Throne of Magical Arcana
chapter-181

Jacques’ heart was beating fast. He could hear his own breathes.

Ten seconds later, Jacques finally lowered his tight shoulders like a balloon losing its air.

"How… do you want me to do this?" said Jacques in a husky voice.

He felt that he was divided into two parts: one was controlled by his great desire for his love, and the other part was feeling extremely guilty.

"It’s simple. You just need to sign a magic pact with me." Lucien’s smile was still on his face, "Firstly, you promise that you’ll never tell anyone else who we are. Secondly, you will not tell anyone on the ship that something is not right down here. Thirdly, you will also keep this as a secret after you go back to Sturk."

Jacques listened to Lucien’s words, with his eyes looking down at the floor.

"In return, I promise to offer you the magic potion that can awaken your Blessing, or we sorcerers say, Blood Power, three years from now, if your own attempt fail. Even if you cannot find me in Holm in three years, the Congress of Magic will keep the words. Tom can represent the congress."

In order to make Jacques feel better, Lucien added, "And also, as long as our own lives are not threatened, we wouldn’t hurt you and your friends on this ship."

"I hear you, and I’ll do as you said." Jacques looked up and stared at Lucien’s eyes, "You know my weakness."

As soon as he said this, he felt more relaxed.

"Congratulations, Mr. Jacques, for making the right choice. I can already see your bright future," said Lucien. Then, he took out a roll of parchment, a quill and a small bottle of magic ink from his pockets, and started to quickly write down the articles and draw mysterious patterns on it .

Lucien did not look at the parchment when he was writing, instead, he was staring at Jacques with his left hand half clenching into a fist, in case Jacques would suddenly change his mind.

Jacques did not really mind Lucien’s cautiousness. He said to Lucien, and also to himself, "My future? That’ll be a dark future, for sure. After all, I have betrayed my knight faith, and I don’t think it possible for me to awaken my Blessing on my own. Everyone knows that the power activated by magic potion is limited, but I will do it anyway, for Chely."

"Good for you, Mr. Jacques. What a nice lover." Lucien smiled, "According to what I know, there is no universal rule as a knight’s faith, and ‘faith’ itself is the most important part. With a certain faith, a person can remain concentrated and focused on his or her knight practice. If your faith is to protect Miss Chely and to guard your love, what you’re doing is not breaking your belief."

Hearing that, Jacques was quite surprised, "Your understanding… is very different from what my teacher told me, but your theory makes sense to me."

In fact, Lucien heard this from Natasha. He tried to make his answer blurry, "Well… I know a few grand knights… And maybe new potions can come out in the following several years which can help knights to further improve their power, right?"

Then, Lucien signed his name on the pact.

Lucien’s words obviously comforted Jacques. A smile appeared on Jacques face, "I heard that the Church owns a kind of potion which is only available to the top nobles. This potion can turn a person into a level two knight. I also heard that the grand duke, Violet, used this potion. Wait… Your name is Lucien Evans? Interesting, Chely’s favourite musician’s name is also Lucien Evans."

"I know that guy, too." Lucien answered casually, "Clearly, although we share the same name, we are very different."

"More than different. I’d say… the opposite." Jacques shrugged his shoulders. He never tried to draw the connection between the musician and the sorcerer who was right now standing in front of him, since, firstly, Lucien Evans was not an uncommon name, and secondly, a famous musician also being a sorcerer was something way beyond his imagination.

"I agree with you," said Lucien directly. He secretly turned around to see whether Tom was feeling suspicious about his name.

But clearly, Tom was still staring at Lucien’s left hand, carefully waiting for his possible signal.

Lucien knew that if Granneuve had been here, with all the clues Granneuve had, he might be the only one who could tell the truth.

"Mr. Evans? Where shall I sign?" asked Jacques.

"Here." Lucien pointed at the corner of the pact.

After Jacques signed the pact, holding the pact in his hand, Lucien covered the parchment with his spiritual power.

Slight waves of magic power rose from it. Then, the power turned into light blue flame and burned the parchment into ashes.

As soon as the pact was gone, Lucien suddenly felt that there was something new in this soul, and Jacques also looked confused for a second - the magic pact had come into effect!

