Late at night, a single bedroom in the castle tower of the dormitory.

Floating beside the orange glowing desk, Strayer gently closed the heavy magic book, his hands propped on the table, rubbed his stiff cheeks and sour eyes, and couldn't help but doze off.

Glancing at the midnight hands on the clock, and quickly recalling in his mind what he had learned today, the key notes in class and the core theories in the book, he finally got up and left his desk.

It's time to wash.

Strayer didn't like to use cleansing enchantments that could clean his body directly through his clothes, and at nights when he didn't have time to go to the bathroom to take a shower, he used to chew only a mouth-clearing water vine leaf while carefully and carefully wiping his cheeks with a hot and humid towel, and finally using a [bubble technique] to clean his slender and pale hands.

I threw a small grain of fish food into the fish tank on the table, went to the huge wardrobe and changed into a nightgown, and picked up the music box at the bedside and pressed it.

He glanced at the thick curtains, which extinguished the light in the room.

In normal times, he would habitually go to the window and open a gap in the curtains, hide in the dark to take a look at the colorful starry sky, and then tell himself that one day he would also raise his own constellation in the sky.

Then he would laugh at himself with great pleasure, and in the most vicious language he would laugh at his whimsical impracticality, and at last he would abandon his fantasies about the sky to dust, and sleep peacefully with only the smallest and simplest thought—

He's going to get stronger, and he's going to get stronger every day.

But today he did not go to the window.

It's December, and right in the middle of the night sky is the dark scythe of Death Puruetos.

Strayer doesn't like this sign.

Not because the lifeless scythe-shaped night seemed cold and empty over the colorful sky, but because it symbolized darkness and death, reminded him of the corpses that had been evoked by magic—the dead, of the heavily armored skeletal swordsmen who had haunted the palace and wandered back to spy on him like maggots on tarsal bones, and of the dark curses that had tormented him since childhood.

And the rare one to see even those skeletons have to bow down to their superiors - members of the core organization marked by pupilless eyes.

He didn't like to think about it.

Especially that pupilless eye, because he has been punished so many times since he was a child, that as long as he thinks of that organization now, despair will powerlessly spring up in his heart.

This emotion did not do him the slightest benefit.

Strayer lay on the bed, trying to sink himself into a deep sleep.

Of course, this habitual despair is not invincible.

In addition to fear, he also had a cold hatred for that organization, and he was not willing to be a pawn that would not resist and be at the mercy of others, so in that magical enchantment that isolated everything, he calmly and impulsively killed Professor Firth.

Maybe he wouldn't have survived even if he hadn't shot Faith, but he still counted it in his revenge count.

Fez is just the first, there will be more to come.

But he must be cautious now.

Because there was another member of the Order in that enchantment, the member of the infighting with Feth.

He wanted to kill him and Fez, but he didn't expect the other party to wake up in time and control him, and after saying some inexplicable words, he really let him live. Morin and the law enforcement team all thought that the man was dead with Feith, but only he knew that he was the winner.

Strayer didn't know if the other party was still watching him, if the other party had safely left the organization, or even if the other party was male or female, and how old he was.

Just like he didn't know if there were any members of that organization in the most famous magic academy on the continent, or how many of them were there.

But he knew that this semester would not be peaceful.

Because he had obtained a mission docking rune at the beginning of the school year, from the skeleton watching him in the small town of Bellamy, he knew what the core organization, marked by the pupilless eye, was planning near the academy.

And if that mission required his help, he had to go or face the most severe punishment.

Strayer, drowsy, shuddered suddenly, and he sat up.

Something is burning in the palm of your hand.

Gasping for breath in the darkness, he calmly raised his right hand to his eyes, and saw a gray pupilless eye mark burning in his palm—it was the organization's mission docking rune.

Someone is calling him.

……

In the hall on the ground floor of the communication tower, not far from the dormitory castle, the lighting crystal flickered slightly.

Aeno sat down on the couch at the table and put down the slender quill in his hand.

She breathed a long sigh of relief, looked at the long draft of the letter on the table, pursed her pale lips and thought for a while, then took the pen and added some contents, and finally carefully took the letter in her hand and handed it to Morin on the side.

