My Level Zero System-Chapter 254: Investigation

Wilfred had actually wrongly blamed Mera.

The truth was, this person named Ron genuinely needed to leave.

As soon as he climbed into the carriage and was out of everyone’s sight, Ron pulled out a glass orb, within which shimmered a faint green light. When he held it, he felt something wrap around his arm.

This sensation gave Ron goosebumps, but he didn’t dare throw the glass orb away. This orb was a crucial token entrusted to him by his superiors.

More than a month ago, his superiors, who had long been out of contact, re-established communication, instructing them to begin an investigation.

They had to search for a "seed."

Ron had no idea what "seed" meant, but according to his superiors, it even involved Grand-class Magus, a level Ron couldn’t even dream of reaching.

Therefore, Ron, along with many other informants his superiors had planted in the northern part of the Akazac Empire, was forced to obey the command.

As the person in charge of monitoring Whesling, Ron initially wasn’t too enthusiastic about this mission and only carried it out perfunctorily. Although a few years prior, records had shown a "seed" appearing in Whesling, this "seed" had long since escaped and wasn’t waiting around to be caught.

This mission had originally been paused for a long time until recently, when his superiors announced that signs of the "seed" had reappeared, and the search mission was reactivated.

The north once again became a hotbed of investigation, and Ron was no exception.

Searching for someone without any clues was like looking for a needle in a haystack. That is, until Ron actually stumbled upon something.

He re-examined his previous, fruitless investigations and began to formulate a hypothesis.

The "seed" must be a formidable character, if not extremely cunning, to have escaped the organization’s pursuit, fleeing from the west to the north and then hiding somewhere unknown.

So Ron hypothesized: what if the "seed" had evaded their investigation by... appearing?

This seemed illogical; how could someone who was evading detection suddenly appear? But this was precisely where the "seed"’s brilliance lay.

When searching for the "seed," they would naturally look in the shadows, because in their perception, she would be hiding there. No one would ever imagine she would dare to live openly in broad daylight.

Thus, Ron revisited records and information about women who had "gone missing" or "disappeared" during that period.

Although the local government’s population management system was relatively rudimentary, citizens could still report if their family members went missing. Only those who were single or homeless with no one to care for them wouldn’t fall under this category.

Based on this, Ron continued his investigation, and it quickly led to a dead end.

There were no viable suspects.

Even though the time-framing had saved him considerable effort, this line of inquiry still hit a wall.

Until Ron heard a story from that year:

Mayor Wilfred’s wife went missing.

Although this information had long been concealed by Wilfred, the commotion caused that day still allowed a little bit of it to leak out.

Previously, when Ron and his superior came here to search for traces left by the "seed," they hadn’t considered this direction at all. That’s why they overlooked the fact that the "seed" hadn’t been hiding; she had actually dared to get married and have children!

Initially, this was just a suspicion, but the more Ron investigated, the more suspicious points he uncovered, so he decided to take a gamble.

Like tonight.

He planned to ambush and kidnap Mera, then interrogate her about her mother’s whereabouts, or use her life to threaten her father—either option would work.

The reason he targeted Mera was that, compared to Wilfred, she didn’t appear much in front of others, and her temporary disappearance wouldn’t be noticed. Ron didn’t want to make a big fuss; kidnapping Wilfred now and triggering a city-wide manhunt would be counterproductive to his goals.

It was true that his organization feared nothing, but he was merely a small spy who could be discarded at any time. Therefore, until he found concrete evidence about the "seed" and elevated his own value enough for his superiors to protect him, Ron would not want to cause a huge stir.

Upon returning to his residence, Ron immediately summoned five subordinates, all of whom were mid-class Magus with a lower rank in the organization than him.

In other words, he was the team leader.

Very quickly, Ron finished assigning the mission, just waiting for the bait to be taken.

...

Even before the banquet ended, Mera found another excuse to slip away.

"I wonder when Kain will be back..." Mera thought to herself, then immediately used her magic skill [Fly] for convenience.

However, when she was halfway there, Mera keenly sensed that someone was following her.

