Chapter 132 part 2: The Visiting Archmage (2)

The carriage came to a stop before the main gates of the City Lord’s manor.

Lia jumped down from the carriage.

She smoothed her skirt and looked up at the manor, which was now shrouded in dark clouds.

The current City Lord’s manor appeared somewhat desolate.

The number of guards at the main gate had been reduced by half, and those remaining were all bearing injuries.

The servants walked with their heads bowed and their footsteps hurried, not daring to make a sound.

The butler had long been waiting at the entrance.

Seeing Klein and Lia, he bowed his waist low.

“My Lords, the Master is already waiting.”

Klein nodded, and Lia followed behind, clutching a neatly folded piece of parchment in her hand.

It was the bill she had stayed up all night to draft.

They crossed the long corridor and went upstairs, turned left, and reached the master bedroom where the door was left ajar.

A heavy scent of herbal medicine wafted out from the gap in the door.

The butler pushed the door open gently.

“Master, the guests have arrived.”

The room was large, the curtains were drawn tight, and the light was dim.

Valerius was leaning against the headboard.

His broken leg was encased in a thick cast and suspended in mid-air.

His face was deathly pale, his eyes were sunken, and his entire frame had withered significantly.

Seeing the two enter, Valerius struggled to sit upright.

“Do not move.”

Klein spoke, his voice calm.

Valerius stopped his movements, gave a bitter smile, and leaned back against the pillows.

“Apologies, appearing like this is truly impolite of me.”

His voice was very raspy, as if his throat were filled with sand.

The butler brought over two chairs and placed them by the bed, then withdrew and closed the door behind him.

Only three people remained in the room.

Lia did not stand on ceremony and sat directly by the bedside.

“The Lord Count is recovering well.”

She offered a polite pleasantry.

Valerius shook his head.

“I merely managed to keep my life.”

His gaze fell upon Klein, then turned toward Lia.

“Regarding that day in the catacombs… thank you.”

“No need for thanks.”

Lia handed over the parchment in her hand.

“This is the bill.”

Valerius froze for a moment.

He clearly hadn’t expected this girl to be so direct.

But he recovered quickly and reached out to take the parchment.

He saw the contents clearly.

By the faint candlelight at the bedside, the first item read: [Ninth-Circle Magic Scroll: Geocore Blasting, quantity: 1].

A string of dizzying numbers followed.

Valerius’s hand trembled slightly.

“Ninth-Circle?”

He looked up at Klein.

Klein leaned back against his chair, his fingers lightly tapping the armrest.

“Is there a problem?”

“No… no problem.”

Valerius swallowed hard.

As the City Lord of Leo City, he naturally knew what a Ninth-Circle scroll represented.

It was a strategic-level resource.

These items were priceless and could not be measured simply in gold coins.

“That is just the cost price,” Lia added from the side.

“Considering the urgency of the situation and the fact that the user—which is to say, my body—suffered severe overextension, I added a twenty percent service fee at the end.”

Valerius continued reading downward.

The second item: [Appearance fee for Eighth-Circle Mage Klein, compensation for lost work, mental trauma fee, fright fee, medical fee, and clothing damage fee].

The third item: [Maintenance fee for Magic Apprentice Lia (Though I’m not broken, I feel like I need maintenance)].

The fourth item: [Maintenance fee for the Farrien family].

In the end, over a dozen items were listed.

The final total amount was enough to buy half the commercial streets in Leo City.

Valerius finished reading and placed the parchment on the nightstand.

He did not haggle.

“It is very fair.”

He said.

“The butler will go to the treasury to withdraw the funds; if there aren’t enough gold coins, I will use the title deeds of the properties under the family name as collateral.”

Lia raised an eyebrow.

So decisive?

It seemed this Lord Count truly valued his life.

‘That’s good then.’

Lia was in a good mood.

With this money in hand, she wouldn’t have to worry about her experiment funds for at least three years.

“The matter of the money is settled.”

Valerius looked at the two.

“Next, let’s talk about the city’s reconstruction.”

