Night.

Rosen raced to the entrance of Alley 1, only to see two guards holding torches standing at the mouth of the alley.

Seeing Rosen, one guard immediately raised his hand to stop him: "Kid, don't run around everywhere, hurry home!"

Rosen pointed to the alley: "But my home is in this alley."

"It's in this alley? Which number?"

"Number 89, Serendipity Cottage."

The two guards exchanged glances. The one who had spoken before looked Rosen up and down and suddenly said, "You're Serendipity's new apprentice in spellcasting?"

"That's right, I am." Rosen felt something was not quite right.

"Oh~~"

The guard's face suddenly showed a look of sympathy.

"Then you've really fallen on hard times. But every cloud has a silver lining - at least you have Mr Chabrolais as your friend."

As he spoke, he stepped aside: "Go on in, Mr Chabrolais is inside, he's been looking for you!"

Entering the alley, he quickly came to Number 89 near Alley 1, and found that the home protection spell on Serendipity Cottage had been forcibly removed, and the door was open.

The cottage was brightly lit, with torches inserted everywhere. A large group of people, roughly more than twenty, stood around the wooden house.

Many more had entered the house and were constantly carrying things out.

Most of them were city security guards, but standing at the door were 3 well-dressed people, two men and a woman.

Judging from their outfits, one of the men should be the security chief Rafael of the South City Market, while the other man and woman were dressed as mages, apparently the combat mages sent by the Mage Guild to assist in the case.

In a corner, Rosen saw Chabrolais and Olek.

The two were standing against the wall, one dejected, the other nonchalant.

Chabrolais also saw Rosen.

He charged up to him like a tank, grabbed his arm, quickly looked Rosen up and down, and his hands still groped up and down his body while his mouth babbled incessantly.

"Oh my! By the grace of the Golden God, unharmed. What a relief! I say, where did you run off to in the middle of the night? You scared me to death!"

Rosen had no time to catch up, he quickly explained: "I heard a commotion outside, so I went out to take a look."

Without waiting for a response, he immediately asked back: "Uncle, what on earth is going on? People on the street are saying my mentor is the murderer."

Chabrolais' face immediately showed extreme distress. He gritted his teeth and spat out a sentence from between his teeth.

"I was so wrong about her!"

Seeing his state, even more angry than by the riverside, Rosen felt a little uneasy and hurriedly urged.

"Tell me quickly, uncle!"

Chabrolais pulled Rosen to the wall, pointing to a pile of glass jars at the door of the cabin, his face full of distress.

"All found inside the house, see for yourself."

Rosen squinted to take a closer look.

Each glass jar was cylindrical, about twenty centimeters high and ten centimeters thick. The glass was ordinary, with poor transparency. The jars were filled with pale yellow transparent solution, with strangely shaped black shadows floating in the solution.

Seeing that he didn't understand at first glance, Chabrolais explained in a low voice.

"Maboril embalming fluid, and those black things inside are men's manhood, a total of 13, corresponding exactly to the 13 murdered men."

Rosen also saw clearly, and was somewhat shocked for a moment: "Where were these all found?"

Before Chabrolais could answer, a woman's voice floated over first.

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"The small compartment on the second floor, where not only were these jars, but also blood-stained leather clothes, sharp small knives and a whole set of embalming tools."

Rosen looked up to see it was the female mage who had spoken.

She also looked quite young, in her early thirties, with above average looks, and had a head of thick black hair. She was very tall for a woman, even taller than Serendipity by a line.

Without waiting for Rosen to ask, she walked over on her own initiative and began to introduce herself.

"I'm Veronica, an intermediate combat mage from the Mage Guild. My task is to assist in the investigation of this convention murder case."

Rosen hurriedly bowed: "Apprentice Rosen, pleased to meet you, Madam Veronica."

Veronica nodded in response, then sighed softly, a pained expression on her face.

"I really didn't expect this to happen. What Serendipity has done has not only made the Silvermoon Mage Guild lose face, but also ruined her own future with her own hands."

These words were very weighty, almost nailing Serendipity's crimes decisively.

Rosen's heart quivered slightly: "The perpetrator really planned this meticulously, both eyewitness and physical evidence are readily available."

At this point, anything he said would be pale and meaningless.

But it did not mean nothing could be done.

After thinking for a moment, Rosen asked, "Madam Veronica, may I take a look inside the house?"

Veronica looked troubled.

Chabrolais immediately stepped forward to help plead.

"Veronica, he's just a boy meeting such a big incident, of course he's feeling awful. Just let him take a look, it won't diminish the evidence. After all, we've been friends for many years, I know you won't take advantage of him, right?"

