Chapter 272 (1): Introduce Yourself When Being a Good Windsorian

Auston walked with the help of a walking stick and stopped after taking a few steps. The alleyway wasn’t long, so it should’ve taken only a few dozen steps to reach the parking lot. However, he found himself walking in place, unable to get any closer to the other end.

It was a spatial barrier!

Auston keenly detected the unusual signs in his surroundings, and so did Silvia. She wordlessly put her daughter behind her, as Megan went up to Auston with a single step.

On the other side of the alleyway, space rippled, and three figures emerged gradually. The one wearing a black robe seemed like the leader, their body enveloped by impenetrable black mist while two red glows bloomed on their obscured face.

The other two were both dressed in white robes, one taller than the other. Judging by the figure, the shorter one was a woman.

Silvia’s expression tightened. Two among the three mysterious figures gave off a threatening pressure to her, meaning they were legendary mages, while the shorter woman was a Gold-ranked mage like her.

Since when did legendary mages grow on trees in Londan?

Silvia glanced at the back of Auston’s head. Londan was the center of power in Windsor and where the headquarters of the Ministry of Magic was located. All local legendary mages were honorary members of the Ministry. In other words, the three mysterious figures were all Auston’s colleagues.

They couldn’t be here to talk business with Auston when they had come at night with their appearances covered. Had the bastard been put on the Ministry’s blacklist and was thus about to face the Minister’s erasure?

Aren’t you two a thing?

Or does Her Majesty always go the length of sending two legendary mages to pick you up for your secret dates?

“Vice Minister Alan, why aren’t you monitoring the mist at your base but visiting me this late at night?” Auston said slowly with his antique silver coin in his grasp, exposing the visitor’s identity bluntly. It was also a warning to Silvia that these people were trouble, and she should be ready for a fight.

Londan was big, and the Ministry of Magic housed many elites who each had their repertoire or skills. However, there were only a handful of the most powerful fence-sitters, and among the small circle, Auston could easily guess that one of his visitors was Alan.

Strange, they didn’t know each other well, and they had never gotten into conflict. Auston couldn’t think of a reason that Alan would ambush him with helpers. Besides, who were the white-robed mages, what was their relationship with Alan, and who did they come for?

Auston observed them and narrowed the suspects to the legendary mages of the ministry, quickly figuring out the identity of the other man.

“Celeste, is that you?”

Auston’s heart sank. Celeste wasn’t just a regular fence-sitter, but Princess Elizabeth’s master and the liaison the Queen had appointed to keep contact with the Papal State. Having the Princess follow the faith of Holy Light was the royal family’s concession to the Church of Heavenly Father—it was a sign that the Papal State should resolve their differences peacefully.

The Princess was talented, more so than the incompetent Prince. She would surely succeed the throne and become the sovereign of Windsor.

Regular people might have failed to recognize the olive branch, but not the Papal State. With the future lord of the nation following Holy Light, Windsor would start the new era with above-neutral goodwill for the Church of Heavenly Father, thus slowly relaxing the restrictions against the church in Windsor.

Celeste was Princess Elizabeth’s master and the line of communication between the royal family and the church. Due to the rumors that Celeste had defected to the church and become a spy, it was difficult for him to continue representing the Ministry of Magic. His backers were the Princess and the Church of Heavenly Father.

That confused Auston further. The Princess had been showing the Lando family goodwill, and the Church of Heavenly Father had been taking care of Wayne so well that they seemed more like servile servants trying to please him. Worried that Wayne would be lonely at night, they even assigned a clergywoman to serve him; he was welcome to break her since she could be replaced.

It didn’t make sense for Celeste to be here.

“As expected of you, Auston. You saw through everything...” Celeste removed his hood and spoke in an amicable tone. “I’ve received Vice Minister Alan’s order to help eliminate a traitor among the Tulip Families. Although I can ignore the order of a Vice Minister, I can’t refuse to help an old friend.”

The tall, slender woman in a white robe, Juno, also took off her hood, revealing her short blonde hair and aloof appearance.

Auston frowned. He recognized the face as Princess Elizabeth’s knight, who similarly studied the faith of Holy Light and was a trusty confidant who had been serving the Princess. Was the Princess part of the ambush against him?

It didn’t make sense!

Unable to figure things out, Auston settled his gaze on Alan. “Reveal yourself, Vice Minister Alan. Why did you come?”

“To take your head.”

