A mage's journey begins with a battle mage.

Chapter 266 The Witch's Forest

Jiang Shuzhou had heard that very League-style phrase once before in Velissco.

Judges who don't understand the law and diplomats who don't understand diplomacy are simply operating within the alliance.

However, it's not a big problem. Jiang Shuzhou knows a little bit about this. He was just trying to see if he could slack off during the mission.

However, judging from the current situation, it seems unlikely that it will succeed.

"It's okay, as long as the accompanying staff understands. We only need to discuss the general terms; the accompanying staff will help with the specific terms and conditions."

"Trunk said."

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Shuzhou chatted casually with the two mages. There was still about an hour before the mission officially began.

During their casual conversation, Jiang Shuzhou gained a general understanding of the two men's situation.

All three were newly promoted high-level mages, but they were at different ages when they were promoted.

Trank was promoted at over two hundred years old. He had experienced the high spirits of his youth and the pain of stagnation in middle age. Finally, after careful consideration, he sold his property and prepared for one last dance. If he failed, he would die. Obviously, he succeeded in the end. Because of his rich life experience, he was relatively mature and composed.

Morris was promoted in his eighties, young and full of vigor, and had never experienced any setbacks, which contributed to his gentle nature.

Jiang Shuzhou goes without saying; he was promoted at the age of 21, making him a rare genius in the league.

"Master Navis's talent is truly enviable. He has reached the level of a high-level alchemist in just over 20 years. I have lived for over 80 years in vain."

Morris immediately started praising it.

"What are you talking about? It's just a difference of 60 years. It seems like a lot now, but if you stretch the timeframe to several thousand years, it's just a blink of an eye."

"Haha, that's true. High-level mages have a lifespan of several thousand years, so we're about the same age."

Trank's expression turned sour.

"The same goes for Mage Trunk. What does it mean to be a late bloomer? You are a perfect example..."

Master of Balance, Jiang Shuzhou, began to balance things.

"Haha, that's nothing, it's all just luck."

Trank's expression immediately brightened, and he even wore a rare smile.

Soon, the three became fast friends, their relationship thawed and quickly warmed up.

"My lords, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

A high-ranking warrior walked in.

"It's nothing."

Trank composed himself, his face returning to calm.

They change their tune so quickly.

Morris remained nonchalant, still grinning.

Just like Jiang Shuzhou himself, he does whatever he wants and there's no need for him to put on any airs of authority in front of these people.

If you really feel you lack authority, killing two people will give you it.

Then we'll see who dares to disobey.

"My lords, I am Pilates, and I am also your diplomatic advisor for this occasion."

Pilates, a bearded warrior, looks nothing like a civil servant.

"Okay, go organize the documents, and bring the diplomatic corps along too. We'll be leaving in a bit."

Jiang Shuzhou gave the direct order.

Morris and Trank nodded in agreement.

"Then I'll be going now."

Pilates said his goodbyes and then left the meeting room.

"I think we were supposed to use a magic puppet, right?"

Jiang Shuzhou asked.

"Yes, after all, some places aren't very friendly to mages."

"Trunk replied."

Jiang Shuzhou created a fake person, a fake person without self-awareness.

As a master of the flesh and blood realm, Jiang Shuzhou naturally needed to use flesh puppets.

Unlike Jiang Shuzhou, Trunk and Morris didn't have the ability to customize their own puppets; they only brought out ordinary magical puppets.

"The tower is protected inside. Even if the other party is shameless and uses a soul attack, it can be blocked by the tower and will not cause us any harm. At the same time, they will not be able to track us."

Trank explained to the newcomer, Jiang Shuzhou.

Soon, all three of them completed the condensation and infusion of their spiritual power seeds.

Compared to other faceless puppets, Jiang Shuzhou's is a high-end product, not only with various functions, but also with customizable face.

As Jiang Shuzhou fiddled with it for a while, the face of the manipulated dummy slowly changed, becoming an unremarkable, generic face.

The remaining two had no objections to this.

After all, it's normal to hide one's identity in this situation.

Immediately afterwards, the puppets emerged from the tower.

"My lords, let's go."

Pilates came to greet them.

Jiang Shuzhou looked around at the diplomats.

The team has a total of 46 people, and apart from Pilates, they are all mid-to-low-level warriors, so there's not much to pay attention to.

"Let's go, where's our first stop?"

"Trank asked."

"The Witch's Forest, it's not far from the Alliance of Saints."

The Witch's Forest, as the name suggests, is related to witches.

Witches are not female mages; they possess some spellcasting abilities, but these are entirely due to their innate talent.

In short, they are more like warlocks.

However, unlike sorcerers, these witches are born with the power of rules.

At the low and mid-levels, this gives the witches immense power, allowing them to dominate in battle.

After all, whether it's time stopping or teleportation, or eternal fire and spreading ice, or even the power of domination.

These witches are all born with immense power.

However, its drawbacks are also extremely serious.

They find it difficult to advance to higher ranks; everything comes at a price.

Since witches are born with the gifts of the laws, they must also bear the backlash from them.

This kind of gift is not a good thing.

As they advance in rank, the rules they were born with will begin to backfire, mostly resulting in death, or at best, transforming into some kind of strange creature.

A very small number of them are able to successfully advance and then begin to master the power within their bodies.

In the Witch's Forest, there lives a group of witches.

The Mage Alliance's goal is to continue signing a non-aggression pact with them.

However, according to the mission briefing, this is not important; what they need to confirm is the specific situation of the Witch Academy in the Witch Forest.

The most crucial thing is the fate of the headmaster, Tessa Mey; let's see if that old geezer is dead or alive.

If they die, the alliance will only give them two options: either submit or die.

If they weren't dead, the alliance wouldn't bother with them; they could just sign a non-aggression pact and be done with it.

Originally, mages and witches had a good relationship. In fact, mages once believed that witches were born mages, but their talents were so strong that they were favored by the laws of nature from birth.

However, later on, these witches, because they had the ability to cast spells directly using the rules without being caught in the net, severed ties with the mages.

Later, when the alliance was formed, they even planned to let the witch join, but that old hag Tessame directly refused the request. Moreover, when the mage alliance was punished by the sun god, she even tried to take advantage of the situation and had no intention of helping at all.

After the Alliance subdued Amon, the Sun God, these people went into hiding again. Although a legendary mage intended to intervene, the Alliance was in a difficult situation and couldn't spare the time, so he had to give up for the time being.

Now, things have changed; it seems that old hag Tessa May is dead.