Veronica nodded. "Alright then, but just looking, no touching, so as not to damage any evidence. And of course, don't interfere with anyone else's investigation."

"I understand."

Rosen took a deep breath and first walked over to the pile of evidence at the cabin door.

He examined each item, observed from every angle, got as close as possible, until he was sure he had observed from all angles. Then he turned and walked into the cabin.

The moment he entered the house, he turned his head slightly and paused for a moment, so that the corner of his eye enveloped the bounty hunter Olek by the wall.

Then he went inside, first the first floor, walking carefully through the kitchen, small room, living room, not missing a single corner, going over the walls, floors, windows, and even the ceilings one by one.

After finishing the first floor, he looked at the stairs and finally inspected the second floor, paying particular attention to the small compartment.

After making sure he hadn't missed any corners, he left the cabin.

Back on the open ground in front of the cabin door, Rosen was solemn-faced and silent.

Chabrolais thought he was greatly devastated, and gently patted him on the shoulder, speaking softly to comfort him.

"It's my fault, I'm a poor judge of character, not only putting you in danger, but also letting you encounter such distress."

"Let's take a few days to recover, then I'll find you a new mentor in magic."

Rosen nodded lightly. "Thank you, uncle."

Veronica had been standing nearby the whole time. Hearing Chabrolais' words, she took a step closer.

"Chabrolais, I've heard you talk a lot about Rosen's deeds recently, making me feel he is a very clever boy. If you don't mind, I would be willing to continue teaching him."

She quickly added, "Of course, I can't waive the tuition. But as a friend, I can give you a 20% discount."

Chabrolais looked up at her and curled his lips slightly. "Veronica, I know what you're after. You just covet the tuition money."

Veronica shrugged and admitted it very shamelessly.

"Who wouldn't want an apprentice who is especially good at making money? At least we've been friends for many years, I won't scam him, right?"

Indeed, Chabrolais had very wide connections. He knew almost everyone in Silvermoon City, and was acquainted with every beautiful woman, or rather, Chabrolais would take the initiative to get acquainted with every beautiful woman.

Chabrolais acknowledged Veronica's words. He turned to look at Rosen.

"Although Veronica's skills are not as good as Serendipity's, she is still an intermediate mage, and is decent enough to teach you sufficiently."

"If you have no objections, then continue learning from her?"

How could Rosen possibly want a new mentor when he was still Serendipity's 'graduate student'?

But he couldn't directly refuse either, as making an enemy of an intermediate combat mage for no reason was not wise.

"I have no objections. But may I have a few days? The matter with Serendipity has hit me really hard, I'm truly not in the mood for magic now."

Chabrolais sighed and gently patted Rosen on the shoulder again.

"I completely understand how you feel. Veronica, you understand too, right?"

Veronica nodded. "It's natural for emotions to fluctuate violently when life changes drastically all of a sudden."

"This state of mind is indeed not suitable for learning magic. Rosen, come find me again when you've recovered from this."

Rosen bowed again. "Thank you for your understanding, Madam Veronica."

After Veronica nodded back, she turned and went back to the security chief's side.

Once she had walked away, Olek, who had been silent as a wooden statue on the side, suddenly came out with a random sentence.

"Chabrolais, don't you think Madam Veronica's figure actually fits the murderer's characteristics quite well?"

Chabrolais was taken aback, and instinctively glanced back at Veronica, then immediately whispered a warning.

"Olek, watch your mouth! Be careful of bringing trouble upon yourself!"

Seeing Olek still looking nonchalant, Chabrolais suppressed his anger and warned him.

"Have you thought about how much harm a careless sentence from you could do to someone else's reputation?"

Olek shrugged. "Alright, consider me as not having said anything. Anyway, the evidence is so sufficient already, Miss Serendipity is undoubtedly the murderer."

Although he said so, there was a hint of skepticism in Olek's tone.

Rosen's heart stirred slightly, and he carefully sized up Veronica. Olek's words were indeed not wrong.

"This must be an inside job, and the real culprit most likely is nearby, possibly among this group of people in front of the cabin."

"The scene has been fully recorded in my adventure log, it's time to uncover the truth."

Although thinking this in his heart, his facial expression did not change at all, still maintaining a devastated look after a huge blow.

He sighed, "Uncle, there's no use in us staying here, let's go back."

Chabrolais also sighed. "Yes, we've been busy these past few days, I'm exhausted too. Let's go."

The two left Serendipity's cottage together and hurried back to Hunters' Home.

"Hey, wait for me."

Olek caught up to them. He also lived at Hunters' Home.