Alan took off his hood and revealed his sunken face. The colors of his eyes and hair were similar to Auston’s, but their resemblance was only skin deep. Their temperaments differed like night and day. Wayne was the one who truly resembled Auston, or there wouldn’t be so many people who misunderstood their relationship.

Kristen, for example, still insisted that Wayne was Auston’s illegitimate son despite Wayne’s best effort to convince her. If even the woman sharing his bed held onto the belief, it was obvious what other people were thinking.

“For my head?”

“Yes. I’ve reviewed the recent documents of the Ministry of Magic, and you seemed to be the one pulling the strings behind Vice Minister Obed’s attack against the Church of Moonlight and the demonic descents.”

Alan blatantly framed Auston and claimed the moral high ground. “Auston, you’re the greatest traitor among the Ministry of Magic!”

The excuses were terrible. Claiming embezzlement masked by burning warehouses down would at least be closer to the truth.

There was no defending himself against a false accusation. Auston said bluntly, “It doesn’t matter whether you consider me a traitor, Vice Minister Alan. You need the Minister’s signed permission.”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures. The Minister trusts you too much. Once I take you down, I’ll collect the evidence of your betrayal and allow the Minister to sentence you.”

Alan wasn’t a man of many words, and he had already said more than was easy for him. He drew his gun and fired at the family of three consecutively.

Bang, bang, bang!

With the cartridge emptied, Alan tossed away his smoking gun.

Across from him, Silvia had created a Gold-ranked mage’s vitality barrier to block the bullets shot at her and Veronica. Megan, on the other hand, had simply shielded Auston with her body. The bullets hit her supple flesh and fell to the ground, crushed.

“You’ve resisted and refused to cooperate, Auston. As the Vice Minister of Magic, I’m arresting you by force.” Alan made another accusation to escalate the matter, reaffirming his moral high ground.

It might sound like empty words everyone knew to be lies, but it was a necessary process in a clash between people of power.

“Allow me, Alan. The great dragon is troublesome.”

Celeste took over, projecting the Astral Plane while creating a legendary mage’s vitality field to drag Megan into his world.

The higher-ups of the Ministry of Magic suspected Celeste of having defected to the Church of Heavenly Father in his undercover work, becoming a double agent. The rumors were not baseless. The old boy’s vitality field was the perfect embodiment of Holy Light, based on the gate to Heaven. He made it so that he could claim loyalty when he entered Heaven in the future.

Standing amid the sea of clouds, Megan saw nothing but white as over a hundred angels wielding sacred lances soared through the cloud pillars, circling her in an instant.

Megan narrowed her eyes. Blazing fire shot out of her eyes. Her pupils had become vertical ones as her body rose into a semi-draconic form.

“Wait, Megan.”

One angel, wielding a sacred lance, came up to her, speaking in Celeste’s voice. “I mean you no harm. I actually came to protect Auston. For some reason, Alan went mad and suddenly went after the Lando family. I’m trying to find out his true intention, so please play along.”

Fire blazed, the intense heat driving the legion of angels away. Megan unleashed her fire with an impassive face. She only listened to Auston and Silvia. Not even Celeste, who was one of her creators, had the authority to give her orders.

The justification sounded reasonable, but Megan ignored it.

Celeste had come prepared. The angel looked at Megan’s chest and said slowly, “There is a magic bomb in your heart. Both Alan and I have the authority to detonate it. Don’t fight me. Trust that I really mean you no harm.”

Ignoring him, Megan continued to transform, her enlarging body, covered in white dragon scales, tore her clothes apart. She turned into a great dragon right before the heavenly gate.

Celeste frowned. “Has Auston removed the bomb? Yes, that would be his style. But...”

He didn’t expect Auston to be capable of removing the bomb without any of the legendary mages noticing. It made sense upon second thought. If Auston didn’t have a secret, Alan wouldn’t have attacked him all of a sudden and even sought Celeste’s help out of caution. That begged the question: what was the secret?

A few days ago, Alan had contacted Celeste cryptically and claimed that there was a traitor among the Ministry of Magic, and they were a member of the Tulip Families.

Wasn’t it natural for there to be a traitor among the ministry? What was the big deal?

Celeste had thought that Alan was talking about him, so he agreed to help and wondered how he had exposed himself. Right before they set out, though, Alan specified that Auston was the traitor, prompting Celeste to quickly contact Juno.

Something was wrong. Alan was going after the Lando family.