The wizard starts by trimming the donkey's hooves

Chapter 311 Reward and Reunion (Two chapters in one)

Soon, Olena brought Ryan to the top floor of the administrative building, to Admiral Edward's office.

"Viscount Ryan, we meet again!" The Duke of Munster greeted him with a smile when he saw Ryan come in.

"Good morning, Your Excellency the Duke and Admiral Edward." Ryan bowed slightly and said with a smile.

After some pleasantries, the Duke of Munster got straight to the point and said:
"Viscount Ryan, in recognition of your outstanding contribution in handling the Black Flame Cult attack, on behalf of the Münster Administrative Office, I have decided to award you the Münster Province Medal of Outstanding Contribution."

"In addition, considering that you are new to Munster, perhaps you need a mansion that suits your status. I think a former earl's mansion located in the aristocratic district would be more suitable." Having said this, the Duke of Munster paused.

He opened an exquisitely crafted dark brown wooden box on the coffee table and took out a golden medal in the shape of a bauhinia flower.

"Thank you, Your Excellency the Duke, for your generosity." Ryan immediately expressed his gratitude and leaned forward slightly to let the Duke of Munster hang the medal on his chest.

He naturally knew that the medal had greater symbolic significance than practical significance.

The reward this time is still that mansion.

"Secondly, after discussing with Admiral Edward, we both agree that your achievements have met the requirements for being conferred the title of Earl. Therefore, Admiral Edward and I will jointly write a letter of recommendation to the higher authorities in the near future, recommending you for the title of Earl."

"However, His Majesty the Emperor is seriously injured, and any promotion to a title above Earl requires His Majesty the Emperor's consent, so this matter may take quite a while."

"Thank you very much for your appreciation, sirs." Ryan stood up and expressed his gratitude to the two again.

The first reward is of great practical use to Ryan.

You know, the situation in the entire Münster province is quite unstable right now, and many noble families in the county towns have moved to the relatively safe provincial capital.

This has led to a continuous increase in housing prices in Münster.

Not to mention the aristocratic district, even in the upper city area, it is difficult to find a room in a slightly better mansion.

Now the Duke of Munster directly allocated an earl's mansion to him, which solved his urgent needs. Moreover, the location is in the aristocratic area. Whether in terms of environment, security and other conditions, it can be said to be the best area in Munster.

One of the reasons why Ryan has been staying in the Sword Bearer Division recently is because the Diamond-level Sword Bearer Captain Suite allocated by the division includes a training room.

His current mansion near the branch has only five bedrooms, let alone a training room, and it is almost full of room for his family.

As for the second reward mentioned by the Duke of Munster and the Earl's application, Ryan was not so anxious.

Because judging from the current situation, even if he is granted the title of earl and has his own hereditary territory, the defense pressure he has to bear will still be very great.

This can be seen by referring to the Habsburg family to which Claire belongs.

The situation in the empire is now turbulent, and attacks are constant. The territorial nobles who own hereditary territories will be forced to disperse their combatants due to the vastness of their territories, which will be disadvantageous in resisting various attacks.

The Duke of Munster stayed for a while and then left.

He is in charge of the entire administrative affairs of Münster and is quite busy.

Ryan noticed that the other party had only been sitting there for about a quarter of an hour when his personal guards came over three times to deliver urgent official letters from different county towns.

At this time, Admiral Edward and Ryan were the only two people left in the office.

At this time, Admiral Edward looked apologetic and said, "Ryan, I have received a reply from the headquarters regarding your request to the Imperial Guardian to help you remove the mark."

"The battle in the Imperial Capital a few days ago caused many Imperial Guardians to be injured. Other Guardians were on urgent missions and were not in the Imperial Capital."

"So, I'm afraid this matter of yours will be delayed for some time."

Admiral Edward took out a gray wooden box from the drawer and continued:

"Of course, don't worry too much. This is a high-level purification potion sent by the headquarters. Although it cannot completely eliminate the mark, it can at least suppress the influence of the mark on you for three months."

