Throne of Magical Arcana - After the Fight

“Lord Evans,” Joanna showed her deep respect to him, “All the husks here have been eliminated.”
    

In fact, she was to some extent upset with Lucien for involving them in this dangerous fighting without even telling them what they should expect. Actually, even Lucien himself did not expect a bitter fight like this.
    

Lucien nodded to Joanna and asked her calmly, “Anyone else still alive in the castle except Mars? Is everyone all right?”
    

Joanna would not easily reveal her dissatisfaction toward Lucien, but she answered seriously, “Except Mr. Mars, there’s no one alive in the castle. They’re all husks. Simon is dealing with some chaos happening in Fogtown right now… It might have been caused by some escaping husks. Mr. Mars and Wise are still hiding in the storage room. Betty is vomiting in the bathroom.”
    

“Is what?” Lucien’s left hand grabbed a handful of casting reagent.
    

Joanna put a look of disgust on her face, “We found something in the kitchen, looking like the dinner we were about to ‘enjoy’… There were rotten flesh, eyeballs, tongues, fingers… all covered with maggots.”
    

As she was speaking, she almost threw up as well.
    

Lucien nodded. It seemed that the baron was about to serve them food with ptomaine to make them sick first before revealing his real intention. Under the disguise of magic, common people could not tell what that food really was, but when the spell casters died, the camouflage was gone as well.
    

“I see. Thank you, Joanna.” Lucien took a step forward to Joanna and said to her in a low voice, “Please don’t call me lord. I do not have any title.”
    

Joanna looked up subconsciously and directly caught Lucien’s charming eyes. Instantly, Joanna fell into a dream where there were countless shining stars.
    

“Yes, Mr. Evans,” Joanna answered obediently.
    

Lucien checked her memory about the fight they just had and found nothing that could potentially reveal his identity, but he still made some tiny adjustments with Joanna’s memory.
    

“I’m fine here. Go to find Simon and help him, Joanna… can you?” Lucien dismissed the spell affecting her.
    

Joanna was suddenly startled and her checks immediately flushed. She could not believe that she was just standing there, staring blankly at Mr. Evans’ face, and felt that he was so charming that she could not move her eyes away.
    

“Sure… yes, sure… I’m going right now.” Joanna quickly touched her face with her hands and turned around, heading for the gate of the castle.
    

After Joanna left, Lucien adjusted the memory of the rest of people one by one and erased any evidence of magic in the fight in the baron’s room.
    

…
    

Under the dim light provided by the candles placed around the living room of the castle, Lucien said to Simon, Betty and Joanna, “Thank you for helping Fogtown, and, of course, thank you for helping me. As a convention, you take one tenth of the baron’s wealth, and I shall take one third. The rest of his belongings should be handed to Viscount Stanley and the Church.”
    

Lucien still wanted to maintain his identity in their mind as a knight, and that was why he did not take all the baron’s stuff on his own. Besides, he also felt a bit sorry that he involved his guards in far more danger than what they would commonly encounter.
    

The baron’s place was actually not that full of jewelry and gold as most people would think. Except for the castle, the manor and the land that Habearo owned, there was only sixty Thales left in the baron’s place and a level two greatsword of extraordinary quality named Rock, since Habearo needed to handle the expenses generated by Hunt’s experiments, buy babies and kids, maintain his luxury lifestyle, and pay for different things to hide his sinful behavior.
    

“That’s about… six Thales!” Simon’s eyes were full of excitement.
    

“No, it should be twenty Thales,” Lucien corrected him.
    

“What?! That’s… that’s two much, Mr. Evans. How does that work?” Simon’s pitch rose.
    

“According to the convention, the value of the greatsword, Rock, should be calculated into the whole value as well. I’ll say the sword is about a hundred and forty Thales based on its level.” Lucien explained. Although he did consider keeping the sword to himself, it turned out that the sword was too heavy for Lucien.
    

“Thank you so much! That’s so generous of you, my lord!” Joanna cut in with a big smile on her face, “Although I know that we did not really help much, we all need money to receive formal knight training, especially Betty.”
    

Twenty Thales was for sure a lot of money for them. For Joanna, Simon and Betty, their whole year income was not even close to ten Thales.
    

Lucien smiled and nodded. After they put the money in their own pockets, Lucien said to them, “I can teach Betty some knight training skills before we get to Korsor. You two can watch as well.”
    

On one hand, Lucien appreciated their help, and on the other hand, when the Church questioned them, which was very likely to happen after he killed the baron, the idea that he at least know something about formal knight training could possibly hide his real identity.
    

“Really!?” Betty was so excited that she almost burst out a scream, “Thank you so much, Mr. Evans!”
    

Joanna and Simon were very surprised with Lucien’s generosity. Except for saying ‘thank you’ to Lucien over and over again, they did not know how to express their gratefulness.
    

Lucien waved his hand, “I’m actually not a Saint Knight, and not even a noble. I once served a princess, and my power mostly comes from my divine items and magic items granted by the princess, which is not really my power. I hope you three can keep my power as a secret to avoid unnecessary trouble.”
    

“For sure, Mr. Evans,” they answered.
    

“Very well.” Lucien nodded and said to them, “The fight was intense and I need to get some rest now. Do not let anyone disturb me tonight, please, even including you three. I’ll try to recover by tomorrow morning, and tomorrow we’re heading for Wolftown to report to the Church.”
    

All of the priests here in Fogtown had been turned into husks by Hunt’s necromantic power, so they needed to visit the nearby town to find the priests there.
    

“Yes, Mr. Evans!” The three guards answered cheerfully.
    

…
    

The night was getting darker. Lying in the bed in one of the guest rooms in this evil castle, Lucien remained rather calm and thoughtful.
    

Switching the invitation which Hunt received between his hands back and forth, Lucien was planning something important tonight.
    

By comparing the invitation in his hand with the one that he saved in his spiritual library provided by Chris, Lucien noticed that the only difference between the two was that there was a small symbol of Reversed Tree of Life on the former invitation, while a black hexagram on the latter one. His guess was that the symbols were corresponding to the identities of the invitees for security concern.
    

“Black hexagram represents… sorcerer apprentice, and the reversed tree represents a necromancer… Then how can I get in there?” Lucien murmured to himself silently.
    

In fact, Lucien had a plan in his mind, but the plan was so risky that he could not make up his mind right now.
    

Also, Lucien was almost certain that the time and location of this gathering would be changed after Hunt’s death, after all, he was a level two necromancer who received formal invitation. And this meant that Lucien needed to find the clues as soon as possible, or he would definitely miss the gathering.
    

Making another divination with his crystal ball, the result was very blurry and of no help at all.
    

Lucien’s brows frowned. He knew that he had to take another risk again.
    

Although it would take the coach more than seven days to get to Korsor from Fogtown if it followed the rugged mountain road, cutting corners through woods and cliffs using a knight’s speed could save a lot of time, and Lucien was confident that he could get to Carendia castle within three hours on his own.
    

Opening his suitcase, Lucien put on his black robe and then sneaked out of the castle through the window.