18 In Exile After the Killing Part 1 (1/2)

Decca saw the other party rush forward. He disregarded his injury, lifted his dagger, and charged at the swordsman. Even though the other party had not called upon the sword aura, his sword still knocked Decca’s dagger into the air. Decca’s wrist bled profusely, and he was unsure if his muscles and bone were hurt.

With this block, Saleen had finished chanting his spell. In his hand, a strong green light lit up, and a trace of a white line shot out into the air towards the swordsman's face.

The swordsman lifted his sword with difficulty; the stainless steel sword was broken with the sound of a click. The icicle pierced his head, and exploded behind him. The chilly trail dispersed all around. The young nobleman was stunned momentarily.

The green light in Saleen’s hand did not disperse, a second icicle shooting out even more swiftly. The young nobleman opened his mouth, looked at the gaping hole the size of a bowl in his chest, and collapsed.

”Stop!”

A familiar voice sounded out, but it was too late. The heart of the young nobleman had ruptured, and not even deities could save him now. Saleen felt someone approach him from behind. Decca fell to the ground. He struggled to get up but to no avail.

Saleen turned around, the green light on his finger lit up again. However, it was not Icicle Magic this time around, as there was no time to prepare it. Saleen could only quickly prepare Acid Sputtering, but was not confident he could stop the person who was approaching.

The sharp growl drew near, Saleen’s wrist suffered a heavy blow, and the magic instantly dispersed. Someone grabbed Saleen’s shoulder, and Saleen could feel pain in the muscles all over his body.

”Come with me.”

Only now did Saleen see clearly that it was Ulysses, the swordsman from the House of the Lord, who had captured him.

In the battle, Saleen had badly mauled three swordsmen. The procession had become a big mess. Ulysses kicked Decca’s waist. Decca gave a grunt and looked at Ulysses as he got up.

Ulysses looked at him coldly, then cast a glance at the three injured swordsmen lying on the ground before dragging Saleen off. Decca broke into cold sweat, instantly understanding what Ulysses meant.

Decca withstood the pain as he produced a second dagger from his chest. He then added another stab to the necks of each of the three injured swordsmen.

Ulysses brought Saleen into a pitch black alley, let him go, and started by saying, ”Saleen, you are in trouble.”

”Who was that person?” Saleen asked in a low voice as he struggled to calm himself down. Decca had stumbled into the alley by this time and stood in front of Saleen.

Ulysses saw that Saleen’s appearance had changed. His mind was racing as he thought about how to deal with this. Swiftly, he made a decision and said to Saleen, ”He was the son of Earl Sufonso from Yaoyang City. You had better leave the city. Your teacher will not be able to protect you. Buy a horse and go as far as possible.”

Saleen felt as though his heart had been dealt a blow. He had killed the son of an Earl, and it was the Earl of Yaoyang City. Yaoyang City was considered the biggest city within these several thousand square meters. Earl Sufonso had a large army. Even worse, just outside of Yaoyang City was a magical tower with a Grade 6 mage.

Regardless of whether this Grade 6 mage would help the Earl kill him, his own teacher would definitely not be able to protect him, lest he ended up angering another senior mage.

There was chaos in Saleen’s heart. He was unable to accept this truth. When he had nearly been on the proper path to begin practicing real magic, he had suddenly landed himself into such big trouble.

Yaoyang City was certainly not a small place like Ceylon City. There were many swordsmen there and at least a few hundred had attained the grade of swordmaster. While Saleen had just killed an elementary swordsman, their death had to be attributed to Saleen’s precise control of distance. Ulysses was also an elementary swordsman, but had seized him with just one move.

Decca knelt down with a flop, and said with his head lowered, ”Saleen, I’m sorry.”

Ulysses drew his long sword with force, intending to silence him. He had wanted to kill this bandit earlier, but as he had needed to flee the scene, he had left the dirty work to this bandit.

Saleen extended his hand to block Ulysses, and said, ”This is my friend. I trust him.”

Decca lay on the ground, looked at Saleen, and did not get up for a long while. He forced back the impulse to cry. Saleen had said he was his friend. Since he was young, no one had ever looked him straight in his eyes, except for Saleen. After Saleen had become a mage’s apprentice, he had thought that Saleen had become like the people of Ceylon City. Now, Saleen had not only stopped the swordsman from killing him, but had also said he was his friend.

The term ”friend”, to many people, was used for betrayal. However, to others, friends were people to whom you could entrust your life.

”You go. I can’t put all the blame on you. I was too rash,” Saleen finished saying. He turned to Ulysses and bowed, then said, ”I am unsure why you are willing to let me off. One fine day, I will return to thank you. Please tell Lord Viscount that I am terribly sorry to have taken his money without being able to get the job done. I will not let his money go to waste. I shall set off now. What about you?”

”Earl Sufonso is currently a guest at the House of the Lord. You had better leave as soon as you can. I will go back to report that you killed someone. However, since your appearance has changed, I will only describe your past appearance since no one in the house knows about this. Before you go, it is better that you inflict it on me too.”

Ulysses pointed at his own arm. Saleen knew that he could not delay any further, gnashed his teeth, and released an Acid Sputtering spell. Ulysses groaned as the acid instantly burned his arm, white smoke rising.

After Ulysses left, Saleen said, ”Decca, let’s go.”

Decca lifted his head, guilt written all over his face. ”Saleen, if I had been caught, I would not have survived. I will not breathe a word regarding your affairs. If I escape, I will go to the Tanggulasi Empire and never return to Ceylon City.”

Decca finished speaking, pressed his head hard against the ground, and then left.