Solar Mage

Chapter 51: Ashland Trickster 1

The man in the green suit leads the way, slowly jogging as I keep up with him, by just walking, with Flame Claws deactivated.

I didn't think before that he could be working with the mayor against me. I don't know how information could have traveled that quickly, but he has been acting extremely suspicious. He's been leading us to a part of the city I've never seen before. I haven't seen anyone here other than the three of us since the town square.

I shift my focus from our surroundings to the man in the green suit happily jogging in front of us.

Now that I think about it, Ashland is a border city, a city full of adventurers, so how could everything possibly be shut down just because it's the mayor's birthday? I don't know how this information spread so quickly, but I'm certain of it, this is a trap.

"Where are you taking us? And how much longer will it be before we arrive?"

The man in the green suit doesn't turn around in a coherent manner, calm and logical.

"This servant is taking you to the finest warp gate in our city, your highness. I couldn't dare to possibly make you take the same route as those dirty, low ranking adventurers. But I do apologize for going so slow, I have a bad leg from an illness I contracted when I was a child."

Wow, what a dignified and complete response, he didn't even give me the chance to ask my questions and answered them before they were even spoken. He's a great actor, I would've fallen for his tricks if I were anyone else. But it's too bad for him, that I have the ability to discern lies.

Using the blessing granted by Pyro, my eye glows in an orange light as I stare at the man in the green suit, who had been outlined with a red light ever since he started speaking.

If he is going slow on purpose, that means my ambushers have not yet finished their preparations.

I let out a long sigh.

It's a shame I don't have the time to deal with all these corrupt wardens and the mayor, but I have to get back as soon as possible.

"Your highness? Is there a prob–"

His sentence is abruptly ended, by my fist, as I knock him unconscious.

It's a shame, he was a great actor. I would've loved to see him in a show, but alas, he chose to collide with my enemies. It would've been fun if he was still acting right now, acting unconscious, but he doesn't seem to have any physical training, and I didn't hold that punch back.

I softly lay Rachel down on the ground before walking back to the man in the green suit and crouching down to his body. In one pull, I rip his green suit off and swing it up and down, eleven of my gold coins dropping out, and fifteen more silver coins falling out.

You don't deserve to take my money.

I pick up the eleven gold coins one by one, collecting them in my hands, as well as a single silver coin, leaving the fourteen other silver coins scattered across the ground as I stand up.

Wow... he made fourteen silver coins in a single morning? What a sly scammer. I feel bad for the people that he stole money from.

My flaming head rises one last time, before disappearing into the air.

Now that every warden and corrupt employee of the Ashland Adventurer's Guild knows about my appearance and is out to get me, there's not much of a point in keeping up this disguise. The mask was too flashy and mana-consuming anyway.

"Sagey."

Sagey flies out of my robe's left sleeve and hovers in front of me.

"Store these coins in the inventory and give me another one of those masks."

I say while holding up my right hand full of coins, and pointing at the mask on Rachel's head with my other.

"Yes, Arthur."

The coins in my right hand immediately disappear, while a mask the exact same as Rachel's appears in the same hand a second later.

"Wow, this texture is nice."

I say while admiring the mask.

I am unable to admire it for long as I am forced to slap it onto my face when my Heightened Senses suddenly activate and my instincts warn me of danger.

Someone else is here, likely a conspirator with that naked man on the ground. I want to beat the shit out of him for ruining my moment with this mask, but I'll let it go.

I quickly pick Rachel up and start slowly walking away.

If he is a conspirator of the mayor, he'll probably go away since he came here after I had already deactivated my flaming head.

I continue slowly walking away, concentrating intensely on my ears, waiting for any sudden movements. After silently watching for a few seconds, the unknown figure disappears from the detection of my senses.

Ha, I knew it, these supposed wardens of justice care more about taking money than stopping someone who could have killed someone, while kidnapping another. Because... that's what it would look like to other people.

Come to think of it, I didn't even see a single church in this village. When I return, I'll make sure to take care of these criminals.

I begin tracing my steps, running back to the town square and Adventurer's Guild only using attributeless Body Enhancement and Swift Wind to decrease the air resistance in front of me.

I run into a gap behind two houses before I get into the Town Square, leaning slightly as I peek into the town square, the couples and music gone, the only thing that could be heard being the loud marching of wardens and platoon leaders shouting orders.

