All-around teacher at the magic academy

Night came quietly.

Leon strolled through the streets of Barton, where the night was nearly deserted. He had been looking around for two hours, but nothing unusual had happened.

Leon's task was simple: he and the other night watchmen were scattered in different places, patrolling around.

The main purpose is to prevent theft or robbery at night. It's a very simple thing for him, but he finds it a bit boring.

"However, at least you get 2 rubles a night, which is a very high income for ordinary people."

Leon kept pacing around, trying to alleviate the loneliness of the night by talking to himself.

"I've heard that patrolling at night is a very dangerous thing. If a criminal commits a crime at night and is discovered by the night watchmen, a fight is inevitable."

You could lose your life if you're not careful, because you never know if the person in front of you is a vicious criminal or just a thief.

This is why law enforcement officers are so busy all day long, because few ordinary people would take on jobs so dangerous they could lose their lives, even if the pay is relatively good.

"Hey, how come only two hours have passed?"

Leon took out his pocket watch and glanced at the time: 10:12 PM. For him, working hours always seemed to drag on endlessly.

Just as Leon was fantasizing about getting a good night's sleep after his night shift, suddenly, a burst of fire shot into the sky from another street and exploded.

"Something's happened. This must be a signal from the Night Watchers; the situation must be very critical," Leon thought to himself, watching the explosion of light.

He moved swiftly toward the firelight, using simple wind magic to give himself a speed boost.

By the time Leon arrived, the battle was over. A corpse lay on the ground; judging from its clothing, it was a Night Keeper.

However, Leon did not recognize this person. He had only started his night shift that night and was not familiar with his other colleagues. The only way he could distinguish his allies was by their night watchman uniforms and badges.

There wasn't much damage around, and the Night Keeper lying on the ground didn't have any other battle wounds. Leon carefully examined the corpse; there were no visible injuries, but traces of magic remained on it—dark magic.

Leon had a particular fondness for dark magic, and when he first started learning magic, he began by studying dark magic.

The Night Watcher must have been attacked from a distance, completely unable to retaliate. He probably sent a signal immediately after being hit by the magic, but it was too late for him.

If someone had been able to use healing or purification magic nearby, he might not have died. However, due to a shortage of manpower, the Night Watchers mostly act alone.

Leon felt a deep sense of regret over his death, which occurred on his very first night on duty. The fact that it was a colleague, just like himself, made Leon realize how cheap life was.

"Huh? The medal is gone?"

Leon noticed that the medals on the other person's clothes were gone, but the Night Watcher's clothes were still on.

"It must be because the Night Watcher released a signal before he died, which prevented the criminal from taking away the extra clothes. He only took the medal and hurriedly fled."

"what happened?"

Just as Leon was about to get up to pursue the culprit, a questioning voice sounded from behind him. The other person didn't attack Leon immediately, presumably because of the Night Watcher's mark on his body.

Seeing that the other party stopped a dozen meters away from him, Leon briefly introduced himself and explained the situation after he arrived.

After hearing the explanation, the other party obviously lowered their guard a bit, but did not approach.

"Good vigilance."

Leon thought to himself and took the initiative to get closer to the other party.

"Why are you the only one who came? Where are the other Night Watchers?"

“The other Night Watchers must be quite far from here; I’m considered relatively close. I rushed to the rescue as soon as I saw the signal, but it was still too late,” the other person replied.

The other party described the same situation as Leon, except that they couldn't save a life.

"I don't think I've seen you before," the other person asked after recognizing Leon's appearance.

"Ah, I only started my night shift today, so it's normal that you haven't seen me before," Leon explained.

"Are you a teacher at St. Peter's Academy?" the other person asked tentatively.

"Yes."

"Oh, I heard this afternoon that a teacher from the academy came to help with the night watch. I didn't expect you to be a teacher at St. Peter's Academy at such a young age."

"He received special care from the dean."

The other party simply nodded and completely lowered their guard.

Next, Leon handed the body over to him for safekeeping, explained his conjecture, and then left it at that, continuing his patrol.

"We don't know the killer's motive. Was it a grudge against the night watchman, or were they caught doing something wrong? But judging from the decisiveness of their actions, the killer's strength should not be underestimated. And it's highly likely they've killed more than once. We don't know if we can trace it back to the next level."

