When the administrator asked about the name Alan, Anbaixiu could pretty much guess what had happened.
The Ryan Empire was even more unyielding than he had imagined. Something that could have easily been resolved with a bit of gold had instead been met with the most drastic measures.
That Editor-in-Chief James Watson truly didn't care in the slightest whether his son lived or died.
Hearing the question, before the orc bartender could answer, his eyes involuntarily darted in Anbaixiu's direction.
This young administrator was very sharp. Catching on immediately, he turned to look at Anbaixiu and said, "It seems you're involved as well. Come, drink up too."
With that, the administrator placed another two bottles of magical potions onto the bar counter.
The administrator spoke entirely in commands, leaving not the slightest room for discussion.
In the City of Alchemy, administrators represented absolute truth, not to be questioned.
Headless Bro chuckled and asked Anbaixiu, "Brother Tiga, need a hand?"
Hearing Headless Bro's words, the administrator sneered. "Resisting arrest? That saves me the trouble. Locking you up means I won't have to conduct the interrogation myself, and I can go back to my experiments."
With just a single phrase, it was branded as resisting arrest. Giving them no chance to explain, the administrator directly commanded the golem puppets behind him to advance toward Headless Bro and Anbaixiu.
The massive mechanical automatons vented steam, shaking the floor with each heavy step as they reached out to seize Headless Bro.
These golem puppets possessed immense strength, capable of crushing solid rock to powder.
The patrons in the tavern backed far away, terrified of getting caught in the crossfire of the golem puppets.
The administrator was quite pleased with their reaction. In the City of Alchemy, the word of alchemists like them was law. Anyone who wished to live here had to obey their orders unconditionally.
Commoners who lacked even the most rudimentary knowledge of alchemy were mere parasites in this city. Just as the Ryan Empire discriminated against all heretics, the City of Alchemy looked down upon the "lower classes" who came here to eke out a living.
In the administrator's eyes, Headless Bro was nothing more than a tattered, down-and-out adventurer; the natural consequence of impudence was rotting in a dungeon cell.
However, the outcome defied his expectations entirely.
The golem puppet extended its steel arm and gripped Headless Bro's shoulder, attempting to bring him down. Yet it was like grappling with a towering mountain. Even as the puppet's mechanical core roared in overload, Headless Bro didn't budge an inch.
Headless Bro scoffed, "That's it? Too weak even for a massage."
The administrator's eyes widened. He hadn't seen any trace of magic from Headless Bro, yet the golem puppet's strength was sufficient to warp steel—how could it fail to move a single man?
Anbaixiu sighed inwardly as well. He hadn't wanted to cause a scene, but now that hands had been laid on his guest, compromise was out of the question. Otherwise, how could he show his face in the Elegy Poetry Society later on?
Two bolts of lightning shot from Anbaixiu's hands, jolting both golem puppets until they violently convulsed, belching dense plumes of black smoke.
Having two golem puppets scrapped in an instant gave the young administrator quite a fright.
These were proud products of the City of Alchemy, possessing formidable magic resistance. How could they be reduced to scrap metal so effortlessly?
"You actually dare to resist?! This is a blatant violation of the laws of the City of Alchemy! Cease your unlawful actions right now and I may consider leniency, or else you will face severe punishment! Do you truly wish to make an enemy of the entire City of Alchemy?!"
At this point, only the prestige of the mighty City of Alchemy could offer him any comfort, hoping the name alone would intimidate the two.
Instead, Anbaixiu calmly produced a badge and laid it before the administrator.
"Th-this is..." The administrator's eyes went wide. In sheer panic, he fell to his knees before Anbaixiu, babbling in fright, "I am terribly sorry! It was reckless of me to offend Your Excellency! Please forgive me, Your Excellency!"
Headless Bro asked in surprise, "Yo, Brother, you're an official in the City of Alchemy?"
Anbaixiu shook his head. "No, this is a Distinguished Scholar badge. I contributed several magic potion formulas to the City of Alchemy, so it's essentially an honorary title."
