Chapter 84: Viscount of Magic, Damian Baines!

The Rosewood Town Mages Association was bustling as always.

Of course, ’bustling’ meant something completely different here compared to places like the Adventurer’s Guild.

There were certainly plenty of people moving through the enormous magically cooled lounge, but the quantity was nowhere near as impressive as their quality.

Journeymen were common, Adepts appeared often enough that nobody stopped talking when one walked past, while well-dressed nobles, wealthy merchants and Association personnel mingled throughout the private seating areas.

There were no adventurers shouting across crowded tables, drunk mercenaries wrestling near the entrance or clerks screaming numbers above a hundred impatient customers.

Instead, servants carried wine and refreshments between couches, enchanted message boards quietly displayed contracts, and expensive robes could be seen everywhere one looked.

Entering the Mages Association felt less like visiting a professional Guild and more like walking into the executive lounge of some absurdly wealthy company.

Damian could appreciate that.

The moment he entered with Ronan and Stella behind him, the same Association servant who had attended to him during his original registration recognized him almost immediately.

"Lord Baines, welcome back to the Rosewood Mages Association. How may we assist you today?" the young man greeted respectfully.

"I need my Mage certification updated, and I’ll be purchasing some spells and materials while I’m here." Damian answered.

"Of course, Lord Baines. Please follow me."

Damian was led through the familiar halls toward one of the Association’s private consultation rooms, but when the servant opened the door this time, someone was already waiting inside.

Damian paused.

"Oh?"

Lady Selene Vael was seated languidly upon one of the ridiculously soft sofas, her violet hair spread loosely across the headrest while her staff rested horizontally over her lap.

Her tight-fitting Mage robes did absolutely nothing to hide the mature curves beneath them either.

In fact, among every woman Damian had met in Valoria thus far, only Ophelia Linus could confidently claim superiority in that particular battlefield.

And even then...

Damian’s standards had become distressingly high since arriving in this world.

Unlike him, however, the two people standing behind him reacted rather differently.

Ronan’s lazy posture disappeared instantly while Stella stiffened, both of them placing their arms at their sides and bending deeply at the waist.

"Greetings, Honorable Lady Selene!" They both intoned, making a gesture across their chests afterward.

Damian’s pleasant expression slowly changed.

"Eh?"

He glanced between the two bowed retainers and Lady Selene.

Sure, he knew Selene was important.

Extremely important, actually.

But was all that necessary?

More importantly...

Who exactly was your boss here?

Damian or her?

Selene immediately noticed the deepening frown upon his face and chuckled.

"Little Damian, don’t be angry with them. What they are doing is the correct etiquette in our world and according to our customs." Selene explained with amusement.

Damian entered the room and regarded her curiously. "Oh? What would warrant such treatment from them?"

Selene’s lips curved charmingly. "The only thing that truly matters in the end... my power. I am a Legendary Mage, you see."

Damian paused, then nodded.

"Makes sense. This one here is already an Adept, and he certainly wouldn’t bow like that to a mere Master." Damian remarked while glancing lightly toward Ronan.

Selene’s eyebrows rose slightly.

That was it?

No shock? No sudden reverence?

Really, nothing?

Damian had apparently filed away ’Legendary Mage’ somewhere beside ’important information worth remembering’ and continued with his day.

Clearly, to him, the realm did not hold the spiritual and cultural significance that it did for Valorian natives.

How wonderfully Otherworlder of him.

Selene glanced toward the two retainers still bowing behind their master.

"Indeed. I have acknowledged your greetings, and you should probably straighten your backs. You don’t seem to realize that both of you are inches away from being permanently cast out by your Patriarch." Selene remarked with faint amusement.

A chill ran through Stella’s heart as she immediately straightened.

Ronan followed a moment later, and both finally noticed that Damian had already seated himself opposite Selene without sparing them another glance.

Stella’s reddish complexion visibly paled.

What had they done wrong?!

Greeting a Legend respectfully was ordinary etiquette!

Had they somehow insulted Damian?

Was it because they had bowed lower to Lady Selene than they normally did to him?

Stella’s mind immediately began racing.

