"Make a move against ?" Hilia was confused. "Hasn’t he always been making moves? He just stopped after I hit Tier Two."
Rose chuckled: "It’s different. What I an by ’making a move’ is sothing that affects your future. Actually, way back when you were asked to heal Anarce, under his brother’s manipulation, he wanted to do sothing to you. But at the last mont, he hesitated."
Hilia: "?"
The girl frowned. "Don’t tell he wanted to block and just lock up in his house?"
Rose laughed heartily: "Not quite. Do you rember Anarce’s revenge?"
Hilia nodded, "Yeah, I rember. Why?"
"Do you recall how you handled it at the ti?"
"Of course, I disguised myself, then stopped those gang mbers, didn’t let them attack Anarce."
As she spoke, Hilia recalled.
"And I got a bunch of gold coins from them, later found the local High Priest was planting pearl rosemary and sent him to the Judgent Court."
Rose nodded: "Yep, exactly, that was you helping Anarce. But, if you hadn’t stopped them, and instead tead up with Anarce to kill, when you got back, you’d face murder charges."
Hilia blinked. "Murder charges?"
"Yep. If you had killed, when you returned—even if you pretended soone else did it—they’d eventually dig up evidence and accuse you of murder. Then the nobles involved in the Holy Daughter election would gang up and cancel your candidacy."
Hilia’s eyes went wide, understanding at once, feeling grateful: "Good thing I didn’t kill anyone back then."
While helping Anarce, Hilia stopped the gang several tis, but only froze them or extorted so money, and didn’t even use her own appearance.
There was no killing; and if they tried to bla ’frostbite on bystanders’, it wouldn’t stick, so she could keep her Holy Daughter candidacy.
"Wait, but later on, I wiped out the whole gang leadership... Why didn’t they make a move then?"
Rose replied: "Gang leaders aren’t the sa as regular thugs. Wiping out all the top brass in one night was a totally unexpected curveball, so they were too cautious to do anything."
As for reporting the High Priest for growing pearl rosemary, they wouldn’t dare; actually, that even boosted her evaluation score.
Rose continued: "Actually, even if you didn’t kill anyone, if Anarce did, they might still accuse you, as long as there was evidence you were in Frost Town at the ti."
Hilia: "?"
Rose spoke calmly: "Anarce can use all the Tier One Ice Magic you learned. It’s weaker than yours, but she really did master it, which is enough to kill lots of gang thugs."
"So what Lord Rose ans is... Nosen and Mier wanted Anarce to use Ice Magic to kill gang mbers, then fra for it?"
Rose nodded.
Hilia glanced at Anarce in the arena, who was earnestly practicing Magic Puppet combat, rembering the spells she used back then.
"...But Anarce didn’t use it. She went with Wind Magic the whole ti."
Rose smiled: "Anarce was won over by your charm; she didn’t want to hurt you."
Hilia: "..."
Rose added: "But even if Anarce didn’t use Ice Magic, after she burned down that tavern, they could still forcibly say it was you. As long as you were in Frost Town, and the tavern had evidence of mage combat... Of course, this incident wouldn’t cancel your candidacy, but after that, they’d definitely take other actions to slowly strip you of qualification."
"But this ti, your simp classmate, Mier, hesitated. He felt it was too much, so instead of going through with it, he let Nosen take his stuff and gave up."
Hilia was surprised: "That guy actually backed out?"
Rose smiled faintly: "The mind of a simp is pretty interesting. After giving up, he tried to approach you. When that didn’t work, he regretted it and wanted to try again, but by then it was too late. Once the fire incident was settled, trying to pin it on you would drag in lots of nobles, not worth the trouble."
Hilia: "..."
The girl felt like this stuff was way too complicated. Why make it so tangled? Wouldn’t it be easier to just send assassins after her?
Or, when she was led into the manor, they could’ve just set up an array and locked her up—way less waste of brainpower than running around and getting nowhere.
Hilia was thoroughly confused.
"So now, what does Mier want to do?"
"He’s just a simp, can’t do much. When push cos to shove, he’ll regret again. He’s more likely to ruin things than help, but his brother will do so pretty disgusting stuff."
Rose’s expression cooled down. He held up two fingers: "Hilia, I’ve got two options for you. One, you handle it yourself; two, focus and finish my class assignnts, and I’ll take care of this for you."
Hilia didn’t hesitate: "I pick option two. Please, Mr. Rose!"
This stuff is way too botherso.
Hilia felt she could never resolve it perfectly.
She hadn’t even noticed such a simple plot; if she tried to fix it, she’d probably just end up killing Nosen—not much else cos to mind.
Rose smiled again and said: "My approach is pretty much the sa—just deal with Nosen directly."
Hilia piped up: "Is Lord Rose going to use a magic puppet to kill him? I can work with you on timing, talk to Ms. Ailina or soone to get you an alibi."
Rose shook his head, amused: "No need. A Tier Three Mage like him isn’t worth getting personally involved."
"So... how are you planning to do it, Mr. Rose?"
"Just let the people who want to kill him do the job."
Hilia didn’t really get it, but didn’t ask further—just nodded: "Alright, I’ll hit the books... Oh, and do we have to kill Mier too?"
Rose said: "No need to kill simps; they’ll jump off a bridge by themselves."
Hilia: "?"
Rose didn’t explain, just said: "You just focus on your assignnts. Don’t worry about the rest—no need for magic puppets either."
"Okay."
Hilia plunged back into the sea of knowledge.
...
Two days later.
On the practical simulation course.
Just as Hilia was about to do her usual thing—sit off to the side, read, and leisurely watch her classmates train—Mier stepped out of the crowd.
"Hilia, I’m now a Tier Two Mage, qualified to train with you. Co, duel with . I’ll show you that when resources are absolutely unequal, talent doesn’t an a thing."
Hilia said nothing, too lazy to respond.
Mier went on: "Now we’re the only two Tier Two Mages in class. Even if you don’t want to fight , you’ll still have to do practical training. Practical training gets you tons of daily points, and if you don’t join, I’ll report to the instructor."
Hilia frowned, put her book down, and warned: "Miller Deville, I wouldn’t recomnd you do this. If you get crushed later, our instructor will bla ."
As the second mage in class to reach Tier Two, Mier was super confident: "You should be worried about yourself. Maybe your Magic Power Concentration is higher than mine, but your magic puppets aren’t as good as mine. Magic Power isn’t everything—puppet strength is what counts!"
Hilia rembered Mier’s words from two days ago and stood up: "Alright, you’re looking for a beating? I’ll oblige."
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