Sudden Mission: Don't Bully the Young and Poor!

After bidding farewell to Father Logan, who had gone from haughty to obsequious, Tylen drove his slightly battered cart away from the shadow of Saint Rest Church.

The midday sun poured over Truth Avenue, bleaching the road white.

Tylen gave the reins a gentle shake. The old horse snorted and plodded along at an unhurried pace toward the northern part of the Outer Ring District.

His next destination was the White Cloud Eye Rune Shop there.

The cart wheels rolled over the smooth stone road with a rhythmic rumble.

Seated on the cart's front bench, Tylen appeared to be admiring the street scenery, but his mind was racing.

"Makley's assignment can't be as simple as delivering a letter or buying something."

He narrowed his eyes slightly, looking over the rows of shops lining both sides of the street.

This was the Outer Ring District of Lion City, where merchants and respectable folk alike made their homes.

Compared with the chaos and filth of the Lower City, this place was filled with an air of order and prosperity.

Shop assistants in neat linen robes called out to customers from their doorways. The patrol guards' armor gleamed, and even the air carried the mingled scents of money and spices.

"Since it's a test, it won't go smoothly from start to finish."

Tylen thought it over.

"Delivering the letter was the first step, testing my loyalty and ability. Handling the corpses was the second, testing my connections and resourcefulness. So what comes next..."

Just as he was pondering this, an unexpected turn of events occurred.

"Whoa!"

Tylen yanked the reins. The old horse let out a startled whinny, reared up, and came to a hard stop in the middle of the road.

A moment ago, two figures had darted out of a nearby alley without warning. If Tylen hadn't reacted quickly, the horse's hooves would have trampled them.

They were a boy and a girl, both low-ranking apprentices who looked like siblings. Their faces were pale with terror, as if someone were chasing them.

Before Tylen could ask what was going on, a sudden clatter of hooves came from the intersection on the left, followed by an enraged bellow:

"Magnus! Are you fucking blind?!"

Tylen furrowed his brow and turned to look.

A black cart of the same design came hurtling toward them. Three corpses were piled haphazardly in its bed, and their shrouds hadn't even been tied tight, leaving their pale hands and feet exposed.

The driver was a boy with an exceptionally burly build.

He had a golden crew cut, each strand sticking up like a steel needle.

A long face and hooked nose sat above sunken eyes, which were now glaring furiously. His hulking frame, a full 1.85 meters tall, nearly filled out his oversized linen apprentice robe, giving him the oppressive presence of a grizzly bear.

Four disreputable-looking apprentices followed behind him, all with their heads cocked to one side as they glared at Tylen.

The instant he saw the five of them, Tylen's heart sank.

"Haige."

In the circle of low-ranking apprentices at Cain Wizard Tower, the name was practically synonymous with bully.

Haige hadn't gotten into the tower through the regular aptitude selection.

Rumor had it that his father was a key member of some major gang in Wave City. He'd paid a fortune and pulled some strings to get Haige into the Wizard Tower.

Though Haige's talent for sensing mana was nothing special, he was exceptionally fit. He'd also grown up on the streets, where brawling and fighting were part of everyday life.

They said he'd already had blood on his hands before entering the tower.

After joining the Wizard Tower, Haige had shown little interest in studying magic. Instead, he quickly formed a gang and gathered a group of low-ranking lackeys, then set about bullying and harassing people.

Worst of all, he'd brought the gang's methods into the corpse-collection assignments.

Other apprentices ran themselves ragged to meet their monthly corpse quotas.

Haige, on the other hand, stationed his men along the routes everyone had to take and simply stole corpses from weaker apprentices.

The victims dared not complain.

After all, in a place like the Wizard Tower, where the strong preyed on the weak, a low-ranking apprentice's life was worth less than grass.

The powerful only cared about the results. They didn't care how you got them.

If someone stole from you, it only proved you were incompetent.

Back when Tylen was still a rookie, Haige had cornered him once and stolen two corpses he'd worked hard to obtain, nearly getting him kicked out of the tower that month for failing to meet his quota.

"Talk about bad luck."

Tylen sneered inwardly, but quickly put on a suitably frightened expression.

In the past, he might have had no choice but to swallow his anger.

But now...

He silently calculated how much mana he had left.

"I can still cast Magic Thorn Art twice. It's not much, but it'll be enough to deal with a few ordinary people who only know brute force."

The real question was: why were these people here?

Was it just a chance encounter? Or... had someone put them up to it?

Meanwhile, on the twenty-third floor of Cain Wizard Tower.

Makley held a steaming cup of black tea, watching the scene in the Mercury Mirror with interest.

"Haige and his idiots sure moved fast."

Makley blew gently on the tea, a playful smile tugging at his lips.

Of course, he hadn't arranged this.

As a dignified Official Wizard, he wouldn't resort to such a lowbrow method to test an apprentice.

The one pulling the strings behind the scenes was another apprentice of his: Jane.

She was the daughter of a noble family, a spoiled young lady who had been pampered all her life.

