Sorcerer’s Handbook

Igor’s sudden question made Miss Annan slightly raise an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Miss Annan,” Igor said leisurely, “from the beginning, we accepted your invitation, which is why we became members of the Funeral Firm. From the start, you never clearly explained to us the significance of the Weaving Festival—you didn’t even tell us that it was a life-risking adventure.”

Miss Annan narrowed her eyes. “I didn’t expect the first Ranking List to turn out—”

“But now, Ashe’s interests have been compromised because of your plan.”

Igor straightened his back, his gaze fixed on Miss Annan. “His status as a foreigner is well-known, he is wanted by the Kingdom of the Gospel, and he’s even mistaken by the Gospel as a party to future calamities—Miss Annan, you surely aren’t suggesting that Ashe is to blame for his current predicament, and that it has nothing to do with you?”

Banjeet couldn’t help but interject. “But our plan hasn’t even started, and Ashe—”

“It certainly has to do with me.”

Miss Annan raised her hand to stop Banjeet, speaking calmly, “If I hadn’t involved Ashe in this plan, perhaps none of this would have happened—Mr. Bukin, is that what you mean?”

Igor smiled slightly. “I bear no resentment, Miss Annan, after all, I am not Ashe. But now a new problem has arisen, shouldn’t we discuss a solution?”

“How would you solve it?” Miss Annan’s mouth curled up. “Should I cancel the warrant for Ashe’s arrest? Or should I remove him from the Art Ranking?”

The basement was silent. Banjeet and Harvey remained quiet, and Ashe and Lise clung to each other, shivering—the aura around Miss Annan and Igor’s negotiation was too intimidating; they dared not interrupt.

“How could I possibly force you, Miss Annan, to do these impossible things?” Igor tilted his head. “But since the problem can’t be solved, shouldn’t you at least… compensate Ashe for his losses?”

What, could there be compensation?

Ashe blinked, silently cheering for Igor.

Miss Annan suddenly asked bluntly, “If the person concerned here is Ashe, and Ashe hasn’t even spoken yet, why, Mr. Bukin, are you so eager to advocate for Ashe’s interests?”

Ashe was taken aback, thinking, indeed, why would the Bewitcher plead on my behalf?

Con Artist Igor lowered his eyelids. “This time it’s Ashe, next time it might be me. If I don’t speak up for this fool now, who will speak up for the smart ones later?”

“Oh…?”

Annan’s expression was subtly amused: “You think you are the smart one? I don’t think so; I think you are the fool.”

Even Ashe thought that Miss Annan was a bit too harsh—You could say that Igor is as ugly as an Orc, eats like an Ogre, and bathes like Goblins, but you should never question his intelligence because that is his core strength!

However, Igor did not retaliate but just quietly looked at Annan, seemingly disdainful of engaging in pointless arguments with her.

…

Ask for the moon, settle for the earth.

Naturally, Annan couldn’t actually compensate Ashe for his injury. Not only was Ashe’s arrest warrant unrelated to her, even if it were, it wouldn’t be as simple as Igor saying so—status is like a seesaw, one side goes up, the other must go down. If Annan bowed now, she would always have to bow.

Kindness and weakness are difficult to distinguish twins, and Annan was more than willing to show her kindness, but not at the expense of appearing weak. Igor, Harvey, and Ashe were fugitives who had fled from other kingdoms; even if they hadn’t shown any brutal traits before, it didn’t mean they were good people.

In the eyes of those working at the Firm, everyone is a potential murderer. Just a slight test of their humanity will reveal how fragile the rational daily life they maintain is. When they embrace reality, the harsh reality will pull them into the deep sea.

Interestingly, this also reflects the Con Artist’s understanding of human nature: unless you are a god, you can be deceived, because Con Artists and gods share the same essence—they possess the ability to fulfill any wish.

Thus, Annan and Igor had an understanding in their negotiations—do not test each other’s limits, and quit while ahead.

The final result was that Annan signed a new contract with her employees. This contract contained only one clause: under any circumstances, Annan must regard Ashe, Igor, Harvey, and Lise as importantly as she regards herself.

The sole purpose of this contract was to completely eliminate any possibility of Annan betraying Ashe.

Now, at least they didn’t have to worry about Annan leading Red Cap to Ashe.

As for the duty shifts, since they needed to use the Gospel for surveillance, Annan and Banjeet were each responsible for a shift. Ashe wanted to take the first half of the night, but Lise, who was the only one off duty, insisted on sleeping cuddled up with Ashe.

“Isn’t it usually about sleeping cuddled up with mom?” Ashe complained while lying on the wooden bed: “Why are you clinging to me…”

“And where is my mom?” Lise’s straightforward question was as sharp as ever.

“If you want a good experience, you can go to Annan; if you like them tall, you can go to Aunt Bukin. Lise, you’re a grown-up kid now, you should learn to find your own mom… Sigh, do you want me to tell you a bedtime story?”

“No!” Lise shook her head firmly, holding onto Ashe’s hand: “This is fine.”

Ashe looked at Lise, her eyelids drooping, feeling a bit envious—he had long outgrown the age of falling asleep whenever he wanted.

Speaking of which, it was time to go to the Virtual Realm… Hm?

Wait!

How do I go to the Virtual Realm?

All my spirits are spoils of war, none of them are a childhood sweetheart pure love spirit!

Ashe, who had never opened the Gate of Truth, was like a playboy with many lovers; it was great to be taken care of during the day, but at night, he couldn’t find his way home.

And it was only now that he remembered—he had skipped tonight’s Exploration in Virtual Realm.

Ashe quietly summoned the Gospel, turning to the page of the Sorcerer Handbook to see if the Witch and Swordswoman were already Exploring the Virtual Realm. But when he opened it, he found that the exploration team had already disbanded.

“Operator detected in story mode, team exploration temporarily suspended.”

Operator in story mode… Wait, am I an Operator too?

With the team exploration suspended, everyone naturally went their own way. Ashe glanced around and noticed that the Witch was not in the Virtual Realm, probably having finished her exploration and left; however, the Swordswoman was still there, so Ashe could also enter to have a look.

But why is the Swordswoman’s exploration time longer than the Witch’s? Without a car, both the Swordswoman and the Witch could only walk. Logically, with more exploration experience, the Witch should last longer…

However, Ashe didn’t overthink it and quickly chose to enter the Virtual Realm through the Swordswoman’s Gate of Truth.

The Gate of Truth does not move with the Sorcerer, so Ashe could only arrive at the location where the Swordswoman was over two hours ago. He had no idea where she might have gone by now…

As consciousness descended into the Virtual Realm, Ashe opened his eyes and found himself sitting in a sports car.

Indeed, without team mode exploration in the Virtual Realm, the Swordswoman couldn’t borrow his sports car. This time she really had to measure the Time Continent on foot.

He opened the Virtual Realm map, wanting to see the Swordswoman’s exact location. If she wasn’t too far, he’d drive over immediately.

If she was far… he’d still have to drive there. After all, he had flaked tonight, and he owed her an explanation. Plus, Ashe alone couldn’t undertake an exploration of the Virtual Realm.

For this Trespasser who had been illegally teaming up from the start, exploring the Virtual Realm with two people could be called an adventure, but doing it alone was more like wandering.

However, as Ashe opened the map, he saw two Sorcerer icons close together.

One was him, the Observer,

And the other was…

Ashe turned his head to look behind and saw a young girl on the lawn behind the car, sitting with her legs hugged to her chest, her body rhythmically swaying as she hummed a song.

The girl on the lawn, Sonya, seemed to sense something and looked back.

“Why are you still here?”

“Because I was waiting for you.”

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