"I arrived in this city two days ago, earning the boss's approval with my barbecue skills and successfully securing this profession."

"Eh? How did you know I also enjoy handling ingredients? While I understand your point, it's lunchtime now, so guests, please try not to say 'corpse'."

"I certainly love my job, using flames to cook ingredients. The ingredients gain new meaning in the flames, death transforms into a life's nourishment, and I take pride in my work!"

"Ah? You're asking why I like to laugh... I was born this way. If you don't like it, I won't speak, my apologies."

Ash couldn't bear it anymore, "Hold on, Harvey, why do you listen to people so easily?"

"Taking care of others' feelings and paying attention to their experience—isn't that natural?"

The curly-haired man tilted his head: "Besides, my name is Archibald Harvey, you can just call me Archibald."

Ash turned red with anger: "You even changed your name to make it sound easier!?"

The curly-haired man blinked and suddenly turned around.

Ash sighed with relief; at least there's some temper, helping him regain a bit of familiarity. Otherwise, a neat, sunny, talkative, caring necromancer like Harvey, who doesn't like corpse jokes during meals, would make Ash wonder if he had entered some kind of crazy dream.

At this moment, the curly-haired man turned around, placing a cup of citrus tea in front of Ash, "This is a personal gift. You seem troubled, have a sip of citrus tea to ease your mood."

"I can't accept this!" Ash slammed the table and roared.

Rose patted Ash's head: "Not bad, better than last time; at least you didn't say the drink was poisoned."

"Archibald, I'm sorry, Mr. Heath sometimes has muddled thoughts; please forgive his rudeness."

"No, no, I enjoy chatting with Mr. Heath, he's an interesting person."

Ash took a sip of the citrus tea and found it quite tasty, far from the taste of corpse fluid. Just then, the curly-haired man finished grilling several skewers, and Ash snatched them up, eating while shedding tears—it was delicious and didn't taste of corpse rot!

Seeing Ash eat the grilled meat with tears in his eyes, the curly-haired man was moved: "I didn't expect Mr. Heath to like my cooking this much."

The nearby manager took a photo, while Rose reminded: "For commercial promotion using portraits, please contact the Final Observer Studio."

"Definitely, definitely!" the manager hurriedly said, "Just the fact that Lord Heath appreciates our cooking means we won't be stingy with compensation!"

Afterward, Ash stopped talking and silently finished the skewers. When it was time to leave, he indicated that he wanted to chat outside the shop with the curly-haired man. The curly-haired man agreed without hesitation and followed Ash out: "Does Mr. Heath have something to discuss with me?"

Ash pulled Harvey into a nearby alley, pinned him against the wall, and slapped him forcefully several times, "Wake up, Harvey, you have to wake up, you're Archibald Harvey, not some chef! You're a messy, gloomy, evil, self-centered, taciturn necromancer who likes sharing corpse trivia during meals..."

Rose blocked the view of passersby, even turning on her phone ringtone to cover up the sound of slapping.

"Enough."

"Not enough. The person you loved, Narbel, is dead, and you escaped Shattered Lake Prison with me—"

"I said, enough," Harvey interjected, "I'm awake now."

Ash blinked and released him, "Good, as long as you're awake."

"I snapped out of it when you said 'Archibald Harvey'," the necromancer explained, "and you seemed to notice that."

"Of course not!" Ash quickly denied, "Do you think I took the opportunity to badmouth you and slap you?"

"Certainly not," Harvey replied, "at least you didn't badmouth me."

Rose turned off her phone's ringtone and curiously asked, "You guys know each other? So there's no need to pay damages for a deliberate assault?"

"Who is she?" Harvey inquired, "Sword Maiden?"

Ash: "No, I just met her too. She's my assistant in this world, named Rose."

Rose realized: "You guys must be role-playing friends."

"Let's just call it that," Ash said dismissively, looking at Harvey, "How did you end up as a chef?"

"I don't know," Harvey shook his head, "I only have vague memories, and they're fading quickly, like forgetting dreams after waking."

Ash turned to Rose, "Do you know his background?"

Rose gestured OK and walked out of the alley, returning after a while, "I asked the boss; he was an orphan and a wanderer till two days ago, but he actively applied for the chef position, and the boss thought he was good, so they hired him."

"Orphan... until two days ago..." Ash frowned slightly, "That's quite a convenient setup... Wait, Rose, you told me we were childhood friends, but what about our parents?"

"You're an orphan, my parents died early," Rose replied.

"Orphans should still have records of their biological parents, right?" Ash asked, "Have my biological parents died too?"

"Don't know." Rose shook her head, "Do you want to find them?"

"Never mind, I was just asking," Ash looked at Harvey, "Now we need to find Igula, do you have any leads?"

"I just woke up from being slapped, what do you think?" Harvey asked, "In fact, shouldn't you explain why I haven't seen even one ruby? Is this really Ruby Mountain?"

