Chapter 2721 Meeting <TOC> Chapter 2723 Evil Dragon Arena
Translator: SumTLMan
Daus was momentarily taken aback; scratching his temple he muttered under his breath: “Did I ever write something like that? I don’t remember at all.”
Gray Merchant chuckled: “I remember the magazine was —Light of the Southern Region—, the third-to-last issue before the journal was suspended.”
When Daus heard Gray Merchant mention —Light of the Southern Region—, he suddenly understood: “Oh, I remember now!”
Daus turned his head to Vai: “Wasn’t this the masterpiece I wrote in Lorenbeil after we learned about the Nagil incident?”
Vai looked at Daus with distaste: “…If you want to talk about yourself, just do it; don’t drag me into it. All I know is that you got very excited when you heard about Nagil. I had no idea you even wrote two lofty essays about it.”
“Besides, that magazine —Light of the Southern Region—, huh.”
Vai did not elaborate on —Light of the Southern Region—, but the disgust in his expression was undisguised, showing just how little he liked that magazine, to the point he disdained even to speak of it.
Although Angel had never heard of —Light of the Southern Region—, he vividly recalled Diavolo once complaining to him about the chaos among publishers in Sky Mechanical City. Diavolo had been responsible for the registration of publishing houses, and according to him, during his tenure new presses applied every day and old ones shut down every day.
The causes of closure were mostly arrogance that offended extraordinary beings. But for the most part it wasn’t true bankruptcy; they merely saved face, then reapplied under a different name. That was why new closures and new applications happened every single day.
To attract attention, the lower and more devoid of real content the publisher, the more sensational a magazine title it would choose, paying no heed at all to whether its own level could bear the weight of that name.
For example, —Panorama of Truth—, —Primordials’ Secrets—, —World Talk—… grandiose names, empty of substance, their actual content nothing but meaningless drivel.
Judging by its name, —Light of the Southern Region— seemed much the same…
Speaking of Diavolo, how had he been lately?
While Angel’s mind wandered, on the other side Daus heard Vai’s scornful tone yet was completely unconcerned, even rather proud: “Thinking back, I feel as if I’ve returned to those blood-boiling days.”
Vai kept up his ridicule: “Blood-boiling? More like pumped full of adrenaline, howling in impotence.”
Gray Merchant said: “The few articles written by the Red Sword Wizard really were stirring.”
Vai stared at Gray Merchant in shock: Daus gloating is bad enough, but you, a Blood Source Wizard whom he flayed alive in those essays, why are you joining the clamor? And why in the world are you flattering Daus? Is this some pre-battle tactic to lower his guard?
Vai glanced at Daus; sure enough, Daus was already looking at Gray Merchant with an approving face, a look of “great minds think alike.”
Vai sighed inwardly. Thank goodness Gray Merchant had miscalculated, Daus would not be the one fighting him later. Otherwise, with Daus floating on such praise, he’d be lucky to perform at eighty percent.
“Hey, what are you flattering him for? Don’t forget they’re the enemy right now.” Shrew floating in mid-air said to Gray Merchant.
At this moment Shrew’s attitude was much more restrained than before; even her tone had become cautious.
Gray Merchant replied: “I’m not flattering; I merely put myself in the Red Sword Wizard’s shoes. Writing those pieces in that era would indeed have been exhilarating.”
Pink Jasmine whispered into the ear of Mammoth: “So Lord Gray Merchant used to have such strong empathy?”
Mammoth chuckled without answering. Shepherd, lazily leaning against the wall, replied instead: “Even now Lord Gray Merchant’s empathy is quite formidable~”
Pink Jasmine still looked unconvinced. Shepherd offered no further explanation, if Gray Merchant lacked empathy, why would a single memory have changed his personality so drastically?
After answering Shrew, Gray Merchant turned back to Daus: “Might the Red Sword Wizard resolve a few of my doubts?”
Hearing Gray Merchant’s inquiry, Daus, who had been wearing a “friends at first sight” expression, abruptly withdrew it: “No.”
“At least you have some brains,” Vai muttered.
Daus rolled his eyes at Vai; Vai had holed up for so many years that his impression of Daus was still from long ago. Was that good or bad? Actually, not bad. Having someone always treat you as if you were still a youth, wasn’t that nice?
The rebuffed Gray Merchant showed no disappointment but continued politely: “That is truly regrettable. In fact we are forced to fight you; I trust you can understand.”
Daus gave no reply, non-specific small talk wasn’t his to answer.
“Enough talk; let’s begin,” said the Black Count. He turned the stone slab around, intending to look at the Sovereign of Wisdom behind him, only to find the Sovereign of Wisdom had vanished. High in the sky, the black-robed figure that had been a phantom of energy was now replaced by his true body, his robe snapping in the light breeze.