"Is that all right......" she looked complicated and worried:

"I mean...... Last time, it was obviously me who took the initiative to go to Councilor Yara, but then when I was about to speak, I left such a serious accusation that Speaker Augustus colluded with the Lord of the Blood Staff, do you think Councilor Yara will still believe me?"

"I can't say for sure...... But you should try anyway. Maureen took the draft and checked it for her.

Seeing the loss in Aeno's brown eyes, the young man couldn't help but say comfort:

"It's still very promising, according to the latest copy of the Parliamentarians and the Council that the Makastors bought, Councillor Yara has always been very wary of the realm of the dead, as she told you, her most important job after becoming a councillor is to strengthen the Holy Alliance's supervision and management of the kingdom of the dead. ”

"But...... Last time I ran away rudely...... "Aeno looked disconfident.

"It was just a momentary panic, and she should be able to understand it. Maureen thought for a moment and said:

"Speaker Augustus aside, your experience is enough to confirm that there is a big problem in the realm of the dead, and it needs more powerful oversight from the Alliance and the Temple, which can be somewhat helpful to the bill that Councilor Yara wants to promote, and I think she will get back to us soon. ”

"Yes...... Aeno breathed a sigh of relief, but still didn't have much confidence: "But the Speaker is also ......"

"Even if Speaker Augustus is in collusion with the Lord of the Dead, it is impossible for him to show it in the open. Maureen said.

But to be honest, he didn't know what the odds would be in this situation, and how to prove the accusations against Augustus, if the Speaker really colluded with the upper echelons of the deceased and not just related to the Blood Staff Lord, it would be even more difficult for Congressman Biara to push her bill.

"Let's contact Councillor Yara first, and we can hear her opinion when the time comes......"

He finally checked the draft of the letter, and made sure that the wording and content were quite decent even in the habits of the nobility, and returned it to Emneau for signature.

If only the few of them could have more resources...... The boy sighed inwardly.

Enraged, Minelma failed to bring about the progress of the investigation into the Speaker, and it seemed that she had decided that Professor Honorom was hiding something from her and the Temple, and vowed to use all her resources to investigate Uncle Ranger, who had been missing for a year, and that she would not be able to focus on the Speaker's affairs anytime soon.

After all, Aeno couldn't come up with conclusive evidence, and Minelma, as a member of the law enforcement team, was already grateful for agreeing to help, and there was no reason to rush her again.

Besides, she was angry, and Marcas repeatedly stressed the need to keep a safe distance.

After some discussion, they decided to re-contact Councillor Yara.

Even if the guilty Dead Lords can't be brought to justice immediately, if they can tell the story of Aenu in the Parliament, if they can get more attention from neutral councilors, at least they can make those dead councilors feel pressure, so that the lords can restrain themselves and stop being unscrupulous, which can more or less protect the ordinary civilians who are still living on the land of the Dead.

Protecting the tranquil settlements is like Eminor's home.

"Hopefully Councillor Yarra will reply sooner......" Maureen thought.

He and Eminor made their way to the top of the communication tower, picked a gargoyle, and placed the letter into its gaping mouth.

Echono whispered the address of Councillor Yara's office, and a flash of light flashed, and the gargoyle swallowed the envelope, twisted and leaped up from the stone steps, its huge wings curling up the strong wind, and soon flew into the southern night.

At the speed of a gargoyle, he will be able to fly to the Holy Royal Capital tomorrow morning, and if Councilor Yara is interested, it should not be long before he hears from her.

Equino stared blankly in the direction in which the gargoyle had disappeared, not knowing what to think.

"Let's go, we have class tomorrow. Maureen said.

"Hmmm......"

The little vampire came back to his senses, his eyes swept over the scythe night of the sky, and his eyes inadvertently dimmed.

The two walked down the communications tower.

"Morin......" Aeno looked at the starry sky above him again, "Do you say that the Grim Reaper is also the dead......?"

