My health recovery is incredibly fast.

This senior, who had served as the resident mage's assistant for more than two years, seemed to have long been accustomed to the sight of the enemy's gruesome deaths.

Seeing Mars so calm, Xia Zuo's anxiety gradually subsided.

The soldiers will handle the rest.

A military convoy of horse-drawn carriages, which had been stationed at a distance, approached.

The soldiers carried the bodies onto the wagons and then put the surrendered prisoners on the wagons.

Everything of value in the house was swept away.

Mars accepted all the letters that concerned the assassin's identity.

Xia Zuo floated behind Mars, following him toward a carriage.

Valic turned his head to look at the air behind him, his gaze fixed on the spot where Shazo was.

His perception, which is as high as 8 points, and his decades of combat experience allowed him to keenly detect the tail behind the team.

Mars patted Warick's arm armor, raised his left hand, and bent his left thumb.

Warrick nodded as if he sensed something, no longer paying attention to his own men who had not yet revealed themselves behind him.

Chapter 21 Long-Term Orders

The following afternoon.

Inside the castle in West City.

Xia Zuo ended his meditation and opened his eyes on the soft couch in the guest room.

This morning, he arrived at the castle with the army's horse-drawn carriages, and after several hours of meditation, he had fully recovered his energy.

It's time to head back to Starry Night Academy.

While you're at it, grab a few free-spirited creatures along the way.

To save effort and potions, Xia Zuo decided to ask his mentor to help identify the characteristics of these unruly elements. He would keep the ones he could use and exchange the rest for points.

Submitting one Unruly Element earns you 20 points, but exchanging it for a usable Unruly Element requires 100 points.

Therefore, if you can find the unrestrained elements that suit you, you can save a lot of money.

Xia Zuo stared at the ceiling for a while, a desire to search for untamed elements welling up inside him.

He got up, washed up, and prepared to leave.

"Knock, knock, knock." A knocking sound rang out on the door.

Xia Zuo opened the door.

Mars stood in the doorway, holding a scroll of parchment.

"Please come in. Senior Mars, I'm just about to leave." Xia Zuo invited him in.

“Here, take this.” Mars placed the parchment in the other person’s hand. “This is your errand report, which I have written for you. When you return to the academy, just give it to your tutor.”

Xia Zuo opened the parchment scroll and glanced at it.

The quest to locate the adenine collection point and discover the anomaly in the snake pit earned 60 points, 20 more than expected.

This is because some of the venomous snakes stolen by the mercenaries were recovered—although the four mercenaries surrendered themselves and handed over the venom glands and snakes, the credit was given to Xia Zuo.

Last night's task of capturing members of the assassin organization earned me 25 points, and each criminal earned 5 points, whether captured alive or killed on the spot.

Two days, 85 points.

Throughout the entire process, you can also use the Wind Walk spell and use the [Spell Training] trait to farm experience and attribute rewards.

This is more lucrative than the rewards for concocting poisons to fulfill orders while in academia.

Xia Zuo admitted that he had developed the idea of ​​running errands for people to handle emergencies.

However, such a good job is rare and dangerous; it's a case of more risk, more reward. I'll wait until I come across one in the future and then set aside time to do it.

"Shazo, I'll need to take up some more of your time," Mars said apologetically, taking a file from his pocket.

"Okay, please have a seat, senior Mars."

The two sat down at the desk in the room.

“The two assassins we captured last night were no ordinary men,” Mars said, as he unfolded a parchment scroll on the table.

"Oh?" Xia Zuo became interested. Although he wouldn't stay here to help, it wouldn't hurt to listen.

"They are members of the Black Top Brotherhood."

Mars pointed to the black spinning top on the parchment and said:

"In earlier years, these illegal organizations that gathered gangs to seek revenge for personal grudges were everywhere in the kingdom. After being swept away by the mages stationed in various cities, only the province of Sprill still had such illegal organizations active."

Xia Zuo glanced at the file and asked, "This says the Black Top Brotherhood usually operates in Spreeer Province? Are they very rampant?"

"Yes. It's rampant."

Mars nodded and gestured a rectangular frame on the table. "Sbreil Province is much larger than our Night South Province. But because of its remote location, most of the cities there are only guarded by one official mage, without any assistants."

