Chapter 170 (2): Now What

Wayne and Auston stared at each other for a while. Then Auston broke the silence: “We don’t know who the traitor is yet. The five of us who received the bribes are the most likely. We have the motive and the ability to mobilize the necessary resources.”

“You saved the High Reverend of the Church of Moonlight and escalated the matter, which the Minister is unhappy with. But at the same time, your involvement has also proven me innocent.”

Auston said curiously, “The High Reverend of the Church of Moonlight used the flesh of an Astral Beast, so she had to have been cornered and left with no other choice. You defeated the enemies and treated her corruption, also cheating her into covering up your tracks... Tell me, how did you do it?”

“I thought you knew everything.” Wayne was a petty man, and he was still hung up on Auston’s earlier trickery.

“I only checked that you were alive. Simple as that,” Auston said. He trusted his own decision and believed that his successor couldn’t have survived the encounter without gaining any benefits.

“It’s even simpler for me. It’s love!” Wayne said proudly. “I made the woman fall for me. Love blinds, so she willingly covered up my tracks for me. Love empowers, so she defeated the Astral Beast!”

Auston laughed. “Nice excuse. You can fool me since I have no choice but to trust you, but that’s not going to convince anyone else. Do you think the Ministry of Magic will buy that?”

“Who knows? Maybe the Minister will.”

When Wayne refused to tell the truth, Auston shook his head in exasperation and said seriously, “Stop fooling around. You’re in great danger with all the attention you’ve drawn.”

“Isaac did it. Why come after me?”

“I told you that the moment you’re suspected, you’re sentenced. The higher-ups of the Ministry of Magic know that you’re Bruce. Then you can be Isaac, too.” Auston stroked his chin, both pleased and troubled.

His successor was competent and wouldn’t suffer losses, no matter the situation, but he also attracted trouble like a magnet and made messes wherever he went.

I sent you away to do business, but you blew up the Ministry of Magic while you were at it. What should I do to stop you from acting out?

Wayne spread his hands. “What can I do? Trouble came to my doorstep and barged in. I had to fight back.”

“I’m not blaming you for fighting back. It’s just...” Auston stopped himself. His successor always stumbled his way into the epicenter of every mess unknowingly, profiting off the dangers encountered. He didn’t know if he should call Wayne lucky or unlucky.

“Auston, should we turn in the stolen goods?”

“Either works.”

“Seriously?”

“What else? If I turn them in, it’ll seem like I have a guilty conscience and reaffirm their suspicion. If I don’t, they’ll try their best to frame me anyway.” Auston rolled his eyes. “The best option really is to turn you in. So? Would you sacrifice yourself for the family?”

Wayne returned the eyeroll. The day he took over the Lando family, he would exile the previous head of the family, sleep with his daughter, and hit his grandson. Then he would use the old man’s money to throw him into jail.

Huhu, what a happy day that would be!

“Why are you cackling?” Auston huffed irritably. Putting himself in Wayne’s shoes, he knew Wayne had to be insulting him in his head.

“You don’t have to tell me what happened between you and the High Reverend of the Church of Moonlight,” Auston continued. “It’s also fine to stay silent about how you broke the anti-magic domain and the mirror space. However, you shouldn’t have saved her from the corruption of the Astral Beast. It’s a terrible ailment that the Ministry of Magic has spent a long time studying. Someone will seek you out for that.”

He gave Wayne the rundown. First, there was Planck. The director of the asylum was an expert in the area. Second was Bourne, who had requested the Astral Beast’s flesh. He was the head of the Department of Biological Science of the Ministry of Magic, and the dragon-blooded soldiers were his doing.

It wasn’t a good sign to catch the attention of two legendary mages. Without Auston’s protection, Wayne would’ve been kidnapped for research.

Even though the two wouldn’t go after Wayne openly, there was a chance of them making a move in secret. Auston told Wayne to avoid going out at night without a good reason lest he go missing one day, locked up in some basement.

Wayne nodded, remembering the antique silver coin he kept at home. It was about time that Schrödinger visited him.

“They won’t seek you out recently. Even if it’s just to avoid suspicion, they will avoid you for the time being,” Auston said. “The Minister ordered an investigation. Each of the five high officials who received bribery would create an investigation team to look into the other four, finding out who the traitor is.”

