Mage Manual

Chapter 126: Chapter 115: The Mayor’s Downfall

“If hurt enough, use a pair of hands to joyfully sever yesterday’s curse…”

As the prison’s lively bell rang, Ash got up to wash and brush his teeth, pondering over the Sword Maiden’s strange actions these past few days.

Gone was the idle chatter, replaced suddenly by the Sword Maiden asking Ash targeted questions in the Void Realm, such as what color palette he liked, how he made friends, whether he preferred mystery suspense or horror thrillers, and even if he liked big breasts or flat chests, leaving Ash utterly bewildered—wasn’t that obvious, who wouldn’t prefer big breasts?

Moreover, the Sword Maiden’s attitude towards Ash could shift between four different styles in one night, sometimes gentle and considerate, sometimes cold and proud, sometimes sexy and enticing, sometimes naive and cute.

Ash’s thought on this was, ‘It would be even better if she could change her clothes along with her personality.’

Ash had also asked the Sword Maiden if something was wrong, but she had said nothing was wrong, making Ash anxious.

He thought and thought, wondering if the Sword Maiden could possibly be conducting a psychological test on him? Aside from that, he could only think of one possibility—that it was the Sword Maiden’s time of the month.

Thinking about it carefully—mood swings, talkative curiosity—it seemed quite consistent with the traits of a woman during her menstrual cycle. Aside from exclaiming, ‘Even paper-thin people have periods,’ Ash didn’t think much more of it.

When he switched on the Light Screen, a message immediately popped up from “Aurora’s Mage’s Handbook”:

“Death Mad Sword Maiden’s training has ended. Please collect the Growth Report and set this week’s training strategy.”

“Death Mad Sword Maiden’s Growth Report 4.19~4.25”

“Sword Technique Faction: Silver → Silver”

“Light Magic Faction: Silver → Silver”

“Water Magic Faction: Silver → Silver”

“Spirit Faction: 0 → Silver”

“Magic Power: Silver Half-wing → Silver Full Wings”

“Training Evaluation: A!”

“Due to the A-grade evaluation, Death Mad Sword Maiden received a professional enhancement from the Mage’s Handbook: Silver Mage of Destruction → Silver Mage of Soul Breaking”

“Silver Mage of Soul Breaking—Professional Characteristics: Each effective attack deals an additional 1% soul damage.”

This new professional characteristic made Ash’s eyes light up. The enemies in the Void Realm were undoubtedly Soul Bodies, meaning the Sword Maiden could inflict additional real damage on her enemies. Coupled with her fast attack speed, the cumulative extra damage could be substantial.

The Magic Faction hadn’t grown much, and in the past few days, they had obtained just one Water Magic Treasure Bead, which Ash fed to the Sword Maiden, so naturally, the Water Faction stayed in the Silver Realm.

If it weren’t for the Spirit Faction upgrading from zero to Silver, and Magic Power surpassing from Half-Wing to Full Wing, the training evaluation definitely wouldn’t have been an A. Nevertheless, Ash was quite resentful—why wasn’t there a growth report for him as the ‘Final Observer’? He, too, wanted a career enhancement from the handbook to switch to a new profession!

To this point, his profession was still the useless cult leader! The Blessing of The Gods of Four Pillars had never taken effect!

Ash checked his points. Although they had hunted many knowledge beings in recent days, earning many Technique Spirits, since the Sword Maiden said she needed money to buy Technique Spirits, the spoils were split six-four, with Ash taking the larger share.

After converting all the temporarily unnecessary Technique Spirits into points, Ash now had 124 points, still unable to purchase the ‘Bag of Source Crystals’ priced at 198 points.

Without a drawing ritual, Ash directly arranged the Sword Maiden’s training strategy for the next week. Initially, he wanted to max out the swordsmanship training as usual, but considering the Sword Maiden needed rest during her special time, he pondered for a moment and decided… to give the Sword Maiden an hour’s rest today only.

Ah, his heart ached—was this what it felt like to be a boss, feeling like losing a huge sum of money when seeing an employee rest?

Ash hurried to execute the training strategy to avoid regretting his decision, then went to the cafeteria for breakfast as usual, only to find the Central Hall crowded with people—were they recruiting volunteers (cannon fodder) again?

But no, the prisoners were just gathered to watch the news on the hall’s Light Screen, with Igula intently focused as well.

Ash moved closer to ask Igula, “What does the news say? Have the citizens had a crisis of conscience and decided to boycott the inhumane system of the Blood Moon Judgement?”

“More thrilling than the citizens finding their conscience,” Igula murmured softly while intently watching the screen. “Fernand has fallen.”

“Who?”

“The Mayor of Kaimon City, he’s going down!”

Ash was taken aback and joined in watching the news.

“…The current estimated number of casualties has already exceeded ten thousand. The new city of Sky Street has countless dead and injured, multiple fires broke out in the upper city area, and corpses littered the streets. They may have been office workers, perhaps shopping couples, possibly future Legendary Mages, or just ordinary people diligently living their lives—but now, due to an invasion that shouldn’t have happened, they are just pale corpses.”

On the screen, a physically attractive and well-dressed female host stood on a skyscraper. Her face bore a slight resemblance to Igula, with a flirtatious look in her eyes, hinting at some Meiwa ancestry. She wore arm sleeves of a light purple-pink color, which looked particularly cute.

