Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Roland returned home. After eating lunch, he took an afternoon nap, then went on the forums to see other players brag.
After all, amongst the 500,000 players, there were quite a lot of people who were willing to share their tips and experiences—Roland was also one of them.
He slowly read through them. Some boasted, some talked about the local conditions and customs of the city they were in, and some gave an account of the weaknesses, habits, and other traits of wild monsters and beasts.
Roland read with great pleasure.
Those who hung about in the forums all knew that once they encountered a topic of interest, they would kill a lot of time lingering in the forums.
Before Roland noticed, when he had become weary, it was already evening.
After eating the dinner his mother had made, he took a shower. Then, once he practiced the horse stance in his room, he entered the game again.
He first oversaw the magic lab on the fifth floor, dispelling the magic apprentices’ doubts. After the morning went by and he finished the lunch Vivian had made, Aldo came by his study.
Vivian was in the middle of asking Roland some questions, but she smiled at Aldo and promptly left the study.
Aldo looked at Vivian as she left; he was somewhat surprised. “You actually haven’t touched her?”
Roland’s mouth twitched helplessly. He didn’t want to be led by the nose on this topic, so he asked straightforwardly, “Chairman, what matter do you have this time?”
At this moment, Aldo’s expression turned stern. He said slowly, “The people from the headquarters are about to arrive—they’ll be in the city in roughly an hour.”
“Isn’t this just as you wished?” Roland chuckled. They’re finally coming.
Aldo laughed aloud. “Yes, I can finally see someone resist those evil frauds from the headquarters. I hope you won’t disappoint me.
“You should say that you hope the people from the headquarters don’t disappoint me. I hope they’re just as you said: bossy, greedy, and condescending.” Roland closed a book. He made new progress on the derivation of Language Proficiency: he could carry out language and character translation simultaneously, but it didn’t work one hundred percent of the time as occasionally, some sentences carried odd tones. “Then what plans do you have next?”
“In a battle between two giant dragons, we weak little b**chy rabbits naturally have to hide in the sidelines first.” Chairman Aldo laughed, completely paying no mind to his own cowardice. “So I’ll disappear for the next three days for some important business. All matters, large or small, inside the magic tower, can be handled as you please.”
“What if I run off?” Roland asked.
“It doesn’t matter even if you stole everything inside the magic tower.” Aldo shrugged. “Things like resources and money will come back eventually anyway. If you absconded with the money, things would be even better. I would be able to issue a bounty as the headquarters’ command; this way you and the headquarters will fight each other till your last breaths.”
Upon hearing this, Roland smiled. “It seems everything is within your expectations!”
Aldo shrugged smugly. “All right, I have to go, it’ll be too late if I don’t go now.”
With these last words, Aldo left the magic tower.
Roland stood by the window of the upper levels and watched Aldo’s figure disappear amongst the buildings of the city.
If the headquarters was really as Aldo had said, he would eventually end up going against the headquarters anyway, so it was harmless that Aldo used him for a while since some of the tower’s interests were already in his hands anyway—gold coins, resources, and the books in the library collection.
During his time here, in the spare time away from his magic experiments, he already used the system’s built-in photography function to record over half of the collection inside the library. This was the most essential part of a magic tower. Even if he stopped working at the magic tower, he would have gained something.
Besides, he didn’t completely trust Aldo: this was why he chose diplomacy before resorting to force.
There was no rush to burn bridges.
After waiting for a while, Roland went down to the second floor, rang the golden bell, and gathered all the magic apprentices.
“You have all now learned the basic form of Hand of Magic, but progression will be slow from study alone—it’s better to put it into practice,” Roland said. “Outside the city, there are two Golden Sons gathering beggars, even building houses for them. Now, all of you, go out and use Hand of Magic to transport building materials and dig holes for them. More practical use will be greatly beneficial to the growth of your magic power.”
The magic apprentices looked at each other. They’d never been given such a mission.
To their minds, the missions of mages were to appraise magic items or to help out with matters that only mages were suited to handle. For example, incidents related to ghosts, or incidents involving invasions of negative magic energy.
It was the first time that magic apprentices like them were made to do civil engineering work.
Seeing the doubts of the magic apprentices, Roland smiled faintly and said, “This is the chairman’s orders. If you guys have any complaints, don’t blame me for making things difficult after this.”
Upon hearing his threat, the group of magic apprentices immediately ceased any and all sorts of complaints. They all expressed that they would obey the deputy chairman’s commands.
Roland then said to Vivian, “Bring all the guards up and have them protect you.”
Somewhat confused, Vivian said, “If there are no guards here, who’re going to protect the magic tower and the deputy chairman?”
“This is the magic tower, how many people would dare come here to stir up trouble?” Roland said in a light voice. “Besides, I’m a Golden Son—I’m not afraid of anything happening.”
“Okay, I’ll listen to you, Deputy Chairman.” Vivian bit her red lips lightly.
After everyone left the magic tower, Roland returned to his study.
He intentionally sent everyone away, in fear that something really would happen. He wasn’t afraid to die, but what if the mages from the headquarters vented their anger on the magic apprentices!
With so many of them, he didn’t have the confidence to protect them all.
After waiting for a while in the study, he could distinctly hear displeased voices coming from the bottom of the magic tower: “Where are the people of the tower? Where the hell did they all go?”
Roland stood up and walked down unhurriedly.
When he arrived at the first floor, he saw two youngsters standing on the glossy floor. They were wearing magic robes, their expressions arrogant.
Behind them, there were also six men in similar magic robes, their mental energies quite weak—they were probably all magic apprentices.
Roland simply stood on the stairs, looking down on them. He asked a question he already knew the answer to: “May I ask who you are?”
“The people from the Association headquarters, come down and greet us!”
One of the males, who looked like a magic apprentice, shouted up at Roland.
The two youngsters at the front sized Roland up with scrupulous gazes.
Roland silently looked at them for a while and then said in a gentle voice, “Yes, all right, please follow me.”
The two youngsters’ expressions changed drastically, but they didn’t speak. They simply looked on silently at Roland.
The magic apprentice that spoke earlier said furiously, “Are you an idiot, didn’t you understand? We’re from the headquarters, what’s with your attitude!”
Domineering, as expected. Roland felt that Aldo’s words were more and more believable—like master, like servant.
Another magic apprentice looked at the surroundings and also shouted furiously, “Where’s that despicable man Aldo, have him come to greet us. What’s he trying to do by sending a pretty boy to see us?! And where are the women—the welcoming party?”
The two youngsters at the forefront were clearly in charge. They still didn’t speak, but the fury in their eyes grew more and more apparent.
They’re truly… more condescending than I imagined, and they’re completely overbearing.
Roland felt his head ache a little.
To have dealings with these kinds of people was actually a very painful thing.
Because it would be quite easy to lose one’s restraint and hit them.
