Chapter 1385: 143. Investigation Methods

After settling in the new student, Muen turned his attention back to the most pressing matter at hand.

"You want to investigate the current Tower Master of the Origin Tower?"

Ariel nearly spat out her coffee. Fortunately, she had weathered enough storms in her life that she did not lose her composure at the critical moment. She merely wiped the corner of her mouth and looked at Muen in confusion.

"Isn't that going a little too far? As far as I know, Douglas, the current rotating Tower Master of the Origin Tower, is no ordinary figure. He's an ultimate old fossil practically dug out of a coffin. Not only is his seniority terrifying, his strength is unimaginably great."

"Strong? Can he be stronger than an Evil God?"

Muen rolled his eyes.

Of course he knew the man was strong. After all, they had already met face-to-face. Although Muen had been unable to see through him completely, he could still get a general °• N ?? v ?? l i g h t •° sense of his strength.

But as things stood now, merely investigating one old man was no longer something Muen found particularly unacceptable.

After all, no matter how fierce that old man was, no matter how recently he had crawled out of his coffin, he was still within the realm of human beings.

That was still better than all those nonhuman things Muen had faced before.

"An Evil God......no, definitely not."

"Then is he stronger than that old bastard Kaya Gaius, the Holy Lord of Salvation from the Salvation Society?"

"That......probably not either."

"Then there you go."

Muen clapped his hands. "What else is there to say? The danger involved in this isn't even as bad as what we've dealt with before. Frankly, the fact that nothing strange has gotten mixed into this so far already makes me want to thank the heavens."

"Do you really have to do this?"

Ariel's delicate brows furrowed. She was still somewhat worried. "According to what you said earlier, the words 'Tower Master' were merely something your senior brother blurted out while he was delirious. We don't even know whether they're true. If you go investigate directly right now......couldn't it be a trap?"

"We don't know whether it's true, which is exactly why we need to investigate. As for it being a trap......"

Muen thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"I don't think that's very likely."

"Why?"

"It's simple. If what that cheap senior brother of mine said is wrong, then Douglas, as Tower Master, is perfectly normal. He'd have no reason to inexplicably set some trap and wait for someone to investigate him. But if what my cheap senior brother said is correct and Douglas really does have a problem......then why would my cheap senior brother deliberately lure me into a trap?"

"So......that's how it is?"

Muen had made it sound complicated, but the actual logic was not difficult, and Ariel quickly understood.

"If you put it that way, then there really is a need to investigate. After all, if we can determine whether this extremely powerful Tower Master has a problem or not, it'll be a great help to us later."

"Exactly. Right now, the situation throughout the entire Origin Tower is still shrouded in uncertainty. From the outside, everything may look calm, but beneath the surface, undercurrents are already surging."

Muen recalled the mysterious person who had been "fishing" outside his cheap senior brother's prison cell.

Although Muen had already confirmed that person was not Douglas, the fact that he could remain stationed there meant his status could not be low. At the very least, he had to be a Truth-Rank Grand Mage.

A Tower Master who might "have a problem," his cheap senior brother in a state of madness, that cryptic "don't trust," and......certain people, perhaps even certain forces, hidden within the shadows with unknown motives......

The waters of the current Origin Tower were terrifyingly deep.

And depth alone was not the worst part.

More importantly, who knew how many sharks were hiding in those waters?

After all......this was the Origin Tower.

A place where you could throw a brick at random and hit a powerful mage.

"And if we want to seize the initiative under circumstances like these, then at the very least, we need to know who our enemies are and who our friends are......though that just happens to be the hardest part."

As an upright, model man through and through, a reformed yellow-haired villain who had turned away from evil, Muen had journeyed all this way without ever doing anything bad. Not only had he received widespread praise from beautiful girls, but even the major Evil Gods had passionately rated him using their own reputations as collateral......

So Muen felt that, at present, he could still more or less consider himself to be standing on the side of justice.

Therefore, he hoped that Douglas, the Tower Master, was the same as him.

That they were both good partners of justice.

Otherwise......

If he kept investigating and accidentally discovered that even the boss of the Origin Tower belonged to the forces of evil, that would be far too much to handle.

And far too terrifying.

"Of course, the probability of that possibility is also very low."

Muen snatched Ariel's coffee and drained it in one gulp to calm his nerves.

"Pah......this coffee's pretty good. Where did it come from?"

