"Relax — you're my employee, after all. I'm not going to send you off to your death for nothing..."
"I've already received word. Jane and her party are trapped in a small canyon by a pack of Flame Wolves, but they're in no immediate danger..."
"Besides, I've prepared this for you!" Leylin handed Weilin a packet of powder.
Weilin sniffed at it curiously and immediately started gagging, sticking his tongue out again and again. "What is this stuff?"
"A pungent powder! It masks the scent of living humans so the Flame Wolves can't detect you..."
Leylin's brief explanation made Weilin's eyes light up completely. He stared at the packet of powder in his hands like it was a pile of gold coins.
"Just think — once you sprinkle this powder on yourself and walk into that canyon, you can save the princess with ease. Fame, status, money, beautiful women — they'll all be yours..." Leylin's voice carried a note of temptation.
"But..." Weilin was still putting up a fight, though his tone had already lost most of its conviction.
"There are no buts!" Leylin pulled a stern face.
"This is an order. And Baron Joseph has already granted me full authority — when it comes to rescuing Jane, I can conscript any citizen of Bort Town!"
Leylin regarded Weilin with an unpleasant grin. "If I remember correctly, you're still a free citizen under Bort Town's jurisdiction, aren't you? So — would you like to go now? Or would you rather go after I've had you demoted to slave status?"
Faced with Leylin's carrot-and-stick approach, Weilin could only throw his hands up in surrender. "Fine! I'll go!"
"That's more like it!" Leylin nodded with satisfaction.
That afternoon, Weilin set off into the Wutie Wasteland wearing an expression of stoic resignation, while the townspeople watched on from behind.
Leylin, meanwhile, lounged leisurely in his reclining chair, eyes half-closed, basking in the warmth radiating from the sunstone beside him. A pot of hot tea and a few pastries sat on the table nearby.
"A lovely afternoon! I love it!"
Leylin poured himself another cup of black tea, blowing gently at the wisps of steam rising from the cup.
"The Flame Wolves in the Wutie Wasteland should have migrated by now — and yet they still ran into a pack? This just keeps getting more interesting..."
As for Willen, Leylin felt completely at ease with him. Not only had Willen's strength already reached the pinnacle level, just a hair's breadth from becoming a Great Knight, but even the medicinal powder Leylin had given him was more than enough to ensure Willen returned unscathed and successfully rescued Jenny and her group.
"But I fear this is only the beginning!"
Leylin had a premonition that around this Jenny, the power struggles within noble circles had already formed a massive vortex of trouble, continuously pulling those nearby into its depths.
However, such a level of trouble was, to him, merely child's play. If he weren't currently at leisure and also seeking a legitimate reason to intervene in the Eastern Capital, he wouldn't have bothered playing along with their games.
The situation unfolded exactly as Leylin predicted.
Two days later, Willen burst in excitedly, a grin of triumph still on his face.
"Sir! Sir! I did it! I successfully rescued Miss Jenny and her party! Haha… I've become a hero!"
"If you had still gotten trapped there with the powder I prepared for you, then you would truly be an idiot!" Leylin rolled his eyes. Then he looked toward the doorway. "Do we have more guests?"
Shortly after, a disheveled Jenny and her steward entered, but of the two guards, only one remained, his right arm still in a sling.
It was evident this group had a miserable time in the Wutie Wasteland, yet they had come straight here immediately upon their return, not even bothering to clean themselves up first.
Though some dust still clung to Jenny's clothes, her face was clean. She curtsied gracefully to Leylin, holding the hem of her skirt. "I heard from Willen that his success in rescuing me was largely thanks to you, Sir. Jenny has come specifically to express her gratitude! Your medicinal powder is truly marvelous; even Jemis couldn't identify its ingredients…"
"It's nothing, just an accumulation from my past adventuring days." Leylin waved his hand, brushing off the compliment.
He was fully aware of the noble girl's true purpose. Expressing gratitude was one aspect, but the most important thing, he knew, was likely her desire to enlist his help to obtain the Dragon Blood Flower Bud.
Thinking this, Leylin cast another glance at Willen.
Under Leylin's gaze, the young man lowered his head in embarrassment.
This inexperienced youth, having been handled by Jenny's group with a few well-placed words, had already betrayed Leylin, revealing his past identity as a powerful adventurer.
"Sir…" The smile on Jenny's face became somewhat strained. Then, gritting her teeth, she knelt directly on the ground. "Sir! In truth, I came here to seek the Dragon Blood Flower Bud not for my mother, but for my father. He…"
Following this, from the young girl's lips came a story of noble power struggles, exactly as one would expect.
The gist was that her two uncles, coveting her father's position as Marquis, had used a strange poison to harm him. To save her father, the girl had been forced to bring her steward and guards to search for a curative herb.
