Chapter 61: Cutting the Weed at the Root
Arthur watched the entire time as Niren exacted his revenge, constantly anticipating a possible hidden trick from Rience.
But until Rience drew his final breath, the sorcerer couldn't mount any meaningful counterattack. No, to be precise, the man maintained a shocked expression throughout, his mouth gaping open as he gasped for air.
Killing a pig for the New Year feast would have been harder.
"Hoo, hoo… Thank you."
After a long moment, Niren finally let go of the now-motionless Rience. Exhausted, he collapsed onto the ground, unable to stand.
Arthur thoughtfully handed Niren a flask of ale: "Don't mention it. By killing him, you've done me a favor as well."
Initially, Arthur had hoped to capture Rience alive to interrogate him for information about the sorcerer operating behind the scenes. However, seeing Rience put a Luminos spell right over his head like an idiot, Arthur abandoned the idea:
This guy was nothing more than a self-important pawn who had been discarded. Any sorcerer with an ounce of sense wouldn't have entrusted Rience with any vital information. Hoping to get anything out of his mouth would be less productive than questioning his corpse.
Arthur crouched a few meters away. After motioning for Niren to move back slightly, he extended a translucent, magical tentacle and began to search Rience's body.
Rience was a man of medium build. Brushing aside his ugly, twisted black hair revealed a peculiar mark on his forehead. Although Arthur didn't know the meaning of the mark, since Rience had kept it covered, it was likely not something to boast about.
Arthur pulled out paper and a quill and meticulously sketched the mark, intending to ask Triss about it later.
Besides the mark, Rience provided Arthur with a huge surprise in the scumbag's pouch, Arthur found a small communication device.
"Ha, got you!" Arthur excitedly whispered.
The casing of the communicator was also crudely made, which immediately reminded him of the findings at Vizima Castle.
Disassembling such delicate magical instruments was Triss's specialty, but Arthur had another way to confirm his suspicions. He cast a sturdy protective shield around himself and cautiously fed a thread of mana into the communicator.
He calculated that this minimal magic was insufficient to establish communication outside of Temeria. Even if the recipient was within the kingdom, the connection would only last a few seconds.
In other words, he was making a harassment call to Rience's master.
"…"
The communicator remained silent. A subtle magical fluctuation spread out, indicating that communication had been established. However, the forest was pitch black, so even if an image was being transmitted, nothing could be seen.
A few seconds later, the magic within the communicator was depleted, and the magical fluctuation dissipated.
During this brief communication, neither side made a sound. But Arthur had gathered significant information:
First, Rience's master was currently located within Temeria.
Second, this individual was highly likely the mastermind behind the Princess's curse the magical signature of the communicator's fluctuation was very similar to the one discovered at Vizima Castle.
This made things interesting. Roche would certainly be very interested in this lead.
Arthur once again extended the magical tentacle, intending to collect the communicator and hand it over to Triss for analysis.
But just as the tentacle reached out, the communicator suddenly stirred again:
"Rience, what's going on over there?"
"Rience, what's going on over there?"
"Rience, what's going on over there?"
Arthur's hair stood on end. He quickly pulled the bewildered Niren back.
A few seconds later, the communicator exploded with a pop, shattering into pieces.
"What was that?!" Niren looked utterly confused by the small flash of light from the exploding device.
The blast wasn't that powerful, so why is the Master, who wasn't afraid of a werewolf, running so fast?
Arthur gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "That is a trap used only by the most shameless, most despicable, and most vile people!"
The timing of the communicator's explosion was devastating most people, upon hearing that frantic and distorted voice, would assume it contained vital information and press their ear close to listen.
Although the explosive power was small, it was more than enough to blow off a head held right next to it.
Damn it! If I hadn't spent a few minutes reading news summaries every day before I crossed over, I might have fallen for that one!
Niren didn't understand why Arthur was reacting so strongly but tried to console him: "We're fine, aren't we? From now on…"
Arthur completely missed the rest of Niren's words. Since the moment the communicator exploded, his mind had been buzzing.
He finally realized a cruel truth:
From this moment on, he had a mortal enemy in this world one whose contest would be decided by supremacy and death! The speed at which his 'Golden Finger' abilities manifested needed to be accelerated!
"Who else knows about you being a werewolf, besides Rience and the Village Chief?" Arthur asked. "Where is the Village Chief's house?"
His darkness vision clearly showed the horror in Niren's eyes: "You're going to kill the Village Chief?"
Arthur did not deny it: "He knows everything about your attacks on the tax collectors. As long as he lives, you will never be safe."
Niren bowed his head in thought for a moment, then raised a hand and pointed towards the sleeping village in the night: "It's the biggest, prettiest house in the middle of the village."
Arthur patted the leaves off his trousers: "Then we'll part ways here. You can take the money I found on Rience, but it would be best to filter it through a black market before you use it. I imagine you don't want to stay here much longer."
Niren nodded: "After three consecutive years without tax revenue collected in the village, the contractor's anger will be immense. I don't want to stay here and tempt fate."
Arthur nodded. The hunter's family was quite sharp; it seemed he wouldn't need to interfere further: "Then I wish you and your sister can start a new life soon."
Niren, however, sighed and painfully clutched his hair: "Could you wait a moment before you go killing? I have a few words that are agonizing to keep inside. It won't delay you for long; I'll be done before Margareta returns."
Arthur hadn't wanted to delay, but looking at the hunter's distressed face, he inexplicably sat back down.
"Actually, Hanna tried to lift the curse on me a year ago. It was another full moon. I had gone into the woods before dark. I have a small den there, which I use for times like that."
A breeze rustled through the leaves, parting the foliage to let a streak of moonlight fall onto Niren's gleaming eyes:
"But that night, I had an unexpected visitor Hanna. She was lying there in my little den, completely unclothed…"
"And no parsley leaves?" Arthur asked.
Niren nodded: "I was terrified. I roared, telling her to leave immediately, but Hanna said she had found a way to break the curse from the ballads of Master Dandelion."
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