Fortunately, after running a few tests, Alex confirmed that the surveillance spider he had secretly planted in the Silver Wand headquarters' living room was still working perfectly. The room was empty at the moment, and no one, not even Ashwinder himself, seemed to know it was being watched. Alex, ever patient, positioned himself in front of the monitor and waited calmly.
After two or three hours of stillness, there was finally some activity. The door leading to the duel hall creaked open, and Ashwinder strolled in, stretching lazily as he walked. He muttered to himself, clearly annoyed, and though the audio feed from the surveillance spider was slightly distorted, the words were still understandable: "What a pain... I always have to clean up after those two idiots. I'm exhausted."
Listening to his grumbling, Alex pieced together where Ashwinder had been all this time, he'd been busy fixing up the duel hall. Even though the headquarters was magically reinforced and built to withstand quite a bit, the damage from Fierce Fire's attacks had clearly taken its toll. The walls had been scorched, and repairing that kind of damage must've taken a lot of effort.
Back in the living room and finally alone, Ashwinder kept talking to himself, still complaining about Thunderbird and Chimaera. Then, without anyone around to see, he removed his mask.
Underneath was a surprisingly youthful face, he couldn't have been older than thirty. He had short hair and a slight, smug smile that made him look a little too sure of himself.
Alex narrowed his eyes thoughtfully and nodded to himself. There was no doubt now, this man had definitely taken the elixir. It was the only way he could look so young. But something didn't add up.
Ashwinder was one of the few Silver Wands permanently stationed at headquarters, which meant his movements were fairly predictable. Most of the other elixir-users preferred to lay low during their snake molting periods, rarely showing themselves at all, just like the Phoenix, who they'd been watching for days without catching even a glimpse.
So why was Ashwinder so comfortable being out in the open? Was he immune to the molting side effects? Or was someone else pulling the strings behind the scenes?
Whatever it was, Alex knew one thing for sure, this man was different from the others, and that made him even more suspicious.
If someone really wanted to target Ashwinder, it wouldn't be too hard to figure out when he enters his molting period. That's what made Alex so confused. He had two theories.
The first was that the person behind this had found a way to guarantee the snake's safety during such a vulnerable time. But that didn't seem likely, after all, Ashwinder lived right in the headquarters, and there was nothing particularly special about his residence that would suggest extra protection.
The second possibility was more unsettling: maybe his molting period wasn't a secret at all anymore. Maybe someone else had already taken over responsibility for his safety.
Alex considered the idea that this was the real secret, one that would explain why Ashwinder had so much trust placed in him. After all, he controlled access to the headquarters, had clearance for the database, and managed the supplies.
That kind of authority doesn't come without strings. Maybe the truth was that he was no longer acting on his own, someone else was pulling the strings and had complete control over whether he lived or died.
"But who's holding the leash?" Alex muttered to himself. "Is it the Golden Snidget or the Horned Basilisk?" Either answer felt strange. If one of them really was behind it, why would Ashwinder bother dropping hints to Alex at all?
He remembered what Ashwinder had said to him before he left. Was he trying to test Alex, maybe on behalf of one of the other two?
Or was it something else? Could it be that he was tired of being controlled and was looking for a way out?
Alex shook his head, frustrated. None of this added up in any clear way. One thing was becoming more obvious, though, Ashwinder probably wasn't as straightforward as he seemed. Whether he was following someone else's orders or had his own plans, there was more to him than met the eye.
As these thoughts swirled in his head, Alex found himself still crouched in front of the monitor. Before he realized it, night had fallen. On the screen, Ashwinder, who had been out of sight for a while, began to show how he spent his time in complete isolation. Surprisingly, the guy had quite the talent for entertaining himself.
He read for a while, sipped some wine, and eventually pulled out a magical phonograph to listen to music. Alex was surprised to see that even his own products had made their way into Silver Wand hands.
As he watched Ashwinder amusing himself, something suddenly changed. The man on the screen seemed to sense something, he froze, then quickly turned off the phonograph, put on his mask, and left the room without a word.
Alex narrowed his eyes. Something was definitely going on. As Ashwinder returned, another masked figure quietly trailed behind him. It didn't take long for Alex to notice, another Silver Wand had shown up at headquarters.
The moment he saw them, Alex snapped back to attention, quickly lowering the monitoring device's volume so he could overhear their conversation more clearly.
"I don't know why, but something feels off about coming back to headquarters this time," the newly arrived Silver Wand said as he settled into a seat in the lounge.
Ashwinder gave a small smirk. "So you noticed, huh? And here I thought I covered everything up pretty well," he said sarcastically. "It's that damn Chimaera. He's been way too reckless lately."
As the conversation unfolded, Alex quickly pieced things together. The new Silver Wand was none other than Golden Snidget.
"Chimaera? He came to take the authority assessment today?" Golden Snidget asked, a bit puzzled. "With his current strength, he should've passed without any issues, right?"
Ashwinder let out a cold laugh. "Yeah, well, he had the bad luck of showing up on the same day Thunderbird decided to drop in. Said he wanted to relive the old days of overseeing assessments. And then..." He proceeded to explain everything that had happened earlier, clearly not holding back on the details.
"Thunderbird? What the hell was he doing here?" Golden Snidget groaned, shaking his head in disbelief. "That lunatic nearly burned the place down. Does he even realize this is our headquarters?"
Trying to steer the conversation back on track, Ashwinder narrowed his eyes. "Don't try to change the subject. Can you explain why Chimaera was able to use Tempestas Glacialis?
That's a high-level spell that requires third-tier authority to unlock, and he clearly used it during the assessment. If it weren't for that, Thunderbird wouldn't have freaked out."