Supreme Monarch

At Nullen's earlier command, the room fell silent for a moment as the other four people in the room exchanged several glaves with each other seemingly hanging a comprehensive conversation with just their eyes.

Having settled on the details of each of their tasks, three of Nullen's personal guards simultaneously stood up as they silently headed for the door when they were suddenly stopped in their tracks.

"Also—"

Just as three of his servants were about to spring into action, Nullen suddenly thought of something as his about word garnered their attention.

He then simply contemplated for a moment before continuing.

"Have the Ghost Legion maintain surveillance on the merchants' movements in and out of the city. While I didn't think they would be so useless to have not noticed them entering the city earlier, such missions should be their forte."

Hearing that, the female guard that had remained sitted to stay by her master's side spoke with a slightly concerned tone.

"Are you sure about them My Lord? If they have noticed the merchant's arrival and failed to report it to you immediately. That would be a sign of treason, making them traitors."

"I'm aware. That's why I want them—"

Before Nullen could complete his sentence, he suddenly felt a presence enter his perception range and stopped talking. Allowing the presence to draw closer to him as the lights in the office quickly saturated and a slender figure appeared in the office and genuflected before Nullen.

"Hmmm... Cia was it?"

"Yes my lord. I am called Cia, the newly appointed leader of the Ghost Legion."

"I do have some recollection of something along those lines. So why have you interrupted me so abruptly?"

"Forgive me, my lord. But I've received an urgent report."

Nullen's expression did not change as he heard those words but his interest seemed to have been piqued and even Aika could tell that much about him.

"What report?"

"We've confirmed the appearance of the VIP merchants, Lix and Lilith back in the city. We've also managed to monitor their movements in the city thus far and have confirmed their current residents."

"I see... impressive."

Even Nullen's four guards in the room seemed to be quite impressed with this news as this had contradicted their first opinion on the famous Ghost Legion.

Their ability to gather information seemed second to none and they could pretty much understand how someone as weak as Aur had risen to the position he had held.

Nullen suddenly sat upright as he observed the expression on the Ghost Legion's commander's face which held no emotions whatsoever but something just didn't feel right.

Her scarlet eyes stared blankly at him without a glimmer of life in them. Making it impossible even for Nullen to read her emotions just from her face. Of course, that alone couldn't stop him as he could tell all he needed to know from her aura.

With that, it seems the reason for the delayed report was that they wanted to confirm the merchant's destination and obtain more information before reporting back to him.

This may have been how they had operated with Aur and what they were used to. He hadn't implicitly specified that they report back to him immensely they saw the merchants so this might've been the result of a broken communication between such an unfamiliar unit.

One he hadn't expected to be of much use to him, to begin with. If it wasn't for the usefulness of their unique skill in the right hands, he wouldn't have even kept them around in the first place.

"My lord. Do you want us to make contact with the targets?"

As Nullen's mind wandered, Cia's question suddenly snapped him back to reality as he spoke.

"No. There's no need for that. I'll send one of my messengers to them. Just maintain your current surveillance from a distance and keep me informed."

"Understood."

With that. The lights in the room saturated once more and the female figure disappeared as all that was left behind in silence were the original five.

"Lord Nullen, didn't you intend to have the Ghost Legion make contact with them earlier?"

"I changed my mind. Now that you've volunteered, you have the honor of doing it yourself."

"Wait what!"

"Just be quiet and do your job."

"Always acting a fool, take responsibility for your actions for once."

" Why you little... "

Nullen silently watched his men throw jabs at each other in good fun but his expression wasn't that of happiness or satisfaction. Rather, it was one of perplexity. He couldn't put his finger on it but from his interaction with the girl earlier, he felt as though something had gone seriously wrong.

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The next day.

Tyler stood in front of the massive glass window of his suite as he stared at the rising sun that slowly illuminated the city through the slight cracks in the clouds.

He hadn't slept the entire night but that didn't bother him in the slightest. Nadine on the other hand had slept like a baby the entire night.

Of course, as a beastkin, she was very sensitive to sounds and vibrations and would immediately wake up the moment something enters her perception range which was why he hadn't moved an inch since she fell asleep, until now.

'Strange.'

Tyler thought as he strolled away from the window. He had spent the entire night monitoring the movements of the entire city and couldn't help but find it puzzling.

