Though dumbfounded, Roland decided to listen on.The Bard narrated that Aslan buried Kira in grief and returned to the secret base of the Hollevin branch of Green Shade, where he informed Kira’s wife of the devastating news.

Then, under Aslan’s consolation and coercion, Kira’s frightened wife had to accept him.

Here, the Bard even sang a dirty song about the helplessness of Kira’s wife in bed, which captivated the alcoholics. In the end, Aslan laid his hands on Kira’s twelve-year-old daughter.

But at this point, Kira’s wife burst into rage. Determined to protect her daughter, she stood up to Aslan.

Aslan, infuriated, didn’t punish the mother and the daughter, but exiled them from the base of Green Shade. Eventually, they went missing, never to be seen again.

That was the end of the narrative poem. The alcoholics who just came back to themselves from the dirty song all despised Aslan.

Even the bottomfeeders had morals in their hearts.

Claiming someone else’s wife and even his daughter was definitely heinous.

Besides, earlier in the story, Green Shade had been hamstringing the protagonists under the excuse that they were protecting nature. The audience had long been angry with them even without the ending.

Roland was quite satisfied. Though the Guild of Bards seemed to have crossed the line in their smearing, Green Shade, who considered human beings a disease, would never come to a humble place like a tavern, so they could never hear it.

Therefore, they would have no reaction to the Bards’ smear campaign.

By the time they realized something was wrong, it was possible they would already be a public enemy in Hollevin.

When that day came, Roland would be happy to see if they would judge human beings from their moral high ground again.

Roland returned to the Magic Tower from the tavern. It was already late at night. Andonara was lying in bed when she heard his footsteps. She immediately walked out.

She was wearing an almost transparent nightgown, same as the one that she wore when Roland first met her.

She was very alluring.

Taking a deep breath, Roland sat down at the edge of the bed.

Andonara embraced him softly, warm and flagrant. They cuddled for quite a while. Roland had to admit that the premarital lessons of the royal family were indeed extraordinary.

They sat next to each other, shoulder to shoulder. Andonara asked in a low voice, “Is this trip because of me?”

“Yes. Hawk said that a sword is sealed in that place, and that the flames it emits are blue, like yours.”

Andonara said happily, “Actually, you don’t have to go out for me. You can focus on your own business. I’m satisfied just to be with you.”

“That’s fine. I don’t have anything else to do anyway.” Roland waved his hand.

“Liar.” Andonara kissed Roland’s face and continued with a smile, “You have countless more spells to work on, and you need to look for the elemental cores. Do you really not have anything to do?”

Roland shrugged.

“That sword,” Andonara whispered, “it may be my great-grandfather’s weapon, Sword of the Hero. I heard about it when I was little. I only knew that it was hidden somewhere by my great-grandfather. I didn’t expect that the Golden Sons would find it!”

Roland was rather surprised. “Why would Hero Kelter hide it instead of leaving it to his children?”

“I don’t know.” Andonara shook her head, her blonde hair flowing like waves. “He didn’t leave any of his Hero equipment for us. I don’t know why.”

“Maybe it’s in Cage’s book!” Roland thought a moment and said, “I’ll ask around in Reed Village before we set off tomorrow.”

Andonara said, “That’s not a bad idea. He might have had a special reason. It’s a shame that you can’t take anyone with you when you teleport, or I would visit my uncle too.”

“Do you want me to bring any gifts for you?” asked Roland.

“Yes, I should prepare some gifts.”

Andonara got up and covered herself in a coat. Then, she was busy.

About half an hour later, Andonara returned with meatloafs, fruits, and some seasonings. She gave all of them to Roland and asked him to put them in the system Backpack.

Then, she returned to bed and went to sleep.

As a player, Roland didn’t need to sleep. He continued optimizing spells, this time those concerning magic arrays.

Christina didn’t know much about magic arrays. Her contractual magic array was just something she memorized.

But through his own analysis and mathematical modeling, Roland had grasped some of the basic applications of magic arrays.

For example, he had learned how to embed spells into the magic arrays through their shells.

He had found the door to the knowledge. What he needed to do next was to open the door so that he could learn all about magic arrays.

That being said, he didn’t have sufficient data for magic arrays, even though he had acquired a lot of data with mathematical models.

