As Wilhelm talked about the past events between himself and his wife, he started to talk non-stop, with a happy smile on his face.
"My wife and I first met when..."
"...Then she and I..."
"...Then at a certain meeting..."
Ayanokouji listened carefully to Wilhelm's words and noted important details.
The attitude of listening attentively can shorten the distance between the two parties and make the other party trust more.
He also had things he wanted to know. For example, he could gain a lot of knowledge about love from him, which was also very valuable for reference when he interacted with Emilia.
However, Wilhelm's interest in this topic exceeded his expectations. Two hours had passed before he realized it, and Wilhelm had also been talking non-stop for two hours.
"This is the story between me and my wife." Wilhelm seemed to finally realize this, and after a slight cough, he finally stopped.
❀❀❀
"Even though I know Wilhelm that you and your wife loved each other so much in the past, I didn't expect you to have a side like that, meow!"
At the Karsten family mansion, Felix turned his head and looked at Wilhelm behind him, who usually looked very serious, but was actually showing such a side, which surprised him.
But on second thought, every time Wilhelm mentioned his wife, he became a different person.
Behind Felix, Wilhelm's eyes were closed, but his old face was actually blushing with embarrassment.
"Wilhelm, are you really blushing?"
Crusch opened her eyes wide and said with a little surprise.
"Sorry, Crusch-sama, maybe I've been feeling unwell lately."
❰❱SKY SCREEN❰❱
"I was a little rude. When I talk about my wife, I can't control myself." Wilhelm immediately said.
"No need to apologize, Wilhelm. This is not a formal event, and there's no need to pay attention to excessive etiquette." Ayanokouji said, "And I think what you said, the story is very touching and I really like it, especially when you and your wife met in the flower field."
"Ayanokouji-sama..." Wilhelm felt a little touched in his heart, "If possible, Ayanokouji-sama could tell the story about the relationship between you and Emilia?"
"Yes." Then Ayanokouji told the story between himself and Emilia, but of course he wouldn't tell everything and the real purpose, and he spiced it up a bit to make the story easier to listen to.
In interacting with people, simply listening is not as easy as talking to each other to narrow the distance between two people.
"So." Wilhelm nodded, with a smile on his face, like a gossipy old man, "May I ask what makes Ayanokouji-sama confused?"
"Sometimes I have some emotions in my heart, but I don't know how to express them." Ayanokouji said slowly.
"In that case, it's a bit like me in the past." Wilhelm said with a smile, "This shows that Ayanokouji-sama is not honest enough."
"Isn't that honest enough?"
"Yes, sometimes I think it's better to express my heart."
"Show your heart? My former family members also told me this, but I find it difficult to show my heart to my family." Ayanokouji shook his head deliberately, his words were to direct the topic to his family. With the previous shadow, he knew that Wilhelm should be thinking about his family at this moment.
As expected, Wilhelm's expression gradually became serious at this moment: "Family members... Ayanokouji-sama should have heard about my family, right? The contemporary Sword Saint's name is Reinhardt and he is my grandson... but I never considered him as my own grandson. I can never forgive him for this..."
"I heard something." Ayanokouji knew that the other party was slowly falling into the trap of his own language, and he only needed a little guidance for the next words
"But if what I heard is true, I don't think Reinhard is innocent."
"But..."
"Getting the Divine Protection Sword Saint is not what Reinhard desired." Ayanokouji said.
Wilhelm's expression became a little complicated..
"Ayanokouji-sama..."
"I can roughly guess what you're thinking, Wilhelm – the death of your wife has made you very sad, and the direct cause of this tragedy is precisely because of Reinhard. Although it was not caused by Reinhard's personal suggestion, you still feel that he is the one who killed your wife, and that is true."
"Yes."
Although he was a little reluctant, what Ayanokouji said was not wrong, so Wilhelm could only nod.
"Wilhelm, you just told me to express my heart, but you haven't been able to do it yourself."
"That's true..."
"Wilhelm, haven't you considered making peace with Reinhard?" Ayanokouji asked.
"Sorry, it's really hard for me to do. After all, even though he didn't make mistakes on his own initiative, he is the direct cause of my wife leaving me..." Wilhelm lowered his hand, with a little hesitation in his eyes.
"Now Wilhelm, your sad desire has been fulfilled. I believe if your wife has a soul in heaven, she wouldn't want you and your grandson to be like this." Ayanokouji said, "Although I have never met your wife, but from the story you just told, I can feel that the former Sword Saint was a good person. If she could see the transformation of grandfather and grandson, with such a relationship, she would be sad."
