The black sun hangs high

Chapter 32 Overtime Work Requires Caution
There were hardly any pedestrians to be seen around the location of the Legislative Affairs Commission.

In fact, no one would want to approach such a place at such a time. After all, the Legal Committee has a bad reputation among the people. No matter where they are, people are always afraid of those supernatural powers that they cannot understand. However, strangely enough, after people witness the spellcasting of the Legal Committee's monks, they often pray to the gods they believe in, hoping that they can bring down miracles.

At such times, people begin to look forward to the manifestation of supernatural powers.

It's just human nature; there's nothing strange about it.

Hugh and Verine have separated. According to the plan, Verine will try to enter the Legal Committee's headquarters to investigate the current situation. She really hopes to find out the current personnel changes at the headquarters. After all, she has very limited authority in the task of escorting adult shapeshifters, which means that there are likely other people in the headquarters who know the truth besides her.

If they could get in touch with these people who know the truth, they might be able to escape their current predicament in Seren.

The list of personnel and material mobilizations that Verine wanted was given to Hugh to complete.

As a seasoned magic consultant, Vera had already realized the abilities of the strange rat that Hugh had summoned through the small-scale skirmish during the day. To be honest, she was now very curious about these spells and Hugh himself, because according to her judgment, the "tentacle magic" used by Hugh and the magical creature he summoned both possessed power far exceeding that of ordinary "raindrop" level magic. To exaggerate a bit, they were even enough to crush some "stream" level magic.

In the past, such a peculiar case would have been brought back to the Legislative Affairs Commission for thorough investigation.

"When I was helping maintain the ceremony venue at the base, I never imagined that this day would come... Things really can change."

Vera sighed softly, then she dispelled her disguise magic and erased all traces of magic from her body. After that, she walked alone toward the camp.

At the same time, Hugh arrived at a shop not far from the base. After confirming that no one was inside the clothing store, Hugh used the Running Rats to successfully open the locked door and then silently sneaked inside. He would continue to control his magical summons here.

As instructed by Verin, Hugh brought the running rat to his side. Then, he carefully wrapped another page, which could suppress magical fluctuations and traces, around the running rat like a garment. According to Verin, only with the magic on this page could the summoned creature with a small amount of magic successfully pass through the huge ritual field of the Law Council. Otherwise, the running rat would immediately reveal its presence and be attacked before it even got close.

However, the running mouse was dissatisfied with its owner's behavior. Like a kitten that has just been dressed in a small outfit or collar, it kept wriggling and trying to tear off the tough paper covering it.

Left with no other choice, Hughes had to issue a forced command in his mind, forbidding it from touching or damaging the paper on its body.

"Okay, let's go."

After confirming that there were no oversights, Hugh secretly opened the window a crack. Once the Running Rats had slipped out, he locked the window again, plunging himself into complete darkness.

With the help of the running rat's eyes, Hugh was able to observe the night world outside more clearly, and he soon discovered that the cooperation between the Tricolor Brotherhood in the city and the Kingdom of Delan and the Legal Council was far closer than he had imagined.

"Does this count as being recruited?"

Hugh looked at the thieves who were moving around in twos and threes on the nearby streets, carrying daggers, short swords and crossbows, and swinging simple magic pendulums in their hands. He was quite surprised. After all, the mages of the Law Council had a very high status in this world. It was hard to imagine that they would extend an olive branch to a group at the bottom of society.

What surprised him even more was what some of the Tricolor Brotherhood members were doing.

Hughes discovers that these thieves are intentionally "visiting" some residents and merchants.

Judging from the architectural style and the decorations in front of the doors, all the people they visited were, without exception, Voltel people, and the thieves' methods of visiting were not very friendly.

"These Tricolor Brotherhood members don't seem to be looting... they're actually conducting a search, and they all look very angry."

Hugh observed for a moment, then controlled the running rat to disappear into the darkness: "I once heard that the founder of the Tricolor Brotherhood was a Delan person, which is why he used 'tricolor', which is consistent with the emblem of the Kingdom of Delan, as the name of the organization."

For no apparent reason, he recalled his conversation with Putrin in the tavern earlier, during which Putrin had expressed his dissatisfaction with the Kingdom of Wotel and the Wotel people. Putrin was a very typical Delan youth, and now it seemed that this hostile sentiment might have long been prevalent in the hearts of those young people.

The sprinting rats began to rapidly approach the Legal Committee's headquarters, and soon Hughes saw the massive building enclosed by walls.

With such a scale, it could already be considered a manor standing in the city.

"I wonder how Vera plans to get in..."

Using the eyes of the running rat, Hugh cautiously observed the sentries set up at the gate. In addition to the usual elite guards wielding enchanted steel swords, there were two executors of the Law Committee on a tower behind the gate. These were two Stream-level spellcasters, and they seemed to be quite relaxed, sitting on the tower, slacking off and playing cards.

This is normal, after all, with a sufficient number of guards and the magical rituals set up at the Law Committee's residence, it is enough to deal with most external threats.

A muffled rumble of thunder came from the direction of the Lovi Plateau. Every year at this time, under the influence of the magic flow in western Vain, the terrifying monsoon named "Sea God's Roar" would carry thick moisture across the mountains west of the plateau and launch a vast expedition towards the Lovi Plateau and the Goddess Plain further east.

This year's "Typhoon Neptune" seems to have arrived a little early.

"We have to crawl into the sewer before it rains."

Hugh sighed, then controlled the running rat to slip toward a ditch near the Legal Committee's headquarters. Luckily, it hadn't rained in Seren City for a while, so the ditch was very dry and there wasn't much junk in it. Even so, a suffocating and terrible smell still rushed into Hugh's brain through the running rat's sensitive nose.