However, her expression was extremely angry and her voice was filled with suppressed rage, “Everyone, please look behind me. This is Kaimon City’s most prosperous upper district, but what can we see now? Ruins, flames, corpses, bloodstains, exposed steel roots, broken dolls—”

“Kaimon News is the mouthpiece of the Church and the Institute,” Igula whispered, “When the host shows obvious political bias, it represents the Blood Moon factions presenting a sacrificial victim to quell the public’s anger.”

“Forty hours have passed since the first attack. We can’t help but ask, why hasn’t the Crime Hunting Hall captured the attackers yet? Why do attacks still happen? Why is the upper district still a high-risk area, so much so that even medical teams dare not enter to treat the wounded?”

“Where has the taxpayers’ money gone, and who has wasted it? Rated as the safest region in the country, why are we suffering such a disaster? Why must we, the ordinary people who live and work in Kaimon City, face such misfortune?”

“Why are there organized, large-scale attackers from other countries infiltrating Kaimon City? What is the Government Affairs Hall hiding from us?”

“We need answers, the dead need answers! Someone must be responsible for this disaster—”

Spurt!

As the screen was suddenly smeared with fresh blood, the death row inmates in the Central Hall gasped. They had seen many deaths in the Blood Moon Judgement, but it was the first time they witnessed a host being suddenly killed during a live broadcast.

The live channel plunged into darkness, but soon switched to a new scene.

The background this time was a clean, tidy, and grand office, and sitting behind the desk was an ogre in a dark black suit—yes, an ogre, though he lacked fangs and his nails were neatly trimmed, his appearance wasn’t at all menacing and even exuded a friendly vibe. His huge buttocks chair was proof enough that he was indeed a blue-skinned ogre.

When he spoke, Igula was dumbfounded.

“I am Alandor Fernand, the mayor of Kaimon City,” the ogre said solemnly, “It is with a heavy heart that I inform everyone that the number of innocent victims killed in the terrorist attacks has reached 13,000. The Crime Hunting Hall is operating at full capacity, and the Government Affairs Hall has mobilized adventurers from the nearby Lakeview Battle Zone to assist in capturing the roaming attackers.”

“These attackers are butchers from the Blood Moon who came through the Void Realm passages from other countries. I must admit I bear some responsibility for this. The joint research investigation of the Void Realm passages was a collective decision made by the Government Affairs Hall, the Council, and the Crime Hunting Hall, in collaboration with the Lakeview Battle Zone. If the Government Affairs Hall had made a more comprehensive plan and more cautious judgements initially, perhaps—”

“He’s still not giving up,” Igula sneered. “He is threatening the other conspirators that if he dies, others won’t fare any better. He might admit defeat, but he doesn’t want to leave.”

“…for this, I am willing to submit to the scrutiny of the Crime Hunting Hall and step down from my duties as mayor temporarily. The deputy mayor, Guru, will act in my place.”

Finally, Fernand stood up and deeply bowed, “I am deeply sorry for my mistakes in office.”

“Oh!”

“Haha, Fernand, you too have your day!”

Cheers erupted one after another in the Central Hall. Although the Noise Regulations meant that the laughs couldn’t be too loud, the simultaneous cheers of so many people still filled the hall with a joyful atmosphere. It seemed that nothing brought true joy to these sewage dregs like seeing someone else’s misfortune.

Yet, Ash saw Igula, usually so calm, also excited, his earlobes flushed red and his smile nearly uncontrollable. Curiously, he asked, “Igula, do you have a grudge against Fernand? Even if you’re reveling in his misfortune, you shouldn’t be this happy, right?”

Igula grabbed Ash’s shoulders, “Don’t you understand? The mayor has fallen! He’s been accused by the Crime Hunting Hall!”

Ash felt puzzled, “I heard, so what?”

Igula looked like he wanted to attack Ash’s intelligence, but his chip prevented any rude behavior.

After holding back for a while, he finally said with barely controlled excitement, “If the mayor faces serious allegations during his term and has to be suspended immediately, to ensure his personal safety and prevent him from committing suicide, the mayor will be detained in the nearest Blood Moon prison for isolation and investigation.”

Ash remembered, he had heard about this rule while discussing proper escape methods with the Medical Practitioner.

Ash vaguely realized something, “You mean…”

Igula stared intently at Ash, his eyes shining as if trying to suck Ash into them.

No need to wait for the transport ship next month. When Fernand is escorted to Shattered Lake Prison, that’s our chance to escape!”

“When will Fernand be detained in Shattered Lake?”

As a rule, the sooner the better, but he definitely has to stay in the Crime Hunting Hall overnight to modify the restrictions in his chip. This means—”

Ash and Igula exchanged glances, “Tomorrow’s Blood Moon Judgement on the 27th!”

PS: Thanks to a reader’s reminder, I cited content from NGA’s original post “Talking about the tricks of women I’ve met on blind dates over the years” in chapter 113 without indicating that this is an inappropriate infringement. I have sent a message to the user on nga asking for authorization, and if it’s not authorized, I will remove it. It’s the first time I’ve used nga’s messaging, so if there’s no reply, I’ll tag him again in the original post tomorrow.

I tend to take excerpts personally, and when I find interesting sentences or stories, I jot them down, mainly from sources like Idiot Daily and WritingPrompts. When quoting, I rarely pay attention to legality and sometimes can’t remember the source. I will be more careful in the future.