As it turned out, the smugglers did like to play hard.

As soon as Arel had knocked on the door, it opened with a man holding a knife, glaring at him. He knocked him down with a punch before moving inside to deal with the three more men waiting in the room. All of them were taller than him and built with muscle, but unfortunately for them, they had no idea how resourceful he was.

Before they could even charge at him, his mana gun had already taken care of two of them, the shots slamming them into the wall behind. The last one managed to rush forward, but Arel slipped past him, grabbed his head before he could turn, and smashed it straight into the ground.

Once that was done, Arel moved quickly to bind all four of them, stuffing gags into their mouths and locking the door so they would not be disturbed. From the way they had welcomed him with a knife, it was clear they had not been expecting anyone anyway.

As the ones still conscious struggled uselessly on the floor, Arel began going through their account books. There were ledgers everywhere, along with maps marking different smuggling routes through the caves.

He found it oddly fascinating.

These men kept better records than most accountants he had met. Everything was written down carefully, and as he flipped through the pages, he even recognized the names of a few nobles who had bought illegal magical cannabis from them.

But Arel was not there for that.

After paging through the books for nearly an hour, he finally found the entries he had been searching for.

Records of sales involving potent magical herbs and paste—materials used for stabilizing mana and healing severe magical damage.

There were even herbs listed that helped in revitalizing the body.

And all of it had been purchased by just one person.

The transactions appeared regularly in the books—every few weeks, always the same quantities, always the same list of herbs and paste.

The buyer’s name was written clearly.

Loras.

Arel narrowed his eyes as he read the entries again.

The purchases had begun around the same time Veridia had disappeared.

He doubted that was a coincidence.

Without wasting time, Arel walked over to one of the men on the floor. The man wore spectacles and looked far more literate than the others, likely the one responsible for maintaining the records.

Arel pulled the gag from his mouth.

Before the man could curse or say anything, he slapped him hard across the face.

“Give me the location of the person who bought these herbs,” Arel said coldly, “or I’m going to start killing all of you.”

The man glared up at him and growled.

“You’ll do that anyway. Who are you? Who sent you? That bastard—”

Arel struck him again.

“You don’t want to know who sent me,” he said. “Just tell me what I want so I can leave. I don’t feel like fighting more people tonight.”

He grabbed the ledger from the table and pointed at the transaction listing the large shipment of herbs.

“Who purchased this?”

The man shook his head immediately.

“I don’t know anything other than what’s written.”

Arel did not hesitate. With his free hand, he pulled out a knife and drove it straight through the man’s hand.

The blade pinned it to the wooden floor.

The man screamed in pain, but Arel immediately clamped a hand over his mouth.

“Next time,” Arel said quietly, leaning closer, “I’ll do it to your crotch. After that, I won’t even need to kill you. You’ll do it yourself.”

He pressed down slightly on the knife.

“So tell me. Who is this person?”

Fear finally appeared in the man’s eyes. His face twisted as he struggled through the pain.

“He’s… Loras,” the man said quickly. “A Mage. That’s why I didn’t want to talk about it. He said he would kill all of us if we revealed anything about him.”

His voice trembled as he continued.

“He’s in the third circle. That’s all I know. Please… I don’t know anything else.”

At that, Arel clicked his tongue.

“That only tells me how difficult it will be to kill him,” he said flatly. “I asked for his location. Where do you meet him?”

The man winced in pain and frowned. “He always comes to the town,” he said quickly. “I really don’t know his exact place.”

Arel tilted his head slightly.

“But he comes regularly,” he said. “That means he can’t be too far away, right?”

The man nodded hastily. “Yes… he shouldn’t be.”

Arel asked him a few more questions after that. The answers were messy and rushed, but the details lined up well enough. Even if he could not confirm everything, he was fairly certain the man was telling the truth.

According to him, the Mage named Loras had last visited the town about a week ago. That time he had taken a much larger shipment of herbs than usual.

If he was truly connected to Veridia, then it likely meant her condition was getting worse.

