After Rowan Atkinson finished climbing a flight of stairs, he saw a low-tier mage waiting for him ahead.
“Master Atkinson, this way please.”
The expressionless low-tier mage made a gesture, then turned and led him towards a wooden door.
Feeling the atmosphere was somewhat strange, Rowan Atkinson pulled his robes tighter around himself, muttering inwardly as he followed his guide through the seemingly ordinary oak door.
The world behind the door was entirely different from the outside. The space was vastly expanded, and countless floating candlelights illuminated busy figures in black robes.
This was the internal Inquisition of the Mage Order, a place even high-tier mages were unwilling to set foot in lightly.
It was Rowan Atkinson’s first time visiting this internal auditing agency. By the time he realized something was wrong, the main doors behind him had long vanished.
“Wait, why are we at the Inquisition… What exactly is going on here?”
Master Atkinson lowered his voice, trying to fish for information from the guide: “Is there a problem with the report I submitted? Or do the higher-ups think I retreated too quickly this time?”
The guiding mage didn’t even turn his head, his voice as flat as a construct’s: “Master Atkinson, you know the rules… I have no comment.”
Soon, they arrived before a black door without any markings within the space.
The guide knocked on the door, then pushed it open, gesturing for Rowan to enter.
The room inside was very dark, making it impossible to see any boundaries.
Only a few warm white magical orbs floating above a long table in the center illuminated a small area.
Under the orbs, three mages sat upright. Two of them were strikingly wearing the black, silver-trimmed robes of the Inquisition.
The remaining person wore a dark red robe embroidered with gold flame patterns.
Master Atkinson recognized him; he was the full-time mage responsible for overall field dispatch in the Highland Mage Order.
At this moment, all three mysteriously wore their hoods up and pulled very low, making their faces indiscernible. Only three pairs of eyes flashing with a scrutinizing light in the shadows could be seen.
“Take a seat, don’t be nervous~” one of the three spoke first, though it was unclear who.
Although Master Atkinson hesitated, he ultimately sat down before the three.
“Rowan Atkinson, 6th-tier Enchantment school mage.”
This time, Master Atkinson finally saw clearly that it was the black-robed mage in the middle who spoke.
“Operation codename… ‘Baron’.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.” Master Atkinson straightened his back, trying hard to look composed.
“We have reviewed the report regarding the operation at Hofburg Palace.”
The mage on the left, responsible for field mission dispatch, spoke, his fingers tapping lightly on the tabletop.
“The footage on the recording crystal you submitted is also very clear… But the Inquisition believes some details require you to elaborate personally.”
“Details?”
Master Atkinson frowned, his tone carrying a hint of displeasure: “I have already written down the entire process, including how I used the [Ring of Invisibility] to infiltrate, how I controlled the Royal Magic Guards to kill each other, helped the coup forces breach the depths of Hofburg Palace, and used a [Modify Memory] spell scroll, serial number MM-23, on that old Emperor.”
“That is not what we are focusing on.”
The other Inquisition mage on the right, who had been silent, suddenly interjected, his voice sharp and piercing.
“We are focusing on that final scene, where you encountered a Saxon officer.”
Master Atkinson was stunned for a moment, then nodded: “Yes… the situation was very chaotic at the time. The Saxon assault troops’ firepower was too fierce. I was just preparing to evacuate when that officer suddenly led men rushing in.”
“He seemed to have noticed something at the time and threw a hand grenade directly in front of the pillar I was hiding behind.”
“And then?”
“And then I ran!”
Master Atkinson spread his hands, looking as if it were a matter of course.
“In that situation, if I didn’t run, was I supposed to stay for dinner? That guy’s perception is terrifying, like a monster, and there were over twenty guns pointing around. At such close range, I couldn’t gain any advantage…”
“You didn’t know who he was at the time?” the mage in the middle interrupted him.
“How would I know?” Master Atkinson felt somewhat wronged. “In that situation, surrounded by gunfire and explosions, I only thought of evacuating quickly! It was only after returning to the homeland that I heard he was the rumored ‘Mage Kill—'”
The three mages exchanged a glance, a look that made Master Atkinson feel as if he had been stripped naked and thrown in the snow.
“Exactly, Rowan Atkinson.”
The black-robed mage in the middle spoke again, leaning forward slightly, his eyes under the hood staring fixedly at him.
“You may not realize what an extraordinary thing you have done.”
“Before this operation, among all Imperial mages who had close contact with this person, only two survived.”
The black-robed mage raised two fingers, his tone grim: “One went mad upon returning, drank a potion, and chose to retrain in the Abjuration school; the other is a 7th-tier Archmage who, although he made it back, lost a hand and is still convalescing.”
