In Florence City, at the very end of Rotten Pine Alley, stood a dimly lit courtyard.
Inside the main house, several candles burned, illuminating the papers that the immobilized Lawrence, seated in a wheelchair, was examining at his desk.
Occasionally, Lawrence lifted his head to glance around the chilly room, sighing involuntarily before returning to his papers.
Just then, the candle flames on the table flickered erratically as if a breeze had passed through.
"Hmm?" Lawrence looked up warily, glanced at the tightly shut doors and windows, furrowed his brows, and quickly scanned the room:
Wooden racks creaked mysteriously, there was a rustling from the corner, and in unseen places, there was a grating sound of something heavy being dragged.
Lawrence’s brow furrowed deeply, and in the next moment, he took a deep breath and called out, "Since you’ve come, why skulk around? Do you, wizards with your extraordinary powers, truly fear an old man who cannot even stand?"
"Ah, Master Lawrence, your perception is indeed sharp; we’ve only just arrived, and you’ve already noticed," a voice responded. The air next to the desk twisted, revealing three figures.
One of them was Franklin, and behind him stood two others, his subordinates.
To the left was a tall, hefty man like a mountain of flesh, named Art, nicknamed "Earth Demon."
To the right was a normal-sized man with fiery red hair, named Promi, nicknamed "Fire Spirit."
Once Franklin appeared, he looked at Lawrence and spoke slowly, "Master Lawrence, although you may have already suspected our existence, this is presumably our first formal meeting.
Even if you’re about to die, out of courtesy, I think it necessary to introduce myself: My name is Franklin, yes, the one who will kill you tonight."
"Franklin, huh," Lawrence responded, his eyebrow raised, "doesn’t really sound like a good man’s name."
"Heh, doesn’t matter, does it?" Franklin said, taking a step toward Lawrence when suddenly a roar came from a corner of the main house.
Muto and Rek, unnoticed until now, held heavy firearms, aiming at Franklin and shouting, "You villains, don’t come near our teacher, stay away from him! Otherwise, we’ll use these weapons in our hands to kill you!
Don’t think that just because you are wizards, you are formidable; our weapons can still take care of you!"
"Huh?" Franklin paused, slightly surprised, and looked at Muto and Rek.
However, Lawrence sitting behind the desk suddenly changed color and shouted at Muto and Rek, "You fools, didn’t I tell you both to get out, why did you come back!"
"Teacher, stop," Muto said seriously, "I know, the reason you told us to leave a few days ago was for our safety, fearing we’d fall into danger. But the more so, the less we can leave you.
Both Rek and I owe our lives to you; if it weren’t for your intervention that winter years ago, we would have frozen to death at your doorstep. So, as long as we are alive, we absolutely won’t allow villains to harm you, absolutely not!"
"But you are no match for them!" Lawrence shouted, "Didn’t you experience it a few days ago? The weapons you hold can’t possibly harm a wizard!"
"Then we can’t let them harm you!" Muto shouted.
Lawrence looked at Muto and Rek, his mouth twitching, speechless.
At this moment, Franklin clapped his hands, "Bravo, bravo, such touching teacher-student affection. Honestly, if I didn’t have to explain to the Muse Housekeeper, I might have let you go. But now, I can only kill you all."
"You’re the one who should be dead, you villain with designs on our teacher!" Muto yelled, "Die!"
After he spoke, he violently pulled the trigger of the air gun in his hand.
The moment the trigger was pulled, a huge explosion sounded, and the entire air gun blew apart, the air canister shattering as well. Muto and Rek screamed in agony, collapsing onto the ground, their bodies drenched in blood, motionless.
Franklin shook his head and rubbed his fingers, acting as if it had nothing to do with him, and nodded to his subordinates, "Art, Promi, go check on them."
"Yes," his subordinates replied and quickly went over to check on Muto and Rek on the ground, then raised their heads to report to Franklin.
"Completely dead," Promi repeated.
"Good," Franklin nodded in satisfaction, "Now, there’s only one target left. Once that’s dealt with, the mission will be considered complete.
Then we’ll just need to handle the secrets about the Black Spirit Empire in this city thoroughly. Maybe then I can report back to the Muse Housekeeper."
Lawrence’s eyes reddened, staring at Franklin with gritted teeth, "You killed Muto and Rek, you killed my students!"
"Oh? Is there a problem?" Franklin looked at Lawrence with a smile and asked.
"Ahh!" Lawrence cried out, the next moment he pulled out a silver revolver from his possession, aimed it at the close Franklin, and pulled the trigger.
"Bang bang bang bang bang bang!"
Six shots rang out, and all six bullets from the firearm flew out, targeting Franklin’s body.
But, just a dozen centimeters in front of Franklin, the six bullets simultaneously stopped in mid-air.
Lawrence’s eyes widened in disbelief, although he had anticipated this outcome, he still found it somewhat unacceptable.
However, his refusal to accept it changed nothing about the reality!
A significant sense of defeat enveloped Lawrence.
Lawrence leaned heavily back in his wheelchair, the firearm dropping to the ground, resigned.
Franklin chuckled lightly and extended a finger, gently flicking the six bullets hovering in the air in front of him together.
"Sometimes I’m still curious about how these little things are made. They look much more refined than a mechanical crossbow, but whatever the case, their power is far inferior to a spell." As Franklin spoke, a flame emerged from his fingertip, rapidly melting the six bullets into liquid, then reshaping it into a slender spike.
The spike cooled, and Franklin snapped it up with a "pop," stepping behind Lawrence.
"Kill me," Lawrence said aloud, his eyes blank and indifferent, his voice seemingly void of any emotion, "From many days ago when I noticed someone investigating me, I had foreseen this."
"You already anticipated this?" Franklin spoke, slightly surprised.
"Yes, I did," Lawrence continued indifferently.