6 The Mage’s Principle Part 1 (1/2)

The guards did not dare leave, and stood nervously to one side.

There were not many of them in the city guard department of Ceylon City. The real army troops were under the control of the House of the Lord, forming his private army troop. Given the episode that had occurred at the city guard department, many people had already gone to inform the troops at the House of the Lord.

Before long, out on the streets were the thunderous sounds of horses' hooves galloping and charging towards the soldiers. More than one hundred swordsmen surrounded the soldiers. Ten of them jumped off of their horses and walked through the door of the city guard department. Earlier on, Jason had blown up the door with a fireball.

The leader of the group, who was wearing the armor of a swordsman, drew his sword and walked into the main hall. The swordsmen behind him all drew their weapons. The armored swordsman saw the situation in the hall and pointed at Jason angrily, ”Who are you, and how dare you break into jail to rescue a prisoner? Let's fight!”

”Scoundrel,” Jason berated, as he raised his finger. A green glow appeared and a jet of acid shot out towards the swordsman's face. A sizzling sound could be heard and white smoke emerged. The acid had instantly corroded this swordsman's face. He screeched in pain and collapsed to the ground.

After Jason had done this deed, he told Saleen softly, ”Even if we are enemies, he should not have insulted us mages. Even the emperor must not have a mage bow his head. There was no need to give such an ill-mannered man any courtesy.”

”Understood, Teacher,” Saleen answered in a low voice. Everyone in the hall who had heard what was said shivered more than once.

”Drag him out. He is very noisy,” Jason told the soldier opposite him. Having received amnesty, a soldier who had barged in hurriedly dragged his injured compatriot out.

”I do not have time for this. Who was responsible for arresting my student? Bring him to me within half an hour.” Jason took out a magical hourglass, turned it over, and placed it on the table.

At this point, another two armored swordsmen walked in. Their suits of armor showed their positions of higher rank, and they were possibly officers. The two of them looked similar in stature and were well-built. One had red hair while the other was blond. The blond swordsman raised his head to look at Jason, who was still maintaining an illumination, and felt a chill in his heart.

He was not an ignorant soldier. Jason's grey mage robe had two lines of mage symbols, indicating that he was a grade-5 mage. Which fool had infuriated such an important person?

Mage robes had three colors – white for grade-1 to grade-3, grey for grade-4 to grade-6, and black for grade-7 to grade-9. The symbols on the robes represented the mage's grade. The grey-robed master was considered a mage master and such a figure was someone that even the lord could not afford to offend.

The red-haired swordsman bowed silently to Jason, and told the soldiers around him, ”All of you, arrest the men who were connected to this matter at once. If any of them are left out, you will take their place.”

These soldiers glanced at Jason, who was expressionless but did not seem to object, then left in an unruly manner.

The red-haired swordsman spoke carefully to Jason, ”Mage sir, is there anything else you need me to do?”

”Em…” Jason hesitated and said, ”Do not let the lord come by. I do not wish to see him.”

The red-haired swordsman was momentarily surprised. He bowed his head and said, ”Yes. Mage sir, this young master is hurt. May I get a holy master to come?”

”Not necessary. He can bear this little pain,” Jason rejected the red-haired swordsman's kind offer. He was not anxious to treat Saleen since it was not a serious wound. It could stay, so that Saleen could be reminded of what had happened today. Had Saleen done something to get himself arrested? No matter if he had been right or wrong, the lesson could prevent similar situations from reoccurring in the future.

The red-haired swordsman spoke briefly to the blond swordsman and the latter walked out of the hall with his head lowered. The red-haired swordsman stood at one side waiting. Saleen had thought he was doomed and had not expected his teacher to come. Things were looking up for him. It appeared that his teacher was not interested in responding even to the lord.

Only now did Saleen truly understand what it meant to be a mage. The books had often depicted how mages were held in high esteem, but it had been difficult to imagine as Saleen had not witnessed it himself. He recognized the red-haired swordsman as someone from the House of the Lord. He was not a bad person, as last midautumn, he had given Saleen a small extra bag of flour when he had gone to collect the flour that the lord was distributing.

It took less than half an hour to capture the four soldiers who had arrested Saleen, as well as the businessman and his servants.

The six of them did not know what had happened. The businessman saw Saleen standing next to Jason and knew that something was amiss. He was the first to kneel on the ground, and his servants followed suit.

”Who arrested my student?” Jason asked coldly.

The four soldiers looked at each other, and then looked at the red-haired swordsman standing to the side. The red-haired swordsman did not appear to see them, his eyes looking upwards.

The four soldiers had no choice but to put on a bold front and answered, ”It was us. We received a reported case about him…stealing Master Zhanbu's gold coins.” The soldiers pointed at the businessmen, feigning innocence.

”Zhanbu? That is you, I assume. Why did you malign my student?” Jason glared at the businessman, questioning him strictly.

”Sir, it was a misunderstanding. I had the wrong person…”