Book 10, Baruch – Chapter 2, Two Letters
Although Linley’s first love had ended in failure and caused Linley to develop an aversion towards love, Delia’s repeated actions, beginning since they had known each other while they were children, had forced Linley to admit...that he enjoyed being together with Delia. He enjoyed that sort of warm, intimate feeling.
At the Institute, Linley already knew how Delia felt about him.
He knew that Delia was waiting for him to make the first move, but after his first love had failed, Linley’s heart had become knotted, and he simply couldn’t.
Far away, in the imperial capital of the Yulan continent, although the sun was high in the sky, the world was still extremely cold. Delia was wearing an expensive, thick robe as she sat in her courtyard, enjoying the rays of the sun. In her hands was a letter which Linley had sent her. This letter had come to her via the high speed information network of the Dawson Conglomerate.
Holding the letter in her hands, Delia couldn’t help but laugh, laugh with great joy.
“Delia, what are you looking at?” A thick, heavy sound rang out. It was the Worldbear, Hatton. Hatton’s adorable bear eyes stared at the letter in Delia’s hands. “C’mon, Delia, lemme see it. Let Big Yellow be happy with you.”
The Worldbear, Hatton, was on exceedingly close terms with Delia.
As soon as Delia saw Hatton, she immediately hid the letter away, wrinkling her nose and snorting at him. “Big Yellow, are you causing trouble again? Where’s Teacher? Why aren’t you by Teacher’s side?”
The Worldbear shook his head. “Master is engaging in closed door meditation training. He won’t be coming out for the next ten days or half a month. He doesn’t need me by his side right now. So, Big Yellow has come to find Delia.” The Worldbear beamed at Delia.
Delia was in a fine mood today as well, and so she continued jesting with the Worldbear for a while.
“Delia, that letter is from Linley, right?” The Worldbear suddenly asked in a lowered voice.
Delia glanced with vexation at him, but she still nodded. Delia’s eyes were filled with irrepressible excitement. Linley’s letter had clearly detailed how his life had been, and had also told Delia that he was currently in Blackdirt City, in the Anarchic Lands. He even gave Delia clear instructions on how to get there.
Although Linley didn’t explicitly say that he wanted Delia to come visit him, just based on how carefully he described the route to the city, his intentions were quite clear.
“That silly man. He’s always trying to hide his intentions. If he wants me to go, he should say so.” Delia both laughed and cursed him in her heart.
Delia was in such a mood that just sitting there by herself, she would start giggling. The Worldbear, next to Delia, continually chatted with her as well.
“Delia, tomorrow is the Yulan Festival. Will you go back tonight?” The Worldbear, Hatton, asked softly.
Delia, hearing these words, couldn’t help but frown. Letting out a sigh, she said, “Yeah. Tonight, the entire clan will be coming together. Ugh...I really don’t want to go back.” During this period of time, each of the two times Delia had gone back, her clansmen had exhorted her to forget about Linley.
However...
Was that possible?
When Delia had believed Linley dead, she had even made up her mind to never marry. Ten full years had passed like that. Now that she knew Linley was alive, and would soon set up his own dominion, how could she give him up now?
That night.
All of the important members of the Leon clan were in attendance at this banquet. Nearly a hundred important clan members happily chatted and toasted each other, and this noble procession naturally included the clan leader, Dylla Leon. Not only was Dylla Leon himself quite accomplished, his two children were incredible as well.
Dixie was a magus of the eighth rank, and the personal disciple of the High Priest.
Delia had reached the seventh rank years ago, and was the disciple of the Saint-level Grand Magus, Master Longhaus.
These two children truly were extremely amazing.
Today, although Delia didn’t put on much makeup, the combination of her noble, aristocratic bearing and her natural good looks made Delia appear more dazzling than any of the young noble ladies. Only, Delia headed to a corner of the main hall with her wine goblet in hand.
A middle-aged person walked towards Dylla Leon with goblet in hand, glancing at Delia. Laughing, he said, “Big brother, Delia truly is growing more and more beautiful. Quite a few young noblemen in the imperial capital have been smitten by her.”
