Chapter 44

In Shire County, there's a folk saying that the Mage Guild's purse is a dragon's hoard.

So, trying to make the Mage Guild pay up is no easy feat; you must produce irrefutable evidence.

And the key to this evidence is Mage Kao.

So, after finalizing the plan with the Baron, Luosen rushed to Maple Leaf Castle's dungeon with Asan, without stopping.

This dungeon is exclusively for the castle, used to hold the Baron's important prisoners; from the warden to the guards, all are the Baron's trusted confidants, so there's no worry of infiltration.

Built more than twenty meters underground, it has only a narrow, low passage connecting to the surface; once inside, it feels oppressive, dark, and damp—like entering an underground tomb.

Under the warden's guidance, Luosen and Asan followed a maze-like corridor and found the cell holding Mage Kao.

The cell is spacious enough for fifteen people, but it's filthy; one corner has some half‑rotted straw for bedding, the other corner holds a wooden bucket for collecting feces and urine.

Because visitors had arrived, the warden lit an oil lamp on the wall; its flickering, dim yellow light cast the faces of everyone—including Mage Kao—into an unsteady glow, like a group of demons dwelling in hell.

Luosen pointed at the wall and cast a Bright Light Technique, making the cell much brighter.

Seeing the disturbance, the Kao mages all turned to look at Luosen, their eyes complex—filled with both fear and hatred.

Luosen took out a perfume‑spritzed handkerchief, covered his mouth and nose to stave off the dungeon's stench, and spoke using only a single ring of Group Mind Voice.

"Warden, take your people away and let us stay alone with these prisoners for a while."

The warden knew Luosen was the Baron's current favorite and had the most loyal Master Asan beside him, so he immediately complied.

After the others left, Luosen looked at Asan and said, "Asan, will you do it, or shall I?"

Asan was a taciturn Battle Master, but he possessed a pair of exceptionally sharp eyes.

He crossed his arms, leaned against the wall, and said, "You conduct the interrogation; I'll watch."

With that, Luosen began the interrogation.

He swept his gaze over the Kao mages, smiled faintly, and asked, "Gentlemen, do you know who most wants you to stay silent forever right now?"

Ruowakaduo, being an Arcane Master, had the most resilient soul, so his mental state was the best.

He rolled his eyes, looked at Luosen, and said, "Young man, don't waste your effort; we won't say anything."

Luosen seemed not to hear, and went on: "It's obvious you all realize that in this confrontation you're merely swords in the hands of the powerful."

"If you stay silent now, the Baron will hesitate not at all to kill you."

"But if you're willing to speak the truth, name the hidden envoy, and testify face‑to‑face, you still have a slim chance to survive."

Ruowakaduo snorted: "Do you take us for fools?"

"If we speak the truth, the Baron might not kill us, but the fury from the other side will tear us to pieces!"

"Either way we die, so better to die by the Baron's hand—at least we can die painlessly."

Luosen grinned: "Gentlemen, do you really think dying at the Baron's hands would be painless?"

"Or have you forgotten that I, too, am a mage?"

As soon as he said that, the Kao mages' eyes instantly showed fear.

Only mages know how terrifying mages can be.

Once a mage turns their imagination to tormenting people, they can absolutely create a living hell on earth.

But in the end, Ruowakaduo still shook his head: "You're just a low‑level mage—what powerful tricks could you possibly have?"

Hearing that, Luosen hadn't even opened his mouth when Asan beside him gave a cold smile.

"Cheaters, torture isn't the sole domain of mages. When an iron rod tipped with a backward hook and soaked in brine is shoved into the rectum, it's no picnic either."

Ruowakaduo smirked: "That's merely physical pain; a simple mental barrier can overcome it."

"Perhaps the barrier can't block all pain, but compared to soul‑rending agony, it's just a tickle."

Asan opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Ruowakaduo, however, let out a long sigh, his face full of resignation.

"It's not that we don't want to cooperate; it's because we've signed an extremely powerful Loyalty Law Contract."

"If we betray it, the contract's mighty power will destroy our souls and, through blood‑line resonance, bring misfortune upon all our kin."

"So we have no choice."

Asan listened, his brows knitting tightly.

He is a Battle Master; killing enemies on the battlefield is his forte, and taking down an Arcane Master in close combat is no trouble.

But against mages' elusive tactics, he is at a loss.

Finally, he shrugged at Rosen: "It's up to you, Baron."

Although he didn't think Rosen could succeed, it was definitely more hopeful than his own chances.

Rosen nodded: "I've studied the loyalty contract in depth; perhaps I can undo it, but it will take some time."

In response, Asan shrugged, not optimistic; he didn't believe a low‑rank mage could break the loyalty contract binding the archmage.

Master Luwacado didn't show any contempt; he simply stated the difficulty.

"The loyalty contract itself isn't very strong, but it uses a Raphe‑wave style mental key, which is a famous unsolvable key."

Rosen said nothing.

He swept a clean patch of ground with his foot, pulled out a handful of silver coins from his pocket, transmuted them into contract‑specific symbols with a transformation spell, then crouched and began to manipulate them.

After fiddling for a while, he would look up and ask Master Luwacado questions about the contract, or directly cast a test spell on it.

As he fiddled, the number of instrument symbols on the ground grew, and their arrangement became increasingly complex.

Time passed minute by minute, and before he knew it, an hour had elapsed.

At that point, there were over a thousand silver symbols on the ground, a shimmering sea of silver that made one's eyes swim.

