After dealing with the ambushing mages, Benjamin stopped temporarily at the foot of the mountain and found a hidden cave to interrogate these people. The dozen or so mages in Crewe Town could only follow behind and wait patiently for the matter to end.
However, while waiting, their mood was definitely not calm.
"...What kind of mage did we meet?"
"I don't know, this kind of strength is too scary, isn't it? Are all foreign mages at this level? Or is it just this senior who is particularly powerful?"
"Although I always call him senior, why do I seem to feel that he is not that old?"
For these mages, what they encountered on this day was probably the most shocking scene they had ever encountered in their lives. They live in the Kingdom of Hori, and the church and priests are like a gray sky above their heads, as if they can never get rid of them. However, now, a mage appears and kills so many priests casually, which simply subverts their worldview.
Therefore, while Benjamin tortured the priests, these mages were waiting outside the cave, talking to each other, almost never stopping the discussion.
However, Elizabeth remained silent beside her, her eyes blank, not knowing what she was thinking.
"Why does your expression look weird?" A mage noticed her and asked.
Elizabeth came back to her senses, tapped her forehead with her finger, and replied with some distress: "This mage... I think I have seen him once before."
Hearing this, the others were stunned again.
"Really?"
Elizabeth nodded and said: "Do you know the huge water polo in Havenlet before? If nothing else, he should have made it. Before that, he had lived for a period of time as a noble child of the royal capital."
After hearing this, the mages looked at each other, not knowing what to say for a while.
"So disappointed. It turns out he is not a foreigner?" Only the short mage scratched his head and sighed.
"I originally escaped from here." At this moment, Benjamin happened to come out of the cave. He said this as he walked.
Upon hearing this, the mages immediately turned their heads.
"Senior, are you done asking?"
Everyone looked at him in awe.
Benjamin shook his head, suddenly clapped his hands, and recited a short spell. The water element field spread out from him, covering all the mages. Before the mages could react, several streams of water vapor flew into the pockets of several of them, and flew out with several silver coins in their hands.
"S-Senior, what are you..."
"Shhh."
Benjamin made a silent gesture, then waved his hand, and several silver coins flew into the air, and were crushed into powder by the sudden burst of water vapor.
The mages looked blank. But today, they have seen too many magical methods beyond imagination. Therefore, they were not so surprised.
Benjamin nodded.
"Okay, now the church people can't search for your location."
These priests were still tight-lipped, and they had to be on guard against suicide at all times during the interrogation. It took a lot of effort to finally get such a result.
Those silver coins are a kind of magic prop specially made by the church, which can use spiritual power to track the location of the bearer. Therefore, there is no traitor among these mages. They just collected the church's tracker when they were not paying attention, which is why so many priests ambush them just now.
"So this is ah… "
When the mages heard this, they realized what was going on.
The church has actually been observing them in this way!
Elizabeth took a deep breath and suddenly spoke, "Benjamin Reese?"
When Benjamin heard this, he rubbed his head in embarrassment. However, he did not deny it, but nodded.
"Elizabeth Wood, I didn't expect to meet you here." He said slowly, "Your family said that you died of a serious illness, but... you are still alive and well now, and you have become a mage, and The last two orphans of the Silent Academy walked together."
Suddenly being pointed out, the two mages, one tall and one short, looked at each other and whispered: "What's going on with this man? How does he know that we are from Silent Academy? Do we know him..."
Others seemed to have gotten used to their mutterings, though.
Elizabeth lowered her head, was silent for a while, and said, "Not the last two orphans of Silent Academy, but the last three."
Benjamin raised his eyebrows when he heard this.
She is actually from Silent Academy too? This is really... So his death from a serious illness should be just an excuse for the Wood family. Taking a nobleman from the royal capital to learn magic, Silent Academy was really bold at that time.
After thinking for a while, Benjamin asked again: "So... Silent Academy is now..."
Elizabeth nodded and said: "Teachers, elders... everyone died in the encirclement and suppression. Only three of us escaped using the tunnel built a hundred years ago."
Although there was no fluctuation in her voice, it had a heavy and depressing tone.
"…Condolences."
Hearing this, Elizabeth shook her head and said nothing.
The atmosphere was silent for a while. When Benjamin saw this, he coughed a few times and changed the subject: "Then... let's leave from here first. This is the place where the silver coins were last destroyed. The church may send people here again."
Hearing this, the other mages nodded hurriedly. So, Benjamin took them and continued flying up the mountain.
"I'll take you abroad first. After you go out, there won't be so many priests chasing you. You can go to Freden or Carites, or you can go near the Magic Academy. In short... there should be some in the outside world. There are a lot of things you don’t understand, and if you want to live a good life as a mage, you have to learn a lot of new things.”
"Senior, um... can I tell others that I am a mage outside? Will I not be arrested? Will other people look at us strangely?"
"How many countries are there overseas, and which country is more suitable to live in?"
"Magic Academy? What is that..."
The fear gradually subsided, and these mages found that Benjamin was relatively approachable. Therefore, their problems instantly poured out like a flood that broke through a dam, and Benjamin couldn't cope with it for a while.
He could only answer these people's questions as briefly as possible, otherwise he would use words like "you will know when you get out" to excuse them. But despite this, these mages still asked questions one after another. Perhaps the future before them was too blank, and they kept asking questions for three days and three nights.
Fortunately, after going up the mountain, monsters began to attack continuously. Benjamin was about to take out his hand to deal with the monster, and finally got a moment of respite.
In the end, it took several hours for Benjamin to easily climb over this mountain that was so towering in front of these mages.
Falling on the ground on the other side of the mountain, every mage's expression looked like he was dreaming.
"I...I left the Kingdom of Hori...I am free..."
In this short day, their lives have become completely different from before.
Benjamin smiled too.
"This is the map of Icoldo. With this, you can find the nearest town. But I still advise you not to stop in Icoldo. If you want to stay, go somewhere else."
These mages obviously have no idea about names like Icol and Freden at the moment, but they still took the map and nodded gratefully towards Benjamin.
"T-Thank you! You saved our lives!"
Benjamin shook his head and said, "That's it. I still have things to do, so I'll go back to the Kingdom of Hori first. You should also leave here as soon as possible to avoid being discovered by people near the gate."
"We understand."
Just when Benjamin turned around and was about to fly back to the mountain, suddenly, Elizabeth, who had been silent, spoke up and stopped Benjamin.
"… etc."