You're not trying to steal my person, are you?

"Frey?" Liam asked in a shrill voice. "As in Frey from the bronze statue of Lawrence Frey in the town's central square?"

Seeing Lynn nod, the three of them looked at Elaine in unison and sized her up several times from head to toe.

Those looks were exactly like three big gray wolves spotting a fat sheep.

Although Elaine felt that Lynn's three teammates were all rather outstanding, otherworldly, and unforgettable in their own ways, out of trust in Lynn, she still cleared her throat and explained the details of the commission.

"Just finding someone? How will the exact payment be calculated?" Liam asked.

Elaine glanced uncertainly at Lynn. They had not discussed the payment in detail yet. After hesitating for a moment, she asked tentatively:

"Ten gold coins per person?"

Seeing the four of them fall silent, she grew even more uneasy. This was her first time issuing a task to adventurers, and she was not familiar with the market at all.

Liam and the other two blinked, secretly exchanging glances.

In Colin Town, using gold coins as the unit for a task's payment was something unheard of.

Were nobles all this lavish?

Lynn also nearly failed to control his expression. Ten gold coins—wasn't that about the yearly income of a skilled craftsman?

Seeing that none of the other teammates objected, he cut Elaine off before she could continue raising the price. "That's fine. Let's calculate it that way."

Celine had just swallowed the dried salted fish in her mouth. Licking the corner of her lips, she asked, "When do we set out?"

"The sooner the better!" Elaine hurriedly said.

Liam was the one in the team responsible for purchasing supplies. He rubbed the short hair on top of his head and said, "But going deep into Whispering Forest will take quite a bit of time. I'll need two or three days to buy things."

He swept his gaze over his teammates one by one. "We have to make full preparations."

Lynn nodded and said, "I ordered a custom staff. It will be delivered in three days."

After some discussion, they finally confirmed the departure time: three days later, after Lynn received his new staff.

After expressing her gratitude to everyone, Elaine left the residence with Lynn, preparing to return to Iris Inn to rest.

"Mm, I happen to have something I need to do too, so I'll go back to Roan City first tomorrow."

By carriage, Roan City was only half a day's journey from Colin Town.

She showed Lynn a delicate smile that was sweet without being cloying. "No need to wait for me at breakfast tomorrow."

Lynn acted as if he had not seen it. "Be careful on the road. I'll be staying in Room 11 of Iris Inn recently."

The two returned together. Aside from Carlisle turning into a bat again in the middle of the night to deliver the letter mentioned yesterday for Charlotte Fenrir, the night passed without incident.

The next morning, Lynn got up as usual, ate breakfast alone, and left the inn.

It really was a little hard to get used to not having that little tail around... He shook his head in self-mockery and walked straight toward Lucky Street.

Until he arrived before the Golden Tower.

This was his goal for today.

The Golden Tower in Colin Town had five floors in total. The lowest two floors were rented to the Magic Association, while the three floors above had various uses.

As far as Lynn knew, the third floor was specifically used for practical combat training for spellcasters.

There were two ways to reach the third floor. One was to enter the Magic Association through the north gate, then apply through the association to go up to the third floor.

The other was to enter through the south gate, but only members of the Golden Tower were allowed to pass through.

Naturally, Lynn could only enter through the Magic Association.

He walked into the Magic Association and, following the previous procedure, arrived once more before Old Barton's door.

He knocked the door open, and to his surprise, there was another old man in the room.

The man sat upright in the living room, draped in a sky-blue mage robe and wearing a pointed, broad-brimmed mage hat. His long beard and long hair were both pure white, his figure was withered and thin, and his narrowed eyes made him look as if he had fallen asleep.

Barton warmly welcomed Lynn in. Noticing his gaze, he looked back, then gave an angry snort.

"That old bastard said he came to discuss the recently released magic bill with me, but he went and started dozing off first!"

"Magic bill?"

"Yes." The old man plopped down into a cotton-cushioned soft chair. "The newly announced draft law in Yaxia Kingdom aimed at spellcasters. It requires that, except in special circumstances, magic items may not be sold to common civilians of ordinary professions without authorization."

He slapped the armrest in anger and said, "In my view, this is deliberately targeting our White Tower Society. Our White Tower Society has always been devoted to using magic to improve people's lives. Once this bill is implemented, the development of civilian-use magic items will likely become difficult at every step!"

Lynn immediately thought of the monocle he had seen Barton use yesterday, the one that did not require magic power to be poured into it, and then of the magic ore lamps distributed throughout Iris Inn and even all over the town.

So these were all inventions of the White Tower Society?

"Let's not talk about that." Barton waved his hand, as though wanting to use the gesture to dispel the gloom in his heart. He looked at Lynn and asked, "Tell me, what have you come to see me for today?"

Lynn felt somewhat embarrassed. It seemed like he had been troubling the old man constantly lately. Fortunately, he had not come empty-handed today.

He rummaged through his backpack and took out a box of exquisitely shaped pastries.

This was something he had asked the inn's female attendant about clearly that morning, then specially detoured to the neighboring street to buy.

They had a soft, glutinous texture and low sugar content, making them especially suitable for elderly people.

The key was that it was not expensive, either.

The old man received the souvenir, and the wrinkles on his face bunched up into one mass.

The younger members of his family were all in Roan City, and he might not see them more than a few times in a month. Though he had students around him, that thing... the less said, the better!

With Elaine and Lynn, these two children, coming over to bother him more often, he was actually happy inside.

"Oh, right. Why didn't that little girl Elaine come with you?"

"She had something to do and went back to Roan City," Lynn answered very naturally, though he muttered inwardly, why did it feel like the two of them had to appear at the same time...

Then he brought up that he wanted to go to the third floor of the Golden Tower to do practical magic combat training.

"Good, good, good. Young people should be just like that. Although mages place importance on study and thought, fighting with real blades and real spears is indispensable too!"

Old Barton clapped his hands and laughed heartily, making as if to take Lynn to the third floor.

Just then, the blue-robed old man who had been resting with his eyes closed suddenly spoke.

"Barton, is this child the good seedling you just mentioned to me?"

Lynn looked toward the voice, surprised to discover that the old man's eyes held none of the cloudiness and twilight of age at all. Instead, they shone brilliantly like an infant's.

They were like a deep pool, with endless rippling light, involuntarily drawing his gaze.

Such powerful mental strength!

Lynn marveled inwardly, forcefully overcame that strange attraction, and turned his eyes away.

Seeing this, the blue-robed old man withdrew the divine light in his eyes, nodded slightly, and thoughtfully stroked the pale beard on his chin.

"Not bad. His mental resilience is abundant. At such a young age, that truly is rare."

He had only spoken halfway before Old Barton immediately grew alert, blocking in front of Lynn and staring at him with a suspicious look.

"Adolph, you're not thinking of snatching him from me, are you?"

The old man called Adolph slowly rose. His blue robe shook, and his mage hat sat loosely on his head. Compared to Barton, he fit Lynn's impression of an old mage even more.

"Barton, since when has he counted as one of yours?" Holding a pitch-black wooden staff in his hand, he tapped it against the floor, tak, tak, tak, as he walked toward the two of them. Finally, he stopped in front of Lynn and said in a gentle tone, "Child, are you interested in the cultivation of spirit and spirituality?"