While Isaiah was busy contacting the client, Roland took the opportunity to organize her current affairs.
Aside from the matter of her title, which had a little over a month remaining, she needed to increase the manor’s staff, handle the aftermath of the magic mine, cultivate her relationship with Mia daily, uncover the truth behind the demon revival, learn magic, understand this world, and manage various other miscellaneous tasks.
It was a miracle she could keep it all straight. The mess Edmond had caused was enough of a headache on its own. While the magic mine and hiring could be left to the butler, the rest required her personal attention.
[Respected and beautiful Miss Roland, this lowly one has a question and is unsure whether it should be asked.]
The system appeared before Roland, a rare occurrence.
“What question?”
[Have you never thought about training Mia? With her talent, as long as she becomes a Blessed One, she would undoubtedly become your strongest combatant in less than half a month. Even the demons might not be a match for her.]
“You haven’t opened your mouth in a century, and you show up just to ask this?”
[Yes, deary.]
Roland had grown accustomed to the system’s strange quirks and its affected, sycophantic attitude. No matter what cringeworthy or disgusting words it spat out now, her composure remained unshaken.
“It’s simple. She is the daughter, and I am the mother. She only needs to enjoy a stable life for now. As for the trivial matters, I will solve them myself.”
[Oh my, why must you shoulder everything yourself? Sometimes, properly relying on others isn’t necessarily a bad thing.]
“Strange. You seem very invested in this. Is there something in it for you?”
[Of course. The greatest benefit is allowing my master, Roland, to experience a more complete and happy life as a mother.]
“Smooth talker. Since you’re here, check how my relationship with Mia is progressing.”
[It has currently surpassed 20%! You are only 5% away from the next reward node.]
“What is the next reward?”
[You will find out when the time comes.]
“Fine. Finally, show me my attribute panel, and then stay quiet.”
[As you command, Lord.]
The final characters flashed across the panel before the content shifted to Roland’s current attributes.
[Roland von Ackerman]
[Basic Attributes: Strength 0.9, Agility 1, Constitution 1, Spirit 3, Charisma 2, Inspiration 15]
[Mana: 30/30]
[Blessing: None]
[Daughter: Mia (Click to view detailed attributes)]
[Motherhood Points: 82 (2/10)]
She hadn’t checked in a while, and the attributes had changed more than she expected. The most unique among them was the Motherhood Points; she hadn’t reached the daily limit because she had only shared a brief interaction with Mia this morning.
The next highlight was her Mana. Compared to the last time she checked, the amount had exactly doubled. The Spirit attribute governed not only the maximum mana limit but also mental strength and the speed and stability of constructing magic circuits.
The increase in Spirit was likely due to Roland’s tireless studying and research into magic over the past few days.
However, the increase in her Inspiration attribute was quite eerie. Even though she had done nothing, it had mysteriously increased by two points, as if it were on auto-level.
So far, such high Inspiration hadn’t practically affected her life. If anything, the frequency of nightmares and auditory hallucinations at night had increased, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle.
After reviewing her own attributes, Roland pressed her finger on Mia’s name, and Mia’s attributes were reflected in her eyes.
[Mia]
[Basic Attributes: Strength 0.5, Agility 0.5, Constitution 0.8, Spirit 10, Charisma 1.5, Inspiration 5]
[Mana: 100/100]
[Blessing: True Word, Blindness, Ethereal Step (Goddess of Hope) (Inactive)]
[Potential: Light Affinity 100%, Extrasensory Magic Intuition (Can be enhanced using Motherhood Points)]
As the saying goes, comparisons are odious. While Roland was struggling every day to earn Motherhood Points for stat boosts, Mia had started the game with a god-tier build. Those 10 points of Spirit and the 100 Mana limit alone made Roland green with envy.
Thinking of this, Roland couldn’t resist adding two points to her own Spirit attribute. 20 Motherhood Points instantly vanished into thin air, and her Mana limit finally reached half of Mia’s.
Aside from that, Mia’s three blessings were worth pondering. If the system hadn’t displayed them directly, Roland might never have known that the Goddess of Hope had bestowed blessings in advance.
Didn’t this mean that before being adopted, Mia had already been in contact with people from the Church?
If Roland hadn’t suddenly intervened, would Mia’s original life path have involved being adopted by the Church and naturally becoming the Saint of Light?
It had to be said that Roland was very lucky to have adopted Mia and established an emotional bond before that happened.
As for the last column regarding potential, there wasn’t much to see. She had known about the former since her time at the convent, and the latter was evident from Mia’s state whenever she learned magic.
All in all, the future looked boundless with plenty of room for growth—provided there was a future.
Roland closed the system panel and turned her gaze to the desk in front of her.
A thick book sat on the table with “A General History of Antalya” written on the cover. It was a gift from Isaiah before they left the church.
She had skimmed through it earlier; the content recorded within was vast. The oldest records could be traced back to the birth of humanity and the descent of the gods, spanning over three thousand years of major historical events.
This included, but was not limited to, the Holy Wars of Faith, the Imperial Millennium War, the Magic-Tech Revolution, and the Hero vs. Demon King sagas. It would likely take a considerable amount of time to finish reading it all.
Interestingly, the card game Roland had played with Nessa was based on the Imperial Millennium War; it was called King’s Cards.
The main gameplay involved players drawing a racial identity and then drawing random cards each turn to decide the winner based on the hand. It could be played very simply or with extreme complexity.
Just then, Nessa led Mia into the bedroom. She said, “Miss Roland, Mia says she wants to play cards with you.”
“Hm?” Roland turned around to see Mia holding a stack of colorful cards, looking at her with eyes shining. “Playing cards, is it…”
Realizing it would still be a while before news came from Isaiah, she decided to agree. It was a good chance to earn some Motherhood Points.
King’s Cards could be played with one to five players. Each player randomly drew one card from five major races and their affiliated sub-races. The major races were Humans, Elves, Bloodborn, Dragons, and Demons.
The three of them sat around the bedroom desk. Roland picked up her card and saw she had drawn the most overpowered identity: the Demon race. Mia was Human, and Nessa was an Elf.
Roland put on an act and said, “Prepare to face the terrifying reign of Demon King Roland!”
Then she drew Goblins as her starting sub-race. It wasn’t great; she would have preferred a resource card.
Mia had the best luck, drawing Dwarves, who could actively craft equipment. Dwarves were considered T1-tier sub-races.
Once the identities were settled, they each drew five random cards, and the game officially began.
During the game, unless necessary, players were not supposed to interrupt each other’s thoughts, making the atmosphere very quiet.
Briefly casting aside the annoying chores, Roland immersed herself fully in the game. She knew this might be her only time to rest; after this, she wouldn’t be able to stop until the greatest trouble was completely resolved.
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