"District Thirteen? You're in luck!"
In what looked like an office, Doruin finished processing the wizards ahead of Leilin and then opened his transfer order.
Immediately, he let out a surprised cry while sizing Leilin up and down with the look of someone examining a rare creature.
"You're an Apothecary! And you've been assigned there? Kid, did you offend someone?"
To this question, Leilin could only answer with a bitter smile.
"Alright, alright! As long as the order is genuine, I won't ask anything else. Take this — it's the map!"
Doruin stuffed a parchment scroll into Leilin's hands.
"District Thirteen sits on the border between us and the Dark
And just like that, Leilin was ushered out of the office as though they were seeing off a plague god.
Faced with this situation, Leilin had nothing left to say beyond rolling his eyes.
……
At Leilin's speed, even with Number Two and Number Three as deadweight, he reached District Thirteen before nightfall.
It was a small elevated plateau. Surrounding a vast field of black Mandragora flowers was a makeshift fortress constructed using earth-type wizardry.
After Leilin presented his credentials, he met the previous person in charge: a tall, thin male Wizard!
"The communication tower is in the center of the fortress, right next to your room. I've left all my belongings for you. Also, a few apprentices have been reassigned here recently. They're all yours now!"
The tall, thin Wizard rattled off his instructions rapidly, completed the handover, and after obtaining Leilin's signature, he immediately fled the place as if running for his life.
The speed of his departure left even Leilin somewhat stunned.
"Well then — I'm afraid I've landed myself in some serious trouble…" Leilin unrolled the map.
On the map Doruin had given him, the District Thirteen plateau where he now stood jutted straight into Dark Wizard territory like a nail driven into enemy ground.
It could be said that this place was surrounded on three sides by Dark Wizard forces, and at any moment, a Dark Wizard army could come charging in.
Meanwhile, the only power Leilin had at his disposal was a handful of Wizard Apprentices. Perhaps he should count himself — a full Wizard — as well!
With so little strength, in the face of the enemy, they would probably serve as nothing more than an early warning and a means of sending word.
"…No matter what! I might as well go take a look at my little band of subordinates!"
Leilin walked to the center of the great hall in the stone fortress and issued a summoning command: "I am the new garrison Wizard! Any apprentice who hears my voice, assemble in the great hall immediately!"
Leilin's voice was not loud, yet it spread eerily to every corner of the castle.
After a moment, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed out, and roughly ten or so apprentices jogged into the castle's great hall.
The clothing on these apprentices was a motley assortment. Although they all wore the Apprentice Grey Robes, the academy emblems and decorations were all different — they looked like leftover scraps gathered from various academies.
The energy fluctuations emanating from these apprentices were at roughly the second or third rank. Upon seeing Leilin, they all bowed respectfully, though their faces still wore expressions of uncertainty and wariness.
Leilin slapped his forehead. That Wizard had left in such a rush that he hadn't even bothered to go through the motions of a proper handover in front of the entire fortress.
However, during the transfer of authority, the tall, gaunt Wizard had already handed over the symbol of power here to him.
Leilin fished a black scepter from his sleeve. Immediately, throughout the entire hall, defensive runes of various colors flickered into view, combining to form a magical defensive formation.
The scepter in his hand was the control nexus of this fortress's defensive enchantments, and also the mark of the Wizard in command of this place.
When the apprentices saw the dark scepter in Leilin's hand, the looks on their faces finally shifted to one of understanding.
"Greetings, Lord Guardian Wizard!"
"Mm! My name is Leilin. Now — you! Step forward and tell me — is this everyone?"
Leilin casually pointed at a very elderly apprentice and beckoned him forward.
"I… I report to you, my lord! Aside from a few newly arrived apprentices who are still dawdling, every apprentice in the castle is already here…"
The old man crept forward quite timidly and gave his report to Leilin.
Just at that moment, a few more apprentices shuffled nervously into the great hall.
Along with them came a younger voice, trembling with anxiety: "My lord! We're the newly arrived apprentices! We're terribly sorry — we were delayed because we were carrying out patrol duties. May we come in?"
Even here, Leilin, as a Wizard, held tremendous authority over these apprentices.
He could assign them tasks at will, and when necessary, he could even execute them directly for reasons such as disobeying orders!
After all, this was wartime, and they were on the front lines. The life and death of every apprentice rested in Leilin's hands, so these newcomers couldn't help but feel anxious.
However, upon hearing that voice, a flicker of surprise appeared on Leilin's face.
