Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2721: Chapter 2722: ’Fairness

Dox was taken aback, scratched his temple, and muttered to himself, "Did I write something like that? I don’t remember."

The Gray Merchant chuckled, "I remember that magazine was ’Southern Domain’s Light,’ the third to last issue before it ceased publication."

Upon hearing ’Southern Domain’s Light,’ Dox suddenly understood, "Oh, I remember now!"

Dox turned to Vay and said, "Isn’t this the masterpiece I wrote after we learned about Nagil while we were in Loren Bill?"

Vay looked at Dox with disdain, "...You can talk about yourself, just don’t drag me into it. I only know that you were very excited when you heard about Nagil, I didn’t know you wrote two high-profile articles because of that."

"And, ’Southern Domain’s Light,’ this magazine, ha."

Vay didn’t specify the situation of ’Southern Domain’s Light,’ but the undisguised contempt in his expression showed how much he disliked the magazine, to the point of not even bothering to discuss it.

Although Angel had never heard of the magazine ’Southern Domain’s Light,’ he still remembered Diabolo once complaining to him about the chaotic state of publishers in the Sky Mechanical City. Diabolo was once in charge of the registration work for publishers. According to him, during his employment, publishers applied for registration and closed down every day.

The reason for the closures was mostly due to arrogance, offending some Transcendents. But most weren’t truly closed down; they’d just make a show of it and then apply for registration under a new name. This is why there were closures every day and applications every day.

In order to attract attention, the worse and more lacking in substance the publishers were, the more they’d choose some sensational magazine names, not even considering whether their own level could uphold these names.

For instance, ’Grand View of Truth,’ ’Secret of Origin,’ ’World Talk’... names that were grand and empty, with the actual content being meaningless fluff.

By its name, ’Southern Domain’s Light’ seems similar to these...

By the way, speaking of Diabolo, I wonder how he’s doing lately?

While Angel’s mind wandered, on the other side, Dox didn’t care at all about Vay’s disdainful tone, and even said with pride, "Thinking back, it feels like I’m returning to those passionate days."

Vay continued to mock, "Passionate? More like an adrenaline rush leading to a useless roar."

The Gray Merchant: "The Red Sword Wizard’s articles did indeed stir up some passion."

Vay looked at the Gray Merchant in astonishment: Dox’s self-congratulation is enough, why are you, a wizard criticized to death in his article, joining in the fun?

Moreover, why are you praising Dox? Is this a pre-battle strategy to lower Dox’s guard?

Vay glanced at Dox, and sure enough, Dox was already looking at the Gray Merchant with admiration, a look of agreement among heroes.

Vay thought to himself, fortunately, the Gray Merchant miscalculated; if Dox were about to fight him, with Dox’s head so inflated from the praise, performing at eighty percent would already be good.

"Hey, why are you flattering him? Don’t forget, they’re enemies now." The floating Wicked Woman told the Gray Merchant.

The Wicked Woman’s attitude was more restrained than before, even her tone more cautious.

The Gray Merchant: "I wasn’t flattering him, I was simply putting myself in the Red Sword Wizard’s shoes. Writing those articles at that time indeed kindled a lot of passion."

Pema whispered in the Magic Elephant’s ear, "So the Gray Merchant was so empathic in the past?"

The Magic Elephant chuckled but didn’t answer. It was the Shepherd, lazily leaning against the wall, who said, "Even now, the Gray Merchant’s empathy is quite strong~"

Pema didn’t believe it, but the Shepherd didn’t explain further. If the Gray Merchant’s empathy were poor, how could his personality have changed so much due to a memory?

After answering the Wicked Woman, the Gray Merchant looked at Dox, "I wonder if the Red Sword Wizard could answer some of my questions?"

At the Gray Merchant’s inquiry, Dox, who had been in a "fond memories" mood, suddenly withdrew: "No."

"You’ve got some sense, huh," Vay murmured.

Dox rolled his eyes at Vay. Vay had been settled for so many years, and still had the impression of him from years ago. Is this good or bad? Actually, not bad. It’s rather nice for someone to always see you as the youth you once were, isn’t it?

The Gray Merchant, despite being refused, did not show disappointment and courteously said, "That’s a pity. We’re also forced to fight you; I believe you can understand."

Dox remained silent; he wasn’t the one to respond to such non-specific topics.

