Chapter 151

With every jolt in the swaying, Luge felt the Blood Shackles inside him loosen; each impact on the prison cart made runes flash, and Luge sensed the runes on the cart did more than reinforce it — they also made the prisoner hurt more, for with his Dragonborn Kobold body such minor bumps should not have caused pain at all.

Luge tumbled about, occasionally bumping into Green; that guy could move his limbs, so he sat relatively steady.

"Mr. Luge, let me help you."

In the darkness, Green's voice came from the other side of the prison cart.

Luge only felt a foot suddenly step on his face, but fortunately his Dragonborn Kobold face was thick and tough enough; then the other party pushed off forcefully, wedging him into a corner of the cart, and that stopped his rolling in the jolting for this person who could not move.

"Thanks..." Luge said.

"You can speak already? Looks like your body is strong, worthy of someone walking the Bloodline Wizard path." Green said.

"Those guys dressed as knights are Wizard Apprentices?" Luge said.

Actually, what affected his speech most right now was that foot on his face, but he could not be bothered to correct it — his face was tough enough that being stepped on for a while would not damage it.

"No need to find it strange, Lord Luge," Green said, "they are the Blood Fortress's Scarlet Knights; this is just a small squad. The Knights are all Blood Race elites, members at least Fourth-Rank Wizard Apprentices. One might rather say they are somewhat weak, after all they are a power that has struggled against Burning Blood City for countless years, yet inside the vast Burning Blood City the number of Fifth-Rank Wizard Apprentices far exceeds the Blood Fortress by ten or a hundred times... but Burning Blood City has not destroyed the Blood Fortress, which to me as an outsider seems very bizarre..."

Green spoke slowly in the darkness, as if he had opened up his desire to confide, or perhaps it was the doubts that had been constantly growing in him during this time.

"Burning Blood City is a peculiar place; many people gather here, yet not a single one is the master of this place. The Blood Fortress not being destroyed certainly has to do with Burning Blood City being a loose sand, after all everyone comes here to survive for themselves, but it also has to do with the existence of high-end Blood Race strength. As far as I know, First Circle and above Wizards in Burning Blood City only act when necessary; some say it is because their condition is not good, but over thousands of years there have inevitably been some Wizards in good condition who came here to experiment, and there have even been high-ranking Wizards whose experiments happened to be disturbed by Blood Race anomalies, leading to failure."

"But for some reason they did not act to destroy the Blood Fortress either. In short, this is a place where every corner exudes strangeness..."

Green's words made Luge fall into contemplation as well.

But what he was thinking about was something else: this Apprentice Seeker, judging by appearances, had done thorough research on this place before coming here, at least knowing more than he, this fake local. Perhaps understanding a place's developmental history makes it easier to find some unrecorded Spells.

Then, since this Lord Seeker likes to understand a land's human history so much, these days of his wandering here from morning to night — was he also learning about the affairs of this small city?

"Where will we be sent?" Luge asked with a pout.

"Most likely, the Black Prison in the deepest part of the Blood Race Ancient Castle. According to my understanding these days, only the most heinous people are thrown there, and many thrown in there do not even live to see their trial," Green said, "but die imprisoned directly inside, originating from a Blood Race legend, a punishment called Oblivion, not even providing food. The Blood Race's long life and tenacious Life Force are the best supplement for this punishment."

"But don't worry, Lord Luge. Although our Storage Pouches were confiscated, I still have some small tricks, so no need to worry about starving to death." Green said gently.

Luge recalled the items in his Storage Pouch — roughly only a few standard small pieces of Magic Stone and some daily necessities.

Important things, he had not placed inside; the Storage Pouch was merely a decoration.

"Are you sure we will definitely enter that Black Prison?" Luge said.

"These Blood Race boast elegance but are actually rather primitive and barbaric. According to my understanding, there is about an eighty percent chance of being thrown into the Black Prison, even if wrongly accused," Green said slowly, "but after I saw the look in that Scarlet Knights Captain's eyes when he looked at you, our probability of entering the Black Prison should rise to one hundred percent."

Silence fell inside the pitch-black prison cart for a moment.

"Blood Race, truly a strange kind of Bloodline Wizard." Luge said.

"Yes, very peculiar. They are Wizards, yet mostly exist in the form of families. They likewise pursue Knowledge and Truth, but also have a side contrary to normal Wizards, and many different concepts..." Green said, "especially the Blood Race on this land, who are even stranger."

"And those Bloodline Infected wandering the Wasteland are also unique to this place. They are not normal people, nor are they Blood Race, but it is said they plunder Blood Race people, return to reproduce. Normal Blood Race producing offspring is not easy, and becomes harder as strength grows. But when Blood Race mate with those strange Bloodline Infected, offspring are easily born, though such mixed-blood offspring are despised by some Blood Race in the territory." Green said.

Green's words reminded Luge of that Attic Neighbor.

From that day when Mr. Nuwengduo next door became abnormal after the rain, this somewhat overly familiar Alchemist Apprentice named Irene became acquainted with him, and on the day before departure from Burning Blood City she even crawled over from the attic to chat with him and asked for another bottle of his stocked Sour Mushroom Wine.

The prison cart's angle suddenly changed, as if they had reached a slope.

Luge felt they might have already stepped onto the road to the Blood Race Ancient Castle.

Will we meet the Blood Fortress Lord?

Will we meet an Official Wizard of the Blood Race?

Luge never believed the Lord must be the strongest among the Blood Race. In this family-style organization, generally the old geezers, after growing tired, hand positions like clan head to the younger generation in the clan, especially Wizards, who have too many things to do rather than waste time managing a broken territory.

He also heard that these Blood Race Bloodline Wizards like to perform a strange sleeping ritual.

But according to Green, these barbarians who pretend to be elegant, making their armor gorgeous and eye-catching, are a bunch of lazy, conservative fools. There will be no trial process; that seemingly unrelated elegance and barbarism will breed an arrogance unique to them. At the moment they caught the two of them, they had already sentenced both to death in their hearts; it seems the Black Prison is already the inevitable destination for both.

Luge blinked, remembering Old Lenser said the old Blood Race he cooperated with is the current Blood Fortress Lord's Distant Cousin.

Just now they only seized the two of them outsiders; the black-clothed youth was only scolded. Perhaps this Cousin's identity is at work — those people recognize this shop.

(Chapter End)