色戒无删除版

The lieutenant was about to open his mouth but when he saw the major shaking his head he stopped. He instead waited for what the major would say.

"No need. You can go ahead and rest first. I actually know what happened during the mission, so you don't need to pass a report." Linius waved at the man and let him leave.

Based on the fight, he could choose several magic users to lead each group that they will be forming. He had seen the fight and the master surely had his own opinions regarding that matter. For now, they would relish in their first victory against the tower.

Later that night, the major hosted a banquet to celebrate the successful completion of their mission. At the same time, the elders of the tower were in disarray. While they were having their meeting, the news of what happened to the laboratories came. Each elder who was assigned to each laboratory left in a heartbeat to check, only to see nothing left.

They tried to see if anything was salvageable but nothing was left. Everything turned to ashes, even the underground rooms were destroyed. Anger, that was what they felt. Whoever did this would taste their wrath.

The meeting room was shrouded in with a depressive aura because of what had happened. They could only inform the others that their efforts were all gone. Even the Magus Maximus was surprised because of what had happened.

Never did he imagine that someone would dare to destroy those places when they made all necessary preparations just to hide those places. He could think of anyone who would do such a thing.

"What do we do now?" One of the elders asked with worry in his voice. "There must be a traitor in our midst! The only people who knew the locations of those laboratories are the people in this room!"

His voice got louder as he said those words. He was shaking in fear because someone might expose them and he did not want his reputation to be sullied. Besides, his claim wasn't unfounded. How can anyone know those locations if no one would have leaked the information.

"Are you suggesting that one of us is a traitor?" One of them sneered, "Why would any of us leak such important information, when we all know that those laboratories are important for our goals?"

The room became silent. All of them believed that none of the elders would do such a ridiculous thing unless they wanted to die. If those places were exposed to the public, the reputation of the tower would surely suffer and not only that, even their own reputation will be in tatters.

Luckily, the laboratories were only destroyed and the experiments were not exposed. But they can't be so sure yet, because the person behind the attack might be planning something. They might be waiting for the right time to expose everything.

"Now that the laboratories are destroyed, we can't do anything about it. What we should worry about right now is the person behind it because we do not know if they destroyed everything or they took all the data with them. Since the mastermind hasn't made his move yet, I suggest that we destroy all the data we have," one of the elders who could think calmly suggested.

It was a welcome suggestion but there were still others who felt reluctant about it. Destroying their data would mean destroying everything they've worked for and without those, how can they continue with the development of new magic?

"All data we have on the experiments are stored at the Hall of Knowledge. If you want to access it, you can go there. Discarding evidence on every person will lessen the damage we will take if this matter comes to light," another voice spoke.

All the elders remained silent for a while. They were all thinking about the pros and cons of the suggestion. Some finally agreed while the others were still undecided. Out of the ten elders, seven agreed while the other three were still thinking about it.

"We already have the Hall of Knowledge so why are you still hesitating?" The man who suggested that they destroy all data asked. "Magus Maximus, what can you say?" Because he was already losing his patience, he instead asked the highest of them.

The Magus Maximus who had been silent from the beginning of the meeting now had the attention of the other elders. "To that suggestion, I agree. It is better to remove all the personal evidence we have and store it all at the Hall of Knowledge."

To that command, the elders who were still indecisive had no say even though deep within they were still reluctant. Since their leader already spoke, they can't do anything to defy him. The Magus observed the elders and saw that they all nodded and reluctantly accepted his words.

"Regarding the destruction of the laboratories, I will handle the investigation and get to the bottom of it!" One of the elders volunteered. Since he was only second to the Magus, no one argued.

"How about the attacks that happened to the tower, do we have any progress on that matter?" The Magus suddenly asked.

The elder who was assigned to investigate the matter reported that they had no headway regarding the matter. There were no traces nor clues as to who and how the attacks happened so they were stuck.

"Do you perhaps suspect that the person behind the attacks on the tower is the same as the mastermind of the person behind the destruction of the laboratories?" Celes finally spoke.

There was no reason for the Magus to suddenly bring up those terror attacks. They've been in a meeting a couple of times after the attack and yet this was the first time that the Magus asked about the investigation.

"Yes, even though these events happened so far apart, it is still reasonable to connect the two. The mastermind behind the attacks had the ability to infiltrate the Magic Tower without getting detected and the person behind the laboratory attack has some way of obtaining classified information." The Magus explained, "Therefore, I have a reason to believe that there is only one person behind all of these."

The room was once again plunged into a tense silence at those words. A person who could do that kind of thing meant that he was nothing ordinary. Infiltration without detection and having access to classified information, these were things that no normal human being could do.

"Let us end this meeting here for now. I want all evidence regarding the laboratories to be burned and disposed of without a trace." The Magus did not make the meeting longer and left.

There was something he wanted to confirm himself. He went back to the Hall of Saints and called out one of his servants. A mist of black smoke glided towards the Magus and materialized into a person. He had black short hair and black eyes, a distinctive characteristic of a Ginehart. Even his profile bears resemblance to the duke.

His skin was pale and his clothing looked like a cloud of black smoke because of the wisp surrounding him. Even his feet were hidden behind those wisps which made him like he was floating. His lips were even as red as blood.

"Report," was the only word he said. He sat down on his chair and waited for this familiar to speak.

"Rigel Maverick Ginehart, he hadn't left the tower ever since you left and he has attended all of his classes and training. His aide had stayed beside him all of those time. I haven't seen any abnormal movements from him," the familiar answered with a deep voice.

The Magus was silent after he heard his familiar's report. There was no reason for him to lie or make up a story to him because he was bound to him. He narrowed his eyes before he finally sighed. He did not know if it was relief or not because his disciple had nothing to do with everything that had happened so far.