A Wizard’s Secret

The guards in front of Ravens Castle sneered as they saw Merlin and others stand there motionless. “This is Ravens Castle, the Kingdom of Blackmoon! Yesterday, there were even some people that came claiming to be royal prince and princess. Hah, in the end, they still paid us gold coins obediently just to pass through here. Either leave the horse or pay the gold coins. There is no other choice!”

Old Wilson and Baron Parman were furious. They stared hard at these guards, but they were still rational enough to not start a fight. In front of such a military fortress, let alone a thousand knights, even tens of thousands of well-equipped, well-trained knights, were unlikely to succeed in taking down this heavily guarded military fortress.

Merlin was reduced to no options, so he whispered to Old Wilson, “Father, let’s go back to the troop for a more comprehensive discussion.”

Hence, Old Wilson and the others returned to the troop.

Merlin took the lead and spoke, “We’re never going to surrender the horses. It seems that Princess Charise and her troops have also paid the required gold coins to the guards so they could bring their horses through Ravens Castle. If there is no other way, we have no choice but to work hard to gather 120,000 gold coins…”

After a while, Old Wilson whispered, “I’ve spent almost all of the taxes collected from my territory on the heavy armor knight troop. Right now, Wilson family can only contribute 40,000 gold coins at most!”

Merlin frowned slightly. The entire Wilson family’s income was supported only by the taxation on the territory, and almost half of the taxes had been used by Old Wilson to train the heavy armor knight troop. Hence, several years down the road, the wealth of the Wilson family was left with only a small amount.

“Baron Parman, how much can you contribute?”

Merlin looked at Baron Parman who later forced a smile. “I can contribute slightly more, but only 60,000 gold coins at most. It’s still far away from 120,000 gold coins!”

The gap of 20,000 gold coins was, indeed, not a small amount.

“What should we do?”

Merlin was really out of ideas. 20,000 gold coins were not a small number. Besides, even if they managed to gather the required amount, how were they going to support the daily life after nearly two thousand people after arriving at the Kingdom of Blackmoon?

On the other side of the coin, they only needed to pay 20,000 gold coins if they surrender the horses. However, without horses, the traveling speed of the large troop would be unimaginably slow and might possibly cause numerous other incidents to arise later.

Forcing their way through Ravens Castle was an even more whimsical idea. Even tens of thousands of elite knights were not necessarily strong enough to break through a terrifying military fortress such as Ravens Castle, let alone their troop of thousand knights.

“If there is really no other way, I might have to return along the same path we came from, and finally exchange some gold coins with Keane using another Spell Model.”

Merlin felt extremely helpless. Since he arrived in this world, he had never been worried about money. Never had he expected to fall to the point where he had to exchange a Spell Model with bandits for some gold coins.

“Don’t worry, you guys should wait here for a few days while I go back to the bandits -”

Merlin narrowed his eyes slightly before he could finish his sentence. He noticed a large number of knights appearing outside of Ravens Castle. There was about a thousand of them, well-equipped, gradually moving towards Ravens Castle.

After seeing these knights, those guards in Ravens Castle hurriedly went forward to greet them respectfully. “Dear my lord, Lady Countess just sent someone to ask about Your Lordship, it seems like an urgency that requires Your Lordship to head back quickly.”

“Alright.”

The troop was headed by a count, which seemed like an important figure of Ravens Castle. These guards who treated the count with utmost respect immediately opened the gates of the fortress.

“Maybe there is a way…”

Merlin’s eyes lit up as he said to Old Wilson and Baron Parman, “Wait here for a minute, I will come back soon. Hopefully with a solution to our obstacle.”

After saying that, Merlin walked straight toward the big number of knights.

“Honourable Count, my lord!”

A strong-built count dressed in bright, shiny armor turned his head around at the direction of the unfamiliar voice. He then frowned and asked, “Who are you?”

It was Merlin. He raised his head fearlessly at the count who had just spoken. “Honourable Count, I’m Wilson Merlin, who had just escaped from the Kingdom of Light with my family. However, we’ve encountered a little trouble at Ravens Castle. If my lord will be so generous to lend us a helping hand, in return, my lord will have me as your friend!”

“A friendship with a fallen nobleman who’s on the flee?”

The count laughed immediately as he looked at Old Wilson and other people in the distance. Small aristocrats like Merlin that tried to escape from the Kingdom of Light were so common recently that he had already become accustomed to them.

“Yes, that’s right! A friendship with a Spell Caster!”

Merlin rested his hand on his chest and bowed slightly, but on his face was still his usual composed, calm look.

“Spell Caster?”

The smile on the count’s face froze in an instant. Then, the expression turned into something strange and undecipherable, as if it was an emotion filled with disbelief and absurdity.

“Click.”

Merlin smiled faintly, then extended his finger and pointed toward the count’s hand. The big sword in the count’s hand was immediately frozen by a thick layer of ice crystals in the blink of an eye.

The knights around the count became nervous. An earthy-yellow colored light even flashed around several knights. Those were the light of Earth Elements.

The strong aura clearly revealed they were Earth Swordsman that reached the peak of Third-level.

“Relax, Commander Bain. This is a respected Spell Caster!”

Lord Count recollected his thoughts and ordered his knights to stop. Then, he looked at Merlin with a smile on his face and announced aloud, “Dear Spell Caster, welcome to Ravens Castle in the Kingdom of Blackmoon! Unexpectedly, in a barbaric kingdom like the Kingdom of Light, there exists also Spell Caster who pursues true knowledge.”

After a pause, the count turned to look at Old Wilson in the distance and somehow guessed what was going on. “Wizard Merlin, I, Beckens Phuman, sincerely invite you and your family to be a guest in my residence!”

“I’m grateful, my lord, for the invitation!”

Merlin finally felt slightly relieved. Before he came to the Kingdom of Blackmoon, he knew that this was the holy land of Spell Casters. Numerous Spell Casters lived in the eastern realm represented by the Kingdom of Blackmoon. It was only in this land where people were respectful and tolerant to Spell Casters could they give birth to tremendously-powerful Spell Casters.

Judging from the attitude of Count Phuman, Merlin roughly guessed that Spell Casters were indeed well respected in the Kingdom of Blackmoon. They were able to enjoy all kinds of privileges that even in a sense, their identity almost equivalent to a noble title.

With the nod of approval of Count Phuman, the guards of Ravens Castle naturally did not dare to trouble Merlin and others anymore. Therefore, after Old Wilson and the others removed most of their weapons and armors, they followed behind Phuman’s knights and finally passed through Ravens Castle successfully.