Wizard Earl

Chapter 26 Notes

"Mr. Connor, please come in. The master wants you to wait for him in his study!" Before Connor could speak, the elderly man dressed as a butler spoke first.

"Master?" Connor was taken aback. In his memory, his mentor Reyes had always been a loner, living here alone. When did a butler appear?

Seemingly sensing Connor's question, the old butler smiled slightly and explained, "My name is Victor, and I'm the professor's butler. I just arrived here from the professor's hometown a few days ago. Mr. Connor, you can just call me Old Victor!"

"I see, thank you so much, Butler Victor!" Connor nodded politely in thanks, then headed up to the second floor of the villa to Reyes's study.

Connor was familiar with Reyes's study; in his memory, Reyes often guided his studies in the study.

As the study door opened, standing on the luxurious carpet, Connor caught a whiff of a faint, enviable fragrance. A hint of envy flashed in his eyes as he focused his gaze on the three large wooden bookshelves and desk in the room.

The desk and bookshelf have a beautiful golden tiger-stripe pattern on their wood surfaces. This is a unique symbol and characteristic of the exceptionally precious tigerwood. Tigerwood is not grown in the Kaman Empire. It is only cultivated in small quantities in the Empire's colonies in the New World. In addition to the limited cultivation, this tigerwood takes a full hundred years to mature before it can be made into furniture.

Tigerwood is expensive not only because of its beautiful and pleasing grain, but also because it emits a unique fragrance that has a calming and soothing effect on the mind and relieves restlessness.

In the current market of Loen, a cubic meter of tigerwood costs just over five hundred gold pounds, yet it's still in high demand and short supply. As soon as tigerwood enters the market, it's sold out in less than an hour. And the three large bookshelves and desk in Professor Reyes's room, according to Connor's estimate, are worth at least five thousand gold pounds…

Sitting on the sofa in the study, Connor idly browsed the furnishings. The slightly yellowed books on the bookshelf, illuminated by the orange glow of the gas lamp, gave the room a unique ambiance. On the desk, there was a bottle of unlabeled, bright red wine and an open notebook.

Connor examined the notebook with great interest; in his memory, his mentor, Professor Reyes, seemed to have a habit of taking notes.

The paper of the notebook was rough and had some small black spots, clearly cheap and of poor quality. Connor became more and more interested in the open notebook after noticing this. Professor Reyes was a person who paid great attention to the quality of life. He used high-quality paper that was smooth and white and cost one penny per sheet. Professor Reyes would never use such inferior paper!

It is clear from all the clues that the notebook placed on Professor Reyes's desk does not belong to Professor Reyes.

So whose notebook is this?

A flicker of hesitation crossed Connor's eyes. He was struggling with whether to get up from the sofa and look at the contents of that notebook. Perhaps that notebook would reveal the background of his mysterious and powerful mentor.

After glancing at the closed door, Connor made his choice, quickly got up, and walked towards the desk.

The writing on the notebook was clearly in the Kaman script, the common script of the Kaman Empire, but the handwriting was extremely messy and could be described as ugly. This further confirmed Connor's judgment that Professor Reyes, who held a doctorate from the prestigious Renver University, would never have written such a script.

"On July 13, Sir Mountbatten met with his lover Eva at the Leganés Hotel at 119 Narcissus Street."

"On September 21st, Mrs. Anneke, the wife of the wealthy merchant Wilbekah, secretly lent her brother five hundred gold pounds to pay off gambling debts."

"On November 8th, Mr. Neres, the tax commissioner of the municipality, accepted a bribe of fifty gold pounds from timber merchant Garry to help Garry evade taxes."

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"Holy crap, this is all dirt on other people?" After barely managing to make out the contents of the notebook, Connor exclaimed inwardly.

Looking at the messy handwriting in the notebook, Connor vaguely felt that it was familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before, but none of his classmates, friends, family members, etc. had such terrible handwriting.

"Valverde!" The name of a dead man suddenly appeared in Connor's mind!

"That's right, it's Valverde's handwriting!" Connor's face instantly darkened upon realizing this. The handwriting in the notebook lying on Professor Reyes's desk was exactly the same as the handwriting in the investigation report about Rebecca that Valverde had given him! Connor could confirm this without using any auxiliary chips!

Why were Valverde's notes on Reyes's desk? Did Valverde's notes contain anything about himself?

These two questions were like two heavy mountains, making it hard for Connor to breathe. But before Connor could think about them properly, footsteps came from outside the study.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!..."

Upon hearing the footsteps, Connor retreated back onto the sofa without hesitation.

"clatter!"

With a muffled thud, the study door opened, and a distinguished-looking middle-aged man walked in.

"Teacher!" Although he was full of questions, Connor could only pretend that nothing had happened and respectfully stood up to greet Professor Reyes.

Reyes glanced at Connor, a meaningful smile appearing on his face. He patted Connor on the shoulder and said, "You've given me a pleasant surprise in just a few days. You truly deserve to be my most valued student!"

"A surprise? What surprise?" Although he didn't know what the surprise Reyes was talking about was, Connor still pretended to be extremely grateful and respectfully said, "It is Connor's honor to be valued by you, mentor!"

Nodding in satisfaction, Reyes walked back to his desk. He pondered for a moment, closed the open notebook on the desk, and then smiled as he handed it to Connor. "Connor, consider this a gift for becoming a junior apprentice and officially entering the wizarding world?"

(End of this chapter)