Chapter 509 - 332: The Lord Becomes an Instant Dad (Part 2)

’After all, this tigress isn’t as easy to placate as Tina.’

"By the way, have you ever thought about coming to work at High Cliff Castle? Right now, I’ve only got a skeleton crew. If you came, you’d be my second-in-command."

Operating under the core principle that with a sharp enough shovel, no foundation is sacred, the talent-starved Lord was desperate. He’d latch onto any promising individual and shamelessly try to poach them.

"Give me a break. At the Noble Garden, I at least get my monthly gold. If I went to your place, I’d probably have to work for free. Worse, I might even have to sink my own money into it." Filo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, never expecting the Lord to set his sights on him.

Don’t be fooled by High Cliff Castle’s current fame; in reality, it still had a long way to go before it could be considered a proper Duke’s Domain, befitting its new status.

The Lord of High Cliff Castle had indeed made a lot of Gold Coins from his southern campaign and his trip to Gonda, but when poured into the development of his domain, that money would barely make a splash.

"Hey, listen to you! What kind of talk is that? Can’t we strive for a common ideal together?"

"I’m past the age for ideals. If you want to talk about ideals, my good Lord, you should go find some young folks. I’m sure there’s a whole bunch of apprentice knights who would swing their swords for you for just room and board." Filo waved his hand dismissively. He really wasn’t interested at the moment.

"Sigh. I was going to mention, since you’re so interested in the Agricultural School of Magic... I just so happen to have a few lost spells from that very school. I was going to let you take a look, but I guess there’s no point now." The Lord got up from the ground, sighing and shaking his head.

Filo froze for a moment, then, looking more excited than if he’d just found a hundred thousand Gold Coins, he scrambled to grab Levi’s hand. "My Lord, what kind of spells are they?!"

Ever since he learned that his Magic Cultivation would forever be capped at the level of a Low Tier Mage, he had focused his research on all sorts of obscure magic. Among them, the lost Agricultural School of Magic seemed tailor-made for him.

It didn’t require high Magic Cultivation to use, yet its effects were unexpectedly profound.

If he could learn it and use it to benefit farmers, the merit would be immeasurable.

It would be easy to have his name passed down through the ages, or even get his own page in his family’s history books.

No man could refuse these two honors.

"What spells?" Levi slapped the bowl, now containing only broth, into Filo’s hands. He clapped his own hands clean, turned, and climbed onto a carriage in High Cliff Castle’s convoy, leaving only a single sentence hanging in the air.

"For now, I only know of one. It’s called... the Soil Fertility Technique, I think."

"Oh, and I’m borrowing Si Kai for a bit. Remember to tell Fulina."

"Alright lads, let’s head home!" The man’s booming voice made the snow on the rooftops tremble.

A cacophony of wild howls immediately erupted from the Barbarians, loud enough to shake the heavens.

Filo watched the figures disappear from view. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately said nothing. Looking down at the bowl in his hand, licked clean with only broth remaining, he seemed to understand something.

He tossed the bowl to his personal Attendant and rushed off toward the Noble Garden.

...

"And then what?"

「Two months later, in High Cliff Castle」

Tina asked curiously as she knitted a hat with woolen yarn.

"I never thought that guy would turn out to be such a useless pretty boy. Got himself killed by a little punk." Levi took a huge bite of an apple. "After that, I figured Ashiru wasn’t having a good time there anyway, so I just took her and left. It’s not like anyone dared to oppose me."

He had just returned, his seat not even warm yet, and was already regaling the few who had remained at High Cliff Castle with tales of his time in Gonda. Naturally, his own wisdom and martial prowess were the focal point of the story, which he repeatedly emphasized and embellished with added details to make it all sound more Legendary.

This caused the listening Goat-man Maids to cover their mouths and gasp endlessly.

Ashiru sat next to Tina, looking very reserved. Just as reserved was Aunt Norma, the woman who had raised her.

Tina held the finished hat up to her head to check the size. "It’s a perfect fit! Ashiru, please accept this woolen hat as my welcome gift."

