Request and Preparation
Isabel stood in the drawing room, and she still had the long golden hair and blue eyes that Leylin was familiar with. However, her pretty face was stern and icy, and her sharp gaze held an aura of danger.
She wore tight-fitting soft leather armour and had a black scabbard for a longsword at her waist, her slender legs forming a beautiful arc. Leylin sensed an iciness and despair in her temperament, as well as the flames of revenge hidden deep within. There was also evil.
“Long time no see, cousin Leylin! I’m so glad you’re still doing well!” Isabel drawled in a hoarse voice. Her icy gaze seemed to melt a little while watching Leylin, becoming more welcoming.
“Aunt, I’ll be off now!” Isabel bade Sarah farewell, while the rims of Sara’s eyes turned red.
“What happened?” After Isabel left, Leylin’s expression turned dark.
“Ahh... my pitiful little sister...” Madam Sarah began to weep, and Leylin could only stay by her side.
Through the inarticulate descriptions from his mother, Leylin somewhat guessed the situation. Cousin Isabel’s family had been struck by a disaster months ago. Her family had been massacred in cold blood, and there were traces of demons and devils left behind at the scene, which meant it might have something to do with an evil deity’s ceremony.
Practically no one survived other than Isabel, and that was because she’d been at the church of the Goddess of Agriculture.
While Isabel’s father was not a true noble, he did have a temporary status as a baron. While this status would only last for his life, these actions immediately resulted in anger from the church and royalty, and the town hall even announced that they would find the murderer.
There was another issue. Her family had always been a liaison between the Faulen Family and the Dambrath Kingdom on the continent. The consequences of this act was that the Faulen Family would lose all means of contact and news from the continent. Needless to say, there were also many troublesome matters which needed settling. Whatever it was, having a devil involved made things complicated. Leylin’s father in this world had already set sail after he had gotten this information, planning to go to the continent and solve the problems.
“You have to console your cousin Isabel properly. She only has us left, and I heard that she even had to deal with an attempted assassination just recently! Oh, my poor child...” Madam Sarah wept, while Leylin nodded seriously.
Cousin Isabel just now obviously lacked the temperament that a priest should have. Evidently, the revenge she wanted to exact, or perhaps the series of shocks she had endured after the incident had caused her to walk the path of blood and vengeance. Who knew, she might even be involved in some ceremony or sacrifice to the gods.
“Hm? This timing... does it mean Bishop Tapris already knows about this?” Leylin came to a sudden realisation. With the communication between churches, it was very possible that he had received the news before Leylin had, which made his recent invitation very interesting.
“A storm is coming...” Leylin walked out of the drawing room. As he watched the overcast skies, his expression became as gloomy as the weather.
‘Something seems off...’ Leylin touched his chin, ‘Her family can almost be seen a branch of our Faulen family in the Dambrath Kingdom. This act against them seems to be aimed at us...’
‘Are the up-and-coming Faulen lands now being coveted by the nobles? Or is this an effect from us eliminating a few pirate crews sometime ago?’ A multitude of possibilities arose in front of Leylin. When he regained his senses, he was already standing in front of Ernest’s room.
“Is it Leylin? I still have important experiments to finish...” Ernest’s annoyed voice could be heard from within the room.
“I’m sorry, master, but I feel like we need to have a serious talk,” Leylin’s smile had no effect on him.
“Fine, but only for half an hour!” The door was pulled open, revealing Ernest’s haggard face. His hair was messy, and there were dark circles under his eyes.
One could see filthy clothes and all sorts of junk everywhere upon entering the room. There was practically no place that was clean save for the laboratory.
Leylin flung a grey shirt that had been tossed onto the sofa away and sat down. Ernest seemed to think of something at this point and wiped his face, watching his prodigious student.
“Leylin! You seem to be have met with some trouble... does it have to do with the church of knowledge you mentioned in the morning? It shouldn’t trouble you this much; is it something else?” Ernest was rather concerned when it came to this student of his, someone who had a bright future ahead of him.
“Yes. It’s a huge problem...” Leylin laughed bitterly and began to narrate the situation.
