Wizard Earl

Chapter 476 Open and Honest

"Connor, you should have figured it out by now, right? But it doesn't matter. Since you want me to confirm with you, I'll confirm it for you. Eder sees Mariano as his successor, and he'll go crazy if you mess with him. If I tell you the truth, given your cautious nature, Connor, you might not agree to let me kill Mariano. Even if you agree to help me kill him, you'll still make sure I'm involved as well. But to have an alibi, I need to stay in the church, so Connor, I have no choice but to set you up!"

"Also, although Mariano is only a mid-level wizard apprentice, Edel has nurtured him greatly, teaching him many secret arts and even secretly lending him the second-tier enchanted defensive item, Richard's Belt, from the treasury. Connor, you must have seen this enchanted item when you killed him, right? So, an ordinary high-level wizard apprentice simply couldn't kill him. The only person I can think of who could kill Mariano and is willing to help me kill him is you, so I had no choice but to do this!" Margaret shrugged and explained very frankly to Connor.

"A very good explanation!" After listening to Margaret's explanation, Connor's emotions didn't fluctuate much. He nodded and continued, "My second question is about Mariano. You mentioned that Mariano was sent by Edel to kill you. However, Mariano's strength is top-tier among intermediate wizard apprentices, yet he's no match for you, Margaret. Why would Edel send someone weaker than you to kill you?"

"Good question, Connor! You always get to the heart of the matter!" After praising Connor, Margaret thought for a moment and began to speak: "I've been thinking about this question of yours for a while now. Why would Eder send Mariano to kill me? You and I can imagine it, but that old fox Eder has no ulterior motives! So I think the reason Eder sent Mariano is because he trusts Mariano. He sees Mariano as his successor, and Mariano sees Eder as his father and teacher. Even Mariano's newborn child was baptized personally by Eder, who was a bishop!"

"You mean the person who killed you, Edel arranged for someone else, but Edel didn't trust this person, or perhaps not completely. So he arranged for Mariano to be by your side, to secretly monitor you and also to supervise the person who killed you!" After hearing Margaret's answer, and recalling that Edel had asked Margaret to find the Skull and Bones' assassins in Rune, Connor immediately realized what was going on!

"That's right, that's exactly what I mean!" Margaret nodded solemnly. After speaking, Margaret glanced at Connor, seemingly wanting to say something but then hesitated. However, before she could speak, Connor waved his hand, interrupting her.

"What you said makes sense, but I still need to lay low for a while, so please don't contact me!" Connor said before Margaret could even speak.

Margaret glared at Connor and said defiantly, "Fine! Fine! Connor, you can hide then. What will you do when I get killed?"

"Didn't you already frame someone else for Mariano's death? Eder should be focusing his energy on someone else!" Connor retorted, frowning.

Upon hearing Connor's question, Margaret sighed and said softly, "That's what I expected, but I seem to have underestimated Edel. He's been harassing the person I framed these past few days, but he's also been urging me to find the Skull and Bones assassins. I'm worried..."

"Are you worried that Edel plans to attack both you and Lenglet at the same time? Does he have the ability to do so?" Before Margaret could finish speaking, Connor cut to the chase:

"Huh? Connor, how did you know that the person I framed was Lenglet?" Upon hearing Connor mention Lenglet's name, Margaret showed a shocked expression for the first time during the meeting, and asked Connor in surprise:

"Tsk tsk tsk, so hard to guess? Ms. Lena, who heads the intelligence department, is Edel's ally. The two of them, being locals, are naturally targeting Longley, who was sent from your church headquarters to lead the Arbitrators. And Margaret, you're Elena's person, responsible for investigating the secret society members of Rune. As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so is it hard to guess? But I'm curious, you actually dared to frame Longley. Aren't you afraid he'll turn against you in a fit of anger?" Connor chuckled and said calmly.

Although Connor spoke casually, he wouldn't tell Margaret that he knew Edel was the secret society's mole planted within the Church of Loen and that he had already had a conflict with Longley!

"Hmph!" Margaret snorted defiantly, saying somewhat resentfully, "Connor, you really know a lot more than I thought. But what makes that bastard Lenglet have to turn against me? Edel knows I'm getting a bit close to Lenglet, but he can't kill Lenglet, so he decided to kill me!"

"The search for the Skull and Bones assassins was a pretext. The fact that Edel sent Mariano to kill me was actually revealed to me by Lenglet. I suspect that the Black Organization's branch in Rune has already accepted his leadership. He told me this with no good intentions. In the words of Emperor Raul, he simply wanted to sit on the sidelines and watch the tigers fight, so he could profit from the conflict. His plan is quite clever, but how could I let him have his way? Lenglet knows now that I framed him, but so what? He still obediently shares the pressure from Edel with me!" Margaret said angrily through gritted teeth, a hint of disdain flashing in her beautiful eyes when she mentioned Lenglet.

"With Lenglet's help, why do you still think Edel would lay a hand on you?" Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Connor frowned and asked Margaret with great seriousness:

"These past few days, Eder has been urging me to continue the hunt for the Skull and Bones assassins. He gave the order from the bishop, so I had no choice but to search. And just yesterday, very suddenly, I found traces of these Skull and Bones assassins. I'd been searching for them for so long without finding anything. Now that Mariano is dead, I've found their trail. Clearly, something's wrong. It's very likely that Eder is planning to speed things up!" Margaret sighed.

(End of this chapter)