But she was not dead yet. That was enough for Arel.

He sighed lightly and slapped the man on the cheeks a few times.

“You did well,” Arel said casually. “I’ll ask for a lighter sentence for you to show my appreciation.”

The man shuddered and asked weakly, “Who… who are you?”

Arel grinned. “You don’t need to know that,” he said. “Just know that I work directly under the new king, and he doesn’t like what you’ve all been doing.”

The man’s eyes widened at those words, his breathing becoming more frantic.

Arel did not bother with him anymore. He stepped past the group, shoved the account book back onto the floor beside the man’s hand, and walked toward the door.

“Thanks for cooperating,” he said as he unlocked it. “The town guards will be here soon to arrest all of you and shut down this operation.”

He paused briefly before stepping out.

“But it might take a few hours. I don’t feel like waking them right now.” Arel glanced back at the bound men. “So good luck staying here like this. And don’t try to run away.”

“I won’t,” the man said quickly.

Arel turned back slightly at that.

“I don’t really believe you,” he said calmly. “But just know that if you do try something, we’ll be sending men far worse than me to hunt all of you down.”

He gave the man one last look.

“You should know the stories about King Arzan by now. Trust me, they’re much worse in reality.”

After that warning, Arel left the room.

He walked down the stairs of the inn, passing through the lower floor where drunken patrons were still shouting and drinking as if nothing had happened upstairs. No one paid him much attention as he slipped through the crowd and stepped outside.

Once outside, he immediately began moving toward the town walls.

According to the man he had questioned, this Mage named Loras usually approached the town from the western side, the direction that led into the surrounding forest. The forest itself was large, stretching far beyond the town, but several roads ran along its edges connecting nearby settlements.

Still, if Arel’s instincts were right, he would find what he was looking for inside the forest itself.

He could have waited until morning.

But it was already midnight, and he had no intention of wasting more hours.

When he reached the gates, Arel briefly spoke to the town guards stationed there. After revealing that he worked directly under the crown, he instructed them to arrest the smugglers at the inn once morning came.

With that done, he stepped past the gates and headed toward the forest.

At its edge, Arel paused.

He reached into his coat and pulled out a small vial filled with dark liquid.

Without hesitation, he uncorked it and swallowed the contents. It was something Alchemist Orion had developed—an enhanced tracking potion.

Within moments, his vision adjusted to the darkness. The forest, once black and impenetrable, became clearer as if lit by a faint grey glow. At the same time, thin traces of mana began appearing in the air like faint threads drifting between the trees.

The potion granted night vision and the ability to detect residual mana signatures for several hours.

The downside was the strain it placed on a normal person’s eyes if used too often. But while it lasted, there was no better tool for navigating a dark forest.

And that was exactly what Arel did for the next several hours.

He moved through the trees and bushes, careful with every step. Whenever he sensed concentrated globs of mana drifting toward him, he immediately adjusted his path, knowing those usually meant beasts roaming nearby. Avoiding them, he continued pushing deeper into the forest.

Arel had been trained to spot tracks, but he found very few human ones. Whoever had been moving through this forest had done so carefully. Still, careful movement could not erase everything. There were always small signs.

One of those signs appeared when he came across a small clearing.

In the middle of it lay a beast called a ridgeback graul, sleeping with a cub curled beside it. The Watchers had taught their agents about many beasts found across Lancephil, and the ridgeback graul was one of the common ones. With what he knew, Arel could tell the cub was extremely young, barely a few months old.

Yet something was missing.

There was no female nearby.

That meant someone had killed it.

It could have been another predator, but ridgeback graul meat was known to be extremely nutritious and even had mild healing properties. Hunters sometimes went out of their way to hunt them.

With everything he knew, Arel leaned more toward the possibility that someone working with Veridia had killed the female graul.

Still, it was only a hypothesis.

He kept moving.

For hours he searched, scanning the forest floor, watching the flow of mana in the air, trying to find anything that could point him toward Veridia. But even as dawn slowly approached, he found nothing concrete.