“So you want me to act and maintain the safety of the manor?” Ernest’s brows fluttered, as if he had seen through Leylin’s plans. It had to be said that this was perhaps the best choice.
“No, no! I actually want to ask master...” Leylin shook his head instead and requested something else, causing Ernest to watch his student in wide-eyed shock.
A moment later, a gigantic flying bird soared from the manor, with was a figure seated atop it.
“My student really knows how to order his teacher about...” This figure was evidently Ernest, though he was now hastening his journey and cursing along the way.
“The strength of Father’s guards and a rank 9 magician should be enough to take care of the dangers and challenges...” Leylin muttered as he stood by the window, watching the bird shrink into a tiny black dot as it flew away.
If he was the one who had orchestrated the elimination of Isabel’s family, causing Baron Faulen to lose his connection to the mainland, it would only be the first step. Next he would create traps and hinder the baron who was heading towards the continent,
The Faulen family was a noble family that was new and still developing. Once Baron Jonas died, there would only be a widowed mother and an orphaned son left behind. He didn’t have any support either, and was the easiest to deal with.
Hence, protecting the baron and his men was the key in this situation. And the only high-ranked power the Faulen Family could rely on right now was the rank 9 wizard Ernest.
“The meagre benefits of our island and port are far from being sufficient for those great nobles. The power that the other party holds shouldn’t be too powerful. Hopefully, with master Ernest’s strength coupled with that of the family, we should be able to successfully take care of this matter...” Leylin’s eyes flashed.
Of course, while he focused mostly on Baron Jonas, it wasn’t as if he prepared nothing for the Faulen Family. Initially, he had planned to get Ernest to handle everything. In the worst case scenario, Leylin and his mother themselves would be safe. Perhaps this was something Baron Jonas realised as well, which would be the reason he hadn’t invited that old friend of his on the journey. However, Leylin had spoiled his plans.
“With master Ernest, there’s no need to worry about the baron, but the defences of the manor are diminished by a great degree...” Leylin sighed, “I’ll have to make up for it myself...”
Leylin had always been training his abilities as a wizard on the sly, but he’d never had the chance to use them in real battles. Of course, with his experience prior to this reincarnation, this wasn’t a huge issue. He rather anticipated practicing on a few dumb bandits and the like.
“Alright, now to see what master left for me...” Leylin returned to his room and fiddled with a few artifacts on the table. Ernest was no fool, and he’d obviously made preparations for his student’s safety by leaving behind a few protective artifacts.
“Hm, let me see...” Leylin’s eyes were filled with curiosity as he tidied up the artifacts on the table. Ernest had only left three artifacts behind. There was a black ring and two unknown scrolls with some magic patterns on them, emitting a mysterious luster.
“Appraisal!” Leylin tapped on them, and several streaks of white light burst out, returning with information about them.
“A magic ring with a protective shield that displaces attacks, as well as two rank 4 spell scrolls. Mm... One’s a Stone Skin spell while the other is an offensive Blizzard spell...”
Given the types of the spells, Ernest had evidently made them himself. They were the best quality artifacts he could make given his rank, and on top of that there was the additional costs from the high rate of failure.
Leylin put on the ring and played around with the scrolls in his hands. In many cases, rank 4 magic scrolls could even turn the tides of battle from defeat to victory, and Leylin was very aware of what they were worth. Though many of the materials to make the scrolls had been supplied by the Faulen Family, Leylin still felt his heart warm.
“These things give me some more security... I might need to modify the plan...” Leylin muttered to himself as he returned to his room, sending the sisters away.
“A.I. Chip, show me my current stats!” Leylin commanded.
[Leylin Farlier. Age: 15. Race: Human, Rank 6 Wizard. Strength: 1.6. Agility: 1. Vitality: 1.5. Spirit: 6. Condition: Healthy. Innate Talents: Sturdy, Erudite. Spell Slots: Rank 2 Spell slot (2), Rank 1 Spell slot (3), Rank 0 Spell slot (???)] The A.I. Chip loyally intoned.