As Baron Hobson fretted over the promotions inside, a striking figure in a red dress deftly arrived within the castle, emerging at a not too distant location.
“Your Excellency, may I inquire as to the purpose of your visit here?” upon seeing this abrupt appearance, a feeling of alarm surged in Baron Hobson’s heart as he hurriedly advanced a few steps to ask.
“I am here to find a sorcerer, he is inside, isn’t he?” the woman in the red dress glanced at him and asked with certainty in her voice.
“Whom—whom are you looking for, Your Excellency? We have important matters in the castle today, so I beg—”” Baron Hobson knew his cousin was the entire family’s pillar and absolutely indispensable. He stammered, preparing to refuse her entry.
“Let her come over,” Ivan’s voice resounded, coincidentally reaching the ears of both.
“Giggle, it seems you are not the one in charge,” the woman in the red dress laughed softly, heading toward the back of the castle. Her pace seemed slow, yet she covered a dozen meters in a single step.
Seeing this, the young Baron Hobson clenched his teeth and stealthily followed her, but he had taken only a few steps before collapsing to the ground with a thud.
Meanwhile, the woman in the red dress arrived in front of Ivan, their eyes met, and Ivan saw indescribable jealousy in her eyes, along with other, more complex emotions.
But Ivan was certain that he had never seen this sorceress before; she looked like a fully ripened sweet fruit—one he would definitely not forget if he had seen her.
“Your Excellency, if you came here looking for a bargain, I advise you to go back where you came from. Today, please forgive us for not welcoming outside guests,” he said with a composed expression.
“Sorcerer Ivan, you are so heartless. I’ve made a long journey especially to find you, yet you have the heart to send me away,” the woman in the red dress shifted her gaze, now filled with tenderness and charm, and her voice was tantalizing.
Ivan was sure in his mind that this woman was definitely not from a regular sorcery academy; such an institution could not produce this kind of bewitching ‘siren.’
From the Star Moon Alliance?
An outsider or a wandering sorcerer?
Hearing her words, he felt a sense of familiarity, but he couldn’t recall from where.
“Have we met?”
“Of course, we have met several times, and each time you’d ignore me,” the woman in the red dress said with a faint tone.
Ivan’s mind raced, with countless figures flashing by, until finally, it settled on a particularly special silhouette, and his expression turned strange.
“Sorcerer Ivan, it seems you have remembered, I knew you knew,” she said.
“Sorcerer Wayne? You are the one controlling Sorcerer Wayne, aren’t you?”
“To be precise, it’s ‘Tess Bielby.’ Tess has told me she’s quite interested in you, but you have rejected me repeatedly. It’s such a pity. If I had known about your outstanding talents earlier, I would have come to meet you sooner,” Tess Bielby revealed her identity, her words laced with regret that she hadn’t managed to meet him in person.
Ivan’s lips twitched slightly, as expected, it was her, the puppet master behind the scenes turned out to be a mature woman, no wonder she acted so effeminately—it might be a natural guise.
“Sorcerer Bielby, you’re from the Star Moon Alliance, aren’t you?”
“We’re acquaintances, you may simply call me ‘Tess.’
“Sorceress Tess, may I know the reason for your visit?”
“I came to admire the new Third Leaf member of the Five Leaves Spear, to see up close what makes you so special. It really is enviable,” she said.
Upon hearing this, a shiver ran through Ivan; very few knew of his joining the Five Leaves Spear. Chairman Narnya certainly wouldn’t be indiscreet; could it have been Solomon who divulged the information?
Sensing the change in his thoughts, the swamp ant positioned itself between them, eyeing Tess from a distance with a menacing gaze, ready to pounce and tear apart the person before it at its master’s command.
“Sorcerer Ivan, I am not here to cause trouble, please hear me out,” feeling the immense pressure from the ant beast in front of her and with Ivan standing behind, Tess did not dare to act rashly:
“Actually, I was also a candidate for the Third Leaf but failed the assessment, and I reluctantly descended to a Level 2 member of the organization before aligning myself with Boss Doug, the leader of the Star Moon Alliance.”