How unfortunate that he hadn't been able to jeong one of his shadows with him and could only rely on Uriel's Divination to find any information that wasn't hidden.

As he intended, Tyler's first step had alerted Nadine to wake up and promptly began their preparations for the day.

After placing an order at the front desk for their breakfast, the pair soon got ready and departed for the Magic institute with their carriage. It was a shame he hadn't been able to turn that spy undead last night as he was very curious to learn how things were proceeding with her but had no means of communicating with her anymore.

However, he couldn't establish any forms of communication with her for now as he didn't want them to sense anything amiss.

As they were already located in the Royal borough, it only took them around a 20 mins drive to get to the massive towers that served as the Magic institute and research center. Their carriage didn't stop a distance from the building this time as they proceeded towards the large gates that protected the towers.

Upon their arrival, the latticed gate yawned open, and on either side of it were several armed guards, stationed by the gate that fenced off the massive buildings.

The guards did not obstruct the pair — although they quickly looked them over and seemed to have recognized them — and they were able to pass through the gate with their Magic guild's Rank 2 Badge boldly displayed on their chest.

Shortly after passing the gate, they were required to leave their carriage to the institute's staff and proceed into the first tower on foot which was as expected.

Upon entering through the open doors, the pair found themselves in a small entrance hall, which had been established to be the building's lobby and reception hall. Several exquisite magic chandeliers beautifully hung down from the high ceiling of the massive hall.

To the right was a guest lounge that contained a sofa and several other pieces of furniture. And just like the last time they visited, several mages and Hunters sat idly by as their gazes keenly observe the pair that had just entered the hall.

Flaunting their absurd wealth, the guild had a Magic item to the left of the hall, a glass board that displayed quests and missions as they arrived and erased them as they are cleared.

Naturally, there were still people studying it in earnest; some wore robes and looked like magic casters, while most of them were naturally Hunters. As the magic institute provided really high-paying but difficult quest, this was generally the place most high-ranked Hunters would flock to for work.

However, what Tyler saw this time was sought different as the seems the average level of Hunters here had dropped significantly.

Tyler silently sighed as he shook the thought off his mind and returned his attention up ahead.

At the innermost reaches of the hall, was a counter, where several young, handsome, and beautiful men and women of different races including dark elves, were seated behind.

They all wore similar robes, with crystal badges on their chests which had the Magic institute crest engraved upon them.

Ignoring the gazes they were currently receiving as they were now more or less accustomed to this, Tyler's shoes pounded out a steady beat and were mirrored by Nadine as they nonchalantly approached the counter at the end of the hall.

The young lady on the counter they were approaching noticed them and gave a slight bow as a greeting before attempting to attend to them.

"Welcome back to the Zorak Magic Institute, Mr. Lix and Lady Lilith. How may I be of service to you today?"

Her voice was pleasing to the ears and her attitude respectful as she gently stared at the pair with interest.

"Do you mind taking us through a list of Rank 2 quests that would be most effective in raising our ranks as quickly as possible?"

The reason Tyler had joined the Magic institute in the first place was to access the institute's Magic library as well as its Magic research documents. All of these were things he could only achieve with a Rank 3 Magic badge and higher.

"You mean high-value Rank 2 quest right? Certainly, one moment please."

With a courteous smile, the guild's staff quickly accessed the Magic institute's database from the Magic device on her desk and went through the list of Rank 2 quests with the highest guild-based reward value when she suddenly noticed something.

"Pardon me Sir, but it seems you have a personal quest request."

" Mmm?"

Although Tyler's hearing was perfect and heard the receptionist's statement. He instinctively tilted his head slightly as though confused and the receptionist had taken that motion to mean the pair, as newcomers to the magic guild, did not understand, what a personal Quest was and eagerly proceeded to elaborate further.

"That is to say, someone has issued a quest specifically for your party and is awaiting your response."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. As for the reward value of a Personal Quest, it is usually a lot higher than a normal quest of the same rank. Guild members are also not restricted by the difficulty level of Personal Quests which made them highly sought out for."

"I see..."

"As for this personal quest, the rewards are much higher than even the most lucrative Rank 3 quest reward. Upon completion, it offers an instant promotion to Rank 3. Plus a large number of guild points."

" Guild Points?"