Jane had always thought herself superior. To her, having to breathe the same classroom air as a poor boy like Tylen, who came from the slums, was an insult to her noble blood.

Lately, Tylen had received Makley's direct protection several times, and that had finally pushed the extremely jealous Jane over the edge.

She didn't dare take her anger out on her mentor, so she naturally directed it at Tylen.

So she'd sent her lapdog, Tom, to find Haige and promised him some benefits in exchange for finding an excuse to kill Tylen.

Apprentices died on assignments all the time. Who would care if a Corpse Collector Apprentice died?

Naturally, none of this escaped Makley's notice.

But he hadn't intervened.

"A true strongman must face not only a monster's fangs, but also a dagger in the hands of one of his own."

Makley took a sip of tea, his eyes cool and expectant.

"Tylen, let's see how you handle this malice coming from behind."

"Will you beg for mercy? Flee in disgrace? Or..."

On the street, the atmosphere was taut with hostility.

Haige jumped down from his cart and spread his four lackeys around Tylen in a fan-shaped formation.

The passersby scattered at the sight, but didn't go far. Instead, they stood at a distance, pointing and whispering as they watched the show.

Tylen sat on his cart with his hands tucked into his sleeves, wearing a suitably meek expression.

"Big Brother Haige, long time no see."

"If I ran into you just now, I apologize. We're all from the same school, so there's no need to let this ruin things between us."

"Apologize?"

Haige gave a menacing grin, greed showing on his fleshy face.

He didn't take Tylen seriously at all.

In his mind, Tylen was a coward who did nothing but cower and nod along.

"Cut the crap! I nearly flipped my cart swerving to avoid you! How are you going to make up for that?"

As he spoke, Haige sauntered over to Tylen's cart and reached out to lift the corner of a shroud.

When he saw the two well-preserved corpses underneath, his eyes lit up.

"Well, those are some nice specimens."

Haige turned and pointed at Tylen.

"Since you're so sincere about apologizing, I'll be generous and give you a chance."

"I'm taking these two corpses as compensation for my distress."

With that, he swept a hand through the air and barked at his lackeys:

"What are you standing around for? Load them up!"

The four lackeys immediately came over with sneering grins and reached for the shrouds on the cart.

"Stop!"

Tylen leapt off the cart and stepped in front of them.

His voice suddenly rose, charged with righteous indignation.

"Haige! This is too much!"

"We're in the middle of a public street! We're all apprentices of Cain Wizard Tower, and we represent its reputation! Aren't you afraid of making the tower look bad by robbing your fellow apprentices in broad daylight?!"

His shout rang out, drawing even more onlookers.

Haige froze for a moment, then clutched his stomach and roared with laughter as if he'd just heard the funniest joke in the world.

"Ha ha ha ha! Reputation? You're lecturing me about reputation?"

His laughter stopped abruptly. He advanced on Tylen, his massive frame casting a shadow that swallowed him whole.

"You're trash who crawled out of the slums, a useless lowlife. What makes you think you can call yourself an apprentice of Cain Wizard Tower?"

Haige thrust a thick finger at Tylen's chest. Each jab was deliberately humiliating.

"Know your place, kid!"

"You're nothing but a dog those big shots keep around! If they tell you to collect corpses, you collect corpses. If they tell you to eat shit, you eat shit!"

"And you're so useless you can't even do a dog's job right!"

Haige leaned close to Tylen's ear and lowered his voice, speaking with venom.

"A dog should act like a dog. You're not fit to step inside and offend your master's eyes."

The moment Tylen heard those words, his pupils widened slightly.

Just as he'd thought.

This wasn't a simple robbery.

Someone had hired a killer.

"You think I'm offending someone's eyes? Then it must be Jane, the one who couldn't stand me in class!"

"In this shitty world, am I supposed to die just because I sat through a couple of lessons?"

Tylen sneered inwardly, still furious.

To those high-and-mighty nobles, the life of a low-ranking apprentice like him probably wasn't worth a single hair from one of their pets.

If you won't let me live...

Then don't blame me for what I do next.

Just then, a crisp electronic notification chimed in his mind.

[Sudden mission detected!]

[Background: Jane, a jealous and overbearing young lady, thinks you've polluted the air in her noble classroom and has ordered the lowlife bully Haige to kill you.]

[You don't want to die, of course. Enough is enough!]

[Sudden Mission: [Don't Bully the Young and Poor] officially begins!]

[First-stage objective: Kill Haige!]

[Reward: 1500 experience points, Knowledge Crystal*100.]

[Mission description: Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west! You clearly have no idea how much these five words, "Don't Bully the Young and Poor," are worth!!]

Looking at the pale-blue screen flickering across his vision, Tylen could barely keep himself from laughing aloud.

System, you really get me!

He'd been trying to figure out how to act while keeping the fallout to a minimum. Now the mission had rewards on the line, so what was there to hesitate about?

Kill a bully, gain experience, earn crystals, and show off a little while he was at it.

Where else could he find a deal like that?