All-around teacher at the magic academy

As the morning sun began to shine, Leon and Philippe hurried to the Enforcers' branch.

Max saw them standing at the door and smiled knowingly, understanding perfectly well why they were there so early.

“Come on up, to my office,” Max said, leading the two up the stairs. They followed their captain, feeling a mixture of anticipation and nervousness.

After entering the office, Max pointed to a chair and said, "Have a seat, I'll get you some water."

He deliberately stalled for time, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes, wanting to see how impatient the two of them would become.

He took three glasses from a cabinet in the corner of the office, filled them with water, handed two glasses to Leon and Philippe, and then sat back down in the chair behind his desk with one of the glasses, drinking it slowly.

Seeing the two of them fidgeting and shifting their eyes, Max found it quite amusing. He broke the silence with a smile: "What's wrong? Is something the matter? Why are you here so early?"

Philip finally couldn't help but speak up, his voice tinged with a hint of helpless complaint: "Captain, stop teasing us. What else could we be here so early for?" As he spoke, he kept rubbing his hands together, subtly indicating the purpose of his trip.

“Oh, alas, Duke Adams is very dissatisfied with how we handled things, and he has decided to revoke the award.” Max’s words were heavy, and a pained expression appeared on his face.

Leon and Philip's hearts leaped into their throats. "How could this happen?" Leon pleaded urgently. "Although no substantial evidence was left behind, the criminal was indeed killed, and the mission can be considered complete."

“Yes, we risked our lives to carry out this mission,” Philip then expressed his dissatisfaction.

“You dare to say that?” Max pointed at Leon with feigned sternness. “Look at the mess you’ve made of the streets! Do you know how many gold coins it will take to repair this damage?” His tone betrayed a hint of feigned anger.

"Ah, this..." Leon was speechless, after all, he was indeed responsible for the destruction of the street.

"Captain, what about me?" Philip immediately put on a fawning smile, trying to argue for himself. "His bonus can be used to repair the streets, but I didn't cause any damage. You can't deduct my bonus too, can you?"

“You…” Leon pointed at Philip, feeling both angry and helpless. They had clearly agreed on the way to put pressure on the captain together, but now they had changed their stance so quickly and “betrayed” him.

"Hahahaha. You two are killing me with laughter." Max leaned back in his chair, clutching his stomach with both hands, and burst into laughter. He hadn't laughed so heartily in a long time.

Leon and Philippe exchanged a glance and instantly understood what was going on. It turned out that the captain had been deliberately teasing them.

“Alright, I’m not kidding anymore.” Max stopped laughing and said seriously, “The reward has been approved. The mission was completed excellently. Although there were some unexpected events at the end, Duke Adams is still very satisfied.”

Seeing their eager expressions, Max shook his head and smiled: "Don't worry, the reward this time is 36 pounds. Since the two incidents were committed by the same criminal, the reward is more generous than before."

"The captain is so reliable!" the two exclaimed excitedly. They had thought they would be satisfied with 10 pounds each, but they didn't expect to get 2 extra pounds. Happiness came so suddenly.

“That’s not what you said earlier,” Max teased. “We’ll split it equally among the three of us, and each of us will get 12 pounds.” He then pulled a thick wad of banknotes from his drawer and began counting them carefully. Leon and Philip stared at the money in their captain’s hand, swallowing hard.

“Here, this is for you,” Max said, picking up two stacks of banknotes and preparing to hand them to Leon and Philip. The two hurriedly stood up and eagerly walked towards the captain.

Just as Max was about to hand the banknotes to Leon, he deliberately paused, a sly glint in his eyes that made Leon's heart leap into his throat.

“Don’t worry, Duke Adams will cover the cost of repairing the streets,” Max finally spoke, and Leon immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

After receiving the money, the two quickly counted it, then folded the banknotes neatly and stuffed them into their pockets, as if afraid that the captain might suddenly change his mind and take the money back.

"So, the pay for law enforcement officers is pretty good, isn't it? Have you considered becoming full-time employees? That way, you'd be rolling in money," Max asked half-jokingly.

“Sigh, these kinds of things can’t happen often,” Leon shook his head and refused. “Besides, if it were like this every day, the risk would be too high. If you accidentally lose your life, that would be a huge loss. It would be such a pity to have money but not live to enjoy it.”

“Yes, yes, I think it’s fine as it is now,” Philip agreed. “Captain, call me again if there are any missions in the future, I’ll definitely come. Oh, don’t forget this guy, otherwise I won’t feel at ease.”

As he spoke, he pointed at Leon. In his view, Leon's presence would significantly reduce the danger. He had always been curious about how Leon had learned those powerful spells, making him far more skilled than himself.

“You guys…” Max shook his head helplessly, indicating that the two could leave. He didn’t have any more time to chat with them; he had a lot of work to do.

"Then we'll take our leave, Captain," the two said in unison, then quickly walked towards the door without lingering. Max, seeing this, couldn't help but feel annoyed and waved his hand at them, "Get out of here, get out of here, don't dawdle."

Suddenly, as if remembering something, he called out to Philip, who was about to leave, "Wait, Philip, don't you usually spend your weekends at the law enforcement branch? Why are you in such a hurry to leave today?"

“Ah, this…” Philip stopped in his tracks, a hint of embarrassment and grievance on his face. “Captain, I just received a bonus and was thinking of taking a break to rest.”

Seeing this, Leon quickly took the opportunity to slip away; he didn't want to be dragged into any more work.

“Then help me finish these tasks. Once you’re done, you can leave. You’ll get paid for today,” Max said.

“Okay, Captain.” Upon hearing that he could leave after doing some simple work and even get paid, Philip immediately smiled and hurried over. Although he had some money on hand, who would complain about having too much? Besides, this money was going to be used to treat Ilya's illness.

Thinking of Ilya, Philip's heart grew heavy. He had consulted many doctors, but to no avail. He even began to suspect that Ilya's illness was not ordinary, but rather a curse. Unfortunately, he knew nothing of curse magic, and none of the people he knew possessed such magic.

"Philip, what are you thinking about? Come and help me." Max urged Philip when he saw him standing there in a daze.

"It's nothing, Captain, I'm here," Philip replied quickly, snapping out of his daze.