Black Hearted Mage

Chapter 111 Lambert 2

The shadow warrior gave a slight nod, then cast his gaze upon Caesars, meeting his gaze for a moment. Then, without hesitation, he turned and headed towards the crystal mine. Caesars's gaze followed the shadow warrior until he disappeared from view. Then, he turned to Liv, who stood beside him, secretly speculating about the relationship between this mysterious shadow warrior and Liv.

"Liv, who is he?" Caesar asked curiously.

Liv's face lit up with pride as she replied, "He's Lambert, my father. Now, he's in Lord Raven's territory!"

Hearing this, Caesars nodded in sudden realization and then said, "I see. So, Liv, you are Evans' cousin and also the niece of Lord Raven's wife!"

Caesars knew that Raven's wife was Ilani, and Lambert was Ilani's brother. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh that this world is really a small place.

At this point, Liv complained indignantly, "Humph, this isn't a secret, how could you not know? The Endless Forest is no match for the Crater. Those damn elemental elves are always eyeing our territory with covetous eyes!"

As Liv finished her words, the surrounding Endless Forest Rangers lowered their heads, expressions of shame on their faces. They knew full well that the territory they guarded was indeed not as powerful as the Crater. Furthermore, it was certain stubborn old men in the Elven Council who constantly provoked disputes and deliberately excluded the Arcane Elves, leading to the disintegration of the once close-knit three races of elves. This history was an indelible pain and shame for every elf.

Over thirty elven rangers silently guarded the entrance to the mysterious crystal mine. A hush fell, as if even the air itself had frozen. Just then, a dark figure slowly emerged from the inky black cavern. A closer look revealed a figure clad in pitch-black leather armor, approaching with steady, powerful steps. It was Lambert, his swift and agile form, like a shadow leopard.

Lambert's hand tightly grasped a bundle of staffs, while his other hand, like an iron clamp, gripped a man's neck. The man's head drooped limply, clearly unconscious. Yet, even so, Lambert looked relaxed, as if the person he was holding weighed nothing.

After exiting the cave, Lambert casually tossed the unconscious figure to the ground with a dull thud. Then, with a blank expression, he addressed the gathered rangers, saying, "This man is their leader. I've already knocked everyone else unconscious. Now quickly tie them up and slowly interrogate them to find out their purpose for sneaking in and the mastermind behind it. And one thing to keep in mind: everything they have belongs to me. This is my well-deserved spoils of war!"

After saying this, Lambert folded his arms across his chest and stood aside, watching the rangers get busy. Because Lambert possessed such immense power, even the elders of the Elven Council were wary of him. Naturally, the rangers dared not neglect him in the slightest, and all showed him the utmost respect.

After a while, one of the rangers approached Lambert cautiously and asked in a low voice, "Respected Lord Lambert, do you need any help?"

Lambert narrowed his eyes slightly, looked up and down at the slightly nervous ranger in front of him, and suddenly said, "Boy, do you have any good wine? If so, I'm willing to trade you a few barrels of this spoils I just obtained. Of course, if it's Fire Maple Wine, it would be even better!"

Hearing this, the ranger was stunned at first, then quickly shook his head: "Reporting to Lord Lambert, I only have half a pot of wine!"

"Then you still dare to ask me to help you?"

"Master Lambert, I have some rum. Is it to your taste?"

Caesars only had one barrel of fire maple wine, and he had already drunk half of it. Now he only had a whole barrel of rum.

"Rum is too strong, but it's better than nothing. This staff is made of blackthorn branches, so it should be worth ten barrels of rum!"

Lambert threw out a staff and wanted to use it to trade with Caesar.

"You can exchange for a few more barrels of wine, but I don't have that much wine. Ten barrels should be enough!"

Caesars examined the staff carefully. It was meticulously crafted, looking like something from the Thorn Flower Company. Furthermore, the user had taken great care of it, coating it with walnut oil to prevent cracking.

"Ten barrels of wine will be enough. I still miss the Flame Maple Wine brewed by the Arcane Elves. It tastes different from our Flame Maple Wine. It's much better, like drinking a magical fountain with a winey taste. It makes my blood boil!"

Without having to see Lambert's expression at this moment, one could easily infer the extraordinary skills of the arcane elves in brewing wine just by listening to his passionate and excited tone.

"Liv, could it be that the arcane elves are also proficient in brewing wine?" Kaisas asked with a look of suspicion on his face. After all, he had been in this crater for a long time, but had never heard of such a thing.

Liv nodded slightly and responded, "That's true, but we won't have the chance to taste those fine wines. Let's put this matter aside for now. The most urgent task is to interrogate these uninvited guests!"

Not long after, the elves dragged over twenty unconscious mercenaries out of the crystal mine. Amazingly, none of them bore a single wound, evidently the result of Lambert's thunderbolt-like blow. Furthermore, all their equipment had been stripped away and respectfully presented to Lambert by an elf.

Lambert casually took the thirty-odd storage rings and began to examine the contents one by one. Meanwhile, the elves woke up a mercenary and began to interrogate him harshly.

Caesars carefully observed these mercenaries. They were all middle-aged and high-ranking professionals. Several of the staffs appeared to be from the Thorn Flower Trading Company, each selling for over 50,000 gold coins.

These people were very stubborn and the elves couldn't get any useful information out of them.

"Stop interrogating them and kill them all!"

Before he finished speaking, Lambert swung his arm, and a long white stick flew out of his hand, landing straight on the ground not far ahead. Everyone looked closely and saw that the stick was about a meter long and about the same thickness as an adult's forearm.

The Elf Ranger looked at the suddenly appeared white staff with a bewildered expression, completely baffled. Standing nearby, Caesars and Liv also looked puzzled.

