Colin pocketed the remaining cone bullets.
Then, somewhat begrudgingly, he took out six Magic Stones and handed them to the three apprentices standing beside him with a Crystal of Remembrance, their faces a picture of astonishment.
After improving the ammunition for his Arrow Shooting Skill, the power was clearly enhanced compared to before.
Once hit, it was either death or injury.
But, Colin had not expected to resolve Barney so quickly.
Most likely, this was because Barney hadn't cast any Defensive Witchcraft.
As for why he hadn't used Defensive Witchcraft—
Perhaps Barney was overly confident in his Adaptive Mimicry's ability to hide and his Light Spirit Steps' evasion tactics.
Adaptive Mimicry was indeed powerful, virtually undetectable to the eye alone.
But since enhancing with the Golden Four-leaf Clover, Colin's senses had greatly improved.
Although Adaptive Mimicry made Barney visually disappear,
the strong scent of women's perfume clearly couldn't be concealed by Adaptive Mimicry,
and Colin could still get a rough sense of direction by relying on his extraordinary sense of smell, even if he couldn't pinpoint Barney's exact location.
Therefore, he fired several cone bullets in a covering pattern in the general direction and took Barney down effortlessly.
After all, the speed of the cone bullets fired by his Arrow Shooting Skill had now surpassed that of many rifles from his past life... Barney evidently couldn't react in time, even with Light Spirit Steps.
...Perhaps, only with the Enhanced Reaction Speed gained from the second Level Limit Breaking Sunlight Breathing Technique, combined with Light Spirit Steps, he could barely dodge.
After collecting the Crystal of Remembrance from the apprentices who had been watching the combat, Colin walked towards Barney's body and crouched down to remove the black money pouch from his waist.
Opening it, he roughly counted about thirty Magic Stones inside.
A look of pleasure couldn't help but surface on Colin's face as he realized that not only had he covered his recent expenses, but he had also gained unexpected wealth!
It was a pity, though... aside from what was left on the body, the rest of Barney's estate would be confiscated by the School.
...Perhaps this was to avoid members of the School deliberately challenging each other to plunder resources.
Colin searched thoroughly once more, but only found a few incomplete witchcraft research papers.
They must have been what Barney had been researching lately... not a complete set and of no value.
...
The next day,
it was Colin's turn to be on duty.
He arrived at the Patrol Department, also planning to hand over the Crystal of Remembrance to Flower.
Approaching the office door, and just as he was about to knock,
"Come in," came Flower's voice from inside unexpectedly.
Colin hesitated for a moment before pushing the door open.
However, he wasn't surprised; after all, he hadn't been trying to move stealthily, so it was normal for Flower to notice him.
Once inside, he was taken aback again.
In the spacious office, apart from Berkeley, there stood two others.
"Lord Berkeley, City Lord Price, Captain Flower," he greeted each respectfully and promptly.
Yet in his heart, he found it somewhat strange,
'Why do I see Berkeley everywhere... and now City Lord Price is here too...'
He couldn't help but think back to the previous encounter with Berkeley in West City at Barton's Guard Station office.
Logically speaking, Berkeley was rarely seen in West City, and Price even less so...
"Colin..." Flower seemed surprised to see him enter and couldn't help but ask, "Didn't you have a duel with Barney yesterday?"
"A duel?" Berkeley, intrigued, asked from the side, "What duel?"
"It's like this..." Flower briefly described the background and aftermath of the events.
"Not accepting the duel was wise," Berkeley nodded at Colin, sighing slightly in his heart.
'I never expected that for such a reason, a great opportunity would be wasted.
Perhaps… if someone had been on the night shift, they could have caught their tails.'
Perhaps truly feeling regret, Berkeley sighed again:
"That Barney, I've seen him before, and I've warned him to recognize his own limitations, but I didn't expect him to be so…"
"Foolish," the City Lord Price on the other side concluded succinctly, adding, "A year's punishment in the mines is still too lenient."
Flower nodded as if something had occurred to him, and turned to Colin, asking:
"So… what brings you here to see me?"
Finally, Colin had the chance to interject. He paused and said:
"…Captain Flower, Barney is dead. This is a projection crystal from yesterday's duel."
He took out the projection crystal and handed it over.
Flower was startled and took the projection crystal.
Berkeley raised an eyebrow, glancing at Colin, while even the typically stoic Price showed a ripple of emotion on his face.
Flower activated the projection crystal,
and three projections appeared out of thin air, gradually converging to form an adjustable image.
The three watched together.
The duration of the fight wasn't long, and soon it ended.
After watching the crystal, they all fell silent.
"…It seems you've improved a great deal, Colin."
A moment later, Berkeley was the first to praise, "You have a talent for witchcraft improvement."
He recognized that Colin was using the Arrow Shooting Skill, which they had exchanged before, but it was clearly enhanced.
Although he didn't know the cost, in terms of power it was at least above average among witchcraft used by Intermediate Apprentices.
"Just an occasional inspiration… Thank you for the praise," Colin said, his expression calm.
When confronting Barney, he hadn't unleashed the full power of the Arrow Shooting Skill… Actually, to hide the secrets of Golden Paper, ever since he had broken the limits of the Arrow Shooting Skill, he had been controlling its display of power.
Apart from the incident with the Black-Maned Giant Pig King, he only used his full strength in his home's basement.
And he always carefully disposed of the used iron targets.
As for the Black-Maned Giant Pig King incident, he had later personally inspected its corpse and, perhaps due to its strong recovery power, there were no signs of anything unusual.
He wasn't worried that the projection crystal would reveal anything unusual to Berkeley and the others.
The specific changes in witchcraft are hard to observe with the naked eye during casting, much like a clock; all clocks move their hands, but how many gears are inside is hard to gauge just by looking at the exterior.
Therefore, as long as he didn't expose the complete model and theory of the breakthrough Arrow Shooting Skill, no one could tell that this originally ordinary Arrow Shooting Skill had been completely transformed.
The reason Berkeley could recognize it was probably from the unusually high power evident in the projection crystal and the ammunition—Cone Bullets—that differed completely from ordinary arrows.
Berkeley smiled, as if suddenly struck with an idea, and turned to Flower and the others to suggest:
"Since we're unsure who to choose, why not let Colin assist? What do you think?"
"Acceptable," Price nodded calmly.
"Good," Flower also nodded, then explained to Colin:
"Colin, do you remember the murder case I mentioned yesterday?"
"I remember, Captain Flower."
"Excellent, we would like you to help Regina investigate this matter."
"…Yes," Colin nodded, not feeling anything particular,
As a member of the Patrol Department, he would inevitably be responsible for such investigations, it's just earlier than expected.
"Regina is currently at 79 Tulip Street. Go there and find her," Flower added.
Colin agreed and turned to leave.