TL: Magician's Council – Magicians' Guild
Li Mingyu and Li Yuewen strolled on the streets, the two both silent, like they were each pondering about something.
"Elder brother, that girl is not cute at all." Li Yuewen said after a long time.
"But you like her and trust her, right?" Li Yuewen smiled, saying her inner thoughts with one breath.
"Humph!" Li Yuewen turned and refused to speak any more.
"She's very similar to that person." Li Mingyu said quietly, his gaze starting to become listless.
"How? One is a fierce and uncute girl, the other is our gentle gentle strong Aunt Rui. How are they alike at all?" Li Yuewen retorted, annoyed.
"Their gazes are the same, both so determined." Li Mingyu's soft words made Li Yuewen fall silent. The scene of Claire saying I will become strong and her resolute gaze flashed before Li Yuewen's eyes.
"Then we'll be waiting ten days?" Li Yuewen asked.
"Yes, letting her go with us and train isn't bad either. Also, I want to see how Aunt Rui's child is like." Li Mingyu said insipidly.
"Humph!" Li Yuewen humphed, stopped talking, and then went forward.
Li Mingyu smiled and shook his head lightly, following from behind. He couldn't understand his little sister any better, always having a sharp tongue but soft heart, saying the opposite of what she really meant.
The next morning, Claire rode the wind leopard to the Magicians' Guild to find Cliff, because as a Dark Magician, if Walter's aura wasn't hidden, then there was no way he could walk out in broad daylight. Also, that guy was someone on the Temple of Light's wanted list. Walter had been holed up in his room for the past few days, calling it 'closed cultivation' for regaining his power from before.
Once Claire arrived before the Magicians' Guild, Jean was already there. Who knew how he had gotten there before her. Only one thing was sure: he hadn't stopped agonizing over not being by Claire's side the day she had gotten into danger in the early morning. Now, he followed Claire even more closely.
(TL: Stalkers, take note.)
As she was familiar with the way, Claire made her way easily to Cliff's laboratory. Just when she arrived, she heard the sounds of Cliff crying out strangely coming from within.
"Master?" Claire was shocked and didn't bother knocking the door, charging directly inside, but she saw the room filled with dense smoke. Cliff was currently gesticulating wildly, trying to disperse the thick smoke.
After getting rid of the smoke, Cliff smiled widely and greeted Claire. "Aiya. Claire, you're here?"
"Master, what are you doing?" Claire asked in confusion, alarmed seeing the messy state of the room.
"Hah, Lawrence, that old coot, told me to make some kind small crystal balls that can sense Dark aura." Cliff shook his head, frustrated. "After a long time, I created some small crystal balls that could hide Dark aura, but not the other way around." Cliff pointed at the messy room, somewhat embarrassed.
Once she heard this, Claire became happy."Small crystal balls that can hide Dark aura?" Truly, she was lucky.
"That's right. These things are easy to make, but making them sense Dark aura is not easy." Cliff scratched his head, annoyed. He didn't know what Lawrence wanted to do. He had only said that some kind of Dark power was infiltrating slowly, eating away influential figures from the inside, but didn't explain clearly to Cliff what exactly was going on and just told him to create these difficult to make things. Would these be able to find the problem?
"Oh, Master, are these it?" Claire was looking at a small pile of clearly crystal balls on the table.
"Right, they're all useless. If you like them, you can take them as ornaments." Cliff looked at the experimental products, his head tilted, wondering about which step he had messed up on.
"Oh, okay, Master, thank you. I'll be leaving now." Claire took all the crystals on the table without a trace of politeness, about to leave.
As Claire reached the door, Cliff remembered to ask, "Claire, what were you looking for me for?"
"It was nothing, I just wanted to see Master for moment and tell you to pay attention to your health." Claire gave Cliff a brilliant smile, then left.
Cliff nodded happily, his heart warm. It turns out the always closed off Claire knew to care for her master.
Claire returned to Camille's house and knocked on Walter's door.
Walter's delicate and pretty face appeared. Seeing Claire, he was a bit confused. "Claire, what is it so early in the morning?"
