Chapter 22: Counting the Spoils of War

Beside the campfire, Luoning was counting the items belonging to the Magician Pedro.

Aside from four pieces of parchment, the small black pouch contained 3 gold, 57 silver, and 256 copper coins; adding the 2 gold, 18 silver, and 153 copper coins scavenged from the two other slain Knights, Luoning had made quite a significant gain in money.

Oh right, the armor on those two Knights had also been stripped off by Luoning for his own use; two sets of full plate armor, the quality not top-tier but not bad either, estimated to be worth no less than 30 gold each, making 60 gold coins for the pair.

It was just a pity that Luoning's build wasn't a great fit, so he could only award one set to Maiken and keep the other in reserve.

When he had put that set of armor away at the time, the Knight Kaine of the Green Family had been so envious he was nearly drooling.

Unfortunately, Luoning had been their savior, and he was a member of the Wushan Family, so Kaine could only watch and stare helplessly.

Actually, Luoning had considered whether to take the Intermediate Knight equipment from that warrior of the Gelin Family as well, but after thinking it over, he didn't.

He was a kind-hearted person and couldn't bring himself to do something so excessive.

Besides these obvious spoils, Pedro also had a fine quill (though it was unclear if it was actually goose feather), three small crystal bottles, and a purple crystal the size of a thumb.

Luoning opened a bottle cap, and a fishy, foul odor wafted out; he looked closely and saw that the liquid inside seemed to contain tiny, glistening specks.

"These three bottles must contain the Magic Beast Heart Blood that Pedro used to make Spell Scrolls, right?"

Pedro had mentioned before that to make Spell Scrolls, one needed to use Magic Beast Heart Blood mixed with Magic Core Powder or Magic Crystal Powder.

This tiny bottle of material was likely worth a fortune.

Finally, Luoning looked at the purple crystal, his mood fluctuating violently for a moment.

"This... this wouldn't be a Magic Crystal, would it??"

A Magic Crystal was worth over a hundred gold coins; if this thing were a Magic Crystal, Luoning would have made a killing.

It was just a pity that he hadn't found any images related to Magic Crystals in the memories of his predecessor, so he couldn't judge.

As for asking the sister and brother of the Gelin Family...

Luoning would absolutely never do such a stupid thing; what if they said they wanted a share of it?

"Keep it for now; one day I'll figure it out."

Luoning put all the spoils into his Space Ring; this time, saving people had been a very fruitful endeavor.

As expected, Transcendental beings are wealthy; one robbery—oh no, one rescue—had such a bountiful harvest, it really made one feel physically and mentally delighted.

Therefore, sometimes people do need to have a bit of a sense of justice, just like Luoning.

He laughed happily for a while, then composed himself and began to attend to business, picking up the parchment for the Clear Wind Spell to study it carefully.

It clearly depicted the appearance of the spell's Spell Pattern and also marked the order of each Spell Node when drawing the pattern with Mental Power.

"I understand!"

Luoning memorized the Spell Pattern of the Clear Wind Spell in his mind, then put the parchment into his Space Ring.

"The Spell Pattern can be understood as the Big Dipper connected by lines. What I need to do is start from the first star of the Big Dipper, use Mental Power to guide Magic Power to point out the stars, and then connect them."

"If the starting position is wrong, it won't form the shape of a ladle, and such a Spell Pattern will collapse."

"If the mental magic lines connecting the nodes are curved and don't match the straight lines in the Clear Wind Spell's pattern, that won't work either."

"Only by drawing it in one breath, with the node sequence and lines being completely correct, can the spell be released."

Having figured this out, Luoning spread his hand and attempted for the first time to use Mental Power to guide Magic Power to carve the Clear Wind Spell's pattern in his palm.

He considered himself quite talented, but after several attempts, he failed to smoothly condense the Spell Nodes of the Spell Pattern with Magic Power, resulting in continuous collapses.

