.10 – How did you provoke them?

translator: xiin

editors: alamerysl & Macabre

Ivan would arrive in the Capital in two days. Xue Ling felt that it was about time to get things started.

There was no point in punishing Kent or Ivan alone. Xue Ling wanted this couple to understand that the world did not revolve around them, and nobody was obligated to sacrifice themselves for them the way a mother would. For the domineering, ’the whole world revolves around me’ Holy Saint to be so anxious to have the entire world devote themselves to him, it was not only ridiculous, but also pathetic.

Xue Ling seldom made a plan that could involve two of the protagonists and simultaneously have the couple, who seemed to be unyielding and fearless in the face of any external powers, truly consider and test their own relationship.

The unsophisticated Ivan that Xi had cared for in the original story would sacrifice himself when Kent suspected him and step into Kent’s sword. But now, when he would get that much closer to death every time he sacrificed himself a little? What would Ivan, who was gradually beginning to doubt his outlook on life, and no longer believed in generating power with love, think when Kent no longer trusted him, questioned him, and aimed a sword at him?

Xue Ling thought of the confrontation between the couple and felt that it would be very interesting to watch. So he sent a letter to the palace, indicating that they planned to rob the palace that that night.

There were all kinds of rumors about the strange robbers. Some people said that they were a group. Otherwise, they would be unable to take so much gold and treasure away from the nobles’ homes. But because they took everything away so quickly, and it was simply not enough time for a large group of people to simultaneously enter and leave a place, many people rejected this speculation. Later, it was suggested that the robber must be a spatial mage who had their own space and could clear out a treasure room whenever they wanted. This speculation was the one that was accepted by most people, even if they couldn’t figure out why a mage with that kind of power would do such a thing or what his real motive was.

But once matters began to involve a struggle between mages and the nobility, it became even more interesting and popular to the common people. In any case, they hadn’t lost any of their possessions, and watching the high and mighty nobility get their faces slapped one by one made them feel really great. Many of the common folk were fans of this kind of thief. Of course, there were also some who regretted that the thieves weren’t following the model of robbing the rich to help the poor; otherwise they might even be able to obtain a little more money.

As the nominal thief, Xue Ling wanted to express: ’Wanting to get something for nothing? Ha-ha."

Xue Ling did not have a magical space, nor did he have spatial magic. What he relied on was the large external plug-in, Xi. Any demands that Xue Ling made were always satisfied by Xi; as long as Xue Ling was willing to stay by his side, Xi was completely willing to do things that would tarnish his reputation as a god, which made everything proceed very smoothly.

He did not appear to be a good man, nor did he have the conscientiousness to persuade Xue Ling to be kind. In fact, the idea of emptying the nobles’ treasure rooms was an idea that he had come up with. His reasoning had been that only taking away the Ink Flame Wolf furs would have made things too obvious.

The two of them worked hand in glove with each other, and gained the nominal title of ’thieves’.

Speaking of the people in the palace - ever since someone discovered the letter, written on fine stationery, that was amidst a pile of official documents, the matter had already been reported to the Queen. The Queen was in a meeting at the time, but when she learned of the matter, she was furious and scolded the people whom she had previously ordered to investigate the thieves.

Later, His Highness the Crown Prince who had already maintained a several day long cold war with the Queen opened his mouth and asked to be in charge of the guards in the palace that night.

Kent was not the most powerful man in the palace, but he was surrounded by many people, and he was recognized as the legitimate heir of the country by the kingdom’s mage division. With him there, the most powerful mage, Supreme Mage Murphy, would also be willing to show up. The Queen weighed the pros and cons, and ultimately agreed to the Crown Prince’s request.

She was aware that as long as the Prince was able to settle this matter, he would then have the capital to contend against her for power, but this matter was too strange, and the Queen would not feel reassured if she handed it over to anyone else and deprived the palace of Murphy’s protection. She had no other choice, and could only choose to believe in the Prince.

If the Crown Prince was unable to solve the problem, or Murphy was unable to deal with the thieves...

