— Monday recommendation tickets.
Also, the map everyone asked for is being drawn by a kind young lady and will be uploaded in a few days. My own artistic ability is zero…
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Gusong repeated in a daze, "Cross through the Shahran Empire?"
Lucian saw that his Mass Terror had left the thugs outside the booth collapsed on the ground, while the gentlemen buying and selling intelligence inside were too frightened to emerge. He didn't enter the room. Instead, he stood leisurely in the second-floor corridor with both hands tucked into the pockets of his long frock coat, watching Gusong — who had backed up until his spine pressed flat against the wall — and smiled.
"That's right. Cross through the Shahran Empire and reach the nations northeast of the Dark Mountains that worship different gods. Mr. Gusong, I imagine you've already deduced it: I'm a mage. In the Shahran Empire I'd be hunted by the Church of Truth's Northern Church, so I need a guide familiar with the empire's geography, nobility, and general customs — someone who can help me traverse it safely."
After learning from Gaston that the Church's focus was gradually shifting and the Strait of Storms was being sealed ever more tightly, Lucian had decided not to risk the crossing. Instead, he took Gaston's advice and traveled by arcane steam train through the Holm Kingdom and the Colete Kingdom, arriving at the northern port city of Deepsea Harbor. From there, he spent over two months trekking through the primeval forests of the deep north — where trolls and orcs frequently appeared — until he reached the Eastern Exile Land. Southwest of these ancient forests lay the Shahran Empire's northeastern Flame Fortress.
During this time, Lucian had also constructed another spell within his soul — one extremely important for a third-rank mage: Dispel Magic.
And the Shahran Empire's southwestern border was precisely where Lucian's true destination lay — the Vorlite Principality.
In the past, sneaking across the border between the warring Northern and Southern Churches had been more dangerous than the Strait of Storms, but with the Church's shifting priorities, the latter had become considerably more difficult.
Wrapped in a mixture of truth and lies, his explanation was enough for Gusong to more or less grasp what Lucian needed. The information broker took two deep breaths and recovered a measure of his old composure. "Sir, you're concerned that flying within the Shahran Empire for an extended period would attract attention — you need a false identity, and a guide to help you blend in and conceal the fact that you don't match the empire's style."
"Mr. Gusong, you're quite clever." Lucian's smile was mild, though inwardly he was grumbling. If only his flight spell could match the speed of an airplane back on Earth — the level of high-ranking mages — then three or four days of flying with occasional stops would get him through. But so far, his flight spell could only match the pace of an ordinary horse-drawn carriage.
Seeing Lucian's calm and refined manner, Gusong instinctively felt he wasn't the ruthless type of mage. After a moment's consideration, he said: "Sir, I'd recommend you visit the Tarant Bar and look for Leo. He used to be an assistant to one of the Shahran Empire's major smugglers. Their operations once reached the heretic nations northeast of the Dark Mountains, as well as the Vorlite Principality — that heretical duchy. Later, he offended the smuggler, who had his entire family killed. Leo himself was fortunate enough to escape to Sereve using a precious arcane scroll."
"The flame of revenge and his strength as a quasi-knight kept him alive through sheer will. He's been desperately taking every job he can find, trying to save enough money to buy precious arcane elixirs and boost his strength, so he can go back and take his revenge."
"He's skilled at changing his appearance through non-magical means and knows the major nobles, fortresses, and geography of the Shahran Empire inside and out. He's the ideal candidate."
Lucian considered for a moment, his smile unchanged. "I'm not entirely confident about Leo. Once we're inside the Shahran Empire, if he runs into that particular smuggler, he might lose control emotionally."
"Rest assured, sir. Leo is a man who lives by the knightly code of keeping his word. As long as you sign an arcane contract with him, he won't break it. Perhaps that's precisely how he ended up offending the smuggler in the first place — sometimes having too many principles doesn't work in your favor." Gusong pressed the recommendation once more. "He truly is the best candidate. The others either lack experience crossing the Shahran Empire, or they're exiled nobles who wouldn't make good guides."
Lucian thought carefully for a moment. "Then I'll go meet Leo first."
"He won't disappoint you." Gusong's tone was firm. "Though he seems to have run into some trouble recently — nobody knows where he's disappeared to. The only lead is that someone spotted him at the Tarant Bar."
The moment he finished speaking, Gusong noticed something terrifying. Both of Lucian's eyes — the left one behind its monocle, and the bare right one — had turned into rapidly spinning vortexes of brown, drawing his soul and consciousness inward against his will. His thoughts went hazy.
After using Charm Person to bring Gusong fully under his control, Lucian carefully verified every piece of information he had just received. Then he cast Hypnosis to make Gusong forget the encounter. Although Lucian couldn't edit or weave memories, nor truly erase them, he could make Gusong subconsciously forget the critical details. And even if someone investigated Gusong later, the Lucian in his memories would be the disguised version!
As the winner of the Holm Crown Award, Lucian wasn't sure how much the Northern and Southern Churches knew about his appearance. Moreover, a first-rank Disguise spell could easily be detected by fifth-rank bishops and Night Watch agents. Since he wasn't skilled in transformation magic either, he'd prepared several non-magical disguise items for this trip: insoles that added three centimeters of height when placed in his shoes; brown contact lenses made from the pupil of a shape-shifting demon (with no vision-enhancing effect — purely transparent and soft); and a handsome pair of thin mustaches left unshaved, combined with a monocle to give himself an even more scholarly air.
It was a long time before Gusong finally came to, looking around as though waking from a nightmare.
"What just happened? Where are those two knights?" He tried to recall, and his head immediately began to throb. As the head of an intelligence network, he quickly realized he'd encountered someone powerful. He gave up trying to think and simply remembered that a mage had barged in. As for everything that had happened afterward — what he'd been asked, what he'd said — it was all a blank.
The thugs sprawled across the hall floor were gradually losing their looks of abject terror. A moment ago, it had seemed as though they'd encountered the most frightening thing imaginable — like the legendary dragons — leaving them shaken to the core.
"You useless bastards, get up and clean this hall! And change your clothes!" Gusong bellowed, his mood foul as the stench hit his nostrils. Then he sent his men to find those two knights, worried a rival might use this opportunity to assassinate him.
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"The Tarant Bar — a bar of the Eastern Exile Land, for the people of the Eastern Exile Land."
Lucian read the crude wooden sign, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. Then he pushed open the bar's front door and stepped into the chaotic establishment within.