However, he was not anxious; learning Magic was not like learning swordsmanship from Maiken; this was a field he had never touched before, so failure was understandable and acceptable.

"The reason for this failure was that the first node was carved too hastily, without using enough Magic Power to maintain it."

"This failure was because my mind wasn't focused enough, leading to a break in the Spell Pattern between the second and third nodes."

"This failure..."

Luoning failed time and time again, trying over and over, until finally, after more than a dozen failures, the complete Clear Wind Spell pattern appeared above his palm.

Immediately following, this Spell Pattern flickered, and then a breeze was generated from Luoning's palm, blowing forward.

In this instant, Luoning noticed that the consumption of Magic Power was several times higher than when carving the Spell Pattern.

But, he had finally succeeded.

Luoning revealed a joyful smile.

"Ah~"

A low gasp interrupted Luoning's focus; he looked up to the front and saw Miss Marina of the Green Family pressing her skirt down with both hands, avoiding the embarrassment of it being blown up by the wind.

"G-good evening, Lord Luoning!"

Marina's face was even redder from the campfire's glow, "The wind is a bit strong..."

Luoning rubbed his nose; it seemed the other party hadn't discovered that he had used Magic.

Indeed, the Clear Wind Spell was not as conspicuous as the Wind Blade Technique.

"Good evening, Miss Marina, why have you come out?"

When they had dinner just now, Luoning had gathered briefly with the sister and brother of the Gelin Family and had had a short interaction.

"I can't sleep." Marina walked over, holding her skirt, and sat down beside Luoning.

As the breeze blew, Luoning smelled a faint scent of perfume.

He sniffed lightly twice, unable to tell what materials this perfume was made of.

"After experiencing the thrill of the afternoon, it's normal not to be able to sleep."

Luoning comforted her: "But everything is in the past; tomorrow I will have my team escort you to Lake Town."

"Thank you so much, Lord Luoning!"

Whether it was because of excitement or something else, Marina grabbed Luoning's arm, and half her body pressed against him; Luoning touched a mass of softness.

"Do you know, from this afternoon until now, my mind has been filled with the image of you riding your horse and slaying the assassins; I don't think I'll ever be able to forget it in this lifetime!"

Luoning: "..."

Are girls in this other world all this direct?

He dared to believe that even if he were to pull Marina into his arms to kiss her, or even take her into his tent to spend the night, she would not resist, and she might even be more proactive.

But, well, Luoning admitted that he was still a bit of a superficial person; he was not interested in Marina.

Moreover, after midnight, he still needed to welcome his Light Attribute Magician, which was far more important than doing the deed with a woman.

Most importantly, he, Luoning, was someone destined to become a Great Lord; how could he get involved before he had even started?

"Ahem..."

Luoning pulled his arm away calmly, then stood up, "Miss Marina, the wind is strong outside, hurry back and rest. I still need to practice my sword, so I won't be keeping you company."

Saying this, he walked to the side and began to swing his longsword.

Marina, having been rejected, was not angry; instead, she watched the man practicing his sword with a beaming smile.

She had heard about Luoning's affairs, and they were all bad rumors; even the young lady of the Haide family had committed suicide because she had mistakenly ended up in bed with Luoning.

But seeing him today, not only she, but even her younger brother Malike and Kaine felt that Luoning was completely different from the rumors.

This was clearly a man with courage, strength, and good looks.

The face beneath that silver hair was even more attractive under the glow of the firelight.

"If only I could sleep while holding Luoning," Marina thought to herself.

Knight Kaine was watching the training of Maiken and the others not far away.

He did not sense the meaning and value behind this kind of training, only subconsciously thinking that perhaps this was a new dance invented by the "playful" grandson of the Marquis?

A dance performance composed entirely of men was truly rare; could this be the legendary unique hobby of Baron Luoning?

However, it had to be said, when this group of Guards shouted slogans together, it was quite imposing and quite attractive as well.

(End of this chapter)