Soul of Searing Steel

When the mages of the Imperial City had come to a mutual decision, Joshua was waiting for the activation of the teleportation circle at the hall of St. Laurent Cathedral.

Other than the top floor of the liege's residence, which has a teleportation door that was built by Master Nostradamus himself, Moldavia only had two more other teleportation circles facilitated in the territory. One was located in the merchant square in the northern region of the city and the other one was located at the main hall of St. Laurent Cathedral.

A young pastor was busy making adjustments on the teleportation circle. The circle that was dim in the beginning was slowly lit up. Light flashed across the circle as it fuelled up with Holy Light. The blue dimensional energy began to operate. Particles of florescent lights drifted in the air, filling up the entire church hall.

"The portal to White Pigeon City is already opened."

The apprentice who had adjusted the circle was a boy with black hair. He was probably no more than twenty years old. He looked a little embarrassed and shy when he talked. After confirming that the portal had been opened, he sighed with relief then smiled nervously at the crowd and said softly, "My liege, you are free to use it at any time."

"Thank you for your hard work."

The warrior nodded at the boy. The Misty Pocket Watch seemed to be effective. Even the shy boy did not flinch the moment he saw the warrior; only a little uneasy and nervous, nothing more.

If that was the case, Joshua's presence at the Imperial City would not draw too much attention.

Joshua turned around and observed the teleportation circle that was cast using a Divine Spell.

In his previous life, the warrior had used the teleportation circles to travel. Even though the magic circle cast using a Divine Spell before him seemed a little different from other magic circles out there, the effects and functions of it remained the same as the others. This magic circle cast with Divine Spell could even save on the usage of energy as it could function more efficiently with a lower input of energy.

The Mycroft Continent was really vast. A person would not be able to walk from one end of the continent to the other end in a lifetime. Even people with Professions would not be able to do so without the help of teleportation spells.

There were countless daemons and monsters hiding in the wilderness, hills and the plains. With thieves and fierce interracial tribes, even large-scale caravans would find it difficult to handle, especially the journey between the mountains and the Dark Forest. There were unimaginable dangers on this route. It would be extremely difficult to push forward if one did not have the strength of a Gold-tier champion or a gigantic draconic beast to lead on the front.

No matter how prosperous a city was, the city would remain a rural area if the city was not facilitated with a teleportation circle. The North had always been addressed as the remote border zone because of the frequent turbulences that blew across the area, making it impossible for the land to have a teleportation door. However, the circumstances had changed since last year. Starting from this spring, adventurers from all over the world were able to use teleportation circle at the merchant square to go to Moldavia before they headed out to the mountains and the icelands for some adventures of their own.

Through the blue dimensional door, the warrior could see the grand hall of the White Pigeon Church. Joshua could even see the golden patterns on the walls of the grand hall.

The teleportation networks across the entire Mycroft Continent were normally categorized as three different sets of networks. One set was a teleportation network between the Trade Council that was opened to civilians who were willing to pay a fee to gain access. Another was an internal network that was established by the governments of the kingdoms. Basically, only the noblemen or the military forces had access to that network. The last set of Teleportation Network would be the network that belonged to the Church of the Seven Gods. That network operated in a much stricter manner than the commercial and the national network. It depended on the prestige of the users in the local church.

Joshua's reputation, went without saying, granted him the access to that network.

After waiting for the dimensional door to become completely stable, the warrior brought Ying and Ling with him to cross into the dimensional door.

At the same time, in the Imperial City.

"I'm truly sorry. I just simply do not have the time for anything else right now."

When the mage who paid the Kaos family a visit had finally met the blonde swordsman and euphemistically requested help from the swordsman, the answer he received was a cold rejection, "Please leave."

The Kaos family was located at the north side of the inner region of the Imperial City. They lived in a quaint classic house. Their house looked exactly like any other ordinary houses. But, the interior of the house was very luxurious.