Dylla Leon laughed calmly.
“Big brother, the son of Prince Reed [Li’de] has always been enamored of Delia. Do you think there is a chance that the two of them...”
Dylla Leon shook his head. “Third Brother, there’s nothing to discuss. If Delia was willing to accept marrying one of the nobles of the imperial capital, then she would have done so many years earlier. As for now...it’s best if you don’t say anything. Later, I’ll let my wife go speak with her.”
There had been quite a few people who had raised this issue with Dylla Leon during this banquet.
This was because, clearly, Delia was young, beautiful, and talented, and was the disciple of a Grand Magus Saint. She also had the backing of the powerful Leon clan...such a perfect woman had countless suitors.
Delia sat there quietly in the corner.
“Little sister.” A handsome young man, standing 1.8 meters tall with utterly straight golden hair which fell to his shoulders, walked over to her.
Raising her head up, Delia revealed a smile on her face. “Big brother.” The person had come was Delia’s older sibling, Dixie. Just like back at the Ernst Institute, Dixie remained as cold and indifferent to others as ever. But towards his little sister, Dixie was filled with affection.
Dixie sat down opposite from Delia.
“What is it? You seem to be in a bad mood?” Dixie smiled as he spoke.
Delia shook her head resignedly. “Big brother, you are always training by the side of the High Priest. You don’t know much about my affairs.”
“Does it have to do with Linley?” Dixie asked.
Delia laughed as she tossed him a glance. “Big brother, you are quite clever. But both father and mother are somewhat opposed to me being together with him. I’ve been vexed about this...after all, I don’t want the relationship with the family to become too stiff.”
Dixie nodded. He understood how his sister felt. He had watched Delia grow up, and Dixie knew very well...that although Delia was a very determined, resolute girl, in the depths of her heart, she was somewhat mentally reliant on her family members.
“Most likely tonight, mother will come over and chat with me yet again about how promising this young man is, or how promising that young man is.” Delia laughed bitterly.
Every time she came back, her parents would always raise this issue with her.
Dixie frowned. “Those wastrel sons of those rich nobles still want to marry you? Linley has acted improperly as well. He should have openly come to the imperial capital and proposed to you long ago! If he did so, I would definitely support him.” In his heart, Dixie actually quite admired Linley.
After all, Linley was someone who was an even greater genius than he himself was.
“Propose to me?” Delia was startled, but then she burst into laughter.
Delia thought back to that night at Wushan Township and how she had kissed Linley. That look of utter shock and panic on Linley’s face. Even despite her best subtle efforts, she wasn’t able to get Linley to summon the courage to say that he loved her. How could he possibly come to the imperial capital to propose to her?”
“Big brother, Linley is very different from how you imagine him.” Delia laughed.
Delia was in a fairly good mood while her big brother was with her during the banquet. Unfortunately, after the banquet was over, she chatted with her parents for a time, and afterwards, her mood became terrible once again. Her parents tirelessly tried to persuade her.
She hated being pressured like this.
On the day of the Yulan Festival, Delia came to the headquarters of the Dawson Conglomerate in the Yulan Empire’s imperial capital.
“Miss Delia.” The supervisor here knew Delia by sight.
“I’d like to trouble you, sir, to help deliver this letter to Linley.” Delia handed over a letter.
The supervisor immediately nodded. “Please don’t worry. I will definitely make sure that this letter is delivered to Master Linley’s hands.” The Dawson Conglomerate was extremely efficient in carrying out any tasks related to Linley. The same day, they sent a flying magical beast out with the letter away from the imperial capital.
After the blizzard had ambushed them last night, this morning, when Linley left his room, he discovered that Mt. Blackraven was now covered with a layer of silver ‘ornaments’. Some snow was drifting about on the surface of the lake. As the warm rays of the morning sun began to shine down from the east, the snow covering the trees and the boulders reflected the light dazzlingly.
“Whew.” Taking a deep breath and sensing the fresh air after the blizzard, Linley allowed a smile to appear on his face.
