In the next few days, Lilith was about to set off with Professor Derick to study at the Star Academy. Rosa packed luggage for her, and as soon as Professor Derick spoke, she was ready to leave the small town where she had lived for thirteen years to go to the most prosperous capital of the Silver Empire.
As she walked down the streets of Mist Town, it seemed that since the reopening of the Dragonflame restaurant, some changes had quietly taken place in this small town.
A few more calves had appeared on Keira's ranch, and according to her, they were planning to build a few more cowsheds on the ranch. She used to be afraid to let the cows breed, fearing that they would not have enough fodder to feed a larger herd.
"Now that food is also cheap, and Miss Ina promised to sell me fodder, of course, I have to raise a few more cows, only then does it look like a ranch!" Keira said this as she was building the cowshed.
Hana, who was rarely seen outside baking bread, was arguing with Frank about something.
"Frank, do you have time to build me two new bread ovens?" As the town's bricklayer, Frank hadn't received much work for a long time, but his skills were not lacking, his own beautiful courtyard was the best work he had done.
Frank shook his head, "I don't have the time."
Hana was about to say something, but Frank shook his head again, "And I don't have any bricks either."
Hana was anxious, "There are so many bricks piled up behind your yard, I saw them before!"
"I used them to build a new chicken coop," Frank revealed a hint of a smile. The scale of the chicken coop was getting larger and larger, he was already considering building a new house specifically for the chicken coop, and by the way, moving out the few simple chicken coops in the original yard.
"Frank, you have to help me find a solution. If the new oven can't be built, I won't be able to complete Miss Ina's order." Hana negotiated with Frank.
Since it was Miss Ina's order, Frank thought for a while, "Alright, I will find some time to make some bricks for you."
Lilith continued her walk, and two mercenaries passed by her, discussing the pumpkin pie and shrimp fillet soup they had at the restaurant today.
After hearing that, Lilith turned around and walked towards the Dragonflame restaurant. Behind it was the only patch of green in the town - the tea plantation.
She crouched down to look at the shining glow daisies, thinking that if the town was full of these flowers, they would have sunshine. However, Miss Ina told her that these daisies were very precious and that she only had ten of them.
She wondered whether she could learn at the academy how to bring sunlight to the town. As Lilith was about to stand up, she suddenly met eyes with a black cat with red pupils.
This seemed to be Miss Ina's pet, and it looked a bit fierce. Lilith waved her hand to indicate that she meant no harm and quickly left.
The black cat watched the little girl flee in panic, wondering why everyone was afraid of him, only Ina ignored his warnings and kept touching him.
Lilith cheerfully returned home to find Daniel pacing anxiously in the yard. Professor Derick and his two students were originally supposed to stay at Rosa's house, but they moved to the restaurant a few days ago, leaving only Daniel, Lilith's future senior.
"Are you okay, senior?" Lilith tentatively asked.
Daniel looked up, and Lilith was taken aback. His eyes were full of bloodshot veins as if he hadn't slept for days, and his hair was messy.
Daniel casually brushed her off, and Lilith didn't think it was appropriate to ask further, so she went into her room with a belly full of questions.
Why hadn't they left yet? Was that inscription at the Dragonflame restaurant really that important? Everything was over, and they should have gone back to the academy a few days ago. But Professor Derick kept delaying until those people showed up in Mist Town.
He didn't want to meet them at all! Not to mention that Professor Derick would become suspicious if he found out that one of his students from the Magic Academy was familiar with those who didn't seem like good people, even without Professor Derick, Daniel didn't want to interact with them. If it weren't for the tuition, he wouldn't...
Daniel anxiously ran his hands through his hair. He had seen those people from a distance yesterday and had panicked and hidden, not daring to leave the mayor's house until today.
As he was restless, Professor Derick appeared at the door. He bluntly accused Daniel, "It was you who did it, wasn't it?"
Daniel did his best to hide his guilt and tried to appear innocent, "I don't understand what you're saying."
"Not only the lizard but also many magical beasts with dragon bloodlines that died accidentally before, you sold their information to those dragon-blood sorcerers, didn't you?" Rage blazed in Professor Derick's eyes.
As one of the professors of Potionology at the Star Academy, Professor Derick's footsteps had been all over the continent. He had compiled a handbook about the origins of special magical potion materials, which was circulated only among his students. But in recent years, Professor Derick had found that many special magical potion materials had become extinct, and the reason for their extinction was the extinction of the magical beasts living in symbiosis nearby.
These magical beasts had one thing in common: regardless of their strength or weakness, they all had some dragon bloodline.