"PLATOON 5 AND 6 TO DISTRICT 6! PLATOON 4 TO DISTRICT 3 THROUGH 5! PLATOON 2 AND 3 TO DISTRICT 2 AND PLATOON 1 TO THE ZIDDEN DUNGEON! HEAD OUT!!!"

Wow, there sure are a lot of them. Oh hey, it's that Qule guy or whatever that's shouting all those orders. I guess he really was the captain of the wardens in this city. I thought he was just lying and trying to intimidate me even though he only looked like he had the strength of a B rank. But looking at the quality of all the other wardens, his strength and mana is still the highest. Most of them are D rank and there are even some that are E ranks!

The Imperial Warden Code states that there must always be a warden that's at least a B rank on duty for a Warden Order to function. And if they don't have one, an Imperial Warden from the capital will temporarily act as an overseer for them, taking control of the Warden Order and checking all the files until they get a new one. I guess the mayor is working Qule to the bone, without vacation, so that no Imperial Warden from the capital will arrive and find out about their corruption.

The mayor sure is being risky, it just takes a single anonymous letter to the Imperial Wardens in the capital for them to send an Investigation Platoon.

I set Rachel on the side of the house.

I can easily just take off my mask and walk through that commotion since they don't know what I look like. The problem is, these robes, the captain of the Warden Order in this village has already seen it and probably already engraved it into his memory since he wanted it so badly.

I take out Sagey from my robes.

"Do you perhaps have some kind of clothes that aren't that– aren't artifacts?"

Sagey's eye lights up blue and hovers above my hand.

"SEARCHING... SEARCHING... SEARCHING..."

Wow... it has never done this before. It just goes to show the genius of Luke Wolkan.

"AN ITEM THAT MATCHES YOUR DESCRIPTION HAS BEEN FOUND."

The comfortable and silky Elderwyrm robes on my back disappear as it is replaced by a tight and stuffy, eleven-part suit lined by gold and platinum and medals made of precious gems.

What the hell? Is this the only article of clothing in its inventory that isn't an artifact? Just what kind of event would constitute wearing such a decorated attire?

"THESE ARE THE CLOTHES SIR LUKE WOLKAN WORE AT THE ROYAL CEREMONY OF HUMANS AND DRAGONS EIGHT HUNDRED AND TEN YEARS AGO."

Eight hundred and ten years ago huh? That would make sense since the peace treaty between Humans and Dragons has ended for almost seven hundred years now, I mean technically, the dragons broke it, launching attacks on humans, ever since Luke Wolkan died, but the dragon king only made an official declaration of the destruction of the treaty a century later. But this is too much.

I rip off every medal and article of the clothing and throw it on the floor until it was just the shirt, pants, and coat left right in front of Sagey, as he stares in silence.

"Alright, put everything on the floor into the inventory."

Sagey stays silent for a second, the blue light in his eye flickers for a second before the clothes enter its inventory, disappearing in a blue light.

"Yes... Arthur."

I look around myself, checking every part of the clothes.

"It's still too fancy."

I rip off the sleeves of the coat and half of the sleeves on my right leg, rubbing dirt over the rest of my body.

"Alright, that should be believable enough. Thank you Sagey."

Did I just thank a brainless object?

Sagey flies back into my dirty clothes before I feel it stop moving.

Why do I feel like it was mad and throwing a tantrum?

I look back at Rachel who is still laying asleep.

Hmm, but what do I do with her? It will seem suspicious if I carry an unconscious girl with me when the village is in turmoil. Should I just put her in the inventory? No, it's too large of a risk to try that, if it fails, she could die. I have never tried putting a living thing inside before. I could ask Sagey, but I will admit– I am a little bit scared of it right now, it seems like it's mad at me for whatever reason. Wait– I've just thought of a great idea!!

I walk out from the alley, heading straight in the direction of the captain of the wardens, though also looking like I was heading in the direction of the adventurer's guild, with Rachel on my back.

A Warden looking like a platoon leader begins to approach me, his hand on his sword's pummel.

No, I don't want you! I need to speak with your leader, not you!

I suddenly trip on a hole in the ground, and fall, bumping into Qule.

I drop pathetically to the ground, letting go of Rachel. Pushing myself up, I reveal my clothes and body covered in dirt as I quickly scurry to get to Rachel.

"Rachel, no!!"

As I try to get to Rachel, a sword is aimed next to my throat.

"Who are you boy, answer me truthfully, before I end your life."

Says Qule in a stern and serious voice.

Haha, yes– you've taken the bait!!