Chapter 155 : Chapter 155

Chapter 155. Explanation

As for the third letter, it had been sent by a third-tier mage from the Alchemy School.

The good news was that the letter did not instruct him to take sides in this matter. It neither told him to support nor oppose the captain of the knight order.

The bad news was that it repeatedly urged him to resolve the case as quickly as possible.

This was because a disciple of that third-tier mage, Mage Daphne, had also met Zeno before. She had already submitted her application to join a certain mage corps.

If he failed to conclude this case quickly, and Daphne’s application was rejected as a result—forcing her to wait another year—then he would be held accountable.

When Dante read this letter, his head throbbed, and he cursed the Alliance’s review system.

When a mage applied to join a mage corps, they would undergo an investigation to determine their loyalty and other qualifications…

But the absurd part was this: if that mage became entangled in any case, regardless of whether they were qualified, their application would automatically be marked as a failure, and they would have to wait a full year before reapplying.

Many competitors exploited this loophole, deliberately creating incidents to sabotage their rivals.

To avoid this, many mages would leave their original place of residence when applying, submit their application in secret, and only return once the review process reached the personal evaluation stage.

As for Mage Daphne, she had simply been unlucky. Even after traveling to the edge of the Alliance, she had still been dragged into trouble.

That was why her mentor had sent this letter—to urge him not to overthink things and to wrap up the case quickly, before the reviewers discovered the situation.

Such letters urging investigators to quickly conclude a case were quite common. Usually, those who sent them would also work behind the scenes to ensure that the case would be approved swiftly.

After all, delays caused by ongoing investigations within the Alliance were nothing new.

Dante himself had handled several such cases—once the paperwork was submitted, it would be approved immediately.

But the problem was that Dante did not dare to conclude this investigation so hastily.

Not only did he need to produce a logically sound report to satisfy Professor Elliot’s requirements, but he also could not simply frame some random individual.

After all, the victim was a formal mage. If he named an ordinary person as the culprit, it would never pass scrutiny.

At present, the only lead pointed toward the Bloodwolf Knights. Whether it was their past actions or the available clues, everything indicated their captain.

But the problem was that he could not actually write that person’s name in the report. He needed to find a scapegoat.

And yet, the third-tier mage from the Alchemy School was demanding a swift resolution, which only added to his headache.

If the scapegoat he found refused to confess during interrogation, the case would never be concluded within the timeframe that the Alchemy School expected.

So he needed to find someone who had the ability to kill Zeno—and who would, even without concrete evidence, admit to the crime.

Where was he supposed to find such a person?!!

All of this gave him an unbearable headache. Every letter came from someone he could not afford to offend. In theory, he needed to satisfy all of their demands.

Otherwise, these people could easily make things difficult for him in the future.

Dante rubbed his throbbing temples. For this matter, he had not slept for an entire day, constantly thinking about how to handle it.

“I’ll go check the Alliance’s mage reception first…”

He sighed. Having no clear solution, he decided to follow the registration records and verify their authenticity at the reception.

---

Dante arrived at the reception hall specially established by the Alliance. Just as he was about to enter, a figure stepped forward and blocked his path.

He focused his gaze—it was a formal mage.

“Is there something you need?” he asked, puzzled as to why this colleague had stopped him.

“Investigator Dante, regarding the case of Zeno’s death that you are investigating, I have some information to share,” Fulan said with a faint smile.

Dante’s interest was piqued. He followed Fulan into a soundproof room. After dismissing the attendants nearby, he asked:

“Tell me what you know.”

His tone was that of an interrogation—completely devoid of courtesy.

This was his usual manner, a confidence born from his status as an investigator.

As a special investigator dispatched by the Alliance, his position was naturally far above that of ordinary first-tier mages.

Thus, whenever he dealt with such mages, he always spoke in this tone, and they could only frown and respond.

Fulan raised an eyebrow at his attitude but continued speaking.

“Let me introduce myself first. My name is Fulan. I am a member of the Forge Furnace School. My destination is the Northern Society.”

“On my way there, I passed through Ged Town. At the invitation of Administrator Caleb, I met Zeno at a banquet.”

She paused briefly, then took out a letter from her pocket.

“This is a letter of introduction from my mentor.”

Dante frowned, not understanding why she suddenly produced a letter in the middle of her explanation.

He had no interest in whether Fulan possessed a letter of introduction to the Northern Society.

Just as he was about to rebuke her, he suddenly sensed the magical fluctuation emanating from the letter.

This was something covered in investigator training. They were taught to determine the rank of a signer based on the magical imprint left on paper—a highly practical skill.

What he felt now was an intense and concentrated magical fluctuation, causing beads of sweat to form on his forehead.

“My apologies, Mage Fulan. My earlier attitude was inappropriate. Please continue.”

He could clearly tell that the magical imprint came from a fourth-tier mage—and that it had been inscribed within the past month.

This made his scalp go numb.

What kind of world was this? He had merely passed through a small town, yet now four high-tier mages were applying pressure on him one after another.

And this was a fourth-tier mage—completely different from the previous three third-tier mages.

Within the Alliance, fourth-tier mages were the backbone of power. Above them were only a handful of fifth-tier mages, who were the true rulers of the Alliance.

All major affairs ultimately fell under the authority of these fourth-tier mages.

Dante could not help but curse his earlier behavior. He had been a complete fool. If he had only checked the list of mages who had passed through Ged Town beforehand—

He would have seen that Fulan’s mentor’s name in her records had been blacked out.

From that alone, he could have deduced that her mentor was at least a third-tier mage.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, feeling that this was the most difficult day he had faced since becoming an investigator.