Townsend Street, where Queens Borough and the West Borough meet.
Xio Derecha stood in a dark, quiet alley, and even without looking up, he could see the magnificent palaces and towering Gothic clock towers in the distance.
That was the highest point in the entire Backlund, and also the location of the Loen royal family.
Its status in the Northern Continent, and in the whole world, is equal to or even slightly higher than that of the White Maple Palace of Intis and the Ormir Palace of the Feynapotter Empire, but its name is neither romantic nor ancient.
It's called Sodrak Palace, and in Ancient Feysac, the word means "balance."
Hugh turned his gaze away from the famous " Clock of Order " and looked towards the other side of the alley.
A figure slowly emerged from the shadows where the gas streetlights could not reach.
The figure wore a gold-plated mask that revealed only the lower half of the face; it was the mysterious person who had sold the " Sheriff " formula to Hugh and occasionally entrusted her with tasks.
When Hugh and Fors discussed it privately, they both suspected that the other was a member of Military Intelligence Section 9.
"Any successes this week?" the man wearing the golden mask asked as usual.
Hugh shook his head:
"No, no one should have inquired about Capim before the incident."
She paused for a moment, then asked with some reluctance:
"Should we continue investigating this matter?"
The masked man remained silent for a moment before saying:
"No need, but please contact me immediately if you hear anything related to this in the future."
"Today I'm giving you a new task."
"What mission?" Hugh was fully in bounty Hunter mode, preparing to assess the risks involved.
The masked man chuckled:
"It's a very simple task, and it's the task you've always dreamed of."
"Search within your network for the essential materials for ' Sheriff ' and ' Interrogator,' especially the special materials that can be directly concocted into Potion. If anyone responds, we will advance the funds."
"Will the materials I purchase belong to me?" Hugh blurted out.
This is her biggest concern.
"No, do you believe such a simple task can have such a high reward? Of course, if we can catch the person we're looking for like fishing, the main ingredient for the Potion will be yours, which is negotiable," the masked man chuckled.
"But I don't know what the main ingredient of the ' Interrogator ' Potion is..." Hugh said hesitantly.
"I'll tell you later. This is our advance payment. Even if you don't find the target, you'll still have the main part of Sequence 7 Potion recipe, worth over 600 pounds. I think you've fully realized our generosity," the masked man said in a seductive tone.
Indeed generous... Who are they targeting, and why are they willing to spend so much to find them? Well, assuming he's from Military Intelligence Section 9, taking advantage of this mission to retrieve the extraordinary materials from the " Arbiter " pathway circulating in the market should also be one of their objectives, so there's no issue of wasting money... As a bounty Hunter who can barely be considered experienced, Hugh instinctively thought of some things.
After a moment's consideration, she nodded and said:
"I accept this commission."
"Very good." The masked man's tone relaxed as he looked around. "The main ingredients of the ' Interrogator ' Potion are the horn of the Lightning-Patterned Black Snake and the dust of the Spirit of the Lake."
After he finished speaking, he slowly retreated, returned to the shadows, and disappeared around the corner of the alley.
"They really told me the main ingredient of the ' Interrogator ' Potion..." Hugh was still a little stunned.
It was only at this moment that she truly understood how much importance the masked man represented to this mission.
"I don't know who the target is, but the key seems to be special materials that can be directly used to make ' Sheriff ' and ' Interrogator ' Potion..." Thinking of this, Hugh suddenly froze.
She remembered something: when she was promoted to Sequence 8 " Sheriff ", she used special materials that could be directly mixed into corresponding Potion, which she had purchased from Fors!
This... this is their goal? Hugh instinctively decided to keep it a secret and never tell the masked man.
She rubbed her chubby cheeks and stepped out onto the street, preparing to take a public carriage back to the Cherwood Borough.
Just then, she saw a brown carriage drive by, and her eyes were immediately drawn to the coat of arms on it.
The emblem consisted mainly of a flower and two rings, nothing particularly special, but Hugh stared at it blankly, his gaze seemingly frozen.
Once the carriage was far away, she looked away, her mood suddenly becoming extremely low, and even after returning to the shared house, she did not completely recover.
Noticing something was wrong with her friend, Fors poured two glasses of red wine and took them over.
"What happened?" She sat down opposite him and pushed one of the glasses of wine toward Hugh.
Hugh looked down at the red liquid and remained silent for a full two minutes before speaking in a slightly hoarse voice:
On my way back, I ran into someone I knew from before.
"Who?" Fors asked cooperatively.
" Viscount Stratford." He answered each question with a single sentence.
Fors carefully and said:
"This Viscount seems to be the head of the palace guard?"
