Saul’s house was like a mix between a castle and a garden on a large plot of land. Across the street from his house was the Maho Empire’s Mage Union. The Mage Union was at the foot of Mount Saint Brunswick. The palace was built on top of the mountain.
Mount St. Brunswick was named after a human leader, Brunswick. Brunswick was leading 30,000 troops to fight a tribe of magic beasts. They fought hard for almost a whole month. All of them died at the battlefield. No one surrendered; nobody ran away.
Anfey looked up at Mount St. Brunswick. He’d heard the project of building a palace on top of Mount St. Brunswick started with the establishment of the Maho Empire. They dug so deep into the mountain that the mountain was almost hollow. The palace had thousands of rooms of different sizes. It had a museum, library—any facility one could think of.
Many magic arrays were set up in the palace. There was a magic array every three floors all the way down to the bottom of the mountain. This was an escape channel for royal family members when an enemy archmage successfully released grand runes. Although the chances of an archmage spying on an enemy’s territory and releasing grand runes successfully were slim, it was not impossible. Someone had done so in the past, so the Maho Empire needed to be prepared for any possibility.
"So… people in this world seemed to have experienced a ‘nuclear bomb’," Anfey thought aloud.
"Is my father back? Is he really back?" a girl asked in a singsong voice.
"Niya!" There was a broad smile on Saul’s face.
Following the cheers, a girl jumped out, strode across, and ran into Saul’s arms.
Anfey laid his eyes on the girl from Mount St. Brunswick. He could only see the gist of her features. She had the same blond hair as Saul’s. In Anfey’s eyes, blondes usually had curly hair, but this girl had smooth, shiny, straight hair. It looked like a golden silk cloak on her back.
A smiling old housekeeper walked up to them. It was him that had told Niya about this good news earlier.
"Niya, this is your Uncle Ernest." Saul introduced Ernest to her.
"Hello, Uncle Ernest," Niya greeted Ernest politely.
"This is Anfey, my new student. He will be living with us from now on."
"Hi." Niya turned to look at Anfey.
"Ni… Miss Niya, how are you?" Anfey stuttered, "This is… This is a gift for you. I hope you will like it." At this moment, Anfey discovered Niya had very beautiful light-blue eyes, inherited from Saul. She had a tall, slender nose, and slightly thin and sexy lips. Saul did not lie about Niya’s beauty. Niya was undoubtedly a gorgeous girl.
"Thank you." Niya took the magic bracelet from Anfey. The bracelet disappeared in her silky hand after a few movements. She must’ve put it away in her space ring.
Anfey watched her face. He knew what kind of gift that magic bracelet was. Niya didn’t show any disdain for it, but she also didn’t show any excitement. With some reasoning, it was easy to tell that Niya, as the daughter of Saul, must have seen many nice things. She probably didn’t pay attention to that bracelet at all. Anfey was surprised by Niya’s response to the gift he gave her. Not bad. Niya was a lady with class.
"Niya, why don’t you show the guests around. I need to see the king at the palace. I will be back soon."
"Leaving again?" Niya shook her head, "No…."
"Be good." Saul said something at her ear, Niya’s eyes popped wide with excitement, looking at Ernest without blinking. After he successfully distracted her, Saul smiled in satisfaction. He cast a levitation spell, raised himself into the air, and flew towards Mount St. Brunswick.
Anfey saw a longsword hanging from Niya’s waist. It was hard to tell if the blade was sharp or not, but the handle was designed in an old-fashioned way, without any girly decorations. There are many ways to tell someone’s personality. One could look at their eyes, living spaces, habits, or even the jewelry they wore. All of them could provide information about the person. Niya didn’t seem to be a girl flirting around if she liked to wear this kind of sword. Hold on… Longsword? Was Niya a swordswoman? No wonder Saul complained no one would be able to inherit his magic skills! His daughter was a swordswoman!
Anfey turned towards Ernest with a sly smile was in his eyes. It was not common to be as smart, sensitive, and quick to respond as Anfey. Ernest did not understand why that girl looked at him strangely. He managed to keep his face straight, no facial expression changed.
"Uncle Ernest, do you want to take a rest or walk around the house with me?" Niya asked respectfully.
"Whatever," Ernest answered.
It got to Niya. So whatever meant what? She had to turn to Anfey, "Hi, An…"
"Anfey." Anfey helped in case she forgot his name.