"Come in!" he said in a low voice.
Soon after, five apprentices — three men and two women — shuffled nervously into the great hall.
The one in front had brilliant golden hair, thick eyebrows, and large eyes. Behind him followed a female apprentice carrying a large bow on her back. They looked like a couple.
His body trembled at first, but then he gritted his teeth and dropped to one knee: "My lord! It wasn't us deliberately delaying — they deliberately loaded us with the heaviest tasks…"
"Nonsense!" At this, the old man who had been called out by Leilin sprang to his feet like a cat whose tail had been stepped on: "All tasks are distributed through the Flask of Famodo — how could there possibly be a problem? It's clearly you who didn't show proper respect to the newly arrived lord…"
Leilin watched the scene and quickly composed himself.
It seemed that no matter where you went, senior apprentices bullying the newcomers was an inescapable tradition.
"Enough!" he spoke calmly, his voice low and steady.
The apprentices in attendance immediately hunched their bodies lower. The anger of a full Wizard was not something to trifle with.
"That voice?"
Even as every apprentice kept their heads bowed, a few discordant sounds rose up.
For example, there were a few apprentices who had kept their heads down ever since entering, not daring to look at Leilin.
"Le… Leilin!" George's eyes went wide as he stared at Leilin on the dais at the front of the hall, his mouth hanging open as wide as a giant toad.
Letting out the same gasp of astonishment were Ciri and Besta on the side.
Leilin rubbed his nose. Although he knew these three apprentices had also been assigned to defend the secret realm, he hadn't expected such a coincidence — they'd been placed directly under his command.
"Sir! I'm sorry! Even though you told us to wait for you! But after we waited for two days and one night without any sign of you, and with the mission deadline approaching, we had no choice but to leave…"
Ciri bowed deeply, pressing her forehead tightly against the cold floor as she struggled to explain.
Leilin nodded. He did remember saying something like that, but after the battle with Janna, he had been severely wounded and desperately needed to find a place to recover — how could he have worried about them?
Later on, he had simply forgotten about George and the others altogether.
"This isn't your fault! I was delayed for a while due to an urgent matter…" Leilin explained.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
At that moment, the old man apprentice, who had jumped up earlier, discovered that George and these other apprentices were anything but helpless sheep with no backing — they actually had a relationship with the newly arrived Wizard. His soul immediately fled in terror.
He dropped to both knees on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly until blood appeared on his forehead.
"S-Sir! Please forgive me!"
The old man was filled with dread. As a formal Wizard, Leilin had more than enough ways to make him wish he were dead. Moreover, the petty tricks he had employed before were nothing more than a child's games in the eyes of a formal Wizard — he had absolutely no hope of hiding anything.
George, tugged by Ciri, finally snapped back to reality. Looking at the friend who now seemed to sit so far above him, his expression was extraordinarily complicated.
The friend he once knew had now far surpassed him. Even the old man they had considered so difficult to deal with could only kneel on the ground, continuously kowtowing and begging for his understanding.
This complicated feeling was not something that could be fully grasped in a moment.
George's head was in a daze. Although Ciri had told him about Leilin after he woke up, hearing it through someone else's words was vastly different from witnessing it with his own eyes.
However, George knew full well that he and Leilin could never go back to the relationship they once had.
Unless, that is, he advanced again and became a formal Wizard — and at that time, Leilin was still at his current rank without having progressed further.
But how was that even possible?
George looked at the young, handsome black-haired youth on the stage. "Leilin is only twenty now, isn't he? And he's already successfully advanced. This kind of talent… I could never catch up…"
Compared to George and Ciri, Besta, standing off to the side, had an even more complicated expression on her face.
Terror, regret, fear, and a few other indescribable emotions constantly cycled across her features.
"Enough!"
Lei Lin said flatly, giving a light wave of his hand to stop the old man's continued bowing and apologizing.
"What happened before, I don't care about. But from now on, this kind of internal consumption is forbidden. If anyone still does this, weakening our side's strength and giving the enemy an opening, I will drag his soul out and torture him for a hundred years. Do you understand?"
Lei Lin knew well that bullying newcomers was something that was almost impossible to avoid. Normally, unless he happened to stumble upon an acquaintance, he wouldn't even want to bother with it.
But with him here now, these apprentices not only wouldn't continue targeting George and the others, on the contrary, they would likely fall over themselves to curry favor. Naturally, he didn't need to say much more.