Townsend Street, where Queens meets the West Side.

Hugh Dilcha was standing in a dark and secluded alley. Even without looking up, he could see the layers of magnificent palaces and the towering Gothic bell tower in the distance.

That is the highest area in Backlund and also where the Loen royal family is located.

Its status in the southern and northern continents and in the entire world is equal to or even slightly higher than that of the White Maple Palace in Intis and the Almir Palace in the Feysac Empire, but its name is neither romantic nor ancient.

It is called Thordrak Palace, and in the ancient Feysac language, this word means "balance".

Xio withdrew his gaze from the famous "Clock of Order" and looked to the other side of the alley.

A figure slowly walked out of the shadows that the gas street lamps could not illuminate.

The figure was wearing a gold-shell mask that revealed the lower half of his face. He was the mysterious man who had sold the "Sheriff" formula to Xio and entrusted her with tasks from time to time.

When Xio and Fors discussed privately, they both suspected that the other was from MI9.

"Did you get anything this week?" the man wearing the golden mask asked as usual.

Hugh shook his head.

"No, no one probably asked about Kapin before the incident."

She paused, and asked reluctantly:

"Do you want to investigate this matter further?"

The masked man was silent for a while and said:

“No need for that, but if you hear of any related situation in the future, please contact me immediately.

"I'm giving you a new mission today."

"What mission?" Xio completely entered the state of a bounty hunter, ready to assess the risks of the matter.

The masked man laughed:

“It’s a very simple task, and it’s the task you always dream of.

"Please ask all your circles to buy the main ingredients for 'Sheriff' and 'Interrogator', especially the special ingredients that can be directly mixed into potions. If anyone responds, we will advance the funds."

"The purchased materials will belong to me?" Xio asked rhetorically.

This is her main concern.

"No. Do you believe that such a simple task can have such a high reward? Of course, if you can fish out the person we are looking for like fishing, it is not impossible to negotiate that the main ingredient of the potion will belong to you." The masked man laughed.

"But I don't know what the main ingredient of the 'Interrogator' potion is..." Xio said hesitantly.

"I'll tell you later. This is our advance payment. Even if you don't find the target, you will have the main part of the Sequence 7 potion formula, which is worth more than 600 pounds. I think you have fully realized our generosity." The masked man said in a bewitching tone.

It was indeed generous... Who was their target, and why were they willing to spend so much to find him? Well, assuming he was from MI9, taking advantage of this mission to recycle the "Arbitrator" extraordinary materials circulating on the market should also be one of the purposes, and there was no question of wasting money... As a barely experienced bounty hunter, Xio instinctively thought of something.

After weighing the pros and cons, she nodded and said:

"I accept the commission."

"Very good." The masked man's tone became relaxed, and he looked around and said, "The main ingredients of the 'Interrogator' potion are the horn of the shining black snake and the dust of the lake spirit."

After saying this, he slowly stepped back, returned to the shadows, and disappeared around the corner of the alley.

"You actually told me the main ingredient of the 'Interrogator' potion..." Xio was still a little stunned for a moment.

It was not until this time that she fully realized how much importance the force represented by the masked man attached to this mission.

"I don't know who the target is, but the key seems to be the special materials that can be directly mixed into the 'Sheriff' and 'Interrogator' potions..." Thinking of this, Xio suddenly froze.

She remembered one thing, that is, when she was promoted to Sequence 8 "Sheriff", she used special materials that could be directly mixed into corresponding potions, special materials purchased from Fors!

This... is this their goal? Xio instinctively decided to keep this a secret and never tell the masked man.

She rubbed her chubby cheeks and walked out to the street, ready to take the public carriage back to Cherwood.

Just then, she saw a brown carriage passing by, and her eyes were immediately drawn to the emblem on it.

The main body of the emblem was a flower and two rings, and there was nothing special about it, but Xio stared at it with his eyes frozen.

She waited until the carriage had gone away before she withdrew her gaze. Her mood suddenly became extremely low, and even after returning to the house they rented together, her mood did not completely improve.

Noticing that something was wrong with her friend, Fors poured two glasses of red wine and brought them over.

"What happened?" She sat opposite him and pushed one of the glasses of wine to Xio.

Xio looked down at the red wine and was silent for two minutes before speaking in a slightly hoarse voice:

"On the way back, I ran into someone I knew before."

"Who?" Fors asked cooperatively.

"Viscount Stratford." Hugh answered every question.

Fors thought carefully and said:

"This viscount seems to be the captain of the palace guards?"

