novelraw Chapter 1074: It Was Not Hard
Chapter 1074: It Was Not Hard
I fly with Spot to where Celestine was going. And we spotted Celestine charging forward there.
The good news is that she’s not alone. So she slowed down her pace to make the others can follow her. That’s why I could get close to her before she reached that location.
And as I expected, the place ahead is a trap. There are a lot of rather strong mages. Well, considering that they’re not with the cult or with us, being expert level mages is already quite good. But it’s not enough to defeat even Celestine alone.
There are about fifty mages there. Most of them are expert level mages with some advanced level mages.
And more importantly, there are about ten children there. They must be hostages. And some mages are already close to the children so they can use the children as human shield. Or even kill them when Celestine won’t stop.
And so, I stopped Celestine from moving forward by landing in front of her.
"Hey, Celestine. Been a while," I said.
"Roy, move."
"Can’t do that. Because you’re not calm. Do you really believe that you can save the children by going to where a prisoner you caught told you to go? He’s someone who killed a child easily," I said.
"You mean this is a trap? I don’t mind entering a trap if I can kill all of them," Celestine said. She looks scary right now.
"Even if you have to sacrifice the lives of ten children? We’re already close, you know. You’re a master level mage. You should be able to detect ten smaller humans compared to the rest people there," I said.
Celestine finally realized that she almost made the wrong choice. She then closes her eyes and probably using her earth magic to detect everything in the location she’s going to.
"...Twenty small feet. Ten children. You’re right," Celestine said.
"Good. You’re calmer now. If you rush there without thinking, not only will you let those ten children die. But we might never find the real main base of that organization. Claudia already sent some people to the real location where they held over a hundred of children. But I doubt that’s where their main base is. Since this is where they decided to trap you, you need to capture some people who seem like in a high position in the organization. You hear me?"
Celestine nodded after I scolded her. As for the other master level mages she brought here, they seem relieved. They probably have tried stopping her many times. But Celestine didn’t listen to them.
"Sigh... You need to trust other people more. At least Claudia. She’s already thinking far ahead when she heard the news of the human trafficking organization you found. The place we’re going to only have ten children. Too few for a big organization. Though that we’re here already, we need to think of a plan to save the children, capture some people, and kill the rest. You just stay still. I and the others here will think of a plan," I said.
She’s not in the right mind to think of a plan. And I’m not that smart. If I’m told to think of a plan, it will be too simple. So I asked the other master level mages’ opinion.
Though it ended up that we will use my plan. Because it’s simple. And we’re obviously stronger than the enemies. We only made some modification with my plan to make it work smoother.
"Then we’ll do it this way. Lady Celestine will use her earth magic to go underground and grab all ten children. The other will go fight and capture some people. While Sir Roy will wait and see if there’s anyone trying to escape. He will take care of that. And Lady Celestine can help us by blocking the exit once the children are safe," one of the master level mages suggested.
And we agreed. So first, I told Celestine that there are only ten children. And there are no other hostages from what I see. So only ten children need to be saved.
The rest is up for the other master level mages. I just told them some people who might be superior to the others. Someone who acted like the boss. The master level mages will prioritize capturing them and kill the rest.
It should be fine to kill all of them. Because Claudia is taking care of a real base. And she might find something from the people there.
Also, my real job is to stop Celestine from going too far and letting more children die. So my job might be over after this.
If I want to, I can easily get rid of this human trafficking organization in just one night. Well, that depends on whether Claudia still wants my help or not.
And we proceed with our plan. Celestine is moving underground, far from the range that can be detected by ordinary expert level earth mages, and waited down there. Then the rest are moving close to the area.
With Celestine’s level of magic, she did two things at once. Pulling the children into the ground and move them to her location down there, then she raised a wall to make sure that no one can escape.
I can see all of them are panicking right now. They tried to escape. They tried to destroy the wall, but it’s too strong. They tried to fly, but some master level mages stopped them. They tried to go underground, but they couldn’t dig with their earth magic. Seems like Celestine is far stronger than I expected her to be. She’s the strongest earth mage we have. And probably the strongest in the world.
One master level mage entered the cage and go after the prioritized target. It was easy for him to discover the target since I used Victoria to transform into the appearances of the targets.
Other than them, he captured some other people. Then together with the others, they kill the rest.
And I didn’t have to do anything. No one could escape from there.
Celestine returned soon after from the ground. The ground next to me suddenly opened and she rises from the ground together with ten chained children.
"It’s done," Celestine said.
"Now you just need to wait until the others are finished with their task."
Without hesitation, I put the children to sleep. Celestine was shocked that I suddenly used magic but she didn’t say anything. I guess she understands what I’m going to do.
"It will be faster if you return to the capital with my portal. Then you can have someone to ask the children where they came from and reunite them with their families. If they’re orphans, you know what you need to do," I said.
"...Thank you, Roy. If not for you, we might end up losing ten children," Celestine said.
"No problem. I’m also bored after searching for the pyramid for days," I said.
Then I returned her and the children to the capital while waiting for the others to finish. And they’re done so fast since they only need to fight and not worrying about the hostages.
"I’ll bring you all to the capital now. Celestine and the children are already here," I said.
But before we do that, a master level earth mage suggested cleaning up first. She just digs a huge hole and pushes all the corpses inside before burying them.
Then we’re greeted by Claudia. She told us what happened in the other base. They’re not done yet because there are too many hostages there.
"Do you need my help?" I asked.
"No. Well, yes. But you just need to transport them to the other location. You don’t have to do anything. We will take care of the rest," Claudia said.
So the master level mages who had just returned joined the others. They don’t have anyone at the same level as Celestine. But finding the location of the hostages is still possible for them. And I didn’t bother to check the location with my Divine Vision.
As for the previous prisoners we caught, Claudia interrogated them in the presence of a centaur. And we finally find the main base of the organization. And the nobles who are related with them as well.
"Yeah, we really have to take care of it by ourselves. Roy, thank you very much. You can go back now," Claudia said.
"I’ll stay here for a while. Someone still can’t forgive herself for watching some kids died," I said as I look at Celestine through the walls. She’s with Lynn now who is trying to raise her spirit back.
So I entered Celestine’s room. Victoria then transformed into her human form and started talking with the Empress and the Empress’ sister.
And I just sat there on a chair. Just being there. And soon enough, Celestine started to rant. She wanted me to hear it. And I just listened.
After ranting for a long time, she slowly recovered to her old self and said that she won’t make the same mistake again. Lynn looks so happy seeing her sister like that.
I left when the two sisters fell asleep while hugging. And I return to Cassau.