"Thank you." Ashiru was genuinely happy. It was the first time anyone had ever given her a gift. She took it and hugged it tightly.

"Nanny Norma, you’ll have to wait a bit for yours," Tina said comfortingly, turning to the middle-aged woman beside Ashiru.

"You’re too kind, Miss Tina," Norma said nervously.

She was just a Maid, while the woman before her was said to be Lord Levi’s official fiancée. The difference in their status was immense.

Watching Tina handle the situation so gracefully, Levi was inwardly quite satisfied.

’It’s a given that I’ll have more than one woman in the future,’ he thought. ’So my official wife must be someone broad-minded and considerate. Tina is clearly the most suitable candidate.’

"You’re now a powerhouse famous throughout the Seven Kingdoms. Who would dare to oppose you?" For once, the Half-Elf Miriel, who had come to see High Cliff Castle as her home, wasn’t arguing with the Lord.

"But that was a truly dangerous situation. If the death of Rillo Archbishop had been pinned on us, we would have been in deep trouble," Tina said, patting her chest with lingering fear.

This showed just how captivating the Lord’s storytelling was. Its only flaw was his tendency to pepper it with irrelevant words of self-praise.

Speaking of which, the Lord couldn’t help but get angry. He said viciously, "The next time I see those Chaos Cult bastards, I’ll make those scumbags regret ever being born."

He wouldn’t have been this furious if they had simply tried to assassinate him. But their scheme had almost left a stain on his grand and heroic historical image. How could he tolerate that?

"I love watching rivers of blood flow!" the Red Dragon Soul drifted over, floating in the air with an excited expression.

Unfortunately, it had barely arrived before the Lord slapped it away. "You! Turn down the heat, will you? Are you trying to roast your Lord alive?"

They were in High Cliff Castle’s great hall, where a massive, custom-built weapon rack stood in the center to hold Digen’s Howl. When not in battle, the Legendary Weapon’s greatest purpose was to serve as the Lord’s personal fireplace.

This act had received unanimous praise from the women of High Cliff Castle. The Wilderness was already cold, and the weather had been especially strange in recent years, making it torture for the women who were naturally sensitive to the cold. A normal fireplace had little effect in such a vast, open hall.

The appearance of the Flame Sword was nothing less than a ray of light piercing through a sky of dark clouds.

If any Dwarf Blacksmith were present to see the Lord so casually misuse a painstakingly crafted Legendary Weapon, they would surely curse him out in bitter anguish.

Soon, the flames on the sword dimmed a little, and Tina’s flushed face returned to its normal color.

"By the way, why haven’t I seen Orak and Gus?" the Lord asked curiously.

Since his return, he hadn’t seen the Beastman Shaman or the Centaur Leader, nor even the Centaur Guards. Only Hog seemed to be holding down the fort at High Cliff Castle.

"This strange weather in the Wilderness hasn’t just brought heavy snow; it’s also brought many powerful Magical Beasts. High Cliff Castle is fine, but the iron mine has been frequently attacked by Magical Beasts preying on the Kobold miners."

"To prevent any more such incidents, those two have taken their people to guard the mine," Tina explained, her expression tinged with worry.

"It seems the Elemental Tide is getting stronger," Levi nodded, not surprised.

As Elemental Power grew more concentrated, not only were previously unseen Magical Beasts popping up like mushrooms after a spring rain, but even the cultivation of Mages was progressing at an unimaginable speed.

In the future, there would be more and more powerful individuals, not like now, when you could count them on one hand.

Just then, the main doors burst open. A figure wrapped in a gust of frigid wind rushed in, its three heads panting heavily, tongues lolling out.

"You stupid mutt, where have you been playing now?" Levi’s eyes quickly landed on a small, green figure seated on the middle dog head, its tiny hands clutching two handfuls of fur.

"Father, you’re finally back!"

Levi froze as if he’d been struck by lightning. The apple fell from his mouth, but he didn’t even notice.