Chapter 466: The Cleanser

“Already saying it so soon?” Saul thought the other party would at least wait until they had toured the academy.

When Pond had first appeared and was generously praising him, Saul had already suspected that the other party might be trying to recruit him.

Since Pond had even revealed his personal characteristics to the academy’s gate guards, they must already know about the fall of the Wizard Tower and Gorsa’s departure.

Though Saul was still Gorsa’s apprentice, he no longer had an organization.

At this point, offering to recruit him and providing generous support would allow them to gain a powerful, true wizard and also please Gorsa.

“Brother Saul, this place is so interesting. Why don’t we stay here?” As a Nightmare Butterfly, Penny loved places with lots of people.

If it could let her roam freely in dreams, that would be even better.

If Saul could stay here a bit longer, she would consider this recruitment.

However, Saul still had a Wizard Tower to maintain, and looking at the prosperous Bayton Academy in front of him, the fact that they even used salary deductions to threaten a true wizard showed that their funds were likely not very abundant.

…Or maybe some crucial resources were monopolized by the dean.

Saul lowered his head, pretending to think for a moment, then smiled apologetically and said, “Sorry, Dean Pond. My mentor has other plans for me, so I might not be able to stay here for long.”

Pond was a bit surprised. “What? Will Wizard Gorsa return?”

“Well… my mentor hasn’t said so.”

Pond didn’t immediately give up. He took a step back and said, “Then how about an honorary mentor? You don’t need to stay here every day to teach students; you can just participate in some research projects.”

Saul smiled, but this time he didn’t respond.

Pond sighed, understanding Saul’s meaning.

“What a pity. After hearing about your situation, I really admire you. I’ve never believed that the strength of magic, mental power, or elemental perception can define a wizard’s talent. I think true talent lies in a wizard’s mind and their relentless spirit of research.”

Pond pointed to the vast grounds of Bayton Academy behind him. “Back in the day, many senior and junior colleagues followed my master, but in the end, I was the only one who reached the second rank.”

“My talent was almost at the bottom among them, but I never gave up on my research. It was with this never-give-up spirit that I managed to turn Bayton Academy, once a broken-down institution, into what it is today.”

Pond’s master was probably the third-rank wizard from over a hundred years ago, the one who had buried hundreds of wizards in the Hanging Valley.

It seemed that shortly after Bayton took control of Caugust City, his master passed away.

Considering this, Pond had managed to develop Bayton Academy and Caugust City to this extent—regardless of what methods he had used—he was certainly a remarkable person.

At this point, Pond changed the topic again and invited Saul once more, but this time the position offered was different.

“It would be such a waste for someone as capable as you not to join Bayton Academy! How about this, Saul, you specialize in dark-element magic. Would you be interested in wraiths?”

Did Kismet’s mention of wraith come from here?

Saul immediately showed a hint of interest, though he quickly suppressed it, and jokingly asked, “With Bayton Academy’s prosperity and the flourishing Caugust, there shouldn’t be many wraiths around here, right?”

But Pond shook his head and sighed, “Wraiths comes from the human heart, and the human heart is the hardest to understand. To facilitate the development of Bayton Academy and trade, we’ve gathered a large population in Caugust. The more people there are, the more things happen. Even though we’ve tried to control their free time and enforce a regulated schedule, we can’t avoid the occasional accident.”

Saul remained expressionless on the surface but thought to himself: Human nature leans towards freedom, and harsh suppression only triggers strong resistance.

No wonder he had noticed a strange phenomenon when entering Caugust City.

During work hours, there were hardly any people out on the streets. Clearly, they were being strictly confined to their jobs.

Moreover, these ordinary people couldn’t even take on leisurely occupations where they could enjoy life.

The image of Caugust City’s lifestyle being so blissful was nothing but a marketing gimmick to attract more laborers.

Saul even suspected that the popular book

Farmer Little John

was just a strategy to draw in people from surrounding villages, only to lead them into a situation where they would be toiling away, lured by an illusion of a better life.

“Are you asking me to clear the wraiths?”

“Yes. At Bayton Academy, there’s a specific position called the Cleaner. They’re responsible for handling the wraiths that arise within the city and the academy. Only the strongest third-rank apprentices and true wizards can take on this task.”

Pond’s expression grew serious.

“Wraiths can severely affect our work efficiency, productivity, and cause panic among the ordinary people. While we’re wizards, if these people start crying and screaming, wanting to leave Caugust, we can’t do much to stop them.”

“Even if we threaten them with their lives to make them stay in Caugust, their work efficiency will drop dramatically.” Pond sighed, “This is a lesson Bayton Academy learned from past mistakes.”

From what Pond said, it seemed that there had been cases of ordinary people wanting to escape, but they were suppressed and forced to stay in the city.

It seemed that wraiths hadn’t just appeared in recent years, but had likely been a hidden threat to Bayton Academy for quite some time.

However, wraiths were quite rare and difficult to manifest.

They usually appeared in places where large-scale death had occurred or where a wizard’s pollution was severe.

If it were just an ordinary wizard’s living environment, even with frequent research experiments, there would only be vengeful spirits at most. It wouldn’t lead to the abundance of wraiths that were clearly bothering Pond.

Saul blinked.

There were probably even greater secrets hidden within this academy and Caugust City.

This wasn’t out of his expectations.

After discovering so many magical tools within Caugust City, he had already suspected that this would lead to some hidden dangers.

And with so many wraiths, it was likely that ordinary people were paying the price for such reforms.

“You don’t need to worry. We all understand the dangers of wraiths and won’t let you take unnecessary risks. We have regulations in place: the first person to discover a wraith will receive a reward, and the one who handles the wraith will receive even more magical resources. The wraith will also belong to the one who handles it.”

Saul showed a clear hint of interest this time, and he didn’t hesitate for long.

“So, if I become a Cleaner, what else would I need to do?”

(End of Chapter)

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