“Curiosity? Tell me more.”
This piqued Li Yuan’s interest. He pulled over a chair and sat down, pouring himself a cup of green tea. To listen to a story, one really needed to have a good cup of tea to go with it.
“I am Angela Balzac. I’m a fellow disciple of Jesuska Napa.”
She spoke carefully, starting with a simple introduction of her identity. Since the man before her seemed quite familiar with Napa, being from the same school might bridge the distance between them.
“Lately, he’s been running out constantly, acting all sneaky and deliberately hiding his tracks. That’s very suspicious, right? Even though we’re fellow disciples, he’s intentionally keeping me in the dark. I couldn’t just let that go.”
At this point, Angela almost stood up in her excitement, but after receiving a glare from Li Yuan, she obediently went back to kneeling.
“So, after he went out today, I followed him the whole way... I thought he was going to see some old flame or something, but I ended up here.”
“That’s... it?”
Li Yuan set down his teacup and looked at Angela skeptically.
She nodded rapidly, vowing with absolute certainty, “Mhm, yes! I promise I’m not lying!”
As she spoke, she even raised her fingers in a swearing gesture.
She indeed wasn’t lying, which left Li Yuan somewhat disappointed—he had expected some melodramatic drama to unfold, and it felt like his anticipation had been wasted. He thought about it with a hint of regret.
Angela looked at the young man who had fallen into thought, her heart filled with anxiety. After hesitating for a few seconds, she couldn't help but speak up.
“Excuse me... can I leave now?”
Li Yuan looked at Angela, who was struggling to stay kneeling because her legs had gone numb, and felt that this girl might be slightly dim-witted.
Sighing in disappointment, he said, “Fine, you can go. But I don’t want a second person to know about what happened tonight.”
“I promise I won’t tell anyone!”
Angela immediately gave a sincere guarantee. She understood this sort of thing—many powerful figures had quirks or hobbies that others couldn't understand, and the man before her was clearly one of them.
Though she didn’t know why he would open a strange tea shop here, based on his strength alone, he was at least at her master’s level.
After all, she couldn't think of any other possibility besides an Heroic Spirit rank expert who could render her unable to move just with their aura.
She didn't have the courage to lie in front of such a being, and fortunately, he seemed quite friendly... at first, she had thought she was going to die here.
“Finally, use the front door next time you come.”
Leaving those words behind, Li Yuan returned to the counter and took out cleaning tools. The shop was a mess because of the incident just now... though he couldn't blame anyone else, since he was the one who had made the move. He needed to tidy up properly.
...
After Angela escaped, her figure moved quickly as she slipped into a dark alley. This time, she very carefully confirmed that no one was around before pulling a magic communicator—resembling a phone that could transmit sound and simple images—from her chest.
“Hello? Intelligence? I have a major discovery to report!”
The promise she had made was thrown to the back of her mind the moment she stepped out of the shop.
“No, this time it’s real! I’m not joking.”
“What do you mean, ‘that’s what you said last time’?! This is absolutely real! I vouch for it on my honor; this is big intelligence!”
“Never mind my honor! There’s an Heroic Spirit rank mage in this Midnight Teahouse on 21st Street in the Outer District. Their motives are unknown—hello? Hello?”
No matter how much she shouted, no sound came from the other end of the communicator; the call had been unilaterally disconnected. This made Angela stomp her feet in anger.
After calling again and getting no answer, a loud noise echoed through the alley. The sleeping residents nearby were woken up by the sound, but most assumed it was just stray cats fighting for the position of alley king.
After all, there were quite a lot of stray cats around here.
...
“Reporting!”
“I have a new situation to report, Teacher.”
The voice from outside the door made Hogg set down the potion bottle in his hand. When he looked toward the door, a black-haired young man had already appeared, standing there respectfully waiting for his response.
“Come in and speak.”
As he spoke, Hogg returned to his desk and put on his glasses, rubbing his temples with a bit of a headache. He hadn't been able to rest well lately, but what bothered him most was that his magic research had been stagnant for several weeks.
“Is there news about the Blood Moon Cult from Napa? Those guys are truly disgusting.”
Dressed in gray robes, Hogg looked at the stacks of documents on his desk with a sour expression. Finally, he let out a helpless sigh.
“Tell me the details.”
Hogg looked like a young man in his twenties with notably long gray hair, but his tone was world-weary, and his handsome face carried a level of composure and exhaustion inconsistent with his appearance. In reality, as an Heroic Spirit rank mage, his actual age exceeded two hundred years; his youthful appearance was merely to keep his body in peak condition.
The black-haired young man—Marz—closed the door and stepped forward, bowing respectfully first.
“Yes, Teacher. Napa did send new intelligence regarding the Blood Moon Cult, but there is also some other content.”
“Stick to the main points, Marz. You know I’m in a very bad mood right now and don’t have time to waste on trifles. Perhaps in a few days, I won’t bother with this mess anymore.”
At this moment, Hogg really wanted to just drop everything and quit.
Because the academy’s anniversary and the Blood Moon Cult incident had coincidentally collided, the King had hesitated for a long time before swallowing his pride to beg Hogg to serve as the general overseer for both events for security reasons. After all, in this country, no one dared to disobey the arrangements and commands of an Heroic Spirit rank powerhouse.
The old King had washed his hands of the matter the moment he handed over the authority.
What? You have an issue with the division of labor?
Then I’m sorry, go talk to Hogg yourself. If you’re lucky, you might survive as a magic research consumable.
Marz felt a bit of doubt in his heart. Although his teacher said this every time, in the end, he always handled everything while complaining... he felt like a nagging mother. He thought this, but he certainly didn't dare say it out loud. He quickly spoke up.
“Napa sent word that several secret strongholds of the Blood Moon Cult were indeed discovered in multiple blocks of the Outer District, but they should already be abandoned. Only traces of completed sacrifices were left behind.”
“Sacrifices?”
Hogg’s brow furrowed. In any incident involving the Blood Moon Cult, the appearance of this word meant those people would cause a large number of casualties, because the sacrifice itself required offerings.
And the offerings they required were people.
“Yes. According to preliminary investigations, there have been more than seven sacrifice sessions so far. Each time, three to five people were sacrificed. However, the public reports only masked them as robberies. The actual number of victims has exceeded fifty. Most of them were migrant vagrants or undocumented residents, so the City Guard didn't include them in the statistics.”
“Tell the City Guard Captain to organize the detailed files of all the victims and send them over. If I don't see those files by tomorrow morning, then I don't mind going to get them personally.”
“Yes, Teacher.”
Hogg’s expression became much more serious. Marz knew this was the prelude to his teacher’s fury. After all, the number of victims this time was truly too high, and the fact that the people below were covering it up clearly crossed his teacher’s red line.
Marz offered a silent prayer for them in his heart, hoping those people would have good luck after the incident was resolved.
Rate on N.U.
