Back to Azmar City.

After purging that wisp of Mana from his body, Ozul set off to go back to Azmar City.

The reason that Azmar City only had a Count as the City Lord while the Adron City had a Marquis ruling it was because of its location

Azmar City was one of the surrounding cities around Silverbird Capital City. Any critical decision can quickly be passed to the higher-ups in the Capital.

And if Borin's information was correct, then Azmar Town must be one of the cities encountering the unusual events.

Count Oliver was also their acquaintances, which could further help them. And he was sure that Oliver would want nothing more than for Ozul to 'help' him in these difficult times.

It took them a day to go back as Ozul was not in a hurry. Also, Blaze was not even a Rank-2 Fighter—running all the way to another city without taking any rest in between might be too much for him.

It didn't take a genius to notice the weird atmosphere on the streets. People were easily frightened of the unknown.

They had heard the news of multiple villages and the outskirts of the city facing against raging monsters.

It was nighttime when they arrived, so Ozul did not want to meet Count Oliver right away. They headed towards the house that they had left behind.

When they arrived before the house, Ozul could see that nothing much was different. Only the weeds and the grass had overgrown since no one was there to take care of it.

Raven opened the gate, and they entered. Ozul didn't even bother to head inside and just trimmed the grass around his spot under the tree before lying down.

Of course, Raven was a bit more responsible and cleaned the dirt in the house before heading back outside.

Blaze had also not bothered to enter the house and just started training in the garden! Soon, Raven also followed him.

. . .

The next morning, Ozul woke up due to the ever-annoying sunlight.

They headed towards Count Oliver's estate. Half an hour later, they were in front of the gates of his Manor.

They seemed new so when he saw them, he yelled;

"Hey! You! Where do you think you are going?..."-

But just as he was going to continue, the other guard shut him by smacking his head. He put on a flattering smile as he bowed and said;

"Please, forgive him, Lord. He is new here."- He said while opening the gates. He was the guard who had probably recognized Ozul and Raven.

Ozul and the duo did not mind and just went inside.

This time, Count Oliver was outside in the garden instead of his office. There were several documents in his hand as he read them with a scrunched up face.

Behind him stood Butler Albert. He whispered about the presence of the guests to Oliver before moving inside to prepare for refreshments.

Count Oliver looked up to see the familiar faces of Ozul and Raven. A smile bloomed on his face looking at the faces, or instead, the answers for his almost every problem.

He was truly ashamed of himself knowing that it didn't take Ozul to leave for a week, and he already had a pile of problems! Maybe he was too reliant on Ozul for the past decade?

Such thoughts passed through his mind, but he shook them away as he needed Ozul right now. He said;

"Haha... Just like my guardian angels, you come whenever I'm in trouble!"- Oliver was a little giddy inside as he trusted Ozul and knew that his troubles would be solved sooner or later.

"If you consider me an angel...then your vision for angels might be a little too...nevermind."- Ozul replied. He had unconsciously replied, but midway realized that he didn't care either way.

Only Ozul could do something like that. I mean, who would even stop midway talking just because they are too lazy?

"Now I'm not even worthy enough for your complete sentence?"- Oliver joked around with a wry smile. He was getting quite familiar with Ozul's small habits, such as this occasional laziness!

Why occasional? It was because Ozul would never slack off on a mission.

Butler Albert came back with tea and sweets for Raven and the other conspicuous guy with them.

Blaze was on high alert and would not carelessly drop his guard. Only when Ozul gestured towards him did he relax a little bit, but he still did not dare to eat since Ozul didn't.

"I see you have a new companion?"- Oliver spoke when he noticed that Blaze stood behind Ozul and did not take a seat.

"Oh... He is that demon you wanted me to eliminate."- Ozul replied. He did not care if Oliver had any problem with this or not.

"Haha-ha... Wait, you're not joking?! Who am I kidding? Gods will fall before you learn to joke."- Oliver said while his eyes twitched.

However, he did not question Ozul as to why he spared the 'demon' and instead had him as his companion. Would Ozul even listen? And even if he did, would he care?

Count Oliver knew better than to embarrass himself!

"So, why did you guys come back? Did you realize my worth and..."- Oliver started self-praising, but he was cut off by Raven;

"Stop it. We came back for a mission."-

"Oh! Can I help you in any way?"- Oliver asked as he knew that Ozul would never visit him personally if there weren't anything serious.

"It's about the recent unusual situations."- Raven said.

Oliver was surprised as he had not issued any request in the Mercenary Guild for help. Was it someone else?

"Our mission is only related to these events."- Raven said after noticing Oliver's confusion.

Raven could not disclose the information as Ozul had signed the contract. Much to her horror and surprise, Ozul began to speak;

"It's just that Duke Edwin wants to find something... and that 'thing' has been stolen by the same people... that are behind these strange events."- Ozul said before thinking that not speaking would have been much more comfortable.

Even Blaze was looking at Ozul with wide eyes. Raven had explained to him about the Magical Contract, so his worries were understandable.

However, even after a while, nothing happened to Ozul! They both wanted to question him about it but refrained themselves as this was not the place nor the time to do so.

Count Oliver also did not question them any further as this was their mission, but he was surprised to find out that there were people behind these events!

"Who are these people, and what is their goal? There can only be one explanation...Evil Mages!"- Oliver could only come to this conclusion.

Evil cults have always existed in this world. Only they could do something like kidnapping children and doing something to the Beasts.

Now, it is not necessary to use Darkness Element to be called an Evil Mage. However, most Evil Mages used this Element.

That's why people started to frown upon the Darkness Element itself.

"We just need you to provide us with information."- Raven said to Count Oliver.

"Of course! If you want, I can even send people to help you."- Count Oliver offered as this was well within his duty.

"We don't need your men. Use them to gather information instead."- Raven said. Blaze did discuss anything as he was not familiar with Count Oliver.

Count Oliver just presented Raven with the files that he was holding earlier. The file contained everything from his City to the official reports from the Capital City.

"This is all I have on them for now."-