Chapter 427
Chapter 427 Be Careful Who You Recruit
“You intend to join our tower?”
The frail Gargamel evaluated the apprentice standing before him with suspicious eyes.
“Yes, sir!” Billis begged anxiously, “Sir. If you allow me to continue my studies here, I promise to fulfill my duties as an apprentice obediently!”
Gargamel narrowed his eyes and continued to look over the apprentice.
Hmm, beginner apprentice. No troublesome family or clan background, and a wandering apprentice. Judging from these factors, the chances of him being a spy from another clan was reasonably low. If an adept clan wanted to spy on Fire Throne, they would at least have to send an advanced apprentice over. Otherwise, there was no way Greem would assign the apprentice to any critical positions, and therefore there would be no value to spying.
Sending such an untalented beginner apprentice here and hoping he could slowly claw his way into the upper ranks to obtain the secrets of the tower; even Gargamel wouldn’t do such a pointless thing, let alone those sly and sneaky clans.
The Zhentarim Association’s stipulations were far too harsh and practically deprived him of all influence. The Kamala Clan, on the other hand, couldn’t come up with anything that Greem desperately needed.
They were interested in the land and the resources, but Greem was only interested in the latter.
Land and citizens? Could these things allow him to advance to Second Grade?
At the moment, Greem was only thinking of how to improve his own abilities. He was indifferent to worldly power and wealth. The massive land and endless resources would only be useful if he had a mature and stable clan system behind him. These lands and its population would then continuously churn out new talents and heirs for the clan.
However, right now, Greem was fighting on his own. Even if he had an endless stretch of territory, he didn’t have the energy to slowly cultivate apprentices and train clan adepts loyal to his cause!
That was why Greem didn’t want to accept the offers of either party.
However, in doing so, he would offend the local powerhouse along with the elders of the Association. It wasn’t hard to imagine how troublesome things might get for the Fire Throne!
Just as Greem was hesitating, the well-prepared Gargamel leaned up to his ear and whispered. The fire adept immediately broke into a smile. Greem was reinvigorated.
Sinister!
Gargamel’s plan was utterly sinister!
Thus, on the second day of negotiations, the magical creatures once again descended upon the tower.
A party that had passed through the Fire Cave and gone adventuring in the northern side of the forest were suddenly attacked. From a party of five, only a single rogue had survived.
Commotion immediately broke out when the rogue returned to the temporary base, covered in blood.
Could the peace and silence of the Black Forest over the past month have only been an illusion? Could there still be magical creatures around this place that hadn’t been exterminated? Had new magical creatures entered these unguarded territories?
A series of questions caused the mercenaries and adventurers to become increasingly anxious.
They were already at significant risk when hunting those predators of the woods with their abilities. If they ran into those terrifying magical creatures, they would not be able to survive. Even if they had ten times the manpower and ten times superior equipment, they would still die to the strange and powerful spells of the magical creatures.
The surviving rogue was promptly brought to the tower and questioned by Greem in front of the ambassadors.
They had been attacked by a magical creature thirty-five kilometers northwest of the Fire Cave. It had been a terrifying demon hound with two heads. It had led a pack of twenty or thirty fiend hounds and ambushed their camp in the night.
The rogue’s companions were slaughtered without resistance. Only the rogue had the good fortune to escape with his life. The rogue had also managed to overhear the demon hound’s conversation with a terrifying Medusa.
It seemed they were organizing another stampede to assault the tower once again.
This information came as a surprise to all the adepts!