Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Blue Enchantress

Captain Barton’s brief rest gave the members of the Knights enough time to recuperate until dusk. The military bearing of the Divine Wind Knights made Andy secretly admire them. He thought to himself that if, a few days ago, he had faced the Divine Wind Knights instead of the City Lord’s guards, he might truly have met his end.

This time, only Andy from the City Lord’s residence accompanied the Knights on their mission. Of course, he had a cute cat tucked in his arms. Gerald, lacking combat ability, stayed behind at the City Lord’s residence with Viscount Sibecolin, waiting for news.

They soon arrived near the Wizard’s Tower. Captain Barton made a gesture, and the Knights silently formed an assault formation. Barton gazed at the blood mist surrounding the Wizard’s Tower, silent and waiting patiently.

Finally, the scouts he’d sent in to recon returned. Of the three scouts, only one made it back. The report on the situation inside made Captain Barton’s brow furrow.

Within the thick blood mist, on the plaza before the Wizard’s Tower, Carol stared at the densely arranged corpses laid out according to a sacrificial formation. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of triumph. He believed that after this large-scale sacrifice, he would surely advance to become a Silver-ranked Battle Maiden. At that point, he would be counted among the top experts in the entire Kingdom of Elan.

He imagined that his newly strengthened self would be able to assist the Messenger of the Gods in launching even more and larger sacrifices, until the requirements for the descent of the True God were met. Then, they would sweep across the Continent of Dolan, and his own power would soar ever higher.

Carol stood at the center of the sacrificial formation, dancing as he chanted a convoluted prayer. The sacrifice had begun! As the formation activated, the surrounding red mist slowly merged into the corpses within the array. The thick red mist grew thinner and thinner, and everything around gradually became clear.

Carol immediately spotted the Divine Wind Knights preparing to attack beyond the red mist. He cursed inwardly, “Damn!” Now that the sacrifice had begun, he could not pause it at will, or he would suffer severe backlash.

Fortunately, he had anticipated such accidents. He cast a flirtatious glance at the Brotherhood members nearby. Those already deranged fellows, as if injected with adrenaline, howled and charged straight at the Divine Wind Knights.

Captain Barton, seeing these bloodshot-eyed, crazed figures—outnumbering his own men two or three to one—swiftly drew his sword and shouted, “Where the sword points!”

“Life and death matter not!” the Knights responded loudly, then rushed forward to engage these Gillianites in combat.

These frenzied opponents fought with no skill or order, yet they possessed strength comparable to Knights and showed no fear of death. From the outset, they caused considerable trouble for the Knights. Fortunately, with Barton and Alan—two great Knights—supporting the group, casualties were kept from becoming too severe.

Compared to the Knights, Andy’s performance was somewhat dazzling. With the Knights acting as meat shields up front, Andy could unleash his attacks freely. He observed the situation from the rear, launching fireballs one after another.

Andy deliberately suppressed the frequency of his fireball spells. After casting several, he would pause and theatrically take out a potion bottle, sipping it. This way, he could pretend to be replenishing his magic with potions.

Of course, the bottles didn’t contain real mana potions. Andy had filled them with fine wine, which he’d found in Viscount Colin’s bedroom.

It appeared to be the Viscount’s treasured fruit wine. After Catherine used sorcery to confirm it was non-toxic, Andy had curiously tasted it. It was sweet, fragrant, and seemed to have a low alcohol content.

Even so, he stopped Catherine from drinking it, citing that minors shouldn’t consume alcohol. Yet seeing the wine made Andy ponder how to disguise his magical stamina during future battles.

He collected many potion bottles and filled them with the wine. The bright blue liquid inside closely resembled the “mana potions” described in books. Andy was quite pleased with his handiwork.

With such a low alcohol level, Andy—whose tolerance was half a pound of strong liquor—could drink them all and not get drunk.

Excited, Andy had no idea that this was actually medicinal wine prepared by Viscount Colin for himself.

The Viscount, over forty and often staying up late, found himself lacking vigor when facing his wife, who was in the prime of her life. But, owing to a certain male psychology, he could still be quite energetic with the young maids at the City Lord’s residence. This made the Viscountess quite resentful.

Fortunately, such situations were common among nobles, so they circulated aphrodisiac and invigorating wines. This particular wine was called “Blue Enchantress.”

Because the wine was intimate in nature, it wasn’t suitable for the staff or maids to see, so the Viscount hid it in his bedroom.

Unaware, Andy was wholly focused on the battle.

The Gillianites before him, whatever transformation they had undergone, possessed the power of Knights, but their bodies were essentially those of robust ordinary people.

Their resistance to sorcery was far below that of true Knight-level warriors. Thus, Andy’s fireballs were their nemesis—each one dispatched an enemy.

Seeing this, Captain Barton adjusted his tactics. He ordered those not yet at Knight level to hold the line and wait for Andy’s support, while he and Alan led the Knight-level members in continued assault.

After a period of combat, the Divine Wind Knights began to discern the enemy’s patterns. They grew increasingly confident against the deranged attackers. Knight Alan’s pressure eased; he could fight and still spare attention to observe his surroundings.

Andy’s fireballs made Alan’s eyelid twitch. Having fought Andy before, he knew the man possessed swordsmanship nearly at the Knight’s peak. To think Andy’s sorcery was so formidable as well! Alan felt that, if it came down to a life-and-death struggle, he might not be able to suppress Andy.

Of course, if he could see Andy at full power, perhaps he wouldn’t think so.

Alan watched Andy drink yet another blue potion bottle, and his mouth twitched slightly.

As a scion of the royal capital’s nobility, Alan knew well the value of magic potions. They cost hundreds of magic stones per bottle, yet Andy had already drunk at least ten.

Was this really a rural sorcerer’s apprentice? Did he think he was drinking plain water? Alan began to question his own life—who was truly the noble heir of the royal capital? The deputy captain, who had always thought himself well-off, was deeply shaken.

After drinking a dozen bottles, Andy also began to notice something was off. He felt a surge of heat rising from his abdomen, spreading swiftly throughout his body, making him feel feverish. His vision became slightly blurred.

Catherine, feeling hot as well, crawled out from Andy’s arms and used her mimicry spell to ask Andy what was wrong.

Hearing a female voice, Andy’s heart fluttered. He couldn’t help recalling those films he’d secretly watched out of curiosity during his school days.

Andy looked at the battlefield before him—blood flying, muscles colliding—and lost interest, turning his gaze away. Finally, his eyes met those of Knight Alan.

On the battlefield, Alan still maintained the elegance of noble youth. His handsome face and slender figure stood out among the crowd of muscle-bound men. Andy’s gaze involuntarily drifted to Alan’s posterior.

Knight Alan’s nerves tightened in response!