"Are you telling me the scene you set up was ruined?!"

「Three days earlier.」

After the young instructor Flora from the Saint Antonia Magic Academy had left, an enraged shriek from Yunice Lawrence echoed through the Lord’s Mansion in Roland Town.

"When did this happen?"

Before her, Yunice’s fiancé, Baron Lael, stammered, not daring to meet her gaze.

"I... I don’t know..."

Baron Lael’s eyes darted away, but Yunice immediately grabbed him by the collar. "You’d better answer my question honestly, Lael. If Mother finds out about this colossal screw-up, believe me, the Lawrences have ten thousand ways to make you disappear on the spot!"

"I’ll talk... I’ll talk!"

Lael was shaking like a leaf. "It was ten days ago, just the day after we finished setting it up."

"I was afraid you’d blame me if you knew, so I..."

"Are you a moron?!"

Yunice kicked him to the ground. "Something this important, and you’re only telling me now?"

"I’m sorry, Miss Unis, I know I was wrong. I’m begging you, please don’t tell Lady Caroline. She’ll definitely call off our engagement!"

Lael crawled to her feet, hugging her legs tightly.

"Miss Unis, I can’t lose you..."

Yunice unceremoniously kicked him away again. "Get lost! You idiot! Tell me, how are we supposed to deal with that bitch from Saint Anthony Academy now?"

"I... I didn’t think she would actually come in person..."

Lael covered his face. Ever since he discovered the scene he’d set up on Yunice’s orders had been ruined, he’d been clinging to the hope that it wouldn’t matter.

While the loss of a student from the Saint Antonia Magic Academy was certainly no small matter, when it happened over a decade ago, the Academy had simply let the local town handle the investigation, sending a Steward to check on the results later.

Who would have thought the Academy would take it so seriously this time, sending message after message? And it wasn’t some Steward in charge of menial tasks who showed up, but Flora, the genius Mage who was the talk of the Kingdom!

After her anger subsided, Yunice had no choice but to start thinking about their next move.

"You said the site was destroyed. What happened exactly?"

"I’m not sure what happened... That place is supposed to be very remote. Powerful Adventurers don’t usually go that deep into the forest from that direction, and any Adventurers who might have passed through shouldn’t have been strong enough to kill the Mutated Goblin."

Lael’s words carried a hint of grievance. After all, he had arranged everything according to Yunice’s instructions, and the men he sent were his own trusted subordinates. In theory, nothing should have gone wrong.

"What about the items?"

"The Mage Robe and skeleton we planted to look like they’d been torn apart by Goblins are still there. But the Magic Scroll..."

Yunice frowned deeply. "Have your men check the quests submitted to the Adventurer’s Association around that time. See if there’s anything related to a Mutated Goblin."

"I already looked into that. In the week that followed, there were a total of 11 related quests. I had someone investigate every single one, but we found no leads."

"And after the investigation..."

"Don’t worry, they’ve all been silenced. Not a single trace will be left behind."

Yunice’s expression relaxed slightly. ’Not completely useless, then.’

She pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Did you check the financial expenditures related to Demon rewards during those days?"

Lael froze. He hadn’t thought of that.

Most Adventurers were used to submitting their quests at the Association. Before he rolled out the 100-copper-coin-per-Goblin policy, he had coordinated with the Association to change the prices at the same time. So the only people who would go to the special office he’d set up to collect bounties were either the lowlifes who weren’t qualified to register as Adventurers, or the rare newcomer who didn’t know how things worked.

That was why he had subconsciously overlooked this part during his investigation...

Because logically speaking, it was impossible for people like that to kill a Demon on the level of a Mutated Goblin.

"Investigate it... do it secretly. Don’t let that woman find out anything!"

"Yes... yes, Miss Unis. I’ll get on it right away. Please don’t be so angry. Get some rest. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it."

As he spoke, Lael bowed and scraped his way out of the room he had arranged for Yunice.

Yunice watched his retreating back and snorted coldly. Then, remembering how that woman had threatened her earlier, she slammed her fist on the bed frame in a rage.

’I need to blow off some steam...’

"Jim, come in."

She called out, and soon, the handsome, blond young man entered the room and knelt on one knee.

"Lady Yunice, what are your orders?"

"Come here."

Yunice beckoned to him with her finger.

Jim hesitated for a moment and looked around. This was the bridal suite that Baron Lael had prepared for their upcoming wedding.

"Here?"

"Cut the crap and hurry up!"

"...Yes."

Jim didn’t dare hesitate any longer. He turned, closed the door, then removed his armor and walked toward the bed.

----------

The night passed as peacefully as expected.

The injured Ali was allowed to rest and was taken off the night watch schedule, her duties divided among the other five.

Lin Mo was still in charge of the hours before dawn. He opened his eyes and took over from Rick, the previous watchman. Lin Mo added a few logs to the campfire and checked the traps he had set up around the perimeter.

Although it was theoretically unlikely for other Demons to appear in an Earth Bear’s territory, you could never be too careful.

After confirming that everything was in order, Lin Mo leaned against a tree and checked his panel.

The Earth Bear was powerful, but there had only been one. As a result, his Skill Level gains from yesterday weren’t that significant; the Goblins they ran into on the way actually accounted for more.

One Skill was an exception.

That was Tenacity.

Through his previous tests, Lin Mo had already figured out the general way to level up his Tenacity Skill.

This new upgrade method, different from offensive Skills, was a pleasant surprise. After all, there were only so many Demons he could kill each day, but he had more than one Skill to train, which forced him to make choices.

Having a Defense Class Skill like Tenacity provide a different path for progression was undoubtedly a good thing.

Thanks to traveling with a party and getting adequate rest, he had been able to keep his Physical Strength relatively high. As a result, he had kept Tenacity active for nearly the entire fight against the Earth Bear yesterday. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Unfortunately, the Earth Bear’s Strength wasn’t particularly high—only about 20% stronger than a typical adult elite monster. Because of this, its contribution to leveling up Tenacity wasn’t much better, either.

Lin Mo used Tenacity a total of five times, and it triggered exactly ten times, increasing his Skill Level by 12 points.

Skill: Tenacity Level 1 (10/10) has been upgraded!

Current Skill: Tenacity Level 2 (6/20)