Anbaixiu was thoroughly proficient with Polymorph. Not only was the physical appearance flawless down to the finest detail, but even the voice was an exact match.
Yet impersonating a stranger required practice after all. In his haste, Anbaixiu had momentarily forgotten Mengge Grayriver's basic persona.
Because the Raging Tide Kingdom was poor and remote, it lacked talent; the high-tier spell scrolls Mengge Grayriver needed whenever he went out to sea depended entirely on the preparations of these few court wizards.
After blatantly engaging the Silent Night Pirates in battle and suffering such a crushing defeat, suddenly claiming he had used a scheme to lure their captain here alone was indeed illogical.
Although these three court wizards were merely hired hands, this battle could easily embroil them. Listen to the commotion outside—was that something an ordinary legend could produce? That level of combat power was far beyond expectations. With Mengge Grayriver speaking so vaguely, who could feel at ease?
If something went awry, getting dragged into this war would be extraordinarily dangerous for them.
The court wizard spoke to Anbaixiu in dead earnest: "I require an explanation. If you cannot provide one, then forgive me, but I cannot take part in this war."
Anbaixiu searched his memory for this man's identity, taking several seconds before it clicked.
"Master Sharlock, you ask why I won't disclose the details? I'd rather ask you—why do you care so much about details? The simple fact is that my plan succeeded. Now time is of the essence, yet you stand here dragging your feet. Why is that?"
Sharlock frowned. The Mengge Grayriver standing before him seemed like an entirely different person. How had the spearhead suddenly turned against him?
"What nonsense are you spewing?" Sharlock said agitatedly. "I am a court wizard of the Raging Tide Kingdom! Everything I do is for the kingdom's sake!"
Anbaixiu gave a cold sneer and asked, "Last year, you requisitioned a wide variety of alchemical reagents from the kingdom—imp fungi, Namira rot fungi, fly agaric, bubble grass, and more, totaling nearly thirty tons. Even an alchemical apprentice could have brewed more than five thousand bottles of Paralysis Potions and Rot Potions with those materials. Yet how many did you turn over to the kingdom? One thousand four hundred bottles. And two hundred of those were purchased out of my own pocket!"
Paralysis Potions were generally used in whaling. Injecting the concoction through specially made hollow harpoons could swiftly paralyze a whale, causing it to suffocate and die. But the potion was expensive; if a crew missed more than three times, they would take a loss on the hunt.
Yet if they went without it, deep-sea whales could capsize most fishing vessels, or drag a boat straight off the shipping lanes and plunge the entire crew into mortal peril.
As for Rot Potions, diluted to a certain ratio, they were exceptionally effective at clearing barnacles from ship hulls. Those encrustations caused severe damage to vessels, but gouging them off manually damaged the hull beneath. Furthermore, should one encounter a mutated variety, scraping it would spray highly toxic secretions; a splash on bare skin meant months of severe illness at best, and instant death at worst.
Thus, Rot Potions were needed to kill the barnacles and let them drop off naturally. They, too, were an everyday essential for the kingdom.
These two items alone accounted for a massive expenditure of public funds.
Sharlock's face flushed crimson. All he could do was shout, "You... what rubbish are you talking? Do you understand alchemy, or do I?!"
Mengge Grayriver had known nothing of alchemy, but Anbaixiu did. And what was Anbaixiu most sensitive to? Money, naturally. Because of that, he had paid special attention to Mengge Grayriver's memories of buying Paralysis Potions with private funds, and at the time he had even wanted to mock how dreadfully the Raging Tide Kingdom was being swindled.
Who would have thought that snippet of memory would come in handy right now?
The King of Raging Tide asked Anbaixiu in surprise, "Mengge, when did you learn alchemy?"
Anbaixiu chuckled. "I didn't understand alchemy originally. But the kingdom's magical gear and potions were simply too expensive, and the yields too low, so I occasionally inquired about the matter with outsiders. Although the elves previously raised the prices of magical reagents significantly, even factoring in shipping costs, the math still never added up for me.
"Master Sharlock, since you want details, why don't we audit the books thoroughly today? Let's start with a tour of your wizard tower so you can show me how you brew those potions. How about it?"
Seeing Anbaixiu's confident demeanor, Sharlock would never dare let him set foot inside his tower.
Which alchemist didn't fleece their employer? An alchemist who didn't pocket a few reagents on the side wasn't an alchemist at all. He had simply assumed no one in the Raging Tide Kingdom knew anything about alchemy, so he had been a bit too greedy with his cuts.
Just when had Mengge Grayriver begun suspecting him? Hadn't they been working together quite harmoniously before? Yet here he was, suddenly turning hostile. People who played politics truly had filthy hearts; all those prior smiles had undoubtedly been faked.
Sharlock dared not voice another objection. The King of Raging Tide, looking astonished, turned to Anbaixiu and said, "Mengge, it's as if you've become a new man. Good! My faith in you was not misplaced."
The Raging Tide Kingdom sorely lacked this kind of talent. It wasn't that they couldn't afford to hire alchemists, but that they lacked anyone sharp enough to analyze clues and spot discrepancies in the records.
Anbaixiu, however, was startled by the king's praise. Had he laid it on too thick?
Just as he prepared to rein it in, another court wizard stepped forward.
"Why has the topic strayed to other matters? Your Majesty, our concern lies with the details of this alleged plan. Should any accident occur, the repercussions for the kingdom could be disastrous."