"Anfey, do you want to take a rest or walk around the house with me?"
"Whatever."
"You…" Niya could not help giving him a dirty look. She did not dare to be rude to her father’s guest. However, it was a different story when Anfey was a student of her father. Anfey was a kid with barely any magic surges. Even the two students, who were already entry-level mages, had to behave well in front of her! She was the daughter of an archmage, who dare to make her unhappy?
"Sir Anfey, how about walking around with Miss Niya and getting familiar with the house?" The old housekeeper stood up immediately to make peace.
"Sure," Anfey agreed quickly.
"Huh!" Niya hummed so quietly that no one could hear it. Niya’s face had a lovely and bright smile when she turned to Ernest. "Uncle Ernest, please join us."
"Huh." Ernest said flatly.
In fact, it was superficial to think that this was Ernest. He always looked cool in front of strangers, but opened up and talked a lot more with the people he knew well. Anfey had seen Ernest and Saul have some hot arguments. Anfey even had the experience of being their judge.
"Uncle Ernest, this way." Niya was excitedly showing them around the house.
A group of four was divided into two. Ernest followed behind Niya, while Anfey fell behind on purpose to walk with the old housekeeper. Anfey asked him many different questions, pretending he wasn’t doing it on purpose.
Anfey was paying attention to what Ernest and Niya’s were saying while he was talking with the old housekeeper. After listening for a while, he slowed down his walking and intentionally kept a distance between them.
Maybe it was out of admiration for Ernest, but still—Niya was a little too talkative.
"Uncle Ernest, does your sword have a name?"
"No."
"May I see it?"
"No."
"Uncle Ernest, my father said you are the best swordsman. You also have the potential to be a saint swordsman. I’ve been looking up to you since I was small. You… teach me some sword skills?" Ernest’s coolness did not stop Niya. Instead, she asked for a favor.
"You… Have you heard about my rumors?"
"Yes."
"Then do you still want to learn from me?"
"Did you mean… those things? Haha, Uncle Ernest, my father told me what’s seen by bare eyes was not always true, what’s heard should not always be trusted. I trust my father. You are his friend. I trust you too. I just had an argument with my friends a few days ago. I told them you would never engage in any conspiracy if you dared to go to Alisen Empire to battle with Jerrofick. It must be Jerrofick afraid of you and setting you up on purpose. He was a coward!"
"…" Ernest became quiet.
"Uncle Ernest, can I see your sword?" The talkative girl switched the topic back.
"There is nothing special about it." Ernest’s tone did not seem to be as cold as before.
"Let me see it," the talkative girl whined, not letting her request go.
"…" Ernest took out his sword reluctantly.
"Uncle Ernest, your sword is too common. It does not match your title!" The talkative girl opened her eyes wide, hardly believing what she saw.
"It is just a sword." Ernest said. There were things that couldn’t be explained. At least, it was not possible to explain to this girl that he would never make breakthroughs and become a master swordsman if he relied on things like swords.
"Uncle Ernest, this is my sword!" The talkative girl pull out her long sword. The sword made a sound in the air like wind chimes. The light reflected on the sword was like the clear water. The blade sent out strong magic surges. It was a magic sword!
"Nice sword!"
"Uncle Ernest, take it!" The talkative girl was quite generous.
"Huh? No, thank you. I do not need it."
"Take it, Uncle Ernest. I really want to give it to you."
"I… really do not need it."
"Uncle Ernest, my father asked me to treat you like my real uncle. This is your home. Take it!" The talkative girls was very stubborn about it.
"But… I really do not need it."
"Uncle Ernest, take it, otherwise I will be sad."
"I really…"
"I will cry!" The talkative girl bit her upper lip.
"I …" Ernest had a headache. If it was someone else doing this to him, he would have walked away. However, this girl was the precious daughter of his old friend, and she was just an innocent little girl with some silly ideas. She trusted him and even argued with her friends for him. Ernest did not want her to be sad, but… he really did not need a magic sword!!
"Okay, I will take it." Ernest took the magic sword.
"Haha." The talkative girl stopped crying and smiled. "Uncle Ernest, can you teach me sword skills?" This sword was a gift to ask Ernest to be her teacher.
Ah… Wasn’t it too much to ask for a favor in the time it took to blink? Shouldn’t she be a little more considerate?
"Ok." Ernest nodded reluctantly.
"Uncle Ernest."
"Uncle Ernest…"