What Colmar brought to the North District tricksters was far more than merely the status of a North District Wizard.
Because of her, merchants throughout the Wizarding World could foresee that cheap labor with even a little magical ability would become increasingly scarce. Likewise, black-market brokers like the short wizard could expect a shortage of tricksters available for "experiments."
So, during this period, the short wizard's peers had been striking out in all directions, continuously "forcibly contracting" North District tricksters who had not yet received spell marks, preparing for the coming "winter."
This was, in fact, a form of "hunting"—except the prey were wizards, and the hunters were wizards too.
"We just came out of Genie's Hut!" Zheng Qing raised his brows and reminded them.
He did not think the two Dark Wizards before him had the nerve to provoke an Archwizard.
Granted, many Dark Wizards had ruined their brains through practicing forbidden magic, but they were ultimately a minority. Most wizards still knew their own limits.
Zheng Qing felt that this was probably just a misunderstanding.
For one thing, he and Jiang Yu had both worn gray robes today in order to keep a low profile, making them look like two fairly neat tricksters.
For another, a small flying frog was perched on Zheng Qing's shoulder—a mildly mutated frog with a pair of frail wings growing beneath its ribs. It had previously been captured by North District Wizards to be used as a sacrifice.
When Zheng Qing had walked out of Genie's Hut, he had happened to see the frog staring at him with a pair of watery eyes. His heart had softened, so he had brought it out, intending to release it at Linzhong Lake.
Wearing gray robes and keeping one of the North District's currently most fashionable