Time flowed like water, and in the blink of an eye, two months had passed.
At the Rapid Wood Tower, an enchanting figure arrived early at the door to seek an audience with its master.
“Sorcerer Angie, I am emphasizing for the last time, I do not take disciples, nor concubines, maidservants, nor do I wish to send you on errands. Please make sure not to bother me again, otherwise even with Sorcerer Rothkins’s protection, I think dealing with you would be a very simple matter.”
“But—”
“There are no buts. I don’t want to make this too embarrassing. Do you understand?”
Hearing Ivan’s increasingly icy tone, Angie’s beautiful face was filled with dejection. After a moment of silence, she turned around and left without a word.
“Sorry for troubling you,” a voice came from outside the door. Angie finally came to her senses, realizing that her persistence almost led to a repay of kindness with ingratitude.
“Go on, get out,” Ivan said without getting up.
After a while, ensuring that the person outside had left, he breathed a sigh of relief and scratched his head with some regret.
“Don’t blame me, this was the boss’s decision.”
He muttered softly; it turned out he was Locke in disguise, while the real Ivan was still in seclusion on the third floor.
Ivan had asked him to get rid of Angie, so Locke had no choice but to comply. Seeing that she was not giving up, his refusal became more forceful and cold.
Soon, Locke noticed that someone else had come to visit, this time a group of four.
After giving permission, the four of them entered the parlor and came forward to pay their respects.
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“A thousand greetings, Dean Marichadon. It is an honor to see you in the East Capital.” The newcomers were Aaron Dilia, Ford Steele, Polo Varkin, and others. After hesitating for two months, they finally arrived at the Rapid Wood Tower.
“What brings you here?” Locke did not recognize the four. It was only after the Silkworm Queen reminded him telepathically that he became aware of who stood before him.
The people whom Sorcerer Ivan considered ‘leeches’ were of course easy to deal with. His tone became even colder, almost as if ‘keep out’ was written all over his face.
Hearing his words, Aaron and the others clenched their hearts. The attitude of this man was worse than the last time.
“Please forgive us, Dean. We have only recently arrived in the East Capital, and hearing of your great and glorious deeds brought us immense joy. We are glad to have such a master born from our Mongna Ant Land Cottage—,” Polo Varkin said with some difficulty.
“Stop, get to the point,” Locke interrupted.
“Knowing such fortunate news, both emotionally and rationally, we felt it necessary to present a congratulatory gift as a token of our sentiment,” Polo said helplessly, getting straight to the point.
“There’s no need. I don’t lack any congratulatory gifts here.” Locke’s interest diminished even further upon hearing this. He waved his hand dismissively, indicating he wanted them to leave. “I recall not long ago, an elder from the School of Space brought boxes of Space-type Crystal Stones, which I found too space-consuming.”
“This—” Polo had no idea what to say anymore. After pausing for several seconds, he continued, “Our ancestral Dean Varkin was also informed of this matter. He insisted, again and again, making sure we brought the congratulatory gift. What do you think?”
“I suppose you have a request, don’t you?” Locke spoke bluntly.
“No, no, definitely not,” Aaron and the others were unwilling to admit it.
“Well then, since it is a gift from Dean Varkin, I will not decline.” Locke waved his hand, and the gift flew from Polo’s hands to a nearby table.
“The gift has been delivered. You may go back now and remember to tell Dean Varkin that I thank him.”
“We take our leave.”
With the conversation having reached this point, the four shared a subtle glance and could only helplessly leave the Rapid Wood Tower.
After walking some distance, the faces of Aaron and the others could no longer hide their tension.
“He—presumes to act as a master.”
After a moment of silence, Polo Varkin managed to say.
The carefully selected congratulatory gift they had brought was dismissed with a few words, attributed to Dean Varkin, who was far away on Moon Pincer Peninsula, and they received no favor in return; the situation seemed a total loss by any measure.
“He seemed a bit odd today, though I can’t quite place the strangeness,” Aaron said uncertainly.
“There’s nothing strange. He didn’t like us to begin with, and now that his status is even higher, he likes us even less. It seems we can’t count on this Dean.” Ford Steele spoke angrily.
Like Ford, the others also felt some anger in their hearts.
But they were all furious without daring to speak out.
After venting their complaints, the group buried the recent event in their hearts.
“Gentlemen, a word, please.”
Before the four had walked far, a sorcerer approached them with a friendly smile and called out to them.
From his attire, it was clear that he was from the Enchantment Guild.
“Who are you?”
The four went on alert.
They had only murmured a few subtle complaints; there shouldn’t be trouble over that.
“Someone wants to meet you.”
“Who?”
“A guild elder.”
Upon hearing this, the four were all momentarily stunned.
After a few seconds of contemplation, Polo and his companions agreed to accompany the man, considering they were in East Capital, and even members of the Enchantment Guild wouldn’t dare to act recklessly here.
The fact that they were approached could signify an opportunity to join the guild.
…
Meanwhile, Locke thought of their frustrated expressions and laughed heartily.
“Is this really okay? With Ivan’s character, he definitely wouldn’t do this.” After he had his laugh, the Silkworm Queen reminded him.
“The boss said to leave minor matters to me for full handling. Dealing with some irrelevant people, if not a minor matter, what is it?” Locke justified with sound reasoning.
“I guess it’s a small matter,” the Silkworm Queen considered and responded.
“That’s right. If those few met the boss, they might even annoy him. I’m just taking worries off the boss’s plate,” Locke beckoned to one side, and the gift they just received floated over.
The gift was in a rather large box.
Under the influence of some force, the box opened by itself, revealing a large glass bottle inside. The bottle contained a golden, viscous liquid that looked high-quality just by its color.
“Seems to be bee queen honey,” the Silkworm Queen said, zipping over quickly.
“You know about this?” Locke was surprised.
“I’ve had another kind, given by Sorcerer Randall. Back then, Ivan was still a 3rd Class apprentice. I used the bee queen honey to complete my metamorphosis and advanced to a Level 1 creature,” the Silkworm Queen reminisced.
“And how does it compare to these?” Locke pulled the cork and let her take a sniff.
“These are of a quality one grade higher,” the Silkworm Queen stated truthfully.
“They put in some effort, but that’s about it,” Locke was unconcerned and quickly divided it, “Give some to Big Black One, handle the rest yourself.”
To Rapid Wood Tower, these things were not of any significance, and so the Silkworm Queen wasn’t too troubled and chose to follow his instructions.
At the same time, in a private room of a tavern,
Aaron and the others were dismissed once again, unable to even propose their request, unaware of even the guild elder’s name, leaving them in helpless frustration.
“Let’s go, we’re out of our league here.”
“Let’s look for other methods, it’s not necessary to join the Enchanters Guild.”
The four looked back at the tavern, only to leave with unwilling hearts.
In the private room they just left, the two remaining individuals had already put them out of mind.
“And here I thought it was someone important, just a few outsiders trying to climb the ladder,” Yosef said coldly.
“Elder, since you’re planning to deal with that man, why not use these people? Maybe do a little meddling through Moon Pincer Peninsula—” the steward suggested softly.
“Are you an idiot?”
“Er—”
“With his popularity soaring, even the City Lord’s Residence issued rewards, a whole large magic stone mine, no less. You want to play underhanded tricks on a man like that, are you tired of living?”
Yosef scolded sharply, his gaze intensifying with fervor, revealing one eye noticeably larger than the other, a rather ferocious sight.
Hearing this, the steward could only mutter without words.