After failing to incite the rationalist necromancer he had to switch to another one lest that guy suspected something from his persistence.
While hoping for the next one to be a reckless fellow he fell into a deep thought again,
"Doesn't this intentionally prevent the possibility of crime prevention before the harm could be done? I wonder why the royal court put so many counterproductive restrictions. Wait! Is it because—"
His thoughts churned as he glanced at the twin sisters from the distance casting spells on the corpse. Patrol Officer Robert still hadn't left the scene, perhaps not for the reason that he was in charge of Colton's team so he had to show concern.
His main goal must be to ensure these two sisters safety!
"—Their combat power is lacking and their risk of death is higher when encountering adversaries? It could only be this reason I can think of that sounds very plausible."
Shockingly, Russell became more determined to transfer to this pavilion after understanding this reason!
Since they all focus on learning investigative spells their self-preservation methods were heavily reliant on arcane artifacts and such. After all, just learning a spell was not enough, one had to invest much time and effort into it so they could mend the errors and increase the proficiency.
The threshold for learning clairvoyance magic was far higher and required much affinity for it. Unlike the wind elemental magic he was learning or even most of the elemental magic for that regard could indeed be learned by any tom, dick, and harry among the mage population.
By that logic it could be surmised that only geniuses were suitable for it and even they needed many practices and time to be able to increase the proficiency of such high difficulty spells leaving no room to delve into combat aspect lest their arcana attainment greatly lags behind compared to their peers.
The twin sisters were already a Four Symbols Novice Mage at only fifteen which was enough to show their high qualifications as a mage.
It has to be noted that those with a Ether Seed in their body could only start learning magic at the age of thirteen which is also the earliest a mage could step on the path of arcana enlightenment.
It might seem that they took as long as two years while Russell took less than two months to soon be able to reach their heights but the reality was not so simple.
If it was hypothetically considered that both of their Ether Seed Aptitude and Inherent Intellect were similar to his own then the difference in the discipline of magic they delved into would be that the difficulty he faced in learning wind elemental magic was 1 ~ 2 out of 10 while the difficulties they faced were conservatively 5 ~ 6 estimated.
Difficulty scale in learning a spell to the chanting-level initial proficiency was tentatively estimated to be around this much by him:
1 ~ 2, from half a day to a few days.
2 ~ 3, from a few days to a week.
3 ~ 4, from a week to half a month.
4 ~ 5, from half a month to a month.
5 ~ 6, from a month to an entire season.
6 ~ 7, from an entire season to half a year.
7 ~ 8, from half a year to an entire year.
8 ~ 9, from an entire year to a decade.
9 ~ 10, from a decade to multiple decades.
Here, ten being the highest difficulty implies that not even a single spell could be learned without decades of persistence. In front of such a scale the time he spent learning spells and increasing his arcana attainment indeed appears insignificant.
Five or six times the effort had to be put in compared to his own for these two young girls to reach their current realm only within two years assuming that they became a mage at the earliest age possible.
In the arcane world, the more difficult a spell the more powerful or mysterious effects it had. They were thus the true prodigies highly valued by the higher-ups, unlike a half-baked guy like him who could be found with just a little bit of effort!
As the brains of law enforcement it was normal for the royal court to treasure such intellectuals and any one of their falls were much more painful than the numerous brutes, called police officers, who could actually be easily replenished from the vast mage population.
The previously counterproductive restrictions suddenly don't seem so unreasonable. After all, the royal court had to at least go to such extents to show their care and attention to such geniuses.
By removing the right to patrol the local area they no longer have to face unknown variables that may be hiding in some corner of the street. By not letting them proactively investigate without being contacted for assistance by the police department their whereabouts would be known to the concerned higher-ups.
At least during the working hours they would either be in the base or be accompanied by an arranged "bodyguard" when handling cases.
By not letting them arbitrarily participate in cases without being asked by the police would free up their time to concentrate more on their arcana attainment instead of having most of their time occupied by miscellaneous tasks.
After all, the higher-ups of the police department were clear about how much preferential treatment the royal court had intended to bestow upon them.
Without a serious case like this one, where they found a dismembered body of a mage they would otherwise never be distributed to handle matters regarding dullards or disputes and brawls between mages.
Such low difficulty works were more befitting for officers like them. By taking such necessary steps to ensure their safety their life expectancy has thus been greatly increased.
The twin sisters also would not be easily killed when assisting their team with a case. A bodyguard of an entire major realm higher than them like Patrol Officer Robert was so meticulous on caring for their wellbeing.
After all these conditions were stacked, what else could Russell be dissatisfied about?
"No! The more I think about it, the more I feel that Flowing Tide Pavilion was my true destination. My career in the public sector should have started from there instead of the police department."
"Speaking of which, I was practically abducted by our Chief Constable! Otherwise, which recruiter is actually a Valiant Mage trying to recruit a Novice Mage like me!? I couldn't even refuse on his face!"