"Words are useless, let’s begin." It was the Black Earl who spoke. He turned the stone slab, initially wanting to look at the Wise Sovereign behind him, only to find that the Wise Sovereign had vanished. And the black-robed man in the sky, previously an energy phantom, was now in his true form, his robes fluttering in the breeze.

The sudden voice of the Black Earl caused the Gray Merchant’s pupils to constrict, and even the floating Wicked Woman’s pupils narrowed into slits.

They had been speculating about what was on that floating stone slab, why it had such potent energy. Now it had spoken, and its tone carried an authority utterly different from Dox’s.

This made them feel a sense of foreboding.

They vaguely recalled a rumor.

It shouldn’t be possible, could they be so unlucky to encounter someone from that family here?

"May I know who you are..."

The Gray Merchant was about to confirm the identity of the other party but was interrupted by the Black Earl, "Don’t waste time, let’s start."

After speaking, the Black Earl’s gaze turned upward to the Wise Sovereign in the sky.

The Wise Sovereign, with a new appearance, seemed less youthful but more mysterious. He didn’t respond to the Black Earl but addressed the Gray Merchant’s side: "If you had agreed to my small test before and succeeded, the reward I offered would have been the right to choose the battlefield and propose a rule that didn’t violate fairness. For instance, you could suggest a truthful self-introduction before the match; wouldn’t that reveal the answers you wanted?"

"Such a pity... not only did you reject my test, but you also failed to find them, alas."

The Gray Merchant bowed apologetically, "It’s our fault for disappointing you, Honorable Judge."

The Wise Sovereign quietly watched the Gray Merchant and suddenly laughed after a few seconds, "I’ve been wondering what she would use to threaten you, and didn’t expect this move."

Dox: "What move?"

The Wise Sovereign glanced at Dox, "Imprisoning the person who knows you best."

Dox furrowed his brow, repeating softly, "Imprisoning the person who knows you best"... Soon after, Dox commented, "Her methods are truly low."

Although many wizards are shameless beyond limits when it comes to schemes involving others, more sensible wizards usually avoid harming others. This method, in Dox’s view, was rather despicable.

However, Dox clearly misunderstood the Wise Sovereign’s meaning.

On the other side, as the person involved, the Wizard understood that although the black-robed judge did not explicitly say, he surely had already figured out his situation.

The Wizard did not react much to this, since the judge should be in cahoots with that person in the mirror, knowing the other’s methods was quite normal.

The Wizard didn’t care, but Song, who always liked to ask a bunch of questions, squinted and said, "Shouldn’t a judge be fair? Why do you have to answer just because they ask questions?"

The Wise Sovereign: "I originally wanted to reveal more, but hearing what you said, I suddenly don’t feel like revealing it at all."

The Wise Sovereign naturally saw through the Wizard’s situation. He had observed the Wizard before and knew he was a cold and ruthless person, completely unrelated to the gentle and refined demeanor now. Such a tremendous change, without suspicion from his subordinates, and still being able to retain the other’s strength, with that person’s means, there was only one method: sealing the most important memories of the past in a mirror.

As for the method of unsealing, only the Goddess could do it before. But the Wise Sovereign had witnessed Angel extracting the Wood Spirit’s derivative from that painting. If Angel could also decipher the secret of the mirror space, perhaps he could retrieve the Wizard’s memories from the mirror.

For this reason, the Wizard rarely answered Dox’s questions. As a result, Song interrupted once again.

Once could be forgiven, but twice consecutively, even though the Wise Sovereign didn’t think it was a big deal, he had given up the idea of arguing for them to be "Out of Discussion."

Moreover, truly telling them would actually bring no benefit to the Wise Sovereign, it would only heighten opposition from the Goddess.

Although the Wise Sovereign had intentions of testing the Goddess by uniting with Angel and others, he didn’t intend to go to the extent of being at daggers drawn with the Goddess. Angel and the others could leave whenever they wanted, but he couldn’t; he had to face the Goddess directly.

If something like a Spatial Tempest or some other unavoidable disaster occurred again, causing damage to the Magical Energy Array, he would still have to shamelessly seek the Goddess.

Hence, fighting but not dividing, contending but not insisting, everyone still had to maintain appearances.

On the other side, upon hearing the sudden words from the Wise Sovereign, Song’s heart skipped a beat. Had she...had she said something wrong again?

The Evil Woman and the Wizard both looked at Song, their eyes unfathomable, making Song feel even more panicked.