The Black Count’s sudden utterance made Gray Merchant’s pupils shrink slightly. Even Shrew floating in mid-air had her pupils narrow into slits at once.
They had been guessing all along what that floating stone slab’s nose was and why it carried such a powerful aura. Now the other party had spoken, and the tone carried an authority entirely different from Daus’.
A vague sense of dread grew in their hearts.
They dimly thought of a rumor.
Surely not, they couldn’t be so unlucky as to run into someone from that family here?
“May I ask, lord…”
Gray Merchant tried to verify the other’s identity, but before he could finish, the Black Count interrupted him: “Don’t waste time. Let’s begin.”
With that, the Black Count raised his eyes to the Sovereign of Wisdom in the air.
The Sovereign of Wisdom, wearing a different “skin,” now looked a bit less youthful but a few degrees more mysterious. He did not respond to the Black Count but instead looked toward Gray Merchant’s side: “If earlier you had accepted my little test and succeeded, the reward I would have given was that you could choose the arena and propose a match rule that did not violate the principle of ‘Fairness’. For instance, you might have proposed that before the match both sides must make a truthful self-introduction, wouldn’t the answer you seek have presented itself?”
“What a pity… you not only refused my test but also failed to find them.” He sighed.
Gray Merchant bowed apologetically: “It is our fault for disappointing you, Lord Adjudicator.”
The Sovereign of Wisdom gazed quietly at Gray Merchant. After several seconds he suddenly laughed aloud: “I was just wondering what she would use to threaten you; I hadn’t expected this trick.”
Daus asked: “What trick?”
The Sovereign of Wisdom glanced at Daus: “Imprisoning the person who knows you best.”
Daus frowned slightly, repeating under his breath: “Imprisoning the person who knows you best”… Not long after, he spoke in a tone of rueful admiration: “Her methods are truly despicable.”
Though many wizards, when shameless, had no bottom line, any wizard with even slightly normal sense would generally avoid implicating the innocent. In Daus’ eyes, this tactic was somewhat base.
However, Daus had clearly misunderstood the Sovereign of Wisdom’s intention.
On the other side, as the party involved, the Gray Merchant understood that although the black-robed adjudicator had not stated it outright, he had certainly seen through his situation.
The Gray Merchant showed little reaction; after all, the adjudicator was probably in league with the Mirror Dweller, so it was perfectly natural that he knew that person’s methods.
The Gray Merchant did not care, but Pink Jasmine, who always loved to raise a torrent of questions, narrowed her eyes and said: “Is an adjudicator not supposed to be just? Why must you answer simply because they are the ones asking?”
The Sovereign of Wisdom: “I had intended to reveal far more, but after hearing you say that, I suddenly have no wish to reveal anything.”
The Sovereign of Wisdom had, of course, seen through the Gray Merchant’s condition. He had observed the Gray Merchant before and knew him to be a cold-blooded, ruthless man who had nothing in common with the mild and cultured figure he was now. For such a drastic change to pass unquestioned by the Gray Merchant’s subordinates, while they still retained his strength, there could be but one method at that other fellow’s disposal: sealing the most crucial memories of the past inside a mirror.
As for how to break the seal, only the Goddess had been able to achieve it before. Yet the Sovereign of Wisdom had personally watched Angel take the Wood Spirit’s avatar out of that oil painting; if Angel could also unravel the secret of the mirror space, perhaps he could retrieve the Gray Merchant’s memories from that mirror.
For this reason, the Gray Merchant had rarely answered Daus’ earlier question, only for Pink Jasmine to interrupt once again.
Once would have been fine, but twice in a row, even though the Sovereign of Wisdom felt it no great matter, he no longer wished to help them plead for “special consideration.”
Moreover, telling them outright would bring the Sovereign of Wisdom no benefit and would only set the Goddess further against him.
Although the Sovereign of Wisdom had joined forces with Angel and the others this time in order to test the Goddess, he did not intend to drive matters to the point of drawn blades. Angel and his companions could pat their backsides and leave when all was done, but he could not depart; he still had to face the Goddess.
Should another unavoidable calamity such as a void storm arise that damaged the magic formation, he would still have to thicken his face and go to the Goddess for aid.
Thus, spar without division, contend without attachment, everyone still had to keep up appearances.
Elsewhere, when Pink Jasmine heard the Sovereign of Wisdom suddenly say this, her heart lurched. Had she… had she spoken wrong again?
Both Shrew and the Gray Merchant were already looking at Pink Jasmine with unreadable eyes, making her all the more flustered.
