Chapter 274 - Turning Poin

Born as an elite from the royal family, Antis was truly a great speaker.

He had spoken as if the king was only ruthless for the sake of his country.

Normal people might’ve been fooled, but Roland wasn’t, and nor would most players be.

Antis’s defense, which was purely focused on the difficulties of the king but ignored the losses of others, could’ve only tricked young, unsophisticated people.

As long as they kept an open mind, they would only be amused when they heard his reasons.

It was already dawn. Roland left the city through the main road and activated the Long-Distance Teleportation spell.

Back in the royal palace, the king looked at Antis and asked, “Have you said everything you should?”

“Yes.” Antis nodded and said, “But I don’t think he’ll buy it.”

“Why?”

Antis replied, “Because he is a Mage. Although most Mages are only smart in terms of magic, Roland is an exception. After my encounters with him, it has occurred to me that he is well-educated and has his own opinions on what’s right and what’s wrong.”

“Are you saying that we might fail to draw Roland to our side?” asked the king.

Antis nodded.

The king closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Then he said, “Then just change our target. Find the Golden Sons who are mediocre, easy to control, and have obvious likes and dislikes, preferably the unsocial ones. Give them whatever they want, just so that they can stop the other Golden Sons from attacking us when it’s necessary.”

Antis said, “After three months of investigation, and based on the data from the Guild of Mercenaries, we have found about four thousand Golden Sons that meet our needs.”

“Let them be sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, or lieutenants in the military. Their salary will be twice that of the officers of the same level.” The king thought for a moment and said, “Only the undying can deal with the undying.”

“But they’re mediocre and can’t defeat the stronger Golden Sons.”

“The gap between them can’t be that huge.” The king smiled. “They can stall the stronger Golden Sons because they’re undying too. Besides, if our plan works, the Golden Sons will be divided.”

“But there are five hundred thousand Golden Sons in total, according to them,” Antis said worriedly. “Four thousand people are just a tiny portion.”

“Ours is not the only country in this world. It’s already good enough to include several thousand Golden Sons in our bureaucratic system.” The king smiled unconcernedly. “Our country is too small for so many Golden Sons. They’ll travel to vaster countries beyond Hollevin after they grow stronger. Like lions and eagles, they will leave Hollevin for Fareins, Urganda, the country of orcs, the country of dwarves, or even Rhodes Island.”

Antis took a breath in relief. He felt that the king had a point.

“What we need to do is to ensure that our honor, our influence, and our system are not greatly compromised before they go, or it will be difficult for us to recover later.”

On the other hand, Roland gagged as usual after he teleported back to Delpon. Then, he returned to the Magic Tower and began to study new spells.

Thanks to his new level and his experience in analyzing and reconstructing spells, Roland knew magic models very well now.

He could learn most of the level-one spells within three hours and use them freely in six.

The level-two spells were trickier, but it would take him no more than two days to learn them.

When he was about to pick up all the level-one and level-two spells, Hawk and Link returned from the Elf Forest.

They were incapable of Long-Distance Teleportation, which could’ve saved them a lot of time despite the nauseating side effects.

They had been riding horses as fast as they could, but they were still caught up in a lot of trouble along the way.

For example, when there was a storm, they had to look for hideouts and sometimes had to wait for two days.

At night, they were troubled not just by insects but also by magical beasts.

It was during these moments that they missed a Mage who could present a comfortable house to them anytime.

On the other hand, they did not know the local tongues.

With Roland’s Unhindered Communication, they could’ve listened, talked, and even read.

Supposedly, Rommel was capable of Language Proficiency, too, as a Priest. But since he quit, there was no one else who knew that skill.

All in all, they were dumb and deaf throughout the journey. It was inconvenient for them to buy food and they couldn’t rest well.

They needed to rest now and then, though they didn’t have to sleep. After all, their stamina was limited.

In the end, they almost had a meltdown.

After they finally returned to Hollevin and could talk again, Hawk read on the forum of his guild that Vincent, one of the shareholders of the guild, quit, and Roland was behind it.

So, he rushed to Delpon and went straight to the Magic Tower without drinking any water.

He found Vincent first and tried to persuade him to return to the guild.

But while practicing Inferior Fireball, Vincent said casually, “We agreed earlier that it’s fine to join or quit the guild. Besides, I didn’t ask you to return my funds. You should be happy now that you have more dividends after a shareholder quits.”

Hawk certainly could not admit that he and the chairman wanted Vincent to increase his investment.

Therefore, he came to Roland in a hurry.

“Please help me convince Vincent to return.”

Roland sat opposite Hawk and said, “Vincent is an adult who is free to go anywhere and do whatever he wants. It’s not my business.”

“If you hadn’t deceived him…”

Roland raised his hand to stop Hawk from going on. “I know what you’re going to say next, but just keep it to yourself. We’re both adults. You know that our guilds must be separated after all the conflicts, and since Vincent is between us, he has to make a choice. You know very well whether I deceived him or not.”

“I know that we were wrong,” Hawk said solemnly, “but don’t you think it’s a shame if our alliance is completely ruined because of that?”

“No, it’s not a shame to me,” Roland replied solemnly. “It’s the third time that you’ve completely ignored our interests for your own, and no mistakes should be repeated thrice!”