The Most Arbitrary Wizard

Chapter 160: Chapter 96: "Please Pass Judgment

Just as he had said, they had no grievances or enmity. Sean and his group hadn’t broken any laws, so why should he arrest them?

"But we have Magic Power," Kate said.

Klintor looked baffled. "So what if you do? That’s your business. What has it got to do with me?"

This world was a world of Wizards to begin with. There were plenty of people with Magic Power under the heavens, so who would arrest someone just for that?

The Pope himself had Magic Power, and an incredible amount of it. Was he supposed to arrest the Pope, too?

What a joke!

He only arrested people based on whether they had committed a crime. It had nothing to do with whether they were a Wizard.

Kate understood now, and her brow furrowed even deeper. "You don’t know about the Witch Hunt Operation, do you?"

"The Witch Hunt Operation?" Klintor asked, confused. "What’s that?"

Everyone: "?"

’Have we been talking all this time without even being on the same wavelength?’

Sean and Elvire exchanged a glance before looking at Sopea.

Sopea understood. She stared at Klintor, "observing" him for a long moment before finally nodding at the other two.

Klintor was telling the truth.

He really didn’t know about the Witch Hunt Operation.

But the problem was...

"How is that possible?"

Sean felt something had to be wrong and asked Klintor, "Do you know Zajik?"

Klintor paused. "Uncle Zajik? You’ve met him?"

’We’ve done more than meet him,’ Sean thought. ’We killed him.’

Outwardly, however, his expression remained unchanged as he said, "We had a brief encounter."

Klintor said with surprise, "So he’s not dead?"

Sean retorted, "You thought he was dead?"

"It wasn’t just me. Everyone in my family thought so," Klintor said.

Zajik had been missing for several decades. When Klintor first heard the news, he was just a little kid who did nothing but chase after girls. Decades with no word had extinguished everyone’s hope. If the Clan Leader hadn’t disagreed, they would have already written Zajik’s epitaph. Who could have imagined he was still alive?

Hearing this, an extremely strange feeling crept into Sean’s mind.

From the moment he’d learned Zajik’s name, the man had been working for the Florist Family, and the hospital was even called Florist Hospital. Yet Klintor was now saying Zajik had disappeared long ago and the family had never found him. This left Sean deeply perplexed. Was the Florist Family they had encountered the same one Klintor was talking about?

"Their Clan Leader should be able to give us a reasonable explanation," Sopea spoke up.

The Clan Leader’s refusal to erect a tombstone for Zajik was probably because he knew Zajik wasn’t dead.

There was no point in asking further questions. It was obvious Klintor was just a clueless underling.

Theoretically, the Florist Family was a Viscount Family, and the noble title of "Knight" was only two ranks below "Viscount." Furthermore, Klintor was a Tier Five, so his position in the family shouldn’t have been low. But given the current situation, the only explanation was that Klintor was treated as an outsider, not a core member of the family.

"Take us to see your Clan Leader," Sean said, his eyes glinting.

He had a feeling that a huge secret was hidden beneath this conflicting and incomprehensible facade.

It was only then that Klintor realized this group was targeting his family. By deliberately mentioning Uncle Zajik, perhaps they meant to imply that his uncle had wronged them, and they were here to get revenge on the Florist Family?

But... with just these few people?

"You’re asking to die," Klintor sneered.

Inwardly, however, he was ecstatic.

’Asking to die is great.’

’If the Clan Leader takes care of Sean’s group, won’t I be saved?’

He had just been worrying about how to report the news that the Holy Sanctuary Remnants had reappeared, and that the Blazing Angel Family might be colluding with the Holy Sanctuary. Since Sean’s group wanted to walk right into a trap, he couldn’t ask for more.

To be honest, Klintor’s acting was terrible.

Sean didn’t even have to look closely to see the guy was scheming.

But he couldn’t be bothered to care.

Besides, the world was now in a "Dharma Decline Era." No matter how strong the Clan Leader of the Florist Family was, he was at most Tier Six. With Sopea around, there was nothing to fear.

