Regardless of what happened last night, today the sun still rises, and the people of Ximu Town welcome a bright morning.
Lindong (in cat form), who hadn’t closed her eyes all night, squinted and wrapped herself in the blanket, planning to have a good sleep. After all, she had accepted Ethan’s invitation, and her pace of life should slow down a lot from now on, without needing to run around all day.
However, before she could close her eyes, an annoying disturber of her sweet dreams appeared.
The bedroom door was pushed open, and Ethan and Ave, who had just left not long ago, returned with a familiar face wearing a mournful expression.
Her smile mask had been removed and confiscated, her hands bound behind her back, this time she couldn’t even muster a smile.
As soon as she saw Lindong nestled in bed with only her head exposed, the woman complained, "Oh my sister, what have you been teaching him!"
"I’m not your sister, and I don’t have a sister like you."
Lindong glanced at the woman without the slightest sympathy, not even intending to get out of bed.
Ave stepped forward to explain the situation, "We discovered this sneaky woman; she intended to assassinate Sister Bi’an. When we caught her, she claimed to know you, so we brought her here."
This was supposed to be an encounter full of danger. As she pulled out her gun, she sensed the dangerous aura emanating from the woman, whose attitude seemed as if she didn’t take them or the Knight Order stationed in the town seriously. Even after being caught, the woman arrogantly suggested she might consider sparing them.
However, her confident demeanor didn’t last more than three seconds before Ethan, shouting "Chakra Scalpel," stabbed her, and she fell straight to the ground, vividly demonstrating the meaning of "flop."
Ave’s sense of crisis was completely gone, and the golden hair on top of her head laughed so hard it bent over.
If this woman hadn’t anxiously shouted, "Spare me, I know your family’s cat!" she might have been shot.
Lindong couldn’t be bothered to deal with her anymore, saying, "You just handle it officially."
Seeing the cat so heartless, the woman wailed even more, "Have you betrayed me? Was all our time as companions just a lie? And what exactly is this ’Chakra Scalpel’ you taught him? Why did I lose my magic abilities after being stabbed once?"
As a Great Mage, even though she failed, she had a hundred ways to leave boldly in front of the two of them. Who would have thought a single hand chop and all her hundreds of spells were unusable?
The woman, full of the desire to survive, pleaded, "For the sake of the times I helped you and the Baron’s guards with divination, spare me! I won’t charge for it anymore, and I’ll overlook that little golden-haired girl over there bashing my head with her gun under the excuse of tying me up!"
"Who are you, tell the truth!"
Ave began the interrogation.
The woman answered with a sorrowful face, "Rowena, my name is Rowena!"
Ave frowned and thought for a long time but couldn’t recall any records of this name. However, now it seems that Rowena claims to be Lindong’s companion, which means she’s another member mentioned in the intelligence about Dream Erosion.
This type of ferocious Evil God fanatic should have a notorious reputation.
"Are you lying to me?"
Lindong not only didn’t help but revealed Rowena’s dark past without reservation, "’Blood Feast,’ that’s the name on the wanted list."
The Empire occasionally gives notorious criminals nicknames so that the Empire’s residents can remember them.
Upon learning Rowena’s moniker, Ave’s face changed subtly, and she blurted out, "You’re the Great Mage who slaughtered the entire Astrologer’s Guild and then went on the run!"
It was one of the few heinous crimes in the Empire in recent years, involving the death of a Tier Four Mage and several Tier Three Mages. Due to the gruesome nature of the crime scene, the bodies of the deceased were sliced and scattered everywhere, the entire guild drenched in blood, so in the wanted poster, the Empire dubbed the mastermind of the major crime ’Blood Feast.’
At the time, Ave was still a student of the Enlightenment Society, and this case was discussed at school for more than a month, with rumors that even the scholar came forward.
The murderer vanished without a trace, and the case eventually remained unresolved.
Rowena stiffly said, "Since they wanted to steal the magic I created, I had no choice but to let them experience it firsthand... but that’s all in the past now. I’m just a magician out to make money, and anyway, if I wanted to, I could have succeeded before you came in. I was just hesitating, even though your cat warned me not to get involved in this, but they offered so much."
Listening to Rowena’s rapid-fire words, Ave was at a loss for words—how could someone talk so much nonsense, almost rivaling Ethan!
The continuous self-justification continued, "These days, if you don’t look out for yourself, you’re doomed. Once I save enough money, I’ll stop. I don’t think I’m doing anything terribly wrong."
"What kind of Evil God’s follower are you?"
Ave couldn’t help herself. She had never heard of an Evil God’s follower talking about retirement.
"Who said I’m a follower of the Evil God? I can’t get along with those people. They just want to cause trouble all day, don’t earn money, eat food that’s like pig slop, and live in stinking caves—aren’t they sick! My magic requires a fee, and it’s not cheap!"
For a moment, Ave was out of ideas, tossing this hot potato to Ethan, "You’re the one who caught her, do what you think is best."
Hearing this, Rowena quickly pleaded with Ethan, "You can’t kill me, I’m good friends with your cat, gave her lots of advice. Even if I didn’t contribute, I worked hard since you live together now!"
"Was your employer the Lofic Consortium?"
Ethan too was a bit at a loss, Rowena’s words came too fast, and having not slept all night, he felt as if two birds were chirping non-stop by his ears.
However, her previous words suddenly gave Ethan a bizarre premonition.
"Employer information is confidential, I’m a person of principles!"
"Did they give you three magic scrolls, instructing you to use them only as a last resort?"
"You’ve been played, they never intended to pay you, and they’re setting you up to be killed."
When handing over the Fireball Skill scroll to the Lofic Consortium, Ethan strongly emphasized that the scroll involved forbidden knowledge that could only unleash its full power in a state of utter desperation.
They needed to find someone willing to risk their life.
Clearly, Rowena did not meet those criteria. She was out to earn money, practically had "afraid of dying" written on her face.
Hence, Ethan suspected that the Lofic Consortium hadn’t communicated his instructions to Rowena, but then again, in these times, finding someone not only with the skills but also bold enough to attempt to assassinate the Imperial Knight Commander wasn’t easy.
If you add in the criterion of "not afraid to die," even fewer would fit the bill.
"You... don’t try to sabotage the trust between me and my employer, they didn’t even bat an eye when they paid the down payment."
"Did they tell you the scrolls would ensure your survival even in danger?"
"That’s just a precaution."
"Why don’t you try using them now?"
Ethan untied the ropes binding Rowena’s arms. She was so startled she even stuttered, "Are, are you crazy? These magic scrolls were crafted by a master, aren’t you afraid they’ll burn down your house?"
Rowena glanced at Lindong for help, seeing that the cat had already fallen asleep, she gritted her teeth, steeled her resolve, "This is on you. If your house burns down, I’m not paying for it!"
But to her, the bigger the blaze, the better. Her blocked magic power was recovering, and once she lit the house, she planned to escape in the chaos.
The three scrolls torn open burst into bright flames, and the fire drew a few elegant arcs in the air, converging above Rowena’s head like a splendid fireworks display, which then, with a "bang," formed a line of words.