Versatile Mage

1638 The Guild of the Wicked

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

“There are so many people here,” Asha’ruiya poked her head into the room and walked inside before Mo Fan gave his permission. She did not treat herself as an outsider.

“What do you want? We are discussing something important, if you have any other thoughts, we’ll meet somewhere else… no, I wanted to say, you should stop bothering me. I’m taken already, Asha’ruiya, you are a nice woman,” Mo Fan blabbered.

“Isn’t she A…” Zhao Manyan’s eyes straightened when he saw Asha’ruiya!

“She’s Ye Meng’e, wait…your surname is Ye too…” Mo Fan quickly interrupted Zhao Manyan.

Heidi and Brianca were present. If they knew the woman was Asha’ruiya, one of the Candidates for the role of the Goddess of the Parthenon Temple, the situation would seriously get out of control.

Even though Asha’ruiya was a public figure in Europe, she wore a veil most of the time, thus not many people had seen her face. Asha’ruiya was still wearing a veil to cover her face slightly, even here.

Knowing the problems between the Alps Institute and the Parthenon Temple, Mo Fan did not want Zhao Manyan to say Asha’ruiya’s name. He called her by the Chinese name she gave him when they first met instead.

However, Mo Fan suddenly realized that her Chinese name had the surname Ye too, just like Ye Xinxia. Surely it was not a mere coincidence!

Zhao Manyan quickly realized why Mo Fan had interrupted him.

“I suddenly noticed that we have gathered some of the most beautiful women in the world in the same room,” Zhao Manyan exclaimed as a way to change the topic.

Mo Fan briefly scanned the women in the room. Zhao Manyan was absolutely right about that!

Brianca, Heidi, Asha’ruiya, and Mu Ningxue were all beauties among beauties, as was Apas, currently sitting on the couch playing with Little Flame Belle. The five of them could easily outshine every woman on the street!

“I know what you are looking for,” Asha’ruiya cut straight to the topic.

“You know? How do you know? Right, it’s not difficult to find out that we are looking for the source of the young Tyrant Titan’s heart, especially for an information vendor like you,” Mo Fan said.

Asha’ruiya shook her head. She looked at Mu Ningxue and asked, “Are you investigating the incidents of missing children?”

Mu Ningxue’s gaze sharpened. She immediately put on a hostile face.

She had only mentioned it to Mo Fan. Only those in the room knew the truth, so how did this uninvited guest know too? Unless… Asha’ruiya was the culprit she was looking for, or at least she was somehow related to the culprit!

“I do want to have a showdown with you, but not now… I know you’re looking for the person behind it because this guy here was getting some information from my people. I happened to be investigating the same matter lately, so I didn’t have trouble tracking him to Fanxue Mountain.” Asha’ruiya pointed at Jiang Yu.

Jiang Yu dropped his jaw. He finally realized something after staring at Asha’ruiya for some time, “Your people? I got the information from a master. Wait, you are from the network, too?”

“What network? What the hell are you talking about?” Mo Fan was utterly confused.

“The Hunter Network, a network of information across countries. The Secret Tipping Scrolls purchased from our country’s Hunter Union is one of the projects handled by the Hunter Network. They specialize in gathering information: information on demon creatures, organizations, Mages, equipment… their organization branched off from the Hunter Union. It even has information about the Black Vatican, Hall of Assassins, and other independent factions, resistances, and cults. When you asked me to look into the incidents of the missing children in Feiniao City, I couldn’t find any information about it through official channels in our country, so I had to collect the information through the Hunter Network. It was a Master of the Hunter Network who tipped me that the culprit we are looking for is one of the clans in Athens!” Jiang Yu said.

Mo Fan had heard about the Secret Tipping Scrolls before. Many Hunters sold valuable information they had found through them; other Hunters could then buy the Secret Tipping Scrolls that contained information about the things they were looking for. Mo Fan spent a fortune on the Secret Tipping Scrolls when he was looking for the young Medusa, which had allowed him to narrow down the search area to the temple!

To Mo Fan’s surprise, these informers had formed a network, and were referred to as the Hunter Network!

“But I told the master not to reveal who I am!” Jiang Yu protested.

“There’s no such thing as absolute secrecy in this world. You were exposed the moment you bought the information from the Hunter Network, so it was not difficult to find out what Fanxue Mountain is up to,” Asha’ruiya said.

“So are you saying… the Hunter Network is like Baidu for Mages?” Mo Fan asked curiously.

“…”

“…”

The Hunter Network was obviously not the same as Baidu, because it was selling some of the most confidential intel in the world!