"Can these hide your body's Dark aura?" Claire fished out a small bag of crystals and handed it to Walter.
Once Walter looked at it, his eyes widened. He looked at Claire incredulously. "These, these are perfect concealing crystals? Where did you get so many? Heavens, there's so many. Do you know how much this bag of crystals costs on the black market?"
Claire frowned, about to snatch it back. "If you don't want it, then give it back. What are you wasting your breath for?" But Claire sighed inwardly. As expected, the occupation of being a magician was very costly. Even the things that were used casually for experiments were so expensive. Then she sighed even more. Cliff really spent money like water.
"I want it, why wouldn't I? Now I can go out in the open." Walter quickly hugged the back closely, then looked up and said happily, "Claire, you treated me so well, is it because you…"
Before he could finish, a miserable shout reverberated through the house, waking everybody up.
When everybody looked, the saw Claire expressionlessly walk through the hallway while Walter was holding his head, crouching on the ground, moaning in pain.
In the afternoon, Emery came to Camille's house with golden banknotes. Naturally, it was under Duke Gordan's orders that he came to bring Claire home.
"Master…" Claire looked at Emery, feeling very intimate. He who had done everything he could for her without asking for anything in return held a very important position her heart.
"Claire, his grace and his lordship both hope you can return home quickly. Of course, the person who wants you back home the most is me." Emery laughed. Seeing Claire before him, he felt grateful. His beloved disciple seemed to have improved quite a bit. Soon, she was going to surpass him, her master.
"Master, we'll return home together after the auction." Clare looked at the smiling Emery. Naturally, she understood that he rarely smiled and only smiled sincerely before her.
"Yes. His grace said that if you like anything, don't hesitate to notify me. He gave me a lot of money." Emery's voice was a bit pampering.
Claire smiled without replying. The auction this time didn't really have any exceptional treasures. The most valuable item had already been stolen by Summer and in her hands.
Sure enough, the night auction didn't have anything that Claire took a liking to, but she bought a pair of elaborately decorated gloves for Qiao Chuxin to protect her hands when pulling the bow. This made the naive Qiao Chuxin's heart extremely touched and think that Claire was the best person in the world even more. But it made Summer angry and Walter even more disdainful. If this little devil was considered a good person, then everybody in the world was good!
After the auction ended, the group returned to the Hill mansion boldly.
Naturally, Duke Gordan welcomed them personally at the grand hall.
"Claire, it's great that you're back." Duke Gordan's gaze landed on the group of people behind Claire. Instantly, his eyes glinted. They were all unordinary people. Claire actually gathered so many powerful people beside her in such a short time. And none of them had walked in front of Claire, all following Claire closely from behind. One could tell that Claire was their leader. Duke Gordan felt a sliver of respect, but didn't show it. Instead, he welcomed them all warmly.
"Claire, you've returned." At this moment, Marquis Roger, who had been standing to the side the whole time, finally greeted Claire reluctantly.
"Oh. Yes, Father, I've returned." Claire replied, also insipid.
"Cough cough…." Marquis Roger coughed quietly, then continued unnaturally, "Your birthday is in ten days. At that time, your mother and second brother will also return. You eldest brother is still standing guard at the borders and has not way of returning."
"Oh." Claire said, then looked towards Duke Gordan and sai, "Grandfather, my friends are all tired now. I want to first let them rest."
"That's fine." Duke Gordan agreed, nodding and smiling.
Marquis Roger's expression changed slightly, but he didn't flare up under Duke Gordan's warning gaze.
Only after Claire brought them away to rest and the grand hall had quieted down did Marquis Roger say angrily, "Father, look at Claire's attitude, completely not treating me like a father. She even brought that mob of completely uneducated people back."
"Roger…" Duke Gordan started saying helplessly. "When will you learn how to judge people? Do you think that the people following Claire are all uneducated? Who's to blame for Claire's attitude towards you? Sigh… Watch the people Claire brought back well. When the time comes, you'll take back your words." Duke Gordan sighed lightly, then walked away slowly, leaving a confused Roger behind.