Just like the starry sky, the floor shimmered with gold particles of reflective lights. There were also silvery circular pyroxene lamp on the ceilings. One would feel as if one was standing in the depths of the sky. The middle-aged mage from the Royal Mage Guild stood in the middle of the living hall. After being rejected by Brandon, his face turned red with anger. However, the mage could not vent his anger in front of this person before him.

In the presence of the person who would be inheriting the name of the most powerful family mage in the whole Imperial City, the mage did not dare to say anything more even though he was a Gold-tier mage himself. After all, the blond-haired swordsman who stood before him was the next holy swordsman in line.

But then again, the mage already knew the outcome of that visit beforehand.

There were many factions in the Royal Mage Guild. The old Mage behind that mage who spoke to Brandon had always been on different terms with Brandon, the Kaos Family, and Nostradamus. Upon paying a visit to the mansion of the Kaos, the middle-aged mage was well aware of the situation. He even guessed that trying to ask for a favor from Brandon would definitely be in vain. Now that Brandon rejected his request nicely, the situation was better than he had anticipated it to be.

"Listen well, Freyer. I know exactly what you all are up to. You just want to rely on me to purify the shroud that is being released by the Chest of Erebus."

Right before the middle-aged mage could bid farewell and leave the mansion, Brandon Kaos suddenly began to speak, "Although your mentor was always not on the best term with my family, this involves the dignity of all the mages in our kingdom. I don't want to hear that the imbeciles from the Skypiercing White Tower to laugh at us."

The middle-aged mage by the name Freyer halted instantly. He turned around and looked at the swordsman with a little joy and surprise before he spoke again, "Does that mean that you've changed your mind, Brandon? Do you intend to help us then?"

"No, of course not. I really don't have the time to help you. I didn't lie about that."

The blond swordsman was calm and gentle. He waved his hand as he turned over to look at the clock in the living hall. He seemed to be in a good mood. So he explained to the mage patiently, "I'm heading to the North to meet with my wife and my daughters. We're about to go out on a family trip. Your troubles are not as important as what I am about to do."

—A family trip?

Freyer froze. The news about Brandon's marriage had yet to be widely circulated. So Freyer could not understand what the swordsman meant by those words. However, Brandon's next sentence caught his attention. "Although I won't be helping you all, I will still recommend you to another candidate that could be a great help to you all. He also possesses the power to purify. He's even stronger than me in such regard."

Brandon smiled as he said that. The middle-aged man was not aware of that at all. He swiftly asked the swordsman, "Who?!"

"A friend of mine. I have no idea why he has yet to answer me through the communication network though. So I too, am not sure whether he would actually have the time to help you all. You can give it a try though."

The blond swordsman shrugged as he said the name that made Freyer get tensed up. "Joshua van Radcliffe, the baron of the Northern Territory, Moldavia—Perhaps you are familiar with that name by now. He is the candidate that I wanted to recommend to you."

"The count who slew dragons, the man who stopped the Dark Tide all by himself in the battlefield?"

Furrowing his brow, the middle-aged mage collected his thoughts before he spoke again, a little doubtfully, "I know. Of course I know who he is. That man has contributed more to the army than anyone in the entire history—he was even praised by the Emperor himself not long ago. But, that man is a warrior, is he not?"

Freyer did not say anything further. However, the unasked question was obvious—could a man who knows nothing about magic really provide help to their research?

"Although I am born in the family of mages, I am more of a swordsman than a mage. As long as the black shroud that comes from the Chest of Erebus can be purified, then the class would not matter. A warrior or a mage, the end result remains the priority."

Brandon turned around, not bothered by the distrust of the mage before him, and ordered his servants to show the guest out of his mansion, "I don't need to lie to you on this matter. Speaking about the ability to purify the power of darkness and chaos, Joshua is far better than I am. As long as you can locate his whereabouts and persuade him to help you, he will not disappoint you."

"So please leave now. Alfred, escort the guest to the gate now."