Sorcerer’s Handbook
Chapter 161: Moonshadow

The living room was filled with the upbeat melodies of pop music. Emma had a peculiar taste, enjoying these boisterous tunes. Even worse was her singing along in her less-than-stellar voice, an act that felt like a double taboo.

“No one can share this with me, hiding in the quilt, playing~”

With a clatter, the door to the storeroom opened. Emma, who was just singing, immediately put on a straight face and silently placed two plates in front of Igor.

On the left plate was dog food, and on the right, clear water.

Igor looked up at Emma, timidly raised his right hand, to which Emma nodded, and he rushed off to the washroom.

When he returned, he obediently lay on the floor, eating just like a pet. Igor didn’t feel any psychological pressure from this kind of humiliation that didn’t touch his interests. It was unable to scratch the soul of the Trickster.

However, Emma was quite satisfied, crouching next to him and saying, “I found some information. Observation Point 53 has been confirmed as a complete virtual gateway.”

Igor looked up sharply, “Then–“

SMACK!

Emma suddenly slapped Igor’s head hard, creating a loud noise. Her pretty and cute face was covered in shadow, appearing fierce and violent.

Igor obediently raised his hand, and Emma immediately broke into a smile, “You can speak.”

“When will the first exploration of Observation Point 53 take place?”

“Tonight, 0 o’clock on May 2nd, when the Blood Moon dims.” Emma said, “The Lakeview War Zone has transferred a group of adventurers over there. I’ve prepared the Adventurer’s Standard Outfit and a bicycle for you. There are still 5 hours before midnight. You have enough time to get there. As for whether you can blend into the team of adventurers, it’s up to you.”

Igor was taken aback. He felt that Emma would help him, but he didn’t expect her to arrange everything so perfectly.

Whether it was living in the storeroom, eating dog food, or wearing a collar, Igor could resist. But he chose to appease Emma because she was his hope to escape from the Blood Moon. Offending her would only hasten his own doom.

Not to mention information about Observation Point 53. Although Emma had to tell Igor due to contractual limitations, the timing was at her discretion.

If Emma told Igor at 11 o’clock, he would miss the best opportunity to escape–the first wave of exploration of the virtual gateway. This would be the time with the most loopholes and the easiest to blend in!

Emma not only informed Igor in time but also helped him prepare to blend into the team of adventurers. Igor couldn’t help but feel touched, “Thank you, thank you for helping me so much.”

Emma was slightly surprised, then showed a sweet smile, her wolf tail wagging triumphantly, “You’re welcome!”

Suddenly, she pulled Igor up, “Come on, let’s eat.”

“Ah?” Igor looked at the dog food in the plate, “Am I not supposed to eat this?”

“Good kids don’t need to eat snacks.” Emma let him sit down, “I’ll make something delicious for you.”

Although she said that, Emma’s cooking skills only went as far as ‘I know how to use this kitchen utensil’. She took out some semi-cooked food from the fridge, heated it up, and put it on the table. But for Igor, who had been eating dog food for several days, being able to sit and eat with a spoon felt like a high-class restaurant treatment.

Just as Igor was about to start eating, he saw Emma folding her hands in prayer, “Thank you for the sun and rain given by the Blood Moon, which brings us plentiful food from the earth.”

Igor noticed Emma sneaking glances at him. After a moment’s hesitation, he also followed her in prayer before the meal. Emma was very satisfied, and while eating, she asked, “We haven’t gambled in a long time, do you want to bet on something?”

Igor: “But we’re eating right now.”

“Gambling with food, what an idea! Igor, you’re so clever, come up with something fun!” Emma said excitedly.

Igor did not want to oppose her here. After pondering a moment, he said, “Alright, the game is this: we each take turns eating 1 to 3 bites of food. Whoever happens to eat the last bite wins.”

“What an interesting bet!” Emma said, “What should we wager?”

“A question,” Igor replied. “The loser must answer a question honestly.”

“No problem! Haha, Igor, you’re bound to lose this time. My record is one Lala Fatty per bite!”

Just like before, Emma never cared about the size of the bet. But the key to winning this game wasn’t the size of one’s appetite, but rather the order of who went first and their calculating abilities. Under Igor’s simple operation, Emma ate most of the food, but the last bite was taken by Igor.