Russell couldn't help but feel aggrieved. If others of his team heard his dissatisfaction they would surely give him a tight slap! One of the highest echelons in this town had proactively become your backer and you're still complaining??
Just how many people were willing to carry his shoes but they couldn't even get a glance from him!?
"Wait for me! It will at most take two weeks before I step into the next realm. I will soon transform into a genius unseen in the history of criminal investigation in this kingdom!"
"At that time wouldn't I be swimming in precious resources for my incalculable contributions! Hehehehe!!"
A satisfied smile couldn't help but appear on his lips for a moment which ended up infuriating the necromancer whose face had long since darkened from his provocations. A cold wind bursted from his feet and his face became sinister!
That was the last straw.
"Audacious brat! How dare—Ahh!!"
Dazzling Light Scroll!
Sensory Disorientation Scroll!
Strong Gust Scroll!
Air Wall Scroll!
SIGNAL FLARE!!!
"No! Officer Robert, there's a dark mage hiding over here!! Please quickly provide assistance!"
After throwing a flurry of magic scroll with practiced hands Russell ran for his life! Don't underestimate the space in his sleeve pocket.
As a uniform for a mage police it came with its own magical functions such as expanded space, heat regulation, moisture absorbance, slight resistance against spells, and dust-free fragrant fabric.
Though the expanded space can't compare to the Magic Hat, he would still put all sorts of commonly used items and emergency magic scrolls to the brim just so he wouldn't have to fumble around when push came to shove.
He had already muddied the waters and so now he was naturally heading towards the strongest ally present on the scene.
Bang!
The Air Wall broke instantly. The rationalist he had provoked at the start saw the escalating situation so he didn't hesitate to expose himself by attacking the translucent dome that surrounded the area centered on him and the other guy.
He quickly zoned in on the fleeing figure of the Patrolman and casted an attack spell in retaliation.
"Bone Spear!"
Death elemental ether in his body churned and rapidly produced a seven foot long spear made of white bones in front of his palm. It shot through with incredible speed and less than a second it was about to pierce his back!
Clang!
A white bubble appeared around Russell's body and forcibly resisted the spell. He was horrified to find that a quarter of his ether reserve was consumed to resist that.
"That guy must be a Three Symbols Adept Mage, the very limit I can handle! Damn it, why is Robert so slow!?"
At this point, Patrol Officer Robert finally recovered from his shock and quickly casted spells to attack the exposed two. His first reaction however was to step forward and shield the twin sisters behind his back.
He never expected that necromancers of the Death Abyss were actually near them!
"Ice Prison!"
"Hailstone Torrent!"
The ice elemental ether stored in the Ether Seedling of his body churned and circulated in a mystical pattern. The spell name he uttered became the anchor for its manifestation in reality.
A large cage made of icicles and solid ice suddenly descended from the top of the two necromancers. They hastily dodged by casting movement-type spells but not before getting hit by multiple fist-sized hailstones that condensed in front of Robert's wand which was pointed at them.
The rationalist was fine as he preemptively casted a passive defensive spell on his body, a black bone armor had now encased his body resisting the damage dealt by the hailstones.
Paired with his higher arcana attainment he already had an advantage in this confrontation when it came to ether reserve and spell numbers.
The reckless one however was not so lucky.
He was originally a Four Symbols Novice Mage so faced with an Adept Mage's all-out attack unlike Russell who had a precious artifact he displayed the typical result of such desperate situations, being instantly killed!
His body riddled with holes collapsed on the ground lifelessly. Ice elemental ether kept causing damage to his body through the wounds and soon turned him into a bloody ice sculpture.
Russell had safely arrived at the rear by this point. He vigilantly observed the still hidden dark mages who were hesitating and panicking from the rapidly deteriorating situation.
He originally wanted to attack a few more during the initial chaos to expose them but after discerning the arcana realm of the rationalist necromancer he wisely stopped digging his own grave.
A large number of fish will escape from the net, what a pity!
Back at the police headquarters.
A loud booming noise reverberated throughout the entire town startling the three Valiant Mages.
Walter, in particular, had a strange expression as he felt a strong sense of deja vu.
He took out the parchment scroll from his hat that could accurately pinpoint the exact location within this town where a signal flare has been used and also reveal the identity of the police officer who had fired it.
"Why is it this kid again!? No, does he call for reinforcement at the slightest provocation?"
He couldn't help but suspect that Russell was intentionally causing trouble. But of course, since he was seeking help he naturally had to check on him. This time he didn't plan on sending out the ape golem.
Given the current situation of the province, him personally resolving any unrest would never be reprimanded by the higher-ups in the prefecture so there was less concern on other two's later reactions of it.
Determining the location for a second he simply jumped out of the window and transformed into a magical light streaking through the sky.
A Valiant Mage joins the fray!