Red Pine City, North Gate.
Inside a room, a bald man with a build as sturdy as an ox sat on a chair that seemed extremely mismatched to his proportions.
The way he looked, it seemed as if he was about to crush the stool beneath him.
However, upon closer observation, one could see that the muscular man’s pants only barely touched the seat of the chair. He appeared to be sitting, but was actually in a horse stance.
Tristan, a Martial Magic Instructor from Moonview City in the West Wind Empire, invited here for special training, had his eyes closed and his body remained completely still.
Meanwhile, at the table beside him, Lady Samuel, a Magic Mentor, crossed her long legs and leisurely sipped warm tea. Even though it was still the height of summer, the tea could never be cold. Low temperatures dull one’s perception of flavor, making it impossible to taste the nuances of the tea.
As a high-ranking Magic User with exquisite taste, Lady Samuel naturally wouldn’t cast a cooling spell on her teacup, but on herself, she could.
Samuel shifted her narrow eyes to look at Tristan, who was holding his horse stance.
The chair beneath him had been placed there by Samuel using her Invisible Hand.
She had even applied a little force to press down on Tristan’s shoulder, but unfortunately, that guy was like a block of iron—no matter how hard Lady Samuel pushed, he remained utterly immobile.
What tenacity!
Lady Samuel gave a silent snort inwardly.
Suddenly, Tristan opened his eyes.
At the same moment, the door to the room burst apart with a loud crash.
After the sound of the explosion, debris and dust cleared instantly.
Through the smoke, Tristan saw a stubbly man whose sword had been drawn three centimeters from its scabbard.
Tristan grinned and said.
“Not bad swordsmanship.”
“…”
Alvin, a Sixth Rank Swordsman belonging to Red Pine City, a middle-aged man always looking for a successor, a swordsmanship teacher at Crimson Academy who wanted to retire, sized up Tristan’s massive build with his dark-circled eyes.
Click!
He had exposed a few inches of the blade, then sheathed it again.
Alvin said lazily.
“You’re not bad either.”
“Haha, Mr. Tristan, a pleasure to meet you.”
Beside Alvin, there was another weathered man in armor, appearing to be in his fifties or sixties, with graying hair and beard.
His physique was still quite robust, but differently from Tristan’s—he was lean and strong like a normal person, not big as a bear.
Tristan gave a slight nod.
This old knight was Hena’s subordinate, the veteran backbone in charge of the military. His name was Wade.
Wade put away his smile and said.
“The Adventurers’ Guild has already been negotiated with. The scouts have been dispatched and the places have been prepared in advance. Safety is sufficiently guaranteed. Now, I’ll trouble you two from here on.”
Tristan’s face darkened slightly, and he said with a hint of dissatisfaction.
“Babies in a cradle will never grow up. Keeping them in a safe environment all the time will not allow them to undergo transformation. I don’t agree with your approach.”
“They are citizens of Red Pine City, representing the future of Red Pine City.”
The old knight’s momentum did not lose in the slightest, his sharp eyes meeting Tristan’s gaze. The two remained in a stalemate like that.
Fortunately, there were still others around.
Lady Samuel put down her teacup and let out a helpless sigh. She was very familiar with Tristan’s flaws. If it weren’t for that, this man would not have come from Moonview City to Red Pine City.
The lady uncrossed her legs, bringing her shapely, slender legs together. After rising from the chair, she turned her gaze to the old knight and posed a question.
“Is this the intention of Hena Asades, or Yelena Asades?”
There was a big difference between the two.
After all, the one who could truly command the army was Hena, who had concealed herself under the pretext of recuperation. That is, the last Blood Elf, Miss Liss.
Although Yelena had already made some achievements in various aspects and had started to look like a lord, she was still in her growth phase.
She needed time to master these things, so extremely important decisions could not be made by her alone.
The old knight’s expression did not change. He puffed out his chest and said.
“It is the lord’s intention.”
This answer neatly deflected Samuel’s question. Samuel smiled and did not pursue the matter further.
“Since everything is ready, let’s set off immediately.”
“Mhm.”
Tristan responded gloomily.
“Rosily!”
A brown-haired girl with round glasses on her delicate face had long since detected Rosily’s unique aura.
She had prepared for their reunion after a brief two-day separation, but clearly she was still too excited. Elqi directly trotted over.
She was wearing a black mage robe that fluttered as she ran.
This was a high-quality protective robe specially procured for Elqi by the Ophield Family.
Magic Users are easily ambushed in outdoor battles. Relying solely on reaction speed and the casting speed of a Magic Barrier would certainly be too slow to dodge assassins who specialize in speed. Therefore, such active-effect armor pieces are extremely important for Magic Users.