Just as Pink Jasmine stood at a loss, the Sovereign of Wisdom spoke: “However, you are also right. For the sake of fairness, I will allow you to ask me one question as well. And, to show fairness, my answer shall be given in the same manner as before.”
With this remark, the Sovereign of Wisdom had helped Pink Jasmine out of her predicament.
Shrew withdrew her gaze, and the Gray Merchant cast Pink Jasmine a comforting look.
Pink Jasmine had, after all, earned them a certain merit by wresting a chance to inquire. Although the adjudicator had already made clear that his answer would be delivered in the same way he had answered Red Sword Daus, meaning he would give no explicit reply, only a direction, questions such as the opponent’s identity were unlikely to be answered.
Even so, there was one question the Gray Merchant was truly curious about. He had long wanted to ask but had never known how; now the chance had come.
“Lord Adjudicator, I would like to know, during the earlier little test, where were they hiding?”
The Sovereign of Wisdom chuckled softly and delivered an answer that was no answer: “Did I not just remind you?”
Beneath the mask, the Gray Merchant frowned: “Remind us of what?”
The Sovereign of Wisdom gave no further answer. Instead, he raised an index finger and made a “shh” gesture, not to silence the Gray Merchant, but to tell him that the answer had already been given. Asking further would violate the principle of fairness.
The Gray Merchant understood the Sovereign of Wisdom’s meaning, yet still failed to comprehend the truth. What was it?
“Previously, did not Lord Adjudicator say that Pink Jasmine might have the chance to find them? Could that be the hint?” Shepherd ventured.
The Gray Merchant glanced back at Pink Jasmine and, recalling the traces of illusion left at the scene when they had broken through the encirclement of the mutant carrion squirrels, felt a vague conjecture arise in his heart.
“Was it… an illusion?” The Gray Merchant voiced the guess, albeit with little confidence. If it truly were an illusion, there ought to have been illusion nodes and energy traces, yet their exhaustive search had found not a hint.
Could such a perfectly hidden illusion really exist?
The Sovereign of Wisdom laughed lightly once more and still did not answer the Gray Merchant. Instead he said: “Let us set that aside for the moment. If we continue, someone will grow impatient.”
The “someone impatient” of whom the Sovereign of Wisdom spoke was, the Gray Merchant and the others believed, the nose on the opposite stone slab; in reality… it was the one watching them through the mirror.
“Before the official competition begins, I shall first state the rules.”
The Sovereign of Wisdom repeated the rules he had given before: apprentices fight apprentices, wizards fight wizards; the victor may at any time substitute another teammate, leave the field to rest, and, once recovered, return to fight again… and so forth.
Except for the requirement to fight opponents of the same realm, there were no other restrictions.
This meant the contest measured not only strength but also each side’s methods and hidden cards.
In the Sovereign of Wisdom’s view, it would have been best to add a few limits to prevent a one-sided massacre, but… the Goddess would not agree; she wanted to see through Angel and company’s hole cards, and with restrictions, how could she see them?
These rules were, in fact, already known to the Gray Merchant and his fellows. They had great confidence in their own combat power, methods, and trump cards, especially after noting that the other side included a wandering wizard like Red Sword Daus.
Only the nose on the stone slab made them uneasy… If it truly belonged to that family, their trump cards might prove useless.
Still, surely they wouldn’t be that unlucky?
Surely.
After listing the rules, the Sovereign of Wisdom added one more line: “Although life and death are not forbidden, I still hope you will show restraint wherever possible.”
The remark seemed a fair balancing of scales, yet was in fact meant for Angel and his people.
For, when it came to hole cards, the Sovereign of Wisdom had no confidence at all in the Gray Merchant’s party.
Remember, on Angel’s side there were, besides three wizard level combatants, a wind elemental creature whose strength neared that of a formal wizard, and… a Panic World demon whose power was close to true knowledge level.
“All right, that is enough,” the Sovereign of Wisdom paused: “Now, make your choice: shall the apprentices begin, or shall the wizards begin?”
He thought for a moment and turned his gaze to the Gray Merchant. For fairness, and to ease the mind of the one in the dark, he decided to let the Gray Merchant choose.
Facing the Sovereign of Wisdom’s inquiry, the Gray Merchant thought a moment, then politely extended a hand toward the opposite side: “This decision does not affect the outcome; let them decide.”
Had the Gray Merchant’s memories not been sealed, he would already have given an answer. Yet with his restored temperament, he was exceedingly courteous and self-effacing… though it was all just for show.
The Sovereign of Wisdom sighed inwardly and looked to Angel: “And your opinion?”
Angel: “The wizards will fight first.”