A Wizard’s Secret

In the palace of the Kingdom of Seeden, King Roger wore a purple gold crown as he towered above in his throne, his eyes fixed upon Princess Fleur who was kneeling in the foyer below.

King Roger was very fond of this daughter. If it was not for the overbearing manner of the Kingdom of Seeway, he would not have wished to use such a plan to stabilize the situation.

After a long moment, King Roger unleashed a long sigh, and said slowly, “Fleur, the kingdom is now in hard times. Every day, the Kingdom of Seeway becomes more and more insistent in its goal to annex our Kingdom of Seeden. This is detrimental to our Kingdom of Seeden…”

King Roger was about to further persuade Princess Fleur when she suddenly lifted her head, and said with a calm expression, “Father, in my journey, I’ve met six powerful Sky Knights. They have a plan to defeat the Holy Knight of the Kingdom of Seeway!”

“Huh? Six Sky Knights?”

King Roger was astounded. He promptly shifted his gaze to the six strangers behind Fleur. These six men looked to be rather young but there was a distinct force exuding from them, just like when he was faced with the kingdom’s Captains.

King Roger glanced at Ziwei, who nodded gently as well. This proved that what Princess Fleur said was true. Therefore, King Roger immediately smiled. Of course, six Sky Knights who would serve the Kingdom of Seeden were exactly what the king had been lacking.

“Six powerful Sky Knights, welcome to the Kingdom of Seeden. I can dub all of you as Grand Dukes!”

King Roger was not stingy with his titles, immediately conferring the rank of Grand Duke upon Merlin and the rest. Besides the king himself, this was the highest title. The Captains of the Kingdom of Seeden who were similarly Sky Knights were also Grand Dukes.

Merlin and the rest did not decline. They had discussed this beforehand. They must first establish themselves in the Kingdom of Seeden, and it would be best if they could assimilate. Becoming the Grand Dukes of the Kingdom of Seeden was undoubtedly the best way to assimilate into the Kingdom of Seeden.

Following that, Merlin and the rest were put up in the palace. They could stay there for now.

“Ziwei, what’s all this about?”

After Merlin and the rest had left, King Roger summoned Ziwei and asked in a low voice.

Ziwei hesitated for a beat but did not cover up the truth. She recounted the appearance of Merlin and the rest in careful detail but she did not know of the subsequent secret plan agreed upon by Merlin’s group and Princess Fleur.

“These six strong Sky Knights appeared out of the blue. Fleur said that they can deal with the Holy Knight. I wonder if that’s true? Sky Knights defeating a Holy Knight – do you think that’s possible?”

King Roger furrowed his brows and was somewhat at a loss of what to do. If Merlin and the rest truly had the ability to defeat the Holy Knight, then the Kingdom of Seeden would not have to bow its head to the Kingdom of Seeway.

As for the origins of Merlin’s group, King Roger was not that concerned. In the past decades, Holy Knights had cropped up in various kingdoms which had been nobodies before that. As long as Merlin’s group of six would assist the Kingdom of Seeden, it would be good enough. There was no need to learn about their origins.

Conversely, Ziwei appeared calm and collected. She said quietly, “Your Majesty, whether the six Grand Dukes can defeat a Holy Knight – if you summon the Captains and let them give it a shot, you’ll find out, right?”

At Ziwei’s suggestion, King Roger smacked his own forehead. That was right. The Kingdom of Seeden had four Sky Knights as well. All he had to do was let them try.

“Alright, Ziwei, you’d better go and watch over Princess Fleur. Make sure she won’t sneak out of the palace in the meantime. I’ll summon the four Captains at once.”

With that, King Roger dismissed her with a wave of his hand. The foyer descended into silence once again, and a look of exhaustion washed over King Roger’s face.

At this point, King Roger did not notice the ripples in the air which quickly vanished without a trace. In another spacious room nearby, the image of King Roger’s recent conversation with Ziwei was displayed before Merlin and the rest.

Rael waved his hand and the image was cut off. This was a small spell of Rael’s but it was rather handy when used against most people. If it was a powerful Spell Caster, they would notice the Elemental fluctuations at once, and the spell would be useless.

They saw that King Roger, in the image, had already summoned the four Captains of the regiments, who were all genuine Sky Knights. Evidently, he was planning to test whether Merlin and the rest truly had the power to contend against a Holy Knight.

This was the first step of their plan – to win King Roger’s trust and gain a foothold in the Kingdom of Seeden.

“We’ve already made the first step. We’ll establish ourselves in the Kingdom of Seeden. As for the investigation of the Holy Knights, we’ll have to think about that after gaining our foothold.”

Wizard Saturn spoke slowly. Although it looked like the people in the Seely Dimension did not have the power to be of threat to them, the Rock Tribe was hiding behind the scenes. They must keep a low profile, and being cautious was never a bad thing.

“Wizard Saturn, how are we dealing with those four Captains? They’re all Sky Knights of this dimension. Perhaps Ziwei isn’t able to tell the difference between us and the real Sky Knights. Even if she has some suspicions, that’s all she would have, without any confirmation. However, to the four genuine Sky Knights, they would surely be able to tell that our powers are a world of difference from theirs. We’ll have some problems then.”