Ronan was considerably less distressed at first, his lips merely tightening slightly.

Heh, this little master of theirs really had quite the temper!

As an Adept, Ronan could find work practically anywhere. Even if Damian became annoyed enough to throw him out, it would hardly leave him starving in the streets.

Still...

It would be inconvenient.

"Well, well, well... what brings my darling Otherworlder here today?" Selene questioned playfully as she slowly crossed one leg over the other.

Damian’s gaze followed the movement with hawkish concentration.

"I came for two things. To upgrade my certification and purchase some spells and materials." Damian answered calmly.

Selene noticed exactly where his attention had gone and seemed more delighted than bothered.

Sheesh.

Was this woman a Legendary Mage or a Legendary Succubus?

"Well, the certification is certainly necessary. I haven’t seen you in only a few days and you’ve already become an Adept! I was shocked enough when I heard how quickly you reached Journeyman, but clearly everyone thoroughly underestimated you." Selene exclaimed with genuine surprise.

Behind Damian, two minds abruptly stopped working.

Stella’s face went completely ashen.

Ronan froze in place.

Adept?

Ronan mechanically turned his head toward Damian’s side profile.

The young man remained seated comfortably beside the table, still paying absolutely no attention to either of them.

Waves immediately surged through Ronan’s heart.

Damian had been Level 6, a Journeyman, just a few days ago when he recruited them!

That was the entire reason Ronan’s higher realm had made him so valuable as a retainer in the first place.

Damian possessed absurd potential, wealth and opportunities while Ronan supplied immediate combat power while those things matured.

It was a perfect arrangement where he, Ronan, could even be a bit arrogant and make demands.

But now, the fellow had just caught up in mere days!

Ronan had already believed he was heavily overestimating Damian when he accepted the retainership.

Now he realized something uncomfortable.

He had still severely underestimated him!

Stella felt even worse.

She remembered the scene after the recruitment process perfectly.

Back then, Damian had demonstrated the ability to push Novices into Journeyman within a single day using nothing more than several bizarre pills.

Someone had naturally asked whether the same method could turn Journeymen into Adepts.

Damian’s answer back then was that it would require more time, so everyone had assumed that meant weeks, or perhaps even a month.

Maybe even longer if the process was difficult.

Apparently, ’more time’ meant a few blasted days!

Stella was Level 9, and sitting only several steps away from her was a man who had apparently found a method capable of crossing the boundary between Journeyman and Adept at this ridiculous speed.

Meaning...

Damian could probably turn her into an Adept right at this moment!

And she had somehow managed to make him unhappy immediately before learning this information!

Stella suddenly wanted to dig a hole beneath the Mages Association and live there.

She had actively sought this retainership.

She had researched Damian, fought through the recruitment competition and worked hard precisely because she understood what serving an Otherworlder might offer.

Yet somehow, after finally getting the opportunity, that opportunity now felt farther from her hands than when she had still been merely waiting for applications to open!

Ronan’s thoughts became equally grim for different reasons.

Damian was now in his realm.

That meant Ronan’s value as an elite bodyguard in a superior realm had just collapsed.

He had gone from being the powerful Adept standing protectively beside a Journeyman master...

To being an Adept protecting another Adept.

How long until Damian became a Master?

At the rate Damian was going, Ronan did not particularly want to know.

For the first time since joining the household, Ronan understood that Damian’s ridiculous speed did not merely create benefits for him.

It also created pressure.

If Ronan remained exactly where he was while Damian continued climbing, then sooner or later, the only thing distinguishing him from some ordinary guard would be seniority and a bad drinking habit.

He would have to change, not merely in terms of power, but also in terms of attitude.

He could not continue treating Damian’s household like some unusually comfortable job that happened to provide excellent benefits.

Otherwise, one day he would discover that everyone else had adapted while he remained standing still.

Selene quietly observed the turmoil passing through the two retainers and sighed inwardly.

She pitied them somewhat.

However, she did not believe Damian was wrong.

These two were too reliant upon their own power and far too accustomed to Valorian customs.

Yes, greeting Selene respectfully was correct as she was a Legend.

