"Knock, knock."
"Knight Commander, there is an abnormal situation to report."
Joseph raised his head and looked at the blond young man who was standing upright at the door with a respectful expression.
"Come in, Claude."
As he spoke, he put down his pen, took off his glasses, and pinched the bridge of his nose: "Is there something wrong with the magic mirror egg again? These hunters..."
The old man looked at the documents piled on the table with lightning eyes. He stood up and sighed: "What a bunch of Nokin parasites!"
When he was sitting, he looked like an ordinary, gentle old man.
But when he stood up, he was as strong as a mountain. His muscles showed through his shirt. Combined with his determined face and gray hair, he had an aura of majesty without even being angry.
Claude greeted the people outside, closed the door gently, walked in and said, "I'm sorry, teacher, this is a new situation."
"New situation? Is there anything that could be more troublesome than the trouble caused by these mentally retarded morons and barking puppies?!"
Joseph angrily clenched his fist and knocked lightly on the table. The mechanical arm made a "clicking" sound of metal friction.
With a "bang", the documents on the table shook.
A crack faintly appeared on the table.
"Shit! If it weren't for them, I would be enjoying my leisurely retirement now. What a bunch of bastards! Damn it! Sooner or later, I will use their mother's tombstone to practice boxing!"
Claude twitched his lips and had to say, "Teacher, please pay attention to your image..."
Joseph snorted, "What are you afraid of?"
He glanced nonchalantly behind Claude.
"Didn't you close the door?"
Claude: "…"
Is this the reason why you're spewing shit?!
"Okay." Claude scratched his head helplessly, put the documents in his hand on the table, and then said: "The spy responsible for tracking and monitoring the movements of the hunters saw Wilde on Street 23..."
"who?!"
Joseph's face suddenly turned serious, and a sharp light flashed in his eyes.
"Wilde, Frank Wilde, the 'Faceless Man with Black Scales', a Destruction-level dark wizard certified by the Society of Truth. He has disappeared since the Battle of White Hills two years ago. We are now offering a bounty on his head. The annual increase in the bounty has been opposed by a large number of anonymous letters in the tower."
Claude had already anticipated the teacher's reaction and fluently reported very standard information.
Joseph sneered and said, "He finally showed up. I thought this stink bug would stay in the sewer shivering forever."
Claude sighed and whispered, "But you are the one who keeps increasing the bounty because you firmly believe that he is still alive and will definitely reappear..."
"Of course! No one knows him better than me."
Joseph looked down at his metal prosthesis which was completely provided by the Truth Society. He clenched his five fingers into a fist, which made a teeth-grinding mechanical sound .
In a battle two years ago, he lost his right arm, but at the same time, he also blew up most of Wilde's body.
Many people thought Wilde was dead.
But he always had a hunch that this guy would come back!
"I didn't expect that he would be in Nokin. It's hard to see the darkest place under the lamp. Humph, he has really improved. I hope that his walnut-like shrunken brain finally has something other than water in it."
Joseph put his hands on the table. "What is he doing on Twenty-third Street?"
Claude said, "According to the intelligence from the spies, he entered a very ordinary-looking bookstore and stayed there for more than an hour, apparently buying or borrowing books."
"A dark wizard who relies on language to gain power, buying books? It's a fantasy! There must be something wrong with this bookstore. Have you checked its background?"
"We have checked. It is a bookstore registered by the Ash Tree Chamber of Commerce. It has been in business for three years and has a good reputation. There are not many customers and the business is bleak. The only unusual thing is that the owner of the bookstore seems to be a foreigner. We initially suspect that it may be a base of dark wizards, but we are not sure."
"Not sure about what?"
Claude was a little embarrassed: "Ash Tree Merchant Guild is the property of the Druid priests... They are believers of nature and forests, and are unlikely to associate with dark wizards. If we go there rashly and damage the reputation of Ash Tree Merchant Guild, the Druids may protest to the Arcanum Tower."
Joseph slammed the table and said, "Fuck! These vegetarian troublemakers!"
"Uh, Druids don't eat vegetarian food..."
"Who cares! Damn it! Anyone could be an accomplice of darkness, and our mission as knights is to eliminate darkness. Wilde has been in this bookstore for more than an hour. Can you imagine him chatting, reading, or drinking tea in there?"
"Oh, my dear little apprentice Claude , a vicious dark wizard, a scheming revenger, is reading a book in an ordinary bookstore?!"
"If that's really what you think, then I'm going to put on these pointed mithril boots and kick your ass hard!"
Claude was scolded like a dog, but he didn't dare to talk back. He could only smile and said, "But teacher, the Ash Tree Chamber of Commerce also provides 40% of the funding for our intelligence department."
"…"
Joseph's face froze , and then he took two deep breaths, walked out from behind the desk, put on a bow tie and a coat, and with his burly figure, the image of a "suit thug" emerged: "Forget it, I'll go to 23rd Street myself! I want to see what this bookstore is all about ! "
"Yes, teacher."
Claude lowered his head and opened the door.
Joseph strode out of the door. People coming and going on the crisscrossing roads inside the Mystery Tower that looked like branches would greet him when they met him.
"Good afternoon, Knight Commander."
"Sir Shining Knight."
"Hello, Chief."
"Have you eaten yet?"
Abraham Joseph.
One of the ten glorious knights of the Arcana Tower, of course, the predecessor.
After the battle with Oscar Wilde at White Hill.
The latter escaped with serious injuries and disappeared without a trace.
Joseph, on the other hand, went into semi-retirement due to physical and mental injuries, and went to work in the Intelligence Department of the Mystery Tower.
"Phew..."
Joseph pressed the button for the central elevator, and the elevator started moving, slowly moving down.
The Mystery Tower is a 300-meter-high tower, surrounded by honeycomb-shaped office areas and internal roads that extend in all directions, forming a huge and strict system.
Intelligence Department, Training Department, Combat Department, and Logistics Department.
The knights who have inherited the power of elements from ancient times are still working hard to cleanse the world of evil.
The forty-nine large elevators in the center run vertically and horizontally, carrying thousands of workers coming and going every day, like a cluster of burning torches.
"Lin Jie ... Let me see who you are."
Joseph looked at the slowly opening elevator door, stuffed the documents in his hand into his pocket, and muttered.
He suddenly covered his eyes: "Damn it, this hallucination is coming again..."