Chapter 147: Crusader Gateway
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Who are you, where are you from?"
"Hmm….no problem, not a mage. You may pass, next."
"What’s in the bag? Take it out and let me have a look."
"...."
The Crusader Gateway was not far from the town of Crewe, it should be said that the two are joined. If you walk east along the road from Crewe, you can see a gate that is about seventy meters tall, standing majestically like a tree above everyone’s heads.
This was Benjamin’s first time seeing such a majestic structure.
In his previous life, the concrete buildings were tall, but maybe because they were overly sophisticated, it did not feel special at all to be there. But a gate like this Crusader Gateway, even though the architecture was simple and was only about seven to eight floors tall, it looked like an endless white wall in the shape of a mountain. It gave off an ancient and opulent feel. Even if he just stood at the side to view it, it felt like he would never be able to pass through it.
The gate was a thousand meters wide, and few hundred meters thick. It was placed at the entrance to the Valley of Broken Armies. The exchange point for the kingdom and Icor was in the middle of a mountainous area, and could only be accessed from this valley. Thus, the Valley of Broken Armies had strategic value.
Before he came here, Benjamin had thought of how he could pass the customs check. Even though the kingdom was not closed to the outside world, they were strict at the customs.
Thus he even properly disguised himself to make sure no one would recognize him as the wanted "Grant".
But after arriving here, he noticed that a simple disguise was not enough to get past the custom officers.
After some observation, he noticed that all of the soldiers held a strange cross in their hands. Every person who wanted to pass by would have the cross placed on their forehead, after a while, they would say "no problem, not a mage" as usual, and let the people pass through, continuing their check with the next person.
Benjamin frowned deeply.
Without question, those crosses were the work of the Church. From the actions and words of the troops, these crosses were to determine whether one was a mage.
How troublesome...
He hid aside while observing in the dark. The troops were professional, they did not leave out any part of the procedure. Every person who wanted to pass through would be checked about three to five minutes before being allowed to pass.
Just by letting them check for three to five minutes, there was a chance Benjamin would be recognized, even more so with the cross. If his identity as a mage was exposed, it would be game over.
He wanted to pass through, but it was impossible right now.
What should he do?
At first, Benjamin wanted to force his way through. His magical energy has regenerated by a lot. Those troops looked vulnerable and did not wear blessed armor. A few Pillars of Steam would be enough to blow all of them away.
But he was not sure how many more of them were inside of the gate.
To be honest, as the checkpoint of the kingdom, if the Crusader Gateway were to let people pass by simply, the country would be done for.
Thus he had to slowly get closer to use his water particle sensing technique to observe the situation, and only then proceed to make a decision.
After looking around, Benjamin pretended to be a citizen who was strolling around leisurely, and walked into the tailor shop that was closest to the gate. He told the female boss that he was just taking a look around, and pretended to pick something, but in reality, he was using the water particle sensing technique to scout and feel the inner area of the Crusader Gateway.
After just circling over the wall with the particles, he found a priest sitting in a room, reading.
Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.
Based on the holy elemental energy and the sharp mental energy surrounding the priest, it was without question that he was from the Church. What was most important was that even though his sense was not that clear, he could feel that this priest was formidable and hard to deal with.
It looked like he could not just force his way through. Unless he could eliminate his opponent right away, he would be put in a bad position, and fighting the priest alone equals death.
Looked like he had to find another way.
Right when he continued to feel around with the water particles, suddenly, the priest sitting in the room seemed to have discovered something. He closed his book, turned around, and looked towards Benjamin’s direction.
That feeling was as if he saw Benjamin through the dimensions.
Damn...
Benjamin was shocked, and quickly withdrew his magic.
Has he been discovered?
You have to know, ever since he started using this technique, he has never been discovered. Mages, priests... all of them he had secretly observed, but none of them had realized.
This priest sitting inside the Crusader Gateway was abnormal.
Benjamin regained his senses and wiped away the cold sweat. He acted like nothing happened and quickly left the tailor shop and walked into a smithy.
He did not know whether the priest has discovered his existence or whether he just felt that something was not right. No matter what it was, he felt like he had to change a place of operation.
After a while, he noticed there was nothing happening at the gate.
Did the priest not discover him?
After some thought, he used the same act he did like before, and pretended to be browsing goods, while secretly using the water particle sensing technique again.
When the priest felt something was not right, it was only after Benjamin observed him for a short while. Hypothetically, if he were to just observe for a while then retract the magic, the opponent would not notice at all.
This priest’s mental energy sensing was probably not that honed.
Luckily, the second time he went over to take a look, the priest did not act strangely. Maybe after being surprised by Benjamin, he did not continue to read and stood up to pour a glass of water.
Seeing this, Benjamin felt less anxious and retracted the sensing technique.
The priest did not notice him.
Sensing and observing things from afar through water elemental energy was already a covert technique, to be found out by another was almost unbelievable. This priest probably had some sort of sixth sense, so he was able to notice him.
But…...this did not help him with his current situation.
He had to think of a way to pass through the gate.
"Hey, customer, what are you trying to do?" Suddenly, a hoarse voice came from the blacksmith.
"Nothing much, just looking around….." Benjamin came back to his senses, shook his head, and was reply to say a few words as a reply.
But after speaking halfway, seeing the scenario he was in, he became stunned.
It could be seen that he was holding a kitchen knife. In front of him was a married couple hugging each other, looking at him, shaking.
"Don’t, don’t kill us." The husband said this with a voice as if he was about to cry.
....what the hell?
What happened?
Benjamin was flustered.
Insert Confused Nick Young meme with Benjamin’s face.
Luckily, under this weird situation, the System came out to explain to him.
The whole thing happened like this: He was just pretending to pick an item, but he was concentrated at what was going with the priest. But it looked like he was overly committed, and ended up taking a knife and walking around the shop without knowing, in the end, he bumped into this married couple, and ended up being treated as a robber.
"....."
Awkward.
Being at two places at once, it was easy to end up making mistakes.
Benjamin immediately put down the knife, continued to maintain his emotionless expression and said: "I lost consciousness for a while, and ended up scaring the both of you, sorry."
The couple looked at each other, did not say anything. With faces of fear, they hugged each other and ran away.
"..."
What was so scary?
He did not dare to lose consciousness in a smithy ever again.
After looking around, the customers in the shop seemed to have all ran away because of his actions. When he came in, there were still a few people around, but now, all he could see was an angry blacksmith, staring furiously at him as if he was about to eat him.
"I’m sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose." Benjamin quickly apologized.
The blacksmith gave an annoyed looked and said: "It’s fine it’s fine, leave now, and don’t come back to cause any more trouble. You doing all that, what’s going to happen to my business?"
Benjamin was too ashamed to say anything, nodded, and was ready to leave. But when he turned around and walked towards the entrance, not knowing why, he felt a shiver down his spine.
Thus he involuntarily slowed down.
Thinking of this, it was probably his sixth sense. He did not pay much attention, but just let out his water particle sensing technique as he prepared to walk out.
Through the technique, he could see how annoyed the blacksmith was, but at this moment, his face suddenly became serious. Not knowing where he pulled out a stick from, it was already raised high and was ready to come down onto Benjamin’s head.