In the sitting room, Isabelle still had the golden hair and blue eyes that Leilin remembered. Her beautiful face was now covered in frost, her gaze cold, hard, and sharp. An aura of "keep away" and danger radiated from every inch of her.
She was wearing form-fitting leather and soft armor, with a black sheathed longsword hanging at her waist, tracing an elegant arc along her slender legs.
From this cousin of his, Leilin could clearly sense an aura of coldness and despair, along with deeply hidden flames of revenge and a trace of... evil!
"It's been a long time, cousin Leilin! I'm glad you're still safe and sound!"
Isabelle spoke slowly, her voice carrying a dry edge. Only when she looked at Leilin did her ice-like eyes show signs of thawing, revealing a hint of warmth.
"Aunt, I'll be leaving now!"
Isabelle bid farewell to Sarah and departed, and Sarah's eyes had already turned red.
"What on earth happened?" Only after Isabelle left did Leilin's expression turn dark.
"Waaah... my poor sister..." Lady Sarah began to weep, and Leilin could only stand by helplessly.
Through his mother's broken, intermittent descriptions, Leilin was able to piece together the general situation.
His cousin Isabelle's family had suffered a catastrophic event a few months ago—they had been slaughtered in a bloody massacre. Many traces of demons and devils were found at the scene, suggesting it was connected to some sort of heretical deity ritual.
Almost none of the family bloodline present at the time had survived. Only Isabelle, who had been at the Temple of the
Although Isabelle's father was not a proper noble, he had held a temporary baronetcy—lifetime only, at that. This act immediately enraged both the nobility and the Church, and the City Hall declared they would absolutely find the perpetrators.
And there was another issue: Isabelle's family had always been the Farell Family's agents in the Dambres Kingdom on the mainland. Their annihilation meant the Farell Family had completely lost their information and intelligence channels on the mainland, to say nothing of a whole host of other troubles that needed sorting out—regardless, being entangled with a heretical deity was always enormously troublesome, and Leilin's father in this life had immediately set sail for the mainland to deal with these matters upon receiving the news.
"You must comfort Cousin Isabelle properly. She only has us as family now. I heard she was even assassination-attempted before! Oh, my poor child..."
Lady Sarah wept as she spoke, and Leilin nodded with a grave expression.
That Isabelle just now clearly did not carry the temperament befitting a priest. Obviously, the blood feud of her family—or perhaps a series of subsequent shocks—had set her upon a path of bloody revenge. She had perhaps even secretly performed some sort of ritual or sacrifice.
"Hm? At that point, wouldn't Bishop Tabulis have already known?"
Leilin suddenly realized. With the Temple's information network, it was entirely possible they had received the news before he had. That made this invitation extremely thought-provoking.
"A storm is gathering."
Leilin walked out of the sitting room, looking at the overcast sky, his expression equally dark as water.
"Something feels off..." Leilin slowly stroked his chin. "My cousin's family could even be considered a branch of our Farell Family in the Dambres Kingdom. This kind of move doesn't seem aimed at them at all—it seems specifically targeted at our family..."
"Could it be that Farell Island, this newly established kingdom territory, has attracted the covetous eyes of other great nobles? Or is it the aftershocks of the previous pirate exterminations?"
Numerous possibilities surfaced before Leilin's eyes. By the time he came back to his senses, he was already standing in front of
"Is that Leilin? I still have very important experiments to do..."
Ernest's somewhat disgruntled voice came from inside the room.
"Sorry, Master, but I think we need to have a long talk!" Leilin wore a smile on his face, seemingly unaffected by the other's mood at all.
"Fine then! Thirty minutes only!" The door was pulled open abruptly, revealing Ernest's exhausted face—hair a mess, with deep dark circles and bags under his eyes.
After entering the room, dirty clothes and miscellaneous clutter were everywhere. Apart from the laboratory, there was virtually no clean or tidy spot.
Leilin swept aside a grey shirt thrown on the sofa and sat down directly.
At this point, Ernest seemed to recall something. He wiped his face and looked at his brilliant student.
"Leilin! It seems you've run into some trouble... Is it about the Temple of Knowledge you mentioned this morning? That shouldn't warrant such concern from you, so is it something else..."
Ernest still cared deeply about Leilin, a student with such boundless potential ahead of him.
