With a wary look still in his eyes, Eugene stared at Balzac.

Although the words that Balzac had said just now didn’t seem like something a black wizard should say, Balzac was still ultimately a black wizard. There was no way that Eugene could trust a black wizard such as Balzac, especially in a situation like this.

However, Balzac had sworn a magical oath. While you couldn’t say it never happened, it was still extremely rare for a wizard to make such an oath. This was because from the moment such an oath left their lips, strong restrictions would be placed on any actions that they took from then on. There was no way that a black Archwizard like Balzac wouldn’t be aware of this.

Nevertheless, Balzac had still spat out such an oath casually and without any second thoughts.

Was he that certain that all his future behavior wouldn’t go against this oath? While this might be the case, with how suspicious of Balzac he was, Eugene couldn’t help but think that it had to be something else.

For example, the oath was fake. As a black wizard, Balzac might just have some secret plan that would allow him to ignore the consequences of a magical oath….

“You look like you don’t believe me,” Balzac said with a wry smile.

Eugene snorted and replied, “I’ve already said this to you many times, but I believe that the only good black wizard in the world is a dead black wizard.”

Balzac cocked an eyebrow, “Could it be that meeting me here like this is so unpleasant that you’re abandoning all pleasantries?”

“What’s the point of being careful with my words when speaking to a bastard who might stab me in the back?” Eugene retorted. “I’m only being so polite with you because you haven’t stabbed me in the back yet. If you had, I’d probably be calling you a son of a bitch.”

“I would prefer it if you didn’t,” Balzac requested. “I hold great pride in myself as a human being.”

Eugene recalled the conversation that he had had with Balzac in Aroth. At that time, Balzac had been curious about the ritual that had taken place at the Black Lion Castle, but Eugene hadn’t revealed anything about the spell itself. Instead, he had only informed Balzac about the purpose of the ritual.

—Reconstructing the soul and creating a new body…. Something like that might be regarded as taboo in the field of magic, but it is a research direction that has been pursued by many black wizards.

—It’s not a topic that interests me all that much. Reconstruction of the soul eventually leads to transforming your soul into something else, and the creation of a new body would also require...