But what the hell did ’correct etiquette’ mean to someone who did not come from this world?

Damian himself had not changed how he looked at her, spoken to her or behaved around her whatsoever after learning she was a Legendary Mage.

That should have told them everything.

Roland Hammond was also a Legend.

Both Roland and Selene had taken considerable time to guide Damian, explain Valoria to him and build a favorable relationship from the beginning.

Did these fools think that was merely for fun?

And Selene herself?

Being teasing, sultry and sensual around Damian...

Did they imagine this was simply her natural personality?

That she spent her days setting male hearts ablaze across Rosewood Town because she had nothing better to do?

Hah.

Damian’s retainers had failed to understand their own master and adjust themselves around his worldview.

They would learn.

Selene had already helped them by pointing out the danger.

Anything beyond that was their problem.

After all, she had her own relationship with Damian to cultivate.

......

The Association verification was handled quickly.

Adept was an awkward stage for Mages because the Mage Class itself normally stopped at Level 10 while the practitioner selected a new Class for Level 11.

As a result, Damian’s <Arcane Knowledge> remained at Journeyman rather than magically transforming into Adept mastery merely because his Overall Level had crossed the boundary.

Fortunately, the Association already possessed procedures for this exact situation.

His primary Mage Class was verified at Level 10, then came his Subclass.

"Cleric?" Stella repeated before she could stop herself.

Ronan looked equally confused while Selene’s expression became particularly strange.

A Cleric.

Really?

She had literally just spent several minutes internally explaining how Otherworlders ignored Valorian customs, religious assumptions and conventional thinking...

Only for Damian to pick a Subclass that literally required selecting one of Valoria’s Divine Spirits as his patron.

Selene felt as though an invisible hand had slapped her directly across the mouth.

Her soft pink lips pursed slightly.

How irritating!

Damian, completely unaware that he had personally destroyed her internal monologue, completed the remaining inspection.

Soon, the result appeared.

[Adept Mage Status Verified.]

[Mages Association Rank Updated.]

[Title Advanced.]

[Baron of Magic → Viscount of Magic.]

Damian smiled.

His magical nobility had advanced exactly as Harold at the Nobles Council explained.

Journeyman granted Baron while Adept granted Viscount.

His Association privileges rose alongside the title, while the noble authority attached to the Baines Estate expanded proportionally as well.

Most notably, a Viscount could maintain up to twenty recognized retainers, while the legal ceiling for territorial holdings expanded as high as one fortress, one town and fifteen villages should Damian ever acquire suitable land.

He did not magically receive those things, obviously.

Unfortunately, reality had not yet become generous enough to hand out free towns with level-ups.

Still, the authority existed.

Selene congratulated him in a teasing voice, and Damian happily accepted the praise before the conversation moved toward his second purpose for visiting.

This time Selene did not remain opposite him.

She stood, walked around the table and settled directly beside Damian upon his sofa, very directly beside him.

In fact, barely a few inches separated their bodies from being merged together.

Then came the familiar Association catalog.

The enormous tome landed across Selene’s lap, balanced comfortably upon her thick thighs as she opened the spell section.

Damian caught the scent of lavender mixed faintly with strawberries.

Hoh?

Very nice!

He relaxed against the sofa while Selene began guiding him through the higher-level catalog.

Level 3 came first.

Damian already possessed excellent spells at that tier, so he limited himself to two additions.

<Lightning Bolt> cost 21 Gold for the manual or 2 Gold for a scroll, offering a devastating line attack that traded <Fireball>’s wide explosion for concentrated electrical destruction.

The second was <Animate Dead>, which was 44 Gold for the manual, but no scroll version existed.

Apparently, the spell’s persistent necromantic structure could not be safely packaged into ordinary disposable scrollwork.

Naturally, Damian bought the manual.

He had just become a Cleric of the Goddess of Life and was immediately purchasing necromancy.

Was he intentionally edging Eastra by giving her hope of a turnaround?

Moving onto Level 4, there were even better toys here!

<Ice Storm> cost 57 Gold for the manual and 12 for a scroll, providing large-area cold damage combined with battlefield disruption.