"I'm not sure that's my problem," Ash said, "Thinking isn't part of my job description, and there are many things I can't figure out... the only one of us with detective potential is the Swindler."

Ash paced back and forth, pondering, "An orphan... a couple of days ago... Rose, have you met a gold-haired dude recently? An orphan who showed up in the last few days."

Rose thought for a moment, "There's someone with gold hair, but I can't say for sure if he's handsome."

"Let's go, take us to find him."

As Ash and Harvey got into the car, the restaurant manager ran out and shouted, "Bolder, aren't you coming back to work?"

Harvey asked, "Work for what?"

"Grilling meat!"

"Oh? What kind of meat? Elves, Beastmen, Goblins or humans? Age, gender, how long it's been dead—"

Ash kicked the Necromancer into the car and apologized to the manager, "Sorry, I've hired him as my personal chef."

The manager didn't seem too upset, hesitantly asking, "Then the photos I took..."

"Of course, you should still contact Final Observer Studios!"

Rose, in the driver's seat, glanced at him, then faced forward. The sports car suddenly accelerated, and the strong thrust pushed the two Legendary Mages upright.

...

...

Five minutes later, by the filthy and malodorous riverbank, Ash and Harvey were staring at the person beneath the bridge, both utterly dumbfounded.

Even the Necromancer, usually indifferent, almost blending with the dead, widened his eyes so much that his jaw was nearly hitting the ground.

"You mentioned the gold-haired person you met in the last couple of days; he's the only one I could think of," Rose asked, "Is he the person you're looking for?"

"You've been a big help, Liss." Ash waved his hand, "Although I don't know what possessions I have, feel free to take whatever you want."

"I could take whatever I want anyway." Rose replied, "Can you even recite your own bank card password?"

At this moment, Harvey wanted to walk over, but Ash quickly pulled him back, "Don't you want to stare a bit longer? At least take a photo... Rose, take a picture!"

Harvey: "He'll get angry."

Ash looked at him, "But we can mock him, can't we?"

The Necromancer thought it over, "Indeed, it's hard to refuse."

As Rose pressed the shutter, a photo titled "Gold-haired Homeless beneath the Bridge" was freshly snapped—yes, Igula had appeared as a scruffy, huddled homeless person under dirty blankets, looking withered, gray, and residing under the bridge!

Looking at the photo, Ash was filled with deep emotions, he never expected there to be a place crazier than a cemetery, where Harvey was actually doing better than Igula.

"Alright, time to go laugh at him—"

Just then, a stone suddenly hit the homeless man's head, waking him up. The homeless man quickly got up, only to be hit by more stones, making him cry out in pain and run out from under the bridge.

A few older youths approached the homeless man, chuckling, with burning sticks in their hands, releasing them onto the dirty blanket, which quickly caught fire.

The homeless man screamed, ignoring the stones, and dashed to the burning blanket, his clothes catching fire, stuttering, "Ah—ah—burn—burn burning up—"

While the homeless man was rolling on the ground to put out the flames, the youths laughed and kicked him, making him feel both hot and painful, continuously begging for mercy.

At that moment, the ruffians lifted him up, preparing to throw him into the stinky river.

Then, a shout pierced through the starry sky—

"Igula Bokin!"

Ash and Harvey rushed over, each kicking a ruffian away. Initially, Ash wanted to spread his Void Wings or shoot his Heart Sword, but when he prepared to act, his body was once again dominated by fear, unwilling to execute the command.

Though he didn't know why, Ash still advised Harvey not to use any Mage abilities, so they could only rush over and start fighting.

The ruffians saw these two daring to challenge them, naturally furious, coming over to gang up. But even without Mage abilities, Ash and Harvey were battle-hardened warriors. Especially Ash, being a Body Technique Master, used a bit of skill to knock out a few of the ruffian's teeth. Seeing things turn unfavorable, the other ruffians muttered a few harsh words and quickly fled.

After Ash and Harvey finished fighting, they realized it was a bit quiet around them. Turning their heads, they found the homeless man had already been thrown into the stinky river during the chaotic brawl.

He was covered in stench, drenched in foul water, and even his shiny gold hair was stained with grimy colors. He stood in the river, his back to Ash and Harvey, shoulders slightly shaking, staring at the river surface, pondering something.

Ash thought for a while, suddenly said to Harvey, "Hey, your butt's on fire."

Not waiting for the Necromancer to ask a word of 'what', Ash kicked Harvey into the stinky river, then jumped in too, "I'm on fire too."

Wow, Ash realized his nose in this world hadn't been trained by Harvey, as he could barely tolerate the stench. He had just swum to the homeless man and couldn't help but throw up, "No, you stink!"

"But we stink too." Ash chuckled, suddenly lost in thought, "Wait, are we bringing shame to Legendary Mages? We might be the only three Legendary Mages to fall into the stinky river, right?"

The Necromancer let out a nasal sound, "Mhm."

The Swindler glanced at the two of them, sighed helplessly, "Two idiots."

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