Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 203: Murder in the Secret Room of the Mage Tower

Silver Fox is the title bestowed upon this man by the imperial royal family, which means that he holds a very high status in the Astrology Guild.

He can enter and leave the Mage Tower freely and has his own laboratory in the Mage Tower. He is a master of "destruction" and "change" spells in the eyes of magicians. Many of his students now hold important positions in the guild. Only the people in power in the Empire's military industry can invite Silver Fox to serve as a private tutor for a certain noble lady of the Empire.

It’s a pity that Mr. Silver Fox didn’t catch up with the good times.

The eldest son of the Imperial Military Industry accidentally contracted the Red Death and died in Gear City. The Imperial Military Industry was in a mess, so much so that Silver Fox had no choice but to return to the Mage Tower after recovering.

This should have cost him a lot of money.

Rowena also mentioned that Silver Fox created three new spells during his time as the Grand Mage of the Astrology Guild, and that he has been dedicated to the study of the human "soul".

A university boss.

Ethan quickly understood the Silver Fox's position in the Astrology Guild today.

Since returning to the Mage Tower, Silver Fox has had more free time and started to concentrate on teaching students, which is not a good thing for his students.

It is said that after being injured in the Imperial Capital, Silver Fox became moody and often vented his anger by using his students as hard labor.

"The scholar is in seclusion and meditation."

Silver Fox brought the two of them into his research room in the wizard tower. The cabinets were filled with a wide variety of spellcasting materials, and there was an unclosed parchment book on the table. A feather pen dipped in ink left Silver Fox's notes on the parchment.

Since they met, he has not dared to look Ethan in the eye.

Ever since he was lying injured in the Imperial Capital Hospital, he had been planning to take revenge on the elemental shaker who sold the magic scroll to Anna - in today's empire, elemental shakers have no status at all, and Silver Fox could not accept that he was seriously injured by three magic scrolls.

Since then, his reputation in the Mage Tower plummeted. Those gossiping great magicians had been joking behind his back that he was knocked to the ground by a noble lady who had just learned magic. The looks in their eyes made Silver Fox feel unprecedented humiliation.

He locked himself in the laboratory, and could only feel brief comfort when he sent students on missions, as if he was still the great magician of high status in the past.

Silver Fox also prepared a lot of magic for torturing people. It was not until the civil strife broke out in the imperial capital and Pope Julius and his followers were sent to the stake and publicly executed after being defeated that Silver Fox realized that revenge was just a fantasy in his heart.

He said this in a muffled voice, then opened a jar filled with black liquid and drank the potion in it.

The bitter taste made his thinking become chaotic, and only in this way could Silver Fox's mood be calmed down a little.

The task of receiving visitors was assigned to him by his colleagues in the Mage Tower, and everyone wanted to make fun of him.

"She's in the stargazing room on the top floor."

Silver Fox left his last words and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes to rest.

Rowena also didn't want to deal with Silver Fox anymore. She didn't like the academic elites in the Mage Tower. They always reminded her of the unfair treatment she had suffered when she was a third-level magician.

Silver Fox stared at the two people's departing backs, and his vision became blurred.

What a shame.

Mr. Silver Fox, are you just going to do nothing like now?
Did you hear that? They are all laughing at you.

Your students are also talking about you behind your back, and you know what they are saying.

A crappy magician who was defeated by three low-level magic scrolls.

The voice kept echoing in Silver Fox's ears. He had been hearing such whispers frequently recently.

Perhaps this was one of the side effects of the "Concentration Potion", a potion that could help one quickly enter a meditative state. Only in a meditative state could he forget his troubles, but now, reality had shone into his meditation, making those negative emotions worse.

They're about to visit the Loremaster, and you know what you have to do.

You know exactly what happened in the observatory.

Silver Fox, this is your last chance.

"Clap."

The feather pen in Silver Fox's hand broke with a sound. When he opened his eyes again, they were red and his face became ferocious.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

"what happened to you?"

Rowena noticed Ethan's strangeness and asked.

The cat had already run away, and now she and Ethan were the only ones left in the huge circular corridor.

"What is that black potion for?"

"It should be a concentration potion, used to assist meditation, why?"

Ethan shook his head. “It seems to have some weird magic.”

Perhaps it was because Mr. Silver Fox had been under too much pressure recently and could only rely on potions to survive, he couldn't help but worry about Mr. Silver Fox's health.

"Don't worry about him." Rowena said, "Remember the fourth-level assessment I mentioned to you before? In fact, among magicians, there are concepts similar to 'family' and 'bloodline'. I have always been at odds with pure-blood magicians and I can't stand them."

