Chapter 94: He's Worthy to be Won Over
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
What do you mean 'must be the great sage of the Door'? Finding the whole situation to be ludicrous, Baiyi asked in the Void. Has your Conundrum Door always been so fanatic and self-assured ?
"Well, of course! We're all scholars after all," the Scholar replied confidently, "But in my opinion, why don't you just take this opportunity to claim this identity as yours. Although the great sage of the Door of the Conundrum is not a hugely important title but at least it's not a cheap-ass title either. You can use this to your advantage!"
Listening to the Scholar who was always proper and refrained from using the word 'cheap-ass', Baiyi had an even stronger urge to laugh out loud. For a moment, he put on a thinking face in reality and ignored both Vidomina and the president while he continued to talk to the Walkers in the Void.
The Door of the Conundrum was actually an academy organization and in their assessment of the great sage, they did not take into account of the person's innate capability nor his rank, instead, they put more emphasis on academic achievements--- it was not only limited to knowledge of power but included natural geography, aspects of history and cultures as well. For the past few thousand years, they had already produced countless great sage in the realm.
Owing to the fact that the organization had been around for a long time, there were too many members and coupled with the unsystematic internal management of the organization, nobody had ever recorded the names of all of the great sages that were produced by the Door of the Conundrum. Therefore, as long as Baiyi was able to take out the Seal of the Great Sage as a proof of his identity, then nobody would dare to doubt his identity.
Just like the Scholar said, such an academic organization that stood aloof and apart from the world was indeed suited to disguise Baiyi's true identity.
Even the Archmage agreed with the suggestion, "This is quite a good proposal! We would eventually have to solve that identity problem of yours so since now an opportunity presented itself to you, not mentioning the fact that this identity suits you as well, why don't you just accept it then?"
Well, I have no problem in faking my identity but how about this girl in front of me? Baiyi continued to ask, In truth, I don't think that a Saint Quartz staff is enough for me to get my hands dirty but the fact that she's a Duke's daughter made me wonder... Hmmm, Sir Apprentice, have you heard of this Duke of Wright?
"Back then, he was only an Earl and his family was not that prominent either. Later, he managed to gain some fame by reclaiming a new realm and in the most recent Southlander Civil War, he gave his support to the current royal family, Walthart, in which he had managed to achieve notable merits. For this reason, he was promoted from Earl to Duke, his territory includes the whole of Arfin city and right now, we're actually standing on his land," the Apprentice briefly introduced Vidomina's family background.
Ah, is that so? Hmm interesting... A mortally ill Duke and an inexperienced naive girl. Don't you think it would be a little wasteful if I don't use this situation to my advantage? That's it! I've decided to help this little girl out, what do you guys think?" Baiyi asked the rest of them.
"Of course you need to help! Not only that, you MUST help her as much as you can!" the Lich who usually would not do any good deeds was the first one to jump out enthusiastically in support of Baiyi.
"In this matter, I have the same view with this evil pile of bones. If we can have some influence over a Duke, it would no doubt be much useful than repairing armor for ten thousands of people. This is also a common ploy that the Church usually uses," the Cleric added in. From his title, one could guess that he was quite insightful in that regard.
"Oh, no, no, no! We don't share the same view at all! You just want to exert your influence so that the people in this territory gradually accept the existence of the Voidwalker, right? Let me tell you, this is impossible! I think you know better than I do the style of the Church! The only way we have is to take control of this little girl in front of us by turning her into our puppet and let her be a Duchess, then only can we create a territory that is willing to stand against the Church!" The Lich explained himself. Yeah, this sounds more like his style...
As usual, those two guys had taken things a little too far and they were too idealistic. What Baiyi needed was rationality, so he quickly stopped War of 'Good VS Evil' before it could begin and said, I won't aid her too much nor will I kill her whole family and push her up to the be Duchess. Let alone putting my hope on this Duke's territory to go against the Church and the rest of the world. I will only give her the recommendation that she wants and that's all!
Having said that, turning to the Scholar, he asked, Lady Scholar, based on your understanding on the Door of the Conundrum, what do you think about the possibility of her entering the door before her father pass away?
"Basically zero!" The Scholar replied, "If the blood curse is something that can be broken so easily, then it wouldn't be called the most vicious curse in the world anymore! Being able to save herself is an almost impossible thing, let alone her dying father."
It's alright, let her come to me by herself then , Baiyi announced his final decision. The two pawns--- Vidomina and the Immortal Level sorcerer was already in the palm of his hand. All he needed to do was to wait patiently.
Back in reality, he moved his limbs slightly and proceeded to stand back up before taking the Saint Quartz staff from Vidomina's hand. With a low voice, he said, "There are a few things that I need to do now that I almost forgot about. Alright, I will recommend you."