Bebe appeared from within the wooden room as well. Rubbing the sleep from his little eyes, Bebe’s four little paws left behind marks in the snow as he walked.
“Lord, Lord!” That loud voice rang out from afar, causing some of the snow on the trees to be shaken loose. Turning, Linley saw a huge figure rush towards him at high speed. With each step, the man moved over ten meters. With a mighty leap from the lake’s edge, the man flew over seventy or eighty meters before landing on the flat boulder in the center of the lake.
“Gates, why’d you run over here in such a rush?” Linley laughed.
Gates chortled. “To handle your affairs, of course. Otherwise, I wouldn’t rush over here so quickly.”
“My affairs?” Linley was clearly rather puzzled.
“Look, see!” Gates took out a letter from his clothes. “This is Miss Delia’s letter. The Dawson Conglomerate’s men just delivered it to Blackdirt City. Haha, those people from the Dawson Conglomerate have decided to just go ahead and set up a branch office in Blackdirt City.”
“Delia’s?”
Linley immediately accepted the letter. After opening it, he began to read it. At this time, Bebe growled towards Gates, “Gates, big guy, step aside. Don’t try to sneak any peeks at the letter between Delia and my Boss.”
“Got it, got it.” Gates didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.
What Gates did know, however, was that he didn’t dare to offend this terrifying fellow, Bebe. Even the Saint-level magical beast Haeru admitted he was no match for Bebe. How would he, Gates, dare to offend him?
Linley was reading the letter very carefully.
“To the most esteemed Master Linley,
Greetings and happy reading!
You’ve been quite impressive lately. You’ve already taken over Blackdirt City...but Blackdirt City is just a small city. Given your status as the venerable Master Linley, I’m sure that you can’t possibly expect me to come over after you took over a single tiny city such as Blackdirt, can you? Wouldn’t that be rather embarrassing for you?
I’ve come to the decision that I must wait for you to, at the very least, found your own Duchy within the Anarchic Lands before heading over there. Otherwise...hrmph, I won’t see you.
As for your questions regarding how my life is? My life isn’t bad. I’m just quietly spending my time with my Teacher in training. My grandmother is doing much better now. There’s no need for you to worry about my affairs. It’s best if you spend your time worrying about the Anarchic Lands and your training.
Remember that I’m waiting for you to set up your Duchy.
The day that your Duchy is founded is the day I will leave the Yulan Empire. This is our appointment!
However...be careful. Don’t exhaust yourself. I have all the time in the world, and I’ll wait for you to found your Duchy! I’ll wait to see you!
Yours...Delia.”
After reading this letter, Linley felt warmth in his heart, and he couldn’t help but let a smile creep onto his face as he stored the letter into his interspatial ring. The nearby Gates couldn’t help but mock, “Lord, you seem to be quite happy. Your face is about to split apart from that smile. What did Miss Delia write?”
“Yeah, Boss, what did she write?” Bebe was staring at Linley as well.
Linley chuckled, then looked at Gates. “Enough. Let me ask you something. When are you preparing to begin attacking the other cities?”
“We can start at any time. But right now, it is the Yulan Festival...” Gates said. The Yulan Festival was a festival which was celebrated throughout the entire Yulan continent. Even many soldiers would go back at this time to reunite with their families. Naturally, a portion of the soldiers would have to remain on duty to keep watch.
Linley shook his head. “Catching them by surprise will reduce our casualties.”
“Then give the order, Lord.” Gates’ eyes were shining.
Linley nodded slightly. “Go back and make preparations immediately. Tomorrow morning, we’ll begin our attacks against the neighboring cities. We must subdue the surrounding cities with the greatest haste...our current plan is to take over an amount of land equal to a Duchy in size.”
“Yes, Lord!” Gates said in a clear voice.
“Go, then.” Linley laughed calmly.
Gates immediately nodded, then left Mt. Blackraven. Blackdirt City, which had been in a state of preparation this entire time, began to frantically prepare to make its move after receiving Linley’s orders via Gates. And so, the hibernating Blackdirt City finally began to reach out towards the neighboring cities with its fierce claws.