Chapter 456: Gathering
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The reappearance of zombies sent White Mountain City’s citizens into a panic. In order to calm the people down, the alliance announced that there was only a single necromancer commanding the zombies, and the necromancer had already been taken care of. There was no trace of zombies around the city, and everyone should resume their lives without worries.
Alice was a skilled politician, and she knew the importance of having someone to look up to. She knew that people needed a hero that could protect them. This was why she tried to make Anfey look like a hero in her announcement. She even listed a number of Anfey’s achievements to show how strong he was. Alice knew some of the things she listed weren’t true, but it would give the effect she wanted.
Anfey wasn’t a shy person, and he didn’t mind the spotlight, but he felt strange reading the announcement. He asked Alice to change it, but she refused and told him that it was necessary to cement his position.
Christian took Alice’s side as well. He believed that they would have to fight against Tiger of Tawau mercenary group in the future. The more famous Anfey was, the less likely the mercenaries would support Tiger of Tawau mercenary group. He even wanted Anfey to write to Manstuly and challenge him to a duel.
Christian knew Manstuly was still more powerful Anfey, and such a duel would never happen, but a challenge would make Anfey famous. This would make the mercenaries look up to him even more.
Another army soon arrived at White Mountain City. Baery had arrived with his army. Anfey, Suzanna, and Entos all happened to be away that day, and Christian had to send people to find them and bring them back. By the time Christian brought Baery and his people into the city, Suzanna, Anfey, and Entos had returned.
Baery did not come alone. He brought Steger and Ernest along as well. After Anfey greeted them, he turned to two strangers he did not recognize them. He could tell they were powerful men.
"Let me introduce you," Baery said. "This is Shawn and this is Dalmatian. You finally get to meet today."
Anfey frowned when he heard the names. Shawn nodded at him with a smile. "I apologize for my past behaviors, my lord," Shawn said. "You see, it’s hard disobeying your teacher."
"You’re too kind, my lord," Anfey said hurriedly. "I understand."
Even though Shawn’s apology was short, he was sincere. He was a master swordsman and Baery’s right hand man. It was hard for him to publicly apologize.
"What happened before is our fault," Dalmatian said. "We are working together now, my lord, and I hope we can forget about our past disagreements."
"Like you said," Anfey said with a smile, "we are working together now. There’s no need to bring up the past, my lord."
"Good," Baery said, smiling. "Let’s forget about the past and look to the future."
Before they had come, Shawn and Dalmatian were worried that Anfey would not forgive them for what happened in the past. They were important people, and if Anfey would not forgive them after they apologized, they would have had no choice but to turn on him. Baery, however, wasn’t worried at all. He knew Anfey and knew that he wasn’t the type to dwell on the past.
Anfey looked around the meeting. "Lord Baery, does this mean…" he hesitated. "Does this mean we are opening war?" Before Baery’s arrival, White Mountain City was already drawing attention with Suzanna, Anthony and him. Now that Baery had brought people who were more powerful and important than he, Anfey knew that a storm was on its way.
"Your teacher’s on the way too," Baery said with a smile.
"Just for Scarlet?"
"Not just her," Baery said, shaking his head. "The Church has sent its three Grand Knights, and Prince Jerrick has sent backup." He paused and looked at Anfey. "I heard Christian say you fought with Desvidia."
Anfey sighed and nodded.
"And he used the aging spell?"
Anfey nodded again.
"How are you still alive them?"
"Didn’t Christian mention anything?"
"He did," Baery said. "But I want to see it."
Anfey nodded. He raised his hand and a ball of white light appeared. The light bobbed a few inches above his palm and disappeared.
"See?" Baery said, turning to Steger. "I told you."
Steger sighed and smiled. "We’ve got to talk more about this later," he said to Anfey.
"Of course, my lord," Anfey said with a smile. He turned to Baery and said, "Lord Baery, I have a question."
"What is it?"
"If you are attacked with an aging spell, what would you do?"
Baery frowned and lowered his gaze. "I would find a place to wait until the spell’s effect disappeared," he said after a few moments of silence. "If I couldn’t get away, I guess I’d have to fight."
"Really?" Anfey had asked because he wanted to learn something about the spell. Baery had given him the exact same answer as Anthony, and he was disappointed he couldn’t learn more.
"There’s are other ways, I suppose," Baery said. "You can always prevent them from using the spell or have a priest with you." Baery sighed and shook his head. "You cannot underestimate necromancers. They are the most powerful mages. Even Saul must admit that."
"I’m not underestimating them," Anfey said. "I just want to find a way to deal with them more effectively. At least I should find a way to deal with them without putting myself in danger gain."
"You can always become a priest."
"But I tried to cleanse it, and it didn’t work."
"You can’t just cleanse the effect of a forbidden spell," Baery said, smiling. "If you are a high level priest, there are things you can do to cancel out effects of those spells."
Anfey frowned.
"I’m a swordsman," Baery said. "I don’t know enough about magic to answer that question. Steger, Saul, even Entos are more equipped to answer that question."
Anfey turned to Steger, who retrieved a few scrolls from his dimensional ring and showed them to Anfey. "This would my solution," he said.
Anfey nodded. He only had three magic scrolls, and he did not know if any of the three would work when he was afflicted with a necromancer’s forbidden spell.
"Anfey, have you forgotten who your teacher is?" Baery said, shaking his head. "Do you think you’ll have to worry about magic scrolls as long as Saul and Jacob are here?"