Happiness crept up on Vidomina's face at once. Immediately, she rummaged through her robe and took out a recommendation letter that was already pre-written and lifted it up for Baiyi. Baiyi raised one hand and tapped one finger lightly on the end of the parchment where an eccentric rune immediately appeared on the place that he had touched.
That was the Seal of the Great Sage of the Door of the Conundrum. Appearance wise, it looked like a uniquely shaped rune, but only those who knew about the rune could see it. In truth, it was actually a miniature formation that was disguised as a rune.
"Thank you very much, Master Hope! You've not only saved my father but you also saved all of the commoners of the Southland from the flames of war..." Vidomina proclaimed.
Whoa, really? To that extent? C'mon the Southland is so peaceful right now! I don't believe that the death of a Duke would be able to cause a civil war that easily. Hello? This is not Sarajevo and you're not a Ferdinand okay? 1 Baiyi shook his head inwardly before he replied, "Then I guess there's nothing between us anymore, I'll take my leave."
"Let me show my gratitude to you for the last time," Respectfully, Vidomina thanked him simultaneously bowing deeply in front of him, exposing the pair of voluptuous mounds in front of him.
NO SH*T! This girl is not much older than Mia, right? W-Why is hers so... so huge? Baiyi thought to himself in shock. Before that, the mounds were contained in her sorceress robe so they weren't so obvious but with just one bow, he could see the shape of them clearly right in front of his eyes. It's basically bigger than Mia, Tisdale and Undine combined! Okay, maybe Mia's is too small to even be counted in but why is your body developing so fast?
S-Should I start feeding milk to Mia from now on? She stands out so well in every aspect but when it comes to this, why does she lose out so much compared to the others? Baiyi wondered to himself as he walked out of the president's office.
After the door was shut, a look of relief immediately appeared on Vidomina's face. Giving a small smile towards the president, she said, "You were right, President Rhansey. Master Hope is indeed an amiable person. I'm sure he's very satisfied with my gift, right?"
"Indeed. I've heard rumours that he takes exceptional care towards his practitioner, just like a fatherly figure. That was why I was certain that you would definitely get his help if you told him the truth," the president's face was also filled with relief. Facing the pressure from the Duke and the academy's tradition over a long period of time put a great burden on him. Now that the problem was resolved, he finally could get the load off his mind and for that reason, he was definitely on Baiyi's side.
"I'll contact Kertz the Great Sage now!" Vidomina said as she quickly took out a crystal that was designed to look like a mirror. Through a special Communication Formation, she established a connection with her good-for-nothing advisor. In fact, he was the one who deduced Baiyi's identity and also the one who recommended Vidomina to go to him for help.
The moment the connection was established, a bald old man appeared in the mirror and when he saw the relaxed smile on Vidomina's face, he quickly asked, "Milady, you've convinced Master Hope?"
"Yes, Master Hope is very understanding!" Vidomia said as she lifted up the parchment to show him the Seal of the Great Sage that Baiyi had left behind.
"Alright... Try to activate the seal using your Mana. Yeah, that's right, just like that, just a slight bit of Mana will do," the good-for-nothing advisor added.
Vidomina quickly did as she was told and instantly, bright rays of light emitted from the seal filling the room at once. In this array of lights, books after books that were opened could be seen floating in the air, surrounding a faint fuzzy figure.
The entire process lasted only a few seconds. Within seconds, the light and shadow gradually disappeared and the seal returned to how it was in the first place. Although it might look like a simple image, it was actually not easy to add such an image into a tiny seal! Many great sages only knew how to use it but did not understand the principle and mystery behind the seal. To the Door of Conundrum, they only needed that tiny seal to prove the identity of a great sage as they believed that a person powerful enough to crack and forge the seal itself was already more than qualified to hold the title of 'the Great Sage'.
"This is indeed the genuine Seal of the Great Sage!" Kertz the Great Sage exclaimed excitedly, "It seems like my deduction was correct after all! Now that it's like this, things will be much easier now. Please come to the Tower of Knowledge as soon as possible and I'll welcome you at the Door of Conundrum. I've also managed to find a few information about the Duke's curse so soon you'll be able to start your research!"
"Thank you so much for your help, Kertz the Great Sage!" Vidomina thanked him politely. Even though he was once a subordinate of her father, she did not put up the facade of a superior at all.
"Don't thank me, I'm merely repaying the Duke's kindness to me. As for this Master Hope, you must get closer to him before you come here, Milady. A great sage like him who is equipped with both theoretical knowledge and real combat skill is the most worthy to be won over!" The lousy advisor added.