Wizard Earl

In short, if Christant's purpose in doing this was simply to kill himself, then in Connor's eyes, his actions were nothing but pointless nonsense!

Would Christant, as the intelligence director of the Black Organization and the top intelligence chief of the Church of Storms, do something so unnecessary?

The answer is most likely no!

Therefore, Christante's purpose in forcing him to come to Ipurua and setting up this trap for him was probably not to kill him!

So what exactly is he trying to achieve by doing this?

Connor was puzzled by the answer to this question, but what was worse was that he didn't have much time left. There were less than 48 hours left until the seven-day deadline Christant had given him!

Watching the hands of his pocket watch tick away, Connor barely managed to suppress the urge to swear. From now on, he had to hurry!

Taking a deep breath, Connor put on his trench coat and walked out of the small hotel called "Morata Traveller's House". All the evidence and clues he had now could only prove that Christant's order for him to kill Ruiz was a pre-arranged scheme, but it couldn't prove what that scheme was. Obviously, Connor couldn't step into the water without knowing how deep it was, so Connor had to find out what tricks Christant was up to him within forty-eight hours!

After leaving the hotel, Connor, under the cover of night, returned to the vicinity of the Redstone Pawnshop where Ruiz was. However, since it was already late at night and the Marcelo Department Store was closed, Connor did not go to the window he had observed during the day, but went directly to the roof of the Marcelo Department Store.

Looking down at the Redstone Pawnshop, Connor took out his compass from his spatial ring and cast a spell on it. Under the effect of the spell, the compass began to operate and showed different changes... A minute later, after taking in the situation shown on the compass, Connor put the compass back into his spatial ring with a stern face.

Connor's suspicions at the "Morata Traveller's House" were correct. According to the compass, there was indeed some kind of magic array hidden in the two-story building of the Redstone Pawnshop. Based on Connor's experience as an alchemist, the magic array hidden in the Redstone Pawnshop was not a powerful offensive array, but more like a trapping array. This indirectly confirmed Connor's belief that Christant's purpose in doing this was not simply to kill him!

After a moment of contemplation, Connor's mental focus locked onto Ruiz, who was in the manager's office of the Redstone Pawnshop. Ruiz was the only one in the office at the moment; the young and beautiful secretary who had been his daring lover during the day was nowhere to be seen.

Ruiz, who was alone in the manager's office, was neither cultivating nor doing anything else related to the supernatural world. He seemed to be looking at a document called "Redstone Pawnshop Second Quarter Business Report".

Because the commercial sector of the Kaman Empire was the most developed among the many countries on the Byzantine continent, in order to prevent farmers from being lured by monetary interests to move to industry and commerce on a large scale and leaving the land uncultivated, the Kaman Empire has kept its agricultural tax rate very low for the past decade. In many areas, it has been reduced to a symbolic amount. This is done to ensure that farmers receive more benefits and stay on the land, thus preventing food shortages caused by uncultivated land.

For any country on the Byzantine continent, taxes are an important, even primary, source of their finances, and the Kaman Empire was no exception. In order to ensure food supply and that the vast majority of the Kaman Empire's citizens had enough to eat, the agricultural tax rate for farmers was already very low. Therefore, in order to ensure that the empire's finances would not suffer from a shortage, the difference in agricultural tax would be made up from commercial tax.

Therefore, the tax authorities in the Kaman Empire have very strict and meticulous supervision over the commercial taxes paid by shops, factories, and enterprises, and the penalties are also very severe. In order to prevent merchants from evading taxes, the tax authorities in the Kaman Empire require all shops, factories, and enterprises with a quarterly turnover of more than 300 gold pounds to prepare a "Quarterly Business Report" and submit it to the local tax authorities for inspection and review.

It's early July now, and in a few days it will be time to submit the "Second Quarter Business Report" to the local tax authorities. Ruiz's Redstone Pawnshop's quarterly turnover has exceeded three hundred gold pounds, so it's perfectly normal for Ruiz, the pawnshop owner, to check his pawnshop's "Quarterly Business Report".

Although Ruiz's behavior was normal, out of curiosity, Connor focused his mental energy and examined the document in Ruiz's hand, titled "Redstone Pawnshop November Business Report." However, to his disappointment, the document did not contain any secrets that interested him, as he had imagined.

The report was no different from a typical pawnshop business report, outlining operating strategies, cash reserves, employee payroll control, the amount of collateral past its due date, the current inventory of pawned items, and their total value...

Just as Connor was feeling quite disappointed with the contents of the "Redstone Pawnshop Second Quarter Business Report" and was about to withdraw his mental energy from the report, he noticed some clues. Although the contents of the business report were normal, Ruiz, who was currently reviewing the report, had a very serious expression on his face. Moreover, the look in his eyes when he looked at the report seemed somewhat flustered and uneasy to Connor.

This discovery immediately jolted Connor awake. He felt as if he had touched upon the truth. Connor quickly roused himself and began to peruse the report again. He felt that the answer he was looking for should be hidden in this report.

"The pawnshop currently has 362 pounds 7 shillings and 8 pence in cash. Fixed expenses for the second quarter are 100 pounds for rent, and employee salaries total 55 pounds 5 shillings and 6 pence..."

"Currently, the pawnshop holds three land deeds valued at a total of seventy-three gold pounds, five house deeds valued at a total of one hundred gold pounds, fourteen pieces of jewelry valued at a total of twenty-seven gold pounds and six shillings, eight antique weapons valued at a total of twenty-four gold pounds..."