"Mhm....."
"I think now that the White Whale has been killed, it's time to turn the page in history. Maybe this is a good opportunity for you and Reinhard to get closer." Ayanokouji carefully observed Wollheim's face, the expression that the other party was shaken by what he said.
"That's true... But I don't know how to talk. Maybe because of my strong self-esteem..."
"At this point, I can give you some help." Ayanokouji said, "I can give both of you a chance to express your hearts. The problem is that you are both willing to sit down and talk. As long as you give me a reason, I can help you a little."
Wilhelm pursed his lips, and the hesitation on his face became stronger, but after a long ideological struggle, he finally nodded: "Ayanokouji-sama is right, if my wife knew the current situation, she would definitely be angry... But for Reinhard, he might not be willing to sit down and talk to me now."
"You can be sure that Reinhard always wants to make peace with you." Ayanokouji said, and all the conversations developed according to the script he set.
"Thank you very much, Ayanokouji-sama." Wilhelm nodded.
The conversation went naturally and not too abruptly. The topic of family relationships was also discussed very naturally, not knowing that the other party had a strong purpose in the conversation.
"Then schedule a while in a few days. Then I will send someone to contact you." Ayanokouji nodded.
"But I'm really sorry, Ayanokouji-sama, it's my fault that the food on this table is cold, and it's my sin to let you starve with me."
"It's okay, what we each get is far more important than this food." Ayanokouji said, then turned, "Rem, please help warm up the food."
The scene changed, the next day was noon.
Ayanokouji and Rem came to Anastasia's house in the royal capital.
"Long time no see, big brother!" The cat-like Demi-Human girl, Mimi, greeted enthusiastically.
"Long time no see, Mimi." Ayanokouji nodded.
He had memorized all their names when he investigated the personnel of each camp a long time ago.
"Welcome, Ayanokouji."
Anastasia's somewhat immature voice with a special accent spoke.
Just like the last time they met, she was wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket that didn't match the season, and a white scarf hung around her neck.
The two also sat at the table straightforwardly and started today's topic.
"Ayanokouji, my trading house seems to have obtained the magic crystal you want." Anastasia said with a smile, "But I want to know why you want this high-purity crystal."
"We want to use the magic crystal to do magic research." Ayanokouji gave a simple but reasonable reason.
Emilia herself is a mage, and Roswaal is the head mage of the kingdom, wanting magic crystals for research.
"Why do we need crystals with high purity?"
"It doesn't always require these high-purity magic crystals. It's just that the higher the purity, the higher the accuracy of the relevant experiments." Ayanokouji said helplessly.
He gave Anastasia a hint, that it is normal that he doesn't necessarily need this magic crystal.
He wouldn't reveal anything about Puck, and Ayanokouji wouldn't reveal that he needed the crystal stone. The same is true in business, if he shows a strong desire for a particular product, then the merchant can raise the price on that product.
Especially when dealing with a shrewd businessman like Anastasia, she would never miss the opportunity to develop her own interests.
So Ayanokouji needs to show that this is not that important to him.
Anastasia pursed her lips, hesitated for a moment, and continued: "So, but now I just gave orders to my trading house to find crystal stones because of you, and then I collected them not long ago. I received a message from the Trading House, it is very difficult to find it, and I'm not sure if this crystal meets your needs. It would be too expensive and risky for the Trading House to ship it to the capital, so if possible, I hope you can go to Minato City, where we can make a transaction."
"Minato City?" Ayanokouji narrowed his eyes slightly.
In a sense, the risk mentioned by Anastasia is not wrong. This type of magic crystal is very rare and valuable. If shipped from Kararagi to the royal capital, the shipping cost is very high. There might be many thieves who want this thing.
And Minato City is a border city of the Lugnica Kingdom bordering Kararagi. If the transaction is done there, the transportation cost will be greatly reduced, and the risk faced can also be reduced.
But Ayanokouji also knows that Anastasia has more thoughts than that.
It is precisely because Kararagi and Minato City are very close that Anastasia's influence can spread to this place.
In Kararagi, Anastasia's power is very important, and Minato City is very close, so it is also Anastasia's hometown.
'That person must be thinking that she can take more initiative in her own field.' Ayanokouji guessed in his heart.
However, Anastasia obviously didn't expect that everything she said was expected by the other party.