Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 211 Household Matters
"What a relaxing breakfast, finally some peace and quiet."

For the first time, without the possession or disturbance of heroic spirits, Rean awoke from his dream completely undisturbed.

She got out of bed, took a deep breath, and tried to clear her head a little.

After wiping his face, Rean grabbed his sword and went out.

After a while of morning exercise, and with some time still to go before dawn, little Lana also came out and Rean tested her studies to see her progress.

"Uh, I knew it."

Rean touched his chin and subconsciously shook his head.

"If I don't work harder, I'm afraid I won't be able to beat them soon."

The little guy's swordsmanship talent is not just amazing, it's straight towards the realm of heroes.

Judging solely by swordsmanship, and if one were to suppress movements and reactions, Rean is already finding it somewhat difficult to cope.

This is even without any physical enhancements; her physical attributes are merely at the level of inferior stones. Theoretically, this shouldn't affect the sword duel, but in terms of eyesight, reaction speed, and mobility, she has already achieved a certain degree of striking first after the opponent and defeating the stronger opponent with the weaker one.

"We need to consider her evolutionary path. If the Sun Lion isn't viable, what are some strong lion race evolutionary paths?"

Rean considered it for a moment, and decided that he should deal with the current matter first, and then deal with that "owl".

"Let's eat first."

After the morning sun illuminated the entire courtyard, shouts from above brought the already heated sparring session to a halt. Rean had unknowingly gotten carried away, while the little guy stubbornly persisted to the end.

"Grilled fish? Uh, and fried eggs too. Salman, did you make these?" The aroma was both unfamiliar and familiar; it couldn't be the family cook.

"Hmm, it's been a long time since I've made this. I hope I haven't completely forgotten my skills." This time, the living room table wasn't just occupied by Rean and Lana as usual.

Sallyman sat at the head of the table on the other side, smiling at Rean, with hot coffee and a newspaper just delivered beside her.

Her maids were busy around her. Looking at the stack of documents, it seemed she had no intention of going home today.

The maids had already cleaned each room, and carpets and murals had been laid out. Although the room was decorated in a homey style, which Rean liked, he didn't dare to ask Sallyman how long she planned to stay.

In a corner of the room, Ophelia was "on standby," while Lia was taking care of her physical condition.

While she was installing some cute little accessories on it, she was also telling her "sister" fairy tales.

"So, the prince sent by Her Majesty the Queen successfully seduced Snow White, allowing her to escape her miserable life living with seven rude men. The princess no longer had to wash endless smelly socks and yellowed sheets."

“The prince is such a good person! Just like Rean.” Ophelia exclaimed like a child, indicating that her intelligence was gradually developing.

However, this originates from someone's childhood fairy tale, which seems to have some problems.

"What are the plans for today?" Rean glanced at Sallyman, but didn't know what to say.

It's clearly your own home, so why did you not only stay yesterday and call a maid, but you also don't seem to be planning to leave?

"No. The princess has been preoccupied with her aunt's affairs these past few days and probably won't have time to contact me. The people I left behind should be able to handle her." It seems that this Sallyman isn't entirely loyal to Dania, but perhaps this is the normal attitude of a trusted intelligence agent; those who do the work can't be mere lapdogs.

Sally Mann took a sip of coffee and continued looking at the documents in her hands, occasionally frowning.

“These branch managers really think I’m a fool. Martha, let ‘Snake Scales’ take action and get rid of them. That other Suliman is too honest; she’s tolerated being ridden on.”

Uh, another Suliman? You're not acting anymore?
As she watched, the somewhat familiar head maid took the documents, also announcing the impending deaths of those traitors and embezzlers.

This sharp-witted and decisive Salman may be the true Radiant Rose, one of the city's top nobles.

In this era, nobles like her all owned their own businesses; Suliman had several merchant guilds under her control.

She glanced at the ledgers and recent business operations and discovered that some individuals had crossed the line long ago. For high-ranking nobles, once they confirmed the disloyalty of their subordinates, they could deal with them directly without even going to court.

On the one hand, this was indeed a family matter for them; on the other hand, the leak of information would damage the reputation of the nobility.

“What about you? If you’re free, come and work on the documents with me. I might need your help later.” Sallyman said this without even looking up, as if she couldn’t look directly at him, but her tone was very firm.

Even if it's the person in charge of the household, they might say, "You'll be responsible for this in the future, so get used to it beforehand."

"I actually have something to do. I might have to go to the Radiant District later." The summoning progress of the Heroic Soul Card is almost complete, and Rean wants to investigate what happened back then.

There should be many survivors in Radiant City from back then, and you might even run into one of them.

In the current situation, having an extra Heroic Soul Card gives Rean a greater sense of security.

"Alright. I've looked at this list of mentors for you. Out of eleven, I only recommend three, and I've marked them all."