........

"It's already 11 o'clock, we can get off work soon."

Leon patted his face, trying to cheer himself up. The evening's inspection would soon be over, and the thought of the 2 rubles he was about to receive filled him with a secret joy.

"Ugh, I'm a little hungry. I've never stayed up this late before. I've been so busy all this time that I've already digested my dinner."

Leon couldn't help but complain as he listened to the rumbling in his stomach.

"Let's go get something to eat after this is over."

"But it's already so late, there's practically no one on the streets. Is there anything left to eat? I should have bought some bread and kept it at home earlier."

Leon thought about it and realized that because he was really short of money, he was always very frugal when buying things, and he would only think about going to the store when he needed something essential.

Even the clothes he usually wore only had three sets. Thinking of this, Leon couldn't help but sigh inwardly, feeling that he was living a really unsuccessful life.

But he also tried very hard, trying to make himself look good, trying to make himself happy every day, and trying to make himself look less lonely.

"After I get paid at the end of the month, I'm definitely going to go shopping and buy myself some things. Anyway, I don't usually have any expenses," Leon said seriously, as if he had made up his mind.

"Huh? I ran into a colleague. I didn't expect we'd end up patrolling the same area."

Leon thought as he saw a figure walking towards them in the distance.

"Hello, I have already checked the area, and there were basically no unexpected issues."

Upon seeing the badge on the other person's chest and the Night Watcher's clothes, Leon greeted him warmly, but the other person was wearing a hat pulled down low, making it impossible to see his face.

"It's alright, I'll go take another look."

The other person's voice was cold, and Leon wondered if it was because they were too tired from working the night shift and didn't want to communicate much.

Leon walked past him, intending to ask his name, but seeing his attitude, he changed his mind. The two brushed past each other without exchanging a word.

"Wait a minute, could you tell me your number?"

Leon suddenly turned around and looked at the Night Keeper who had his back to him, his eyes filled with scrutiny, while he silently began to construct magic in his mind.

Upon hearing Leon's question, the man visibly paused. Then he stood still, seemingly deep in thought.

The air was unusually quiet, adding an eerie touch to the already silent night.

"00374"

The man with his back to Leon spoke calmly, but he did not turn around.

Leon was only testing the waters; he walked all night without encountering any other Night Watchers, except for when the incident happened earlier.

Because each Night Watcher's patrol routes and times were pre-planned, and given that a Night Watcher had recently been killed and their medals lost, Leon couldn't help but become suspicious.

Upon hearing the number spoken, Leon seemed to calm down. The tension from before dissipated instantly, as if he had accepted the fact.

As far as Leon knew, the Night Watchers didn't have any identification numbers because no one had told him. Even though he had only joined the company today, the staff member he was assigned to would definitely not have overlooked something so important.

Upon hearing the number, Leon simply composed himself before his magic suddenly erupted.

"Looks like I might have to work overtime tonight. I wonder if Captain Max will pay me overtime."

Leon made a self-deprecating joke to ease his nervousness.

The magic he unleashed was a lightning magic for the lightning eel, a name he gave himself.

Leon's inspiration came from the electric eel in the sea. He had never seen this creature, but he had heard that it could generate electricity in the sea, so he casually gave it this name when creating this magic.

Lightning magic is fast and destructive. Leon's lightning eel amplified the speed of the magic; the magic itself was small, its shape resembling a snake.

This was designed by Leon according to his own ideas, and the lightning eel also has a paralyzing effect when it hits an enemy. After being hit, it will quickly split into countless micron-sized lightning eels, which will dart through various parts of the opponent's body.

This is the limit of what Leon can currently do against the Thunder Eel. He didn't use dark magic, considering that his opponent might also be a master of dark magic. Dark magic might be significantly less effective against him.

Leon also did not choose fire magic. Fire magic has a relatively wide damage range, but it is slow and its single-target damage is not as good as lightning magic.

The effects of other spells were also unsatisfactory, something Leon had considered during the brief pause.

Leon didn't intend to kill with a single blow, as he didn't know his opponent's strength. But he wasn't just testing the waters either; he envisioned the opponent being severely injured and paralyzed by the attack, thus creating an opening for him to unleash another spell.

