As she stared at the Wind Mage in front of her, who was slowly but surely shifting her direction, and avoiding meeting her face to face, Beatrice, who was slightly tense at the moment, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
'Getting myself involved in trouble right now is not a very good idea, I should be more cautious...' thought Beatrice as she continued speeding along to her destination.
Although Beatrice knew that she was more powerful than the wind mage, getting into a fight could prove quite disastrous right now, especially if the opposing side is able to get some helpers.
As such, before the other party changed her flying direction, Beatrice was prepared to do the same.
...
After flying for a few more hours, Beatrice suddenly turned her attention to the ground below her, as her eyes instantly pierced through the clouds.
From high above, Beatrice was clearly able to see the territories of both the Maeniel, and the Slumor Kingdom, allowing her to notice some massive differences.
Although Beatrice was high up in the sky, she was able to clearly see farmers from both Kingdoms, allowing her to see the clear differences between them.
Compared to the farmers from the Slumor Kingdom, who were clearly very healthy, those from the Maeniel Kingdom were clearly a bit thin and malnourished.
Furthermore, as it was the middle of the day right now, when the sun was at it's most powerful, the farmers from the Slumor Kingdom were resting, unlike their counterparts, who were still working in this heat, which was nigh unbearable for mortals.
From what Beatrice could see, the farmers from the Maeniel Kingdom had clearly begun working early in the morning and had not stopped much other than to rest a bit.
"I guess it's to be expected that the management of the Wizard's Hand and that of the Shadow Monastery would be different..." mumbled Beatrice as she touched her chin in thought.
From above, Beatrice could see that the work of the Maeniel farmers seemed to be paying off, and that their fields were, in fact, richer than those of their counterparts.
Beatrice could not comment on whether this increase in production was worth it, as she had not seen what effects the large amount of labor had on the Maeniel farmers.
After a few moments, Beatrice flew over the border, causing her to turn her attention away from such a boring topic, turning it onto the mission on at hand.
"I need to a bit more careful," mumbled Beatrice as she turned her attention onto a piece of paper that was now floating in front of her.
Based on the information that Selena had given her, both Susan, and her teacher were currently in Matine City, at the south of the Slumor Kingdom.
Interestingly, right next to this city stood a large Elemental Stone mine, which was what Beatrice had to be wary of and avoid.
Although Selena had not found out who the Official Mages guarding this mine were, she knew that there were three of them, who could definitely pose a threat to Beatrice if she alerted them.
Other than that, there was nothing much of interest in the Slumor Kingdom other than some minor mage gathering, which did not interest Beatrice much.
...
Several hours later, near dusk.
As she stared at the city in the distance, as well as the mine that was just a few kilometers away from it, Beatrice slowly began retreating a safe distance away, outside of vision range, before quickly landing on the ground and beginning to walk to towards the city.
As Matine City was near an Elemental Stone mine, the city had far greater defenses than normal cities, including several Mage Apprentices who were patrolling outside of it.
'Their minds might be protected by something, I shouldn't risk it...' thought Beatrice as she quickly passed by one of the apprentices without him noticing a thing.
Originally, Beatrice had intended to read the memories of one of the mages so that she could gain a better idea of the layout of the city, and maybe even find Susan's location.
After some thought, Beatrice had then deemed this idea too dangerous, and had decided on a next course of action.
Merely a hundred meters away from the city wall of Matine City, Beatrice suddenly stopped before turning into a small shadowy smoke cloud.
A few moments after that, Beatrice then flew up on the side of the city wall, unseen by anyone thanks to the cover of the night, which was quickly getting darker and darker.
Without any sort of difficulty, Beatrice got into the city, allowing her to then begin searching for any trace of mana throughout the city.
Interestingly, Beatrice soon sensed mana coming from 2 different places, the city center, as well as its edge, where its poorest residents resided.
As she thought of Susan's personality, Beatrice then transformed back into her human form, now without her wings, and began walking towards the outskirts of the city while restraining her mana as much as possible.
Slowly but surely, as Beatrice made her way towards the source of mana, which was constantly changing in size, likely because spells were being cast, while the houses around Beatrice began changing, beginning to look worse and worse.
By the time five minutes had passed, and Beatrice came close to her destination, the buildings around Beatrice could no longer be describes as 'houses', instead, shacks would be a better term for them.
At that moment, Beatrice finally saw her target, Susan, who was currently healing a homeless person whilst her teacher watched from the side.
As soon as Beatrice 'noticed', Susan, a rather 'surprised' look appeared on her face, causing Susan, who was busy healing the homeless man, to suddenly raise her head and stare at her.
This caused Susan's teacher to also turn her attention away from her disciple and onto the person that had arrived, a grave mistake.