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“Young master, please reconsider going out today. You only just woke up after what happened…” Hodley said, standing in the hallway with a concerned look.

“Ugh. Get out of my way.” Matheson pushed him to the side, ignoring him with an angry look.

Matheson had mostly recovered after being pierced by treant antlers.

His bones still felt bruised but they were mostly fine and he wanted to get back to training as quickly as possible.

It seemed that the pain during the attack was so great that he simply forgot the experience; his brain wouldn’t let him remember it.

For Matheson, that changed nothing anyway. This was just another setback.

Whether he remembered the painful experience or not, he only cared about getting stronger. He had a better grasp of the world now and knew that strength reigned – even all the political games played by men he considered cockroaches had one purpose, and that was to gather strength so they could impose their will onto others.

Similarly to Jay, he wanted freedom too, though admittedly of a different sort.

As Matheson left the gate of the mansion he noticed a black guard.

He immediately turned around and went back to grab Hodley by the collar who was still following him around begging him to rest.

“Why are the mage hunters here?” he glared at Hodley like a wolf ready to strike.

Matheson thought he wasn’t important or strong enough for his father to send a mage hunter to guard or imprison him, but neither did he think he would be exiled to Losla in the first place._.

It seemed that something big had changed while he was recovering.

“A-ah, young master. I did some investigating but I shouldn’t tell you here… Please, come inside and have some tea.” Hodley let out a nervous smile.

Matheson glared at him with disdain and grunted, letting go of his collar and walking past Hodley back into the mansion.

Hodley quickly followed after.

They both entered into a private room and Hodley quickly told Matheson everything he knew from his information gathering efforts – which was actually just asking a mage hunter some questions and providing a large sum of gold.

It’s probably why there was still a mage hunter loitering around their mansion – to get more gold.

After listening for a moment, Matheson understood everything – at least everything that Hodley understood.

“So, they’re looking for something powerful…” he nodded as if he was deep in thought.

“Yes! Oh, isn’t it exciting. To deploy the mage hunters even to Losla. It must be an amazing treasure I’m guessing; I heard they were deployed across the whole kingdom. I can only wonder what it could be, I bet it could make anyone’s dreams come true” Hodley looked whimsically as he nursed his tea on his stomach.

Matheson was quiet for a moment before he stood up and he peered out the window at the mage hunter in the street.

“He doesn’t seem to be looking for anything…” he said as he stared for a moment.

“Well, maybe he’s making sure other people haven’t found it,” Hodley replied quickly, and a little nervously.

“What is the treasure?”

“I don’t know, I only know that it’s powerful. He wouldn’t say more than that.”

Matheson looked for a moment longer before making a decision.

“Fine. I will stay until lunch, but no longer.” he sighed.

“Very well. Thank you, young master.” Hodley bowed as he left the room, even though Matheson wasn’t even looking at his formal display anyway.

Matheson quietly remained at the window, his eyes fixed on the mage hunter outside as another passed by.

“Seems like they’re creating guard and patrol routes…” he thought.

– – –

Viladores’ lips curled as the mage hunters made their homes inside the guild.

It seemed that everyone in the guild was tense and high-strung. Even Lillian wasn’t her usual self – she was actually acting sincerely kind, and the only person who felt normal was Viladore.

Sure, while Viladore was doing forbidden research, but he could easily hide all that. Even the black cube would seem like just another strange mana stone, and it wouldn’t move or even make a noise unless Viladore wanted it to.

Yes, Viladore was relaxed for a different reason, a smile forming on his face, though this was the cunning smile of opportunity.

“Now… How do I make them arrest Jay, but keep him alive while also imprisoning him near me…”

“Or even give me custody over him for research?” his eyes gleamed as he continued to fiendishly smile.

Now that Viladore wouldn’t need Sullivan’s help or permission due to the mage hunters being here, he had started thinking of new ways to achieve his goals.

Suddenly, Viladore got up from his desk and left his room. He then went to another room in the association where he knew some of the higher-ranking mage hunters were having a meeting.

Two black-armour guards stood silently outside the door and Viladore quickly stood at attention before them.

“Ex-research division three, sub-division eight, materials analyst number three-two, requesting a hearing”

The mage hunters didn’t move, but after a moment, its helmet tilted forward and looked directly at Viladore, immediately making him tense.

“Granted. Twenty Seconds.” a husky deep voice came from somewhere within the armour as the helmet looked upwards again.

Viladore knew what this meant and patiently waited in the hallway.

After exactly twenty seconds the mage hunter suddenly took a step to the side with a heavy thump as its foot landed, revealing the door behind it. Viladore knew this was his queue to enter.

While focusing on keeping his breathing calm, he slowly turned the handle.

As he stepped inside, Viladore felt even more tense.

Despite being a powerful mage, he felt like he walked into a room of wolves; each of them having the power and authority to execute him on the spot – and with relative ease at that.

Inside, two more guards stood at either side of the room, while two other mage hunters sat in front of a desk.

One more sat on the other side of the desk and was looking over files which included maps, recent events, and deaths. Still, none of them had removed their helmets as they looked over documents.

Viladore thought it was strange information to be looking at, but he ignored it as it was none of his business anyway.

Viladore saluted, remembering his old training, “Ex-researcher -”

“What do you want?” He was cut off mid-sentence.

Clearly, he was no longer recognised as a mage hunter.

“I- I was just seeing if I could offer my services and help in any way. I was part of the ma… safety bearers after all.” he nodded with a shaky smile.

One of the guards suddenly stepped forward and held out a goblet filled with a silvery liquid.

“I see.” Viladore nodded.

He knew exactly what he had to do. It was an identification practice, and he plunged his hand into it before slowly bringing it out again.

Some of the silvery liquid clung to his skin and remained on the top of his hand, forming words.

[Viladore. Telekine. Materials Research.]

Viladore held his hand out so that the mage hunter could read it before wiping the silver liquid back into the goblet.

“Hmph. You’re useless. Fuck off.” he grunted.

Viladore opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but no words came out as he feared saying anything may result in his death.

The pressure the guards were emitting on him only made it worse, and he realised he would probably just waste their time.

So far, the mage hunter officer only said a total of two sentences and Viladore only dreaded what he may say next; he was not willing to test his patience.

The door opened behind him and a guard inside the room stood closer to him, pushing him out slowly.

Viladore didn’t need another clue to leave immediately.

“Fuck.. how do I manipulate such aggressive fucking idiots…” he gritted his teeth as he walked back to his room. He finally looked as tense as everyone else.

“Still… I would say my introduction turned out quite well. I didn’t die after all,” he shrugged.

***Mass release tomorrow (6/8/22) – then another mass release on Monday. (8/8/22) ***