"Yes," the boy affirmed, looking up into the distance, "legend has it that among the stars that include the twelve main constellations, the dark scythe of Death Pruitos is the only constellation that belongs to the Dead, and the Grim Reaper himself is said to be one of the original creators of the dark arts. ”

Legend has it that he has been terminally ill since he was a child, although he has excellent talent and advanced to become a magic master at a young age, proficient in the power of life, but he has never been able to prevent the spread of disease in his body and the approach of death, but he is not willing to return to the embrace of the moon god like this, so he spent the rest of his time studying the opposite of life magic, and finally, when he was dying, he used an unprecedented, extremely powerful and dark magic on himself. ”

"After his death, that magic used his body to summon a being who could walk in the world again, Puruteus, inheriting his body and all of it,"

"Ahem," Morin coughed dryly, "with all will, and finally in the heavenly vault rose the one-of-a-kind Night Scythe, one of the twelve constellations, in charge of the night sky of the last moon, which symbolizes darkness and death every year." ”

"But isn't that the original death magic very flawed......" Aeno asked.

"Yes, at that time, the soul-shaping magic that evokes the dead was still black magic, and it had great negative effects, but there were also very few dead people who could use their strong will to reduce or even overcome the effects of those negative effects, and the Grim Reaper should be one of them. ”

Merlin glanced at the little vampire and was relieved to see that there was nothing unusual on her face.

The little vampire thought for a moment and asked, "That black magic—"

A gloomy and grim voice sounded behind the two of them, "The inheritance of the dark arts has long been destroyed forever, it's not something you should be curious about!

"Boo, hello Professor Brand!"

"Good evening, Professor Brand!" said the boy, almost instinctively.

He turned around, and sure enough, he saw a pair of blood-red eyes.

It's really impossible to believe in evil, and this is the first time that you have bumped into Professor Brand in the middle of the night in the middle of the night? three or four times?

When he passed by the communication room on the second floor when he went to the top of the tower, the boy had a vague premonition when he saw the closed door, guessing that it might be occupied by Professor Bloodeye again. But he didn't expect that Brand, who often corresponded with the "mysterious lover" all night in the grapevine, would come out so early today.

I'm afraid that if I don't make a mistake with this professor, as long as I get to the communication tower, even if he is chatting with the "mysterious lover", he will come out first to scare himself.

"Spreading rumors about the dark arts to your classmates without permission will be deducted 10 points, Maureen. Brand said again.

Ten gray crystals floated out of the boy's identity ring.

The hero does not suffer the loss in front of him, and the deterrent power of Brand's bloody eyes is a bonus at night, and Morin does not argue, and runs away with Aeno in the wilderness.

But the stink bomb that was going to be dropped into Brand's office, the boy thought viciously.

Mix ten more stinky smells into it, and it stinks to death......

Brand frowned as he watched the figures of the two students head towards the dormitory castle, his gaze swept imperceptibly over his wrists that were obscured by his sleeves, and did not return to the communications tower.

The figure flickered slightly, and he disappeared.

……

In the second half of the night, Iluvita was not as lively as during the day, especially in such a cold winter, and even the most persistent night owls of the League of Tricksters were reluctant to wander the campus in search of those unknown paths.

On the cobblestone paths dotted with illuminated crystals, you can only occasionally see a few students hurrying with stacks of books in their arms—all of them are studying in the library at night before finally remembering to go back to the dormitory to rest.

At this time, only the dormitories, castles, and a few magic towers were still lit up.

But Strayer had just left the old castle in the dormitory.

Like a deep, dark shadow, he couldn't see his face, and after a few turns on the dark and winding forest path, he left the academy and was galloping along the river valley in the direction of Bellamy's town.

The disguise on the body was one of the effects of the docking rune.

According to the skeleton in Bellamy's town, the rune's camouflage effect is comparable to that of a four-ring spell, and even a great mage can't see through it without using insight magic.

And that's just one of the many effects of this quest rune.

Strayer had never heard of such magical runes, but after all, it came from that organization, and he had become accustomed to the members of that organization throwing magical machines and runes to him like garbage—even magical machines and runes that were extremely precious to the royal family of Lothar.

Like the lilac pentagram rune on his wrist.

He could sense the location of Merlin's group through the pentagram, and by this time they had all returned to their dormitory in the castle.

The imprint of his gray pupilless eyes grew hotter and hotter in the palm of his hand, and the burning pain urged him to quicken his pace, and at the same time, the place where the summoner was lit up in his mind.

It was supposed to be a small clearing in the forest outside the town of Bellamy.

He didn't think it was anything special.

