Elan scratched his head as he looked at the person in front of him, who was covered in a black robe with a hood over their head, leaving almost no skin exposed except for the eyes.
"Uh, who are you?"
"It's me."
Furan's voice rang out, giving Elan a start. He spun his glass around before saying:
"Why are you dressed like this?"
Furan didn't offer much of an explanation, simply stating:
"I'm afraid of being attacked. I've been attacked twice just coming here to your place dressed like this..."
"Never mind that. I want to buy two Spells. The goods are here."
Furan pointed to a box by her feet and kicked it over with her foot.
Elan handed over the papers containing the Spells, lifted the box by his feet, and complained:
"Isn't it because you attract too much hate? Weren't those attacks because of your own conflicts with others? The safety of my bar is recognized by many apprentices."
"Also, can't you put the box on the table and hand it to me? How rude."
Ignoring Elan's words, Furan directly selected the Spells she had already decided on.
"These two: Hand of Telekinesis and Shadow Hide."
Elan raised an eyebrow and teased:
"What, are you planning to steal something? Needing these two Spells."
Furan didn't explain herself and said:
"Hurry up and give me my change. I have things to do."
Elan didn't waste any more words, handing two pieces of Silver Paper to Furan. He then spent a moment calculating with a pen before giving her the change.
"Honestly, she comes here to buy things and I still have to give her money."
Furan wasn't in the mood to chat with Elan. She knew her current situation was dangerous and she could be caught by the Modification School at any time. She had to be careful at all times and didn't leave her home lightly.
As she walked out the door of the Jade Heart, a voice rang through the entire tavern.
"Stop right there."
Furan turned her head and saw two men standing there, calling out to her. She cursed inwardly about how there was always so much trouble whenever she came to this tavern.
She carefully examined their clothing, and her heart sank when she saw the badge on their chests.
The two were wearing gray robes with the badge of the Modification School pinned to their chests. One of them held a transparent container in his hand, inside of which a bug could be seen moving.
The bug seemed to have gone mad, repeatedly slamming against the container in her direction, only to be blocked by the glass every time.
What's going on now? Did the Modification School find out I killed someone?
Furan remained calm and composed; since her face was covered, no one could see her expression anyway.
At that moment, one of the apprentices said with a sinister expression:
"You were seen with Richter before he died. You are suspected of murdering an apprentice of our Modification School. Come with us."
Furan didn't move an inch, her heart relaxing slightly. As long as they hadn't confirmed she was the killer, it was fine.
But she absolutely could not go with them. Didn't she know better than anyone whether she was the killer or not?
"Hmm?"
Xiyinsi's sinister expression tightened. He hadn't expected someone to remain unmoved in the face of the Modification School's great name.
His previous frustration surged back into his heart, transforming into rage.
He had previously set his sights on the reward for this mission, specifically spending two gold coins to take the task of investigating the area around Richter's residence. Instead, an apprentice who had been pushed aside to look for a needle in a haystack ended up finding the body.
After that, he had keenly spent money to bribe a teacher from the Necromancy School and gave another sum to Mentor Losqi just to get the mission to investigate the Apothecary Association, which he believed would surely yield results.
In the end, the conclusion he reached was utterly absurd. Forget about getting the surgical instruction reward—if it weren't for the fact that he had given so much money, he suspected Losqi would have wanted to tear him apart with his bare hands.
He had spent the most money, yet in the end, he had gained nothing.
To top it off, some genius had arranged the team roster so that he was paired with that lucky bastard Tarn to track down the people Richter had met.
This was one of the functions of the Tracking Bug: after consuming a certain amount of the corpse's flesh, it would lunge toward people or places the deceased had contact with during their life.
Of course, because Richter's body had been mixed in the soil for an unknown amount of time, these Tracking Bugs would also react to people who had passed through that patch of land or those who had earth-element-related items on them.
They had already hauled in three completely unrelated people that morning, all for nothing.
"We are from the Modification School."
Xiyinsi emphasized, barely suppressing his anger. This was the Apprentice Market, after all, and the Modification School still had to show some respect to the managers here; they couldn't just start a conflict at will.
"Does the Modification School have law enforcement power? To just grab anyone on the street and take them away?"
Furan chuckled in a low voice, and her words triggered a burst of cheering from the apprentices in the tavern.
These two apprentices had already caught several people here today. Although those people had gone 'voluntarily' because they feared the might of the Modification School.
But the crowd of apprentices in the tavern couldn't stand these two acting so arrogantly. Since someone was finally challenging them, they all voiced their support for Furan.
"Well said! The Modification School should get lost!"
"What kind of pheasant School is this? Just a subsidiary of the Necromancy School, yet here they are barking!"
"Fight! Fight!"
...Tarn realized things were going south. He approached Xiyinsi, placed a hand on his shoulder, and said:
"How about we just forget it? It's unlikely that anyone we find here is the one."
Assigning apprentices to find the killer using Tracking Bugs was an almost impossible task.
As far as Tarn knew, Richter had gone missing after returning from the assessment. So, in theory, every apprentice who had participated in the assessment would become a target for the Tracking Bug.
Thus, there were missions to search for the killer at other Schools' bases and public areas. Tarn could already imagine them going to another School, inciting public outrage, and getting one-shotted by some impulsive apprentice's Spells.
Fortunately, the mission locations weren't randomly assigned this time. On a whim, Losqi had let him choose the mission site first.
Adhering to the principle of not looking for trouble, Tarn had chosen the Apprentice Market, a place where it was highly unlikely they would actually find the killer.
Tarn already had an achievement to his name, and Beloli had promised him surgical instruction. Under these circumstances, he, more than anyone, did not want to actually find the killer.
Finding the killer wouldn't necessarily bring much of a reward, but if the killer were driven to desperation and knew it was he who found the body and exposed them, what if they killed him regardless of the cost?
He believed that less trouble was better. If it were up to him, he wouldn't bring anyone back even if the Tracking Bug smashed itself to death.
Now, the two of them were the targets of everyone in the tavern. He was truly afraid that if a conflict broke out, he might be accidentally killed.
His dream of becoming a Formal Mage would vanish like ash.
But Xiyinsi had no intention of listening to him. He pushed Tarn's hand off his shoulder and gripped the short wand at his waist with his left hand.
"Magic Missile."
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