"Thank you, Admiral Edward." Ryan bowed slightly and took the wooden box.

He had certain expectations for this result during the emergency meeting two days ago.

Under the current situation of the empire, it is estimated that every guardian of the empire will be in a relatively busy state.

In terms of priority, removing his mark would naturally come at the back.

Of course, Ryan's biggest confidence in facing this situation calmly lies in the fact that he has completely suppressed the evil flame mark.

In fact, he turned a disaster into a blessing in disguise from the confrontation with the Evil Flame Mark, and quickly improved his own willpower attributes.

Ryan had a hunch.

It is very likely that when his will attribute is raised to ten points, this evil flame mark will be completely erased.

Of course, he only knew about this situation, and he didn't intend to report it to Admiral Edward in front of him.

After all, this is another situation that is difficult to explain.

If others know that a person has many secrets, then the possibility of others wanting to explore the matter will naturally be higher.

Ryan did not intend to test human nature.

After Admiral Edward finished speaking, he had been secretly observing Ryan's expression. Seeing Ryan's calm face, he couldn't help but admire him more.

He really liked this young, humble but powerful subordinate from the bottom of his heart.

"Ryan, don't worry. I have already written to Cardinal Osborne of the Imperial Goddess Church about your situation. He is an old friend of mine. Even if the situation is dire, I believe he will have a solution."

"By the way, how are you doing after the last battle?"

"It's not a big problem, sir. Is there a more difficult task?" Ryan was quite grateful to Admiral Edward.

"Not yet, but I have a bad feeling. Perhaps you will receive an assignment in the near future." Admiral Edward frowned and said.

"During the last emergency meeting, I mentioned the headquarters' requirements. First, we need to check and protect all the forbidden gates within the province, and second, we need to eliminate the evil cult."

"If we do the two tasks separately, our division will be short of manpower. Therefore, after discussion, we decided on a preliminary plan to combine the two tasks and carry out the above tasks in a district-based manner."

"Considering the limited number of Diamond-level sword bearers, we plan to assign one Diamond-level team, two to three Gold-level teams, and several Silver-level teams to every two county cities to be responsible for the above two tasks."

"Ordinary search and combat missions within the assigned area will be assigned to these silver or gold teams. If they are unable to handle the situation, you will be required to intervene."

"As for the choice of the county town, Ryan, do you have any intentions?" Admiral Edward asked proactively.

Ryan naturally knew that Admiral Edward was giving him preferential treatment because the other party had long known that he was from Meister.

Ryan thought about it and decided not to refuse.

After all, Claire was still there, and Veronica was in the fishing town.

"Sir, what do you think about Meister and Rossby County?" Ryan said with a smile.

"Of course you can, but the pressure from the sea tribes over there is not light. Although the Imperial Navy is dealing with the frontal battlefield, some emergencies are likely to occur."

Admiral Edward reminded.

"Thank you for the reminder, sir. I will pay attention to it." Ryan nodded and said.

After returning to his residence, Ryan continued to let Vieri and Angus practice dagger with him.

In the center of the training room, in an instant, Ryan flashed two phantoms with different postures, one in a jumping down stab and the other in a turning left stab, attacking Vieri at the same time.

Although these phantoms are just phantoms and will soon disappear, and are not a certain kind of energy aggregate like the witchcraft "Illusion", they can still confuse the enemy in battle.

In a battle between masters, a moment of distraction can often decide the outcome.

The phantom in front of him made Vieri stunned for a moment, and Ryan's dagger pierced the hair on his left ear.

Suddenly, a small tuft of hair was cut off!
Angus, who was standing next to him, also had his hair slashed by Ryan's other dagger.

Both of them were defeated.

"Captain, what was that just now...the secret?" Angus' eyes widened in disbelief.

These days, Ryan has been practicing daggers with them.

