My Wife and I Became Sages in Another World-Chapter 144: Overlooking Howlsridge

After Lampart and Rio had told us their side of the story, we concluded that it was the phoenix who knocked them out.

However, it still didn’t make sense why he didn’t kill them or take the pearls back.

The phoenix was supposedly not allowed to fight outside of Kalusia’s territory, so Lampart and Rio were pretty much screwed after being found out by him. Still, they were alive and kicking.

Don’t get me wrong. I was relieved that they were fine, but it was just making me more confused, and Vespera had no idea what was happening either.

For a moment, we thought that their black pearls had been switched with something else, but after inspecting them, we noticed they were the same as before, so the phoenix hadn’t tampered with the crate.

"It could be that the phoenix doesn’t want to work with the devil but had no other option..." Vespera muttered with her hand holding her chin.

That was the most probable situation since pretty much everyone in the country was working under Zagor because they were cursed, meaning that the phoenix was no different.

"Hmmm..." I muttered as my mind started racing with different scenarios.

The only reason why the phoenix would’ve been in a small settlement like that was to pick up the black pearls since that was the moment that Lampart and Rio had to teleport out.

They said that they heard steps going towards the trap door, so it’s safe to say they were trying to get the pearls to someone.

If Zagor ordered the phoenix to pick up a crate of pearls from one of the settlements, and he returned to him saying that they had been stolen or that there were simply no pearls, then the devil would probably ask for the eradication of the small town.

However, if the phoenix were trying to protect the beastkin, then he would come up with an excuse or find another source of black pearls.

’Ugh, I’m starting to get that bad feeling again...’ I thought.

The best solution I could think of was to go back to Howlsridge and heal the curses of all the villagers while taking them to a safer place. That way, even if Zagor sent someone to eradicate them, the town would be empty.

Nonetheless, it wouldn’t be that easy since some of the villagers could have families in other places that could die if they escaped their enslavement.

"I got an idea..." I said to my companions as they all gathered around me.

We would fly to Howlsridge and oversee the area for a few days to make sure that the beastkin villagers were not in danger.

If nothing happened, then we would return to camp and continue our campaign with the rest of the army. However, if Zagor sent someone to eliminate the villagers, then we would have to act and protect them.

"In the scenario that the devil sends a force to kill the villagers, we can protect them and then heal them with Vespera’s procedure..." I explained.

"That way, Zagor would think the villagers were wiped out." Vespera continued.

"Exactly."

My companions were on board with the plan, and after discussing it with the empress, she agreed the plan was good and told us to be careful. Still, we had to do a few things before leaving.

The first thing I did was send half of the black pearl crates to Melina, who was at the academy so that she could revert the curses with her enchantment.

I also sent her a message telling her to be careful with them. It was one thing to send them to End Forest, which was far away from people, and it was another thing to send the dangerous artifacts to an academy filled with curious and rookie teenagers.

I knew how to cast her enchantment, too, but I didn’t have time to cleanse the hundreds of pearls by myself while also flying and protecting the town of Howlsridge, and Vespera wasn’t very adept at light magic to cast an enchantment like that, yet.

Once we were done, my companions and I flew to the settlement again, which looked exactly like we left it.

The beastkin walked around with dejected expressions, carrying the carts full of minerals without stopping for even a moment to rest.

I imagined that one of Zagor’s lackeys would be present giving them orders, but they were all working autonomously as if they knew perfectly what their tasks were.

After overlooking the town for a few hours from the sky, we decided to land at the top of one of the mesas close to the settlement to rest while keeping watch of the area from above.

We spent a full night at the top of the plateau, which I had expected would happen since it wasn’t like everyone could travel around as fast as us.

The following morning, as the beastkin started their manual labor, we kept observing them for a while until I spotted something far in the distance. A cloud of dust and dirt that was progressively getting bigger.

"What is that thing? Is it coming this way?" I pondered aloud, making my companions turn in the same direction.

We carefully stood up and got ready for a fight as the figure that was raising all that dirt became clearer.

It looked like a smaller version of the Terra Titan we had defeated at the border wall, but it was moving on the ground as fast as a sports car on a free highway.

"A golem?" Vespera asked.

"Are you asking me!?" I replied with another question.

"No... That’s a part of the Terra Titan. I’m sure of it." Gina interjected, keeping her gaze focused on the golem that was traveling at high speeds on the ground toward the town.

"Why is he coming here? Is it to punish the beastkin or just check on them?" I pondered.

If we intercepted the golem and took his heart, Zagor would notice that it was destroyed.

He was probably aware that we had defeated the one at the border wall, which made this ordeal harder for us to decide what to do. Still, I managed to come up with a quick plan.

"If Zagor already knows that we are here. Then it doesn’t matter if we take another one out..." I muttered to my companions as I elaborated my new plan.