Throne of Magical Arcana

859 A Tour in the Inquisition

Thick, dark-yellow carpet, crystal light hanging up in the ceiling, fine statues, vivid wall paintings and relief sculptures, and the bright and warm atmosphere made the small, black building look like a nobleman’s private property instead of a notorious “hell”.

That was the first impression that the Inquisition gave to Fernando and Douglas. The gatekeeper led them through the tree-shaded path and now they had come to the most horrible place known to every sorcerer.

In the main hall stood Fernando, Douglas, and the gatekeeper. Although they did not see anyone else, their sharp instincts were telling them that a few night watchers were hiding in the darkness. Fernando and Douglas believed that those who were hiding were the first set of vigilance of the Inquisition.

The gatekeeper was slightly panicking. Walking, he said to them with annoyance, “I doubt your devoutness. You should’ve reported this right away. If this causes big trouble, you two will be sent to the gallows!”

After taking a short pause, his tone softened slightly as he said, “But if things go well, you’ll be rewarded generously.”

“Yes, yes, sir...” Douglas hurriedly nodded, pretending to be rather obedient. Fernando remained silent with his head low. He looked afraid.

The gatekeeper’s words made the hiding night watchers stay where they were. They only scanned Fernando and Douglas using their intuition or spiritual power fields. But the two were well-prepared in advance. The night watchers could find nothing.

Of course, Douglas and Fernando were not acting as ordinary people since magic waves were hard to hide among the divine circles. What they were playing were two low-rank sorcerers who were selling out their friends. Half true and half fake as their roles were, they could well hide without catching unnecessary attention. After the fall of Antiffler, such betrayals were more than common.

Therefore, the night watchers hiding were just being curious, wondering what kind of important information the two had, but they were not qualified to know.

Walking through the main hall, there was an east-west corridor, along both sides there were many rooms. Some doors were open, some closed.

Through the half-opened doors, Fernando saw many common clerics doing paperwork. Most of them were not even priests.

He finally exchanged a look with Douglas, and they had understood each other through their slightly relaxed facial expressions. Although the Inquisition was still sticking to all the regulations and was equipped with layers of guards and alerts like an unbreakable fortress, this place was still run by human beings, and human beings could get careless and lazy.

The gatekeeper suddenly stopped halfway. He turned to the side and opened one of the doors. The room behind the door had no decoration and the floor was bare. In the middle of the room, there were stairs leading to the underground basement.

At the end of the stairs, there was a gray stone gate that was engraved with simple but meaningful divine symbols, representing ten different crowns that connected to each other.

The great power coming out from the gate made both Fernando and Douglas slightly squint their eyes. The gate was the direct display of the defense circle in the Inquisition, and its power was almost equal to that of a level nine red robe. At this time, the Church was so powerful that only a legendary could become a Grand Cardinal.

Fernando knew that the symbol of the ten crowns was called “Tree of Blessing”.

The gatekeeper gently knocked on the fourth crown while following a special pace. Soon, an indifferent voice asked, “Who? What for?”

“Team no. 2. The ‘Hand of Dusk’, today’s gatekeeper. We have two low-rank sorcerers here for some very important information. I’m afraid they will hide something or lie, so I believe it’s better to have our team leader investigate them,” said the gatekeeper clearly, and his eyes looked sharp and sober. However, if taken a closer look, there was this very indistinct dilation in his pupils.

In most cases, a gatekeeper was only responsible for reporting this to the team leader, who would be the one deciding where and when to investigate the sorcerers. But the gatekeeper’s request was also reasonable. After all, some special divine circles capable of identifying lies were only available in the interrogation room. Also, it was not the first time something like this happened. The night watchers had lowered their alert and decided to ignore some of the detailed rules set up by their predecessors because of the successive victories they enjoyed.

The night watcher guarding this stone gate did not respond immediately, as he was checking them using the core of the divine circle. About thirty minutes later, he said in the cold tone, “Come in.”

The ten divine crowns lit up, and the gate slowly opened.

Douglas was a bit relieved. Although they did have a plan B, which was to mentally control the team leader if he decided to come to the gate to check them himself, this was not ideal as the magic waves would be hard to hide. Once they entered, the situation would be different. As there were many sorcerers in the underground room, their magic spells would not be easily identified.

Behind the gate, there was an endless corridor. In the darkness, there were also night watchers hiding.

Along the winding corridor, there were two lines of candlesticks, but the light came from the divine power.

However, the divine light made the dark and gloomy corridor even more unpleasant by comparison.

Through the corridor, it suddenly became noisy. Many who were wearing black gloves were walking through the spacious hall. Some were wearing red gloves, as they were interrogators, whereas some were wearing big gray cloaks, and these were the executioners.

