Soulless Players

Chapter 40: Question and Answer

"I have no intention to kill you," Philip said while lowering the gun. He then crouched down and faced Emile with a detached expression.

"I am just doing my mission, you see." He paused as if mulling about something, "Yes. You are right. I did kick Loen in the past. But I had no intention of killing him. If I had, his spine would break like yours."

Emile trembled upon hearing Philip's words. Based on Philip's strength, resorting to a physical fight was an easy matter for him. But he didn't. He just gave Loen a kick. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Realization dawned on Emile as he asked a question, breathlessly, "So then, what is your purpose?"

Philip sighed deeply and replied, "I only meant to subdue him to save the child. After all, I needed him alive for my mission. Never would I have expected the child to have a gun and downright kill the magician...."

Emile's pupils dilated and became alert. Philip's words made no sense to him. Because if he needed Steve to be alive, why did he later kill him?

Noticing his confusion, Philip smirked evilly, "Well, I happen to know after that he was the reason why I failed my mission."

Philip stopped and thought about whether to continue or not. Meanwhile, Emile on the side waited for him to continue.

"Anger blinded me, you see. It was only later I calmed down that I realized what I had done."

Philip gazed at Emile with madness and playfully said, "Well, it's an enjoyable pleasure. Hehe"

Emile looked away, not wanting to see Philip's eyes. 'He's a lunatic!' was what all on his mind.

"You wanted to be spared, right? It's simple. Just answer three of my questions and I'll let you free." Philip smiled gracefully and said, "So, do we have a deal?"

Emile had no choice but to nod in agreement. He wanted nothing more but to stay away from the lunatic.

"First. Do you know where Philip is?"

"You know that kid?" Emile asked, surprised about Philip's first question.

"Just answer."

"No." But seeing that Philip was not content with his answer, he continued,

"We did look for him after he fell from the cliff. But after more than a week, we still could not find him. It was as if he vanished from the phase of the earth."

Philip nodded uninterestedly, but deep inside, he was smirking. This was what he was curious about. He knew they were investigating him but had no idea about its scope.

'So they can't find me with their magic…' Philip thought. It was good news to him as his transformation ability was good enough to bypass these so-called magicians.

"Second, why are you looking for those kids?" Philip asked. He had always wanted to know about their reason. Are they similar to his parents and Auntie Marissa who somehow has knowledge about the game? Or are there any other reasons?

"It was the job of the Magicians to investigate the abnormality happening in the mortal world. We perceived they were strange and different and wanted to know whether they used magic or not."

Emile then said like it was obvious, "As you know, it was greatly prohibited to use magic against mortals. So if they were in possession of magic without relations to any schools, we have the right to subdue them and later exact punishment."

"Well, that is what we have been saying to everyone." Emile hesitantly said, his tone filled with embarrassment,

"But the truth is, magicians as we are, we are obsessed with strange phenomena and powers... We wanted to study and dissect them."

"A for this case, we are heavily invested with Philip and Steve, one who controls the weather and one who can perceive the strength of another."

Philip shook, all of these were new knowledge to him. Besides, he was surprised by their conjecture. 'What controls the weather? Are they talking about me?'

After some thought, he realized how they came up with the speculation.

'Are they mistaking me for controlling the torrents and lightning in the forest?' Philip looked at Emile, feeling amused.

He didn't correct them as it was advantageous to him. The more they don't know about his real ability, the more he confuses them.

Philip controlled his lips from curling upwards as he threw his last question,

"What's that?" he asked tersely, gazing at the ring on Emile's finger.

Emile followed his gaze and looked at his bloody fingers. When he caught sight of the silver ring with a purple stone embedded at the top, he asked back,

"This? You don't know about this?"

Philip just stared at Emile. Not confirming nor denying him. As he had to act like he was a strong person, he had to create an image of a superior bored out of his mind.

While Emile was slightly surprised, he just answered his question,

"Well, this is a spatial ring. It's a reward from the Blue Moon event. You can also buy this at the Blue Moon marketplace."

Suddenly, a murky green bottle came out from the ring. Emile drank it, and shortly all of his wounds and fractures healed.

'What the hell!' Philip almost jumped from fright. He had a lot of questions. Like how to use it, do they have a tracking device, or what is a blue moon.

However, he was forced to stop upon hearing footsteps from a distance.

'They arrived so fast,' Philip gritted his teeth. He knew that people would come after he fired the gun. With how the country placed heavy restrictions on any firearms and painted them as evil weapons, it would be obvious for people to report to the authorities upon hearing a gunshot.

Philip stood up. Emile also followed suit. They both look at each other, with one wanting to quickly flee away and one mumbling as if he wants to ask more questions.

"Stop looking for Philip. He is a descendant of my clan." Philip could only say these words. He hoped that they would not be too obsessed with catching him.

While Emile was curious about this whole descendant thing, he nodded and complied. The people were coming, and his identity must remain hidden from the masses. After all, he was not an ordinary person.

When Emile was about to walk away, Philip said, "Wait. Give me the ring."

Emile bared his teeth as he slowly threw his ring to Philip. Even though he didn't want to, he had no choice as Philip was stronger than him.

Moreover, Philip possessed a gun, a perfect killing weapon for weak mages like him. So he really had no choice but to give in.

Philip watched Emile flee with a downcast gaze. Shortly, he jumped up high from roof to roof, leaving the dried leaves and Emile's blood on the ground.

***

A little while later, Philip returned to his room and saw Maris sleeping on another bed.

He stopped for a moment before changing his clothes to a child. Afterward, he laid down on his bed, now in his original child form. His eyes were opened, staring at the ceiling above.

'I failed at infiltrating the Evans,' Philip sighed.

His original plan was to take and hide the gun inside the Evans. And later, he would use the homeless kids to spread a rumor of them having firearms.

He would then order someone to report to the police that he saw some suspicious people trading firearms at Evans. And finally, take them to the place where he hid the gun.

It was a simple plan that Philip had constructed. And he believed that it would be a success. However, Emile's presence had utterly destroyed everything.

'It will be more difficult to follow this plan again,' He knew that the Evans would start to increase their security after the gunshot. Infiltrating their mansion would be risky to him.

Philip rolled around, faced the wall, and thought, 'It's a pity I failed, but it wasn't totally an unproductive night.'

He now knew some information about the mysterious side of the world and deemed it a great tradeoff.

'First, those who wield magic are called magicians or mages. The north is their territory, and they are conducting research about anything peculiar at sight.'

Philip suspected that they must be observing him all this time after he escaped four years ago. They just didn't touch him as he didn't show anything magical these years. After all, they were restricted from touching ordinary people.

'Second, they don't know about the game and the identity of players.'

Based on Auntie Marissa's letter, she called herself a witch prophet. Meaning, a different spectrum from magicians.

'Are prophets not magicians? If that is the case, magicians could not peek into the past and the future.'

This was good news to Philip as he knew that he was under the observation of the magicians. If they had a time-related ability, then it would be easy for them to catch him.

'Seeing that they still had no idea about my whereabouts had further confirmed my speculations,' Philip breathed a sigh of relief.

'Lastly, about the Blue Moon event. What is it? Is it the other name for the black market? Can I participate in this?'

Philip had no way of knowing these as his knowledge was limited.

'Then I guess I have to be more aggressive in gathering information,' This was Philip's last thought before he closed his eyes and slept.