Witch, Fireball and the Evil God of Steam-Chapter 58: Order

Miss Xiangwei came prepared.

Although Ethan agreed to her invitation, he was also prepared for the possibility that if Miss Xiangwei took him to places that violated public morality, he would definitely snort coldly and leave. However, he ultimately made the mistake of judging based on appearances, as her attire and figure led him to a preconceived erroneous judgment.

He conducted deep self-reflection.

"This place is called Star Gnomon Lane, where you can find nearly every shop related to mysticism, high-tier magic scroll shops, magic potion stores, the Astrology Society, magic bookstores..."

Xiangwei smiled as she introduced Ethan, appealing to one’s interests is the basic principle of the consortium in dealing with people. They conducted extensive investigations and found that the only hobby of this suddenly emerging Elemental Shaper, besides liking to release ice arrows over the Black Sea, was to stroll around magic bookstores on merchant ships.

He even inquired with the bookstore owner about books on teleportation magic. Upon learning that the store did not have such high-tier magic books, he left disappointed.

Thus, an image of a scholar who transcended lowly interests and was keen on mysticism emerged vividly.

But it seems rightly so, Mr. Heisenberg looked young, yet managed to achieve such attainment in both Elemental Shaping and magic scroll painting, must have exerted unimaginable efforts, perhaps even using his sleeping time for study.

Ethan was immersed in the rich academic atmosphere of mysticism in Star Gnomon Lane, where you could see people wearing mage robes and holding magic books walking the streets, and if you saw a small group gathered, they must be earnestly discussing a certain spell.

Even the street lamps were remodeled in a pumpkin style, with energizing crystals embedded in the pumpkin’s eyes, shining cold light on the path.

Most of Star Gnomon Lane’s inhabitants were followers of Kadela, the God of Trickery.

As one of only two commonly seen "mages" in the Empire, in Ethan’s understanding, their spell system is more like that of wizards, known for their myriad transformative spells. He speculated that those high-tier mages probably mastered spells like "Avada Kedavra".

"By the way, since we were unable to contact you yesterday, there’s one matter we haven’t managed to obtain your consent on yet; please do not blame us for being presumptuous."

As she spoke, Xiangwei suddenly stopped walking.

Ethan looked up, and the splendid sign illuminated by energizing crystals came into view.

Old Sen Magic Scroll Shop.

Regardless of the shop’s size, its decor inside was far more luxurious than the VIP area on merchant ships. At this moment, the shop’s staff were already in place, uniformly dressed and wearing identical masks, sweeping the floors.

Everything was ready, except the shelves were empty, seemingly waiting for a Magic Scroll Painter to arrive.

He could use these resources to quickly enhance the skill level of elemental diagramming, though the custom orders solved his urgent needs, such output was destined to not quickly increase proficiency. After three commissions, his elemental diagramming remained at the beginner (24/45) stage.

If it were someone else, they might joyfully accept the fortune that fell from the sky.

"It certainly is rather presumptuous."

Ethan awoke from delightful fantasies, absolutely believing that the shop was equipped with a luxury magic scroll painting workshop, which made him think of the previous decisions faced by chemist Mr. Heisenberg, for whom drug lords once provided a "laundering shop".

There’s no free lunch in this world.

He said, "I’m currently not considering being employed."

"I completely understand your concerns, but the consortium believes that a talented Elemental Shaper like you shouldn’t be without a decent shop. You can view this as the consortium’s investment in you."

"Are you suggesting I should go to the Imperial Reserve for a loan to start up?"

"Though I don’t know what happened, it seems you bear a deep grudge against the consortium. The consortium will not place any demands on you; whatever you wish to sell in the shop is entirely up to you."

"So, you’re saying you have no standards, make no demands on revenue, providing me the shop located in the central area of Star Gnomon Lane to use freely without expecting a return; do I look like such an easily deceived person?"

At this point, Ethan paused briefly and continued, "On this journey, I’ve only seen mages, and there is an Astrology Society here, indicating that you have close ties with the Astrology Association. So, you must have heard that the relationship between mages and Elemental Shapers is not harmonious."

Where mages are entrenched, the presence of Elemental Shapers is certainly unseen.

Even someone like him, residing in a border town of the Empire with extremely limited access to mysticism field news, knows about the grudges of both parties.

Not long ago, the merchant ship’s magic scroll shop owner commented on basic elemental magic scrolls, representing the Elemental Shapers during an era.

With the rise of gunpowder and firearms, low-tier elemental spells gradually lost market share. Rather than functional and nearly solely battle-use elemental magic, today’s nobles and wealthy merchants prefer the varied and widely usable scroll-type magic spells.

In this fierce market competition, Elemental Shapers became the losing side.

Market environment changes have made mages revered and admired figures, whereas Elemental Shapers could only return akin to age-abandoned craftsmen to their Ivory Tower—the academy.

Ethan believed that the Lofic Consortium surely knew these backgrounds since most mysticism shops in the Empire were funded by them; the prices of mages and magic scrolls were manipulated behind the scenes.

The act of establishing a magic scroll shop run by an Elemental Shaper in the central area of Star Gnomon Lane was a malicious plot.

He just hadn’t figured out the consortium’s purpose for doing so yet; if the plan was merely to mock or humiliate him via mages, that would be far too childish.

"It seems nothing escapes your keen insight; the consortium just wants mages to return to their previously competitive state. They’ve been standing stagnant for way too long, instantly surpassed by your magic."

Miss Xiangwei complimented with a smile, "You can also interpret this shop as the reward for your first order."

"Order?"

"Your magic was quite impressive; this is an order only you, Mr. Heisenberg, can fulfill. Regardless of how many materials you need, whatever assistants you require, the consortium will strive to meet your demands, but we have just one requirement."

Those purple serpent eyes stared at Ethan; after polite exchanges, the serpent seemed finally ready to show its fangs.

"We wish for you to create a spell—a spell that can eliminate the Imperial Knight Commander."