She had been feeling uncomfortable ever since she entered the Mage Tower.

Because this is the base camp of pure-blood magicians, almost all those who have the opportunity to enter the Mage Tower are born in pure-blood magician families, and at least one of their parents is a great magician.

These children who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths are not bound by the guild's rules. "Most third-level magicians actually work for their pure-blood family magician classmates. Their achievements will be counted on their classmates, and it is considered good if they can get a byline credit."

"You said they wanted to steal your cutting magic."

"That's the son of the guild's vice president. I heard that the vice president also returned to the Mage Tower some time ago."

Things don't always develop at a smooth pace. After the turmoil in the imperial capital ended, the vice president, upon hearing the news about Rowena, angrily listed her crimes, broke into the royal room, accused her crimes to the new cabinet, and demanded that she be burned to death in public in the Imperial Square.

Many people in the guild also support this view.

After being rejected by the new cabinet, the vice president left the imperial capital angrily and returned to the Mage Tower with his followers. The night before leaving, he came to the mansion where she was staying in a rage and threatened her not to be happy too soon, because sooner or later, he would personally send her to the execution platform.

"I understand. These are all your enemies. Are you scared?"

"You must be joking. I'm not afraid of anything. If he really dares to fight me, I'll just chop him down with a spell!... I'm just reminding you to be mentally prepared. If you walk with me, they will definitely not look at you well!"

Rowena was so excited that she was like a stressed animal and was on the verge of panting.

As a practical person, she is never afraid of these nerds who always stay in the ivory tower. Her cutting magic is used to kill people.

Ethan suddenly asked, "What else happened that night?"

The sudden question made Rowena fall silent. Her eyes darkened and she lowered her head.

There are only her and Ethan here. Winter should have sneaked into the library of the Mage Tower by now.

She had kept these secrets to herself all these years, and when the Astrology Guild issued a wanted order and the Kingdom Army was chasing her, she didn't bother to defend herself.

This has never been a reasonable world.

"People in the village said that my father was a member of the Guards and was very popular in the area."

This vaguely confirmed Ethan's premonition.

Rowena's parents were killed in a battle against bandit invasion. Such things happened every day on the border of the empire, and Ximu Town had experienced several defensive counterattacks.

Rowena spoke in a low voice, as if she didn't want to describe the details. "Before I killed the leader of the gang, he begged for mercy and told me that the person who bribed them was a branch president of the Imperial Reserve. My father affected their business, so he was killed. I should have been killed too, but they suddenly changed their minds."

She paused before saying, "Perhaps they thought it would be more fun to keep me in the dark forever and sell myself to the Astrology Guild."

The only surprise was that her talent in magic exceeded everyone's expectations.

She still remembers the look of fear in her mentor's eyes when she created the cutting magic and told him the good news.

"At that time, I still respected my mentor very much. I thought that if he saw my shining points, I would be taken seriously and have the opportunity to take the Level 4 exam."

Rowena thought that was a dark history of her life.

She prides herself on being a shrewd person who can bargain with anyone. Whenever she thinks back to the days when she was treated like a mule and was grateful, thinking that she was not working hard enough, she wants to cut off her past stupid self.

If the bandit leader had not begged for mercy in tears, pouring out everything he knew, Rowena felt that her overly naive self might really hand over the cutting magic to the guild, believing the nonsense that "let your junior be promoted this time, and the teacher will definitely recommend you to the guild next year."

She felt that that day might have been the most reasonable moment in the bandit leader's life.

When his blood was almost drained out and he was about to die, he finally remembered that it was time to be reasonable.

Rowena forced a smile and said, "In fact, the teacher's worries are not wrong. When I went to see him that day, he made a lot of scrolls of cutting magic in advance. The plan they made for me was probably to make me a hardworking third-level magician for the rest of my life."

If she was just an ordinary third-level magician, even if she discovered the truth one day and wanted to rebel against the Astrology Guild, she would only be kicked to death like a stray dog ​​on the side of the road.

Rowena remembered that the tutor's attitude became very impatient that day, and when she rejected him, he immediately turned hostile.

The mentor and the people in the guild had already made second-hand preparations.

"Rowena betrayed the guild and attempted to kill the mentor. They had no choice but to execute me as a traitor. If I had been the one who died that day, you might have known my name in this way."

Rowena shrugged. She later felt that there was nothing wrong with such a rule. "I only told you this. Don't tell Lin Dong and the others. I don't like others looking at me with a miserable eye."

After saying this, she felt a lot more relieved.

Before they knew it, the two had reached the top floor of the Mage Tower and stood in front of the gate called the Observatory.

