Starting with the sentries on the frontier

"He ran away!"

Zag was getting a little anxious.

"At least the others can't escape."

Liam remains calm.

Even now, he's still standing there, leaning on his staff, without making any move, leaving Zag completely bewildered.

"What do we do next?"

he asks.

Liam replied, "Wait for the people from the station to come."

Zag then realized that the reason Liam hadn't moved was probably because he was somewhat "drained" after casting the spell and could only support his body with his staff.

He quickly went over to help Liam up and asked, "Are you alright?"

"A little overdrawn," Liam's voice sounded relatively calm, but the weight pressing down on Zag was not as nonchalant as his tone suggested. "It's better than expected, but I didn't expect that guy to be carrying a teleportation scroll with him."

"A 'teleportation scroll'... Is that expensive?"

"It's not cheap; at least the association offices in Dongchui Port don't have many of them."

"Click—"

As they were talking, a barely perceptible sound of ice cracking suddenly came from the quiet hall.

Zag immediately became alert and looked around. Sure enough, in the farthest place, closest to the entrance of the hall, he saw that the ice shells on the two people who were frozen were cracked.

He immediately raised his hand nervously, ready to unleash the [Fireball] spell at any moment.

"Don't worry, with their skill level, they can't break free yet."

With Liam's words, Zag finally felt relieved. While Liam found a relatively intact chair to sit and rest, he went over to observe the two people carefully and even tapped the ice with his fingers.

It's not real ice.

Or rather, although it felt cool to the touch, his fingers did not feel the ice melting due to body heat, as if the ice would not melt simply from a rise in temperature.

What surprised him most was that, through the translucent ice, he could see that the cultists' eyes could still move, but their eyes were full of terror as they looked at Zag.

"Are they still alive?"

Zag turned around and asked.

"I tried to control the power of the spell," Liam said, seemingly recovering somewhat. He pulled out a bottle of pale green alchemical potion from somewhere, unscrewed the cap, and slowly drank it. "It's just freezing, not fatal. They'll return to normal after thawing... but they'll most likely get a bad cold."

"...You're so considerate."

Liam didn't reply. After drinking the alchemical potion, his complexion improved somewhat, but he still didn't look too good.

Then he began to walk back and forth in the messy hall, leaning on his staff, occasionally using the tip of his staff to push aside overturned tables and chairs and piles of porcelain and glass shards, as if he were looking for something.

Zag asked curiously, "What are you looking for?"

"clue."

That's such a vague answer!

Zha Ge was exasperated. What difference did it make whether he answered or not?

After a while, Liam finally calmed down and said, "It's strange that there's no smell of pollution here—it's on the business card, but it doesn't seem to be there in the whole gathering place, at least I haven't noticed it."

Zag was already exhausted, both physically and mentally: "Whatever, I just want to know when this will be resolved..."

After all, it's best not to run away if possible. At least he can stay in the Eastern Territory for now and make some money from Xueqiu's "connections" and the tree spirits, accumulating some "initial capital." If he really goes to Holland, he will probably only be able to sit and eat his savings away in the short term.

"It won't be long."

No sooner had Liam finished speaking than a commotion erupted outside the door.

Immediately afterwards, a group of people wearing similar uniforms rushed over.

Liam nodded to the woman leading the gathering as a greeting: "Good day, Ms. Lyra. I've accomplished my mission and almost wiped out everyone at the gathering, but unfortunately, that alchemist escaped."

"Good day, Liam, you've really worked hard this time! It's already quite an achievement to have captured most of them. There's always a way to get them to talk, and it's only a matter of time before the one who escaped is found."

Lyra was a decisive and efficient person. After greeting Liam, she took charge of the group: "Harvey, you and Jasper arrest everyone. Tom, you take Jerry and clean up the scene to make sure those hyenas from the newspaper don't exaggerate things tomorrow..."

After speaking, she turned to Zag and introduced herself in a friendly manner: "Nice to meet you. My name is Lyra, Lyra Westwood, an investigator secretly sent by the Golden Palace, and a mid-level illusion mage. You must be the Sentinel that Liam mentioned? It's a pleasure to meet you. If it weren't for this occasion, I would love to toast you!"

Leila's assertive demeanor left Zag somewhat at a loss for words, so he could only awkwardly greet her, "Hello..."

Liam stepped forward, timely rescuing Zag: "Laila, don't forget about Mrs. Cecilius. The name 'Bernice' is printed on the business card."

Leila replied, "We noticed that you had used Friggia's scepter, so we immediately surrounded the city hall and Viscount Cecilius's residence. We planned to wait until we had a clear understanding of the situation on your end before deciding how far to go."

Zag repeated in shock, "The city hall!?"

How does this have anything to do with the city hall?!

Leila explained, "The mayor of East Port is from the Cecilius family, the viscount's nephew. The association's assessment is that it's hard to believe he was completely unaware of the cult, so we decided to rather arrest the innocent than let the guilty go free."

Zag couldn't help but remind him, "To be honest, this code of conduct sounds quite reassuring, but I once heard a saying: when you find one ant in your house, it's actually already full of ant nests. I'm not trying to be skeptical, but... are you sure everything is really under control?"

Leila's expression was serious, and her tone was sincere: "To be honest, I can't guarantee you that everything is under control, but I can say that, Sentinel, we will do our best."

Liam interjected, "Alright, you've been up all night, you should go home and rest. Leave the cult matter to the association. If you want to know the latest developments, you can come to the office tomorrow. Whether it's me or Lyra, as long as we're there, we can talk to you."

Leila nodded in agreement: "That's right, don't worry, Sentinel. The Association deals with a ton of these small fry every year! It would be abnormal if they didn't report their success in dismantling a cult to the Golden Palace one year!"

"Okay, okay..."

Only after hearing the two men's repeated assurances did Zag finally feel relieved.

In fact, he had come to some understanding—

If these cults were really that powerful, the world would probably have been finished long ago!

Moreover, in any world, as long as there is a relatively stable society with objective order, the top group with the strongest "military force" will inevitably be gathered at the top of power. This is an inevitable law, and it is the same in the realm of the extraordinary.

Therefore, the Golden Palace, as the highest authority encompassing the entire mystical and magical systems of the Eternal Supreme Kingdom, must possess extraordinary reserves of power, certainly far exceeding those of a small, remote cult.

Even the investigator who was sent here is at the level of an intermediate mage!

With that in mind, Zag simply adjusted his mindset, adopting an indifferent and detached expression: "Then I'll head back first. I hope everything goes well for you."

But Lyra said, "Wait, Liam, why don't you take him back? After all, one of them ran away; who knows what drastic things he might do!"

"I put a concealment ring on him," Liam explained, then nodded slightly and said, "But you're right, he has made great contributions to the association, and I will ensure his safety."

————————————Divider Line————————————

【Frigia's Scepter】: One of the ten divine artifacts sealed in the Golden Palace, it is the scepter used by Friggia, the goddess of ice and snow. It is very powerful, but also extremely corrupting, so it is best not to use it unless absolutely necessary.

Since Friggia is considered the embodiment of order and absolute rationality, it is best to maintain sufficient calmness and rationality when using "Friggaia's Scepter," but the effects of its corruption can maliciously amplify the user's emotions—which is extremely dangerous.

According to all records of the use of this artifact, the more agitated one is, the more severe the contamination will become, until the contamination completely corrupts the user, causing them to remain forever still.