The black sun hangs high

Chapter 12 Very Curious
Faced with the increasingly intense sense of pressure, Hughes stiffened his neck and replied, "The error lies mainly in the latter half."

“I actually left Water Magic Academy much earlier… I was stripped of my right to participate in the annual assessments before they even began. After being taken away from the academy, I didn’t return to my family; instead, I was sent directly to Seren City.”

As he recounted these tragic past events based on the memories within this body, Hugh's emotions were inevitably affected, and his voice became low: "Madam, if you carefully trace the time when I left the academy, you will probably understand why."

The female mage's face rarely showed surprise. She frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and then realized what was happening.

"Ah, I see... It's the Ernst family's succession ceremony, isn't it?"

After calculating the timeline briefly, the female mage gave a rather sarcastic smile. She leaned against the bookshelf next to her desk and said, "It seems that because of the Ernst family's oversight, the Legal Committee almost lost a spellcaster with outstanding talent. Don't you think so, Mr. Ernst?"

Hughes reacted the instant he heard those words.

He suddenly opened his left hand, which had been hidden behind his back, and the magic disc in his mental world began to spin rapidly. In the blink of an eye, all the magic power that had not yet fully recovered was injected into the groove engraved with tentacle patterns. But before he could make a next move, a cold sensation swept over Hugh's back.

It felt exactly the same as the previous night.

He calmed down, slowly relaxed his left hand, and then sighed: "Madam, if I possessed such talent, why would I need to make a living by writing these words?"

The female mage smiled, neither confirming nor denying it.

However, her next words caused Hughes to break out in a cold sweat instantly.

“I’m willing to believe you, Mr. Ernst… The magical inscription on your body is clearly still unstable. I suppose you haven’t been accepting it for very long, and it was even a bit sudden. Otherwise, you wouldn’t need to continue writing for these incomes.”

Her tone was very calm, but in those few words, Hugh found that the coldness he felt was becoming more pronounced. He tried to adjust his posture, but found himself frozen and unable to move.

“Mr. Ernst, you really surprise me.”

The female mage came to the bedside, gently brushed the blankets twice, and then sat down. She said, "Obviously, in the eyes of the residents of this city of Seren, you are just an illegitimate writer who can provide them with some enjoyment each month. Nobody knows about the changes that have happened to you."

She raised her hand, and the translucent mage's hand that had appeared before materialized before in front of Hugh. The hand slowly floated over and extended a finger, placing it on Hugh's forehead.

A chilling sensation bloomed on his forehead, and in an instant, this cold current flowing from his forehead merged with the chill on Hugh's back. Hugh felt as if they were flowing into his mind like water, and what followed was a strange feeling that his thoughts, memories and secrets were completely open to the outside world.

A blue light flickered in the female mage's pupils, and then she asked, "When did you complete the magical inscription? And how did you complete it?"

Hugh felt a buzzing sound in his head.

"Oh no, I've been exposed!"

The thought flashed through Hugh's mind, but then he realized that the metal disc used to inscribe magic in his mental world seemed to be unaffected. It remained in its original state, rotating slowly at a steady pace. The cold magical current released by the other party, which could probe consciousness, seemed unable to break through the disc's blockade, and naturally could not truly see his true thoughts.

Thus, a bold idea formed in Hugh's mind at an extremely fast pace.

At that moment, the other party's question, which left no room for doubt or resistance, came from beside him.

"Mr. Ernst, answer my question."

Every word felt like an icicle driven into his mind, so, under the pressure he was under, Hughes blurted out the answer he had just prepared.

"I completed the magic inscription yesterday afternoon."

The magical hand hovering in front of Hugh flickered slightly, and then he heard it ask, "What about the process?"

It has very few words, but it creates a strong sense of pressure.

So Hughes then delivered the second half of his prepared answer.

"I took a nap and it was done. I don't understand the principle behind it."

The moment those words were spoken, the atmosphere in the room seemed to freeze. No other sounds came from the room. In the silence, Hugh could even see fine dust particles drifting slowly in the light of the mage's hand.

The questioning ended there.

Hugh glanced cautiously to the side, and there he saw an extremely complex expression on the female mage's exquisite face.

She seemed somewhat angry, but more than that, she was shocked and confused.

The feedback from the magic was clear and natural, without any trace of interference, and the results told her that the answers given by the guy in front of her were all true—neither perfunctory nor carefully crafted lies.

He seemed genuinely unaware of how he had completed the magical inscription.

After a moment's hesitation, she finally trusted the magic she knew so well. So she composed herself, the magical light in her eyes faded, and the magic cast on Hugh was quickly dispelled.

Watching the blue, translucent hand in front of him slowly dissipate, Hugh finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Although Hugh had some understanding of the power of his magic before, he still didn't think those tentacles could help him solve his current predicament. His intuition told him that if he had chosen to violently resist, the result would likely have been that he would be "dealt with" on the spot even faster.

Even so, Hugh's mind was still filled with doubts. The female mage in front of him seemed a bit too "reasonable," which was quite different from the members of the Legal Committee he remembered.

Just as he was pondering this, the female mage's voice came over.

"You used magic in this house not long ago, didn't you?"

