Translator: SumTLMan
Kael was still deep in thought when a hand tapped on his shoulder.
“Wake up, there aren’t that many secret organizations or evil cults around,” said Daus.
Kael replied: “Why not? Civilian houses, cellars, secret passages, Underground Structures, each of these keywords linked together exudes an aura of evil and mystery.”
Daus stroked his chin with his right hand and said: “Speaking of which, that place you stay at in the black market fits your description too. Oh, and doesn’t your portable house have a cellar and hidden spaces as well?”
“That’s my meditation chamber and storage room!”
Ignoring Kael’s retort, Daus continued: “Also, you’ve been to my bar. It’s hidden, technically a residence, and has multiple underground structures. With all these keywords, doesn’t my bar also seem to emit an evil aura?”
Kael paused for a moment, realizing Daus might have a point.
After all, the predecessor of the Garden Labyrinth was an extraordinary city. It’s quite normal for an extraordinary city to have secret passages in their own territories.
Thinking this, Kael’s excitement quickly deflated.
For someone passionate about archaeological ruins, this feeling was like thinking you’ve caught a big fish, only to reel in an empty wine bottle.
“Without seeing the specific conditions of the underground structure, anything is possible. Let’s go and see; as long as the underground isn’t too badly damaged, we can always deduce its past functions from the clues left behind,” said Angel timely, noticing Kael’s downtrodden expression.
However, Angel was just saying that; deep down, he leaned more towards Daus’ judgment.
It wasn’t due to spiritual perception, but simply because secret underground structures are so common in the Wizarding World. Even the ruin he lived in had a hidden room.
With this thought, Angel was already heading through a small door in the wall.
After everyone entered, Kael pointed outside to the mother and son: “What about those two? Just leave them outside?”
Kael’s words were also overheard by Colo, who looked over fearfully.
“No need to worry about them. I’ve set up a magic formation at the cellar entrance that will last up to a week,” Angel reassured without forgetting the mother and son outside.
The cellar had enough food and water stored for them to last a week. At worst, they could also enter the underground structure, which was their supply point; they certainly wouldn’t starve.
After saying this, Angel walked deeper into the tunnel.
Watching Angel disappear into the darkness, Kael fell into deep contemplation.
Although Kael was only an apprentice, he had accompanied his mentor and met many formal wizards. If it were another wizard exploring ruins and encountering ordinary people, even if there was no threat, they would immediately think about how to “deal” with them. However, Angel chose to spend energy constructing a magic formation, a non-threatening entrapment formation.
This was beyond Kael’s imagination.
Previously, Marsha said that each member of the Hero Squad has their own bottom line, and honestly, Kael just let it go at that. Ordinary people should adhere to a certain moral baseline, which is the key to long-term stability.
But transcendents are different; though they are human like everyone else, the gap in power is as vast as that between clouds and mud. A fitting analogy is this: would humans care if they accidentally stepped on an ant? To the transcendents, ordinary people are just like ants.
Even a white wizard, accidentally stepping on an “ant,” wouldn’t consider it a big deal.
Angel, unlike other wizards Kael had seen, appeared somewhat indifferent, yet he was a wizard with a clear moral line. This was not only evident in dealing with Marsha and her son’s issue but was also apparent when he let Mia go.
Though Black Count claimed that by giving Mia a defensive spell and letting her go, Angel was harming her, this was merely speculation. At least from his actions, everything Angel did was within his moral boundaries, even giving ordinary people a chance to live. Whether they could seize that opportunity depended on their choice.
“He’s quite special, isn’t he?” At that moment, Daus’ voice appeared in Kael’s mind.
Unbeknownst to him, Daus had already forcefully connected to Kael’s mind.
“Are you talking about the Super Dimensional Wizard?”
Daus: “Of course, weren’t you just thinking about him?”
Kael fell silent for a moment: “Lord Super Dimensional is indeed the most special wizard I’ve met. If it were Lord Red Sword, I guess the two outsiders would have already been beheaded.”
Daus spat: “Don’t think of me as so bloodthirsty; without any vested interest, I wouldn’t waste the energy to kill people. Anyway, why talk about this? Back to the point, what do you think makes him special?”
Kael glanced uncertainly at Daus walking ahead: “Lord, why ask this all of a sudden?”
Or rather, Kael didn’t quite understand why Daus suddenly cared about his opinion of Angel.
Daus pondered for a moment and said: “I might as well tell you, my spiritual perception is usually very accurate, but every time it concerns him, there are slight deviations, which is strange. I have a feeling that he might be the key for me to breakthrough in spiritual perception and turn it into a talent.”
Daus was very observant and detailed, or perhaps all formal wizards were, but in observing and dealing with things, they ultimately couldn’t be omniscient and omnipotent; they could only perceive what they understood.
Daus was asking Kael in order to see, through Kael’s eyes, what kind of person Angel was?
After thinking for a moment, Kael didn’t know quite how to respond and finally just managed to say: “I think Lord Super Dimensional is a wizard with a bottom line.”
“Is that all?” Daus’ disappointment echoed through the mental connection: “I thought after pondering so long you’d have something novel to say, but it turns out to be dull. However, let me tell you, you’re actually wrong. He’s not the good guy you think. His wicked tastes are plentiful, and his mind is twisted. If it weren’t for the Black Count and me here, he’d definitely have led you both to your doom.”
Kael, however, didn’t react much, pondering for a moment before responding: “What I mentioned has its limits, and I’m not just referring to moral boundaries. I believe that Lord Super Dimensional is pursuing his own goals, even though he has reached heights unattainable, the baseline he set initially still governs his actions.”