After transferring their assets from White Stone City, the Ophield Family officially settled in Red Pine City. At that time, they hosted a banquet and invited many people, including Phil and Rosily.
But Phil didn’t go then, so naturally Rosily didn’t go either.
Elqi ran excitedly up to Rosily, almost spreading her arms to hug her, but then it struck her that there were still many people watching the two of them.
Thus, Elqi chickened out instantly. She retracted her arms. With a restrained smile on her face, she took Rosily’s hand and led her toward the team.
Rosily lowered her head and glanced at Elqi’s hand holding hers.
Her eyes grew deep for a moment, as if she was thinking about something, but soon returned to their original clear and limpid state.
During this intensive training, Rosily, with her more energetic and lively personality, became the center of attention.
Not only was she beautiful with a sweet smile, but she also had talents that surpassed even the geniuses of Red Pine City.
Rosily maintained good relationships with almost everyone.
Her arrival also immediately made her squad the center of attention, and while they were focused on Rosily, Estelle quietly slipped into the crowd.
The girl with a dark green ponytail, Scarlett, teased Rosily.
“You finally made it.”
“Hehe.”
Rosily smiled at her.
Scarlett turned her head and rolled her eyes, not intending to engage with Rosily anymore.
After so many days of getting along, she had realized that her own little schemes seemed insufficient against this seemingly innocent but actually cunning energetic girl.
Can’t play her game? Then don’t play with her!
Seeing that Scarlett had surrendered as soon as she had just started her spellcasting wind-up, Rosily instantly lost interest.
Her orange-red eyes turned to Simona beside her, who looked incredibly nervous.
A cleric from the Goddess Church, a girl with gray hair and dressed in a nun’s habit, was holding her staff with both hands in front of her full chest, pursing her thin lips as she looked at Rosily.
The moment Simona sensed Rosily’s gaze on her, she immediately shifted her own gaze to the ground.
She then stole a glance upward and, finding that Rosily was still looking at her, she timidly gave Rosily a shy smile and said.
“Lady Rosily, long… long time no see.”
“Wasn’t the last time just two days ago?”
Rosily blinked, deliberately putting on a confused expression, making Simona, who was already nervous, even more so.
Her heartbeat quickened and her soft cheeks flushed slightly.
Elqi narrowed her eyes and lightly bumped shoulders with Rosily standing beside her, saying somewhat resentfully.
“Why are you bullying Simona?”
“Huh? No, I’m not!”
Rosily looked wronged, but soon it turned into a smirk of being caught.
She quickly walked toward the carriage nearby. Stopping at the carriage door, she turned to look at the fourth person—an unremarkable ordinary girl.
Though she was unremarkable here, her individual strength compared to others was by no means poor. Everyone selected had been talent tested through actual combat. But geniuses are relative.
This girl could only be considered ordinary here. Who told her to be grouped with Rosily?
“Bella, you have to keep up this time~”
“Okay.”
The girl in simple leather armor nodded to Rosily.
Scarlett turned her head slightly and glanced at Bella.
On the other side, Estelle, who had come together with Rosily but had not attracted much attention, found the team she was in.
When the four people saw Estelle arrive, they didn’t welcome her.
They were all preparing on their own for the upcoming journey.
Even the other female in the team had no intention of forming a small group with Estelle.
This wasn’t really their fault. It was mainly because communicating with Estelle was too exhausting. You could say a lot, and she might just nod or shake her head as a reply.
Even so, Estelle still had an otherworldly appearance and temperament, as well as the identity of Rosily’s sister, plus a touch of mystery about her.
This made many people’s peripheral vision keep glancing at her graceful figure.
When Estelle was about to board the carriage, a young man blocked her way. The young man said with a troubled expression.
“Miss Estelle, where are your things? I mean, where is your luggage? We’re going to be staying in the Northern Mountains for five days, not taking a carriage for a day trip.”
“I know.”
Estelle actually answered with two words! The silver-haired girl nodded, then bypassed the well-meaning young man and boarded the carriage directly.
The few people left outside exchanged bewildered looks.
Another girl from the team also boarded the carriage afterward, leaving three young men outside.
One of them stepped forward. He hooked his arm around the neck of the guy who had stopped Estelle earlier.
“Never let a woman’s figure and face captivate your heart. Otherwise, losing money is the least of it—having your heart and lungs dug out is the real disaster.”
“Uh, I don’t have any thoughts about her. I just saw that she hadn’t prepared anything.”
“Good that you have no thoughts. Some people, at first glance, are clearly not ones we can associate with. Understand?”
All of these words could be heard inside the carriage.