Chapter 32: The Sorcerer (II)

After bringing the mage in black robes, the adventurer bowed to the people in the secret room and then respectfully left.
The mage in black robes looked at the young man leading them and asked in a slightly raised tone, “Black Knight Jack?”
The leader of the Black Knight Brotherhood, known as Black Knight Jack, chuckled and replied, “Exactly! This must be the notorious criminal wanted by both the Hand of Justice and the kingdom of Tholon—Mr. Gorman, the sorcerer!”
“Have those lackeys of the Hand of Justice already spread word to this remote northern region?”
Instead of answering Gorman, Black Knight Jack gazed into the sorcerer’s dark eyes and said softly, “Mr. Gorman, your strength is astonishing. I don’t understand why you would want to join the nobles—organizations as powerful as the Thieves’ Guild, Shadow Demon City, and Fallen Tarlin would be more than happy to have you!”
The sorcerer glanced at the young thief leader in surprise and said, “As the leader of a thieves’ gang, you know quite a bit! It seems you have some backing as well.”
As a spellcaster who embraced darkness, evil, and chaos, sorcerers were generally rejected by most human factions. They were especially regarded as heretics by the True God Church and national organizations of the righteous camp, who would attack them at the slightest opportunity.
While not all sorcerers were evil—indeed, there were no good ones among them—most could indeed be considered outright villains. The extreme ones were usually psychologically twisted and abnormal, engaging in every kind of evil for pleasure.
Thus, sorcerers tended to be reclusive, with few friends and almost enemies everywhere. Even if they wanted to join an organization, they would choose to be part of dark forces.
The three major organizations mentioned by Black Knight Jack were backed by powerful true gods and were willing to accept members from the evil camp. As long as they did not violate their core principles, those from the evil camp could find refuge even in neutral or righteous territories. Of course, some purely good and orderly organizations still wouldn’t tolerate chaos or evil.
Gorman, who had always been selfish and independent, had never considered this. He wanted to join a thieves’ gang simply because such small groups didn’t restrict his strength and were easier to control.

“Let me tell you the truth! If I want to win, the best choice is obviously to use strength. The second reason is that by following you here, I can kill and burn freely without worrying about exposing my identity. Everything I do can be blamed on your Black Knights Brotherhood—as long as you clean up the traces for me. All the gains from the operation go to you. This way, it boosts your organization’s reputation, brings you real benefits, and you also get the power of a silver-ranked powerhouse like me!”
“A silver-ranked powerhouse? You haven’t broken through that limit yet, have you?”
As a peak bronze-ranked powerhouse, Black Knight Jack was quite confident in his own abilities. Although the power of this sorcerer before him was somewhat strange, it should still not have surpassed the bronze rank.
Faced with the young thief leader’s question, Gao Man snapped angrily, “Young man, don’t try to judge a spellcaster’s strength using the standards of warriors, especially a great sorcerer! Though I haven’t reached the silver rank, the power in my innate bloodline allows me to summon and control a powerful silver-ranked demon. Don’t provoke a sorcerer’s anger—or destroying a small remote city like Giant Stone City would be a piece of cake!”
As the leader of an underground organization backed by the ruler of Giant Stone City, the young man naturally knew the other party was just boasting to inflate his own status.
Although demons were said to be much stronger than peers of the same rank, they couldn’t escape rank limitations, especially after being summoned to the main world, where their strength would be further suppressed. There were at least three silver-ranked powerhouses in Giant Stone City: Mage Messel, the Archpriest of the Agricultural Temple, and the commander of the city’s defense forces. Two of them were even silver-ranked spellcasters. Three against one—trying to massacre an entire city with just one silver-ranked demon? It was a ridiculous delusion.
Of course, Black Knight Jack wouldn’t believe the other party’s exaggerated claims. But he also didn’t want to offend this mood-swinging sorcerer and face the wrath of a silver demon in this enclosed chamber.
So, after whispering a few words with his subordinates, the young man said, “By rule, outsiders who want to join our Brotherhood must complete a task to prove themselves. This task is quite difficult, and they must not reveal any of their identities. I wonder if Mr. Gao Man is willing to take it on?”
“What task?” Gao Man asked, somewhat interested.

“This is information about the target. Take your time to review it before making a decision. If you can complete this mission, not only will you be officially admitted as a member, but you’ll also receive a generous reward of a thousand gold sols!” After saying this, one of the men behind Black Knight Jack immediately took out a piece of parchment and handed it to the sorcerer.

Gao Man glanced at its contents and said disdainfully, “Just a black-iron level 1 mage, and one who has just been promoted from apprentice—does that really make you so nervous?”

Black Knight Jack replied with implied significance, “That person isn’t an ordinary mage. The master behind him is none other than the top mage in the North County!”

Hearing this, Gao Man looked down again and suddenly realized, “So it was really you guys who did that last time. I wondered who would have the audacity to attempt to assassinate a mage with such connections!”

“What? Are you scared? Given the difficulty of the mission, we’ve even arranged two assistants to help you. You’ll meet them shortly.”

Faced with Black Knight Jack’s provocation, Gao Man proudly raised his head and said, “I don’t need any help. Although the target has complicated connections, sorcerers and mages are natural enemies. Regardless of whatever grudges you or your backers may have against that little mage, I’ll take on this mission anyway. Even if it’s a summoner, I can easily deal with them! Just wait to hear good news!”

“Since that’s the case, I won’t force you. Arrange a residence for Mr. Gao Man in the city, with the highest standard of treatment!”

With that, two men in black led the sorcerer out of the secret room. Black Knight Jack and the other high-ranking members of the bandit group left as well, heading to an underground hall—their true stronghold.

“That sorcerer seems to get along poorly with mages. The helpers summoned by those two old men are also mages, so it’s unlikely they’ll work together! Just use them as a backup!”

In truth, Black Knight Jack didn’t trust the unfamiliar sorcerer at all. But he couldn’t refuse the orders given by Viscount Macbeth for now. Fortunately, they didn’t need to take action themselves—just hand over the entire mission to the sorcerer and his group. In one of the secret rooms in this underground stronghold, two figures wrapped tightly in black cloaks followed a man in black inside. Just as before when the sorcerer was received, the young leader of the Black Knight Brotherhood met them in the secret room.

If Donald were here, he would surely be able to recognize the identities of these two mages. They are the Snow Mage he once defeated and his friend, Mage Naron.