At this time, Liv couldn't help but ask Lambert: "Father, this stick looks ordinary, there doesn't seem to be anything special about it?"

Lambert smiled slightly and replied, "My child, you can't judge people or things by appearance alone. Go up and hold it in your hands and feel it first."

Hearing this, Liv, clad in leather armor, took two light steps forward and reached out her right hand to grasp the long white staff. However, the moment she lifted the staff, she couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh, this staff is so heavy! And it's definitely not made of wood!" With that, Liv swung her arm violently, throwing the heavy white staff to the ground.

Seeing this, Lambert turned to look at an elven magician beside him and ordered, "Magician, cast your fire spell and burn this stick."

The elven magician nodded slightly, then waved his hands rapidly, muttering something. In the blink of an eye, a blazing wall of fire roared towards the white staff on the ground. It was astonishing how exquisitely the magician controlled the spell. The wall of fire perfectly enveloped the white staff, blazing fiercely.

In just a few breaths, the once pristine white staff had been charred to a pitch-black black. As the flames gradually waned, the black outer layer began to flake off, finally revealing the staff's true form. It was truly forged from magic steel, meticulously engraved with dense, minute patterns. These patterns shimmered faintly, as if revealing the mysterious power they held. Furthermore, the magical energy was transmitted through golden magic copper, a metal that undoubtedly enhanced the value and power of this magic steel staff.

"This doesn't look like a magic wand!" Caesars muttered involuntarily as he looked at the object in front of him, his eyes full of confusion.

Lambert, standing nearby, chuckled upon hearing this and explained, "The scepter is a weapon exclusively used by priests, and this one is the battle staff used by the church's ascetics. You may not have heard of the name Ascetic, but they are also known as Battle Priests. This profession was created not too long ago, combining the characteristics of priests and paladins!"

Hearing this, Caesars couldn't help but frown and asked, "Ascetic monk? What kind of existence is this?"

The man showed a trace of disdain on his face, curling his lips and saying, "The so-called ascetics are actually just fanatics of the former Vatican. These guys are loyal to the Vatican, you could say they're diehards. They pretend to be poor on the surface, but in reality they're all mentally ill, lying around on piles of gold coins and pretending to be poor. But then again, their strength shouldn't be underestimated. Not only are they proficient in combat, they can also perform various healing arts."

At this moment, Lambert had quickly gathered up the scattered spoils and expertly stuffed them all into a small, exquisite storage ring. With a flick of his wrist, the storage ring flew like a stream of light towards Liv.

Liv caught the flying ring in surprise, looked at Lambert in disbelief, and asked, "Are all these spoils mine?"

Lambert nodded and responded with a smile: "That's right, Liv. It's always good to have more gold coins with you when you travel. Of course, don't forget to buy me a few barrels of the best fire maple wine!" After saying that, he winked at Liv, as if he was looking forward to the upcoming wine.

"The techniques for brewing Fire Maple Wine on Roland Continent have been largely lost. It's not easy to buy good quality Fire Maple Wine!"

"How could it be lost?"

Lambert was a little surprised to hear Kaisas say that the fire maple wine brewing technique had been lost. In his memory, the fire maple wine brewing technique taught by the elves was almost spread throughout the entire Roland continent.

"The great earthquake destroyed Red Leaf City, and the long wars between several empires destroyed a large number of Fire Maple trees. As a result, only a few places in the Roland Empire still retain the complete brewing techniques of Fire Maple Wine!"

Lambert nodded slightly. He hadn't left the Endless Forest for a long time and didn't know much about the outside world.

Kaisas also joined the interrogation. To his surprise, these people were under the influence of mind protection, and Kaisas's fear spell had little effect on them. The elves did not get much useful information from their interrogation of these mercenaries.

In the end, more than 20 people dressed as mercenaries were killed by the elves outside the mine, and their bodies were taken back to the Endless Forest by the elves.

"Liv, what do they want to do with the body?" asked Caesars.

"Give it a magical plant as fertilizer. It will completely decompose the bones, leaving no residue. By the way, this magical plant comes from the Demon Realm. There are several of them in the crater. You've eaten its fruit before. It's the one that's distributed the least."

"Green fruit, is it the kind that only produces two a year?" Caesars frowned, trying hard to recall the appearance and taste of that fruit. Although it was not delicious, it was not difficult to swallow.

Liv nodded and said softly, "Yes, that's right. It's this magical plant. It's very special. Its growth conditions are extremely demanding. It must be nourished by flesh and blood rich in magical energy. So, it can be used to dispose of the corpses of those reckless villains who dare to enter the Endless Forest!"

Hearing this, Caesars felt a chill run down his spine. Lambert then took over and said, "You're probably talking about the Nightmare Fruit. It's quite something; it can enhance one's vitality and even boost one's soul power. The level of Roland Continent is too low, and the Nightmare Fruit grown here has degraded. I remember when Riven brought back Nightmare Fruit from outside, I could only eat a tiny piece at a time. It took me ages to finish a whole fruit, maybe a month or two!"

At this point, Lambert's eyes grew hazy, as if his thoughts had drifted back to the distant past. Back then, Raven had indeed brought back many rare and wonderful things. Even the dagger he carried with him now was a treasure from another world. Whenever he thought of this, he couldn't help but reach for the dagger at his waist.

However, just as he reached for his waist again, a voice of nagging came from the side: "Father, please stop touching me! If you keep doing this, you'll wear off the scabbard!"

Lambert smiled nonchalantly and replied, "What's the big deal if the scabbard fades a little? I can always replace it with a new one! But my dagger will never break!" After saying that, he couldn't help but gently stroke his beloved dagger again.