“Heh, what you’re talking about is ‘staying true to one’s original aspirations’, but how do you know he had set any baselines at the beginning?” After saying this, Daus shook his head and severed the mental connection.
Nevertheless, after breaking the mental connection, Daus muttered to himself in his heart: Is it about original aspirations?
Clearly, Daus wasn’t entirely negating Kael’s perspective; he was just being his argumentative self.
Meanwhile, Angel and the Black Count were aware that Daus and Kael were communicating through the mental connection, but they didn’t eavesdrop, as there was no need. Their knowledge of intelligence wasn’t as extensive as Angel’s, and the conversation was most likely not about ruins. If it was merely casual talk, eavesdropping would seem quite lacking in style.
Of course, if they had come into possession of unknown intelligence, that would be another story.
…
The tunnel following the cellar wasn’t too narrow and bore obvious signs of human activity, with Angel sensing some extraordinary materials within the rock layers, likely the reason the passage had remained stable over the years.
About ten seconds of slow walking later, the passage began to slope downwards significantly.
“Is this the ancient underground aqueduct? It’s quite well-built,” Daus’ voice came from behind.
Angel didn’t reply, instead saying directly: “This isn’t the aqueduct yet. The underground aqueducts have very clear drainage markers; this seems to be just a path to an underground structure built by the residents who once lived in the house above.”
“So, there’s no way to reach the underground aqueducts from here?” Kael asked.
Angel replied: “I don’t know. If the person who built this underground structure had ulterior motives and secretly connected it to the underground aqueducts, it’s not impossible.”
The underground aqueducts of Nightfall City, though sounding like they were just for drainage, actually served just the basic function on the surface. The intricate spaces and labyrinths were filled with various adventures and legends even back in their days.
Moreover, official agencies were also active within these aqueducts.
So, the possibility of someone secretly connecting to the aqueducts wasn’t out of the question.
“Let’s hope they had ulterior motives then,” Daus said.
Suddenly, Angel stopped and turned to Daus: “That being said, before it became ruins, there were many entrances to the underground aqueducts, and most of them weren’t restricted. So, it wasn’t difficult to enter the aqueducts back then. Under these circumstances, if someone still had the ulterior motive to secretly connect to the aqueducts, what do you think their purpose would be?”
Daus shrugged: “How would I know? If it’s as you say, they’re definitely not up to any good. Maybe just like Kael mentioned before, they are the villains of the Garden Labyrinth.”
Kael: “Just now… you clearly contradicted me.”
Daus: “What I’m disputing is the presence of underground structures everywhere. Which of your ears heard me disputing the identity of the master here?”
Kael: “Isn’t what you’re expressing essentially a complete dispute?”
Kael fell silent, but he seemed to have gained some clarity about Daus. This guy appeared to have an innate temperament of “disputing for the sake of disputing.” However, this attitude was mostly directed at apprentices like themselves, at least according to what Angel and others said, Daus rarely disputed.
“The villain of the Garden Labyrinth, that’s too vague. What do you think a villain would do?” Angel continued watching Daus.
Daus: “What villains can do are just those few things: either overthrow the ruler, rob, or simply indulge in killing. As long as the ruler is displeased, they are happy.”
“Right, you just said there are also official organizations in the underground sewers, including prisons. If there really are ulterior motives, it might be targeting these places. Either attack the official organizations or go for a jailbreak.”
Angel pondered for a couple of seconds and nodded: “I understand now.”
Daus was startled: “What do you mean you understand now? Are you using me as a prophecy wizard again? I’m telling you, I haven’t activated my spiritual perception, and I am not a prophecy wizard!”
Angel looked at Daus with puzzlement: “You think too much, I was just casually brushing you off, and you can infer so much from that. Do you always enjoy such wild imaginations?”
Daus: “…It was clearly you who asked me.”
Angel: “I’m just considering everyone’s opinions. Before this, I had also consulted with Lord Black Count.”
The Black Count snorted coldly and didn’t object, which meant he tacitly agreed.
Angel and the Black Count’s mental connection hadn’t broken, but they hadn’t seen the underground structures, so there was nothing to discuss.
However, Daus, because of his spiritual perception, might have more to talk about. Perhaps his subconscious responses were the correct answers.
After Angel said this, Daus felt he might have overreacted… still, he had a feeling that Angel was indeed treating him as a prophecy wizard.
Although he didn’t dislike prophecy wizards, being treated as one was an insult as an unparalleled combat bloodline branch wizard.
“No problem, let’s continue moving forward.” Angel: “There’s light ahead now, we must be close to our destination.”
Naturally, everyone agreed and followed along.
As they went deeper into the passage, more traces of people were visible, though they were all left by those who came later, like the candles on both sides of the corridor, surely lit by the members of the Hero Squad.
The ground was free of dust, and there was no magic formation to clean it, likely cleaned by the logistics of the Hero Squad.
Judging from these details, the Hero Squad is quite an adventurous group that knows how to plan and survive.
Soon, the downward passage reached the bottom.
“We must be about a hundred meters deep now,” Daus said.
“About that, but this height is still at the superficial layer for the labyrinth of the sewer system; we haven’t reached the deeper areas yet,” Angel replied.
As they spoke, a small figure ran towards them from ahead.
Running while talking, the voice was high-pitched, clearly indicating that the newcomer was young.
“Colo, Colo! Have you come back? My dad made a cake, come quickly…”
The words stopped midway because the newcomer had seen Angel and the others in the passage.
It wasn’t Colo she was waiting for, but a group of strange men.