Chapter 154 : Chapter 154

Chapter 154. Plans

Fulan began to reflect on the scene she had just witnessed.

She was no longer worried about whether she could withstand their encirclement.

She had already seen that, just as she had planned beforehand, she would slaughter all those knights and leave only that second-tier enemy behind.

At that point, she could simply use Blood of the Furnace to eliminate him.

Not only did she have the one stored in her ring, but she could also cast one herself.

With those two uses of Blood of the Furnace, she had nothing to fear from being surrounded.

Another thing that caught her attention was the conversation between herself and the enemy.

She distinctly remembered mentioning something like a “token.”

And it seemed that the reason those people had attacked her was precisely because of that “token.”

At present, the only item on her that matched that description was the token given to her by the administrator of Ged Town.

She opened her pack and took out the yellow token. The red portion in its center was glowing faintly.

It had been Caleb who gave her this item. Could it be that those people attacked her because of him?

And what exactly was this token, to warrant a second-tier professional and several first-tier individuals to besiege her?

What kind of intentions did Caleb have when he handed this item to her?

Fulan placed the token back into her pack and began planning her next steps.

First, she needed to complete the Gale Swordsman profession to strengthen herself. That was the most important task.

Second, she needed to investigate the origin of this token and determine exactly what it was used for.

Finally, there was Caleb—the administrator of Ged Town. What was his true motive in giving her this item?

Suddenly, she heard hurried footsteps echoing through the corridor outside, along with the sound of heavy objects being moved.

She frowned. What was happening outside?

Opening the door, she saw a flustered attendant rushing down the hallway. She called out to stop him.

“Hey, what’s going on? Why the rush?”

Seeing that it was a formal mage, the attendant had no choice but to stop and explain.

“My apologies, esteemed mage, for disturbing you.”

“A formal mage has died, and the Alliance has been informed. They’ve sent an investigator.”

“That mage had stayed here before, so the investigator has requested that we clear out his room and provide related lodging records.”

Fulan found this strange. Recently, the only mages who had passed through this town were those who attended Caleb’s banquet.

After spending five days outside the city hunting magical creatures and returning, she had not heard of any other mages passing through.

A realization struck her, and she immediately asked:

“What was the name of the deceased mage? I might know him.”

The attendant did not dare refuse her and answered:

“Zeno Harper.”

---

At the gates of Ged Town, the Alliance investigator Dante rubbed his temples as he pondered the mission assigned to him.

The task itself was not complicated. From various clues, it was clear that Zeno’s registration in Ged Town had been thorough—there were records of his entry and exit, as well as his lodging.

From this, one could roughly conclude that Zeno had died after heading toward the Antir region.

This had already been confirmed in the records sent to him via magical means when the Alliance notified him—since he happened to be nearby—to conduct the investigation.

Logically, the focus of the investigation should have been placed on the Antir region. Ged Town only needed a cursory check for clues.

After all, the Antir region was currently in a state of internal conflict. It would not be surprising if something had happened there—perhaps someone there had accidentally killed Zeno.

But the problem was that the true difficulty of this mission did not lie in the case itself, but in the pressures coming from various factions behind it.

Before he even arrived in Ged Town, he had already received three magical messages. Even now, he did not dare reread their contents.

The first was a letter from the Lorenbu Mage Family. Judging from its crest, this family likely resided in a floating city.

There were probably two third-tier mages within the family, and the letter even bore the magical imprint of one of them.

The general content of the letter was that a certain junior member of their family happened to be serving as the captain of a mercenary group in the northern region of the Alliance, and they requested that he be looked after.

After investigating further and confirming that this mercenary group referred to the Bloodwolf Mercenary Group, Dante understood the implication of the letter.

The Bloodwolf Mercenary Group was fairly well-known among investigators. He had heard from several colleagues that this knightly group had the blood of multiple mages on their hands, but due to their powerful backing, those matters had been suppressed.

If this had been the only letter, the situation would have been manageable.

As a mage family, they held considerable influence within the Alliance. If the culprit truly was the captain of that group, Dante could simply draft a superficial report and pass the review above.

It would be troublesome, but at least it would count as a completed investigation and contribute to his record.

However, the real problem lay in the second letter.

The sender’s name alone made him look twice.

It was Professor Elliot Sheffield, a first-class professor of the Skull Society, a third-tier mage, followed by a long list of honors.

Awards such as the Necromancer’s Trophy and the Soul Magic Prize were listed, making Dante envious.

The letter began by stating that the deceased mage Zeno was somewhat connected to him—being the disciple of the disciple of his own disciple’s friend—and thus he was deeply concerned about the matter.

What followed was a long-winded explanation of magical principles. Dante had no patience for it and skipped straight to the end.

The final line requested that he quickly determine the cause of Zeno’s death, preferably identifying both the exact culprit and the time of death.

After making further inquiries, Dante learned that Professor Elliot was not truly concerned about Zeno’s death. Rather, he was using this case to verify a newly developed magical device.

This device could link to a person’s life and, three hours after that person’s death, would display on the device the method of death and the exact time it occurred.

Professor Elliot intended to use this case as a “public experiment” of the device within the Alliance and was therefore urging him to complete the investigation quickly.

This left Dante in a dilemma.

Because according to the data Elliot had provided, it was clearly stated that Zeno had been beheaded by a greatsword forged from the bones of a Frost Giant Wolf.

And that just so happened to be the weapon of that mercenary captain.

Dante did not even need to investigate—he could already guess who the culprit was.

And there was still a third letter adding even more pressure.