The Queen directly discounted this possibility. Murphy was the strongest person in the Capital. If even she couldn’t deal with it, then that thief would be able to run wild across the world, and they would have no way to catch them at all. The Queen did not want to consider this worst possible outcome.

During the day, Kent gathered a large number of people to closely guard the palace. He even obtained a decree from the Queen and directly laid down an order that there would be a curfew that night. No one was allowed to appear on the street, and if they were caught, the palace would treat them as thieves.

His tactics were so vicious that many people became afraid after reading the decree.

After sending the letter to the palace, Xue Ling sent people to spread the news that there would be thieves entering the palace that night, so many people learned of the matter even before the Queen did. They had originally planned to watch the palace when night fell, but hadn’t expected that His Highness would use such ruthless means. Now, they could only choose to sit and wait for news from their homes.

The crowd was unhappy, but Xue Ling hadn’t had any high expectations of those people from the start, so he wasn’t concerned at all. When the time came, he pulled Xi with him and prepared to make his move.

The things they ’took’ were very arbitrary. They weren’t afraid to enter regardless of how tight security was around the treasury, because Xi had always teleported them directly inside.

Kent didn’t seem to be aware of their methods, and most of his people were stationed on the perimeter. Because his thinking was inflexible, there were only a few people stationed inside the treasury, but the situation was already much better than it had been for those unlucky nobles who had been robbed before. Most people would refrain from putting patrols inside their treasure rooms, but, Kent had chosen to leave his biggest weapon, the Supreme Mage Murphy, inside the vault.

Murphy’s spiritual awareness could cover the entire Capital. Kent felt very confident and reassured with her sitting in the center.

The moment Xue Ling and Xi entered the treasury, they discovered Murphy, and Murphy also noticed them. Xi’s finger moved slightly, and a dimensional rift immediately appeared. Xue Ling did not like to have people interfering when he was busily stealing things, so Xi had subconsciously taken action.

He would not help Xue Ling fight. This was Xue Ling’s enemy, and all he needed to do tonight was to help him come and go. The rest of the time, it was enough for him to simply remain a quiet bystander.

“Two people?” Murphy was a beautiful young woman, her skin white, and her personality like snow. Her long blonde hair was tied behind her, and she wore a pale golden robe. She seemed cut from the same mould as Xi simply based on the way they dressed. She had a beautiful face, and her lips were pressed together like a queen walking out of the snow and ice, but in fact she was quite old. It was because she was powerful that she could maintain her good looks. "I’m rather surprised."

“Supreme Mage?” Xue Ling knew that there was a patron saint in the royal family. It was said that she was once a princess of the royal family, but because of her high strength, she outlived her peers and had been protecting the royal family ever since. The heir to the throne in each generation had to be approved by her. Her position was very high, but Kent had still managed to influence her to take action - it seemed that he was really favoured by the royal family, and the position of Crown Prince would not undergo any major changes. "The Crown Prince is really flattering me. He even invited the Supreme Mage to hold down the fort."

“You are showing contempt for nobility, robbing them of their finances, offending the royal family and invading the royal palace. Any single one of these crimes is enough to sentence you to death without your body left intact." Murphy’s red lips opened and closed as she immediately determined Xue Ling’s crimes. Her voice was flat, and although she couldn’t see through the two people in front of her, her momentum did not diminish in the slightest.

She looked calm and unruffled, but Murphy had already set up her moves. As long as Xi or Xue Ling made any sudden actions, she would be able to react immediately. Not underestimating her opponents was an excellent habit she had developed over the years.

Xue Ling squinted, and finally found himself a little interested. His strength had rising rapidly, but Xi had been the one making the moves along the way and he’d not had much opportunity to practice. The level above ’supreme’ ranking in the human world was to obtain godhood, and was very similar to the demi-god status he currently had. Xue Ling was interested in having a proper fight with this supreme mage; he was a close combat fighter, but the opposite party was a long distance attacker. If he wanted to make a move, he would need to...

“Xi, help me find those clothes. Everything else in this place can be destroyed, but the things that I want definitely can’t be." He curved his lips as he spoke to Xi.

