Chapter 347: Purely by Feeling
Not far away, atop the Magic Association tower, Rhodes and Serie were looking in the direction of the explosion.
With their strength, even without intentionally releasing their senses, they could detect such a violent energy outburst in the core area of the capital immediately.
Especially a certain elf lady who claimed not to care but had been secretly maintaining a large-scale detection spell all along.
As Frieren forcibly broke the magical barrier with that elemental attack, the faces turning green weren't limited to Alvin and her temporary teammates on the scene. Serie's face, watching from afar, also darkened.
A look of astonishment flashed across her exquisite face, followed by obvious anger burning in her beautiful golden eyes.
Since Rhodes had sent Olivia to protect them, she naturally wouldn't intervene personally. Instead, she used detection magic to monitor the situation around Alvin's group from a distance, acting as supervision and insurance.
But she never expected they would choose such a direct method!
The violent lightning mana fluctuation and the energy turbulence generated when the barrier shattered not only alerted the entire Count's mansion instantly but also woke up several surrounding blocks in the dead of night.
For a time, chaos reigned. Lights came on in many houses, and more troublingly, squads of fully armed guards were rushing toward the source of the disturbance. The streets were in turmoil.
"Those idiots!" Serie squeezed the words through her gritted teeth.
She didn't care how much trouble her foolish apprentices' actions would cause the capital. What truly angered her was their operation itself.
In Serie's view, they should have used magic to infiltrate, avoided powerful existences, and silently kidnapped the target noble.
She had even taught them some aura-concealing magic beforehand specifically to help them complete the mission better.
Yet they chose the combat method least suited for them.
Did they become so reckless because they knew Olivia was protecting them?
Rhodes, on the other hand, appeared quite calm. Looking at the chaotic scene in the distance, a helpless smile even curled at the corner of his mouth. He shook his head. "Now, Fidel is probably going to have a splitting headache. He might run to the Association tomorrow morning with dark circles under his eyes to complain to us."
According to their tacit agreement with Fidel:
Rhodes and Serie would handle rooting out the nobles involved in coveting the immortality magic and plotting attacks against them.
Fidel would handle the subsequent trial and disposal.
Either stripping them of their titles and property and exiling them to the bitter cold northern borders, or imprisoning them deep in sunless dungeons to execute them quietly later.
This would remove the internal tumors while maximizing the Empire's superficial stability, preventing these desperate nobles from starting a rebellion in the core of the capital and harming innocent civilians.
But now, with Frieren causing such a huge commotion, she had undoubtedly added considerable trouble to Fidel's follow-up operations.
The nobles not involved in this matter probably wouldn't be able to sit still either.
Serie couldn't care less if Fidel had a headache. "Don't let me find out which fool came up with this method of breaking the barrier! Or they won't hear the end of it!"
Hearing this, Rhodes's smile deepened. He turned to look at the puffing elf beside him and teased, "Do you even need to guess? Among those little guys, besides Frieren, who else could unleash lightning magic of that power?"
Serie pursed her lips tightly, not responding.
Actually, when she sensed that familiar and tyrannical mana fluctuation, she had vaguely guessed it was Frieren's handiwork.
But she really didn't want to believe it—or rather, couldn't accept it.
She always speculated about her junior, Frieren, with maximum malice.
In her view, Frieren had a dull personality, bordering on dazed, but she still possessed combat experience. She never expected the girl to be stupid to this extent!
Suddenly, she thought of something. "Something is wrong! With Frieren's magical level, she shouldn't be able to release a magical attack of such power! It feels a bit like... it was enhanced by a magical item."
The elf cast a suspicious gaze at Rhodes.
She remembered this guy mentioning that to prevent problems during the mission, he had given Frieren quite a few magical items.
Rhodes nodded frankly. "Mn. She did indeed use the magical items I gave her."
Serie was somewhat speechless, but she couldn't blame Rhodes. So she shifted her anger to another target.
"That fellow Flamme... how exactly is she teaching her apprentice?!" Serie complained in a low voice.
Meanwhile, in the Association's underground, Flamme, who was using mana to investigate Solitär-Flamme's body composition, sneezed.
"Is Frieren talking about me? I wonder how her mission is going? But with Senior Olivia following them, there shouldn't be any problems!"
Flamme muttered to herself and continued her research.
On the other side, after complaining about her disciple, a thought involuntarily popped up in Serie's mind.
Perhaps I shouldn't have listened to Rhodes back then. Should I have taught Frieren personally?
With her ability to teach apprentices, she wouldn't have produced such a reckless fellow who only knew brute force, right?
The elf lady was very confident in her teaching abilities, unaware that she had only successfully taught two apprentices so far, one of whom was co-taught with Rhodes.
But Serie subconsciously ignored these facts.
She felt that if she taught Frieren, she could mold her into something much more outstanding—definitely a qualified mage.
Unfortunately, Rhodes had been firm back then, directly designating Flamme to be responsible for teaching Frieren. What was that guy planning?
Thinking of this, Serie couldn't help asking, "Why did you insist on handing Frieren to Flamme back then? If I had taught her, she wouldn't be like this now."
Rhodes seemed to have expected her question. He withdrew his gaze from the distance and thought for a moment. "No special reason. Just a feeling... that the two of them were born to be master and disciple."
"Huh?!" Serie choked on this near-metaphysical answer.
What kind of lousy reason is that?!
"You might as well use your future-sight magic and tell me you saw a future where they were destined to be master and disciple! That would be more convincing!" The elf pouted, speaking very unhappily.
Just as Serie was feeling exasperated by Rhodes's strange answer, a powerful wave of energy came from the direction of the Count's mansion again!
A Holy Lance descended from the sky like divine punishment, effortlessly shattering the restrictive barrier trapping Alvin and the others.
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