After knocking out the ninja, Ben tried to sense his surroundings again. The ninja was able to hide his presence and magic power from him. So Ben needed to be a lot more vigilant now.
'The black color of his magic must mean it's shadow magic. He can hide in the shadows to avoid detection. It's a suitable magic for stealth and infiltration.' He thought.
Ben returned to his team and Arthur's group while the mayor's men tied the ninja up.
"Everyone okay?" He asked them.
"Y-yeah, we were more worried about you though." Arthur confessed.
"Don't worry about me. I can handle this a lot better than you guys. Anyway, we need to be careful just in case someone's still hiding. Let's wait here out in the open, so we're not cornered inside the house. I can protect you a lot better here until the Magic Council arrives." Ben instructed.
"Alright, we'll follow your advice." The mayor agreed to do as he suggested.
They waited there for 15 minutes before the mages from the Magic Council came along with their flying magic ship. No one attacked while they were waiting. It seems the ninja was the last of the enemies.
"I'm Geld from the Magic Council. Are you the mage that defeated them?" Geld asked Ben after introducing himself.
"Yeah, we're mages from Cait Shelter." Ben answered.
"Cait Shelter? Ah, alright, I understand. Can you tell me about these mages and the chronology of their attack?" Geld asked another question.
Ben informed him about the dark mages and what happened before. Geld recorded the conversation with his lacrima and nodded. He was surprised by Ben's achievement and how the battle went.
'This kid isn't lying. I can tell from his tone. So he defeated all 6 by himself and just knocked out this ninja. This kid has a lot of potential. I'm glad he's not part of a dark guild.' Geld thought.
"Alright, I've collected everything that I need, so we'll leave now. Thank you for your cooperation." Geld said.
"What will happen to their employer?" Ben asked Geld.
"If it's proven that they were hired, then we'll capture the one who hired them. Hiring dark mages is already a crime, not to mention the assassination job. If it's proven, we'll take them to prison." Geld informed him.
"Alright then." Ben replied.
The mages from the Magic Council left with the captured dark mages. They also checked the vicinity and didn't find any other suspicious individuals, so it was safe now.
Team Ben and the mayor's group were finally able to enter the mansion. They head to the living room and the maids gave them iced tea and snacks. Ben took the iced tea and quickly gulped it down.
"Phew, that felt great. Can I get some glasses of iced juice? I need to lower my body's temperature after several battles." Ben said.
"Understood." Maid number 1 bowed.
"Ho ho I like the way you drink, boy. You will be quite a drinker in the future." Ray chuckled.
BONK* The mayor's wife smacked her husband on the head.
"Don't go teaching a child to be a drunkard like you." She reprimanded him.
"A-Alicia, I was just praising how the boy drank his ice tea." Ray nervously stated.
"Humph, it's the same thing." Alicia huffed.
"It seems that no matter what world I'm in, the wife is the boss in most families." Ben remembered his family operated the same way.
They rest and chat calmly while waiting for Joseph's group. The group finally reached the mansion after 2 hours. A horse carriage is slow. It's even slower when they had to take detours.
The group wasn't attacked by any mages. This confirmed their suspicion that there was a spy among their group. The spy also seemed to have a high rank in the group to know about this plan.
"You won't ask me to find the spy, will you?" Ben questioned out loud.
"No, of course not. We will do it ourselves. It's our problem after all." Joseph responded.
"Alright, I think our job is complete, so we'll take our leave." He began to walk away.
"Wait! Why don't you have dinner with us and stay here for the night? It's almost dark out, so I think it would be better for you to return tomorrow." Arthur advised.
"Oh, that's a good idea, Arthur." Ray liked what he suggested.
"I don't think we can do that. Right, girls?" Ben shot them a look.
"We want to stay." The girls responded.
"What? Why?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We want to explore the town tomorrow like when we explored Clover Town." Wendy explained.
"Oh, alright then." Ben realized the point they were making.
Team Ben decided to spend the night at the mansion and explore the town tomorrow. They had a big dinner with the 2 families to celebrate their success today.
Ben didn't hold back and ate all the food on the table. His appetite had grown along with his power. Everyone else, minus his teammates were dumbfounded by his appetite.
"How can he eat so much with such a small body?" Maya asked, incredulously.
"Mages are truly mysterious." Ray commented.
They continued dinner, with Ben devouring a lot of food. After dinner, they took a hot bath in the mansion's big bathroom.
"Rich people really have everything in their house." Ben said with a pissed off expression.
"I don't think you can say that just after seeing the hot bath." Arthur sweat dropped.
"That's what a rich person always says." Ben replied, forgetting he was a billionaire.
"Whatever, just enjoy the bath." Arthur sighed.
They enjoy the bath before heading to their bedroom to sleep. Wendy and the cats wanted to sleep in Ben's room and he agreed to let them do so. They must feel wary about sleeping by themselves in a foreign place. Nothing noteworthy happened that night, and they just sleep peacefully.
The next day...
Team Ben explored the town and saw many new things. They bought some items that intrigued them like usual. Then after exploring the town, they head to a magic store. Ben wanted to buy some more spells that he doesn't have.
[12 low level spells, 2 medium-level and no high-level spells. Other spells have been purchased and recorded.]
'Hmm, I guess the spells in public stores are not that different from each other, huh? Guilds have more variations of spell collections after all.' Ben thought.
[Finding some unknown books about Gods, Demons and Curses.]
"Gods, demons, curses? That's new. Let's purchase it." Ben said.
He bought all the new spell books and the book about gods, demons and curses. He knew that God exists, because of his reincarnation. But he hasn't verified the existence of demons. This is a world of magic, so demons should exist too. He just never learned about them or seen them, yet.
Team Ben finished exploring the town and return to the mayor's mansion. After bidding farewell to them, they left the mansion and returned to their guild. It took 3 hours to reach the guild because Ben drove slowly so they could enjoy the scenery.
"What took you so long to return from a simple job?" Roubaul asked the four.
"The job changed." Ben sighed.
He informed Roubaul about their job and the old man simply nodded.
"Well, it's good that you have a heart, Wendy. But you need to think about the danger it poses to you and your friends! Even if Ben-boy is strong and can defeat strong mages, it will be a lot harder to do that while protecting you. If not for the car's defensive system, you, Bella and Carla might have been injured too." Roubaul lectured Wendy.
"Yes." She looked down at the floor.
"Well, it's not a bad experience for you guys. With what happened yesterday, you should understand that our jobs as mages are dangerous. That's why we need to wisely choose what job we'll take. We also need sufficient power to protect ourselves." Ben pointed out.
"Yes. We'll train to get stronger. Right Bella, Carla?" Wendy asked them.
"Of course." Carla replied.
"Strong." Bella nodded.
"I'll wait for it." Ben rubbed their heads.
The three girls immediately head to the training field.
"They don't need to do it right away." He sweat dropped.
"Ha ha ha, that's how children are." Roubaul laughed.
"Old man, I think the next job you choose for the team needs to be a easier one. I'll take care of the more dangerous jobs personally, so we won't be in trouble like yesterday." Ben informed his guild master.
"I know. I will look into the next job more carefully. I had no idea the job had been rejected by the mages that previously took it." Roubaul responded.
"Alright, I'll leave it to you." Ben stated.