At first, they actually thought that their captain just wanted to practice with a dagger on a whim.

But after two days, they, as sparring partners, knew only too well how fast their captain's progress was.

From the original one-on-one to one against two later!

This is not just a whim!
A few days is almost equivalent to several years of hard work by others!
Ryan nodded and said, "Well, I suddenly had an epiphany. This is the secret of the 'Boraq's Assassination Dance' that I practiced - Shadow Step."

As he spoke, Ryan glanced at the system prompt and was quite happy.

The system prompt is as follows:

[Congratulations, you have mastered the elementary secret of Burak's assassination dance: Shadow Step! ]

"Shadow Step! Another secret technique has been mastered!"

"Now I am just short of two different types of extraordinary combat skills. Once I complete them, I will meet the requirements for job transfer."

At the same time, Ryan saw a new icon on the Weapon Master (Legend) panel, located just above "Bora's Assassination Dance".

The pattern inside the icon shows three thin men holding daggers in different offensive postures.

If you look carefully, you can find that the figures on both sides appear a little blurry, like phantoms, while the one attacking in the middle is the real person.

At the bottom left, the text description of the secret is as follows:
Shadow Step (Basic Secret) Effect: Use a special step that combines the Force with leg strength to leave two extra phantoms within a three-meter range around yourself to confuse the enemy.

（暗影步提升至中级奥义，需满足下列条件：一、伯拉克的暗杀舞步lv14以上（专精可抵消部分等级要求）；二、火龙呼吸法lv12以上；三、力量30点，敏捷38点，体质34点以上；四、消耗黄金技能点1点。）
Ryan didn't expect that with the support of 'Advanced Supernatural Comprehension', his comprehension of supernatural combat skills would be so fast.

Of course, 'Intermediate Weapon Mastery' and the last skill point added were also crucial, shortening the time required to upgrade the two most difficult levels.

Otherwise, relying solely on 'Advanced Supernatural Comprehension', Ryan would need at least twenty days to reach his current level.

At this time, Vieri and others on the side opened their mouths, wanting to say something, but didn't know what to say.

These past few days, they were stunned by their captain's abnormal learning ability.

Even the scroll master Neoro was speechless at this moment. With such a perverted knight talent, is there still a need to learn wizardry?

Ryan was considering another issue.

The name of the extraordinary combat skill 'Bora's Assassination Dance' can actually give you some clues. It has a different concept from the general dagger-type extraordinary combat skills.

The founder of this extraordinary fighting skill, Burak, believed that the most important thing for an assassin using a dagger is a swift attack speed and a flexible body.

Therefore, the extraordinary combat skill he created focused on strengthening and improving the speed of movement. At the same time, it relied on fast and special steps to create illusions and confuse the enemy.

After comprehending the secret of 'Shadow Step', it made up for one of Ryan's shortcomings.

Originally wearing plate armor, he was not afraid of anyone when accelerating in a straight line, but his flexibility in movement was somewhat lacking.

But it's different now.

"Then do you want to upgrade Shadow Step to the intermediate level?"

Ryan looked at the remaining sixteen gold skill points on the attribute panel, thought about it, and decided to upgrade "Shadow Step" to the intermediate level.

After consuming two gold skill points to improve Burak's assassination dance, and another gold skill point to break through, the system prompt sounded again:
[Congratulations, you have mastered the intermediate secret of Burak's assassination dance: Shadow Step! ]

At the same time, on the Weapon Master (Legend) panel, the icon of Borak's assassination dance, "Shadow Step", has also undergone some changes.

In the icon, the number of people attacking the thin man with a dagger has increased to five.

That is to say, in addition to the real person, the number of phantoms increased from two to four.

Sure enough, this point was also confirmed by Ryan in the textual expression of the secret:

Shadow Step (Intermediate Secret) Effect: Use a special step that combines the Force with leg strength, leaving four additional phantoms within a five-meter range around oneself to confuse the enemy.

