103 Pitiful Mages (1/2)

”You must be very unhappy that I didn't come into conflict with the headquarters, right?” asked Roland.

He had been examining Aldo's face as he asked, as if to read Aldo's mind.

At this moment, Aldo looked a little depressed. He seemed to have experienced some major upset in life, and his eyes had no spirit in them and even appeared somewhat numb.

He shook his head numbly at Roland's question. ”It has nothing to do with that. It was the handsome young talent of the Bard family who came, so it's quite normal for him to know when to advance and when to retreat. With the personalities of the Golden Sons, sooner or later you'll be in conflict with the headquarters. I'm in no hurry.”

”Then what the heck is with your lovelorn appearance, Chairman?” Roland found a chair and sat down.

There were extra chairs, but Aldo didn't sit. The dim light in the lab made the chairman's expression seem even gloomier.

”My child is gone!”

Upon hearing this, Roland instead replied with a question. ”I don't recall you having a child.”

”You know I have taken in many female slaves; most of them have relations with me.” Aldo sighed softly. ”Some time ago, when I led them away from the people that came from the headquarters, I hid in a nearby mountain where I have a secret sanctuary. But one day, a woman had a miscarriage, the baby was six months along, and I didn't notice. I didn't know until after she had a miscarriage.”

Posterity was certainly a really important matter. Roland followed with a sigh and said, ”My condolences. Although it's a little improper to say this, you're still young, so why don't you have a few more babies?”

Upon hearing this, Aldo looked at Roland in a strange way. ”Don't you Golden Sons ever worry about having children?”

”We do worry, and this might come to you as a surprise,” Roland shrugged and said, ”I don't have any offspring yet, but I've heard from my elders that raising a child today is a lot of trouble and very expensive.”

Aldo looked at Roland strangely. ”I don't know about what goes on in the plane of the Golden Sons, but it's very difficult for mages to reproduce here.”

Roland froze. ”I'm curious as to why that is.”

”Because of the disparity in individual strength, it's very difficult for ordinary women to conceive the children of professionals—the greater the strength gap is, the smaller the chance is. So people who are professionals tend to link with professionals, and there's a good chance that their child will also be a professional.”

Would professionals gradually become a different species as they grow stronger?

Roland thought for a moment and asked, ”Then it also isn't easy for normal males to impregnate female professionals?”

”Yes, but you could also find a female warrior who's much weaker than you, or some female agility-type professionals, the chances aren't low either. However, they're not easy to find. They like men who are sturdier—we're not their first choice.”

Roland sighed deeply. ”Listening to you speak, I don't even want to be a mage as much anymore.”

Aldo finally laughed at Roland's antics, but he still looked miserable. ”I'll always be blacklisted at the headquarters, and it's almost impossible to find a female mage of similar strength now. I had given up and was going to die with a bunch of ordinary women or adopt a son. I just never imagined that there would be a woman who was pregnant with my blood. I never even imagined that the Magic Goddess would give me hope and then take it away from me.”