Rean took the list, which was filled with neat, small handwriting; it seemed that Sallyman had put a lot of effort into it.

This is the mentor list sent by Royce. It doesn't mean these archmages will become Rean's mentors; it just means they're willing to let Rean study under them for a period of time. But for most apprentices, this basically means they've chosen their lifelong mentors. If they learn well, they'll naturally stay with them; if they don't, that's their problem, and nobody really cares if they change mentors.

Rean, on the other hand, was worried about this. Given his current skill level and his connections with Sallyman, he could easily become an apprentice of a court mage.

"Wow, they're really playing a fancy game."

After a quick glance, Rean was quite shocked. Was this really a list from the Archmage Mentor, or a collection of bizarre crime illustrations?

Not all great mages are good people or even human beings.

Among them, those who exploit their disciples and use apprentices as laborers are considered relatively good. There are also quite a few who cross the line and conduct experiments (using apprentices as experimental subjects or scapegoats). Some mentors take on a lot of apprentices and even accept all comers, mainly because the "consumption" is too great.

Ordinary apprentices can only make choices blindly based on rumors or intuition. Whether they will make a mistake or not really depends on luck.

"Tsk tsk tsk, this guy is amazing. He only takes on female apprentices, and half of them are pregnant."

This is not to say that the archmage is a beast. Considering that these children are basically born as deformed bio-monsters, he should be said to be worse than a beast. He is using the female apprentices as petri dishes.

"He had male apprentices, but the scene was too embarrassing, so I didn't write it down."

Okay, no need to go into details, just imagining it is disgusting.

Rean looked at Suliman with increasing surprise; this "inner Suliman" was completely different from the outer Suliman.

It's no wonder he was once the head of royal intelligence; he even had classified information on such a scandalous level.

"Is this really okay? Eleven mentors, six of them are quite dangerous, teetering between being beasts and worse than beasts, three are useless people who just want research funding, and the others don't seem particularly outstanding either."

Looking at the list, Rean was somewhat surprised by the situation of those archmages; he had assumed they were all excellent researchers.

Even if we can't reach the purity of Kuku, a few normal researchers would be fine.

"The royal family only needs them to produce results, and doesn't care much about how they produce them. In fact, unless the evidence is brought into the open and a victim directly files a complaint, the royal family has no say in the matter."

Well, everyone is in a different position, so their perspectives are naturally different. Perhaps in the royal family, those "dangerous goods" are actually better partners.

"The current relationship between the royal family and those sorcerers is more of a habitual cooperation. As long as they don't go too far, we can't really interfere."

What is considered "not too excessive" probably means "providing sufficient compensation," "clearly explaining things to the apprentices (experimental subjects)," and "not randomly using ordinary citizens as experimental subjects."

Compared to the ambitious church, the mages showed enough respect to the royal family, provided that their research and acquisition of materials were not affected or interfered with.

The continuous output from this underground ruin is the main reason why they stand on the side of the royal family.

Therefore, they are the most active transnational organizations in promoting the exploration of underground ruins, mainly for the benefit of underground ruins.

"Actually, there are good ones, even those with excellent morals and skills. But they are all focused on their own research and fields, and don't have time to take on apprentices. Their apprenticeships are basically full. If you want to go, you need a letter of introduction. These people who accept anyone are very problematic in themselves."

With the guidance of this intelligence chief, Rean's selection process became much simpler. In fact, there wasn't much to choose from. After a quick look, Rean settled on an archmage specializing in the Evocation system.

He has his own positioning. Unlike other apprentices who need a mentor to "guarantee their future and employment," he doesn't just need to find a great mage who can provide a solid and systematic education. Having too good a relationship can easily lead to factionalism and new troubles.

"Has the matter with Xiao been confirmed? Do you know the approximate timeframe?"

But at this moment, Suliman took the initiative to ask.

Some things have already been assigned, but they are quite difficult to handle. Having more intelligence will make it easier for Suliman to make arrangements.

"I don't know, I don't know the time or the location either," Rean said with a wry smile, knowing that this was highly unlikely.

"How could you possibly find a night owl during the day? The moment she appears, it's probably already after the attack has begun."

Dealing with such an opponent, you might not even realize you're being attacked until the very moment. If you don't spot her eyes beforehand, you might have to wait until you're hit before you can retaliate.

“So passive,” Sallyman frowned. This feeling of waiting to be attacked by fear was the hardest thing for an intelligence chief to accept.

"However, there are some key points that can still be identified."

"Uh, of course, her target is me, and..."

Rean looked out the window. The latest news was that Her Majesty the Queen was already on her way, and the princess would certainly not miss her.

"Snapped!"

Meanwhile, Suliman suddenly put down her pen and paper.

She quickly ate her lunch, glancing at Rean in the process.

"Hurry up and eat. Aren't you going to the Radiant District? I'll give you a ride."

(End of this chapter)