Merlin raised an inquiry.

“That’s simple. We’ll just use a puppet to fight for us.”

Wizard Vic spoke suddenly, following which he promptly retrieved a puppet. This puppet was large and sturdy, but in general, it was shaped like a normal human. Moreover, the puppet was covered in a pitch-black armor, which gave an impression of callousness.

“Use a puppet? That’s a good idea! Can this puppet compare to a Ninth-level Spell Caster?”

Puppets were not that different from humans. They did not cast spells but relied on the absolute strength of their bodies. This was similar to the cultivation system of the Seely Dimension. Although it would not have the unique fighting spirit of the Seely Dimension, this was not important. At worst, they could say it was a special cultivation method. Most likely, those Sky Knights would not probe further.

The most important concern was whether this puppet could defeat those Sky Knights. Most Sky Knights in the Seely Dimension were on par with Seventh-level Spell Casters. If they were more powerful Sky Knights, they could even compare to Ninth-level Spell Casters!

However, Vic merely laughed and said mysteriously, “Wizard Merlin, this puppet is my trump card. Before I entered Arcane City, my teacher had spent over a hundred years transfiguring it. When required, the puppet can even explode with the strength of a Great Wizard in a short burst.”

Merlin’s heart trembled. This was Wizard Vic’s trump card. It was just a puppet, yet it concealed alarming strength which could match a Great Wizard in a short burst.

Nonetheless, Merlin could tell that Wizard Vic was being rather modest. This puppet could only be more powerful. At first, Merlin had been worried that they would be in trouble if those Holy Knights were more powerful or if they encountered a contender from the Rock Tribe.

Now, it seemed that the aces up the sleeves of these freakish Wizards far exceeded Merlin’s imagination.

“Very well, since we have this puppet, we’ll follow the plan.”

With that, Merlin and the rest stayed in the palace, keeping a low profile at all times. They did not meet anyone and only walked about casually in the palace.

…

The palace garden was filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers. Merlin and Wizard Vic, dressed as knights, were sitting quietly on a stone bench, enjoying the scenery of the garden.

The Captains of the Kingdom of Seeden still had not reached the palace for now.

“There are no gods in the Seely Dimension?”

Merlin asked Wizard Vic. He felt that it was rather strange. Most dimensions would give birth to gods but he had not seen any traces left behind by gods in the Kingdom of Seeden nor any records of gods in the books.

Wizard Vic shook his head slightly in response. “Before coming to the Seely Dimension, I’ve looked up some information in Arcane City in preparation, so I partly know of their situation. In fact, there are gods in the Seely Dimension. Of course, powerful ones. However, a thousand years ago, due to the Seely Dimension’s unusual location between the Rock Tribe and the Spell Caster civilization, each side had sent their best fighters. We’ve sent an Ultimate Arcane Wizard, and the Rock Tribe sent their most powerful Rock Ancestor. Both sides joined forces to soundlessly wipe out the gods of the Seely Dimension.”

Merlin was shaken to his core. The equivalent of two Ultimate Arcane Wizards had attacked, and the gods of the Seely Dimension had been vanquished just like that, with barely a whisper.

Merlin did not say anything else but extended his Mind Power over the entire palace, and even stretched further to cover most of the capital city.

He could clearly perceive the stirring of the people’s will in the capital. In great streets and small alleys, people were discussing the Holy Knight produced by the Kingdom of Seeway. Their words revealed their worries for the Kingdom of Seeden.

“Wizard Vic, take a look. These people are worried about the fate of the Kingdom of Seeden. Little do they imagine that their lives are already in our grasp as well as the Rock Tribe’s.”

Merlin said in a stupefied manner. The entire Seely Dimension was nothing more than a buffer zone between the Rock Tribe and the Spell Caster civilization. This dimension was totally unable to give birth to contenders who were at the level of Legends, forever incapable of reaching the Void Zone. Naturally, they had no way of escaping the fateful clutches of the two great civilizations.

“That’s right. They’ll never know that their destinies were controlled long ago. A kingdom may fall or another powerful one may rise. What meaning is there? This is the tragedy of weak civilizations. Ever since Spell Casters had exiled the gods from the Glorious Land and entered the Void Zone, we’ve witnessed many formidable civilizations. We knew on a profound level that if we don’t grow stronger, our civilization would ultimately end up with the same fate as these puny civilizations.”

Wizard Vic said ruefully. Merlin had a dim understanding of why the three Ultimate Arcane Wizards had taken the initiative in asking all Great Legends to sign the Legends’ Accord as well as established the three great Arcane Cities.

It was to reduce the pointless internal conflict between Spell Casters, to constantly expand the overall strength of the Spell Caster civilization.

“Merlin, Vic, come to the foyer of the palace quickly. The four Captains of the Kingdom of Seeden have arrived.”

Wizard Saturn’s voice suddenly sounded into their ears. Both of their expressions turned apprehensive and they exchanged a glance, following which they rapidly headed toward the main foyer of the palace.