“If you can find out our intentions so easily, wouldn’t that mean the culprit is also aware of why we are in Athens?” Mu Ningxue asked.

Asha’ruiya shook her head and said, “They might suspect something, but their information is nowhere as accurate as mine. Well, I’m not that proficient either, but the person he contacted happened to be one of my men… I’ve always been keeping an eye on your Fanxue Mountain.”

“She definitely has a high clearance in the Hunter Network,” Jiang Yu muttered.

“Alright, we’ll learn more about the Hunter Network next time. Asha’ruiya, if you know what we are up to, why did you purposely visit us? I can’t imagine you telling us some important information out of kindness,” Mo Fan said.

“It’s part of a chain, the people involved have done a lot of outrageous acts. They are called the Wicked, and their influence has extended to many places across the world. They eventually turned into a guild,” Asha’ruiya told them.

“The Wicked?” Brianca said.

“Miss Brianca, do you know of the guild?” Mo Fan said.

“Our Alps Institute mainly focuses on helping and raising orphans. I have never met anyone from the guild before, but I heard Miss Ceylan and a few other teachers mention that a student of our school was killed by some sort of a guild while she was trying to save a child. I believe it’s the same guild you are referring to,” Brianca answered.

“Why does it feel like an international criminal organization to me?” Mo Fan murmured.

“Yes, they have recruited criminals who are wanted by the Magic Association and the governments of different countries to commit crimes. Mo Fan, do you remember the Red Ornaments Guild that we took out in the Caribbean Sea?” Jiang Yu said.

“How could I forget them? Do they have something to do with the missing children, too?” Mo Fan said.

“Not really, but the Red Ornaments Guild is a side branch of the Guild of the Wicked. You could say that the Guild of the Wicked was supporting them behind the scenes. Why do you think the government was struggling to take them out?” Jiang Yu said.

Zhao Manyan immediately recalled the Red Ornaments Guild.

The people of the Red Ornaments Guild were indeed despicable. Not only were they bullying ordinary people that did not know magic, they even proceeded to torture them to get their revenge…

He had thought the Red Ornaments Guild was just a bunch of hoodlums, but they were actually tied to a worse organization instead!

“The pirates of the Red Ornaments Guild were just using the name of the Guild of the Wicked to intimidate their prey. The Guild of the Wicked are the real scum that can do anything for their own gain and greed,” Asha’ruiya stated.

“Which means, we just have to take out this Guild of the Wicked?” Mo Fan spoke up.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s find those scum and kill them all. They might even have a bounty on them. We can earn ourselves a fortune while serving justice!” Zhao Manyan exclaimed, swinging his fists around.

“I doubt it’s that easy,” Heidi cooled him off.

“Even if he knows what I just explained, I wouldn’t be here if it was that simple.” Asha’ruiya pointed at Jiang Yu as if he was just a rookie.

Jiang Yu wanted to say something, but soon swallowed the words back.

It was true that Jiang Yu had only just figured out the Guild of the Wicked was responsible for the disappearance of the young children. It had an entire operation dedicated to kidnapping the children and transporting their hearts to Athens!

However, he had no clue about the identities of its members or how many people it had in Athens, so the Guild of the Wicked was still in the dark.

“I can honestly tell you that if you stick to your current plan, there are only two possible outcomes. First, the culprit will arrange a few scapegoats for you to kill and vent your frustrations. You will soon forget about it while feeling proud that you’ve taken out a poisonous tumor endangering society. Second, someone here is going to die, and the culprit will threaten you with the life of the others to stop you from investigating any further. They will make you suffocate in darkness!” Asha’ruiya declared.

Asha’ruiya sounded extremely serious, and was looking at Brianca. It was obvious that Asha’ruiya knew Brianca was a Super Mage, yet even so, she would not be able to stop the second outcome!

“Mo Fan and I have caught a Red Cardinal of the Black Vatican, why would we be afraid of the Guild of the Wicked?” Zhao Manyan harrumphed coldly.

“The Black Vatican and the Guild of the Wicked are different. The world has zero tolerance for the Black Vatican. If they know someone is a member of the Black Vatican, many different organizations, governments, and the Magic Associations will join hands to annihilate them!

“But the Guild of the Wicked is simply the other side of society. They are rotten meat, but they aren’t poisonous tumors that you can simply remove as you please. They commit crimes for personal gains. Some of the organizations among us are tied up with them. If we start trying to get rid of it, many organizations are going to suffer because of it,” Asha’ruiya informed him.