As a best-selling author, she would occasionally receive invitations from aristocrats who loved literature to attend afternoon tea and banquets. Based on the writer's professional habit of collecting materials, she would definitely take the initiative to learn more about the more famous aristocrats.

It was at such a party that she met Viscount Glint.

"Yes, he used to be my father's deputy." Xio said with some difficulty.

"Your father?" Fors knew that Xio came from a ruined noble family and had some secrets, but she didn't know the details.

Xio picked up the red wine, took a gulp, and choked and coughed a few times.

She paused for a moment and said:

"My family belongs to the royal family, and at its most prominent, I even served as the Earl of the Palace."

“Earl of the Palace? What kind of position is that?” Fors asked, half out of curiosity and half to calm his friend down.

"This is equivalent to being the spokesperson for the royal family and the noble closest to the throne." Hugh recalled with a radiant look on his face. "From then on, our family had the fiefdom that a true earl should have. When it came to my father, although he was no longer so prominent, he was still trusted by the previous king, William the Strong, and was the commander of the royal guard and the chief of the palace guards."

Her tone gradually became lower, with pain that was difficult to conceal:

"But seven years ago, he was accused of participating in a rebellion, was eventually sentenced to death by hanging, and was stripped of his title and fiefdom.

"My family fell into ruin, and many members died without any reason. In order to survive, we changed our last name and left East Tucker County...

"I don't believe my father would rebel. He was so loyal to the royal family, even more than his faith in the goddess! For... Anyway, I left my mother and brother and came to Backlund, looking for opportunities to improve myself, hoping to restore the glory of my family and my father's reputation."

Xio was very vague about some of the things in the middle, but Fors didn't care. He sighed and said:

“It’s going to be very, very hard.”

She immediately forced a smile:

"But I'll support you!"

And there is a mysterious Tarot Club behind me! She added in her heart.

…………

Tingen, 2 Narcissus Street at night.

Melissa, who was calculating math problems, turned her head to look at the door and said to Benson, who had just taken off his top hat:

"Where did you go? Aren't the results going to be announced tomorrow?"

"We can find out tonight, and I happen to know two city government employees who are in charge of the unified examination." Benson curled his lips.

In early December, he signed up for the unified government employee examination and chose a position with relatively less competition. In the process, he established friendships with several government employees and many candidates with his eloquence and communication skills.

"What's the result?" Melissa unconsciously put down the round-bellied fountain pen in her hand.

Benson's expression suddenly sank, but before Melissa spoke, he smiled brightly:

"pass!

"And it's in the front position!"

"That's great..." Melissa stood up and paced a few steps. "You have to start preparing for the second round of exams at the end of January. This is in Backlund, so I have to pack your luggage in advance... When do you plan to leave?"

Seeing his sister worrying about this and that, Benson walked into the living room and said with a smile:

“My plan is that after the New Year, we will go to Backlund together and rent a house there.

"Whether or not I pass the exam, I plan to stay in Backlund and try to make a breakthrough. You can take advantage of the New Year holiday to transfer to Backlund's technical school and prepare for the Backlund University of Industry and Technology entrance exam in June."

Just a month ago, Backlund Institute of Technology completed its reorganization and was officially upgraded to an industrial and technological university.

Melissa listened quietly and pursed her lips unconsciously.

She looked around with longing, and replied in a soft voice:

"good."

…………

Friday afternoon, Cragg Club.

Klein walked out and hired a carriage to go to Prince Edsak's Red Rose Manor.

That was the place Talim often went a few days before his death. As a qualified detective, it would be a waste of the 100 pounds of funding if he didn't do some investigation.

No matter how passive you are, you still have to put on a good show... Klein muttered as he sat in the carriage and admired the scenery outside the window as the pollution gradually decreased.

After the morning practice, he roughly grasped the extent of the improvement in all aspects: Extraordinary abilities such as "Flame Control" and "Flame Jump" became about 30% stronger, the power of air bombs and the length of the underwater false breathing tubes even doubled, and divination and fighting were also significantly enhanced.

"Paper Substitute" and "Damage Transfer" have not changed much, but because of the growth of spirituality, the number of times they can be used has increased relatively.

After staggering, Klein finally arrived at the Red Rose Manor and explained his purpose to the two soldiers guarding the entrance.

After being passed around, he met the old butler.

"You can ask everyone here." The meticulous old butler with white hair paused and added, "Except that young lady."

This is also my wish. I don’t want to get involved in any trouble… Klein smiled relaxedly:

"good!"

PS: Ask for monthly ticket~

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