Chapter 398 - Aezel Vs. Guild Master Crescendo

From what the Guild Master heard, Lawrend was just a High Mage with the strength of an Arch Mage. He was so powerful in his High Mage strength that it was natural to assume that he was much stronger now.

"How strong are you now?" the Guild Master asked with heated eyes.

As an Arch Mage, he wanted to know if it was possible for someone to become stronger than his current strength.

"Before that, can you introduce yourself?" Lawrend asked calmly.

"Forgive my rudeness." the Guild Master facepalmed himself.

"My name is Crescendo Peas. People call me the Earth Thunder, and I'm also the Mage Guild Master and City Lord of this city," Crescendo introduced himself.

"Earth Thunder?" Lawrend asked in puzzlement.

"Ahahahaha. I'm an Earth Arch Mage. My spells cause the ground to shake like thunder, which is where my nickname came from," Crescendo proudly explained.

"Interesting name. They call me the Lightning Emperor back in the capital," Lawrend replied.

"A fitting name for someone of your caliber," Crescendo nodded his head in satisfaction.

"Alright. Now back to business. Do you want to be my subordinate?" Lawrend asked.

"Subordinate?" Crescendo asked, visibly shocked by his words.

Never had someone boldly say that they wanted him to be their subordinate. He was a Mage Guild Master and a City Lord. No one can make him obey their orders aside from the king and a higher Mage Guild Master.

"It's not bad, right? I will give you tremendous benefits if I succeed," Lawrend said with a smile on his face.

"Benefits? Are you bribing me..?"

Crescendo squinted his eyes as he stared at him. Lawrend's words had angered him.

"No, no, no! I want to take you in as my subordinate," Lawrend replied and shook his head vigorously.

"What do I have to do?"

"You will plead allegiance to me becoming the king," Lawrend answered.

"Is this a fight for the throne?"

"Yes, but that's not the full story. I want to replace the king, and that means I'm doing a coup," Lawrend replied.

"You're crazy! The empire will punish you!" Crescendo shouted.

It was unbelievable that someone could even imagine committing a coup with the empire supporting the kingdom on the back. Unless it were wars between two kingdoms under the empire, the empire would always support the kingdom.

"Don't worry. They won't be able to," Lawrend replied confidently.

"Don't tell me you think that you can fight Earth Mages??" Crescendo asked with wide eyes.

In his whole life, the only Earth Mage he ever saw was a Mage Guild Master from the empire that visited his Mage Guild. At that time, he felt like a baby and that whatever power he had was incomparable to the strength an Earth Mage has.

"Of course not. I can't, but this maid of mine can," Lawrend said and moved away, revealing Aezel behind him.

"A maid!? Are you joking!?"

At this moment, Crescendo thought that Lawrend was messing with him. There was no way that a maid could fight against an Earth Mage.

"Fufufufufu. Don't underestimate me," Aezel said sharply.

"Underestimate? No! You are overestimating your own strength," Crescendo replied, unwilling to believe her words.

"Why don't we try?" Aezel said with a smirk on her face.

"How about we go outside the city, Crescendo," Lawrend said.

"..."

Crescendo looked at both Aezel and Lawrend's faces before gritting his teeth, and he nodded his head.

The four of them rode a carriage together and headed to the south gate of the city.

Once they exited from the carriage, they flew to the west and up to the Stargazing Mountain Range.

Aezel carried Humility as she was too weak to fly yet.

"Hm?" Crescendo noticed that Aezel was able to fly and became impressed.

Even if she was lying, she should be a High Mage. It was honestly impressive that Lawrend could get a High Mage to act as his maid.

They landed on a small peak.

"Fufufufu. Attack me with your strongest spell," Aezel said provocatively.

"Hmph. You can still forfeit, and I won't hurt you," Crescendo replied in a huff.

He wasn't pleased by the way she was acting. He was a Guild Master and a City Lord. A maid like her should show some more respect.

"Master, did you hear that? I think he's joking," Aezel said and looked at Lawrend while she suppressed her laughter.

"You bitch!" Crescendo shouted in anger.

"Just finish this, Aezel. Don't anger him any further," Lawrend said.

"As per your orders, Master," Aezel replied and faced Crescendo.

She hooked her finger and urged him to attack her.

Crescendo's cheeks twitched, and he closed his eyes to relax his nerves before opening them again and exaggeratedly pointing his finger to her.

*Boom!* *Boom!*

The hard gray stone in front of him exploded continuously and headed towards Aezel.

"Fufufu. Why are you using such weak magic?" Aezel asked as she shook her head in disappointment.

She pointed her finger to the magic attack and shot a bright arc of golden divine lightning.

*Boom!*

Her magic interrupted Crescendo's spell.

"Alright. How about I use my Arch Mage spell?" Crescendo asked.

He quickly realized that Aezel was really powerful. She insta-cast that High Mage spell like it was nothing to interrupt his own High Mage spell. That would mean that she was at least an Arch Mage.

"Feel free to attack however you want. I will defend them all anyways," Aezel replied cockily.

"Tch. Annoying." Crescendo clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"O' Terra, show your power, shake the earth and destroy, mountains rise and fall, the ground moves to my will, Earth Chomp!" Crescendo chanted.

Suddenly, the earth around them started shaking vigorously.

Aezel floated up into the air, and Lawrend carried Humility up and away from their fight.

Just as Aezel thought that she outsmarted him, the earth under her suddenly cracked, and a deep chasm appeared.

There was a blazing red magma pool that she could barely see at the very bottom.