"Mhm, all the dark guild members should have been defeated. The rest of the people should be captives. I'll let the Magic Council handle the aftermath."

Noah scanned the castle's situation again. Everyone with evil magic power had been taken out. Most of the remaining people had no magic, and those who did had a relatively pure aura. In this world, magic reflected one's inner self. If a person's heart was malicious and they had done many evil deeds, their magic would become unbearably disgusting and vile. Conversely, if one's heart was pure and their actions were righteous, their magic would also become bright.

Having dealt with the dark guild members with a single Grand Magic spell, Noah quickly ran into the castle. He had already scanned for the location of the castle's treasury and headed straight there.

He rushed to the treasury door, yanked it open, and a brilliant golden light shot out, so bright that Noah had to squeeze his eyes shut.

"Woah! I knew these dark guilds would have a lot of treasure! I was right to come! This will be my reward for subjugating them."

Noah shielded his eyes with his right hand as he observed the room. All sorts of gold and treasures were piled on the floor, and there were also many magic items on a table. Noah recognized several items that had been specially set aside; they fetched a high price on the market.

"This was the right move. The treasure here is worth several S-Class requests! Not bad, not bad at all!"

Noah quickly stuffed all the treasure into his storage, not even sparing the bodies of the dark guild members. After looting everything clean, he notified the Magic Council to come and handle the cleanup. He then rescued all the captives inside and gave them some medical treatment.

The people from the Magic Council arrived quickly. Seeing them, Noah handed everyone over. "The dark guild members in the castle should all have been taken care of, though I don't know if I missed any. These people were rescued from inside. You can sort them out. I should be going."

"The dark guild 'Bloody Rose' was extremely powerful. For you to be able to defeat them all by yourself is truly amazing, sir. The Magic Council will thank you and your guild for your contribution." The official in charge of the Council team was endlessly praising Noah's strength. This dark guild had been a huge headache for them for a long time, and its subjugation was a great relief.

Just then, a member of the search party came out to report. "There's no one else in the castle; everyone is here. But strangely, all the valuables are gone. Even the bodies of the dark guild members are completely clean."

The reporting officer looked confused. The official in charge heard this and looked at Noah with a questioning gaze. "Lord Noah, do you know what's going on here?"

"Alas, you can tell at a glance that these dark guild members were the type to live for the moment. They didn't even leave a single coin on them. How decadent!" Noah said with a perfectly straight face. Then, as if he had just remembered something, he said to the official in an urgent tone, "I've just recalled an urgent matter! I'll leave things here to you! I have to go now!"

"W-wait a second!"

Ignoring the official's plea, Noah teleported away, leaving the man stunned, his outstretched hand frozen in mid-air.

After leaving, Noah headed for the next location of a possible dark guild, but this time, he came up empty. He suddenly remembered that there had been some documents among the treasure he had collected. He quickly took them out and found that they contained a great deal of information on other dark guilds.

"Oh, this is good. The people from 'Bloody Rose' were such nice guys, leaving behind such a great gift."

Noah compared this information with what he had gotten from Makarov and found several overlapping locations. These places had a high probability of housing dark guilds. He immediately went to one of them and, sure enough, found one.

He didn't waste any words. He used his detection magic and Fairy Law at the same time. The Grand Magic spell instantly took out everyone with evil magic, while his detection spell located the treasury.

Loot the treasure, notify the Magic Council, rescue the captives.

When the Council arrived, he would hand everyone over, waste no words, and head directly to the next dark guild. He dismantled several dark guilds in a row with this process.

As he headed to the next potential location, Noah was grinning from ear to ear. The treasure he had in his possession now far exceeded the rewards from all the S-Class requests he had done recently. This really was a huge haul. Unfortunately, it was a one-time opportunity. He didn't know when he'd get another chance like this. But for now, there were still plenty of dark guilds waiting for his "patronage." He had to speed up so they couldn't escape.

The first few dark guilds were strong and famous, so they were easy to find and had the most loot. The ones after that became harder to find. Thankfully, every dark guild seemed to have some information on the others, so by reviewing the documents he collected, he was still able to find several smaller ones.

However, the other dark guilds had also heard the news. Recently, someone had been going around destroying them, and many well-known ones had already been annihilated. Some of the more arrogant ones, who thought they were stronger, didn't retreat. As a result, they were destroyed within two days. This terrified the other dark guilds, and they quickly abandoned their original headquarters.

After destroying over a dozen dark guilds, Noah could no longer find any more.

After searching for more than ten days with no results, Noah first went to buy the equipment and ingredients he needed, then returned to the guild. He was greeted by the not-so-pleased face of Makarov.

"Noah. Where is the treasure from those dark guilds? The people from the Magic Council said they couldn't find a single valuable item in any of the bases you destroyed, not even on the bodies of the members."

Noah threw up his hands. "What can I say? They were all hedonists who didn't save any money. There was nothing I could do."

Makarov completely ignored him and asked directly, "What did you do with the money?"

"I just recently used the money from my S-Class requests to buy some equipment and ingredients for my research. I didn't have a single coin left to my name."

Hearing this, Makarov finally relaxed. So it was for research and not for something else. That was fine. He knew Noah was doing research and had even offered his own advice. Plundering a destroyed dark guild wasn't a big deal; he had just been afraid that Noah might have used the money for something bad.

~~~

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