Asan was already impatient: "Baron, how much longer?"

"I don't know; maybe another hour, maybe ten minutes—I'm not sure."

Asan endured and waited another half hour, finally losing all patience.

I'm going to the surface to get some air; this place is really suffocating.

Okay, I'll call you once I figure it out." Asan left without delay, turning and walking away.

This is the Earl's territory, and the Baron has a request of the Earl; he believes that with the Baron's wisdom, he won't do anything harmful to the Earl's interests.

Not long after Asan left, Luosen's face suddenly showed a smile; he then used a Mage Hand to collect all the silver coin symbols on the ground.

He said: "I've figured it out."

The Laifibo Mind Secret Key is essentially a math problem; it's not difficult, just requiring constant calculation.

With mortal calculation ability, it would take a hundred years to compute.

Therefore, Luosen didn't solve it with the symbols; this is just a smokescreen.

It was Laifu who solved it through sheer computational power.

Luwakaduo was completely bewildered: "You really solved it? I don't believe it."

Luosen smiled: "The world is developing; Master, just because it had no solution before doesn't mean it has none now."

After saying that, he raised his hand and tapped the other's forehead, hearing only a 'ka-ding' like a spiritual wave of glass cracking.

Luwakaduo's eyes went blank, then immediately regained clarity, filled with profound disbelief.

Wow, you really managed to unlock it, little mage!

Luosen then repeatedly used magic on other mages, unlocking each of their contracts one by one.

The Kao mages were all shocked by Luosen's move, each unable to speak.

Luosen smiled: "I'll summon Asan again in ten minutes, because I want to hear your story first, the full story."

Things having come to this point, the Kao mages looked at each other, and eventually all focused their gaze on Luwakaduo.

Master Luwakaduo let out a light sigh: "If you can unlock the contract, you could surely inflict tortures we can't even imagine."

So, we don't want to suffer magical torture; therefore we have no choice.

He paused, then said: "The beginning of the matter was two months ago."

Back then, the Earl had a huge investment in a distant ocean trading company called Freshwater Valley, which we locals all knew was actually a trap aimed at foreign investors.

Luosen raised his eyebrows, understanding: "After the Freshwater Valley Trading Company attracted a large amount of real gold and silver investment, it went bankrupt under the pretext of a maritime disaster?"

Exactly.

Master Luwakaduo nodded: "We heard the Earl lost everything, and couldn't help thinking his brain must be faulty, but he's certainly not a fool; after this, he'll surely be extremely cautious about foreign investment."

So, you planned to go door-to-door to deceive?

Luwakaduo shook his head repeatedly: "No, it's not a deception, at least not at first."

We genuinely wanted to pull some investment from the Earl to start a business.

We were all desperately poor, so we scraped together our last travel funds, hoping to try our luck in Shire County.

But it wasn't that simple; we wandered for half a month and still didn't even see the Earl's face.

The Earl loomed high above, while we were as low as dust, still foreigners; no one recommended us, and we wandered in Shialin for half a month without even a chance to speak to him.

Luosen believed those words, having felt them himself deeply.

Just when we were full of despair, a local mage actually came to our door voluntarily.

Only then did the scam begin; you probably already guessed much of the situation.

Luosen nodded to show he understood, then asked: "Master, you just said you originally intended to do something; what were you preparing to do?"

We're developing a new weapon, which we call the Arcane Torrent Crossbow.

Answering was a High-tier Mage beside Luwakaduo, about thirty years old, with bright reddish-brown eyes.

Luosen immediately became interested: "A new weapon? What's your name?"

Jiätelan, a High-tier Intermediate Mage, a commoner, proficient in Arcane Missile.

Luosen grew even more interested: "Arcane Missile, proficient?"

Jiätelan smiled confidently.

Ordinary Arcane Missile flies only 150 meters, locking onto 80 meters; my improved Arcane Missile, with unchanged power, can fly 300 meters, lock onto 200 meters, and its flight speed is tripled!

Luosen repeatedly praised: "Great spell!"

But how does this relate to Arcane Torrent and the crossbow?

Because the missile is just one part; we also need to add the Arcane Crystal Array I researched!

Answering Luosen was another High-tier Mage.

Without Luosen asking, he introduced himself: "I'm Makelai, specializing in the study of low-tier Arcane Crystals."

I can reduce the manufacturing cost of low-tier Arcane Crystals to one-tenth of current levels while doubling their performance; at the same time, I greatly increase their stability, allowing controlled detonation at extremely close range without them interfering with each other.

Thus forming a safe crystal array.

As he finished speaking, the voice of the last High-tier Mage sounded.

Also me, Inscription Master Gelangke, proficient in 18 engraving methods of Arcane Missile Inscriptions, five of which I invented myself.

Hearing this, Luosen roughly understood the combat style of the Arcane Torrent Crossbow, feeling as if he'd picked up a treasure.

But he kept a calm exterior: "It sounds good, but only Mother Nature knows whether you're lying."

Now, write down the crimes of the Mage Guild.

Luwakaduo shook his head: "Unless you guarantee we'll stay alive, we won't do it."

At this moment, Luosen had already summoned Asan.

Asan walked over and said: "I guarantee you won't die; you'll only be expelled from Shire County by the Earl."

I'll ask the Earl to send you safely to the border of Shire County and give each of you a basic magic staff; whether you can escape the Mage Guild's retaliation after that depends on your own abilities.

Having come to this point, Luwakaduo had nothing more to say.

He sighed: "Alright, we'll do it."

(End of Chapter)