"A spellbook? What kind of spellbook?"

  Ethan's question hit the heart of the matter so directly that Ivy fell silent.

  The truth was, she had no idea what kind of spellbook the Midwinter Witch had left behind. She could not even begin to imagine it. And even if she did know, she would never tell Ethan.

  A great magical work left behind by the Empire's former greatest elemental caster.

  That title alone was enough to get countless people killed.

  She shook her head.

  "That isn't something you need to worry about."

  "Then... what if you never find it?"

  "One year."

  Ivy knew exactly what Ethan was worried about.

  She raised one finger.

  "If I still haven't found it after a year, I'll keep my promise and recommend you for a position in the headquarters intelligence division."

  "It's a deal."

  Ethan was still young.

  He could afford to wait a year. And in that time, he could calmly focus on building up Ethan's Magic Scroll Shop and save enough money to live on before eventually transferring to headquarters in the Capital.

  Then he said, "In that case, I won't keep bothering you today. Chloe and I should head back."

  "Head back? To where?"

  Ivy tilted her head in confusion.

  The little blond tuft on top of her head tilted too.

  "Back to the Guild to pack my things. I switched over to the Bureau, so I need to clear out my old room and leave it tidy."

  The only thing Ethan really felt sorry to lose was his room on the second floor of the Guild.

  That had basically been an employee perk. He had lived there rent-free for two years, which had saved him a very respectable amount of money.

  "And where exactly are you pnning to live after that?"

  For all Ethan's faults, and there were many, he was still someone working under her now.

  That meant his daily living arrangements were something she needed to care about. Besides, after spending such a huge amount on books, he probably did not have much left in savings.

  This was Ivy's first time being someone's superior.

  She had decided she was going to be a good one.

  "That little cabin in the hills isn't actually that bad once you clean it up a little."

  Ethan was a naturally positive person.

  True, the cabin had a few minor fws. A corpse had once been dragged into it. The scene had looked disturbingly close to a cult sacrifice. Blood had gotten everywhere. Then several more people had died outside the front door, and their ashes had been packed into jars and buried in the dirt nearby. The pce was old enough that a heavy storm would definitely make the roof leak, and the door offered almost no protection at night. Any passing wild beast could probably come crashing in without much effort.

  But if you ignored all of that, it was actually a pretty decent little pce.

  The Guild had probably long since forgotten it even owned property out there, so Ethan doubted anyone would mind if he and Chloe stayed in it for a while.

  Mountains and wilderness really did have a special charm.

  As one famous mountain lover once put it, "Nice. Living in the mountains is really nice."

  "That pce is fit for human habitation?"

  Ivy blurted it out before she could stop herself.

  The blond tuft on her head shook violently, as though trying to physically warn Ethan against this terrible pn.

  She had been to that cabin.

  If she lived in a pce like that, she was pretty sure she would break out in rashes within two days.

  "And what about Chloe? She's still growing. She eats like a monster. Can you even afford to feed her right now?" Ivy added. "Don't misunderstand. Chloe is part of our outpost too, so naturally I have to care about her situation."

  Ethan pouted.

  He strongly suspected Ivy and her little tuft had a serious ck of respect for nature.

  He understood the argument.

  But if you had money, who wouldn't rather live in a big house?

  As for Chloe's appetite, Ethan's pn was simply to trust in nature. Nature always provided. There were many warm-hearted beasts in the wild, like the Boar King, who simply could not bear to see other living creatures go hungry.

  Seeing Ethan fall quiet, Ivy suddenly said, "What do you think of the apartment next door?"

  Ivy lived on the most prosperous street in Willowbrook.

  It was a standalone duplex apartment building, clearly designed for a very specific kind of resident. The upper crust of Willowbrook, people like major bankers or rge shop owners. Several more apartments just like it stood in a neat row along the broad avenue the town had only recently built.

  "If you lived closer, it would be much easier to discuss work. And according to Bureau policy, housing can be arranged for certain important personnel."

  "The apartment next door belongs to the Bureau?"

  "It can."

  Those three words alone hit Ethan's poor little heart like a thundercp.

  Ivy spoke of buying an entire apartment building without so much as blinking. To her, it seemed as ordinary as eating or drinking.

  "Thank you for the organization's trust and for your leadership's support."

  What else was there to say?

  "Cluck."

  Chloe, who had been hiding under the table until now, came over too.

  She gave Ivy an elegant little bow of thanks.

  Ethan was becoming more and more certain that this hen was getting smarter by the day.

  "Then go gather your personal belongings from the Guild and move into the pce next door. The identification papers from the Gearford branch should arrive by tomorrow night. Until then, rest well."

  Ethan agreed out loud.

  In reality, he had already decided to stay up all night.

  He pnned to read through A Simple Guide to Magic Scroll Crafting from cover to cover and try to turn all twenty sheets of charged parchment into Ice Arrow scrolls before officially starting work. The urge had been cwing at him all the way back.

  By the time he finished the handover at the Guild and returned with his luggage, it was already evening.

  Willowbrook was still under full lockdown. The streets were empty. Before leaving the Guild, he had squeezed one st bit of value out of the pce by taking the free bread they provided for hunters and using it as Chloe's dinner.

  Standing at the door of the apartment, Ethan felt as though he were in another world.

  Two years after transmigrating, he finally had a new home.

  Not some borrowed little room under someone else's roof.

  Officially, this was just an employee benefit from the Bureau. Even so, Ethan stood there for a long while without moving. Expensive-looking decorative pieces sat on the tea table in the sitting room, and the first thing anyone saw upon entering was a reception area grand enough to make an impression.

  He had his own washroom.

  His own study.

  He assigned one bedroom to Chloe.

  Chloe peered timidly at the rge, soft bed in the room, and only after Ethan gave her permission did she leap up in delight. She curled down into the warm bnkets, turning herself into a rge, fluffy red ball, her eyes narrowing into contented little crescents.

  "This is your room now."

  "Cluck."

  And he, Ethan, was about to step into a brand new world as well.

  The grandeur of the apartment gave him a new goal.

  He would teach himself how to become a magic scroll crafter, build the business bigger and bigger, and maybe one day, in the Capital, he would be able to rent a grand pce like this too.

  He hurried into his bedroom and pced A Simple Guide to Magic Scroll Crafting on the desk.

  The rge oak desk had more than enough room for all twenty folded sheets of charged parchment.

  Heart pounding, Ethan opened to the first page.

  It was time to begin crafting.