（暗影步提升至高级奥义，需满足下列条件：一、伯拉克的暗杀舞步lv16以上（专精可抵消部分等级要求）；二、火龙呼吸法lv14以上；三、力量35点，敏捷42点，体质38点以上；四、消耗黄金技能点2点。）
"The range has been increased, and at the same time, the number of phantoms has also increased."

"This secret is very practical!" Ryan was secretly delighted.
-
at the same time.

In the city of Munster.

Having never been to such a prosperous city before, Anna looked around with curiosity, especially when she walked up the stairs along Leavenworth Avenue, the main road in Munster.

Anna was amazed by the various shops along the way and the vast scenery of the Dorne Plain that came into view from the gradually rising city.

After walking for a while, Anna arrived at the Munster trading area.

The dazzling array of goods and vendors around her, as well as the constant flow of pedestrians, made her a little overwhelmed.

But soon, Anna was stunned. She was staring at a tall building with extremely gorgeous exterior decoration not far away, in a daze.

There was a sign on the tall door that clearly read "Ackerson Auction House".

"Is this the Axon Auction House?" Anna murmured to herself.

"Clues to the Missing Mother"

For a moment, the six words "Axon Auction House" seemed like a black hole, attracting Anna to come closer.

At this time, among the people entering and leaving the auction house, a middle-aged man in a black wizard robe walked out, accompanied by several well-equipped personnel.

I just heard a few people chatting casually:

"I heard that Marquis Orenz encountered a tough opponent in Munster and was defeated. He had no choice but to give up all the family's shares in the Munster branch."

"Yes, I heard about it too. It is said that the Blood Peak Mercenary Group was completely wiped out."

"So powerful? Neither Scorpion Girl nor Iron Man is easy to deal with! Especially the strength of Asimov, the leader of the Bloodscalp Group, is almost the same as that of the Boss. How could he not escape?"

"Yes, the beautiful woman this time is the representative of the other party."

"Is it that beautiful woman? It turns out that she is the new shareholder. She is indeed very attractive. Boss, do you think we should go and find out more about her?"

"Don't cause trouble for me! We will go to Nome Province tomorrow." The middle-aged man in black robe said in a deep voice.

However, when the man passed by Anna, he was suddenly stunned and his nose twitched slightly.

"Huh? This smell?" His eyes lit up, as if he had discovered something.

Then he turned around and looked at the slim girl who had just passed by and sensed her carefully.

"There's no mistake. It was the scent of plant essence just now. Is this girl a rare nature wizard?" The middle-aged man looked thoughtful. After thinking for a while, he rubbed the ring in his hand towards Anna.

As if it had absorbed a trace of Anna's aura, the ring emitted a faint green light.

"No! This... Is this the breath of a druid? The other party is an elf?" The middle-aged man's eyes suddenly widened, and then he stared at Anna's slim figure and revealed a meaningful smile.

"I'm so lucky that I can meet an elf girl when I come to Munster for a meeting. If I present this to Duke Durham, I will definitely get a lot of good things in return."

The middle-aged man was named Sam Yagir, and he was originally one of the captains of several slave-hunting teams under the headquarters of the Axon Auction House.

Due to his outstanding performance, he was noticed by Duke Drum, one of the shareholders of the Axon Auction House, and became the Duke's agent, responsible for the affairs of the Axon branches in many provinces of the empire.

This time, he came to Münster because the Münster branch was holding a shareholder change meeting.

"Dixon, follow them and find out where they live. Maybe we can take action at night." Sam pointed at Anna and said.

"Okay, boss." The thin man in leather armor named Dixon immediately agreed excitedly.

As there were many customers coming in and out, and Anna was immersed in observation, she didn't realize that she was being watched. After stopping to look at the auction house for a long time, she walked towards the administrative district.

The servant who stayed behind at Ryan's mansion in Meister County City told her that she could go to the Sword Bearer Munster branch to find Ryan.

