Chapter 563: I Have Already Protected You Enough
Chapter 563: I Have Already Protected You Enough
"Leo!" Aaron called.
"How have you been?" he asked, extending his hand toward Leo.
Leo took his hand and gave it a firm shake.
"I’m in great shape. How about you two? Those Ember young masters seemed to have hurt you pretty badly."
Aaron waved it off.
"Nah, as you can see, we’re fine. I am sure you’d have handled them well enough as revenge for us, or maybe it was, uh... Naelith! Yes, the elf. They seemed pretty burned when they came out. Don’t tell me the elf handled their asses alone." Aaron laughed at the thought of a flame user getting beaten by their own element.
If that were the case, Leo was indeed a master at humiliation.
Aaron and Ronan had even heard tales of him and Lily torturing people into insanity. Just the thought was enough to make them play it safe around him.
"Actually, I was a tad bit late in dealing with them personally," Leo said, retracting his hand.
"Hm? What do you mean? They were beaten, right?" Aaron raised a brow in confusion.
"Yeah, they were, but not by me. The dragons did it."
After that, Leo went on to describe what had happened to kill time.
"Pffftt—HAHAHAHAHAHA."
Both Aaron and Ronan burst into loud laughter after hearing the story.
"That rascal got picked on because of his own name, hahahaha!" Ronan laughed especially hard after hearing how the name Vulcan had stirred the ire of the dragon named Vulcarion. It felt like fitting payback, considering he himself had been defeated by his own element.
Aaron wiped the tear from the corner of his eye, then both he and Ronan extended their hands toward Leo.
Two objects materialized in their hands.
[Blazeblood Pomegranate] — Peak Blue-Tier Treasure [Peak 3-star]
- Filled with glowing ruby seeds. Each seed contains concentrated fire essence that nourishes muscles and increases Agility.
[Blazebloom Flower] — Peak Blue-Tier Treasure
- The flower releases remarkably gentle fire essence that is easy to absorb. Being around it improves precision and control over fire abilities, reducing mana waste and helping practitioners with strength lower than or equal to Peak 3-star master fire techniques more efficiently.
Direct consumption can momentarily enhance comprehension of fire abilities even for Pseudo-4-star individuals for more than a day.
Leo raised a brow. The pomegranate was a new treasure he hadn’t come across, and although the Blazebloom Flower was known to him, the highest rank he had ever seen was High Green-Tier [High 2-star].
But...
"I cannot accept this," Leo said.
Both boys frowned.
"Why?"
"Because I was not the one who dealt with them. It would be wrong on my part to accept it."
Leo also knew these Peak Blue-Tier treasures were extremely valuable to both of them, who were only at Low 3-star personal strength. Unlike them, he wouldn’t benefit from these treasures at all.
The Agility boost would have been useful since his base Agility was relatively low, but a Peak Blue-Tier treasure would have no effect on him.
Both immediately shook their heads.
"No, you came, and that’s what matters. In the end, we wasted your time, and you need to be compensated for it."
"Well... if you insist."
Leo accepted them because, now that he thought about it, it really had been a waste of time. The only good thing to come out of it was beating up the dragons.
Both were happy that Leo accepted the gifts, and they departed.
Leo watched their backs and suspected that they probably had extras of these treasures to offer them so readily.
"Well, I can’t even be angry. I would do the same."
With that, he looked for a place where he could sell his acquired treasures. After all, he needed the cash to buy things at the auction.
From his estimate, 848 gold would barely be enough.
Somewhere within the castle’s Lord Cabin...
"You found an elf slave with very high fire affinity?" Ashton Ember asked while rubbing his forehead in frustration. He had just dealt with the headache caused by Zerathra and sent the dragons away when his loser son came knocking on his door.
At first, Ashton had been mildly curious why Nirvan had reached out to him after so long, but he was disappointed once again when it turned out to be about yet another woman.
"Yes, Father! And her master is just a rich wimp who I estimate to be at Peak 2-star at best, seeing that he was from Aurelius Beast Academy."
At the mention of the academy, Ashton’s eyes sharpened.
"Declined. I will not allow you to interfere with any student from that academy. Now go away."
With that, Ashton picked up a letter from his table and began opening it.
"But, Father—!"
Ashton raised a hand to stop him.
"Go away."
He didn’t even look up as he read the contents of the letter.
Hoh? Someone actually tamed a Wyvern? Must be that Leader Wyvern’s child.
"Just once! Father, please! I beg you! Please help me this once!"
Nirvan pleaded, even dropping to his knees.
Ashton felt another headache forming as he listened to the pitiful wails. If not for Nirvan being the only son of his late political wife from another major city, he would have cast him out of the family long ago.
But throwing him away would completely sever his connection with that city, something he couldn’t afford because of the valuable fire-elemental crystal mine he had received as dowry.
"Okay! I’m listening. Convince me within 2 minutes, or else get out!" Ashton said coldly.
In his annoyance, a few wisps of flame escaped from the fist clutching the letter.
"Tsk."
He extinguished the flames, but a few important details had already been burned away.
Leave. Jubal must have already given him the invitation to the auction anyway. I will be there.
Meanwhile, Nirvan hurriedly explained the matter regarding Hilda and how he planned to use the supposed gold coin payment that destroyed the wall as grounds to issue an arrest warrant against Leo.
However, since Leo was an Aurelius Beast Academy student, he proposed that selling the red-haired elf slave at a low price could instead serve as compensation.
"Hilda? Who is this?" Ashton frowned, unable to recall anyone by that name from the prominent branch families.
Nirvan scratched his head awkwardly.
"She is from the west. Hilda Bon Ember..."
Ashton rolled his eyes.
Another woman to fuck...
He barely remembered the Bon branch in the west—that was how insignificant they were—and his useless son was already fooling around with them.
Useless attracts useless; that was fitting here.
Ashton exhaled slowly. The plan sounded somewhat plausible, considering that attacking a family heir was indeed a grievous crime.
"Listen up," he said, locking eyes with Nirvan.
The pressure in his gaze made Nirvan go stiff.
"This is the last time I am giving you a chance because you have already dragged the family’s name into this. I have already protected you enough. It’s time you stood on your own. Was it an elf? Yeah, that might actually produce a potent child from your impotent body. Now scram!"
With that, Ashton summoned a decent-sized pouch of coins and tossed it to Nirvan as though giving a final parting gift before casting him aside.
He turned his attention back to the half-burned letter.
"The fire-elemental crystal mine has almost been emptied already."
Hearing Ashton mutter those words, Nirvan stiffened. It simply meant his last lifeline was already on the verge of snapping.
Still, there was one more thing he had to ask.
"F-Father... I would require someone strong to—"
Ashton simply waved a hand, signalling that it would be taken care of.
Nirvan didn’t even care about the humiliating comments from Ashton; he was already used to it. He just needed his work done somehow.
Ashton read the remaining visible information on the half-burned letter and rubbed his chin with interest.
"Hoh? An academy student this capable? He is bound to become a future powerhouse. I need to secure a good relationship with him somehow!"
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A/N: A reader—TheFirst_Yeagerist—gave me a good idea to implement the related star rank beside the colour ranks of treasures for easy tracking. I will be doing that from now on.
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