Though, Arel did not stop.

He continued deeper into the forest.

Finally, when he was already far inside the woods, something caught his attention.

A tree in the distance glowed faintly with mana.

Arel paused.

Some trees were naturally magical, but he had not seen any in this forest before. Curious, he approached it carefully.

When he reached it, he realized the tree itself was nothing unusual. But carved into its bark were markings.

He observed the carvings calmly and soon realized they were seals.

Arel could not identify the exact type, but it was clear they were part of a larger array.

He continued walking in the same direction.

After a few minutes, he spotted another tree with the same carvings. Then another.

Arel smiled faintly. Going by the fact that the seals had not redirected him or created any urge for him to turn away, the array was likely not defensive in nature. Instead, it was probably a simple alarm array—something meant to notify whoever created it whenever a creature entered this part of the forest.

Most likely it had been made to warn against wandering beasts.

But now that he had already triggered it, there was no reason to pretend otherwise.

Arel continued forward calmly.

He had never planned on sneaking in anyway. And with the tools he carried, he was confident he could deal with most threats.

Twenty minutes later, his suspicions proved correct.

He sensed the globs of mana before he actually saw the men.

Arel stopped. A bright flash appeared to his left as a spell structure formed in the air. Almost at the same moment, another structure appeared on his right.

Two figures stepped out of concealment.

Both wore cloaks and stared at him with serious expressions.

Arel remained calm.

He slowly raised one hand, showing that he meant no immediate harm.

“You two should dissipate those spells,” he said evenly. “That’s not the right way to welcome a guest.”

One of the men growled. “You’re a stranger, not a guest. Who are you?”

Arel tilted his head slightly. “Which one of you is Loras?”

The man on the right immediately raised his hand higher, preparing to release the spell.

Arel clicked his tongue.

He lifted his wrist and turned it slightly, revealing the bracelet around it.

“Even if you fire,” he said calmly, “it won’t work.” Then he looked between them again. “Now tell me. Which one of you is Loras? I came here to talk.”

At that, the man on the left spoke first.

“What do you want to talk about?”

Arel smiled immediately.

“So you are Loras,” he said. “I heard about you in Keldrin Town. The men there were quite unwilling to talk about you until I asked nicely. You must have built quite a scary reputation.”

Loras growled. “You’ll see exactly how scary I’m if you don’t tell me why you’re here.”

Arel shrugged lightly.

“Just to talk,” he said. “Why are you buying so many herbs? And illegal ones at that. You don’t look sick to me.”

The other cloaked man snapped back immediately. “That’s none of your business.”

Arel’s smile widened slightly.

“Actually, it is,” he said. “Because I think those herbs are for Magus Veridia, the former master of the now-dead Archine Tower.”

The reaction was immediate. A bolt of lightning shot toward him.

It struck his body, and bounced off.

A shimmering armour of mana formed around Arel, absorbing the attack completely.

He glanced at the Mage who had cast the spell and smiled faintly before turning back toward Loras.

“Like I said,” Arel said calmly, “nothing will happen.” Then he gestured lightly. “Why don’t you answer the question?”

Loras’ eyes narrowed. “Magus Veridia isn’t here.”

Arel shook his head.

“If she wasn’t, that man wouldn’t have fired at me.” He paused for a moment before continuing, “I’m not here to start a fight. And I’m definitely not here to kill her. I’m here with a proposal.”

Loras frowned. “What kind of proposal? And who sent you?”

The spells in both men’s hands flared brighter again. Arel did not react to the threat.

Instead, he calmly pulled out his mana gun and held it up where they could clearly see it.

“I think you already know the answer to that,” he said. Then he lowered the weapon slightly. “As for the proposal…”

He looked directly at Loras.

“It’s something that might actually heal Magus Veridia. Far better than the herbs you’ve been buying just to keep her alive.”

***

A/N – You can read 30 chapters (15 Magus Reborn and 15 Dao of money) on my patreon. Annual subscription is now on too.

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep