Witch Training Manual: My Water Magic Is Wrong

It was at this moment that...

Wright saw Wayne's true colors.

The more he looked at the person before him, the more familiar he seemed, so he asked, "Sir, have we met somewhere before?"

Wayne glanced at him and replied dismissively, "I don't think we've met before, my friend."

After he finished speaking, he didn't linger any longer, turned around, and left the market with Emily. The crowd automatically parted to make way, their eyes following his retreating figure until he disappeared around the street corner.

Wright stood there, watching the figure walk away, his brows furrowed slightly as he tried to recall.

wrong.

He seemed to have actually seen this person before.

Where have I seen him before?

Wright stood there thinking for a long time, until the surrounding stall owners started to clean up their overturned stalls, when he suddenly slapped his forehead and remembered.

He did indeed meet Wayne.

However, what he saw was a portrait.

Just a few days ago, at a secret gathering of the Iron Wolf Adventurer Guild, the guild leader personally announced some important news. He took out a portrait, showed it to everyone, and said, "This person is the Iron Wolf Adventurer Guild's highest priority assassination target for the next three days. Whoever can take his life, by any means necessary, will receive five hundred gold coins."

Wright only glanced at the portrait from afar and didn't pay much attention to it. He thought to himself that a mission of this level shouldn't be assigned to a newcomer like him who had just received the Black Iron Badge.

But he never expected that he would meet the person in the portrait face to face in this way today. Even more unexpectedly, the person would save his life.

Wright stood beside the overturned stall, looking in the direction Wayne had disappeared, his eyes filled with an extremely complex emotion.

Five hundred gold coins. This amount of money was almost a fortune for him, enough to change his current impoverished life. Every day, he took on odd jobs at the Adventurers' Guild, such as running errands, scouting, and carrying luggage. After working himself to the bone for a month, he would only earn a dozen or so silver coins, which was less than a single gold coin. Five hundred gold coins—it would take him most of his life to save them.

But he was also very clear about something else.

The demonic flame lion we just saw was at least a mid-level fourth-tier beast, and after going berserk, it was approaching the peak of the fourth tier. Yet, our opponent only used three punches to completely knock that beast unconscious. With that kind of combat power, let alone a mere early-stage third-tier adventurer like myself, even if the entire Iron Wolf Adventurer Group went out in force, they might not be able to capture that person.

Wright stood there, watching Wayne's figure disappear around the street corner, his mind racing.

He recalled the rumors he'd heard in recent days: the Iron Wolf Adventurer Group, the Black Serpent Mercenary Group, and the Broken Bone Brotherhood—several prominent adventurer groups in the capital—had all received similar assassination missions a few days prior. The targets had identical profiles, and the bounties were all ridiculously high.

He hadn't connected the two things before, only thinking that some important figure had appeared in the shadows of the capital, and someone was paying a lot of money to save their life.

But after seeing Wayne in person today, he suddenly realized that the targets of those exorbitant bounties were very likely related to the person in front of him.

Someone is using the entire adventurer group in the capital as a pawn.

Wright stood up, dusted off his pants, and decided to pretend he hadn't seen or forgotten anything that day. He would stay put for the next few days, avoid taking any dubious side jobs, stay away from places he shouldn't go, and not mention to anyone who he'd met at the market that day. Only by staying alive could he have a chance to earn more money.

Once you die, you lose everything.

Just then, the panel appeared in front of Wayne.

[Market Events: Truth Analysis]

[The Flame Lion's recent loss of control was no coincidence; it was a test from the Black Serpent Mercenary Group. Recently, the Holy See of St. George has been secretly contacting several adventurer teams, offering high bounties for your assassination.]

[Note: The adventurer team isn't entirely stupid. The Black Serpent Mercenary Group was among them who just plotted against you. After witnessing you knock out the Demon-Eyed Flame Lion with three punches, they immediately canceled the assassination mission—because they didn't believe you used your full strength.]

[Note 2: Although the Black Serpent Mercenary Group canceled the mission, they will resell the intelligence they observed today to others who are interested in you. Intelligence is money, and this is a sure-fire way for them to make a profit.]

Wayne finished reading the panel, his gaze narrowing slightly.

The dirty tricks from St. George's side came faster than he expected. First, the Holy Knight Inspection Team came to cause trouble, and then they bribed the adventurer group to set a trap in the market to test him.

If he doesn't demonstrate enough dominance today, and after the fire lion goes berserk, "just so happens" a few "righteous" adventurers will step in to stop it, and then "accidentally" injure or even kill him in the melee. That's roughly how the script goes.

Meanwhile, the perceptive Emily also sensed something and asked in a low voice, "Sir, was there something wrong with that lion just now?"

Wayne nodded.

"Someone's testing me. But it's okay, they'll be more cautious after today. Let's go back first."

Not long after, Wayne and his companion returned home.

By this time, it was getting late.

Tiffany found Wayne immediately, her expression a mixture of seriousness and barely suppressed excitement.

"Sir, I've made contact with the five sisters. They've agreed to cooperate with our operation, but the situation is more complicated than we anticipated."

Wayne gestured for her to continue.

Tiffany took a deep breath: "Although they are temporarily free, their movements are under close surveillance. The day after tomorrow is the night they plan to act, and it won't just be the five sisters coming. A group of death row inmates have also been released from the St. George's Chapel dungeon; they have been promised freedom and a bounty and will be mixed in with the operation team as cannon fodder. In addition, there are three fifth-tier assassins trained by St. George, responsible for ensuring the assassination succeeds at the crucial moment."

As she said this, a hint of worry crept into her voice: "Sir, St. George has pulled out all the stops to kill you. They've gone to such lengths just to target a fourth-tier manager like you..."

After hearing this, Wayne laughed instead.

"Just to assassinate a fourth-tier manager like me, Caroso dispatched five witches, a group of death row inmates, and three fifth-tier assassins. Saint George really thinks highly of me."

Emily stood to the side, her face filled with worry: "Sir, they've sent so many people... Are we really okay?"

Wayne turned to look at her, his tone calm: "Don't worry, St. George thinks they've made thorough arrangements and have victory in the bag. But they don't know that those five witches weren't their people from the start. Besides, we have Keynes on our side to back us up, so overall, there shouldn't be any problems."