Chapter 19: Conspiracy

Claire coldly gazed at the humanoid figure. To the figure, she looked like a poisonous evil serpent coiled around his neck, like she could kill him any second.

“Yes, I’m a dark magician.” The figure finally started talking. “My name is Walter Simon, and I was looking for a rare herb. That herb only appears on specific nights, so I was waiting there, but that damn Holy Son from the Temple came by. That animal destroyed my body. He thought my spirit was also destroyed, but I attached myself to this Spiritual Stone.” The figure was clenching his teeth while he spoke, his hatred for the Holy Son evident.

Walter Simon? The name sounded unfamiliar to Claire, and after some thought she confirmed she really hadn’t heard it before.

The figure saw Claire quiet down in thought and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It seems like this answer satisfied the little devil. After all, he was telling the truth, but there was something more important that he was not going tell this little devil.

While Walter let down his guard, Claire suddenly had his precious stone gripped tightly in her hand. Her face was cold and she eerily spit out a sentence that almost frightened Walter to death: “Lad, there’s something you still haven’t told me. You should know the consequences of not telling the truth. Do you want me to grind this stone into powder for you?”

After she finished speaking, Claire squatted down and started rubbing the stone on the ground. The ear-piercing sound and friction almost made Walter cry out loud.

“Don’t, everything I said was true.” Walter was almost wailing.

“What you said was true, but you didn’t say everything.” Claire started grinding the stone again. The crunching sound scared Walter so much his soul almost flew away.

“Don’t, miss, I’ll tell you everything.” Walter’s face grimaced. If someone could see his face.

“Say it then, boy, if you act naughty I’ll grind you to pieces.” Claire stood and put the stone on the table again.

“I accepted a high paying task to ambush a group of people at the entrance of Gale Gorge. The time hadn’t come yet so I thought I’d go inside Gale Gorge by myself to go find some herbs when I met that damn Holy Son and now I’m like this. You know everything after that.” This time Walter was honest.

“Ambush a group of people? Who?” Claire asked lightly.

“I don’t know either. I wanted to buy stuff and I needed the money. When taking on missions I don’t ask who set the mission or who they want to kill.” Walter was very cooperative. He really didn’t know who he was supposed to assassinate.

At first he thought the little devil wouldn’t be satisfied with such an answer, but instead the little devil was silent. Walter was puzzled. How could he know that Claire inherited a mental arcanum behind the waterfall. When he first held information back, Claire detected the ripple of his thoughts so she knew that he wasn’t fully telling the truth.

“Is your Spiritual stone only usable once or can it be used multiple times?” Claire coldly looked at Walter.

As Walter was stared at, his hair stood up, and he blurted, “One time only. After one use it’s useless.”

“Oh.” Claire was a bit disappointed.

Walter was a bit confused. He didn’t understand why Claire asked this question. If he knew that Claire wanted to use his Spiritual Stone, then he would have been so scared that he might have died again.

Walter didn’t dare to say any more, and only waited for Claire to speak. He was now truly a sheep waiting for slaughter. He already lost all his power, and his most important possession, the Spiritual Stone, was in this little devil’s hand.

“Okay, bedtime.” The lazy words were the only thing Walter got after waiting for so long. Claire took off her jacket and walked towards the bed. Walter’s eyes almost popped out.

Oh oh oh, god, the figure of this little devil is pretty good.

Walter stared as Claire stripped all the way down to her undergarments, exclaiming inwardly. Dark magicians and ghosts don’t worship the goddess of Light but the god of Darkness.

“Do you believe that I can stab two holes in your stone if you keep on looking?” Claire’s light voice made Walter squirm into his stone without another word.

Claire laid down on the bed but didn’t think about what Walter said. Whoever was getting assassinated had nothing to do with her. Instead, she thought about dark magic. Dark magic must be really different from the magic she knew. So what exactly was it about? Claire wanted to squeeze as much information as possible from Walter. She was even thinking about the Spiritual Stone. If she was defeated in battle and lost her body, would she be able to attach her spirit to the Spiritual Stone and gain a new life?

The night was silent.

The next morning, Claire and Jean bought two horses to go back.

At noon, the two stopped in a forest to eat.

The two silently ate, their surroundings peaceful. Suddenly, there was the sound of horses galloping. Some people were coming.

Jean said in a low voice, “There are five people.”

Claire didn’t doubt Jean’s hearing abilities.

As expected, shortly a group of five came from the distance, all riding horses. But these people they knew. It was the his Royal Highness the second prince Nancy and princess Maurice. Behind them were three powerful warriors, probably some from the Tempest Warriors of the royal family. Nancy and Maurice were both dressed like adventurers. Maurice’s rugged clothes made her look majestic.

“Your Highnesses.” Jean and Claire stood up to salute and curtsy.

Confusion flashed through Nancy’s eyes for only a second before he understood. Of course, based on Duke Hill’s personality, it wouldn’t be strange for Claire to be here.

“Claire, how come you’re here?” Maurice dismounted from her horse skillfully, seeming very happy to see Claire here.

“Using the summer break to gain some experience in Gale Gorge”, Claire answered smiling. This enthusiastic princess was the only person willing to talk to her in school.

“Really? Then did you hunt anything?” Maurice asked excitedly.

“Nothing much, only a few third grade and fourth grade beasts and their cores.” Claire was still smiling.

“I want to see, I want to see.” Maurice was like a curious baby1, as if Claire’s hunting beast cores was very exciting and amazing.

While Claire was talking with Maurice, in a corner where no one could see, Jean and Nancy were making strange hand signals. With Jean finished signaling, Nancy’s face became serious and puzzled. He glanced towards the Claire smiling and talking with Maurice, and felt very astonished and shocked. Who is this Claire? Nobody could see through her. She must be really special to make Cliff take her as his disciple! But there was still one thing he was relieved about, and that was that Claire didn’t seem to have a favorable impression of the Temple of Light. If a person with such potential and background was repelling the Temple of Light, Nancy couldn’t have been more pleased.

The divine and the crown will always be conflicting.

While Claire and Maurice were talking, the small stone in Claire’s bag started vibrating.

Maurice went happily to show her brother Nancy a beast core that Claire had given her.

Claire took out the stone and said quietly, “Speak.”

“I was originally supposed to ambush this group.” Walter’s voice sounded directly in Claire’s head.

What? To attack his Royal Highness the second prince and her Royal Highness the princess?! Who wanted their lives?

1. Translated from 好奇宝宝，a term in Chinese that means curious person (not necessarily baby)