“Reconstruction?” Lia asked.

“Correct.”

Valerius let out a sigh.

“The commotion this time was too large. Though we officially announced it as a geological disaster, it won’t fool those with a keen eye.”

“The forest in the west of the city is basically destroyed, and the underground water system is in chaos.”

“More importantly, the people are in a state of panic.”

He looked at Klein.

“I hope the Farrien family can step forward and assist the City Lord’s manor in stabilizing the situation.”

“That is not within our service range.”

Klein refused quite bluntly.

“I can pay more.”

Valerius spoke immediately.

“It is not a matter of money.”

Klein stood up, walked to the window, and pulled back a slit in the curtain.

The sunlight from outside pierced through, illuminating the dust in the air.

“There are still many research topics, and I have no time to deal with your mess.”

Valerius was choked for words.

He looked at Lia, his eyes filled with a plea for help.

Lia rubbed her chin.

“Actually, it’s not impossible,” she said.

Klein turned back and glanced at her.

Lia ignored his gaze and continued speaking to Valerius.

“We won’t provide personnel, but we can provide technology.”

“Since that land in the west is destroyed, why not rebuild it?”

Lia pulled another piece of paper from her ring.

It was a conceptual drawing she had made after returning from the Capital.

“I want to build a factory there.”

“A magic-powered textile mill; we’ll look at the geological survey results for the specifics.”

Lia spread the sketch out on the quilt.

“The Farrien family provides the technology and management; the profit will be split sixty-forty, with sixty for me and forty for you.”

Valerius looked at the sketch.

It was drawn with some strange machinery that he couldn’t understand.

“Deal,” Valerius nodded.

Once the official business was finished, the atmosphere in the room grew heavy instead.

Valerius leaned against the headboard, opening his mouth several times before closing it again.

He seemed to hesitate.

Lia noticed his internal struggle.

“Is there something else?” she asked.

Valerius took a deep breath.

“Regarding Ella.”

At the mention of this name, his expression became filled with a pain that wasn’t physical; it was exhaustion.

Klein turned around and looked at him.

“She is dead,” Klein stated.

“I know.”

Valerius closed his eyes.

“I saw it with my own eyes.”

Though he was pinned under stones at the time and his consciousness was blurred, he had still seen the final scene.

The woman who had shared his bed for five years had turned into a gray monster.

“I want to know…”

Valerius’s voice trembled slightly.

“Was she… always one of those ‘Crying Moon’ people?”

“Yes.”

Klein answered without the slightest bit of tact.

“From the very beginning.”

Valerius’s fingers gripped the bedsheets until his knuckles turned white.

“So, these five years… were they all fake?”

“Not entirely.”

Lia interjected.

Valerius snapped his eyes open, looking at Lia with a sliver of hope.

“Truly?”

“Acting requires emotional support.”

Lia shrugged.

“If she didn’t have even a bit of feeling for you, she wouldn’t have been able to act so realistically.”

“Furthermore, that final array—though it was to trap Klein—in a sense, she also chose to die before your eyes.”

This statement was a bit of a stretch.

But for the current Valerius, this was enough; it was the life-saving straw he wanted.

“Is that so…”

Valerius murmured to himself.

“She did it to save me… no, it was for… forget it.”

He spoke incoherently, his eyes growing somewhat moist.

A grown man, a ruler of a territory, was currently as fragile as a child.

Valerius looked at Klein and then at Lia, his gaze very complex.

Regarding the truth of the situation, Valerius naturally knew it deep down, he just didn’t want to admit it.

It was a false memory shared between him and the Countess; he would rather invent another version of her.

“Time is almost up.”

Klein looked at his pocket watch.

Valerius paused for a moment.

“Could you… keep it a secret?”

“Keep it a secret?” Lia frowned.

“She was a cult leader who nearly took us down with her.”

“I know, I know.”

Valerius explained urgently.

“But if this gets out, the Valerius family’s reputation will be completely finished.”

“And…”

His voice dropped lower.