Headless Bro asked, puzzled, "If you're not an official with real authority, what is he so scared of?"
"In the City of Alchemy, knowledge supersedes race, faith, and law. Aside from the Alchemists' Council, no one has the authority to put a Distinguished Scholar on trial. Meanwhile, a single letter from me would bar him from joining any alchemy laboratory, ruining his future entirely. Too bad the badge is mostly symbolic and hard to cash in on."
Hearing Anbaixiu's explanation, Headless Bro couldn't help saying, "That's even more twisted than the values of those religious fanatics in the Ryan Empire."
Anbaixiu agreed wholeheartedly. Religious discrimination and occupational discrimination were equally twisted.
The female orc owner, who had been watching tensely from the side, hurried over to Headless Bro in excitement, asking with deep concern, "Gareth, is your arm alright?"
Anbaixiu watched as the female orc squeezed and stroked Headless Bro's arm, unable to tell whether she was genuinely worried or just taking the opportunity to grope him.
Ignoring the soap opera unfolding beside him, Anbaixiu picked up the bottle of lie-detector potion and said to the administrator, "Drink it. I have some questions for you."
"This..."
Looking at the potion bottle, the administrator hesitated.
"You should know very well that even if I kill you right now, I could absolve myself just by writing two papers for the City of Alchemy," Anbaixiu said.
That was a slight exaggeration; they would have to be papers worthy of publication in *Legendary Spells* to offset the crime of killing an administrator. Anbaixiu certainly wouldn't resort to that unless pushed to extremes—the experimental data required for such papers was exceedingly costly, and giving it away to the City of Alchemy for free would be a bleeding loss.
The administrator didn't know that, however. He only knew that what Anbaixiu said was true: a Distinguished Scholar's academic papers were indeed worth far more than the life of an ordinary administrator.
Powerless to resist, he could only drink the lie-detector potion, the bitter taste screwing his entire face into a grimace.
After confirming the potion had taken effect, Anbaixiu asked, "What official document did the Ryan Empire send that prompted administrators to investigate that paladin's whereabouts?"
"I don't know much either. I heard that this paladin named Alan Watson is the son of the Ryan Empire's Supreme Arbiter. Because of that, the Ryan Empire not only sent advance diplomatic documents asking us to assist in investigating Alan Watson's disappearance, but they also dispatched an envoy mission that is already en route to the City of Alchemy. Their goal is crystal clear: they must find this Alan Watson—dead or alive."
"An envoy mission? Is the Supreme Arbiter coming in person?" Anbaixiu pressed.
"No, not him, but the mission is of very high status. It's the Knights of Condemnation, under the Cardinal Inquisition, second only to the Ryan Emperor's Imperial Guard. That's why several councilors attach great importance to this and have dispatched numerous administrators to search everywhere. I'm just one of them."
"The Knights of Condemnation? Gareth, have you heard of them?" Anbaixiu asked Headless Bro.
Headless Bro, currently enjoying the female orc's massage, shook his head at the question. "Never heard of them either. Back in the day... ahem, well, the only ones I knew were the Ryan Empire's Imperial Guard."
"Fine." Anbaixiu turned back to the administrator. "You don't need to investigate any further. Tell the council that Alan Watson is in my hands. If they want to talk, have the council send someone to find me."
Anbaixiu had no intention of keeping it a secret. He had fleeced Alan Watson of five thousand gold coins, and the paladin had participated in the previous battle as a mercenary. None of that could be hidden anyway. In that case, he might as well negotiate directly with the City of Alchemy.
That old fellow James Watson was dead set against paying up, but perhaps Alan Watson could be sold to the City of Alchemy to recoup some of the losses.
To Anbaixiu, the legitimate son of the Ryan Empire's Supreme Arbiter was just an ordinary captive, but to the City of Alchemy, he might make a rather fine political bargaining chip.
Chapter 45