"My God..." Hugh couldn't help but gag while he was in the clothing store, and then decisively blocked the scurrying rat's sense of smell on a magical level.

Unlike Hugh, who is human, this strange mouse, endowed with the "abundant blessings of Mother Earth," is now unusually excited.

It seems that entering the sewer is like coming home for it.

……

In the building to the left of the Legal Affairs Committee's residence, the monks and clerks dressed in white robes were still working, busy processing one newly arrived order after another.

Most of these clerks are beginner spellcasters at the Raindrop level. For them, completing magical inscription and taking a further step on the path of a mage is too difficult. Therefore, they can only rely on their own control over magic to obtain ordinary jobs in various agencies and departments under the Law Council.

Although it is an ordinary job, compared to ordinary people in the outside world, the working environment and salary provided by the Legislative Affairs Commission are enough to allow them to have a more superior life than ordinary people.

A bespectacled man with thinning hair manipulated his mage hand to deliver a large stack of magical documents to the table next door: "These documents have been processed. Take them to the secret archives for recording, and then destroy them."

"Ah good……"

The young clerk stopped writing with his magic pen, took the stack of documents, quickly flipped through them, and then asked in confusion, "That's not right. These are all documents marked with Mel's mark. Shouldn't they be sent for filing? Destroying them directly is against the rules."

The middle-aged man turned his head and scolded in a low voice: "I think you've gone crazy from working overtime! Or you were dozing off or spacing out in the meeting earlier..."

He glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention, then lowered his voice and said, "Wake up. These are new orders from the sword-wielders... If you make a mistake, it won't just be a matter of losing your job. Do you want to be taken to the Spiritual Intelligence for questioning?"

The clerk shrank back slightly, then quickly nodded: "Okay, okay, I'll go right away."

"Come back quickly after you finish. It's not time to rest yet. There are too many things to do tonight."

The middle-aged man gave a brief instruction, then scratched his sparse hair with a troubled expression.

Merlinle's new orders came too suddenly. Those cold-blooded sword-wielding hermits actually demanded that the clerks at the base check all the documents and records from the past six months within a single day, and find all the documents that had not been handled by Merlinle. This workload was extremely exaggerated, and even for the mage clerks who had mastered magic and possessed extremely high work efficiency, it was a huge burden.

The clerk smoothly controlled the mage's hand, carefully avoiding the other people walking in the corridor. After reaching the middle of the corridor, he took out his magic pass and gently pressed it on the magic pattern in the middle of the metal door on the right. Then, with a flash of light, the door slowly opened.

The enormous metal cryptex known as the "Eye of Mel" exists in every headquarters of the Law Council. This is the foundation upon which the Law Council's orders and spies can easily reach all parts of Vaan. On a copper-colored metal base engraved with fine patterns, magical light of different colors flashes continuously. A regular octahedron, carved and polished from a huge magical crystal, floats in the air. On each of its planes, an open eye is carved.

There was no one else in the secret room, so the young man went to the innermost part of the room and placed the documents he had already checked on the platform extending from the base.

He took out his magic certificate again and was about to activate the magic device when he suddenly heard a faint sound coming from the upper corner of the room.

"what?"

He turned around in confusion and discovered that the source of the sound was the incredibly narrow pipe located diagonally above him—all rooms where the Eye of Mel's artifact was placed had such pipes. The reason was simple: large magical crystals would slowly emit an odor that could harm the human body, so it was necessary to ensure that the air in the room was constantly replaced.

The next second, the young clerk saw two eerie green eyes pop out from the narrow, dark pipe. He was startled and took two steps back.

The thing inside the pipe seemed startled; it paused for a moment, but then began its next move.

Three long, powerful tails emerged from the ventilation duct, groping around outside the duct like flexible tentacles. Soon, one of the tails touched a metal mechanism, which it then deftly hooked onto. With a forceful twist, it successfully opened the metal mesh sealing the duct.

At this moment, the clerk in the room finally reacted. He exclaimed and began to circulate the meager magic power within him. He then displayed a basic self-defense trick that almost all magic apprentices and raindrop-level mages would learn. An exceptionally bright but extremely limited bolt of lightning burst forth from his palm and flew towards the ventilation duct.

However, the thing hidden in the pipe was faster than his magic. In the instant the lightning appeared, a mad rat with three flexible tails and its body wrapped in magic pages leaped out and landed lightly beside the clerk.

"Magical creature!?"

The young man hadn't fully forgotten the knowledge he'd learned at the magic school, so he immediately realized what was happening before his eyes: someone had successfully bypassed the ritual site set up by the Law Committee and sent a magical summon into the base!
He didn't care about anything else. While shouting loudly, he raised his palm and frantically ran towards the heavy door of the secret room, using the only self-defense trick he knew. However, for the sake of secrecy, the metal door, which was enchanted with magic, was enough to block out most of the sound, and the young clerk's shouts could not be heard at all.

Hugh saw all of this and dared not let the other party escape. He immediately controlled the running rat to rush over. It pounced on the clerk's back and knocked him to the ground. Then, its three tails immediately swept up like ropes and tightly wrapped around the man's neck.

"Low...Low..."

As the clerk's struggles gradually subsided, perhaps out of a sense of sympathy for such helpless overtime workers, Hughes did not kill her. After suffocating her and causing her to faint, he forcibly suppressed the rampaging rat's killing intent, ordered it to release its tail, and then manipulated his summoned creature to the stack of documents.

"I have limited magic left, I need to speed things up... Hopefully I can find something useful."

(End of this chapter)