Dixon followed Anna all the way to the gate of the Sword Bearer Munster branch.

"Huh? Is the other party related to the sword holder?" Dixon frowned and watched the scene from a distance.

“This is a bit troublesome.”

But soon, his brows relaxed, and he thought to himself: "In the Sword Holder Division, as long as it's not the few Diamond Star Sword Holders, with the boss here, we should be able to handle it."

"Don't worry, just observe here and you'll know."

After a while, a tall young man walked out quickly, accompanied by several young people of similar age.

These people are none other than Ryan, Neoro, Vieri and others.

The girl’s friends were a group of young people.

Dixon's heart immediately relaxed.

Before, he had heard that the Blood Summit Mercenary Group was wiped out in Munster, and the culprit was a Diamond-star captain of the Swordbearer Munster branch.

But it was obvious at first glance that this group of young people in front of him had nothing to do with the Diamond Star team.

Because in his impression, not to mention the Diamond team, even the Gold team, the men have beards or strong faces, and the women are mature and charming. After all, they are at least twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old.

Unlike the group of young people in front of me, the youngest ones are even not even 20 years old.

The one carrying the shield seemed a little older, but probably in his early twenties at most.

Just a bunch of rookies.

At most, he is a member of a silver-level team. Who knows, he could even be a newcomer!
Dixon smiled and quickly wrote down the investigation results on a piece of paper. Then he released a small but extremely fast swift from his arms.

Seeing the swifts flying into the sky, Dixon hummed a little tune in a relaxed manner and followed Ryan and the others all the way.

When Ryan saw Anna, he was naturally overjoyed. As soon as he heard the guard report that "there is a girl named Anna waiting outside."

He rushed over immediately, and when Neoro and the others saw the excitement and joy on their captain's face, they immediately followed curiously.

After seeing Anna, they all looked at her.

"Anna, long time no see. Don't leave without saying goodbye this time." Ryan wanted to reach out his hand, but when he thought of Anna's shy personality and the onlookers on the side, he put his hand down again.

"Long time no see, Ryan! Wow~ Ryan, you've grown so much taller, haven't you? Last time I was with Aunt Delanna, I'm really sorry." When Anna saw Ryan, her beautiful eyes lit up, and she stretched out her hand to gesture the height difference between the two, and couldn't help but exclaimed.

"You've changed a lot. By the way, Anna, are you here with your aunt this time?" Ryan smiled, looked at Anna, and found that Anna had changed a lot as well.

From his original thin figure, he has now transformed into a well-nourished and well-developed appearance.

"Uh, no, actually I ran out secretly this time." Anna lowered her head shyly and said softly.

Hearing this, the boys behind Ryan couldn't help but look at each other.

Wow! Our captain is really amazing! He actually charmed a young girl like her so much that she came all the way here to find him.

A love saint!
Although the girl in front of me has a good figure and the temperament of a girl next door, she is not pretty enough and seems a little unworthy of the captain.

Vieri looked at the girl, then looked at the red-haired beauty Evelyn beside him. If he had to choose, he would naturally choose the more beautiful Evelyn.

After some greetings, Ryan took the lead and walked towards his mansion with Anna.

Anna missed peppermint.

After walking only a short distance, Ryan suddenly stopped and said, "Don't look back. Someone is following us."

The words just fell!

Lei left a shadow on the spot, and with lightning speed, he came in front of Dixon.

It was the newly mastered intermediate secret - 'Shadow Step'!
Dicks was following them with a relaxed look on his face, because he subconsciously thought that Ryan and his companions were new sword-bearers, so he didn't follow them far away.

Suddenly, he felt a flash before his eyes, and a tall figure suddenly appeared in front of him, like a wall, blocking his way.

Dixon was about to curse something, but when he looked closely, his heart suddenly tightened and his entire back was soaked with cold sweat.

"You you." Dex pointed at Ryan and said tremblingly with a look as if he had seen a ghost.

(End of this chapter)