Xi nodded, and in the next second, Xue Ling had already launched himself over. As a wolf, he was very quick, and in the moment he was airborne, his hands had already transformed into sharp claws as red and black flame shot out from his outstretched paws, aiming straight at Murphy.

Murphy had already laid a ward around herself. The ward protected against fire, but the flames still managed burn through. The numerous magical arrays that she had laid out under her feet early on began to activate one after another as countless flashes of light shot out at high speeds toward Xue Ling.

The melting ward made Murphy freeze for a moment, and Xue Ling seized the opportunity to escape from the lights. He hid quickly, but his approach had already been disturbed by the attacks. Xue Ling frowned as his footsteps shifted; he jumped up into the sky. The countless arrays under his feet began to melt as scattered tongues of flame landed on them and began to burn.

This was a back and forth battle between a close combat fighter and a long distance attacker; Xue Ling ceaselessly attempted to approach while Murphy continuously pulled away. It was difficult to say who was the stronger between the two, and during the course of the battle, the entire treasury was practically destroyed by their fight.

Xi had already done as Xue Ling asked, and collected the clothing made from his parents’ fur for him, then also selected some items that he could barely consider worthwhile. Balls of light and fire endlessly landed near his body from the battle close by, but all of them dropped uselessly onto the ground after running into the ward he had set up around himself before dissolving into little depressions on the floor.

Outside the wards, some people had already discovered the abnormality in the treasury. They tried to enter, but found that the area had been covered by wards, and began to constantly launch attacks in an attempt to break in. Xi glanced outside, and then casually allowed one of them in.

Then, he disappeared from view and continued to watch the excitement.

The person he had let in was Kent. Before they had come here today, Xue Ling had told him that he must see Kent tonight, so Xi took advantage of the opportunity and simply let him in.

Kent had been attempting to force the wards open, but unexpectedly he was able to step in right away. He magically crossed through the treasury doors and directly entered the wards, but the first thing he saw when he arrived was Xue Ling and Murphy’s continuing battle and the ruined treasury.

“Your Highness Murphy!” Kent drew his sword and rushed forward to help Murphy deal with Xue Ling.

It was ridiculous for a weak person to rashly rush into a battle between two powerful masters. Murphy’s pace was immediately disrupted as she hurriedly took back her attacks, and instantly fell into a defensive position.

She knew that the wards had been set up by the other party, but she was unclear as to why the two people had allowed Kent inside. As her momentum became disorderly, her thoughts also fell into chaos; her movements slowed down a little, and Xue Ling took the opportunity to intensify his attacks until Murphy fell back two steps and threw up a mouthful of blood.

On the other hand, Kent was still happily rushing ahead and calling out Murphy’s name, but when he met with Xue Ling’s harsh gaze, he was stunned in place.

Time stood still. Xue Ling had stopped his attacks after making Murphy throw up blood, and the three of them formed a triangle as they faced off against each other. Xue Ling looked impassively at Kent, and Kent finally recovered from his surprise. “It’s you...” He muttered in a low voice, then suddenly rushed to Murphy’s side, and reached out to support her, “I’m sorry, Your Highness, I was reckless.”

Murphy shook her head. Although she was injured, the other party had not inflicted any serious injury. Xue Ling could have struck her down, but it was clear that he had controlled his strength and stopped after she threw up that mouthful of blood.

“You know this person?” Murphy was more concerned about Kent’s words than her body. “This person is powerful, and there is a mysterious person behind him. How did you provoke them?”

At first, Murphy had thought that they were coming for the national treasures and gold in the treasury, but these two people did not seem to have the intention to wantonly rob and steal. They did not seem to salivate over these things at all, and were completely unconcerned about them while they fought. It was obvious from a glance that they were not really here for the sake of treasure. Since it wasn’t for treasure, it must be for revenge.

And if Kent knew them, then it was probably because of Kent’s involvement that this had occurred.

When the discussion turned to the topic of Xue Ling having been provoked, Kent’s expression turned odd.

Xue Ling sneered at the other with a gaze full of irony. He wanted to see what kind of words would come out of Kent’s mouth.