“Is it very problematic?” Roland asked somewhat curiously.
Aldo nodded. “Considerably problematic.”
He revealed a contemptuous expression. “Unlike the majority of the local subbranches, those guys at the headquarters act high and mighty. In their eyes, apart from the holy lands of each kind of magic, any other organizations or people, even subbranches like ours, are regarded as desolate places of magic and its people barbaric. They simply don’t find us worthy of their attention. Now that you’ve handed in that diagram for Hand of Magic, it’s the same as slapping them on the face.”
“So they’ll be very hostile toward me?” Roland asked interestedly.
Aldo sat down opposite him, twisting his upper body a little to adjust to a more comfortable sitting position. Then, he said, “They definitely won’t believe that such an excessive magic model would come from a sub branch of a remote area—to literally raise a level-zero trick to a level-two spell, this is something that hasn’t happened in over several hundred years. That’s why… they’ll spare no effort to find ways to make things difficult for you, so as to prove that this model of nodes wasn’t your making.”
Roland looked at Aldo for a while. “You seem to want to see such a scene?”
“Of course!” Aldo said straightforwardly, “I’m a coward—I wouldn’t dare to challenge the authority of the headquarters, but you can! I want to watch the people from the headquarters hit a snag, as they break their heads and lose all face at your hands.”
An apparent malicious intent came from Aldo at this moment. His face even had a slightly twisted smile, as if he already saw the end of those people from the headquarters.
Roland observed him for a few seconds and then asked, “If the headquarters truly wanted to deal with me, they needn’t meet me by force. They only need to conceal my magic model. An unknown mage versus a large organization, anyone would be inclined to believe in the latter.”
“if something like this really happened, what would you do?” Aldo asked curiously and leaned forward.
In his tawny eyes, there was a peculiar ray of light, like a sharp intangible blade, its chilling glare threatening.
“Just let them conceal it for now,” Roland said with a smile. “When I’m stronger, I’ll find a few close friends and fight our way to the association to reason with them.”
His words were gentle and light, but they harbored concealed wrath.
“You’re that confident that you can deal with the Association of Mages?” asked Aldo, shifting back to his original position and lifting his eyebrows in concern.
“You also know that we can’t die. I’ll have an infinite number of chances.”
Aldo shook his head enviously. “Yes, you guys won’t die, so you guys can often do whatever you want. I’m more glad that the majority of you have a lawful good alignment, or else this world would face many disasters. As for the model nodes, don’t you worry, they can’t conceal it.”
Roland didn’t speak and continued to look at Aldo.
Seeing that Roland wasn’t going to actively ask him why, Aldo suddenly felt somewhat disappointed. Such an action was uncooperative with his attempt to show off and irritated him greatly. “It’s actually quite simple. Before handing in the node model to the Association, I already offered a model to the Magic Goddess in your name. And the goddess accepted it.”
“Magic Goddess?” Roland instinctively replied with a question.
“Yes, it’s said that she created all magic in the world.” Aldo shrugged. “However, the elves say that the Magic Goddess was only a human in the past! That’s why we can’t determine whether the Magic Goddess was a human in the past or a god to begin with. But, she indeed rules over the magical elements—this is indubitable.”
“So the Magic Goddess acknowledged this model?”
“Yes,” Aldo said, as an expression of schadenfreude surfaced on his face again. “For those investigators to conceal your node illustration, they must prove that you don’t have the ability to create the illustration. This is just the thing I wanted to see. They’ll target you frantically, and after they fail to achieve anything, they might even threaten you.”
“And I, as it happens, am undying, so you’ll be able to watch the show on the side, watching us break each other’s heads?” Roland sighed. “Your utilizing people in this way, not to mention speaking so arrogantly about it in front of the one being exploited, aren’t you afraid that I won’t cooperate?”
“Now that the circumstances have been set, you can’t avoid it,” Aldo said with a smile. “I know you’ll be somewhat unhappy, but I’ll compensate you—as long as I can do it, you can ask for anything.”
After some deliberation, Roland said, “I want to know why you’re always targeting the headquarters.”
“Must you know?” Aldo squinted his eyes.
A dark and oppressive air came from Aldo.
Roland shook his head. “I’m only curious; if you don’t want to tell then forget it. But I won’t guarantee that I won’t leave this place.”
The smile on Aldo’s face disappeared. Aldo looked at Roland and suddenly said, “Do you think Vivian is cute and considerate?”
“What? What does this have to do with her?” Roland frowned. He couldn’t understand why Aldo’s thoughts suddenly jumped to someone else.
Ignoring Roland’s look, Aldo was engrossed in his memories. “When I was still a mage apprentice, I knew a young female apprentice the same age as me. She was just as cute and considerate as Vivian; I liked her very much. Can you guess what happened afterward?”
Roland seemed to guess the reason why Aldo always held hostility toward the headquarters. “That girl was a genius and she created a magic model or made some great contribution, and then the results were concealed by the headquarters?”
According to Roland’s usual line of thought, this would probably be the best plot.
“Hahahahaha!” Aldo let out maniacal laughter.
Roland felt that he seemed to have brought up a heartbreaking matter for Aldo. He even thought that the young girl might already be…
In the end, Aldo laughed for a while and suddenly stopped. His expression made a 180-degree turn. With a frigid look, he said, “No, you guessed wrong. The person who found results in their studies was me. At the time, I was too happy: I shared my own theory with this tender young girl and even gave her the illustration. The next day, she disappeared from the magic tower. Soon after, a young, genius female mage appeared at the headquarters.”
Dang!
“I went to the headquarters to confront her. I was humiliated, but I still found out her identity. It turns out she was a distant relative of the chairman of the headquarters. I will never forget that moment when she so arrogantly threw twenty gold coins at me, saying that this was a pittance for me.” Aldo covered his face and laughed maniacally again, his laughter sharp and unpleasant. “Do you know? At the time, the more furious I was the more cowardly I feel now! I don’t even have the courage to look her in the face.”
“You don’t dare to resist?”
“I don’t!” Aldo looked at Roland through the crack of his fingers. The expression in his eyes was like a beast’s, trapped in a cage. “I still have parents, friends, and relatives. I wouldn’t dare! I can’t harm them with my fury. But you’re different… you Golden Sons aren’t afraid of death and are very kind-hearted.”
Roland closed his eyes lightly. He opened them after a long while and asked seriously, “So, you’ve wanted to use me all along!”
“After I saw the craziness of your two fellow compatriots, I came up with this idea. However, they aren’t mages so there wasn’t a good way to broach the topic. Just when I was faced with difficulty, you came.” Aldo stood up and said with a sliver of regret, “I knew you were in the city from the moment you entered. Even if you didn’t come find me, I would’ve gone to find you. As someone who is also a mage, even if you didn’t create the model this time, I would still have thought of ways to guide you to stand in opposition to the Association.
“I just never imagined the chance would come so quickly.”