The main reason was... the wind.

Since she became a mid-class Magus of [Air Magic], she had gained a unique ability. Even when she wasn’t actively casting magic, she could perceive her surroundings through the air currents flowing everywhere. The wind and air were her eyes and ears.

This was quite similar to the [Imitative] magic skill of [Spirit Magic], though its limitations were much clearer.

Despite this, Mera sharply detected three individuals trailing behind her. They maintained a distance outside her line of sight, but they hadn’t expected that her wind had already found them. frёewebnoѵēl.com

"I can’t fight here; too many people would get caught in the crossfire," Mera thought, slowly changing her direction towards the outskirts of the city.

Behind her, the three pursuing Magus naturally noticed Mera’s maneuver.

"It seems her direction is no longer towards the mayor’s mansion."

"She’s heading out of the city!"

"That’s even better. Originally, we planned to take a hostage to force her outside the city. Now she’s walked right into our trap."

"Call the other two; we don’t need a hostage."

A silent chase began.

As soon as she was not far from the city limits, Mera immediately accelerated, trying to escape.

And her pursuers revealed themselves.

"Three mid-class Magus, are you kidding me?" Mera looked back, unable to stop herself from cursing.

She couldn’t remember making enemies with anyone enough to warrant someone sending out three mid-class Magus to deal with her.

Although hailed as a genius and the champion of first-year students at Kanzax Academy, Mera wasn’t so arrogant as to think she could handle three unknown mid-class Magus at once. Therefore, Mera’s top priority was to run.

However, Mera didn’t expect that the number of Magus pursuing her wasn’t three, but five.

While she was busy focusing on the three trailing Magus, the other two Magus had circled around ahead, waiting for the opportune moment to cut her off, forming an encirclement.

These two Magus also possessed [Fly], clearly a deliberate setup to trap Mera.

"Damn it!" Mera cursed again.

Surrounded by five Magus, Mera found herself cornered.

"Miss Mera, we merely wish to ask you a few questions."

"But you’re not telling me what comes after, are you? Don’t think I’m stupid!" Mera retorted coldly.

The five Magus exchanged glances, not anticipating such a response.

But it didn’t matter.

According to their information, Mera was just a newly advanced mid-class Magus. While she had performed well in the tournament, resisting five Magus of the same class was impossible. Moreover, they were seasoned mid-class Magus, not a group of newly advanced students who could be compared to her.

Mera was destined to fail.

"Alright, I only want to ask one question. If you can answer it, I’ll surrender obediently."

The five Magus paused, and one gestured for Mera to speak.

"What is it about me that’s so valuable that it requires five mid-class Magus to deal with me, or rather... what do you want me to reveal?" Mera asked seriously.

One of them replied, "That’s a secret..."

"But I’ll find out anyway after you ask, won’t I? Or do you have no intention of letting me leave alive? If so, I’d rather die protecting the secret; at least then your efforts will be in vain."

Kain relentlessly countered.

Having spent a long time with Kain, Mera had naturally picked up a few of his tricks, such as his ability to "persuade" others to reveal what she wanted to know.

Under Mera’s sharp reasoning, the pursuers hesitated, but ultimately, they compromised.

"We only want to know the whereabouts of your mother."

"My... mother?" Mera froze for a moment.

Her mother’s disappearance had always been one of Mera’s closely guarded mysteries, but she herself didn’t know the full situation. Only after Kain’s analysis and deductions based on the clues did Mera realize that her mother was very likely being pursued by some organization.

Mera had thought this was still far off, who would have expected her to encounter them as soon as she returned to Whesling?

"So... you really are..." Mera murmured, almost certain that these people were members of the organization hunting her mother—the main reason her family was now shattered.

Thinking of this, a furious glint appeared in her eyes, but she quickly reined it in.

Now was not the time to investigate the truth of that year. Given the power of the enemies sent just to interrogate her, Mera currently had no basis to fight back.

Thus, from the very beginning, Mera’s purpose, aside from gathering information, was to intentionally buy time.

This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