He still lacked something critical. Though he had found the door, he still needed a key, or a bomb.

If only he could find information on other magic arrays.

Regretfully, nobody in the Association of Mages in Hollevin knew magic arrays.

When it was dawn, Roland left the Magic Tower and went to Reed Village by teleportation.

Then, he rang the bell of Cage’s manor. Soon, Cage walked down with a woman in heavy makeup that looked like a prostitute.

Roland raised his eyebrow.

Cage stuffed a silver coin into the woman’s cleavage and said to her, “Your service is quite good. I’ll ask for you again next time.”

The woman hesitated with the silver coin. In the end, she sighed at Cage and left unwillingly.

After she left, Cage directed Roland to his living room and smiled. “You must’ve been embarrassed to see that. Please don’t tell Andonara. I would rather keep my image as an uncle before her.”

Roland nearly coughed up the tea in his mouth. He said helplessly, “With all the dirty talk you spoke in front of Andonara, I’m sure that your image has been ruined since a long time ago.”

Cage chuckled but didn’t say anything.

Roland thought for a moment and asked, “Why don’t you marry again if you have such a strong need? It shouldn’t be hard for you to find another beautiful lady, right?”

“Forget it.” Cage shook his head. “As you know, the Reeds are cursed. I already got my wife killed. I would rather not harm anyone else.”

Roland sighed.

Sensing that the atmosphere was heavy, Cage changed the topic. “Right, how is Anna?”

“She’s doing fine. Healthy and pretty.”

“She’s a lot stronger than before, isn’t she?” asked Cage.

Roland was briefly stunned. “You know about that?”

“I heard it. The Bards in many taverns were singing about her stories where she killed the black leaf Golden Sons. The descendants of the Hero bloodline always grow fast when they remove evils,” Cage said in great comfort. “I know that she was avenging me and the victims in Winterwind, so I’m quite happy.”

Now that they were talking about Andonara, Roland seized the chance to take out the gifts from his Backpack and stacked them in a corner of the living room.

Though the gifts weren’t expensive, they were a gesture of love.

After Roland sat down again, Cage smiled and said, “You must be here for something else, aren’t you?”

As a senior who had traveled to a lot of places and met a lot of people, he knew that Roland had a purpose here.

Roland nodded and told him about the fiery sword.

Cage shook his head unconcernedly. “The book did not mention the fate of the Hero equipment, so I’m not sure if the fiery sword you described is the one that Kelter used. You can take it if you want. Why bother asking me?”

“The sword belongs to the Reeds.”

“Anna is a member of this family too. It’s fine for her to claim it, isn’t it?” Cage said angrily. “Don’t think that we won’t acknowledge her anymore after she follows you.”

Well… Roland felt that he had underestimated Cage’s generosity.

After chit-chatting with Cage for a while, Roland said goodbye to him. After all, the rest of the team were waiting for him to go to Bluewater Harbor.

Teleporting back to Delpon from Reed Village, Roland shook his dizzy head and met the fully-armed Andonara, lightly-suited Vincent, and the girl from the Water God Church at the city gate.

The Priest girl was named Liz. She seemed to be a college student.

The system Backpack of the players was very convenient.

Roland bought a carriage, and Liz drove it. They did not hire a driver.

As a Priest of the Water God Church, she worked hard to make money every day, and she had ridden too many carriages.

She even picked up a specialization, Carriage Familiarity. Not only could she drive a carriage smoothly and quickly , but even the horses would need less food.

It was not scientific at all.

Bluewater Harbor was not far from Delpon, and there was no trouble on the way. It only took them five days to reach the gate of Bluewater Harbor.

Before they entered the city, they had smelled the intense stink of seawater.

The city gate was wide open, and caravans were entering and exiting busily.

More importantly, no taxes were levied on those who entered the city, exactly like Delpon after Roland controlled it.

In the city, Roland looked at the streets that were even busier than those in Delpon and remarked, “The mayor of this city must’ve either hired players as advisors or been usurped by players, like in Delpon.”

Vincent asked in surprise, “How so?”

“The business atmosphere here is too intense. Also…” Pointing at a team who was patrolling the street, Roland said, “Do you not find their gait familiar?”

The patrolling team was strutting in goose steps, like soldiers who were trained for parades.