Abel continued to explain his plans, “For each of your family’s castle, I’ll set up a wizard’s defense circle. I’ll also set up teleportation circles. This way, if the castles are attacked, family members will have a way to escape. If reinforcements are needed, we can also send them through the teleportation circles.”
The Knight of Bennett was concerned, “Thank you for being so considerate, Abel, but isn’t that very costly? And your training is very important. We can’t allow you to be too distracted with us.”
Abel smiled, “Don’t worry about it, Father. Once I’ve built my own magic tower, I’ll be shut off from the world for a very long time. Before I do that, I need to make sure that the families are protected as safely as I can.”
Unlike most wizards, Abel was too young to have any successors to look after his properties. He was also too resourceful. Usually, wizards had no use for gold and land. They’d only need points to get the training materials to push to the next rank. With so much to look after, Abel had to resort to a unique way to look after his belongings.
Lord Marshall sighed, “I understand, Abel. Wizards are like gods, aren’t they? They have no desires of any sort, nor need for worldly things. If your father and I weren’t here, you probably wouldn’t have taken the title of earl.”
Abel replied, “Harry Castle and Bennett Castle are both my homes. Now that the nearby lands belong to me, I hope you two can look after them for me. Once the laws allow me to, I’ll eventually hand them over to you.”
After Abel said that, Bartoli suddenly called him through his soul chain. The dwarven workers he called for had just arrived at Harvest City.
Abel stood up and bowed, “Father, Uncle Marshall, I’ll have to head back to Harvest City now. I’ve called the dwarves to do some architecture work for me, and they have just come.”
When Abel was about to leave the study room, he saw that Nora was preparing lunch with the other servants.
“Mother,” he quickly walked up to her, “I have to go now. I need to get a job done.”
Nora almost cried again when she heard that, “But you just came back, Abel! Aren’t you even going to have a meal with us?”
Abel tried to persuade Nora, “I’ll be back, Mother! I’ll be staying at Harry Castle for a while. There’re a lot of things that I need to do, but there’ll be plenty of times that I can come to see you.”
“Let him go now,” the Knight of Bennett said as he came out of the study, “Whatever he’s doing, must be important.”
Nora sighed as she held onto Abel’s hands, “Alright, son. You can go now. Remember to come back.”
“Yes, Mother. I’ll go now.” Abel bowed again.
“Black Wind!”
When Abel walked to the front entrance, a black figure appeared in front of him. It was Black Wind, and after he jumped on its back, they both disappeared from the scene in an instance.
At a mansion inside Harvest City, Abel saw the dwarves that had come to help him build his tower. He realized that their leader was a young dwarf wearing leather armor. He had a bushy beard on his chin, but that face of his still revealed just how young he was.
“Greetings, Grandmaster!” the young leader of the architecture team said, “My name is Isiah Goff. You can just call me Isiah. I’ve brought ten members of the Goff Family with me. If you have any concerns regarding the safety of our work, I guarantee you that there is nothing to be worried about.”
Abel returned a bow, “Thank you so much, Isiah. It must’ve been a lot of work for you. I don’t know if my payment will satisfy you, but if you’re interested in my wine, I do have plenty of them ready.”
All the dwarves started laughing when they heard this. “Good, good!” Isiah laughed, “So the rumors were true, then! You really are like us dwarves!”
“Master,” Bartoli came and bowed, “Your lunch is ready now.”
Abel said, “Oh, right. Let’s have our lunch first, shall we? I’ll take you to Harry Castle after that.”
“Ok, Grandmaster. After you,” Isiah said, then followed Abel to the restaurant.
Before they even stepped into the restaurant, Isiah realized the smell filling the air. He wasn’t sure what it was, but the scent alone was enough to make him swallow his saliva.
Isiah said to Abel, “I’ve heard from our young master, Grandmaster, but this…. So Master Bernie wasn’t exaggerating when he talked about how good your food is.”
They then walked to the dining table. Naturally, since the seat in the middle belonged to the owner of the place, no one was going to compete with Abel for it. While that left the seat on Abel’s right (the second most important spot) vacant, Isiah decided to take it.
When he was about to do so, though, a white light appeared on that same seat. A bearded dwarf with a robe suddenly sat on it.
“Sorry for coming so late, Grandmaster,” the dwarven wizard bowed as he stood beside his chair, “Luckily, this man is still ready for lunch!”
Isiah was going to argue with the old dwarf, but he suddenly realized who he was, “Master Cyril! You’ve come!”
“How else are you going to start working, then?” Wizard Cyril threw a confused look at Isiah.
Isiah quickly changed to a more serious voice, “Allow me to introduce our master to you, Grandmaster. This is Master Cyril, the advanced wizard of our family.”
“Thank you for your good work,” Abel quickly thanked Wizard Cyril. After all, he must’ve been the one who was responsible for sending the fort base over.
“No need to thank me, haha!” Wizard Cyril said, “I’ve already had a talk with Bernie. He said if I do the job, you’ll let me eat at your place for at least ten days.”
“I’ve got that covered, sir. I’ll let my butler serve you the best dishes we have,” Abel smiled.
This Wizard Cyril was certainly a straight talker. If he wanted to taste Abel’s food, he could’ve gone to his mansion in Liante City. Right now, two of Abel’s chefs were sent there to serve wizards who were from the Goff Family. Wizard Cyril thought differently, though. To him, if he wanted to get the best food he could, he had to get it straight from Abel.
“Alright, now! Please have a seat,” Abel gestured with his hand.
As excited as Isiah and ten dwarves were, they all started taking their seats in a very orderly fashion. Soon, two of Abel’s servants carried a barrel of wine to them. After they installed a tap on the barrel’s bottom, they started pouring wine inside the cups.
Wizard Cyril quickly took a cup over and started smelling it, “Bring it all to me! This bunch still has work to do in the afternoon! They can’t have so much liquor now!”
When the servants looked at Abel, Abel had no choice but to comply. Once the orders were given, the servants started pouring more wine in Wizard Cyril’s cup. The more he drank, the wider his smirk became.
“Why the bother?” Wizard Cyril said loudly, “Just bring the whole barrel to me! Wh-wh-why are you pouring them in cups? I don’t need cups!”
The servants complied. Isiah and the rest were not happy to see this, but Wizard Cyril was certainly very satisfied. Luckily for them all, the food was great, too. Since Bartoli had prepared enough portions for them, they all had a good fill in a very short time.
Wizard Cyril only behaved when he was enjoying the dishes. Unlike Isiah and the others, he seemed to be the only one savoring through them. He was also the one who was eating the least. He was saving most of his appetite for the wine, after all.