"Agatha gave it to us. She said she brought it from home."

"I see. If she can casually take out coffee beans of this quality, her family's circumstances must be pretty good."

"Obviously. These days, whose family is poor if they can afford to learn magic? Do you think everyone can work as hard as I did and learn magic while living on black bread?"

Ariel lightly kicked Muen. "And stop changing the subject!"

"Right, right. Business is more important."

Muen put down the coffee cup and continued.

"So, besides investigating whether there's something wrong with the Tower Master, I also want to take this opportunity to gather some more intelligence. After all, as Tower Master, there's no way he doesn't have some confidential information hidden away, right? Other people's secrets are my favorite thing. It's just a shame he's an old man rather than a beautiful girl. Otherwise I'd like them even more."

"You mean......you want to infiltrate Douglas's office directly?"

Ariel finally realized what he was getting at.

"Smart. As expected of the woman I have my eye on."

Muen raised a thumb in extravagant praise.

Then Ariel promptly swatted it aside.

"Are you insane? Investigating him is already risky enough, and now you want to infiltrate his office directly? What happens if you get caught?"

Ariel ground her little canine teeth together, sounding somewhat nervous.

"Why don't we choose a safer method?"

"No. This is precisely the result of careful consideration."

Muen sighed.

If he had any other choice, of course he would not want to use an investigation method that made him look like some evil villain.

But once you thought about it carefully, you would realize that there simply was no safe way to investigate Douglas.

The reason was simple.

He was the Tower Master of the Origin Tower.

And you......

Were nothing more than a newcomer who had only just arrived at the Origin Tower.

Putting aside the disparity in status, with Douglas currently controlling the overall situation, if you tried to investigate him gradually, it would be extremely easy for him to notice.

The matter concerning Muen's cheap senior brother could still be investigated slowly.

After all, he had once been a genius mage, yet had somehow fallen so far as to become an Evil God's lackey, and the matter even concerned the safety of the entire Origin Tower. Investigating and looking into what had happened was perfectly natural.

There were probably quite a few people who wanted to know the truth already.

Adding Muen to that number would hardly stand out.

But if, at a time like this, you ignored the fallen Grand Mage surrounded by countless mysteries and instead turned around to investigate the dignified Tower Master himself......

The moment Douglas noticed, he would probably immediately curl the corner of his mouth upward and burst out laughing.

The villain had already stepped forward on his own......

"So instead, we might as well cut through the mess in one stroke, transform into undercover investigators, and fucking go for it!"

Muen slapped the table, filled with heroic spirit.

"Undercover investigator......"

The corner of Ariel's mouth twitched. "As far as I know, that doesn't seem to be a very wholesome term."

"Hm? How do you know it isn't a wholesome term?"

Muen looked at her suspiciously.

"Ahem......I-I guessed! It's definitely not because I saw anything in Liya's dirty little books or anything......"

Ariel hurriedly waved her hands.

"......"

This time, it was Muen's turn for the corner of his mouth to twitch.

Just what the hell were you little perverts secretly reading in private?

Filthy!

"Lend me a couple sometime."

"No way."

"Stingy."

Ariel stuck out her tongue at him.

But very quickly, the playful expression turned back into worry.

"I still think it's too dangerous. You said slowly collecting intelligence would make it easy for him to notice us, but does directly infiltrating make us less likely to get noticed? This is the Tower Master of the Origin Tower! There's no way I'd believe the place where he works......or rather, where he hides his secrets, isn't heavily guarded."

"I know. Actually, I hadn't planned on doing this in the beginning either. After all, I don't even know where Douglas's office is."

"Then why are you still......"

"Until I suddenly realized something. And then I understood that playing the infiltration game might not actually be impossible for 'outsiders' like us."

Muen snapped his fingers with considerable confidence.

"You mean......"

"Exactly. It's......"

......

"Oh my, is it already time for me to make my entrance?"

Wisps of ethereal mist slowly drifted out from Ariel's bronze ring, gradually outlining a graceful figure.

Only this time, the mist seemed slightly different from before.

Within that hazy vapor, there were unexpectedly hints of other colors concealed inside.

Ariel stared at her teacher, whose form was now noticeably more solid and noticeably more beautiful than before, and her eyes immediately widened.

Wait.

Fine, whatever, her appearance had become more solid.

But why had she changed clothes too?

Aren't you supposed to be a soul?!