“I don’t want the people of the city to know the truth of that night.”

“More importantly…”

“I don’t want to admit that my wife was a monster.”

Valerius lowered his head and looked at his own palms.

“Just consider it leaving me a final shred of dignity.”

“To the outside world, we will say she died in an accident. That she died in that disaster while trying to protect me.”

Dead silence filled the room.

Lia looked at this man.

He was pitiful.

And also pathetic.

To maintain that ridiculous self-esteem, he was willing to manufacture a lie.

Lia spoke.

“That is another price.”

Valerius snapped his head up.

“How much do you want?”

“The profit from that land—I want seventy percent.”

Lia held up two fingers, then changed them to seven.

Valerius froze for a moment, then gave a bitter smile.

“You really are something…”

“Do you agree?”

“I agree.”

Valerius nodded.

“As long as your lips are sealed.”

“We have very high professional ethics.”

Lia stood up and patted her skirt.

“Since we’ve reached an agreement, we won’t disturb the Lord Count’s rest any further.”

She turned to walk out.

Klein followed behind her.

As they reached the door, Valerius suddenly called out to them.

“Wait.”

The two stopped their footsteps.

“Thank you.”

Valerius looked at their backs.

“Not just for saving my life, but also for… this lie.”

Klein did not look back.

“It is not a lie.”

He said.

“It is a deal.”

The door closed.

***

The corridor was silent.

Lia clutched the priceless bill in her hand, her mood excellent.

“Seventy percent of the profit.”

She sighed with emotion.

“I’m going to be rich now.”

Klein walked beside her, his strides long.

“Are you that short on money?” he asked.

“I am.”

Lia answered as if it were obvious.

“Who doing research isn’t short on money?”

Klein was silent for a while.

“That Count is very stupid.”

He suddenly changed the subject.

“Hm?”

“Relinquishing thirty percent of the profit for a dead person.”

Klein’s voice carried a hint of annoyance.

“That is a fig leaf called love.”

Lia waved the paper in her hand.

“To him, it’s more important than money.”

“Incomprehensible,” Klein evaluated.

“Because you’ve never been in love,” Lia quipped casually.

Klein stopped walking.

Lia walked two paces before realizing no one was beside her and turned back in confusion.

Something was surging in his blue eyes.

“Have you?” he asked.

Lia froze.

Why did this question feel like a death trap?

“No… no.”

Lia denied it instinctively.

In both her past and present lives combined, she had spent her days living with data in a lab.

“Good.”

Klein withdrew his gaze and continued walking forward.

“What do you mean ‘Good’?”

Lia chased after him.

“Nothing.”

“Make yourself clear.”

“Let’s go.”

“Hey!”

The two walked out of the City Lord’s manor, bickering.

The sunlight was beautiful.

The carriage was waiting at the door.

Lia climbed into the cabin first.

Just as Klein was about to follow, he suddenly halted his movements.

He turned his head toward the west of the city.

It was a field of ruins.

But in his perception, a faint trace of an aura—so weak it was almost negligible—was seeping out from the ground.

It was like a kind of… call.

“What is it?”

Lia poked her head out the carriage window.

Klein narrowed his eyes.

The aura vanished.

It felt like an illusion.

“Nothing.”

He boarded the carriage.

“Let’s go back.”

The wheels rolled.

The carriage drove away from the City Lord’s manor.

And behind them—

Inside the master bedroom of the manor.

Valerius leaned against the headboard.

In his hand was an old book of poetry.

It was the one he had found in the study that day, and it was also Ella’s favorite book.

He flipped through the pages.

A thin sheet of stationery slid out from within and fell onto the quilt.

Valerius picked up the letter.

The handwriting on it was elegant, written by Ella herself.

There was only one sentence.

[If one day I must leave, please forget me.]

Valerius stared at that line of words for a long time.

Then, he crumpled the paper into a ball, clutching it tightly in his palm.

Tears finally fell.

They struck the quilt, blooming into a dark wet patch.

“Liar,” he cursed through his sobs.

“Such a big liar.”

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