Zelez Town.
Anna was sitting on her bed while looking at the paper in her hand. "Hmm, the mission this time is about the embezzlement. Well, it shouldn't be that hard, I guess."
It had been a month since he joined the organization. So, he had gotten used to living in this kind of environment.
"What should I worry about is this."
Requirement: Three Bronze Inquisitors.
"I have been getting a lot of missions in the past month, so I will rank up after this mission. After becoming a Silver Inquisitor, I will have an easier time meeting Noel two months later," Anna muttered while sighing as if she was a bit tired after accomplishing many missions in a short time.
"I guess I'll see who will be my teammates this time." Anna smirked. "I bet they're going to target me again. Considering the mission this time to demand the money back from Count Swirzel.
"He has done a lot of dirty business with a neighboring kingdom, so the kingdom has lost a lot of money in taxes.
"But if I were the Royal Family, I would promise him a tax write-off as long as he could corner me. In other words, the two inquisitors beside me would probably be the people they sent to either help me or help the Count.
"Well, to think I would be able to see all this pretty easily… Maybe I should thank Noel since he always told me to ask 'why' in every situation and every answer." Anna smirked. "Alright. Let's make them think I'm clueless."
While Anna was preparing her plan, the Count received the letter Anna sent on behalf of the organization.
The Count frowned after seeing the letter since he also received another letter with the royal seal.
Anna's letter was simple as she only demanded some compensation for the embezzlement. On the other hand, the letter with the royal seal asked him to use any means necessary to put Anna in a bad situation.
He had to become a bad guy that would be defeated by the inquisitor. Everything would be done secretly, so his reputation wouldn't be tarnished and any real damage wouldn't be done. In addition, the Count would receive a pardon for all the embezzlement.
The Royal Family truly paid a lot to make Anna bow down to them.
The Count thought for a moment before smiling. "Although the opposite party is the daughter of Marquis Stargaze, a figure that I couldn't touch no matter what, the one asking me this time is the royal family.
"They have promised that Marquis Stargaze won't be able to do anything to me. There is no demerit in this plan. I just have to use my influence to arrange a few experts… normal thugs can't be used since Anna Stargaze has become a Spirit Wielder. So…"
The Count narrowed his eyes and stood up, walking toward the barrack. This was his personal army, but the Count knew it was impossible to mobilize them, especially against a Spirit Wielder like Anna.
However, there was one person that should be able to fight against Anna. He walked toward a middle-aged man who supervised the training.
"Sir." The middle-aged man bowed to him, greeting the Count.
Count Swirzel nodded and asked, "I have a task for you."
"What is it, Sir? For you to personally ask me…"
"The opponent this time is a Spirit Wielder. You are a peak Spirit Wielder, only one step away from Spirit Master. So, you should be able to defeat a Spirit Wielder, right? Especially a brat who doesn't have too much experience."
"A brat?"
"Yes. There will be three Inquisitors coming here. Two of them are our allies, but one of them is Anna Stargaze."
"Stargaze as in Stargaze Family?" The middle-aged man frowned.
"Yeah. That Stargaze Family. I know you're afraid of offending them, but this is an order from an even higher position." The Count nodded. "That's why I want you to work together with two of them to corner Anna Stargaze and get defeated. Don't worry. You might get some superficial injuries, but I'll make sure to compensate you properly."
"But Sir…"
"One thousand gold coins and five women you like."
The middle-aged man suddenly fell silent before saying, "Consider it done."
"Wait until the other party makes contact with you." The Count patted the man's shoulder a few times before walking away.
A Count would have a hard time employing a Spirit Master. So, a peak Spirit Wielder like him was a great catch. That was why he had given him a lot of things to keep the man here.
Their relationship was purely transactional. The Count gave him a lot of money and women for him to accomplish a difficult task.
But the result was usually satisfying.
Anna might be a Spirit Wielder, but in his eyes, there was no way a 16 years old girl would be able to do many things. Her lack of experience would prove to be fatal since the man had done a lot of dirty work during his stay with the Count Family.
The two Inquisitors even came to help the Count, so he believed the mission was nothing but assured.
The Count only needed to sit down and relax while watching how his subordinate reported the completion of the mission. After that, the royal family would forget about the embezzlement.
"Still, an inquisitor, huh." The Count frowned. "An inquisitor is the kingdom watchdog. They're dealing with smuggling, embezzlement or even uprising. All the kingdom's tasks that couldn't be done in a normal way would be done by them.
"That's why the Royal Family didn't care about the people inside the organizations. Even if they were thugs, as long as they were competent, they would become good inquisitors.
"To think the most talented person in the kingdom would be thrown to a place filled with that kind of people…
"I guess the brighter the flower, the more people want to pluck it." The Count closed his eyes, pitying Anna.
