started thinking about this question, many clear ideas came to mind.

Catherine believed she hadn't offended anyone; if she had to say she had, it was only because of what she was doing at the time.

Therefore, it must be the work of the mastermind behind Baruch's affairs and the one who practiced forbidden necromancy.

The fact that the mastermind behind setting up such a trap in Phoenix in just one week indicates that their status and position have exceeded anything she initially anticipated.

More importantly, she had clearly created the illusion of "earning extra money" in Phoenix, and the other party still used this tactic to frame her.

Clearly, the mastermind behind this has determined her true purpose.

How could the other party get straight to the point in such a short time?

There must have been clear intelligence guidance.

"The only flaw is the message from the branch's chief priest to request help after Gao De appeared. From this message, we know that I should have been tracking Gao De at that time, and should not have appeared in Phoenix."

"Given my status, once I accept this mission, the level of confidentiality will be raised. There should be no more than three people in the entire sect who are authorized to know that I am in charge of this mission. So theoretically, this flaw no longer exists."

"Wait." In the next instant, Catherine suddenly thought of a terrible possibility.

Could it be that the mastermind is one of those three?

How is that possible?!

As soon as the thought popped into her head, Catherine shuddered and then instinctively shook her head.

Practicing forbidden necromancy is tantamount to apostasy.

Those three were the actual leaders of the sect.

In other words, would a king of a country commit treason?

While Catherine was pondering, the Iceborn mages of the Zhenbing tribe stepped forward and took out shackles.

"I will go with you, there's no need for the shackles," Catherine said, raising her head to the leading ice-blooded mage. "I am a hunter of the Snowfield Guardians, and I believe there must be some misunderstanding here. Someone is framing me, and I will find evidence to prove my innocence."

The leading Iceborn mage paused for a moment, then thought for a moment and nodded to his subordinate Iceborn mages.

The man then put away the handcuffs.

"Let's go," Catherine said to the Iceborn mages of the True Ice Tribe.

When Gao De returned to the house where he had stayed for a week, he found that Loych, who had been busy with bounty missions all week, was also there.

"Finished with the mission? Where's Catherine?" he asked casually as he closed the door.

The usually easy-going Loich didn't respond to him today.

He turned his head and saw that Loich looked unusually serious today, with a hint of anxiety, annoyance and suppressed anger in his eyes.

Gao De was taken aback, then, thinking of Catherine whom he hadn't seen, he immediately guessed what was going on.

"Something happened to Catherine?"

Only then did Loych nod and reply in a low voice, "Mm."

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Gao De was surprised. Although he didn't know Catherine's exact mage level, he could tell she was a tough opponent. How could she have gotten into trouble so easily?

"She was framed." Now that the conversation had started, Loiqi, who had been holding back her frustrations, simply poured out everything:

"Someone killed a group of Iceborn mages from the True Ice Tribe who were escorting their prey back to Phoenix, stole the Frost Giant Lizard hatchlings they brought back that contained traces of dragon blood, and framed Catherine for the crime. She has now been taken back by the True Ice Tribe mages."

"It must be that the mastermind within the sect discovered that we were investigating him, so they used this method to frame Catherine."

Good heavens, this is a complete reversal of fortunes. Catherine, who forcibly took him to Phoenix, is now experiencing what it's like to have your freedom restricted. Gao De felt a pang of anxiety, but he wasn't gloating.

Because in this matter, he, Loich, and Catherine were in a relationship of shared prosperity and shared ruin.

He was certainly annoyed that the two had forcibly brought him to Phoenix, but it was indeed highly likely that the mastermind behind it all, as Catherine had said, would kill him to silence him.

If this mastermind is powerful enough to even trick Catherine, wouldn't killing a mage who has just advanced to the first level be even easier?

"Aren't you close to Elder Grant? Can't you ask him for help?" Gao De asked hurriedly.

Upon hearing Gao De mention this, Loych's expression turned even more grim. After a moment of silence, he slowly spoke:

"As soon as I learned that Catherine was in trouble, I went to see Elder Grant."

"He won't help?!" Seeing Loich's expression, God knew that things wouldn't end well.

"It's not that he's unwilling, it's just that he's barely able to take care of himself right now, so he can't look after us." Loich looked frustrated.

"You can't even save yourself. What do you mean?"

"Just two days ago, the golden wheat seedlings of Zhenbing tribe had a problem. They started to lose their vitality and wither one by one, but no matter what they did, they couldn't find the cause of the problem."

"Grant was in charge of cultivating Golden Wheat in the Zhenbing tribe, and Golden Wheat is an extremely important and valuable crop for the Zhenbing tribe."

If Jin Huimai's problem isn't resolved soon, his time as elder will be up. At this critical juncture, he really doesn't have time to worry about our affairs.

(End of this chapter)