Anbaixiu glanced at the man, recalling another name. "Master Winston, the same pretext yet again, the same tired excuse. Those who constantly claim to act for the kingdom's sake—do they truly hold its interests in their hearts?"
Winston scoffed disdainfully. "What, have you found some fault with me as well? Are the spell scrolls I scribe for you defective? Is there a single one you couldn't cast?"
Winston was a wizard whose regular duty was scribing spell scrolls for the kingdom. Scribing scrolls consumed a wizard's own mana, so it was impossible to accuse him of embezzling funds that way.
However, wizardry was Anbaixiu's actual profession. Finding fault in that field was child's play.
Anbaixiu searched his memories regarding Winston, then said, "Master Winston, the scrolls you scribe are naturally beyond reproach. However, you requested quite a few gifted children from the kingdom, claiming you would train them as wizard apprentices. Over the years, those apprentices have vanished one by one. You claimed they died in magical experiments, but isn't the fatality rate of your experiments suspiciously high?"
Winston showed not the slightest trace of guilt, replying as though it were the most natural thing in the world: "Magical experiments are inherently perilous. When did I ever fail to submit a full report? Do you suppose I killed them? What purpose would that possibly serve me?"
"Indeed. Why would the experiments of an Abjuration wizard be so lethal?"
Anbaixiu scrutinized Winston carefully. At this point, he hadn't uncovered the real reason yet; it was merely intuition telling him that the deaths of those apprentices were deeply tied to Winston.
Winston felt his skin crawl under Anbaixiu's piercing gaze. He shared Sharlock's sentiment entirely: the man before them felt like an entirely different person.
Anbaixiu studied him for a long moment, and then spotted something familiar about him.
In a solemn tone, Anbaixiu said, "Master Winston, you aren't an Abjuration wizard at all. You are a necromancer. Am I right?"
The moment the words fell, the other two court wizards instinctively took two paces back, putting distance between themselves and Winston.
Winston's expression changed drastically, and he shouted in agitation, "What madness are you spouting?! This is slander! Defamation!"
His violent reaction was hardly surprising. Although the School of Necromancy was a recognized tradition among wizards, its reputation was utterly foul—despised even more than the undead themselves.
The logic was simple: the conflict between the living and the undead was a clash between species, but for a living person to side with the undead... could anyone be more loathsome?
Necromancers differed from the undead; they were living beings incapable of generating dark mana naturally, so they had to constantly slaughter living creatures to refine that power. An undead could lie dormant for decades doing nothing, but if a necromancer went too long without killing, their mana would regress.
Of course, a fraction of necromancers chose to act as scavengers rather than active killers, spending coin to purchase fresh corpses for experimental material. But such necromancers were extraordinarily rare; after all, killing was easy, whereas buying corpses cost money, invited trouble, and was unreliable.
Even though the Raging Tide Kingdom was not the Ryan Empire, concealing an identity as a necromancer remained a grave offense.
Seeing everyone eyeing him with strange looks, Winston cried out furiously, "What proof do you have?! If you cannot produce evidence, I will fight for my honor—I challenge you to a duel!"
Anbaixiu replied with utter confidence, "Why get so worked up? Does a necromancer even need proof? For someone steeped in dark mana year in and year out, there are many things that cannot be hidden. Your irises have already turned gray. Your body exudes a stench of rot—did you think perfume could mask it? The crevices beneath your fingernails are stained through with blood, and even polish cannot conceal it... So many clumsy disguises, yet every one of them is utterly meaningless."
Winston turned deathly pale. Anbaixiu had hit every single detail right on the mark.
Even so, he continued to bluster, "Those are nothing but your own delusions! My eyes were always gray, and the rest of your so-called disguises are baseless accusations without a shred of evidence! I can open my wizard tower for your inspection—let's see what you can possibly dig up!"
Every trace inside his wizard tower had been meticulously concealed. He did not believe anyone could find a single clue.
Yet Anbaixiu had no intention of going that route. He simply said to Winston, "Why go through all that trouble? If you still refuse to accept it, cast Blight for me right now.
"Blight is a fourth-circle necromancy spell. Wizards of other schools can cast it too, but when cast by a necromancer, its color is completely distinct, and its potency far greater. If you have the skill, go ahead and alter the elemental affinity of your mana for me."
Anbaixiu looked down at Winston with disdain. A necromancer trying to feign innocence before a lich was like playing with beakers in front of the God of Alchemy—utterly devoid of self-awareness.
Winston clenched his fists tight. Never had he imagined that every single sentence out of Anbaixiu's mouth would strike the vital point. Appearance could be disguised, but mana affinity truly could not be faked, and Blight happened to be the spell that showcased the distinction most glaringly. When had Mengge Grayriver become so versed in magic? As expected, his prior ignorance had all been an act!
Having thoroughly rebuked Winston, Anbaixiu turned his gaze toward the final court wizard and asked, "And you? Do you also wish to inquire about the plan's details?"
The last wizard shook his head frantically. His own hands weren't clean either, and the last thing he wanted was for Anbaixiu to expose him next.
Seeing that none of the three court wizards dared speak another word, Anbaixiu turned back to the king. "Your Majesty, time is running out. We must act immediately."
The king's eyes were brimming with admiration. Truly a pillar of the realm! Who knew the Raging Tide Kingdom harbored someone with the talents of a prime minister? He had genuinely underestimated him before.
The king walked up beside Anbaixiu and clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder. "Good! Evacuate the nearby populace at once, and have the Raging Tide Legion make ready. Mengge, everyone will follow your command!"
Chapter 184