A grayish-white light lingered around the door, with mysterious magical fluctuations flowing inside.

This is the place closest to Khadra, the god of trickery. The great magicians believe that by meditating here, they may be able to hear the echoes left by the gods.

Only every scholar has the right to meditate among the stars.

Ethan knocked on the door, but no one answered.

"Perhaps the scholar is still meditating now."

Rowena said as she pushed open the door of the observatory.

The front hall is the study room of every scholar. They will record their insights into magic through meditation and pass them on to the next scholar in this way, hoping that one day someone will be able to gather the wisdom of their predecessors and take the last step.

Rowena poked her head in, and the smell inside almost immediately made her frown. It was the stench of rotten food, which was coming from the scholar's table. She could vaguely see a pumpkin pie on the plate on the table.

She covered her nose in disgust, and a sense of foreboding almost immediately arose in her heart.

Although the current scholar is old, she is by no means a sloppy person. The last time we met, she was still very energetic and would never do something like leaving pumpkin pie to rot without cleaning it up.

Rowena remembered what the magicians said.

The scholar has been in seclusion for some time.

"It seems something happened."

Rowena said.

She was the first to rush into the house, walked straight past the front hall, and headed straight for the back hall used for meditation.

This is undoubtedly a reckless and impolite behavior. If it is taken a step further, this behavior offends the dignity of the scholar.

The grayish-white magic power was becoming more and more dense.

The back hall is shrouded in a sea of ​​stars, making people feel as if they are in the universe.

The scholar was sitting quietly in the middle of the back hall with his back to them, looking as if he was immersed in meditation.

But there is also a smell of decay here.

Rowena and Ethan exchanged glances and took a few steps forward.

The situation was worse than she had imagined. When she came to the front of the scholar, she immediately understood her situation - her eyes were burned through, leaving only two empty black holes, but there was no expression of pain on her face. She walked towards death calmly and indifferently.

It looked like she had been dead for some time.

"It looks like there was a backlash during meditation."

Rowena frowned. Although she didn't like the scholar, she definitely didn't want the old woman to die tragically. Moreover, this was not the kind of low-level mistake that should have happened to the scholar. Only those novices who had just learned to meditate and loved to commit suicide would see something they shouldn't see and suffer backlash.

The sound of hurried footsteps interrupted Rowena's thoughts.

Led by the Silver Fox, the great magicians are rushing here in a menacing manner.

At the front of the team was the vice president whom Rowena was most reluctant to see. They almost immediately noticed signs that the door of the observatory had been forced open.

They did not stay in the front hall for long and went straight to the back hall, where they saw Rowena standing next to the scholar to check the situation.

"She was suffering from meditation backfire."

Rowena told everyone the results of her investigation, "He must have been dead for some time."

"This is impossible!"

Silver Fox immediately retorted, "I spoke to the Scholar last night!"

His rebuttal caused discussion among the magicians. People looked at each other in confusion. They had indeed met the scholar not long ago.

The vice president had a gloomy expression. He stared at Rowena and sneered, "I've said it before, leaving you here will be a disaster."

Rowena was so angry that she laughed. These useless magicians stayed in the Mage Tower every day and didn't even notice that the scholar had died long ago.

That's why she hated dealing with this group of people. She knew very well that even if she was not the murderer, the vice president would spare no effort to put the blame on her.

What did she say? Whenever I deal with these magicians, nothing good ever happens.

"Are you trying to say that I killed the scholar?"

"Meditation backfires. This is the conclusion you came to. But how could a scholar make such a low-level mistake?"

The vice president said, "Unless someone broke into the room while she was meditating and influenced her mind through external force, this result would be possible. If I remember correctly, aren't you the best at this kind of magic, Miss Rowena?"

This is not a misunderstanding at all, but a trap.

Ethan suddenly realized.

But... there are still some things that don't make sense.

He had been observing the communication between the mages. Perhaps the Silver Fox lied out of personal grudge against him, but those mages who were talking about it really had seen the Scholar not long ago - at least they thought they had seen the Scholar himself.

Assuming they had not broken into the observatory today, perhaps the dead scholar would have stayed with them for a long time.

What is the principle?
Is the ghost of Loremaster still haunting the Mage Tower, or has someone deliberately fabricated the fact that she's still alive?
"Mr. Ethan."

The vice president came up to him and said, "I respect you very much, but you have been deceived by Rowena. She is a despicable person who is good at sweet talk. She must want to use you to testify for her and cover up her murder of the scholar."

Ethan was immediately stunned by the vice president. His words were so mysterious that he had to think hard.

Theoretically, the magician of the Mage Tower did not want to be his enemy. If he wanted to put the blame on Rowena, he would have to divide the relationship between him and Rowena.