At this point, the black-robed mage paused, his tone becoming meaningful: “And you are the third… and the only one who, at almost point-blank range, escaped completely unscathed and even conveniently completed the mission objectives.”
Master Atkinson blinked, suddenly having an ominous premonition.
Because he felt this didn’t sound like praise, but more like pushing him into a fire pit.
The air in this dark space seemed to freeze at this moment.
“Do you have anything you want to explain regarding this?”
In this instant, Master Atkinson finally understood where that sense of incongruity came from.
These f*cking bastards running the Inquisition were suspecting him!
Suspecting whether he had made some kind of deal with the Saxons? Or suspecting if he was hiding some methods?
“Explain? What can I explain?”
Master Atkinson was so angry he laughed directly. His voice became somewhat shrill due to agitation: “I survived purely by good luck! That hand grenade exploded right next to my face! If that pillar wasn’t thick enough, you wouldn’t even be seeing my corpse right now!”
After listening, the three mages conversed in low voices for a few sentences.
The mage in the middle looked at Master Atkinson again, his tone softening a bit: “Do not get agitated, Master Atkinson… We are merely asking routinely. After all, we didn’t expect you to survive the ‘Mage Killer’s’ hands either, so we need to figure out if this ‘Mage Killer’ possesses any weaknesses.”
Hearing the other party’s words, Rowan Atkinson took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, his brain operating at high speed.
“If I had to say there was anything different…”
Master Atkinson recalled the scene at the time, his brow furrowed tightly.
“It might be that I was under the effect of [Invisibility] at the time? Furthermore, I didn’t cast any hostile spell lock-on him; I was purely evading.”
He paused, seemingly grasping the key point: “Although that ‘Mage Killer’s’ perception is as sharp as a beast’s, he didn’t seem to have the means to directly see through invisibility. I felt he was merely blind-bombing based on intuition.”
After Rowan Atkinson finished speaking, that oppressive sense of scrutiny finally receded a bit this time.
The two sides exchanged some more details, and then the mage responsible for field dispatch temporarily left his seat.
Master Atkinson also breathed a sigh of relief, feeling his legs go a bit weak: “Then… can I leave now? I really need to rest.”
“Please be patient for a moment…”
The black-robed mage in the middle showed a smile on his face for the first time, but to Master Atkinson, it felt highly meaningful.
Not long after, the mage who left returned.
He first walked up to Master Atkinson, proactively shook his hand, and thanked and acknowledged him for everything he had done for the Empire and the Highland Mage Order.
Immediately after, he returned to his seat, looked at Master Atkinson, and spoke slowly: “Master Atkinson… given the outstanding survival capabilities you demonstrated when facing the ‘Mage Killer’, the higher-ups of the Mage Tower have just made a new decision.”
“What decision?”
At this moment, Rowan Atkinson suddenly had an extremely ominous premonition.
The mage responsible for field dispatch smiled, then seemingly out of nowhere produced a wax-sealed document and slid it across the table to Rowan.
“Following this incident, the higher-ups of the Mage Order have decided to establish an ‘Anti-Mage Killer Task Force’.”
“…”
The voice of the mage wearing dark red robes echoed in the empty room: “This task force has only one mission—to target and eliminate the threat of Saxon Imperial Army Colonel Friedrich von Morin, also known as the ‘Mage Killer’.”
Master Atkinson didn’t reach for the document. The expression on his face was uglier than crying: “Wait a minute, is this right? This isn’t right… Shouldn’t this kind of high-risk combat mission be left to the professionals in the Evocation school?”
“Mages from the Evocation school have already gone, but you know the result…” the mage on the left added coldly.
“Then to put it another way, wouldn’t it take minutes for an 8th or 9th-tier mage from the Mage Order to take action?”
“Master Atkinson, do you think the Highland Mage Order and the Empire can afford that risk?”
“…”
Master Atkinson didn’t speak at this moment, but inwardly he was roaring madly, cursing the higher-ups of the Highland Mage Order.
He only chose to go to Vienna for this dangerous field mission initially because there were promotion opportunities and the chance to receive personal guidance from an 8th-tier Archmage.
Who could have expected that upon returning, seeing the previously promised promotion and Master’s guidance nowhere in sight, he’d be slapped with such a dangerous job?
Despite having many thoughts in his heart, outwardly Master Atkinson could only put on a bitter face and try to decline: “Gentlemen… I really can’t! This time was purely luck. If I go again, I’m definitely dead! Furthermore, my previous field mission is completed. According to our agreement, I should be enjoying a vacation and waiting for my promotion assessment now…”
“The threat posed by this Saxon colonel is constantly expanding, even reaching the point where it can directly affect the direction of the situation.”
The mage on the right interrupted his complaints, speaking grand principles to Master Atkinson in a serious tone.
