Close Combat Mage
chapter-252

Crunch…crunch…crunch…

The crisp sound of a person walking on snow seemed much clearer on the spacious and empty plain. Suo Jia walked forward step by step, his mood not as bad as it should have been.

After leaving Holy Light City, Suo Jia had caught up to Aimi, Aila, and his mother, then escorted them back to his hometown, White Granary. Although the Fourth Prince had gained the White Villa, as well as Dawn, Suo Jia still had some money on him. After buying the largest, most luxurious castles in the town, he left behind 10 billion gold and then left the town alone.

Before he left, Suo Jia ordered Aimi and Aila to enter closed door training with all their concentration during the next three years, while also looking after his mother. They weren’t to go out; hired servants would be responsible for provisions.

Although Holy Light Empire wasn’t large, Suo Jia wasn’t worried about his mother and the two girls being captured. The Fourth Prince’s target had been locked onto Suo Jia from the beginning to end. As long as he revealed himself elsewhere to pull away all the attention towards him, and his mother, Aimia, and Aila stayed in the house, nobody in the world would be able to find them.

Originally, Suo Jia hadn’t needed to fall to this extent. If he had just agreed to become the Fourth Prince’s subordinate, everything would’ve been restored to what it was like originally, and even get better. Suo Jia had skills, ability, and would surely help the Fourth Prince. However, he still resolutely refused to choose this.

The Fourth Prince had stood at the wrong position from the very beginning. He had calculated Suo Jia into his plans this whole time; moreover, the situation had worsened because Suo Jia had broken these plans. Although he didn’t understand the Fourth Prince’s exact scheme, Suo Jia knew that the Fourth Prince had always included him. It was precisely for this reason that Suo Jia was steadfast on helping the Emperor, who he wasn’t as close to, rather than rely on the Fourth Prince’s help.

Actually, the Fourth Prince had made another major error; he shouldn’t have let Suo Jia know the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes were his subordinates. Suo Jia really placed heavy importance on those girls; he’d gained not only money from them, but many emotions and hope as well. Having suddenly experienced betrayal, how was Suo Jia supposed to have been lured into the one that had incited the betrayal?

It could be said that while the Fourth Prince was smugly telling Suo Jia that the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes were his subordinates, and that Suo Jia had been manipulated that whole time, it was already impossible for Suo Jia to join him. From that moment on, the Fourth Prince had become Suo Jia’s greatest enemy.

Now, Suo Jia had lost the White Villa, lost Dawn, lost the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes that he had spent so much effort to support; he’d pretty much lost everything. However, Suo Jia wasn’t actually that upset; on the contrary, he had been roused. If the Fourth Prince had taken away Suo Jia’s everything, then there would come a day where he’d return and take away the Fourth Prince’s everything.

Since Suo Jia now needed to draw the Fourth Prince’s attention towards him, he had to reveal himself. At the same time, Suo Jia also wanted to quickly raise his strength. Otherwise, he’d never be able to regain the debt that the Fourth Prince owed him.

Although Suo Jia’s goal this whole time had been the Greater Trade Routes, Suo Jia had never had the courage to embark on this journey. As a Great Mage, he still didn’t have the qualifications to rush headlong into the Greater Trade Routes; his strength was just too lacking.

But now, new hatred piled on old. Having been forced by the circumstances, Suo Jia had to start on his journey on the Greater Trade Routes. He knew that while it was still very dangerous, this was precisely the reason why he had to do it; only then would he be able to train. Both his intelligence and strength would quickly increase.

It could be said that those who had successfully passed through the Greater Trade Routes were all recorded as legendary heroes. If they could proclaim themselves hegemons on the Greater Trade Routes, they’d be like the Seven Pinnacles, Epic ranked heroes. Only then would he be able to easily achieve his desires including stealing the kingship of the Empire.

Crunch…crunch…crunch…

Advancing dauntlessly through wave upon wave of endless attacks from pursuers, Suo Jia had already wandered around various paths on the map. As he looked around at the boundless white plains, Suo Jia realized that he had already gotten lost. After over a month of being chased, Suo Jia had finally gotten the chance to take a breath. That was because…while Suo Jia had gotten lost, he’d also seemed to have shaken off his pursuers.

As a mage, Suo Jia’s physical strength wasn’t that good with covering long distances. If it weren’t for the constant replenishment from the four colored potions, he would’ve collapsed from exhaustion ages ago. Now…although his energy and endurance weren’t any issue, his mind was still tired. After trekking around for over a month, he needed a stable, warm place to rest for a bit.

Suo Jia suddenly stopped in his tracks. He could see his breath coming out in huffs as he perked his ears to listen closely. Soon, he heard a faint roar of a beast. At this, Suo Jia’s face broke into a delighted smile.

