Shang looked up at the wall, and he saw the guards part so that someone else could step forward.

It was a woman with brown hair, fully clad in an impressive set of silver armor.

Shang's instincts immediately told him that he couldn't fight her.

She felt about as powerful as that one spider he had seen on his travels to the Southern Wild.

Shang immediately knew that she was in the Second Realm, the General Stage, and he also knew that she was the one in charge.

"I've already given the order to investigate everything," she proclaimed. "It will only take around two hours."

When Shang heard that it would only take two hours, his suspicion towards the leading guard increased even more.

The leading guard turned to the officer and saluted with a professional expression. "Thank you, my lady," he said.

The officer looked at the leading guard with a suspicious expression. "Why haven't you given the order earlier?" she asked.

"Reporting to my lady, I have been busy with handling the suspicious individual. I wasn't able to give the order earlier," the leading guard explained.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ The officer only looked at the leading guard with a suspicious expression.

"It has recently come to my attention that your living conditions are quite ostentatious for someone of your position," she commented.

"My lady, I have already informed the treasury investigators about the sizable farm my brother owns. The treasury department has already verified all the gold he has sent me and its origins."

"Additionally, my lady, I would humbly request that you don't bring up my personal life in front of my squad," the leading guard added.

The officer narrowed her eyes.

"I will keep that in mind," she said.

Shang immediately noticed some things.

First of all, the officer was rather young. She was probably in her early twenties.

Second of all, she didn't hide her suspicion and hostility while talking to the leading guard.

Third, the leading guard had correctly highlighted the issue of talking about this in public. Superiors were not supposed to humiliate their staff in front of others.

With these clues, Shang got the picture.

The officer knew that the leading guard was doing underhanded business, and she wanted to punish him for it.

However, the leading guard was perfectly covering his tracks, not leaving any opening, which frustrated the officer.

Due to her inexperience, her frustration got the better of her, and she wanted to punish the leading guard via a different method.

However, the leading guard managed to turn things around to make her lose face in front of all her soldiers.

Shang also knew how the leading guard managed to explain his wealth.

'He's money laundering,' Shang thought. 'He has a rich brother? Maybe, but what brother continually showers their sibling with so much wealth when the sibling already has quite a well-paying position?'

'He's probably exchanging the ill-gotten gains via a middle-man with his brother, who then gifts the guard with gold.'

'The higher-ups probably already know, but there are so many merchants traveling through this town that it's nearly impossible to investigate all of them.'

'No wonder she's so frustrated,' Shang thought.

"I would like to file an official complaint," Shang shouted from below the wall.

The officer looked at Shang with interested eyes. "What's your complaint?" she asked.

"This guard has ordered his colleagues to point their crossbows at me without a justified reason. I wasn't resisting, and I hadn't even drawn my weapon. He drew his weapon first, while I have not shown any aggression," Shang explained.

The officer frowned.

She looked at the leading guard, whose expression hadn't changed.

"His suspicions were valid, and your guilt has not been cleared yet," the officer said. "However, even if your guilt will be cleared, he has still acted according to policy."

"Suspicious individuals are to be brought to the barracks. You are technically already under arrest due to your inability to flee from us, but that can't be considered an official arrest. For an official arrest, you need to be brought to the barracks."

"Remaining outside under our surveillance is not a right, but a privilege. It is something we can grant, but it's not our obligation."

"He hasn't broken protocol, and he has acted correctly," she said.

There were no emotions in her voice.

"Fine," Shang said after some seconds.

He had expected that his complaint would go nowhere.

But if he had expected his complaint to go nowhere, why had he complained in the first place?

Because he wanted to make a good impression on the officer.

Why?

Because by showing his intention to help her, the officer might want to reciprocate. An officer of such an important town had to be quite a powerful and impressive individual.

Making a good impression on someone like that might prove to be a great help in the future.

Additionally, Shang allowed her to rectify her earlier blunder.

She had openly humiliated her employee, but now, she had defended him.

Shang only hoped that she realized all of this.

Shang waited for the next couple of minutes. The officer had already stepped down from the wall to arrive in front of the gates.

The leading guard only respectfully stood at the side.

An hour later, a guard exited the gates and respectfully delivered a piece of paper to the officer.

The officer read the contents of the letter and nodded.

"Your guilt has been cleared, Shang," she said.

The fact that she knew his name meant that they had truly investigated his background.

"Thank you," Shang answered evenly.

The officer nodded towards the other guards, and the guard went back to doing whatever they were doing.

"You may enter the town," the officer told Shang. "However, I would ask you to follow me for a bit. There have been reports of bandit corpses from other visitors, and they suspect that you have been the one that dealt with them. We would like you to verify the identities of the bandits."

The memories of last night returned to Shang, and the faces of the dead bandits went through his mind.

"Do I have to?" Shang asked.

"It's not mandatory," the officer explained. "However, I would ask you to do so regardless. The families of the people deserve closure."

Shang looked into the eyes of the officer.

Her eyes didn't speak of indifference or protocol but of a genuine desire for him to accept.

"Fine," Shang said.

"Thank you," the officer said politely. "Please follow me."

Shang nodded and took hold of his sled wagon.

Then, he walked after the officer while throwing a glance at the leading guard.

The leading guard acted like he hadn't seen the glance.

The gates of Blizzard's Edge opened, and Shang entered.

As soon as he went past the gate, Shang felt like the weather had changed.

There was no wind, and the temperature of the surroundings felt rather comfortable, a bit warm even.

For the first time, Shang also felt a complete absence of Ice Mana.

"The Mana Austerum absorbs Ice and Wind Mana in the winter and gives off a bit of Ice Mana in the summer to keep the weather comfortable for Blizzard's Edge's citizens," the officer explained.

Shang only nodded.

For some reason, he wasn't in the mood to talk.

Shang didn't know the reason.

Maybe he still had some misgivings about his actions from last night, and the thought that he had to talk about last night again made him nervous?

He wasn't sure.

The town was surprisingly quiet.

Shang had expected the town to be louder, but there actually weren't many merchants on the streets.

In fact, there weren't even any stalls. There were only shops.

"These are the barracks," the officer said after walking for a while. "You can put your sled wagon onto that spot there. Don't worry, no one is allowed to go there without the supervision of the goods' owner."

Shang nodded and pulled his sled wagon to the side. After that, he let go and followed the officer into the barracks.

They passed through a couple of hallways. The officer opened the door to a meeting room, and the two of them entered.

Then, they sat down opposite of each other at the table in the middle of the room.

The officer looked at Shang with a serious expression.

"I've realized your intentions and what you were trying to do," she said with a calm voice. "However, it's not your responsibility to deal with the problems of my unit. I would ask you not to involve yourself again. Do we understand each other?"

Shang nodded. "Fine, I won't do it again."

The officer nodded.

"Now, let's talk about these bandits," she said as she stood up. Then she walked over to a drawer and rifled through some paper.

Eventually, she came back with a stack of papers.

She moved the stack of papers towards Shang, and Shang looked at the piece of paper on the top.

It featured a drawn face of a young person. At the bottom of the piece of paper were unrecognizable symbols, but for some reason, Shang immediately knew what they meant.

"Missing."

These were posters of missing people.

And the poster of the first missing person was one Shang recognized.

It was one of the men he had killed the night prior.