<Conjure Minor Elemental> was considerably more expensive at 76 Gold for the manual or 17 for a scroll, but summoning an independent elemental creature offered too much utility to ignore.

Then came <Wall of Fire>, priced at 58 Gold for the manual and 11 for a scroll.

Damian barely needed convincing on that one.

The Nightmare Corpse Sect had already taught him that fire plus Corpse Qi equaled comedy.

Why settle for throwing individual Firebolts when one could eventually erect an entire wall of concentrated death, especially on battlefields?

Finally came Level 5, his first spell tier of this grade.

Damian chose <Wall of Stone>, costing 88 Gold for the manual and 34 per scroll.

This covered defense, terrain creation, fortification, entrapment, and even construction!

The practical applications were ridiculous enough that Damian’s business instincts approved before his combat instincts even finished reading.

His final choice was <Chain Lightning>, for 95 Gold for the manual, 28 gold for a scroll.

Lightning that jumped between multiple targets? Yes!

But even better, he could roleplay as The Senate and destroy rebel scum!

The manuals alone totaled 439 Gold.

It was certainly an absurd amount of money compared to what Damian possessed when he first entered Valoria, but he did not personally pay a single coin.

Everything was billed directly to the Baines Estate.

After all, the shop’s enormous daily revenue was not flowing into Damian’s personal pocket.

It entered the estate’s commercial accounts.

That created an amusing situation where Damian’s original fifty-Gold Caurelian Continental Bank loan technically remained unpaid even while the Baines Estate processed sums large enough to make that debt look increasingly silly.

The bank did not care.

In fact, the bank seemed almost aggressively unconcerned.

They could see the Noble Estate account and the daily commercial revenue.

They knew perfectly well Damian could clear the entire fifty Gold whenever he bothered remembering it existed.

At this point, Caurelian Continental Bank representatives were probably praying he didn’t repay it.

Take another loan!

Please!

Five hundred Gold!

A thousand!

Would Lord Baines like some extremely favorable financing terms?

Apparently several particularly beautiful Clerics from Caurelia’s church had even visited the shop and the Baines Estate looking for Damian, but Stella had chased them away.

Damian still did not know that part.

Perhaps it was better for household harmony that way.

After the spell purchases were complete, Damian flipped further into the materials catalog.

Selene initially remained relaxed, then she noticed what he marked, and her amusement faded.

"Little Damian... are you sure? This item costs quite a bit, even for Legends." Selene advised gently.

Damian barely reacted.

"Money is just money. What use does it have compared to being used for one’s benefit?" Damian replied nonchalantly.

Selene studied him for a moment before genuine approval entered her expression.

"Indeed, what use is money when growth matters? Alright, I’ll place the order for you and acquire these materials as quickly as possible. They should be delivered to your noble estate by tonight." Selene agreed.

Damian smiled. "Thanks."

With business finished, neither of them immediately moved.

Damian remained beside Selene for a while longer, chatting casually before asking about the situation in Moonveil Forest.

Selene’s expression became slightly more serious, although the familiar teasing soon returned.

"We’ll be making a move within the next few days, so try to remain around Rosewood Town. After all, I can’t wait until those four little girls see the current you, hehe!" Selene chuckled mischievously.

Damian shook his head with a smile.

He also kinda missed the four beauties who took him when he first came here.

"Fine. Just send word when it’s time." Damian replied with amusement.

Eventually, he rose and bid Selene farewell before leaving the Mages Association with Ronan and Stella following behind him.

The return trip was considerably quieter than the journey there.

For some reason, both retainers had developed extremely thoughtful expressions.

Damian did not bother asking why.

He had spells to study, equipment to plan and several projects rapidly approaching the point where theory needed to become reality.

Behind them, however, the enormous Association catalog remained open upon the table.

A curious person passing close enough might have noticed that the materials Damian requested were neither Common nor Uncommon, nor were they even Rare!

Every marked entry belonged to the Epic Grade!

And among them, one item stood above everything else Damian had requested.

Selene’s finger remained resting beside the line.

Heart of a Juvenile Dragon.

Price: 5,000 Gold Coins!