“You’ve come on behalf of Doug Boyton?” Ivan realized, Solomon had mentioned this person to him—a Level 2 Sorcerer and also a Level 3 member of the organization, with a standing equal to his own within the Five Leaves Spear.
“Indeed, the leader of the alliance, Boss Doug, asked me to give you his regards,” Tess’s demeanor became somewhat more solemn, her gaze still undeniably flirty, seemingly a result of her cultivation.
“I understand, is there anything else?”
“Additionally, we will be borrowing the Power of Flash Vortex at the Mongna Ant Land Cottage soon; I hope you don’t mind.”
“The Power of Flash Vortex?”
Ivan knew very little about the Power of Flash Vortex, only that it was a very formidable force and a trump card of the academy, although it required a certain amount of time to accumulate energy.
The Star Moon Alliance had gone to great lengths to plant people inside the academy, and what they were plotting was actually this thing. This meant that all four academies of the Flash Vortex Alliance must have had moles within them, and their ultimate scheme was probably no small matter.
“Indeed, what do you think about this, Sorcerer Ivan?” Tess continued.
“I have no power to stop it, I just hope you won’t destroy the place where I have made my home,” Ivan said. As a Level 2 Sorcerer facing a Level 1 Sorcerer, he was in an overwhelming position, and he had no reason to be uncomfortable.
“It’s a deal, then. I’ll relay your words to Boss Doug,” Tess said with a smile. She was about to turn and leave but then seemed to remember something, “Also, we are going to cause a bit of a commotion at sea, and we hope you will not pay attention to it.”
“I’ll be mindful of it.”
“Until next time, Sorcerer Ivan.”
With a flirtatious glance at him and his Elemental Phenomenon in the background, Tess gracefully departed.
“Her strength isn’t much less than mine; I wonder why she failed the assessment?” Ivan watched her leave and refocused his attention on the Elemental Phenomenon.
In this brief moment, the Elemental Phenomenon had reached its most intense stage, which was also the critical moment for Pearney’s promotion; success or failure was a matter of these few minutes.
Ivan had been closely monitoring the surroundings, and so far, it seemed that the promotion inside had not encountered any major hiccups.
Before long, a massive amount of element particles suddenly contracted and converged toward the place of promotion. Even the Elemental Phenomenon could not avoid being caught up, and the house was engulfed in an instant.
“It should be a success.”
Ivan waited patiently, murmuring to himself.
The door opened automatically, and a svelte figure eagerly threw herself at him. The swamp ant started to come over to stop her, but was held back by Ivan.
A second later, Ivan felt the full embrace of a soft and tender body tightly pressed against his own, and he softly said,
“Congratulations, Sorcerer Hobson.”
“From now on, please call me Pearney Marichardon.” The beauty rubbed against him and whispered affectionately, “Without you, I definitely could not have become a sorceress. To thank you, I want to give myself to you without reservation.”
Hearing Pearney’s words, Ivan’s expression became a little stiff.
“What’s wrong? You don’t want to?” Pearney noticed something amiss, looked up at him with a grievance, her pouting lips almost capable of hanging a teapot.
“You know I always keep my word,” Ivan replied.
“So?”
“I had previously promised Justine that she would be my lawful wife, and that is her only request,” Ivan said sincerely. According to the norms of nobility, only the lawful wife would take her husband’s surname.
“Anyway, I have set my heart on you,” Pearney said after a pause, vaguely.
“We are all sorcerers, we don’t need to follow the rules of the nobility. From now on, you will be Pearney Marichardon, and she will be Justine Marichardon,” Ivan said softly.
Pearney did not respond to his words, and Ivan did not press the issue.
At Pearney’s request, the two stayed in Bellou Town for another week before going their separate ways.
After becoming a sorceress, Pearney needed to return to the Lierre Songster Sanctuary, as there were many matters awaiting her attention.
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Ivan also had matters to attend to; he had to continue his research on the Ant Being barrier and transform the Ant King Barrier Array into the Ant King Rebirth Cocoon Array, which was not a simple task.