"Should we follow her inside and take a look?"
"Right under an Archwizard's nose?"
"But..."
"There are no buts. Our mission is only to record where she goes after leaving the school—'record,' not 'interfere'! Did you write down that she entered Genie's Hut?"
Not far from Zhu Si, at the corner of a grocery store on Gu Diao Street Number 27, two wizards in black robes were arguing in low, heated voices.
They were of similar build and both wore broad hoods that concealed their faces. Their entire bodies were hidden in the corner's shadows, vague and indistinct, as though a gust of wind could scatter them away.
Any wizard skilled in tracking and hunting would have recognized the highly sophisticated concealment spell cast by these two. Even when a North District Wizard carrying a bag of frogs passed only a few steps away, warily glancing from side to side, he did not cast a suspicious look toward that corner.
"I did write it down," the first wizard said after hearing his companion's retort. His momentum weakened somewhat, but he stubbornly repeated, "But..."
"'But' has nothing to do with us."
His companion interrupted patiently yet impatiently. "Even if Rat Immortal really is in Genie's Hut, what would we do if we went inside? Serve tea to a legendary big shot? Use your brain... We're just two insignificant Registered Wizards, and this is only the simplest low-level assignment. There's no need to make trouble for ourselves."
The words "legendary big shot" were more convincing than any further argument.
The shadows in that corner fell silent for a moment.
Only the faint scratch of a Quill Pen gliding across parchment could be heard.
After a while, the first wizard spoke again and let out a soft sigh. "...Great Sage Colmar and Instructor