Although he was not sure whether the person in charge of the mission would summon him after the start of the school year, Strayer had already made sufficient preparations for this, in addition to the various scenarios and coping methods that he had simulated in his mind, he also memorized the terrain of the area near the academy, and clearly memorized the location distribution of Bellamy's town and the surrounding buildings.

Therefore, even if he was summoned so suddenly, there was not the slightest nervousness on his face.

After scrapping two precious second-order cards, [Gallop], he quickly approached the town of Bellamy.

Strayer slowed down.

After glancing back and forth to make sure that no one was following, he left the road and plunged headlong into the snowy forest, and even in the forest he did not go straight to his destination, but instead made a large circle of extreme caution, approaching the target area lightly from the opposite direction of Iluvita.

The nights are a bit cold, but bearable without the need to mobilize mana.

The forests here are not as lush as those in the south of Lothar, nor are they magically sheltered by the forests of the Academy area, and on winter nights like these, the light of the moon god falls through the bare canopy of branches on the vast expanse of snow, and the hazy light can dimly illuminate the vision through the forest.

The sound of an argument could be heard not far ahead.

There were two voices, one of which was low and hoarse with a rough grinding sound, and the other was much brighter and more normal, sounding like the timbre of an ordinary young man arguing.

The bright voice sounded a little familiar to Strayer.

He stopped.

"The two quest dockers haven't appeared yet, I suggest you activate the disguise effect of the rune, although I already know your identity, but you can still hide your true appearance in front of them, after all, this is the first time we have met with them, we should be cautious. "It's that hoarse voice talking.

"Cover up what?!Be cautious?!What if they know my true identity?!Will they still report me to the temple?!Let someone from the law enforcement team arrest me?!" The bright voice seemed very excited: "I really don't understand, why should they be summoned for a mission that the two of us can accomplish?!!The credit was shared for nothing!!"

"I don't care about credit, I just want to do it as well as I can. A hoarse voice said.

"I care!! there is no need for extra people in the plan!" the bright voice was very angry.

"I'm the person in charge of this mission, and I think it should-"

"But don't forget that I'm also the executor!This task was assigned to the two of us to complete together!!"

Listening to the quarrel between the two voices, Strayer immediately realized something:

Neither of them was a member of that core organization!

The organization was extremely disciplined, he had never seen the core members quarrel with each other over the mission plan, the peripheral personnel would never dare to raise objections to the core members, and the young voice mentioned the assignment above, so it seemed that they were just the outer hands of the pupilless eyes like himself.

"No matter what you arrange, I-" The bright voice was still trying to say.

The hoarse voice interrupted him:

"Since the two docking people have arrived, what are you waiting for, hurry up and show up, time is pressing. ”

Not knowing how the hoarse voice found herself, Strayer didn't hesitate and stepped forward.

As you walk, you glance left and right.

He noticed that there were a lot of stout trees in the area that had been broken off at the waist, and the broken wood fibers had not yet dried up, apparently broken by something not long ago. Thinking of the news that circulated some time ago, there were high-level demonic beasts haunting the vicinity of Bellamy's Town, and remembering that the adventurers in Bellamy's Town still hadn't dispersed, he couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with their mission this time.

His thoughts raced, and within a few steps he saw a clearing.

The last figure came from the opposite side, plus the two people who had just been arguing with Strayer himself, and there were a total of four figures standing at the meeting place, each on one side in the small open space, all keeping a short distance from each other.

There were actually four of them, and a hint of solemnity flashed in Strayer's eyes.

In the past, he had basically only one superior on a mission, and the summons were either through the curse of the nick on his chest or just the heavily armored skeleton meeting him, and this was the first time he had faced as many as three members of the Order at the same time.

The black shadow on the other side was the same docking person as him, and he was also extremely cautious, only turning his palm outward so that others could see the rune mark of the gray pupilless eyes, and other than that, no information was revealed, and no sound was made.

The figure on the left was supposed to be the hoarse voice, and the bright voice was from the arrogant young man on the right, who was the only one of the four who didn't activate the runes to disguise his appearance.

"It turned out to be him......" In the bright moonlight, Strayer finally recognized it.

The young man's voice was slightly familiar to him.

He is Andrew's teaching assistant.