"Yes! A big trouble..." Leilin had a bitter smile on his face, and began to narrate slowly.
"So you're saying you want me to step in and maintain the security of the estate?"
Ernest's eyebrows rose slightly, as if he had already seen through Leilin's intentions. It had to be said, this was perhaps indeed Leilin's best option.
"No! Not at all! Actually, I want to ask you, Master..." Leilin slowly shook his head and made a different request, causing Ernest to widen his eyes in surprise at his student.
A moment later, a massive bird burst into the sky from the estate, with what appeared to be a person seated upon it.
"This student of mine really knows how to boss his teacher around..." The figure was naturally Ernest, who was muttering and cursing under his breath even as he traveled.
"With the strength of the guard around Father, plus a ninth-level
Leilin stood at the window, watching the great bird fly farther and farther away until it became a small black dot in the sky, murmuring to himself.
Actually, if he were the mastermind behind this conspiracy, eliminating Isabelle's family and cutting off Baron Farell's communication point on the mainland was only the first step. Next, they would surely set up an ambush to intercept the Baron's party heading for the mainland.
The Farell Family was, after all, an upstart noble house. Once the head of the household, Baron Jonas, was dead, leaving behind a widow and orphans with no other support, they would be extremely easy to deal with.
Therefore, protecting the Baron and his party was the key to breaking through this crisis!
And in this matter, the only high-level fighting force the Farell Family could rely on was probably none other than Ernest, the ninth-level Wizard.
"Given the interests of our small island and port, they probably aren't even worth the attention of those great nobles—the level is simply too low. So the forces they've brought to bear shouldn't be too powerful either. With Master Ernest's strength, combined with the family's power, I hope this matter can be resolved smoothly..."
Leilin's eyes flickered.
Of course, even if the enemy concentrated most of their attention on Baron Jonas, they wouldn't leave the Farell Family here without any arrangements.
Originally, all of this could have been handled by Ernest—at worst, he could protect the safety of Leilin and his mother. Perhaps Baron Jonas had seen this as well and hadn't invited his old friend to join the expedition. But now Leilin had disrupted all of those arrangements.
"With Master Ernest joining the Baron's side, the defense there is obviously no cause for concern—but the estate's defense has been greatly weakened..."
Leilin sighed. "This gap will have to be filled by me myself."
All this time, Leilin had been secretly honing his abilities as a Wizard, but had never had any opportunity for real combat.
Of course, with his experience from his previous life, such a problem was hardly a challenge. So the prospect of using a few petty thieves as practice partners was actually something he looked forward to.
"Alright, let's see what else Master left me..."
Leilin returned to his room and sorted through several items on the desk. Ernest was no fool—he had long since prepared for his student's safety and had left Leilin several defensive items.
"Hmm, let me take a look..." Leilin's eyes were filled with curiosity as he quickly cleared the items on the table.
Ernest had left behind only three items: a dark, lustrous ring and two unmarked scrolls, bearing arcane spell circuits that emanated a mysterious glow.
"Appraisal!" Leilin flicked his fingers, and several beams of white light shot forward, returning with specific information.
"A magical ring with an attack deflection shield, plus two fourth-level spell scrolls. Hmm! One is Stone Skin, and the other is an offensive Ice Storm..."
Judging from the schools of these two spells, they were clearly things Ernest had crafted himself—the highest level of work he could produce at his current rank, and he had to bear a considerable failure rate for it.
Leilin slipped the ring onto his finger and toyed with the scrolls in his hand.
Fourth-level spell scrolls could, in many situations, turn the tide of battle entirely. Leilin was well aware of their value.
Although many of the spell-crafting materials had been provided by the Farell Family, Ernest's gesture still warmed Leilin's heart.
"With these magical items, my safety has much more of a guarantee. Or perhaps... I'll need to revise my original plan..."
Leilin pondered as he returned to his room and dismissed the Claire sisters.
"Chip! Pull up my current data!" Leilin ordered.
[Leilin Farell. Age: 15. Race: Human. Sixth-level Wizard. Strength: 1.6. Agility: 1. Constitution: 1.5. Spiritual Power: 6. Status: Healthy. Innate Talents: Robust, Erudite. Spell Slots: Second-level (2), First-level (3), Zero-level (???)]
The Chip faithfully reported.