Chapter 175 - Negotiation (1/2)

Why did they want to cooperate with Roland? Roland knew their plan very well. A mage devoted to magic wouldn’t be interested in matters beyond magic, which meant that the n.o.bles, as his allies and partners, could wield his power in his place.

Though the mage might seem to be the man in charge, the actual power would be held by his allies and his partners because of his inaction.

In the meantime, the n.o.bles would have a “s.h.i.+eld” on the surface. While splitting up their earnings in private, they could s.h.i.+ft the blame on their “boss” when bad things happened.

Underneath their beautiful promise was a venomous trap.

A less thoughtful man might have fallen for the trap, but Roland wouldn’t lose control of himself just for some insignificant flattery.

He simply shook his head and said, “Not interested.”

“Even the position of shadow mayor can’t interest you?” The old woman looked at him with more confusion than anger. “Then what are you interested in?”

“Magic.” Roland stood up and smiled. “I’m a mage. Isn’t it only natural that I’m interested in magic?”

Then Roland turned and left. He would rather not stay here after the conversation fell out.

The old woman in the room had a pale and awful face.

Roland went downstairs and asked Vivian to go with him.

On their way back to the Magic Tower, Vivian asked, “What did they give you?”

“Huh?” Roland turned around and asked, “How did they convince you to forward the request to meet?”

Vivian said with a sweet smile, “They said that they were going to give you a big gift and you would love it. That’s why I agreed to help them.”

Roland frowned.

“Did they not give you anything?” Vivian’s smile was gone. She became nervous and slightly angry.

“They dug a trap for me and wanted me to jump in.” Roland explained what happened just now.

“I didn’t know that…” Vivian clenched her fists coldly and was about to return to the manor.

But Roland grabbed her hand and said, “Forget it. I didn’t suffer any losses anyway. Besides, it’s just my personal speculation.”

Vivian grew happy when Roland held her hand. “Okay, I’ll listen to you.”

At this moment, White Amber, who had been squatting on Vivian’s shoulder, suddenly hooted.

But Vivian simply ignored the pet.

When they were back at the Magic Tower, Bard came to them.

“I’m planning to return to the capital.” He spoke to Roland casually.

Roland was surprised. “Really? It’s not been half a month yet, has it?”

Bard shook his head and said, “I would love to stay longer. The atmosphere here is great. Everybody is diligent, n.o.body is lazy. It’s probably because their chairman has set an example for them. I’m told that you spend your whole day perfecting spell models without sleeping.”

“You should know that Golden Sons don’t need to sleep.”

“I know. In fact, the young n.o.bles like me don’t sleep much either, but they waste most of their energy on parties and women. In comparison, you’re more like an orthodox mage.” Roland was surprised. “If you like it here, why are you going back so early?”.

“For some important personal business.”

Although Bard could be arrogant and condescending, he had much more common knowledge on magic than anybody else in the Magic Tower did.

In the past few days, the man had unintentionally revealed a lot of anecdotes about mages.

If possible, Roland wished that Bard could stay longer until he offered all of his knowledge.

But now that Bard was determined to leave, Roland couldn’t ask him to stay.

So, Roland could only say, “Have a safe journey.”

“Are you trying to kick me away?” Bard put on a teasing smile. “Right, I’m told that you’re busy with the Spell Puppet. How’s it going?”

“Not bad, but still far from perfection.”