Chapter 78: Overloaded

Looking at the person Luen was pointing at, Rita frowned slightly.

"It's him."

She remembered this man.

Back then, a student's belongings had gone missing, and Luen had suggested it might have been this man called Rod who had casually taken them.

So she had kept that in mind, and when leaving, she deliberately cast a tracking spell on him.

She had not expected it to be dispelled so easily by the other party.

A warrior with fifth-tier spiritual accumulation, apart from close combat, generally had far fewer methods than a mage.

Being able to dispel it so easily left an impression on her.

"There are too many people here, we can't do this the hard way."

Rita thought for a moment. "Speaking of which, a baron friend of my father's fell on hard times, and his descendants came to settle in Emerald Jade City. My father once gave him aid, and now he seems to be a captain in the Public Order Bureau."

Luen's heart gave a small leap of joy.

He was an ordinary commoner, so he had not accumulated a single connection among officials or nobles.

He could not help but feel grateful that he had used Mi Qing Mi Fa on Rita.

Although she was only the daughter of a fallen baron, the network and resources her father's generation had accumulated were enough to be useful.

"Not bad. This man ventured into the labyrinth alone, most likely he's just a commoner with no backing. Have that friend of yours find an excuse to take him out of Emerald Jade City."

"We haven't seen each other in years, showing up at his door and making demands straight away probably won't work."

Rita, afraid of letting Luen down, could not help but speak up.

Luen gave a faint smile.

He took out a spell pouch.

"There are a thousand Jin Along in here, take them and give them to him."

He had learned from his teacher a technique to convert magic rings into 【Overloaded】 ones, and the price difference alone had earned him a fortune.

Here, one must first explain what 【Overloaded】 is.

When magic rings had just been developed and released, the technology was not yet very refined.

If a large amount of spiritual energy or mana was infused at once, it would trigger the critical-point fuse protection; not only would the activation fail, it would also put the magic ring into an 【Overloaded】 state.

In the 【Overloaded】 state, the magic ring's effect would drop to around eighty percent.

This had originally been an unavoidable consequence of the technology's imperfection at the time.

But later, people discovered that the mana or spiritual energy required to trigger an overloaded ring again would drop drastically.

Even a person with only third-tier spiritual accumulation could use a sixth-tier magic ring in the overloaded state.

Because of this, large numbers of overloaded rings appeared on the market.

Because the triggering mana required was so little, even though the effect was only eighty percent of a normal ring, the price was still half higher than a normal ring.

The Heavenly Court Flower Kingdom noticed this phenomenon in time.

They swiftly refined the rings so that they could no longer enter the 【Overloaded】 state.

Overloaded rings on the market gradually disappeared as well.

However, later the Heavenly Court Flower Kingdom repackaged the overloaded rings and marked them up by one hundred percent, transforming them into second-generation magic rings, sold exclusively to the rich and nobles.

Everyone was helpless, after all it was the Heavenly Court Flower Kingdom's proprietary technology.

And Luen's teacher, needless to say, had once been a mage of the Heavenly Court Flower Kingdom.

Harris had been very irritable these past two days.

Although the focus of the newspaper these two days was still on that old dragon from the Dragon-Watching Festival.

The rumor that the potion factory had been bombed and was spewing toxic smoke had still spread among the residents.

Just this morning alone.

He had seen three people claiming they had been poisoned by the smoke.

Although under the diagnosis of the Mage Medical Squad, they were proven to be perfectly healthy ruffians attempting to extort him.

But, from ancient times to now, the truth has never been the point.

Once they falsely claimed to the public that they had been poisoned, public opinion could not possibly be cleared cleanly.

Of course.

The ownership of a Joy Potion factory certainly did not belong to him, a mere little captain of the Public Order Bureau.

He had merely been entrusted by his superiors to manage it and take a cut.

As for the counterfeit and shoddy business, it was carried out privately by one of the engineering mages cutting corners.

On the observation platform of Emerald Jade Domain Square.

"Captain Harris, a letter from the City Lord."

A public order officer respectfully handed over a letter.

Harris's mouth was filled with a bitter taste.

What was bound to come had come.

He dismissed the others, and with trembling fingers opened the letter.

Without a doubt.

The words were filled with angry scolding and the City Lord's usual biting sarcasm.

The threats and intimidation within pressed down on his heart like stones.

However, that did not mean there was no way out.

At the end, my lord the City Lord demanded that he handle this matter properly.

"Sigh, don't even think about keeping the savings of these past few years."

Harris had once been a baron's son — he was hardly without the means to handle such matters.

But whether bribing the press or muddying the waters, it required a great deal of Jin Along, especially in a place like Emerald City where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold.

At that moment, the same officer from before walked back over.

"Captain Harris, a woman named Rita Riddle wants to see you. She said you'd recognize this."

So saying, he held up a dagger.

On its hilt was a one-of-a-kind family crest and pattern.

"Rita?"

At the sight of it, Harris immediately recalled the little brat who used to tag along behind him.

A wave of nostalgia welled up inside him, but given the present circumstances, all he could muster was a wry, bitter smile.

A moment later.

Harris and Rita settled at a small corner tea stall near Emerald Domain Square.

After some small talk.

"You're saying you want me to lure a man outside the city, or to some out-of-the-way place — you want to deal with him?"

Rita nodded.

Then she set a spell satchel down on the table without ceremony.

Harris opened it and raised an eyebrow.

Five hundred Jin Along.

Not a fortune, but certainly no trifle.

Enough to ease the immediate pinch, though.

"What identity?"

"Most likely a commoner."

"Most likely? You don't even know the man and you want to deal with him?"

"."

Rita did not answer.

Harris sighed. What could he do — they had history between them.

"Appearance. Tell me, and I'll look into it."

Rita channeled her magic, and a magical image appeared before him.

"Sixth-tier? Not bad progress."

Seeing the accumulation of magic in his old friend, Harris offered a word of praise — but her face was cold, nothing like the cute, warm girl she used to be.

He shrugged.

He had his own base of support now; he didn't need to press his warm face against someone's cold backside.

But as his gaze fell on the magical image before him, his expression changed.

He turned stiffly toward Rita.

"His name wouldn't be Rod, would it."

Rita was taken aback.

"You know him?"

"Know him? More than that — he was a person recommended by the Agar family. Everyone in City Hall knows him."

So saying, Harris set the spell satchel back on the table.

Jin Along was a fine thing, but you needed to still be alive to spend it.

The Agars were no ordinary earl's house. Years on the front lines had given them a wealth of high-tier combatants — never mind a Hou Jue one rank above; even a duke had to show them face.

They often recommended talented individuals to Emerald Domain for advancement, and afterward, every last one of them shone brightly across the continent.

Go up against the Agar family for five hundred Jin Along?

The City Lord would probably drag him out for a blood sacrifice ten times over before the day was out.

"Really not possible?"

Rita's face darkened; she didn't want to let Lu En down.

Harris stood up.

His expression went cold.

"Young Lady, bribing a peace officer inside Emerald City and plotting to harm another person can carry a sentence of ten years or more."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear any of our earlier conversation. A get-together, I'm available anytime — but as for this Mr. Rod, don't bring it up again."

So saying, without waiting for Rita's response, he turned and walked off.

Rita was left sitting where she was.

The gloom on her face was nearly thick enough to drip.

(End of chapter)