At first, Professor Derick couldn't understand it, thinking it was the natural evolution of magical beasts that led to the disappearance of the dragon bloodline. Now it seemed suspicious, considering that Daniel had claimed to have encountered a lizard in the Midnight Marsh a few days ago, and the dragon-blood sorcerers immediately appeared in Mist Town.
It was as if he had figured something out.
"You're a promising wizard trained by the Star Academy, why do you conspire with these rats from the sewer?" Professor Derick was extremely saddened.
Seeing his cover blown, Daniel didn't bother pretending anymore. He looked indifferent and slightly mocking, "Why? Do you think I want to deal with those dragon-blood sorcerers who deal with blood and rotten puppets all day? But I have no money. Tuition is getting higher every year. All you do is encourage me to graduate and to learn from Lusen! What should I learn from him, how to be a competent waiter?"
All Professor Derick had in his eyes was a disappointment, "Lusen, like you, is a commoner. He is even an orphan. After attending the Star Academy, he never looked down on ordinary jobs because of his status as a wizard. He helped people process medicinal materials in the lab, helped half of the Potionology students buy local special materials when traveling with me, and even worked part-time in shops in his spare time. What have you done?"
Daniel shouted angrily, "I wish I was an orphan, that way I could avoid tuition! My parents never helped me at all, they are just a burden to me!"
"You're beyond redemption." Professor Derick said coldly, "Congratulations, you've graduated from the Star Academy. As a professor, I have no right to expel you on behalf of the academy, but from now on, you can only be a student of the Star Academy, not a student of Derick Lester."
Ina waited for a few more days before the group of dragon-blood sorcerers took action again. It wasn't that they deliberately delayed, but they couldn't find a willing guide to lead them into the Midnight Marsh.
After all, their peculiarities were seen by all the mercenaries. They carried a sinister aura of "killing after using", which made the mercenaries wary of this guiding commission. It wasn't until the reward was raised to an enticing price that they found a suitable guide and set off for the Midnight Marsh.
"What's your goal?" The guide asked before accepting the commission.
"We're looking for a marsh."
The guide was very troubled, "That's too broad a range, any marsh will do?"
"No," the man with tattoos on his face recalled the content of the secret message, "The marsh is less than half a day's walk from the mercenary camp. The range can perhaps be a bit larger, but it's roughly that location."
The guide finally relaxed a bit. At worst, they would search outward with the mercenary camp as the center. There weren't any powerful magical beasts in that range, and these four men seemed quite capable. The safety was guaranteed, just a bit troublesome. But thinking about the reward he would receive, the guide swallowed his complaints.
But the development of the situation made him increasingly nervous. After this group of people arrived around the mercenary camp, they killed many of the magical beasts they encountered. This was understandable, as one of the reasons the mercenaries came to the Midnight Marsh was for the materials from the magical beasts. However, these people killed all the magical beasts they encountered, regardless of their value or potential threat. What's more, they drained the beasts' blood into a strange bottle after killing them and shook the bottle.
The guide felt somewhat scared and quietly regretted accepting such a difficult task. He just hoped to find what they wanted quickly and return home.
"How is it?" The seductive woman asked the old man who was testing the magical beast's bloodline.
The old man shook his head, "There's no trace of dragon blood at all."
The locator device was useless in the Midnight Marsh, so Daniel had only given a rough direction. But the dragon-blood sorcerers had their own way of determining the location. The magical beasts could not avoid breeding offspring with other magical beasts during their long stay in one place.
They would detect the concentration of dragon blood in the lineage of the magical beasts they encountered, as a basis for judging whether they were getting closer to their target.
This method was not only troublesome but also resulted in a large final range. But they had no choice but to use it in a special environment like the Midnight Marsh.
At first, they tested the blood of reptiles and fish, and finally even birds were included, but still there were no clues.
"That kid didn't trick us, did he?" The tattooed man showed a dangerous light in his eyes. "We asked around in Mist Town, and no one seems to have encountered lizards in the marsh."
The usually quiet young man in the team turned around at these words, "Then let's go back."
The old man shot a warning glance at the tattooed man, telling him not to speak recklessly. "Daniel is in the town, he would never dare to deceive us."
"Be patient, kiddo," the seductive woman giggled, "It's hard to imagine how you used to hunt, you're so impatient."
The tattooed man glared angrily at the woman's back and stopped talking.
"Look at this footprint, was it left by a lizard!" The old man at the front of the team stood by the river and called everyone over, looking down at a footprint on the shallows.
Although the footprint was deep, it had become somewhat blurred under the washing of the flowing water. The woman asked uncertainly, "Isn't it a footprint of some other reptilian magical beast?"
The old man was certain, "Even if it's not a lizard, it's definitely the footprint of a magical beast with dragon lineage. I couldn't be more familiar with the dragon characteristics on this claw mark."