For example, this Austro-Hungarian regime subversion operation was supposed to be a sure thing; they had practically reached the final step of success.
The result was that because Morin led that elite Saxon Imperial unit to interfere, everything fell short at the last hurdle.
Not only did the coup in Vienna fail, it also forced “Raven” to urgently evacuate Vienna with the vast majority of intelligence personnel.
Although there were currently two deep-cover operatives still in Vienna, given the current situation, they were unable to transmit information outwards.
This also turned Vienna into an “information black hole,” just like the Saxon Empire’s capital, Dresden.
The Empire’s layout in the Balkan Peninsula also fell into passivity due to this so-called “suppressing the rebellion.”
If this person wasn’t eliminated, how many more mages would the Highland Mage Order lose on the battlefield in the future?
Master Atkinson shrank his neck. He naturally knew that Saxon colonel was a huge problem.
But he didn’t want to become the “consumable material” to solve that problem even more…
“Does this feel somewhat pre-ordained…”
“Say no more.”
The mage in the middle stood up, looking down at him.
“The higher-ups of the Mage Order have already decided, Master Atkinson… Moreover, this is your only path to promotion in the future.”
Master Atkinson abruptly looked up: “What do you mean?”
“Given the current tight war situation, both promotion quotas and individual guidance from 8th-tier mages need to be replanned…”
“If you refuse, then unfortunately… the originally promised resources might temporarily be tilted towards frontline combat mages.”
This was naked threat and bribery.
Although Rowan Atkinson was afraid of death, he was even more a mage thirsting for power and status.
In the Holy Britannia’s Highland Mage Order, without high-tier strength and core circle status, ordinary mages were nothing more than slightly expensive advanced cannon fodder.
Master Atkinson gritted his teeth, a battle raging in his mind.
On one side was that terrifying “Mage Killer,” on the other was the promotion opportunity he dreamed of.
“Umm…” Rowan swallowed hard, the expression on his face changing from resistance to reluctant acceptance, “Will the promotion and guidance be honored immediately?”
“As long as you sign, it takes effect immediately.”
Rowan took a deep breath, grabbed a very vintage and traditional quill from the table, and rapidly signed his name on the appointment letter.
“Deal.”
He tossed the pen aside, but his mind had already begun scheming:
I’ll just go through the motions without exerting any real effort, treat this job as desk work. No one can ever make me take another step towards the front lines.
Opposite him, a smile also appeared on the face of the mage responsible for field dispatch.
Saying it now was one thing; how it would be arranged when the time came was obviously up to them.
Thousands of miles away, in one of the capitals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Hofburg Palace in Vienna.
Morin, referred to as a “monster” by Master Atkinson, currently stood shirtless, wearing only shorts, in the center of the room.
Master Röntgen’s apprentices had reassembled the “Magitech Tomography Imager” in this temporarily cleared-out room.
While injecting mana into the instrument, this Master slowly pushed the “Magitech Tomography Imager” to rotate around Morin.
A low humming sound played continuously. Morin only felt strange waves constantly sweeping across his body. This was clearly an entirely different experience from getting a CT scan in his past life.
Morin took the opportunity to ask the other party why these examinations weren’t done when he was previously at the military medical center.
Master Röntgen informed Morin that Morin’s situation at the time was highly classified, and few people knew the specific details.
It was only later, after Morin was discharged from the hospital and the information was slowly declassified to some high-ranking Imperial officials and mages, that they learned of Morin’s situation. Röntgen and the others had always been looking for an opportunity to scan Morin.
About an hour passed, during which Master Röntgen constantly adjusted parameters and even had the two apprentices install two magic crystals for auxiliary power supply.
Clearly, this kind of high-precision full-body scan using “Röntgen rays” consumed an astonishing amount of mana.
Finally, as the last hum dissipated, Master Röntgen let out a long breath.
He sat in a chair nearby, pulled out a bottle of dark green herbal tonic from somewhere, and chugged it down.
The two apprentices also quickly connected an imaging crystal to the magitech instrument.
“Finished?”
Morin picked up his military uniform from the side, put it back on, and walked over to this mage.
“Finished…”
Master Röntgen wiped the medicine stains from the corners of his mouth and pointed to the massive imaging crystal ahead.
“Let’s take a look together… Hans, start the projection!”
Just like showing Franz Joseph I’s brain earlier, for the first time in this era, Morin saw such a clear full-body CT—or rather, a magical tomography scan image.
Upon seeing the image for the first time, Master Röntgen couldn’t sit still. He directly stood up, walked to the front of the image, looked at it for a long time, and finally sighed: “Tsk tsk tsk… Colonel Morin, you aren’t human at all.”
(End of Chapter)