The Bizarre Wizarding World

"That... you must stay, I need to ask you a few questions."

Huntington looked at the previously speaking short Wizard and then spoke again, the latter grimaced and nodded.

Following the crowd out of the White Tower hall.

Colin and his party continued toward the outside of the White Tower, while the Wizards of the Roon Kingdom who were usually in the White Tower took another path.

The Wizards tacitly maintained silence, waiting until they left the White Tower before finally couldn't help but start discussing.

"Have you ever heard of the Frost Phantom?"

"No..."

"Is it some new kind of demon?"

"Not sure..."

"Lord Colin, have you ever heard of the Frost Phantom?" Welber suddenly asked.

"No." Colin shook his head calmly.

"Alas, the Roon Kingdom is still too remote," Welber sighed, then found another topic to join the conversation with the Wizards in front of him.

"Speaking of which, Hayman is really unlucky."

"Ha ha ha, yes!"

"Who told him he indeed specializes in Frost Magic?"

Colin walked silently as usual, and the Wizards beside him were already used to his demeanor, not finding anything unusual.

But in fact, at this moment, Colin was remotely controlling the six Frost Shadows, moving them away from the Roon Kingdom.

"The Frost Phantom incident had already passed two years ago, why would it still find its way to the Roon Kingdom now?" Colin was puzzled in his heart.

...

In the White Tower hall.

"Recently, there has been no research on Frost knowledge..." Huntington stroked his chin and smiled at Hayman, "Well, these are the questions I wanted to ask, you may go now."

"Alright, Lord Huntington." Hayman visibly relaxed, respectfully bowed, and then quickly left.

After he left, only Huntington, three others, and Wizard Erwin remained in the White Tower hall.

"Lord Erwin, how has the harvest been this year, are the crops thriving?" Huntington suddenly asked.

"It's only April now, the harvest is around September and October." Erwin said, his expression calm.

Huntington's group, who grew up in the Wizard City, had completely detached from production... However, the entire food supply of Neustadt City, even that of the Neustadt Kingdom, mainly came from the land of the Roon Kingdom.

The importance of this food goes without saying.

Huntington didn't feel embarrassed and changed the subject:

"That so-called Frost Phantom first appeared two years ago and was the first 'Tainted creation' recorded in Neustadt City."

Erwin slightly frowned, "What does 'Tainted creation' mean?"

"Lord Erwin should have heard of the 'Wizard Research Management Regulations' issued in Neustadt City," Huntington paused and said. "And this decree was born because of the appearance of Tainted creations."

"The Adams Family was the first to discover this abnormal condition and reported it to the Supreme Council. Since there was no concrete evidence, the Supreme Council did not immediately enact the decree."

"However, after careful investigation, monitoring, and frequent reports from the Law Enforcement Team about out-of-control incidents caused by magical research, the Supreme Council finally issued the decree.

And only recently, new findings confirmed the initial guess of the Adams Family."

Erwin stroked the staff in his hands, somewhat surprised, not expecting such a reason behind the enactment of the Wizard Research Management Regulations in Neustadt City.

"Unfortunately, we haven't been able to figure out the cause of the appearance of Tainted creations, only discovering that it might be related to the Tainted babbling."

Huntington sighed softly, then looked at Erwin again: "To get back to the point, the Frost Phantom is one of the earliest and most typical Tainted creations recorded in Neustadt City."

"Unlike other Tainted creations that lack much intelligence and only know to crazily kill Wizards, the Frost Phantom, while harboring an inexplicable hatred towards Wizards, knows how to hide and is very cunning.

In the past two years, its whereabouts were uncertain, but every appearance was accompanied by the death of Wizards."

"Therefore, the Supreme Council believes that it is highly special, and perhaps we can find the fundamental reason for the formation of Tainted creations from it."

After saying these words, Huntington paused and continued,

"As for more, I beg your pardon but I cannot say anymore.

If Sir Erwin notices any traces of the Frost Phantom, please report them to the Law Enforcement Team immediately."

Erwin fell silent for a moment and then nodded slowly, "I understand."

His face was expressionless, but his mind was full of doubts.

Huntington's attitude was exceptionally kind, and...it seemed that he came truly for the Frost Phantom?

"I'm also heading to the next Kingdom, so I won't impose any longer." Huntington smiled as he prepared to leave.

But before he had taken two steps, he slapped his forehead and turned back to continue,

"Oh right, I almost forgot—the School's elder asked me to give you this."

Huntington pulled out a delicate golden token from his Storage Ring and handed it to Erwin.

Erwin was slightly shocked; he recognized that it was the highest tier token for entry into the Yista School.

As his thoughts turned, he finally understood the reason behind the wizard's previous kind attitude—Huntington had been waiting for him.

Huntington lowered his voice and whispered in Erwin's ear:

"Sir Erwin, the Roon Family has lost the Meditation Method of a High Rank Wizard, making it impossible for them to produce a Third Rank Wizard anymore.

"And the Roon Kingdom, being the Golden Barley of Neustadt, if the ruling Family only has Second Rank Wizards, they won't be able to command respect... You should think over it carefully."

After saying this, Huntington left.

Erwin, a white-bearded man, sat alone with a grim expression, holding the golden token.

...

"Actually, a long time ago, the Roon Royal Family used to have Third Rank Wizards, and not just one," Welber said wistfully as he sipped his red tea.

"Could it be they died in the Demon Surge hundreds of years ago?" Colin asked somewhat in shock.

"Yes, originally there were three Third Rank Wizards, but they all died in the Demon Surge," Welber confirmed.

Colin raised his eyebrows.

When investigating the information about the cave's Demon Surge, he knew that three wizards from the Roon Royal Family had died during that three-year-long Demon Surge.

But he hadn't realized that these three recorded fallen wizards were all Third Rank Wizards!

"Fortunately, the Demon Surge is long past, otherwise I wouldn't dare to come here," Welber stated.

"I see that Huntington seems to have some conflicts with Wizard Erwin?" Colin thought for a moment before asking again.

Welber set down his red tea, "Lord Huntington...it's not that he has a conflict with Wizard Erwin. It's that the Roon Family always felt that their Third Rank Wizards had all perished during the Demon Surge back then, partly because the Yista School-led Wizards had intentionally targeted them."

"Intentionally targeted...?"

Colin was astonished, but then recalling the Pureblood Families he had encountered before, he suddenly felt it was not too surprising.

"Right, I also think it's impossible," Welber said as he observed his astonished reaction and continued, "I think it's just Wizard Erwin and his people thinking too much. After all, the School's wizards also suffered heavy losses in that Demon Surge, with several Third Rank Wizards dying as well."

Colin did not continue this topic but chatted casually for a while. After indirectly gathering some information about Huntington from Welber, he got up to leave.

Although Welber didn't know much, it was enough for Colin to deduce that the purpose of Huntington's visit was likely not because of the Frost Phantom.

Coincidentally, just as Colin was leaving Welber's house, he saw Huntington and his group flying away from the White Tower into the distance.

This made him more confident in his deduction and slightly eased his worried mind.

'It seems it's not the Frost Shadow that has drawn Huntington and his group... But then again, so far the Frost Phantom has only been used against the Wood Family, and it hasn't shown itself, so the likelihood of being exposed is not great.'

'Alas, every advantage has its disadvantage. Initially, the Frost Phantom took the blame for me, and now I have to worry about investigations aimed at the Frost Phantom affecting me.'

Colin shook his head silently and walked briskly towards his home.

According to the schedule, it was now time for meditation.

And I don't know if it's an illusion... But it feels like there have been some changes on the wizard side since advancing to a Second Rank Knight.