Unfortunately, things didn't turn out as Leon had hoped; the other side was clearly prepared.

Just as the thunder eel was about to strike the opponent's body, the shadow beneath his feet suddenly rose up and blocked the man's path.

However, the opponent clearly underestimated Leon's strength. Although it was blocked, the lightning eel still pierced through the shadow and struck the man's back.

Even though the magic's power was greatly reduced, it had indeed hit its mark, and the paralysis effect must have been achieved. Leon exclaimed with delight, now he could launch a second magical attack.

When the man was attacked by the thunder eel, he was not knocked down. He only staggered for a moment before quickly directing his shadow to attack Leon.

Leon was surprised that his opponent did not choose to defend but immediately prepared to counterattack, which interrupted Leon's plan. However, considering the strength of the opponent's shadow, Leon felt that he could withstand the opponent's attack and kill or seriously injure him.

After a brief moment of thought, he made a decision: continue unleashing lightning strikes, but do not switch to defense. Defending would give his opponent breathing room, and Leon did not want to give him any chance.

The lightning strike landed precisely, hitting the enemy. This lightning strike was Leon's second magical attack; unlike the lightning eel, it was far more powerful.

The name was also chosen by Leon himself, inspired by the scene of thunder on a rainy day. However, lightning strikes have a certain drawback, namely that the enemy's location needs to be specified and the lightning strikes down quickly from above.

If the opponent is not attacked by a thunder eel, they can definitely avoid it, but if they are paralyzed, they will definitely not be able to react in time.

This was the deadly trap Leon had prepared for his opponent. It wasn't a one-hit kill; the first strike was merely supplementary, and the second strike was the fatal one.

A loud explosion rang out, and a deep crater was blasted into the spot where the enemy had been standing; they must be dead.

However, the enemy's shadow magic did not stop immediately; instead, it struck Leon with a palm strike.

Leon was sent flying by the blow. He hadn't expected the attack to be so powerful, and it seemed to have some negative effects as well.

Leon, who had been knocked away, quickly regained his footing and saw that the other person's shadow had turned its back to him and was fleeing rapidly.

In an instant, he understood what was going on. He sighed and blamed himself for his failure.

The other party had obviously escaped, and the one struck by lightning was probably not the real person.

He must have swapped places with his shadow, which explains why Leon was sent flying when struck by the shadow. He had initially estimated that the shadow's strength had been pierced by the lightning eel, and that he could withstand the attack if he took it head-on. He never expected to be sent flying.

"He must have been replaced immediately after being attacked by the lightning eel, otherwise he definitely wouldn't have survived the lightning strike."

Leon felt he had been tricked, but it couldn't be said that he was careless; he genuinely hadn't expected the other party to react so quickly.

When Leon reached the spot where the lightning had struck, he saw that there were only tattered clothes on the ground, but the person was nowhere to be seen.

"Sigh, I was hoping to make a contribution, but I didn't expect the other side to get away instead."

Leon regretted his lack of foresight; it seemed his combat experience was still insufficient.

He roused himself and glanced at his pocket watch; it was 11:12. The battle had lasted only a few moments before it was over.

...

Leon hadn't found the other person by midnight. He had used detection and tracking magic, but to no avail. The other person clearly knew to erase their magical aura; without it, detection and tracking were meaningless.

Leon decided to report to Kate, the leader of the Night Watchers, about what happened tonight, and then go back to get a good night's sleep.

...

"I never expected that Professor Leon would actually fight the opponent head-on, and the opponent even fled under your pressure. The academy's teachers are indeed very powerful."

Kate praised them sincerely, because according to Kate, the other party had already killed three Night Watchers in succession.

For some reason, Leon felt the praise was mocking.

Although that wasn't what the other side meant, this encounter undoubtedly ended in Leon's defeat.

"If there's nothing else, I'll head back now."

Leon just wanted to go back and eat something and get a good night's sleep.

“If you don’t mind, you can stay and have dinner with us. After the Night Watchers finish their night shift, everyone eats together before going back to rest,” Kate suggested.

"I didn't expect they would even provide late-night snacks; that's so thoughtful!"

Leon was inwardly excited, but at the same time looked guilty as he said, "Then I'll have to trouble everyone."