“Is it just political?” Wayne asked tentatively. “Whoever loses will be the traitor?”

“No, we must catch the real traitor this time!” Auston glanced at him and said harshly. “The Ministry of Magic has to give a satisfactory answer to not only the Church of Moonlight, but also the other churches. The traitor crossed a line and broke the balance, putting the entire nation at risk of a religious war.”

Wayne’s expression grew grave. Break one promise, and there could be no trust. From Windsor’s perspective, it was a great crisis. From the churches’ perspective, the fact that Windsor crossed the line once meant that they could do it again. In fact, they might have done something similar in the past.

He felt a headache brewing. From the perspective of the Ministry of Magic, this shouldn’t have happened. A dead High Reverend wasn’t enough to affect the partnership between them and the Church of Moonlight, but because of him, the High Reverend lived.

How absurd. He was fighting for justice, but suddenly, he became a sinner of the nation!

The Francan government had a good eye for people. While all other spies were useless, Wayne alone managed to put Windsor in a predicament.

Auston seemed to have noticed his frustration. Uncharacteristically, he reassured him, “It’s a good thing for the family that I was proven innocent first. You don’t have to get involved with the investigation. Lie low for the time being.”

That used up his quota of niceness for Wayne, though, and he continued with a dark look, “The two legendary mages aren’t the only dangers you’re facing. Even before you headed to Luzerbourg, someone in the Ministry of Magic already wanted you dead.”

“Really?”

Wayne didn’t understand. He was a righteous man who never started any trouble, and even when he did, it was for a just cause. Why was there always someone coming after him? Or was the Ministry of Magic on the dark side?

“From the time you boarded the plane to Luzerbourg to your settling down at the Capital Hotel, your real name is being used for the registration. Your tracks aren’t concealed.” Auston’s tone turned icy. “Someone used the resources of the Ministry of Magic to ambush the Church of Moonlight without leaving any useful clues, which shows how well prepared they are. But what if they failed their ambush? If it were me, I would’ve looked into the list of residents at the hotel to ensure that the plan would go smoothly, eliminating any potential variables.”

Wayne understood what Auston was getting at. When he checked into the hotel, he had used his real name, and he was there to conduct business on behalf of the Lando family. The traitor couldn’t have missed that.

While Auston hadn’t publicly announced him as his successor, he had implied it. Yet the traitor continued with the plan to ambush the Church of Moonlight at the hotel, which meant that they wanted to kill Wayne at the same time.

Auston fiddled with his silver coin. “It’s a nice plan, only they underestimated you.”

“How dare they?!” Wayne nodded solemnly. “It’s not a kick to my butt but a slap to your face.”

Auston didn’t comment on that. The ambush came with complicated implications. They weren’t so much after Wayne as the Lando family. He had to tread carefully.

After a moment, Wayne spoke up, “What about these things? They are suddenly risky to hold.”

“Leave them at the estate until everything settles down. And you’re staying at home the next few days. Your new house is complete. Don’t run around on your own.”

Auston went into how the items should be dealt with. Since he had asked for the dragon blood, he would take it. They would make copies of the

Book of Moon Shadow

and the

Manuscript of the Forgotten

until things settled down, then they could trade them for more profits.

The Ring of Fire Element was tricky. Knowledge could be copied, but not the ring. If someone offered a good price, they would sell it; if not, they would claim that the ring was gone.

Failing to profit from the items would be a loss. Turning them in was never an option.

Wayne nodded. As expected of the middle-aged version of himself. They both refused to let any chance to profit slip, and even when there was no chance of gaining anything, they created one.

There was one thing he would like to confirm, though.

“Auston, is the dragon blood going to be given to Master and Veronica in your name or mine?”

“I’ve cleaned up so much mess for you, and you’re trying to take the dragon blood from me?!”

Auston fumed. Wayne was bold enough to steal his benefits from him when he was still the head of the family; once he passed the baton, wouldn’t he be kicked out to the guard’s dorm?

“I’ve put in a lot of effort, too. You don’t know how I almost died to acquire the dragon blood,” Wayne shot back. The dragon blood would’ve been taken if he hadn’t intervened.

They entered another staring contest. Two minutes later, Auston scoffed, “To my knowledge, you’ve been sleeping in the same suite as your secretary during your stay at the hotel.”

...And how do you know that?