Just as Song was bewildered, the Wise Sovereign spoke: "However, you have a point, for fairness, I will allow you to ask me one question as well. Additionally, to maintain fairness, I will answer in the same manner as before."

This time, the Wise Sovereign’s words helped Song out of her predicament.

The Evil Woman withdrew her gaze, and the Wizard cast a comforting look at her.

This time, Song secured them an opportunity to ask a question. Although the judge had made it clear that his manner of answering would be the same as when he answered the Red Sword, meaning there wouldn’t be a direct answer, just a direction. Therefore, questions like the opponent’s identity probably wouldn’t be answered.

However, there was one question the Wizard was genuinely curious about. He had always wanted to ask it but didn’t know where to begin; now, he had the opportunity—

"Mr. Judge, I want to know, where were they hiding during the earlier trial?"

The Wise Sovereign chuckled lightly, giving a non-answer: "Didn’t I just give a hint?"

The Wizard under the mask furrowed his brow: "A hint about what?"

The Wise Sovereign didn’t answer further but instead raised an index finger, making a "shush" gesture. This gesture wasn’t to silence the Wizard but rather to indicate that he had already given the answer. To question further would not align with the principle of "fairness."

The Wizard understood the Wise Sovereign’s intentions but still couldn’t grasp what the truth was.

"Didn’t the Honorable Judge say earlier that Song might have a chance to find them? Could that be a clue?" the Shepherd spoke.

The Wizard glanced back at Song, and connecting it with the illusion traces left at the scene when they broke through the mutated Carrion Squirrels’ encirclement, he had a vague guess.

"Is it... an Illusion Technique?" the Wizard voiced this guess, yet with some uncertainty. Because if it were truly an Illusion Technique, there should be Illusion Nodes and Energy traces, but during their comprehensive search, they found no clues.

Does such a completely concealed Illusion Technique truly exist?

The Wise Sovereign chuckled, still not answering the Wizard, but said, "Let’s put other topics aside for now. If we continue, someone will grow impatient."

The "someone growing impatient" the Wise Sovereign referred to was assumed by the Wizard and others to mean the nose on the stone slab across the way, but in reality... it was the one watching through the mirror.

"Before the official contest, let me state the rules."

The Wise Sovereign repeated the rules he mentioned earlier, including Apprentice versus Apprentice, Wizard versus Wizard; the victorious side could replace other teammates at any time, take a rest, and once rested, return to the contest... and so forth.

All the rules, aside from the need for fights to be between those of the same rank, had no other restrictions.

This meant the contest was not just about strength, but also about each participant’s methods and trump cards.

In the Wise Sovereign’s view, it would be best to add some restrictions to avoid a one-sided battle, but... the Goddess was not willing, she wanted to clearly see Angel and others’ trump cards, and if restrictions were added, how could she see clearly?

These rules were already known to the Wizard and the others. They had confidence in their combat strength, methods, and trump cards, especially after seeing that the opponent had the Red Sword Dox, a Wandering Wizard, which heightened their confidence.

However, the identity of that nose on the stone slab concerned them... if it truly belonged to that family, their trump cards might not be put to use.

Still, it shouldn’t be that unfortunate, right?

Hopefully not.

After explaining the rules, the Wise Sovereign added one more thing: "Although there is no restriction on life and death, it would be preferable if matches could be stopped at the right time."

This sentence seemed to maintain fairness, but it was actually directed at Angel and his group.

Because when it came to trump cards, the Wise Sovereign had little confidence in the Wizard’s group.

One must know, besides the three Wizard combatants, Angel had a Wind Elemental Creature close to an Official Wizard’s power, and... a Demon of the Panic Realm close to True Knowledge Level.

"Alright, this concludes my words." The Wise Sovereign paused, "Now, it’s time to decide, should the Apprentices go first, or should the Wizards start?"

The Wise Sovereign pondered, then directed his gaze toward the Wizard. In the interest of fairness and easing the mind of the one in the shadows, he decided to let the Wizard make the choice.

Faced with the Wise Sovereign’s inquiry, the Wizard thought for a moment and politely gestured towards the opposite side, "This decision doesn’t affect the outcome; let them decide instead."

If the Wizard’s memories hadn’t been sealed, he would have already given an answer. But with his personality restored to its former self, he was considerably polite and modest... though it was also just for appearance’s sake.

The Wise Sovereign sighed inwardly and then turned to Angel: "What about you?"

Angel: "Let the Wizards start."