Worse comes to worst, they could just "log off." Could the Clan Leader of the Florist Family actually chase them from the Meditation World into the Real World to kill them?

"Okay, drive. And watch out for people."

Kate: "Don’t worry, I play GTA."

...

Meanwhile.

「In the Selona Suburbs, inside an ancient castle where workers were renovating the exterior walls.」

An elderly man knelt with his head bowed and eyes closed, praying to a statue before him.

His mind was consumed with thoughts of Carl Black.

Although it was a statue of the Pope, not Carl Black, that didn’t prevent him from treating it as Blake’s.

Just a few days ago, he had learned that Carl Black might not be dead, and an ominous premonition had instantly filled his heart.

Sure enough, two days later, he received news of Zajik’s murder.

The murder itself was not the main point.

If you wanted to hunt Wizards, you had to be prepared to be hunted by them in return.

As the true Clan Leader of the Florist Family, the old man had always understood this. Zajik’s death was a glorious one. It was the price of his effort and sacrifice for the family to obtain the right to inherit the Puppetry Art, one of the Twelve Paths, from the Church Court. The family would forever remember his name.

It was for this reason that his younger brother had sent Zajik’s body back.

Then, the old man discovered that Zajik had actually died from the Truth Technique—overwhelmed and killed by a massive flood of knowledge.

That was the real point.

The old man was terrified.

He had just been contemplating Carl Black’s return from the dead, and now the Truth Technique had appeared right before his eyes. It made it difficult for him not to think that Zajik had been killed by Blake himself... or at the very least, that the perpetrator was connected to Carl Black.

The world only knew that Carl Black had desecrated the Saintess and committed a heinous crime, but they overlooked the most fundamental point: the fact that he could even desecrate the Saintess was proof of how terrifyingly powerful Carl Black was.

And what was even more terrifying was that Carl Black now seemed to have his sights set on them.

The old man felt a bitterness he could not voice.

Ultimately, the Florist Family were just hired hands working for the Church Court for the sake of the Twelve Paths. Even patrolling the restricted zone was an errand given by the Church Court. Many families were involved in this matter, and in terms of noble rank, a Viscount was in the lowest tier of participating families. How could they possibly afford to provoke Carl Black himself?

Yet, of all the families, Carl Black had to set his sights on them.

The old man could do nothing but come to the rear hall to pray.

"Mr. Blake, if you are truly alive, please, you must hear my explanation."

"Though I am an old man now, I too was once young and full of passion."

"Every Saintess of the Church Court has been peerlessly beautiful, so stunning one cannot look away. As a fellow man, I can actually understand your actions back then, and I sincerely admire your audacity."

"From the Era of Polymath to this current post-Polymath age, our Florist Family has always been an obscure little family. We never intended to make an enemy of you, Mr. Blake."

"But as you know, Viscount is one of the lowest noble titles. Though we are nobles, and it sounds glamorous, the truth is that many matters are beyond our control."

"This time, the Church Court gave the order, and we had no choice but to obey their command. If we’d had a choice, the Florist Family would never have stood against you, Mr. Blake."

"If someone from our side has accidentally offended you, it must have been unintentional; they wouldn’t have known your true identity. Therefore, I hope that you, Mr. Blake, will be magnanimous and not stoop to bickering with little things like us."

"Also, may the Divine Lord grant his protection."

"If Blake is truly still alive, please show him a path that leads him not to us, but directly to your Spokesperson, His Holiness the Pope."

When gods fight, mortals suffer. The old man didn’t want the Florist Family to become collateral damage.

He prayed with true piety.

In this moment, he took no sides.

The Pope and Carl Black were both objects of his faith.

His prayers continued until a Maid’s voice reported from outside the hall.

"My Lord Clan Leader, the Knight of Klintor has returned. He says he has captured several Holy Sanctuary Remnants who use the Truth Technique and asks for you to pass judgment."

The old man: "???"

...