Fire Mage (Web Novel)

Chapter 103: Important Information

Charles stared at Leo in silence and soon started to ponder.

'Why did he kidnap Noel?' He was still confused by Leo's action. In truth, he already planned to visit him in a day or two and steal his memory using the 'talking' method.

'Moreover, I actually thought of letting him live after stealing the selective information and stay hidden for the next few months. I know that killing him without any reason will cause unnecessary suspicions. There is also a possibility that Leo's supportive nobles might take it to the extreme and asks for the Tower Mages' help to find the real culprit. I may have some ability to fool normal Mystics, but I'm not sure about those Mages from the Tower of Elements. Thankfully, this fool did a great job and came here to give his life and memories.'

"Why did you kidnap Noel?" Charles asked in a puzzled tone.

At that moment, Leo curled his lips upward and asked with a wicked grin on his face.

"Do you know the real identity of Rhea, old man?"

Upon hearing those words, Charles instantly understood the other party's intention.

'He is here to blackmail me.'

As Charles had expected, Leo placed his hand on the sofa's arm and said in a cold tone.

"She is the second princess of Iron Kingdom. Two years ago, Aurora and that Blood Priest kidnapped her from the Royal Palace, erased most of her memories, and turned her into a puppet slave. I got this information from one of my snitches, who is working in the Sweet Village as a clerk, and earned some money by blackmailing them." He purposefully paused for a second to see the change in Charles's facial expression and continued with a grin.

"But the amount they gave to me was too little, and I always felt dejected whenever I thought of that transaction. I know that Rhea's worth is way more than a few hundred gold coins, so I racked my brains to think of a plan to get more money using her intel. To my surprise, you actually killed those two mystics and took her as your disciple. Now, what would happen if I told the Royal Family that you are the one who kidnapped her and manipulated her memories to turn her into your slave?"

Upon hearing Leo's words, Charles wore a shocked expression and soon asked in an anxious tone.

"What do you want?"

A mischievous smile appeared on Leo's face as he leaned his back against the settee sofa and said.

"Simple. I want 10,000 gold coins before dawn. I also heard that mages are always wealthy individuals, so it shouldn't be a problem for you to arrange this much amount, right?"

Upon hearing those words, Charles became dumbfounded!

'This guy is too daring.' He let out a deep sigh and said with a nod.

"I will give you more than 10,000 gold coins."

Saying so, Charles stood up from the seat and curled his lips upward. At the exact moment, Leo saw that the old man's wrinkled face started to turn into a smooth one and got stunned inside!

'What-" He tried to shout in surprise, but soon widened his eyes as he noticed that his whole body was starting to turn stiff!

He tried his best to move his muscles, but it was futile!

He couldn't even able to blink his eyes!

'What the f*ck is happening?' He became utterly horrified by the sudden change and soon saw a deep-blue-haired kid, around 19 years old, appeared in front of his eyes.

Before he could think further, he felt another type of invisible hand gripped his throat and started to pull him up towards the deep-blue-haired kid!

In the meantime, Charles clenched his fist tighter and punched him in the face. After that, he grabbed his hair and slammed his head on the concrete floor.

'Kid, my skill's effect will be over in a second.' When the Holem's Crown finished its words in Charles's mind, Leo suddenly regained control over his body.

Unfortunately, Charles didn't give him any time and directly slammed his head on the concrete floor!

If Leo was against an ordinary Rank-2 Mystic, he might have stood a chance. But Charles was a totally abnormal one and also had Expert level body strength.

In less than ten seconds, Charles completely ruined Leo's face and made him lose consciousness.

Charles knew nothing about Leo's Class, so only after losing his consciousness did he loosen his guard!

After that, he cast [Fire Seed] spell on Leo and tied his body using a tight rope.

At that moment, the guards from the outside also heard the commotion and started banging the door while asking anxiously.

"Boss, are you okay?"

A mischievous smile appeared on Charles's face as he cleared his throat, attuned his voice into Leo's one using the voice-changing artifact, and spoke with a grin.

"I'm alright." He paused for a moment as he obtained the precise information about one of the guards' names and added loudly.

"It looks like I need some time to make this old man submit to me completely. Declan, go and bring that chubby kid. For the next two hours, don't disturb me, morons."

"Yes, boss." One of the guards responded, and soon Charles heard running footsteps.

'Hehe, this voice-changing artifact sure is useful. Although it fooled Leo's lackeys now, I can't delay more than 2 hours. They might get suspicious if I take too much time.' Charles instantly changed his appearance into an old man's one and started controlling the [Fire Seed] spell to burn more memories.

Memories about thieves' secrets, Slum's Borough gang leaders' secret treasures or weapons, their skill information started appearing one by one in the depth of Charles's Inner-world.

As he was absorbing the memories, he soon heard footsteps from above and soon saw Rhea was running down the stairs with a panicking face.

In the mid-way, she halted her footsteps and soon froze as she saw the unconscious Leo.

Meanwhile, Charles placed his finger over his lips and signaled her to go upstairs.

Widening her eyes, Rhea instantly wiped her tears, turned around, and moved upward.

'She must have heard my fake voice and got panicked.' Charles wasn't angered by her decision to come downstairs. If he were in her position, he would have done the same thing.

Shaking his head, he turned his attention on the unconscious Leo and sat on the floor in a cross-legged position.

Although Leo tried to regain consciousness from time to time, Charles smacked his head all the time and silently absorbed his memories.

After 15 minutes, Charles suddenly gained information about a Fire Field's heart's location in the Tower-

'1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 …Damn it, I almost screwed up.' He instantly counted numbers to distract his thought and soon moved his consciousness into the Inner World.

In a second, his original young form hovered in the air, and soon he moved attention towards the new information.

'Fire Fiend's heart- It is mostly used as a sacrifice to please the will of Fire Elemental Plane. There are always tens of hearts stored in Layer 5, Secret Chamber number 356 in the Tower of Elements.' A smile crept on Charles's face as he finally found the information he needed most. His illusionary jade eyes wandered the gloomy forest and soon found the newborn clone 'Him' in the farther corner of the inner world.

Charles instantly waved his hand, shrunken the memory about the 'Fire Fiend's heart', and turned it into a red pebble-like structure. After that, his figure disappeared from there and soon reappeared in the farthest area.

At this moment, the clone 'Him' was watching a memory of his real parents near a volcanic mountain. The clone 'Him' stood at the edge of the volcano mountain and watched the moment when an assassin was entering their house.

Suddenly, the nearby rock shook for a moment and soon turned into a figure similar to the clone's appearance!

"Charles." The clone 'Him' turned his face towards Charles and said in an expressionless tone.

Charles could feel that his new consciousness was actually trying to greet him and smiled.

"You are improving-" He stopped for a moment and soon added.

"Absorb this stone into your body, and don't let the memory escape from this Inner world."

After that, Charles concentrated his attention on the [Flame Body] spell model in the sky and soon left the Inner world.

A second later, he opened his eyes in the reception hall and soon wore a confused look on his face.

'Why did I enter the Inner World? Wait… I gave something important to my clone, but I couldn't recall what it is…' In an instant, Charles's eyes widened.

'Did I receive some important information about the Tower of Elements and gave it to my clone to bypass the power of 'Fate'?'

'It appears so.' He nodded his head in understanding and then continued to focus his attention on absorbing the memories from Leo's Inner world.