14 White Jade Mansion

[White Jade Mansion], [Black Bear City], [Greenhill Kingdom]

Inside the famous White Jade Mansion, three of the most influential individuals had gathered. Knight Robert, head of the city guards and likely heir of the Yale Barony, looked at the two 'mysterious entities' in front of him with big interest. Although few words were spoken, he could already tell how intelligent both [acolytes] were.

[Beep! You have successfully scanned the book [Greenhill Kingdom Monsters and Magical Beasts]. New information in [Flora and Fauna of Greenhill Kingdom] folder has been stored]

Arthur nodded inwardly. After entering the White Jade Mansion, Greem decided to flaunt his superiority as an apprentice of the mysterious magical academy [Arcane Tower] and allowed him to take a look at his books. Little did he know, for Arthur possessed photographic memory thanks to his biochip. Anything he glanced at would forever be stored inside his hippocampus.

"What should we do, then?", Knight Robert finally said after several dozen minutes of silence, "As you have mentioned, werewolves are terrifying creatures capable on taking preparatory knights. Even if we work together, it is unlikely that they will try to attack us up front. They will hide in the shadows, continue to impersonate humans, and nothing can be done about it"

Greem sighed: "Luna can tell them apart if she is close enough to them. However, it is impossible to do so on the streets, where the smell of blood, smoke and waste is so strong. Even if we might get one or two by luck, we won't be able to get them all"

Arthur smiled: "They are magical beasts, right?"

Greem nodded: "Yes...I see where you are going. However, magical power is very difficult to sense, even if you concentrate on a suspicious individual, you will have to get extremely close to confirm your suspicions"

Arthur revealed a terrifying grin: "You mentioned that the most famous saying in the [Arcane Tower] is equivalent exchange prevails, right? I shall act as your werewolf detector. Let's just say that I have a very good affinity with magic. In exchange, you should answer any questions I have for the following month. How about it? My master died before he could impart me with all of his knowledge, and most of what I learned was through hardships"

Greem frowned, but eventually accepted: "Your martial arts seem pretty strong too. I lose pretty much nothing in this deal. Would you like to take a look at the specimen I captured?"

Arthur smiled: "of course"

Entering the subterranean floor, Arthur and Knight Robert felt chilly. The scene displayed was quite horrific. There were obvious traces of torture, and the werewolf probably died before giving out much information.

The werewolf was quite muscular, and tall. Two meters tall at least, with ripped arms and legs that would give John a run for his money. However, the interesting part of their body was their mouth. Instead of a humanoid head, it looked like that of a wolf, with teeth capable of ripping a metal armour apart.

[Name - Werewolf

Attributes:

Strength - 2.6 | Agility - 1.6 | Vitality - 2.7 | Magical Power - 1.3

Status: Healthy]

Those were incredible attributes. Even Knight Robert could feel the danger from the beast corpse. Knights possessed around 3 points of average in physical attributes, making them superior to werewolves. Furthermore, their swordmanship and life force allowed them to often best two or even three werewolves.

However, Knight Robert was not happy about that:

"If a regular werewolf is as strong as that...The pack leader must be terrifying...", he said

Greem nodded. The reason why he accepted Arthur's deal and went so far as to expose so many secrets of his to a mere knight was simple. This mission was more dangerous than expected. Of course, the investigation mission only required him to report the information to the hunting acolytes, but since he had come this far, he might as well complete the hunting mission as well.

After all, the rewards associated with the hunt of a pack of werewolves in a small kingdom like the Greenhill Kingdom were huge. Not to mention new spells, he might even get to earn precious magical ingredients

'Furthermore, I heard about werewolves having the possibility of generating a magical beast core...If that is the case, then I might even get the chance to create a golem!', Greem thought with greed.

While Knight Robert was oblivious to Greem's facial expressions, Arthur observed everything like a predator. He did not care about Greem's ambitions. As long as he proved useful, Greem would not try to hurt him. However, there was no guarantee that Greem would not do so after the mission was finished.

'When this time comes, I should be the first one to strike', Arthur thought, 'Let's use the werewolves to understand how strong this acolyte from the Arcane Tower is...And let's kill him afterwards'

Knight Robert finally said: "I will make sure you are properly rewarded for your actions. I have saved a bit of money in the past. For every werewolf you kill, I am willing to give you a magical crystal. Once the werewolves are all exterminated, I will give you both five magic crystals. I heard that it is very precious to you acolytes, right?"

Arthur did not know the value of magic crystals, but seeing the shocked and greedy face of the acolyte Greem, he could tell that it was of tremendous value. Not to mention gold coins, it seemed far more valuable than jewels.

'Interesting...', Arthur thought