BECOMING A FULL-FLEDGED CONJURER
"Sorry, I can't do that. Our Hunter's Guild has a reputation to protect, and we would not snitch on our suppliers even if their source is dubious", I told him.
"But this is important to the Conjurer Court, to root out this kind of corruption", he told me.
"Do what you may but all I can give you is a shipping date. You can monitor the Material Vault and set a trap for the thieves when they come to retrieve the goods", I replied to him.
"That will be helpful", he replied to me.
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"What do you mean many of our men are taken by the Supreme Conjurer?" the guy behind the curtain asked.
"We tried to take a shipment out from the Material Vault, but our people were caught red handed. The Supreme Conjurer set a trap there for us", the other guy told the guy behind the curtain.
"Why will the Supreme Conjurer's people be checking the Material Vault?" the curtain guy asked.
"Someone did an audit of the Material Vault recently and discovered a discrepancy in the supplies report. The Supreme Conjurer was made known about this and set a trap in the vault for us and we fell right into it", the other guy explained.
"Who will have so much time on their hand to check the stock in the Material Vault?" the curtain guy asked.
"I've checked. The secret audit is ordered by Conjurer Iras", the other guy replied to him.
"That Iras again", the curtain guy shouted out the name angrily.
"He is the one competing with you as the next Supreme Conjurer", the other guy said and commented.
"Make sure none of the witnesses are alive to tie this back to me in any way", the curtain guy asked the other.
"Yes, master. We've poisoned the food of all those taken in by the Supreme. They will not survive during the interrogation, but we will lose our future income from the materials trade", the other guy replied.
"Damn, Iras", the guy behind the curtain shouted out again.
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"Oriese, give me your badge", Conjurer Iras asked me, and I gave my conjurer badge to him.
Conjurer Iras brought out a scroll and waved it over my badge before the scroll dissipated into thin air. In a moment, the fourth star on my Conjurer Badge that was periodically blinking now shone brightly and permanently.
"What did you do to my badge?" I asked him.
"Congratulations, you have become a full-fledged Conjurer of the Conjurer Court", Conjurer Iras said to me and congratulated me.
"What is this for?" I asked him.
"The promotion is because of your timely information. You helped us unravel a major fraud in the Court", he told me.
"Do you know who is behind the theft?" I asked him.
"We caught the thieves red handed and handed them over to investigation, but they died during questioning", he told me.
"You killed the thieves during interrogation?" I asked him.
"It wasn't done on purpose. The interrogators must have used too much pressure on the thieves", he told me.
"And I thought the Church was bad enough in their interrogation, you guys are no better", I said to him.
"What do you mean you guys? You are a part of our establishment now, permanently", Conjurer Iras told me.
"Did you recover the money the culprits stole?" I asked him.
"Well,… we didn't recover much on them. We even searched for their properties and belongings, there is nothing much to recover. They must have spent all the money", Conjurer Iras told me.
"That is unlikely. You merely caught the goons. The mastermind still goes free", I said to him.
"That is probable. To be able to steal something from our Material vault isn't something those thieves could pull. But all our leads are gone now, and I don't think they will try to steal from the Material Vault again", Conjurer Iras told me.
"Thieves will always be thieves. If they don't steal from here, they will steal from somewhere else", I told him.
"That is true and good advice, Conjurer Oriese", he replied to me.
"So, my reward is only the promotion to become a conjurer?" I asked him.
"Huh,… I know you will come to this. You can pick an item from the Conjurer Vault as a reward for helping us catch the thieves", he said to me.
"Actually, there is nothing in there that I need although I might need something to help me fight against the Aqrabuamelu, the scorpion men", I told him.
"You are still planning on taking up that mission? I told you before that mission isn't for apprentice conjurers, someone put the mission there for you because you were too arrogant at that time. You can cancel the mission at any time without a penalty", he replied to me.
"Well, I am a full-fledged conjurer now and am qualified for the mission. I still have some time before the mission expires, I might as well complete it now", I replied to him.
"You are quite stubborn, aren't you? You probably don't know about Aqrabuamelu. They are too dangerous, and they gather in packs that numbers to the thousands. Even the sects of our Court never succeeded in subduing them, I won't allow you to take this risk just for a mission," he said to me.
"Well, it's not just because of the mission. It is a favor for someone else and I've already agreed to it", I told him.
"A favor for who?" he asked me.
"Seamus the Meek, he asked me to get rid of the scorpion men who were eating his sheep", I replied to him.
"Seam..what? You met one of our wandering Originals?" he asked me.
"Yes, I met him outside of Tarah city and had a chat with him before he turned into a flock of geese and flew away", I replied to him.
"That is him alright, Seamus the Meek", he said to me.
"So, are there anything from the Conjurer Court that can help with my mission?" I asked him.
Conjurer Iras thought about it for a while before he had a response for me.
"Let me introduce some people to you", he said to me.
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