Emma patted her belly contentedly and sighed, “Ah, I lost again. That makes the score 185 losses to 12 wins…”

Igor, having changed into his Adventurer’s Standard Outfit, pulled up his face mask and put on his hood. He looked at Emma with some surprise, “You actually kept track of our betting tally?”

“Of course, how could I forget such an important thing?” Emma casually wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, dug out a key from her pocket, and tossed it to Igor. “The bike is at spot no. 16 downstairs.”

Igor caught the key, “I’m sorry to trouble you. If I’m caught, the Memory Master will find evidence of your help in my memory. I don’t have time to find the Memory Master to erase my memory…”

“It’s fine.” Emma waved her hand dismissively. “Isn’t it normal for friends to help each other?”

Friends…?

A smirk curled the corner of Igor’s mouth. “But I’m a criminal, and you’re a Blood Mad Hunter.”

“So what?” Emma cocked her head at Igor, her feet curled up on the chair, her tail bending inward, a look of confusion on her face.

“You’re a criminal, I’m a Blood Mad Hunter, but what does that have to do with us being friends? When we play together, we’re just playing a gambling game, not a game of hunter and criminal…”

“I’ve never heard of someone locking their friend in a storeroom and feeding them dog food,” Igor said coldly.

“You’re a rude, bad kid. Isn’t it normal to be punished?” Emma retorted righteously, “You still haven’t admitted your mistake!”

What mistake should I admit? I was locked in a storeroom on the first day!

Unreasonable, incomprehensible.

Igor shook his head, went to the entrance to put on his boots, and Emma came over saying, “Are you leaving now? Be careful on the road.”

“Right, I won the bet just now. As the winner, I have the right to ask you a question, and you have to answer me honestly.”

“Go ahead.”

“Was I arrested by the Heresy Court because you reported me?”

Emma blinked, her face showing confusion.

“You were arrested by the Heresy Court? I was wondering why you disappeared for over a year… Wait a minute, are you saying you’re an escaped convict? So you really were a criminal?”

Igor was shocked, “Didn’t you see my wanted poster?”

“The hunt for the escaped convict was the captain’s responsibility. I’ve been in charge of deputy mayor’s security work recently…” Emma shook her head, “As for your arrest by the Heresy Court, I didn’t even know who you were, how could I report you… Wait a minute.”

“Come to think of it, I was suddenly congratulated by everyone a year ago. They said that I volunteered to be the bait and lured a cunning Trickster into a trap. Even the captain praised me, treated me to a grand meal. I didn’t know what had happened, and I just ate the meal in a daze, and even got promoted…”

Although it sounded unbelievable, Igor felt that Emma was not lying.

From the moment he met her, Emma seemed to be a very cute and naive type, which was why Igor had exploited her to accumulate a contract time of 9000 minutes. He had seen that she was easy to take advantage of.

In his heart, Igor didn’t want to believe that Emma was the one who reported him, otherwise he wouldn’t have asked the question, because it meant a serious flaw in his judgment of people.

If he couldn’t even distinguish whether a client was a dog or a wolf, he would basically lose his qualifications as a trickster.

Luckily, Emma didn’t disappoint him. She was indeed a natural fool, and the Heresy Court had just happened to catch him, not because he had actively walked into Emma’s trap. The only person in the world who could deceive him was still that underdeveloped cult leader.

Thinking of this, Igor couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief and smile: “Thank you, Emma.”

But Emma was not satisfied and asked: “Don’t you have anything else to say to me? Like an apology or something…”

“I’m sorry for causing you so much trouble…”

“I’ve said it’s okay, not that!”

So what was it then? Even as a Spirit Art Master, Igor still couldn’t figure out what Emma was thinking, so he simply pushed the door and left: “Thank you for your care, I hope we have the chance to meet again in the future.”

“I’ll definitely win next time!” Emma shouted loudly.

On the way out of the apartment, Igor let out a long sigh, sweeping away the gloom of being locked up these past few days, and his steps became lighter.

Emma, besides having a big temper and a bad habit of treating people like dogs, was also a good client. Given enough time, Igor was even confident he could develop Emma into his own undercover agent in the Heresy Court.