But this person speaks without thinking. Is he blinded by hatred, or has he been in the position of vice president for too long that there are rarely people who stand up and refute him when he talks nonsense?

"I want to make sure."

Ethan said, "You mean to say that Rowena interrupted the scholar's meditation in front of me and killed her, and I was completely unaware of it?"

"This……"

Faced with this soul-piercing question, the vice president's face froze. He hesitated for a long time before trying to make amends, "Rowena is proficient in illusion magic. She must have used some kind of deception on you when you weren't paying attention. Of course, if we find out later that this matter has nothing to do with her, we will definitely clear her name, but before that, she must at least be investigated as a suspect... Don't forget, you and I are both under the witness of the God of Trickery."

"You're dreaming!"

Rowena didn't even bother to argue. The room smelled foul, and she felt that anyone with a little bit of common sense would have noticed something wrong with the rotten pumpkin pie in the front hall.

But she had long been accustomed to it, and as soon as the vice president spoke, she planned to skip the red tape.

She drew a lot of cutting magic scrolls. At worst, we can just fight to the death here!

Seeing that Ethan was hesitant to speak, the vice president continued, "You are a distinguished guest of the royal family. Your words and deeds represent the attitude of the empire. I believe you should be able to make a fair judgment."

The strange feeling became stronger and stronger.

This time Ethan could see more clearly.

That strange magical power didn't seem to be a side effect of the concentration potion. The vice president exuded the same aura when he spoke.

The strange magic formed a thread that vaguely hung on his body, seeming to control his behavior like a puppet.

Could this be the reason why the vice president was talking nonsense?

"Ethan, don't believe him. He will definitely take this opportunity to cast a spell on me and force me to confess!"

Rowena said that she only knew a dozen spells that could rewrite one's will. She knew these people's methods too well. If she really believed their lies and accepted the so-called interrogation, she would be the one who would bear all the blame. "But he is right about one thing. This is a grudge between me and the guild, and I will solve it myself!"

If Ethan hadn't stood between her and the vice president, Rowena would not have bothered to say anything and would have just pulled out her wand and started killing.

"What the vice president said is indeed one of the possibilities."

Ethan had no intention of moving away.

Hearing this, the vice president's face lit up and said, "As long as Rowena cooperates with the investigation, we will never embarrass her before she is convicted."

"But you overlooked another possibility."

The biting cold spread in the back hall, and the blood-red ice slowly crawled towards the magicians.

Even the gray-white energy left by the God of Trickery retreated in front of this blood-colored energy.

"Since you mentioned the Empire, you should be aware of the series of policies introduced by the new cabinet. Most people in the Astrology Guild have responded to the call and are actively participating in the construction of the Empire, but a small number of people have returned to the Mage Tower. However, this small group of people has the right to interpret 'magic'."

The frozen door blocked the magicians' retreat, and the chill that touched their souls temporarily deprived them of the ability to speak.

As soon as the red ice layer appeared, the Silver Fox retreated into the crowd.

This is an even more terrifying existence than the last magic scroll. Just one glance at it is enough to awaken the deepest fear in their hearts.

The magicians were surrounded by red ice in the center. They were like being on an isolated island and they had to huddle together.

But this isolated island is being submerged by the red sea, and there is little space left for them.

"The Empire is greatly disappointed with your choice... and Erudite, as the supreme leader of the Astrology Guild, has also failed to set an example on this issue."

Ethan said with regret, "Another possibility is that the Empire no longer has hope for you, so it asked me to clean up the poison left over from the old times."

The vice president paused.

Reason reminded him that he should resist, as this might be their last chance.

But in the face of the spreading red ice, he didn't even have the courage to raise his wand.

At this moment, the cold sun seemed to have abandoned them.

On the other side of the golden light is a sea of ​​blood.

This scene reminded him of the evil god Bazatos and those twisted souls.

"Mr. Vice President, answer me, what is the purpose of my visit?"

The vice president heard the whispers from the abyss. His hands and feet were cold, and the trembling from his soul overwhelmed him. "Please, please help us investigate the truth of the scholar's murder!"

In an instant, the bone-chilling cold disappeared.

When the magicians came to their senses, the astrology room returned to its original state and the bloody ice disappeared, as if everything they had just seen was just an illusion.

Mr. Ethan is still the gentle and polite man.

He came here to exchange ideas on magic with the scholar, but was involved in an accident.

"Then let's start the investigation immediately. Anyone who has seen the scholar within three days must stay. You first, Mr. Silver Fox. I need to know the details of your meeting last night."

(End of this chapter)