Nighttime, Radiant Mercenary Corps Office.
Commander Webster sat in his office, processing a backlog of paperwork.
Once he finished, he let out a long sigh of relief, brewed himself a cup of Crimson-Gold Chrysanthemum tea, and sat on the couch, quietly contemplating.
Today's investigation was a success. He'd finally uncovered the mystery surrounding Ron.
That it was connected to the Goddess of Harvest—a divine being—was something he had never expected.
The Church of the Harvest Goddess was one of the Three Major Churches within the Human Empire. Compared to the Church of the War God and the Church of the Healing God, the Harvest Goddess's church had the largest number of believers, the widest reach, and the greatest influence—yet it was also the weakest in terms of actual power.
That was because most of their followers were commoners, particularly farmers. Few nobles worshipped the Harvest Goddess.
So within the empire, their political standing wasn't very high.
But now that His Highness Ron had become the God's Chosen of the Harvest Goddess, then even without direct divine commands, the church would definitely act on this development.
And it would be big.
This was one of the few rare opportunities they had in recent years to show their strength, and perhaps even infiltrate the upper echelons of the empire.
A God's Chosen...
The founding emperor of the Human Empire had been a God's Chosen, too.
That's one of the key reasons the Church of the War God had maintained its position as the dominant religious force for centuries.
And now, after hundreds of years, a new God's Chosen had emerged within the human world—
But not from the War God's Church…
From the Harvest Goddess's.
Of course, Ron, who was just a fresh-out-of-college shut-in before transmigrating, had no idea what kind of ripple effects his new identity would trigger.
But Webster knew.
He knew very well just how much turmoil this could bring to the empire.
Whether it would be good or bad… only time would tell.
Thankfully, Ron was a direct member of the royal family, so it wasn't likely to cause full-scale chaos.
Though this would certainly involve the churches—and possibly even the succession to the throne—it was all likely still under the control of Emperor André III.
As Webster mulled things over, a knock came from the door.
"Come in."
A figure dressed in dark clothing entered and saluted respectfully. "Commander, there's news from Wild Rose."
"Speak."
"They've updated the bounty board tonight. Three new names appeared on the Noble Tier, and one of them is His Highness Ron André."
Webster showed no surprise, as if he'd already expected it. "Has anyone taken the job?"
"Three people accepted it—anonymous. To confirm their identities, we'll need to activate our moles within Wild Rose."
"No need," Webster shook his head. He tapped his finger on the couch's armrest and thought for a moment. "Send a few of our people to accept the bounty, too. Fill up the ten-person limit."
"Understood."
"Dismissed."
The agent in dark clothing left the room.
Webster let out another sigh.
It seemed he'd have to stay in Chaos City a bit longer.
Chaos City Magic Academy.
Moonlight filtered through the window lattice into the room.
Vosbites sat at his desk, slowly flipping through the Illya Special Edition Illustration Booklet with great interest.
"Tch… Ron actually has decent taste," he commented with a smirk.
After a brief moment of relaxation, he pulled out a sheet of paper and began copying a series of mysterious symbols he'd previously obtained from Ron.
锄禾日当午
清明上河图
弯弓射大雕
复方草珊瑚
Vosbites furrowed his brows and stared at the symbols for several minutes, but still found no clues.
He first hypothesized that it might be some sort of body meridian diagram, so he pulled several anatomical reference books off the shelf.
After an hour of cross-referencing diagrams from different races, Vosbites finally leaned back and shook his head.
While most of the lines did correspond to various racial meridian paths, the first row alone could be broken down into segments that matched the goblin, dragonkin, and siren races' internal pathways.
If someone actually channeled mana through this structure, it would either do nothing or cause instant combustion. Certainly not usable for spellcasting.
He then considered that it might be code and consulted several cryptography books for clues—but this also led nowhere. He didn't specialize in that area.
Perhaps it was some kind of magical array?
A hybrid array, fusing anatomical structures from multiple races?
If it were anyone else, Vosbites wouldn't even consider such a theory.
After all, even some of the most renowned magic circle experts couldn't do something like this—let alone a so-called magic rookie like Ron.
But with the Goddess of Harvest involved, everything changed.
Even so, if it were some kind of magical formation, without the proper materials to recreate it, simply channeling mana into these "synthetic meridians" would yield no results.
A massive amount of trial and error would be required—far more than he could manage alone.
"Tch... what a pain..." Vosbites muttered, cutting the page into a dozen small sections and storing them in his dimensional storage.
He had hit a wall in his own thinking. Plus, he specialized in fire magic, and his understanding of magic arrays was only average.
He'd have to consult someone with expertise in that field tomorrow.
Of course, he wouldn't show the whole diagram—just a few selected symbols. That should be safe.
If this was something the Goddess of Harvest personally entrusted to Ron, the potential value could be immense.
And if it turned out to be just Ron's idle doodling… then oh well. He'd take the loss.
Now that Vosbites no longer suspected the Empire, his curiosity had fully shifted toward Ron himself.
A God's Chosen definitely had secrets worth investigating.
And as someone who had acquired such mysterious symbols from Ron, how could Vosbites not want to figure them out?
This was the instinctive curiosity of any mage.
He stroked his messy beard thoughtfully, already thinking about which expert to consult the next day.
---
"Boss, I've finished cleaning…"
Nora's soft voice came through the crack of the study door.
Ron sat at his desk, flipping through a copy of Imperial Trade.
"Mhm. Head home early and be safe."
"Boss…" Nora didn't leave right away. Instead, she hesitated for a moment before asking shyly, "Can I take the night off tomorrow?"
"Taking a day off?" Ron blinked, turning toward the door. "Got something planned?"
"Umm… I want to go buy some things."
Oh, right—he'd just paid Nora her salary a few days ago.
Ron immediately understood. Ten silver coins weren't a small amount for her. It was enough to buy some nicer clothes, perhaps to finally replace that worn-out robe she always wore.
As that thought passed through his mind, the system's voice popped up—
System: "Daily Mission triggered."
[Daily Mission] — Let's Go on a Lovely Date!
[Objective: Close the shop tomorrow night and accompany employee Nora on a shopping date.]
[Reward: Tch tch tch, such a sour and cheesy aura~]
"..."
Ron stared at the system panel, face full of toothache-level expression.
And yet—somehow—he was a little tempted.