"If the pact is violated by either of us, the one who broke his promise would suffer from the fire burning his soul, and his soul would thus be destroyed." Lucien shook hands with Jacques, as if they were celebrating certain success, "As we’re all set, I’ll leave you alone to check the divine power circles, Mr. Jacques."

Jacques threw a meaningful look at Lucien, "Mr. Evans, I have to say that you’re a real demon, a demon that is very good at tempting. When I was in my knight training, I never thought I would yield to a demon’s offer."

Then he walked past Lucien to check the wood planks close to the window.

Lucien and Tom were just standing there, watching Jacques walking around.

"If Jacques still decides to break the pact somehow, what would you do? You know that some divine power spells can suppress the power of magic compact," said Tom.

Tom knew that the magic pact was not really unbreakable as it was often claimed to be. For example, if Lucien became a high rank sorcerer, his stronger soul would be able to manage the damage from the flame.

"The magic compact is only a form," answered Lucien in a very low voice. "The moment he decided to sign the pact with me, I knew that he would not easily break his words, because his heart chose to follow his desire. However, of course, there’s still a risk, but I didn't really have a better choice."

"Interesting." Tom smiled and nodded, "The Congress will be providing the potion, after all, you protected many apprentices."

After a while, under Lucien and Tom’s "supervision", Jacques checked the rest of the cabins on this side, and totally ignored the many apprentices hiding in some of the cabins.

An hour later after Jacques left this floor, nothing happened.

Lucien finally released a long sigh of relief.

...

The viscount’s room.

A fancy porcelain cup made in Colette got fiercely thrown on the carpet. Instantly, it broke into many small pieces.

"Idiots! Useless idiots! The stones were robbed, and our people were almost found!" Viscount Wright shouted furiously.

In front of him stood Granneuve and Tom, with their heads very low.

The viscount stepped back and forth in his room, "Tell me, how these filthy murlocs knew that the stones were on our ship?! How do they know we’re shipping Wave Stone? You two, Granneuve and Tom, it is your responsibility to get the answer!"

Although the viscount owned one tenth of the whole fortune of Sturk, this was still a great loss.

"Yes, my lord." Both Granneuve and Tom didn't dare to raise their heads.

Then the viscount’s face turned cold and more gloomy, "Find a chance and kill the knight squire called Jacques. Let someone else do this… According to the pact, only the sorcerers and Tom are not allowed to do this."

"Yes." Granneuve bowed and nodded.

"Wait… Forget about it." The viscount fell back into his couch, looking rather exhausted, "I don’t want to hurt Chely. You two get the stone thing done first."

...

A month later, although the weather was getting colder and colder, the fleet never again experienced any major setback after the murloc’s attack.

Finally, the ships arrived at the harbour named Patray in Holm, across the Storm Strait.

On the second bottom floor, Lucien, Tom and the apprentices were feeling very, very excited. Experienced as Lucien, he was still not able to restrain the great joy and excitement in his heart.

Lucien regarded this day as the beginning of his real path of magic.

With regards to the note that he found in the murloc mage’s pouch, Lucien had not put much thought into it. He could not allow himself to be too greedy, especially when he didn't have enough information.

"Evans, you and the apprentices hide in the crates. Stay calm when they are checking. Just hide in there and do not panic," said Tom as he was pointing at the several long, wooden crates.

Lucien nodded and took the lead to walk into a crate. When he lay down, a layer of wood board covered him.

On the wood board, Tom and his sailors put layers of goods on top of it and sealed the crate completely with another board with iron nails.

Lucien felt that he was being buried in a coffin.

In the darkness, after a long time, when Lucien was wondering whether he was forgotten, he heard that there were people prying the crate to check the goods inside.

Although he was very alert, following Tom’s order, Lucien remained very calm and stayed still.

"No problem."

It was Jacques’ voice.

The crate was sealed again. And Lucien felt the great bumpiness. After a while, Lucien’s crate was placed on the wet and cold ground.

After a long time again, the crate was opened once more. The goods above him were removed, and so was the lower board.

The bright sunlight came in and made Lucien squint.

A young man wearing a white shirt, dark brown vest and black long jacket was standing in front of the crate. There was a big smile on this young man’s face under his top hat.

"Welcome to Holm, my friend."

Lucien also grinned. He knew that a new beginning of his life had started.