There are too few mage apprentices in the academy to fill the vacancies in Rosac and Sbreil provinces for the time being.

Then, thinking that it seemed many of the main production areas for scarce basic toxins were in the province of Sbreil… Xia Zuo frowned slightly and asked:

"Is Sbreil province not peaceful? I thought only Rosac province would be attacked by bandits."

"There are far more bandits and shady forces there than in Rosac Province."

Mars shook his head and tapped the case file. "This morning, the resident mage told me about a strange place. He only discovered it after contacting the resident mage of Spreeer Province."

Mars pointed to a line of text on the file:

[Two people were captured, three were killed, bringing the total number of criminals to five.]

"In order to assassinate a single target in Yenan Province, the Black Gyro Brotherhood has assembled four assassins, including a seasoned mid-level mercenary and a third-rate poison alchemist. In Sprill Province, only when there are multiple assassination targets would so many assassins be assembled."

Right. Kakuff's enemy is just a stable assistant; three people could take him down at most. Why send five?

Xia Zuo thought about it and felt that the senior mid-level mercenary and the third-rate poison alchemist were completely unnecessary.

He pointed to the names of the assassin leader and Pydov, and spoke his mind.

Mars nodded. "That's what I was thinking too. So I wanted to ask you, what did you find out yesterday when you were following them? It would be best if you could tell me about the process of following them."

So that's what it was about.

Xia Zuo sat up straight and recounted what he had overheard while leaning over the train carriage yesterday.

He paused briefly, then clapped his hands lightly as he recounted how he sneaked into the low house and observed the five assassins drinking, saying:

“I just remembered something. The assassin leader and Pydov—that third-rate poison alchemist—seem to have known each other for a long time, but it seems like they're meeting everyone else for the first time.”

Mars flipped through the parchment and found Pidov's confession, in which he vehemently denied knowing the other assassins.

“This is important intelligence!” Mars took out a pencil and marked the parchment scroll.

"Let me think about whether there are any other details..." Xia Zuo said, recounting what he had seen and heard while pondering with his head down.

About half an hour later, after confirming that nothing was missing, Xia Zuo and his companion arrived at the castle’s backyard.

Xia Zuo waved to Mars, "Goodbye, senior. Thank you for your hospitality, I have to go back now."

"Yeah, yeah, you need to go back and be with your girlfriend." Mars joked, waving his hand and saying, "Have a safe trip, Shazo. Thanks for the information."

"Well then, I'll be going." Xia Zuo transformed into a cloud of energy and floated over the backyard wall.

...

Eight days later, in the afternoon.

Xia Zuo drifted leisurely through the city gate of Starry Night City, and floated along the wide market street toward the low city wall of Starry Night Academy.

The towering Starry Night Castle stands in the center of the city; the closer you get, the more you can feel its majestic grandeur.

After floating into the academy's walls, Xia Zuo transformed into human form and walked towards the castle hall.

Once you enter this area, you'll be in the territory of Dim, the castle's manager.

Xia Zuo is still a mage apprentice and cannot use magic in public places within the academy.

He took out the pocket watch his girlfriend had given him and checked the time.

4:15 PM.

First, go to your dorm to take a shower and change your clothes, then go to your advisor to report on what you've learned on this trip, and then wait in the lobby before mealtime.

Xia Zuo made a plan in his mind and quickened his pace toward the castle.

...

tower.

Beatrice's study.

Xia Zuo knocked on the door, and after hearing a familiar voice from behind it, he pushed the door open and went inside.

"Professor, I'm back."

Beatrice put down her pen, pointed to the chair across the table, and said with a smile, "The resident mage of West City told me about what happened a few days ago. You did a good job. Give me the points handbook."

Xia Zuo smiled modestly, sat down in the chair, and took out the points booklet to hand over.

Beatrice wrote a line on a page specifically for recording point changes.

Xia Zuo leaned forward and glanced at it, the information from his cheat system appearing in his mind:

"The host has been detected to have gained 85 points of Mage Guild points and 255 experience points."

"Level up!"

..

[Level] LV.23+1→LV.24

[Experience] 75/6400

[Free Attribute Points] 35 + 5 → 40 points