After all, Emma surprisingly valued friendship. She wore her emotions on her sleeve, was straightforward in her thinking, didn’t mind breaking rules, and acted just like a child…

Igor found the bike Emma had prepared. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly heard Emma’s voice from above.

“Next time you ask for help, say ‘please’ first!” Emma shouted from the balcony without any restraint: “Don’t be so rude in the future!”

Igor was slightly taken aback, he could only nod quickly and ride away from the awkward scene of the incident.

He wondered why Emma had suddenly said such a thing, and it took him a while to realize that when he first found Emma, he indeed didn’t say ‘please’.

Igor found this both irritating and amusing. Could it be that Emma was angry because he didn’t say ‘please’ when he initially told her “I command you to help me escape from the Blood Moon Realm”?

“You’re a rude little brat, isn’t it normal to be punished?”

Screech!

Igor abruptly braked and looked back at the apartment building where Emma lived.

He recalled some information about the Moonshadow Tribe.

The members of the Moonshadow Tribe came from two sources. Apart from adults who became priests through church exams, there was another way – when the Beloved Church evaluated the potential of babies, they would keep the children whose talents most suited the Moonshadow Tribe and send them directly to the church’s foster home for cultivation.

Unlike most foster homes, the church’s foster home was completely closed and did not accept social supervision.

Regular foster homes, good or bad, had to install cameras to allow the public to see the situation inside. They could have child fights, but they absolutely did not allow staff to physically punish the children.

You could educate through verbal warnings, resource bias, and even collective isolation, but you could not directly harm the children or deprive them of their freedom; the children had the right to refuse.

Because of the closed nature of the church’s foster home, many people suspected that it was conducting militarized cultivation.

However, the Moonshadow priests who come out of the Beloved Church’s Foster Home often dispel people’s doubts. Compared to the vast majority of people in the Blood Moon Realm, the Moonshadow priests are so pure, adorable, passionate, innocent, diligent, and polite – they are like grown-up little angels.

In passing, the Heresy Court is only responsible for hunting down evil. If a Blood Moon citizen encounters issues like neighbor conflicts, lost pets, a light bulb stuck in the mouth, tongue stuck to a rail, body stuck in a washing machine, the Heresy Court is of no use. The correct approach is to seek the Church.

As long as they receive a request for help, no matter what time it is, the nearest church will dispatch a Moonshadow priest to assist. Moonshadow priests are always cheerful and enthusiastic, never shy away from trouble, and face everything with patience. This has fostered the concept of ‘seek the Church for trouble’ among Blood Moon people.

Almost everyone has received help from a Moonshadow priest, and no one dislikes them. Currently, 60% of the Blood Moon citizens are timely worshippers of the Church, the majority of whom are influenced by the Moonshadow priests. Therefore, they firmly believe that the Blood Moon Supreme, whom the Moonshadow priests pray to, indeed exists with ultimate benevolence and kindness.

One of the main reasons Fernand Snow’s speech didn’t cause much commotion is the existence of the Moonshadow priests. If the benefits harvested from them were given to the sacred bloodline, everyone would undoubtedly be furious. But if it’s between the sacred bloodline and the Moonshadow, people hesitate – sacrificing for the Moonshadow seems more acceptable.

There’s a saying in Caimon City: The faux top-tier is the Jade Garden; the real top-tier is the Foster Home of the Church.

As for the likes of Langna, calling him a werewolf is quite accurate. His existence only tarnishes the name of Moonshadow.

At this moment, Igor suddenly recalled his conversation with Langna before his jailbreak.

“The Beloved Church actually raised a Moonshadow like you, it’s really strange.”

“What’s strange to me is that the Church didn’t raise any other werewolves.”

So that’s what it meant…

Actually, Igor should have guessed it earlier – how could an adult be afraid of being locked in a storeroom? Igor wasn’t afraid even without a Chip. If Igor had a Chip, he could even carry out Canopy anonymous fraud in the storeroom.

Only naive children would fear such confinement punishment.

And moreover, Emma clearly didn’t have a dog at home, so why did she have dog food? She even pointed at the dog food and said it was a snack.

Adding to that her unusual emphasis on politeness and her childlike character, the truth was becoming clear.

Igor looked up at the slowly rising Blood Moon, shook his head gently, and pedaled hard on his bike to escape.

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