Chapter 662 - Pre-Ceremony Preparation (1/2)

Chapter 662: Pre-Ceremony Preparation

Ann was looking much better when Rhode returned to the drawing room. Perhaps thanks to Marlene and Lize’s comfort, the young lady no longer looked as pained anymore. She stood up and gazed at Rhode worriedly as though a convict on the defendant’s seat apprehensively waiting for the judge to announce his judgment.

“I’ve understood your situation.”

Rhode said without any hesitation. Ann shivered and looked at the man before her. However, before she had the chance to speak, Rhode swiftly spoke his mind.

“Miss Clark, you can stay in my Land of Atonement. The dark energy inside you is nothing more than a sequela left from the Cultists’ ritual. It’s a pity that this energy has merged with your soul and can’t be removed. You can only accept your fate that you’ll need to live on with this energy for the rest of your life. But you don’t need to worry about this. I will get someone to resolve this problem for you. If you wish to stay in Land of Atonement, you will need to work for me. What do you think? Miss Clark, I don’t keep any subordinates who idle around doing nothing.”

Rhode’s frightening words weren’t just to scare her off. In fact, it was the truth. Even though Anne always ate and slept all day, she showed outstanding determination whenever she headed into battle. Even though Christie had no contributions in battle, she was still responsible for designing the Constructs for Lapis in the alchemy workshop. If Ann were to stay in the fortress, she would need to do some work too.

“I agree!”

Ann nodded without any hesitation. This was her last hope as only death awaited her if Rhode didn’t lend a helping hand to her. And now, since the Sir Overlord was willing to provide shelter for her, she was willing to do whatever he wanted!

“Good.”

Rhode nodded in satisfaction before turning around.

“Agatha, prepare a room for this young lady here. Miss Clark, its late now. Have a good rest and we’ll discuss everything else tomorrow.”

“Okay… Thank you very much, Sir Overlord.”

After laying down the burden that had been bugging her for a long time, Ann quickly sensed deep exhaustion hitting her heavily. She had been drowned in despair, worries, and the fear of death along the way. She hadn’t had a good sleep in a while. Ever since she was forced to leave her home, every night had been torturous to her. Back then, surviving had become an extravagant hope for her. But now, the dark clouds clouding her mind finally dispersed. She bowed respectfully to Rhode and left the drawing room under Agatha’s lead. Rhode shrugged before turning to the two young ladies.

“Marlene, Miss Clark will temporarily follow your lead starting tomorrow. You can let her play second fiddle and I think she’s capable of that. I hope that you can educate her with some positive knowledge regarding dark energy so as to avoid her worrying if she will become a walking corpse one day.”

“Yes, Mr. Rhode.”

Marlene let out a chuckle and nodded swiftly. However, she knew that Rhode was serious about his remarks. Ordinary people who weren’t educated in magical knowledge treated all magical and spiritual powers as though the curse of the Devils. As a Mage, Marlene definitely wouldn’t tolerate such ignorant behavior. In fact, even if Rhode didn’t mention it, Marlene would also find the right time to talk to Ann about it. After all, this problem wasn’t a small one.

Humans were always afraid of the unknown and deep fear would only lead to two outcomes: one would either escape or yield to extreme fear. It was just like the phrase ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’. There were many times when those born with gifted strength failed to overcome the concept of fear in their mind and ended up falling from grace and becoming the thing they feared the most. This way, there would be nothing that they were afraid of anymore.

“Lize.”

Rhode turned around.

“I guess this matter regarding Miss Clark will spread throughout the entire Land of Atonement in a few days. I want you to represent us in speaking to the Church about this. Inform them about the truth and seek their corporation.”

“No problem, Mr. Rhode.”

Lize agreed without any hesitation. After receiving their affirmations, Rhode finally felt relieved.

In fact, even though Rhode had acted apathetically to Ann, he actually valued her highly as she would be a great addition to his forces.

In fact, when he had heard from Shauna that Ann had sought assistance from them, an idea cropped up in his head. Rhode lacked manpower the most. In terms of politics, the schoolmates whom Marlene had recruited could barely fill the gaps. But there was a distinct shortcoming in another aspect—and that was business.

Even though Rhode had been working with several trade associations, they were simply partners, after all. The only merchant he had authority over was Matt. But Rhode wouldn’t hand over every business operations to the fat merchant. First, one shouldn’t put all eggs in one basket. Secondly, Matt was a wily old fox, after all. Although he worked well with Rhode, he was still an adult who had gone through challenging experiences while climbing up the business world and cultivated his personality and independence. Even though he felt delightful working with Rhode, it wasn’t possible for him to stay loyal. Moreover, Matt had built up his own career from scratch and there were many times he wished to be responsible for his own business. This was a factor of objective. Rhode couldn’t possibly request Matt to sell his family away and give all his life to him. However, Rhode currently didn’t have great candidates on hand and could only temporarily make do with what he had. Marlene was born in a noble family. Even though she had a keen political mind about the general picture, she held the arrogance of the nobles and wasn’t interested in interacting with lower classes like the merchants. Rhode also couldn’t imagine Marlene being a traveling merchant and bargaining with others… The image didn’t match her at all.

He didn’t need to consider Lize as a choice because while she might be a kind young lady, kindness would be a lethal flaw as a merchant. Besides, Lize wasn’t great in this aspect either. As for the others… They weren’t even worth mentioning.

It was due to this that an idea cropped up in Rhode’s mind after he received Shauna’s report.

Even though he didn’t have too many interactions with Ann Clark, he understood a little about her background after rescuing her back then. She was born into a merchant family in Cole Plateau and was the eldest daughter of the Clark family. She lived a decent life and there weren’t any ridiculous rumors about this rich young lady. Most of the comments about her was that she was a quiet and obedient young girl. Apart from this, she had also inherited her father’s talent in commercial business. After Ann turned 15, she had often followed her father for commercial negotiations while her father had praised her highly.

Of course, it might be an overstatement, judging that the praises were from her father. But even so, this was a great start for Rhode. If he could make use of her talent, it would be great for Starlight and the business development of Grenbell. Besides, unlike Matt, Ann had been cut off from her close ones and could only rely on herself to survive in this world. Rhode wasn’t worried that she would become a traitor. It would be good enough as long as she wholeheartedly worked for him.