"Mr. Leylin! My father is a kind and wise lord! If the territory and the title fall into the hands of my two uncles, the people within the domain will surely suffer a calamity. Please, you must save them…"
Jenny knelt on the ground, pleading pitifully, playing the part of an innocent, pure-hearted victim to absolute perfection. Beside her, Wilin had already clenched his fists, and the sight made Leylin shake his head in exasperation.
He understood all too well the games played among the higher nobility. In truth, after growing up immersed in noble circles, even the most innocent child would eventually be corrupted.
Besides, in struggles for power around the world, was there ever an absolutely right or wrong side?
Still, on the surface, Leylin put on a righteous and solemn expression. "I hold the late Marquis's sense of justice and compassion in the highest regard. In this matter, I will not hesitate to help! Wilin!!!"
"Huh? Yes, sir!!!" Wilin suddenly had the sinking feeling that trouble was headed his way — an intuition he had developed after being roped into messes by Leylin far too many times.
Sure enough, Leylin issued his command without hesitation. "You will accompany Miss Jenny back into the Wailing Wastes and stay there until you have obtained the Dragon Blood Flower bud!"
"I knew it! I knew it would be something like this!"
Wilin screamed internally, but looking at Leylin's stern face and the delicate, pitiful Jenny still kneeling on the ground, he found he simply could not harden his heart to refuse.
"Fine…"
Getting Wilin to go was obviously not what Jenny's group had come for, but after seeing the polite yet firmly unyielding look in Leylin's eyes, the clever young lady realized there was no way she could get Leylin to go himself. She could only withdraw with visible regret.
"Are you certain he's a
As they walked along the road, and once she confirmed there were no bystanders nearby, an icy voice slipped from Jenny's lips. The girl's tone had turned cold and detached, her expression aloof and imperious — not a trace of the fragility she had shown moments ago.
"I can't say for certain! I can't sense it! If a proper Wizard, sir, were to deliberately conceal himself from us, we would have absolutely no way of detecting anything!"
Butler Gemos, a Level Three Apprentice, said with a wry smile.
"The fact that we detected nothing is itself the biggest discovery! As a retired and powerful adventurer who could train a Knight like Wilin in barely a year — his strength must far surpass anything we imagined!"
Jenny's face was all shrewd calculation.
"Indeed! I did a bit of probing, and that lad Wilin is remarkably fortunate. The Breathing Technique he practices is at least Great Knight level…"
Gemos chimed in with his own admiration, and upon hearing these words, the guard trailing behind Jenny's party quietly darkened.
He had risked his life for the Augustus family for years, enduring countless trials of loyalty before being granted a Knight's Breathing Technique, and had only narrowly advanced through bloody combat. Compared to that, Wilin's circumstances made him feel a sudden, savage urge to put the boy down.
But he quickly buried that thought deep in the recesses of his mind, not daring to linger on it even for a moment longer.
Behind Wilin, there was a figure believed to be a genuine Wizard standing guard! Even the entire Augustus family wouldn't dare provoke him lightly.
Although the Augustus family was a Marquis house with a distinguished status, that was only in the mortal world.
In the eyes of Wizards, the weight of this family known as the "Sun Vine" wouldn't be any heavier than a grain of dust.
Even the entire Augustus family could only enshrine a single First-Level Wizard at their headquarters. For that Wizard, the goodwill of a genuine Wizard versus a Knight bodyguard — there was no choice to make!
"Sir!"
Once Jenny and her party had left, Wilin immediately put on a long face and gazed at Linley with the eyes of an abandoned puppy.
"Hand it over!" He held out both hands.
"Hand what over?"
"The secret medicine! Powerful treasures and the like! Weren't you going to have me retrieve the Dragon Blood Flower Bud?" Wilin looked as if this were the most natural thing in the world.
*Thwack!* The next moment, his head took a solid whack from Linley's wooden sword, making him grimace in pain.
"Wilin!" Linley stood up, his tone deeply earnest.
"After what happened this time, you've seen your own strength, haven't you?"
"Of course! I'm already a Knight now! All thanks to your guidance, sir!"
When it came to serious matters, Wilin's expression grew solemn. Although Linley's powder had helped them survive the Explosive Flame Wolf pack unscathed, the Crow's Cry Wasteland held dangers far beyond just those wolves!
It wasn't until he cleaved a massive giant stork clean in two with a single sword stroke that Wilin realized Linley had been pulling one over on him — he had already been promoted to Knight long ago!
Moreover, through his later conversations with Jenny and the others, he came to understand just how valuable the things Linley had been teaching him really were!
So, even though his growing familiarity with Linley had given him a somewhat carefree demeanor, Wilin's respect for the man only deepened.
"A Knight is only your starting point — not your destination!"
Linley clasped his hands behind his back, exuding the bearing of a true master.