Fire Mage

It was around 10 A.M.

After walking out of Riverdale's Amber bank, Charles didn't stop anywhere and went towards Ivy Street.

Riverdale City was filled with life. Shouts of shopkeepers, chattering noise of vendees, creaking noises of carriages, and the horses' neigh sound entered in Charles's ears as he moved towards Ivy Street.

A few minutes later, he walked into the Light Church and then saw Bishop Reynolds was standing in front of Goddess's statue.

He also walked in front of the Goddess's statue and recited the usual prayer. After that, he turned his gaze towards Bishop Reynolds, standing silently near the Goddess's statue, and said slowly.

"Father, I got the money to pay the debt."

Bishop Reynolds's eyes widened as he heard his words.

"You agreed to that request!?" He turned his face in shock and asked in disbelief.

"Do I even have a choice?" Charles shifted his gaze into the Goddess's beautiful blue eyes and refuted.

"You had another choice. If you have chosen the other choice, you wouldn't have offended the 'Divine One of Wealth.'" Bishop Reynolds glared at him and said coldly.

Charles didn't mind his glare, though. He looked up at the high-ceiling and muttered like a real Charles,

"If I agreed, I would have lost my house and the land. Moreover, I would have disappointed my mother, Eve Nightwind."

"FOOLISHNESS! What would you gain-!?"

"He did the right thing." A cold voice interrupted Bishop Reynolds's talking.

Both Charles and Bishop Reynolds turned their heads in unison and saw a long deep-blue-haired woman was standing on their left side. She had wide-set blue eyes, a fleshy nose, olive skin, and short eyebrows. She wore a standard gray robe and looked around 35 to 40 years old.

"Mother!" Charles turned his face into a surprised one and called out in excitement.

With light footsteps, Eve Nightwind walked towards Charles and gave him a big hug.

"You have changed, Charles." She whispered in his ears.

'Did she found out about me?' Charles's heart skipped a beat. But he turned his face solemnly and responded like a responsible kid.

"I'm your son, Mom."

Eve's smile widened as she released him and patted his shoulder.

"You did an excellent job. But I need to have a long talk with you about the 'Serial Killer' incident later." Saying so, she turned her face colder and then shifted her gaze towards Bishop Reynolds.

"I heard about your schemes, Bishop Reynolds." Her tone was cold as chilling ice.

"You are after something. Although I don't know what you are after, I can tell that material will bring great danger to this city." She said as she was peeking at Bishop's future.

"Should I take that as advice from the Predictor?" Bishop Reynolds stared back into Eve's eyes and asked coldly.

A heavy sigh escaped from Eve's mouth as she saw Bishop Reynolds's attitude and shook her head.

"All I can give you is a warning. Whether you listen to it or not, it's your choice."

Eve muttered as she turned her gaze towards Charles and added,

"Son, we must pay the debt first."

Letting out a relieved sigh, Charles took out the five golden cards and gave them to Bishop Reynolds.

"I failed." Muttering in a displeased tone, Bishop grabbed the five golden cards and then made a strange incantation.

A second later, the signed contract scroll appeared in front of them and then turned into powders.

Both Eve and Charles didn't stay inside the Life Church and returned to 45 El Street. While walking, Charles began to explain everything in detail while adding few extra bits to Eve. He told her that he got 'Trickster' and 'Apprentice Fire Mage' Class-Gems in the underground prison hall and made a fake story.

"That's what happened, huh. But what's your sub-class again?" As they arrived in front of 45 El Street compound gate, Eve stared at him in confusion and asked.

"Trickster." Charles felt something was amiss and replied after a short pause.

"Trickster…Trickster…I never heard of a Class-Gem called 'Trickster' in my life. No, there is no 'Trickster' Class-Gem in the history records." Eve opened the iron compound gate while muttering and soon shook her head.

'Never heard of the 'Trickster' class? Tsk, too troublesome. From the looks of it, the 'Game-System' deliberately used the Class selection order and manipulated me to pick up the 'Trickster' Sub-Class. But what if I chose the 'Trickster' Class as the Main Class?... Well, I have no power to change anything now. Moreover, the 'Game-System' appears to be helping me, so I don't think I have to worry about it for now.' He fell into deep thoughts.

'Even Classes' names are different when comparing with 'Mystic World' game. I need to gather more information first.'

"Don't overthink about it. So, what skill did you get from your father through the 'Inheritance Gift'?" Eve walked on the grassy yard while waving her hand and asked.

"I got the [Inspect] skill, mom. Is it something special?" Charles turned his face like a curious kid as he followed after her footsteps and asked.

"Special? It's a legendary Wisdom skill, Charles. Unlike [True Eyes] skill, learning this skill through training is impossible. You can only get this skill through 'Inheritance Gift,' or you can get it by becoming the 'Blessed ones' of the Goddess of Wisdom. [Inspect] skill is an upgraded version of [True Eyes] skill. With this, you will find out other's original name, affiliation, race, and even about hidden skills." Eve said solemnly and then stopped as she opened the house entrance gate.

The next instant, a rotten smell assaulted their noses and caused them to take a step back.

A second later, Eve covered her mouth and puked at the entrance. Charles also covered his mouth and groaned in displeasure. Although the security guards removed the assassins' bodies, they didn't clean the house at all. Blood trails appeared all over the areas, and the whole reception hall looked more like a rotten house.

After glaring at Charles, Eve dragged him to the nearby shop to buy detergents and then started cleaning their two-storied house.