As a bestselling Author, she often receives invitations from aristocratic people who appreciate literature to attend afternoon tea and banquets. In keeping with Author professional habit of gathering material, she would certainly take the initiative to learn about the more well-known aristocrats.
It was at one of these gatherings that she met Viscount Glaint.
"Yes, he was, he was my father's right-hand man," Hugh said with some difficulty.
"Your father?" Fors knew that Hugh came from a fallen noble family and had some secrets, but she didn't know the specifics.
Hugh picked up the red wine, gulped it down, and coughed several times, choking on it.
She paused for a moment and said:
My family belonged to the court nobility, and at its most illustrious, we even held the position of Earl of a Royal Palace.
"Count of the Imperial Palace? What kind of position is that?" Fors asked, partly out of curiosity and partly to ease his friend's tension.
"This is essentially the royal family's spokesperson, the nobleman closest to the throne," Hugh recalled with a gleam in his eyes. "From then on, our family had the fiefdom a true earl should have. By the time of my father, although he was no longer as prominent, he still enjoyed the trust of the former king, ' The Assertive ' William VI, and served as the commander of the royal guard and the chief of the court guard."
Her voice gradually lowered, revealing an undisguised pain:
"But seven years ago, he was accused of participating in a rebellion and was ultimately sentenced to death by hanging, Deprivation of his title and fiefdom."
"My family fell into ruin as a result, many members died without cause, and in order to survive, we changed our surname and left East Chester County..."
"I don't believe my father would rebel. He was so loyal to the royal family, even more so than to his faith in the goddess! In short... I left my mother and brother and came to Backlund to seek opportunities to improve myself, hoping to restore the family's glory and my father's honor."
Hugh was vague about some things in between, but Fors didn't seem to care and sighed, saying:
This will be very, very difficult.
She immediately forced a smile:
But I will support you!
"And behind me is a mysterious Tarot Club!" she added in her mind.
Tingen City, No. 2 Daffodil Street at night.
Melissa, who was working on a math problem, turned her head to look at the doorway and saw Benson, who had just taken off his top hat, and said:
Where did you go? Aren't the results supposed to be announced tomorrow?
"I'll find out tonight, and I happen to know two municipal government employees in charge of the standardized tests," Benson said with a smirk.
In early December, he registered for the government employee unified examination, choosing a position with relatively little competition. During the process, he built friendships with several government employees and many other candidates through his eloquence and interpersonal skills.
"What was the result?" Melissa unconsciously put down the round-bellied fountain pen in her hand.
Benson's expression immediately darkened, but just before Melissa could speak, he broke into a bright smile:
"Pass!
"And a very good spot near the front!"
"That's wonderful..." Melissa stood up and paced a few steps. "You need to start preparing for your second round of exams at the end of January. We're in Backlund, so I need to pack your luggage in advance... When are you planning to leave?"
Seeing his younger sister worrying about this and that, Benson walked into the living room and said with a smile:
My plan is that after the New Year, we'll go to Backlund together and rent a house there.
"Regardless of whether I pass the exam or not, I plan to stay in Backlund and try my luck. You can take advantage of the New Year holiday to transfer to a technical school in Backlund to prepare for the entrance exam for the Backlund University of Industry and Technology in June."
Just a month ago, Backlund Technical College completed its reorganization and was officially upgraded to an industrial and technical university.
Melissa listened quietly, unconsciously pursing her lips.
She looked around longingly, and answered in a very soft voice:
"Good."
Friday afternoon, Cragg Club.
Klein came out and hired a carriage to go to Prince Edessak's Red Rose Manor.
That was a place Talym frequented in the days before his death. As a qualified Detective, it would be a waste of the £100 he was paid not to investigate it.
No matter how much you slack off, you still have to put on a good show... Klein muttered to himself as he sat in the carriage, admiring the scenery outside the window as the pollution gradually decreased.
After practicing all morning, he had a general idea of how much his skills had improved in various aspects: his extraordinary abilities such as " Flame Manipulation " and " Flame Jump " had increased by about 30%, the power of his Air Bullet and the length of his underwater fake breathing tubes had even doubled, and his Divination and combat skills had also been significantly enhanced.
The " Paper Figurine Substitute " and " Damage Transfer " techniques haven't changed much; they can simply be used more often due to increased Spirituality.
Staggering along, Klein finally arrived at the Red Rose Manor and explained his purpose to the two soldiers guarding the entrance.
After being informed, he met the old butler from before.
"You can ask everyone here," the meticulously groomed, white-haired old butler paused, then added, "Except for that young lady."
This is also my wish; I don't want to get involved in trouble... Klein smiled relaxedly:
"Good!"
PS: Please vote for me!