On the country road, a blue sedan moved along at a leisurely pace. Cars of this era had quite simple structures and were easy to repair. Wayne, pretending to know what he was doing, tapped the car here and there with a wrench, and before he could even identify the problem, the car started up, ready to go back on the road.
With the curse no longer troubling him, he didn’t need to eat an obscene amount of food to stave off his hunger. Foregoing the hardtack, he munched on a piece of chocolate, making loud chewing noises.
From the passenger seat, Vera cast an envious glance his way. Now that she was a girl again, she couldn’t indulge in chocolate without restraint.
Swallowing the chocolate, Wayne intentionally leaned toward Vera and exhaled a sweet-smelling breath at her. “Don’t you love chocolate, Vera? Why aren’t you eating any?”
Vera furiously tore open a pack... and took one lick. That was as much as she allowed herself for the day, which made her even angrier!
Nicely done! Veronica thought. But can’t you make less noise?!
Wayne wasn’t doing it for Veronica, but his own revenge. Vera had purposefully gotten on his nerves when she was a man. Now that the tables had turned, he seized the chance to get even.
“Vera, do you know about the Free Mage Alliance?”
“The Free Mage Alliance?” Vera cocked her head. “Why are you asking? They’re a bunch of undisciplined non-believers, not people you should be getting involved with... Wait, how did you find out about them?”
“The Nelson Family Manual
“Oh, that book of drafts? I’d suggest you read it with a critical eye. It’s full of childish and shortsighted nonsense. All baseless self-indulgent fantasies...”
“It’s not bad as a fiction,” Wayne said with a shrug. He didn’t want to argue with Vera. The book was too childish for a believer, but just right for an adult like him.
When he first uncovered the book, Veronica, Vera, and Kristen had taken a look and quickly lost interest. They returned it to him after skimming a few pages, so they didn’t see the later section about the Free Mage Alliance.
“The Free Mage Alliance, also known as the Non-Believers Alliance, was established by extremists from the Mage Guild. Due to their lack of faith, the members are motivated solely by profit and have low moral standards. Their reputation in our circles is abysmal...”
From the back seat, Senior Kristen answered Wayne’s question. As a devotee of the Goddess of Moonlight, she had no fondness for the Free Mage Alliance and offered nothing but negative comments.
“Does the organization still exist, or has it been wiped out?” he asked curiously.
No one answered, indicating that the faithless mages were still numerous.
Kristen cleared her throat with her fist pressed to her mouth and explained, “The reason the Free Mage Alliance exists isn’t because of its core values, but because it serves a purpose. Mages need to broaden their horizons and share knowledge and experiences. The churches won’t organize such large-scale exchanges, so mages found their ways, the Free Mage Alliance being one of them.”
“It’s chaotic without rules or principles, and thus it breeds darkness. Almost every wanted criminal is part of it...”
“The Alliance is home to all the scums in the mage circle. Their propaganda of the faithless way is all lies. Mages without faith can never go far—one small misstep will take mages down the evil path. Mike was the perfect example.”
She went to great lengths to make sure Wayne would embrace Moonlight, clearly concerned that his great potential would end up misused.
Wayne nodded as he listened, his interest in the Free Mage Alliance growing stronger. He had many questions, but the three academy students weren’t the right people to ask for answers. He feigned disinterest and moved on from the topic.
In truth, he agreed with Mike’s assessment that the three were typical academics who hadn’t experienced the harshness of society, thus remaining blindly devoted to their faith. After they had stumbled and gotten hurt in the real world and matured, they would understand and even join the Free Mage Alliance like the older mages.
This won’t do. How do you survive in this society when you’re so naive? You’ll suffer when you encounter real scums!
As their friend, Wayne was deeply concerned. If only he weren’t too weak to overpower them, he would have taken matters into his own hands and taught them a lesson in true maturity.
After a while, he suddenly parked the car and got out, hopping a few times.
“This is the spot...”
He narrowed his eyes. When they were heading toward Klofron, they had driven past this place, and all of a sudden, the clear sky had turned overcast, with lightning, heavy rain, and ghosts appearing in quick succession. Back then, he had smelled danger, but the lightning and the ghosts crawling from under the car startled the thoughts out of his head.
Now that he could focus, he realized that this seemed to be the boundary of the curse’s area of effect.
“What are you doing, Wayne?”
“Nothing. Just had the urge to pee. A little jumping helps.”
The girls didn’t deem that a response.
The blue sedan continued its journey. Before entering Londan, they encountered a checkpoint set up by the Londan police.
In recent years, due to the great economic depression, followed by the shadow of war looming over the entire continent, a large influx of spies had entered Windsor territory. Londan, as the capital of the Kingdom of Windsor, was practically overrun with spies. To crack down on the rampant foreign agents and better manage social resources, the cabinet urgently implemented an ID system, requiring all citizens over sixteen to carry their IDs and cooperate in case of police inspections.
Wayne had an ID, and so did Veronica and her schoolmates. The police officer stopping them seemed envious of him for driving three beautiful ladies out of town for fun, and there was even a hint of admiration in his voice.
What’s with that look, mate? Do I seem like a scumbag juggling three relationships? Do you think my body can handle that?
Wayne snorted. Anyone with eyes could see that he wasn’t a scumbag, and the three pretty girls weren’t his girlfriends. Since the answer was so self-evident, explaining it would sound more like a cover-up and could even be interpreted as a mockery of the officer’s intelligence. Therefore, Wayne didn’t explain. He met the officer’s envious gaze with a slight curl of his lips and a faint nod.
After the car drove away, the officer shook his head and entered the duty room to make a phone call, avoiding his colleagues.
“Who is Veronica Lando to you, Mr. Lando?”
“No, she hasn’t gotten into trouble. She just got a boyfriend.”
“The culprit is Wayne, a detective... As you know, loafers in their twenties without a real job either claimed to be a writer, an artist, or a detective.”
“Not good. They left the city for a day and a night, claiming that they were attending a wedding in the countryside...”
“Oh, and there are two other beautiful women in the car, who are also his girlfriends, according to the culprit. If I’m not mistaken, they must have all fallen victim to his lies.”
“I’m absolutely certain. You wouldn’t believe how arrogant his smile was. I can recall that smug face in great detail!”
“It’s no trouble at all. Only doing what I should do. Without you, Londan’s police wouldn’t be enjoying our current quality of life.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll head to the station tomorrow for the payment. Thank you for your generosity.”