It took two days for them to clean the house thoroughly. After they did the cleaning, they brought white paint and painted the house.

For the next few days, the mom and son duo spent their time in their house and made it anew. Charles also acted more like the 'real' one and completely replaced the 'real' Charles's place.

When they were having dinner on a particular day, Charles brought up the matter about 'True Lords' and asked Eve Nightwind.

"Who are these 'True Lords'?"

"Why are you asking coldly? Ha, I will tell you. The 'True Lords' is a business organization, and the current Nightwind family leader is a member of the 'True Lords' organization. The 'True Lords' assassinated Harry because they found out about his position in the Wisdom Church. Moreover, Harry seems to have found out something through [Inspect] skill, but ended up getting assassinated."

"When I returned to our house from the market, I saw his body lying on the cold floor. Before I could understand the situation, security guards stormed into our house and arrested me for putting poison in Harry's food. Later, I escaped from prison with your grandfather's help and took you from my mother's home. I knew they would come after your head, so we both left the Ember Kingdom, leaving no trace behind." She said while taking a bite of grilled steak.

She also added that Martin must have acted alone to gain favor from Nightwind's family head and not to worry about them for now. But Charles knew that the beaten wolf would never back down.

Charles took a sip of the red wine and asked while raising his left eyebrow,

"But why did you choose Riverdale City to hide, mom? Is there something special about this city? Or is there something special about this house?"

Eve swallowed the grilled steak and replied with a smile,

"I felt some familiarity when I came here to buy this house. I also used the [Intuition] skill and then found out this house has some relation with the Nightwind family. After checking deeply, I found out that the first owner of this house and 23-hectare land was Eddie Nightwind. I then realized that it must be the power of 'Fate' which brought me to this city.'"

Charles felt a chill went up to his spines upon hearing Eve's words.

'This is not a coincidence! Oh, the poor mother of Charles, didn't you feel something was off upon seeing the information about Eddie Nightwind?' Charles looked at the innocent face of Eve Nightwind and sighed heavily.

'Someone must have suggested her to go to Riverdale City. Then, aren't we under someone's surveillance this whole time?' A grim expression appeared on Charles's face.

Seeing his serious face, Eve made a fake cough and added,

"You are overthinking nowadays. Eat first."

Charles heaved a heavy sigh as he nodded and then picked up the roasted meat using a fork.

…

June 12th, Year 6396, Second Arcane Era.

It was around 8 A.M,

Charles walked out of 45 El Street and went to Riverdale's City Library while thinking deeply.

'What is she going to do with 500 gold coins?'

Last night, Eve came to his room and asked him to lend her 500 gold coins. At first, Charles didn't put much thought into her request and gave her those five golden cards. But now, he suddenly felt curious.

'Hmm, she seems to be already aware of our current situation. But why did she always look so calm?... She acted as if everything was under her control!' Charles's deep-blue eyes widened. He suddenly thought of Eve's Main Class.

'She is an Astrologist. She has more than 15 years of experience in Astrology, and she can Rank Up at any time. But she didn't have a large sum of money to buy the corresponding Class-Gem.' Charles halted his footstep as he saw through her plan.

'She is going to buy Astrologer's corresponding Class-Gem!'

'Hmm, that explains her calm attitude. Her [Intuition] skill itself is a powerful one. Wait a minute… Isn't the [Intuition] skill almost looks similar to [Sixth Sense] skill?' Charles narrowed his eyes.

'The 'Trickster' Sub-Class appears to be a good class.'

He nodded inwardly and then continued his walking.

After a few minutes of walking, he made a turn and reached Elm Street.

It was where Riverdale's Wisdom Library was located!

He looked around and soon smiled as his sight landed on the four-storied building. After a few seconds of walking, he arrived in front of the building and then entered.

Simultaneously, Charles took out his 'City Lord's Token' and showed it to the blonde-haired male librarian.

After seeing the token, the male librarian nodded his head and then gave a short explanation about the library.

Wisdom Library was divided into multiple sections.

There were history-related books, science books, Class-related books, and war-related books placed in order on the first and second floors.

As for the third floor, most books stored on the third floor were about magic-related books and religion-related books. Only Church members and Nobles were allowed to read those books.

As for the fourth floor, Charles heard it from the male receptionist that the whole fourth floor was filled with books related to the last Planar War, artifacts' information books, and extraordinary incident books. With the City Lord's token, Charles would be able to read all the books!

Charles first went to the Class related books and searched for information about 'Trickster' Class Gem.

He skimmed through the Class-related books in five hours and sighed in disappointment.

'There was no information about the 'Trickster' Class Gem. But-' He curled his lips upward and held another book in his hand.

It was the Astrologer Class book!

He read the book for the next three hours and smiled as he looked at the last page.

'Astrologer's corresponding Class is Prognosticator.'

'Unlike Astrologers who could only make a vague guess about the fate of a person, Prognosticators will be able to see a string of person's fate!' Charles's eyes widened.

'Is that even possible!?' He sat in front of the reading bench for a whole minute and soon calmed down.

Although he learned basics from Charles's remnant memories, he was still clueless about the magical Edhen World.

'Everything is possible in this magical world.' His jade eyes shone in excitement.

'What ability will I get in the future for the 'Trickster' Sub-Class?' He suppressed his excitement and began to read more about other unique classes. Although there were only Rank 1 Class books stored in the Wisdom Library, he was still shocked by various unique skills.

After that, he placed those books in the right sections and then walked out of the Wisdom Library around 7 P.M.