Although the female mage had restrained her magic, her gaze remained sharp: "Using Ashen Grass to conceal traces of magic is indeed a good idea, and it can indeed confuse basic detection magic and magic pendulums of average quality. However, in the eyes of experienced veterans, this behavior is not advisable. Sometimes, the smoke from Ashen Grass can actually make some small traces more obvious."

Now that things had come to this, Hughes knew there was no need to hide anything anymore. So he let out a sigh of relief and asked, "Madam, what exactly do you want to know from me?"

Upon hearing Hugh's question, the female mage smiled, and immediately the mage's hand appeared behind her head, quickly tying up her long, flowing hair. Then she took out her spellbook and opened it.

“Mr. Hugh, I would like to know what you went through last night, and what happened before our visit today?”

She looked at the illegitimate son of the Ernst family in front of her, her eyes narrowing slightly: "Also, you can call me by my name from now on... My name is Verine, Verine Ernst."

The moment he heard the other person's name, Hugh couldn't help but open his mouth wide.

……

As one of the most outstanding members of the Legal Council, Vereen Ernst has always been confident in her magical abilities and skills.

This is not arrogance, but the result she arrived at after a long period of study and countless practices.

Verine's connection with the Ernst family is actually not close, because in fact, she has no blood relation with the nobles in the Ernst family. However, her great-grandparents were mage advisors who served a branch of the Ernst family a long time ago.

In order to maintain close ties with the most powerful family in the Kingdom of Walter, starting from the generation of Virin's grandparents, suitable candidates with magical aptitude would be selected and sent to the Ernst family for training.

So naturally, Weilin also acquired the family name Ernst, which seemed quite prestigious.

Of course, she never cared about that.

After all, within the Legislative Affairs Commission, so-called family background can only bring more trouble.

For example, the somewhat tricky task at hand was brought to Weilin by the cheap surname "Ernst".

Just a few days ago, the young Vilin ended her original study plan. As the last caravan before the "Ceasefire Celebration" entered the soon-to-be-closed city of Seren, she was forced to accept a mission from the branch of the Kingdom of Walter's Legal Committee, as a lake-level magic advisor with "close ties" to the Kingdom of Walter and the Ernst family.

The task is divided into two parts.

Firstly, during the closure of Seren and the truce celebrations, the safety of a special shipment must be ensured. As always, the condition of the caravan, the nature and type of the goods will be kept strictly confidential. Anyone attempting to inquire about the escorting caravan or to come into contact with such goods must be investigated and dealt with in accordance with the No. 6 Investigation Order. If necessary, violent means such as "spiritual interrogation" may also be used.

Secondly, a member of the Ernst family sent a secret letter to Vilin, requesting that she take care of a certain illegitimate son of the family in Seren and bring him back to the capital of the Kingdom of Wotel after the truce celebration.

Violet had never cared about the rewards promised for these missions, but this time was an exception.

Because the Ernst family promised Weilyn in that letter that if these two things were accomplished, the Ernst family would give her the manuscript of the first volume of "The Poem of the Night" as a reward.

As the most outstanding magic scholar among the younger generation of the Legal Committee, Virin could not resist this temptation.

She always believed that those magical books and notes passed down from ancient times should not be kept as collectibles by noble gentlemen; only people like herself who truly study magical knowledge should own them!

However, after arriving in Seren and beginning the mission, Verin noticed something was amiss.

Generally speaking, as a Lake-level magic advisor, she has the right to know the details, causes, and expected results of any mission she participates in. However, this time, she was like other Stream-level and Raindrop-level spellcasters, only able to act as an "ignorant executor." What made her even more dissatisfied was that this mission was full of a lot of abnormal phenomena.

First, the special cargo that Vera was responsible for protecting was transferred without her notification. She couldn't understand why someone would choose to move the cargo from the Legal Committee's headquarters at night and forcibly transfer it to a shop on the main street of Seren City. What made her even more dissatisfied was that the cargo also encountered an accident during the transfer process.

Perhaps due to a violent collision, or perhaps due to some other situation, an explosion that shook half of Seren City occurred. Although the accident did not cause too many subsequent incidents thanks to the cooperation of the Legal Committee and the Seren City Police Department, it did make Virin question the mission she was carrying out.

As a meticulous, serious, and always strictly abiding-by the regulations of the Law Committee, Virin possesses an extremely keen sense of smell, and this time, she sensed a conspiracy and danger in this series of abnormal phenomena.

It was under these circumstances that she inadvertently encountered her second mission target.

That is, the poor illegitimate son who was "sent off" to the city of Seren by the Ernst family.

She had already investigated Hugh Ernst before, and in her mind, this illegitimate son had a rather bad image—his subtle means of making a living, his lowbrow writing subjects, his many ridiculous nicknames circulating in the city of Seren, and of course, his rather terrible attitude toward magic and academia.

In Verine's view, even being a magic apprentice in the most remote magic academy is absolutely commendable. After all, on the path of pursuing knowledge and truth, attitude is more important than talent.

However, the chance encounter that occurred late at night surprised Vera Lin, who discovered that her mission target still faintly possessed a magical aura. Although it was very weak, Vera Lin was certain that it was a mark left by a magical ritual.

"Why would an illegitimate child who barely makes a living through vulgar literature suddenly attract the attention of his own family? Why does he have the aura of magical rituals about him? And why does he use Enchanting Ash Grass to cover up the traces of magic in his residence?"

Veraine Ernst is now very curious.

(End of this chapter)