Using the excuse of an urgent need to pee, Tess pulled her brother Liam into the bathroom that reeked of perfume.
“Brother!” she urged anxiously.
“This is too suspicious! There’s no such thing as a free lunch falling from the sky!”
“Why can’t it be that a noble appreciates my talent?”
Liam still seemed stubbornly deluded.
“There are so many talented people in the world. Why would it be our turn?”
“Why not our turn? Can’t it be that we’re just lucky? Can’t it be that we have something unique?”
Liam grabbed his sister Tess by the shoulders and shook her hard.
His features twisted with excitement into something almost ferocious.
“Sister! That’s magic! Real magic! As long as we agree, you’ll become a Combatant master who can use magic!”
“Brother, wake up!”
Tess stared blankly at Liam, whose very expression had changed.
“I am awake.”
“This isn’t being awake at all!”
Liam released Tess and turned around, his movements slightly unsteady.
The mirror reflected his impeccably dressed appearance.
He had never been this dignified in his entire life.
“Brother, enough!”
Tess could no longer hold back.
Gazing at the unfamiliar back before her, tears in her eyes, she finally poured out the words she had been suppressing in her heart.
“Do you really think your idea is that clever? Do you really think others wouldn’t have thought of such a simple thing?”
“No! They’re just afraid of making a big scene, sullying the Hero’s reputation, and having the Hero come knocking on their door!”
“They want you to be the target that the Hero will hold a grudge against!”
Liam turned back and said very calmly:
“I know.”
“You know and you’re still being foolish?”
“So what?”
Liam’s voice finally began to carry anger.
His eyes reddened as he retorted:
“Is my life worth much? Is my life something precious?”
“So what, sister?”
“From nine to nine, trembling in fear, every day I earn so little I can’t even afford to see a doctor, only enough to buy you some hard-to-swallow black bread. No woman looks up to me, anyone can bully me. I struggle like a maggot in the sewers of the Capital.”
“Tell me, is a life like that worth anything?”
“I don’t want to be poor anymore! I don’t want to muddle along like this anymore!”
He pointed a trembling finger at his own sternum, his knuckles shaking.
“Sister, I want to live with dignity for once. Even if it means death—I want to try!”
He turned his head away, hardening his heart, not looking at his sister’s expression.
His voice was cold and hostile.
“As for you… I know what you’re afraid of.”
“You’re afraid it’s not going to school, but becoming some noble’s mistress. You’re afraid of sullying your pure body.”
“No matter how poor, useless, and accomplished you are, you can always marry a local man and never worry about food or drink. How easy for you, why would you need to take such a life-risking gamble?”
The expected slap came.
Liam didn’t dodge, but the sound on his face was unexpectedly soft.
He slowly turned his head and stared at his sister’s reddened eyes.
Suddenly, all the emotions dissipated.
Tess didn’t explain anything.
After the slap, all her strength drained away.
She leaned against the wall, silently crying.
Drip, drip.
Waterdrops struggling to escape from the brass faucet fell into the basin and shattered.
The sound of the ticking second hand was eventually swallowed into the sewer.
After a long time,
Liam couldn’t hold back and spoke first.
Thousands of words ended with a dejected: “It was your brother’s fault.”
Tess looked up, her young and immature face breaking into a bright smile at Liam.
“Brother, that’s not what I meant. Actually, you really do have some talent.”
Liam forced a faint smile but ultimately couldn’t bring himself to respond to that.
He knew best what kind of person he was.
But even rotten grass in a crevice wants to grow toward the sky.
Who would want to live a life of self-deception in darkness forever?
Back in the reception room, Rag had already been waiting for the two of them for a long time.
Under his polite smile lay a hint of mockery.
“So?” he asked, confident of the siblings’ answer.
After all, it was a condition no Commoner could refuse.
“I—”
Liam was about to say something, but Tess cut him off first.
“Lord Lage, we agree.”
Liam looked at Tess in astonishment.
Tess didn’t look at him, her gaze exceptionally serious.
“Wise decision.”
Rag nodded approvingly.
“Wait.”
Liam hesitated, then nervously asked, “Lord Lage, which noble magic school are you referring to?”
“It’s a private school, not open to the public.”
Rag laughed heartily.
“Don’t worry. Although the school is fully enclosed, there will be opportunities to go home and visit every two weeks.”
“Oh.”
Liam let out a sigh of relief.
‘Could it really be that a free lunch was falling from the sky?’
After losing that drive to escape poverty, he felt inexplicably uneasy again.
After finalizing the “investment,” Rag took out a contract containing the power of the God of Justice for the siblings to sign.
Having signed the contract, the two left the Brotherhood Headquarters as if in a dream.
Liya, who was attached to the ceiling, did not leave immediately.
Instead, she continued to lurk, hoping to eavesdrop on more critical intelligence.
And sure enough—she struck gold.
After handling Tess and Liam’s matter, Rag dismissed all the servants and went to a study.
He moved six books out of place and opened a secret underground passage.
Liya marked arrows along the way to guide Joen, then sneakily followed down.
There was a hidden world beneath the headquarters.
However, it was not the prison for storing “goods” that Liya had imagined, but an exceptionally ancient and intricate majestic altar.
Rag poured the sacrificial blood stored beside the altar into a groove, casually cast a fireball magic, and ignited the processed sacrificial blood.
In an instant, an ancient seal representing a Demon Overlord appeared in the center of the altar.
Blazing flames suddenly erupted from the center of the seal.
The flames formed a rough giant hand that tore open space itself.
Beyond the space was an underground cave illuminated by lava.
A massive Flame Demon soaking in a churning lava pool.
Even though it was a Flame Demon, it exuded a casual and lazy aura.
“Lord Lageluonasi!”
Rag knelt in fervent worship.
“I have found the girl who meets the requirements of that noble in the palace. Her name is Tess. She is compatible with the Second Demon God’s Power, born during the Time of Seven Stars Conjunction, and has the rare Ancient Warrior Bloodline… You can send her to that noble at any time.”
“No rush.”
The Flame Demon Emperor grabbed a handful of roasted humanoid monsters and tossed them into his mouth like snacks.
His lazy demeanor, like a homebound fat otaku, left Liya speechless.
No wonder the Imperial Capital’s feng shui nurtures demons.
Even a great demon turns into this after coming to the capital.
“Behind you, I sense a magic power that I find very annoying… albeit very faint.”
The Flame Demon Emperor suddenly spoke.
His eyes, formed by high-temperature soul flames, slowly fixed on Liya’s hiding spot.
“Heh—”
The Flame Demon Emperor casually exhaled a puff of flame.
But the fire passed through the altar and turned into a blazing hot flaming tyrannosaurus, lunging straight at Liya.
Liya’s hair stood on end.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she directly detonated the Jelly Heart she had left in the Hero’s hand.
The next second, the fire hot enough to melt steel engulfed Liya.
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