The Megaconus was a type of magical beast that could be tamed. Although its body was small, it was extremely fast, and had an extraordinarily sensitive sense of smell. It was the nemesis of most small-sized magical beasts, and also the best assistant to hunters. The sound that Suo Jia had just heard was the roar of a Megaconus; in other words, Suo Jia had finally encountered a person.

Suo Jia quickened his pace, running towards the direction of the sound as fast as possible. Soon…a few Megaconus figures appeared before him.

The Megaconus had a tiger’s head, a dog’s body, and a lion’s tail. Its most unique part was the two large teeth next to its mouth. A single chomp was enough to pulverize even steel. Although it wasn’t strong in 1v1 fights, if a large group of Megaconus of 5 or more fought together, any large-sized magical beast would be forced to flee. If their numbers reached 100, then they’d be basically unrivaled, aside from high-ranked magical beasts.

But in reality, the Megaconus was something only hunters would raise, because its individual strength was too low. It was at most only a middle-ranked magical beast, so true warriors would never bother raising one.

“Freeze.” A voice of warning suddenly came from in front of him.

Suo Jia started, and immediately stopped. When he glanced over, he saw 5 figures wearing animal skins, standing about 50 meters away. The bows in their hands were all pointed towards Suo Jia. It was clear that as they didn’t know Suo Jia’s purpose for coming, the sharp arrows would be immediately shot towards him if he dared to advance. At the same time, those 5 Megaconus would also bound over to rip him to pieces.

Suo Jia stood in place with a bitter smile. He knew that no matter how strong he was, his current strength wasn’t enough to defeat 5 Megaconus and 5 senior hunters at the same time. In addition, he wanted to ask the other people something, so he couldn’t possibly provoke them.

Suo Jia smiled and declared, “Don’t be mistaken. I’m simply a lost wanderer; I have no ill intentions. I just want to ask for directions.”

“Hmph.” One of the hunters opposite him snorted, “Don’t try to deceive us. We’ve seen mages before; they dress similarly to you.”

“Eh.” Only after hearing the other party’s words did Suo Jia realized that he had never seemed to have seen the clothes they were wearing before. Although they only wore animal skins, the shape and cut of the clothes were different from what Suo Jia knew. Most importantly, the fur of the skins were all on the outside.

In Holy Light Empire, all the hunters had the fur on the inside of the leather clothing. Firstly due to the aesthetic reasons, and secondly due to increase warmth. But the hunters in front of Suo Jia now had the fur on the outer surface, which confused him.

Soon, Suo Jia realized that this place was most likely no longer Holy Light Empire. As he inspected the opposite party, he asked sincerely, “May I ask, is this Holy Light Empire’s territory?”

The hunters opposite him started, then…one of the older hunters finally sighed and put down his bow. He said with a smile, “It looks like you really are lost. This isn’t Holy Light’s territory, it’s actually Kaya Empire’s territory.”

“Ka…Kaya.” Suo Jia felt dizziness rush through his head. After all this time, he’d unknowingly reached Holy Light’s neighboring country. No wonder he was lost…with a map of Holy Light Empire, how was he supposed to find his way around Kaya Empire?

Author’s Note:

The reason I say they didn’t betray anyone is because they didn’t do anything bad to Suo Jia. Even when the Fourth Prince had ordered them to hunt Suo Jia down, they hadn’t acted. They hadn’t ever gone against any of Suo Jia’s orders, so how could they be said to have betrayed him?

Saying they betrayed him isn’t excessive either. Not listening to the Fourth Prince’s words was betrayal, but they simultaneously let Suo Jia meet with misfortune, which was also betrayal. Thus….everyone should properly consider their difficult circumstances. If it were you, exactly who would you be loyal to? Would it be a petty oath of devotion in to the Fourth Prince, who held their families in his hand, or to their benefactor with whom that had strong emotions for, Suo Jia? Loyalty couldn’t be split between the two, so what were they to do?

Actually, I already addressed this really really….really early and clearly. However, you guys all just didn’t see it back then. There were complaints about how Suo Jia was too intelligent, but really, while he is extremely smart, many of his actions were being manipulated, like a puppet. And the one holding those strings were the Fourth Prince and Wen Ya. If you can, you should please go back and read before pondering the matter closely.

Some readers have already seen that the Fourth Prince isn’t actually powerful in terms of politics. After all, he’s only the fourth child; there are still three older brothers in front of him. He has few supporters, which is why the fire wind warriors were under the Fourth Prince’s control. The reason why he had come to Holy Light and why he hadn’t minded Wen Ya’s fatness before to relentlessly chase after her was to create a huge support for himself. After all…Holy Light was a super megapolis in the Empire, the strongest power. He needed the support of Duke Wen Sha, to obtain the kingship.