Chapter 481 – The Inquirer

The moment Punk laid eyes on this flustered Apprentice-Level female mage, he immediately understood what Kirk Weilen meant by “good news” and… the Mage Guild’s true stance.

Instead of sending a rigid Master-Level Caster as an “Inquisitor” as per usual protocol, the Mage Guild had merely dispatched this timid little apprentice to the Thought of Truth branch to serve as the “Inquirer” for this incident.

Had this Apprentice-Level mage been some hot-blooded youth willing to sacrifice everything for justice, the situation might still have been serious. But… Punk observed the nearly tearful Little Girl before him…

His perception of low-level casters’ mental states clearly told Punk—this was just an ordinary junior mage accustomed to and only capable of compliance. Having her interrogate a Master-Level powerhouse? It meant Punk could say whatever he wanted. This Scotti wasn’t sent here as an “Inquirer” at all—she was essentially here to be a yes-woman.

At this point, the “good news” Kirk Weilen had mentioned became perfectly clear to Punk.

Not only did the Mage Guild have no intention of holding Punk accountable, they were actively trying to win over the Thought of Truth branch and its Senior Mentors.

Upon reflection, the Mage Guild’s behavior was quite understandable. While the headquarters of both the Zhentarim and Mage Guild would likely see their Legendary powerhouses end their confrontation with mere threats and anti-climax, for minor branches in small regions like the Gray Rain Country… the covert and overt struggles between local branches were very real.

After all, this was a rare opportunity to freely compete for influence and precious resources. With Legendary beings remaining secluded in their towers, whichever side could secure support from the other Legendary organization’s branch—the Thought of Truth in Gray Rain Country—would gain significant advantage.

As for Punk himself—a Senior Mentor, rising star, and Master-Level alchemist—he was certainly worth courting in this small region like Gray Rain Country. The Mage Guild branch’s conciliatory attitude served as an olive branch to both Punk and the Thought of Truth branch, though this straightforward approach was far more sophisticated than simply sending gifts.

Since few people cared about Punk’s “interrogation” anyway, sending a mere apprentice for appearances was sufficient to placate the hot-headed factions.

Having grasped the situation, Punk knew exactly how to proceed.

He had no intention of rejecting the Mage Guild branch’s goodwill. After all, he was receiving this “gift” in his capacity as a Thought of Truth Senior Mentor. When the time came for reciprocity, it would be branch director Kirk Weilen—not Punk himself—who’d handle it. Had Kirk been a cunning caster, Punk might have needed to consider how to benefit this de facto superior, but…

Stealing a subtle glance at Kirk Weilen standing nearby with his formulaic smile, Punk’s lips curled into a faint, cold smirk.Kirk Weilen was merely a wretched old man devoid of any ambition. Punk didn’t need to offer him any benefits or guarantees—after all, if Kirk Weilen didn’t want this tranquil swamp turned upside down, he’d have no choice but to obediently work like a beast of burden to help certain troublemaking mages avoid complications!

At least, that was the case when Kirk Weilen had no means to deal with a powerful Senior Mentor.

Having seen through the hypocrisy of the Mage Guild and Kirk Weilen’s cowardice, Punk’s mood immediately became utterly placid.

He stepped expressionlessly into the smoke-filled hall, then cast a detached glance at the little girl sitting on the high platform, clumsily trying to pacify the magical books. Finally, Punk casually waved his hand.

Almost instantly, all the smoke, dust, and shimmering light in the air automatically returned to the books. The runes and legal clauses projected into the air, having lost the energy support from the magical books, quickly vanished without a trace…

In less than a second, the ancient Inquiry Room hall had returned to silence. The energy from the magic arrays on the walls still faintly glimmered with multicolored radiance. Now, aside from the scattered magical books on the floor and the disheveled young female mage tightly clutching several magical tomes, there was no sign of the intense chaos that had just occurred.

“Gah gah, activating all the projection arrays on the magical books in one go—you’re truly a genius, girl, gah gah gah!”

Seeing Scotti kneeling on the floor with a dazed expression, the Magical Raven Vector, who had been holding back laughter for a long time, finally couldn’t restrain himself and burst into uproarious laughter.

As a rather intelligent alchemical creation, Vector had picked up some half-baked magical knowledge during his time observing Sorsend’s alchemical experiments. Naturally, he could immediately see what mistake the teary-eyed Scotti had made:

“Gah gah gah gah gah gah, you must have wanted to turn off the projections in those books, but you, a complete fool who understands nothing about magical energy flow, ended up activating all the runes in every book! Gah gah gah gah, you probably thought summoning all those projections from the magical books looked really cool, didn’t you? Gah gah gah, what an overestimating idiot…”

“Wh-what do you know? My ‘Runic Energy Geometry’ earned three distinctions! I just assumed the rune activation directions in these books followed the currently popular ‘Mortz Left Rotation’ principle. How was I supposed to know these books, compiled who knows when, still use the ‘Mortz Right Rotation’ principle?”

Well, this Apprentice seemed to be quite the bookworm. Hearing Vector’s unrestrained mockery, the girl—who moments earlier had been tearful like a frightened rabbit—completely forgot she was standing before two Master-Level spellcasters. She immediately bristled like an angry kitten, baring her teeth at Vector.The Apprentice’s single sentence choked Vector, who had been laughing heartily just moments before. How could a magic raven like him, who hadn’t even glanced at a proper spellbook, possibly know anything about “left-hand rotation rules” or “right-hand rotation rules”? It was fine for Vector to mock the little girl relying on his Formal-Level magical perception, but asking him to explain the reasoning behind his taunts…

Vector chose to look up and admire the ceiling instead. Hmm, upon closer inspection, the runes painted on this stone house were quite beautiful.

Seeing the conversation drifting further off track and the magic raven perched on his shoulder about to be exposed, Punk—who was already eager to return to the Mage Tower to continue his research—coldly interrupted the little apprentice mage who still wanted to “press the advantage”:

“Enough, little girl. I suppose you didn’t come here to bicker with my boring, foolish bird. A mage’s time is more precious than gold. I believe it’s time we got down to business now”!

End of the month, the author needs votes, give me votes please~~ Mwah mwah~~

(End of Chapter)