Wizard Earl

After glancing at Van de Becke twice, Connor fixed his gaze on the mysterious figure in the grey cloak before him. His intuition told him that this hidden individual was the real deal, and more importantly, for some reason, Connor felt a strange sense of familiarity with this person, as if he had seen him somewhere before, and even fought him…

After exchanging a few seconds of eye contact with Connor through his cloak, the mysterious Mr. K whispered to the tense and wary Van der Beck beside him, "The Red Mountain coffee at this coffee shop is quite good. Could you please order two cups for us and bring them back?"

Although Van de Beek lacked experience, he was clearly not stupid. He naturally understood Mr. K's unspoken meaning: that Mr. K wanted to send him away so that he could face the "target" alone. This puzzled him. In his eyes, all three of them were now first-level wizards. No matter how you looked at it, they had the advantage of fighting two against one. Why would Mr. K want to send him away to face the "target" alone at this time?

Although Van de Beck couldn't understand Mr. K's intentions, seeing Mr. K's resolute attitude and remembering that Christant had instructed him to follow Mr. K's orders in everything except matters of principle, he hesitated for a moment, then gave Connor a fierce look, signaling Connor not to act rashly, before opening the door and leaving the private room.

With Van de Beek gone, only Connor and Mr. K remained in the private room. Seeing Connor's scrutinizing gaze, Mr. K, a mysterious man cloaked in a gray cloak and whose face was not revealed, shook his head with a wry smile and, without saying a word, removed the hood from his head in front of Connor.

"Philo, it's you?"

Looking at the familiar face before him, Connor narrowed his eyes slightly, and said with some surprise, "Half an hour ago, Connor was..."

With the amplification of his spiritual power by the silver pendant, Connor discovered their presence in the café. After observing them and assessing the strength of both sides, Connor decided to show himself and talk to them.

The aura of the Church of Storms emanating from Van de Beck was so strong that Connor recognized him as a wizard of the Church of Storms almost instantly. So initially, Connor also assumed that this mysterious man in the gray cloak was a wizard of the Church of Storms. After feeling that the man seemed familiar, Connor was quite curious about his identity. After all, apart from Margaret, he hadn't really come into contact with many official wizards of the Church of Storms. So when he discovered that this mysterious man was actually Philo, Connor was genuinely surprised.

"It's been a while, Connor. Should I call you Earl Ferguson now?" Philo said to Connor with a meaningful smile as he introduced himself.

"It's just a name, Firo, you can call me whatever you like!" Connor waved his hand, responding casually to Firo's question. Then he looked Firo up and down, before changing the subject and tentatively asking, "I heard you were in some trouble a while ago, Firo, so I thought you were dead. I didn't expect to see you here. How come you've risen to prominence and joined the Storm Church?"

Although it was indeed unbelievable that Philo was here, Connor quickly accepted the fact and began to think about it.

Before arriving in Ipurua, he and Margaret met at the Rossi Theater and specifically discussed Firo. Margaret told Connor that the joint team of the Church of the Storm and the Church of the Earth, sent to Spal to deal with Firo, had been transferred from Frosinone for some secret reason, and the person who did this was very likely Christant, the intelligence director of the Black Organization, who was suspected to be the Church of the Storm!

To be honest, Connor had seriously considered what had happened in the town of Spal between Philo and the Church of Storms that would cause an entire joint squad to be immediately transferred away. However, due to limited clues at the time, Connor couldn't come up with any conclusions.

But now that Christant is here, accompanied by that Storm Church wizard named Van de Beck, the outcome seems obvious. Firo is most likely in league with the Storm Church, and the reason the joint team sent to deal with Firo was immediately transferred is probably because the Storm Church wanted to keep Firo's identity a secret.

Philo wasn't stupid, and he naturally understood the probing meaning in Connor's words. He gave a wry smile and didn't hide anything, saying helplessly, "Connor, you're right. I did run into some trouble a while ago. Your mentor Reyes sent Bispin to deal with me. Bispin and I had a big fight near the town of Spal. Although I successfully forced back this troublesome guy, I was also seriously injured."

"So I hid in the town of Spal to heal my wounds, but I never expected to be discovered and become a target of the Church of Storms and the Church of the Earth God..."

At this point, Philo sighed, then took out a token from his spatial ring. Showing the token to Connor, he said, "It was another stroke of luck that led me to a benefactor, which is how I ended up like this—an informant for the Storm Church's Black Organization, working for the Storm Church!"

Looking at the ancient token that Firo showed him, engraved with Storm Church runes in mithril, Connor knew very well that the benefactor Firo mentioned was most likely Christant, the intelligence director of the Black Organization and the Storm Church's top intelligence chief. Only Christant had the ability and audacity to turn a wicked black wizard who practiced blood magic into a henchman of the Storm Church.

Seeing that Connor had clearly seen his token and recognized his new identity, Philo put the token back into his spatial ring, then solemnly asked Connor, "Connor, are you aware of what has happened recently?"

Although Philo didn't specify what he was referring to, Connor instantly understood. After a moment's thought, he asked, "Philo, are you referring to Reyes and that level-three wizard McKenney from the Cult of the Earth God?"

"That's right! It seems you've already heard about it, Connor. In that case, I won't waste any more words. What I told you back then has already happened. I wonder what your next move is, Connor?" As soon as he finished speaking, Philo stared intently at Connor, waiting for his answer.