At the end of the main hall, there were many corridors. Douglas and Fernando could feel the magic or divine power waves. Obviously, some interrogations were going on, or it might be because some of them were practicing.

They did not draw much attention from those people, as they were led by a night watcher, and they had passed the many security checks already.

The gatekeeper led them to one of the corridors and then knocked on a door drawn with a black skull.

“Come in,” said the solemn voice.

Pushing the gate, Fernando saw a middle-aged man whose face was as thin and narrow as a serpent.

“Who are they?” asked the night watcher team leader with a bit of annoyance.

The gatekeeper closed the door first and then repeated the reason.

“Don’t be so reckless next time. Basic interrogation must be done first above the ground,” said the leader, whose tone wasn’t very strict.

He then looked at Douglas and Fernando before asking, “You know where Dark Storm is? And the headquarters of the Union of Sorcerers?”

His eyes now looked watery, and the divine light on the wall started flowing. As Fernando and Douglas had expected, he was using the power of the special divine circle to find the answer.

The night watcher leader was confident even though he was only a level-five grand knight. With the help of this divine circle, even a senior-rank sorcerer would be affected by this power if he was not prepared, so these two low-rank sorcerers would have no chance to resist at all.

Suddenly, Fernando saw a pair of dark eyes, in which there were countless tiny light spots like charming stars.

The team leader suddenly sprang up from his seat and said out loud, “You two do know it!”

The weak magic waves were so hard to notice when the entire space was filled with the flowing divine light and when all kinds of power were mixing together in this underground place.

The night watcher leader walked back and forth. “This is very important. I have to report this to the Executor... and also the Predator.”

The Executor was the leader of this county’s Inquisition, and he was also a senior-rank sorcerer.

The team leader pulled open the door and said to a night watcher, “Go and find the Predator and the Executor. We have important information about the Dark Storm and the Union of Sorcerers!”

The night watcher hurriedly nodded and trotted away. The Predator was here to catch Dark Storm, and he had to be informed of this immediately.

The Predator was “Griffon Vulture”, which was how Douglas and Fernando called him.

The team leader and the gatekeeper led Douglas and Fernando out of the room and walked to the Executor’s room. On their way, both Douglas and Fernando were secretly observing the divine circles, and they came to the same conclusion—this place was like a solid fortress designed to restrain sorcerers.

However, they were already here.

Douglas and Fernando had found their way in. The over a hundred years of victory and peace had made them greatly lower their alert.

At this time, the team leader suddenly stopped and murmured to himself, “Gotta bring the sorcerers who surrendered there as well, so that they can confront each other.”

Therefore, he changed the direction and walked to another corridor. Douglas and Fernando followed behind him.

This was Douglas’ will. He had mentally controlled the team leader. He had to make sure that the Predator would be in the Executor’s room before them so that they could kill them all. After all, the Executor would very likely notice the fact that the team leader and the gatekeeper had been mentally controlled, and if that happened, they had to give up on killing the Predator. Their time for the mission was very limited, so they had to make the most use of it.

In the room, Benson was drinking a glass of strong liquor, and the look on his face was very relaxed. The worry and fear on his face were gone.

Of course, only when he was drunk could he forget his friend’s eyes the last second before his friend died.

“Follow me to the Executor. There are sorcerers offering information. Please help us with the identification,” asked the team leader politely.

Benson was a young man with a red face. He was quite good looking.

“That’s what I should do.” Benson smiled.

He took a glance at Douglas standing behind the team leader and did not recognize him at all. After all, he did not know that many sorcerers.

Fernando had changed himself into a rather short man. Benson was even a bit amused by the male sorcerer’s height.

It never occurred to Benson that Fernando would dare to come here in person, to the Inquisition!

On their way, Benson did not pay much attention to the two sorcerers, as he was busy talking to the team leader to better get along with him.

The team leader was then told that the Predator had gone to the Executor’s room. He accelerated his pace for arriving there late might piss off his superiors.

In the Executor’s room, the Predator, who was wearing a set of black leather armor and shadow helmet, was sitting in the dark red armchair.

“They found Dark Storm?” he asked the Executor, who was wearing a set of silver armor.

“They are not here yet. I’m not sure. But Lion must have a reason asking you to come,” said the Executor.

Lion was the codename for the night watcher team leader.

Sitting in the darkness, the Predator nodded and went back to waiting quietly.

The footsteps came. Someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.” The Executor knew that it was Lion.

The gate opened slowly. The Predator’s heart suddenly started beating very fast. He got his current status from countless slaughters, and he had just sensed the great danger and death coming.

“Stop!”

The Predator rushed to the door. His rich experience told him that only by interrupting this could he survive.

However, all he could see suddenly looked very pale, and the world had been deprived of all sounds.