Chapter 168: The Greatest Conspiracy (B)

Oliver recounted the terrific adventures they had had ever since entering the deserted settlement of the spirit race. Because he had an unsightly and gloomy expression on his face before he even recounted what they had been through, Elliot could tell that the past few days hadn't been good on them.

Oliver started spewing out words, and Elliot listened to each of them carefully. Just like him, they too got teleported. However, they appeared directly in this place. The random teleportation caused them to split up from their entourage, giving them immense headaches before they even started exploring this settlement.

One might think: what's the big problem? Well, their escort carried basic and essential stuff, things like magic crystals, bedding, meat, spices, frypan, heater, and so on. Unlike Elliot, who didn't need them, Oliver and the others were dependent on the crystals. This place lacked magic energy, so there was no way for them to restore their energy by breathing in the air. The only way to do so was to concentrate and extract the energy out of magic crystals! However, they only had a certain amount of it in their spatial storage devices.

At first, they were out for the hunt, intent on completing the trial by taking the tags from their targets and defeating the beasts mentioned in the hunting list. However, with monsters attacking them day and night and the number of their magic crystals dwindling every hour or so, they quickly realized that they would not be able to survive alone and thus decided to tag along with the others.

Staring from a party of two, they grew to a party of twenty until eleven died the previous night. Died—because they were attacked by beasts—because the life-saving treasure that would teleport them back to their home wasn't working in this place. Their deaths indeed caused them immense sadness and pain. However, their lives were also on the line, and they couldn't mourn for their fallen comrades for long.

After killing the beasts that attacked them, they recollected themselves and made a run for it. Staying in a place carrying the scent of blood wasn't a good choice, after all.

But a day after, that means tonight, another group of beasts chanced upon them and nearly managed to kill them when Elliot came and saved them all.

All in all, their time in this place had been hell, or even worse than that.

Thanks to Oliver, he realized that night lasted for around fourteen hours in this place, and daytime seemed to be double that time. A day in this forest was like two days in Xavier. Normies among magicians were bound to experience stuff like jet lags and so on.

"I am curious about two things, though," Elliot said, desires to know about something bugging him like a bug gracing the edges of his lips.

"And what are those?" Oliver asked, and Arthur looked at him, so did the others, waiting to hear what he had to say.

"How did you guys get the life-saving treasures that only the academy knows how to create?" Elliot said while looking at Oliver. Talking to this guy was pleasant. Sadly, they were standing on opposite sides, and he had to treat him like an enemy till the bitter end.

Only the academy could create them, but now even the members of the magician families had them; that in itself was suspicious.

"That I can not tell you." Oliver refused to tell him, and he was adamant about it.

"So, you know?" Elliot raised his eyes at his words, surprised to see that the mistress of the Charlotte family trusted him so much that she had told him about it. Otherwise, how could a magician in the channel opening stage even know of such stuff?

Although realizing that he messed up, Oliver kept his calm and replied, "Yes."

Elliot said, "No matter what?"

"No matter what," Oliver replied.

Arthur had the same stance as him so asking him was going to be useless.

Elliot moved his gaze towards his slaves and asked, "What about you guys?"

The older one of the twins hurriedly replied, "We don't know anything, I swear."

"Me neither," Jay added.

They couldn't lie to him, as that would result in breaking one of the clauses of the contract, which would result in them receiving a backlash, one strong enough to burst apart their hearts.

"You hadn't said a word." Elliot moved his eyes towards Sean, the eldest brother to the twins, "Is it that you know?"

The burly guy looked at him in silence, stating with his silence that he was in no position to tell him anything, even though he was now his master.

"Cat got your tongue, or had you already decided to defy your master?" Elliot rebuked him, a stern look appearing on his face.

Sean sighed, "I will die if I as much as utter a single word about it."

"Going as far as sealing the mouth of their children by using a life and death magic contract; that in itself is enough for me to know that your families used lowly means to get their hands on the methods to create the life-saving treasure." Elliot scoffed, "Truly, what appears glorious and magnificent from the outside is rotten and insidious from the inside."

"What do you even know?"

Oliver tried to defend the name of his family but Elliot shot him down before he could do so.

"Oh, I have enough brains to connect the dot and conclude what you guys had done to obtain the method to create life-saving treasures."

He was certain that spies belonging to the families had infiltrated the Academy as instructors and staff, all for the sole purpose of stealing important information from the academy and relating it to their families. They were deprived bastards that were biting the same hands that fed them, truly worthy of eternal damnation.

Elliot hated two kinds of beings—the first ones are those who turn a blind eye to every injustice going on around them, and the second one being backstabbers.

"And what would that be?" Oliver pressed on with his march, ready to headbutt into him.

"I believe you don't want me to say it out loud," Elliot said in a voice overflowing with confidence.

Their eyes met, and the others saw imaginary electricity clashing in mid-air.

"Guys, we have a more important matter to discuss." Arthur's voice sounded in their ears, making them look towards him.

"What is it?" Elliot asked.

"These things aren't working. Don't you think that's suspicious?"

"Why wouldn't our life-saving treasures not work in this place? Suspicious! It's indeed too suspicious," Elliot nodded his head and took out the life-saving treasure from his spatial bracelet.

He gave it a look, a nice one at that.

'Is he crazy? What would looking at it do? Does he not believe our words? What a fool!' The ones around him had different thoughts filling their minds when they saw him experimenting with the scroll.

"What a surprise!" Elliot's eyes widened not in fear but in joy, the joy a hunter feels when seeing a bunch of prey appearing before their eyes.