Chapter 183: Perfectly Missed

Li En woke from a nightmare.

In the dream, serpents writhed wildly, countless massive female snakes coiling around him, trying to bind him into a ball.

Just as he barely broke free and was about to escape, the little black snake cheerfully blocked his path.

"Happy? This is the big harem I made for you, Your Majesty!"

"Happy my ass! Fuck!"

As Li En lunged at the snake, ready to land a solid punch even if he couldn't win, he suddenly found himself unable to move.

A pale purple tail and a snow-white tail had wrapped around his feet, dragging him backward with brute force!

"I'll come back!" he screamed.

Then he was dragged back into the room of the serpent ball.

"Aaaahhh, damn snakes!!"

"What the hell! Can't a person sleep at this hour?!"

Woken by the nightmare, Li En was bitten by the snake. Half-asleep, he prepared to bite back—but fell even deeper into sleep.

"Can this nightmare keep going?!" He was back in the nightmare again.

In the morning, he woke unusually to the scent of creamy soup and toasted bread.

Perhaps the Magic Oath had drained too much of his strength, or perhaps the nightmare had exhausted his spiritual energy—he had uncommonly missed morning training, and upon waking, he felt no clarity, only inexplicable fatigue.

"It's not your fault. That armor drained a part of you. Is it strange to feel weak for a few days?" From the snake, Li En received an answer that sounded plausible.

"Hah! Fight!"

The childish shouts of battle outside the window drew Li En's attention.

He looked out the window into the courtyard and saw little Laina swinging a wooden stick. Her stiff, precise posture was surprisingly standard.

This wasn't a child playing—it looked like a little warrior training.

"Miss Laina? Since a few days ago, she's been swinging that stick every morning," Li En received an unexpectedly surprising answer from the maid.

"Hmm, even if her soul's memories have been erased and her evolutionary potential stripped, her instincts and body still remember something? Quite a little one."

But Li En fell silent, recalling his sudden thought from yesterday.

If physical memory and innate talent still existed, her chances of being drawn into the Hall of Heroic Souls were high.

"Are you stupid?" But the snake looked at him as if he were an idiot.

"Exemplars live on the edge of death—glamorous, yet always one step from sudden demise. Isn't it better to wish her happiness, free from worry?"

"Do you think this is Earth with peaceful regions? This is a world where the strong make the weak lick shit. She can live carefree only because you protect her." Laina could be innocent because Li En was not.

When a warrior might die on the battlefield, but not being one meant dying faster at the hands of bandits—being an exemplar at least lets you grasp your own fate.

The snake's words stunned Li En—he immediately realized this was plain truth.

Since arriving in this world, he had seen that everyone, except Shaliman, possessed an almost instinctive hunger for power. This was the society's overall tone—and it had its reasons.

The peace of this city could collapse at any moment. Even within its walls, a beautiful girl could suffer misfortune at any time. He couldn't follow her twenty-four hours a day. Even a small kingdom might fall—how much less so an individual in a great age?

Possessing power is not merely a right to progress—it is a fundamental right to survival.

"Let's delay breakfast a bit—I'll go see," Li En sighed, stepping into the courtyard.

He watched the girl diligently swinging her stick, studying her focused eyes and the sweat dripping steadily from her brow—and slowly made up his mind.

"Friend, do you want to become stronger?" Li En asked calmly.

"Yes!" the little girl replied decisively.

"Why?"

"I don't know, but I just feel it's wrong not to get stronger! I'll get eaten!" As she spoke, the girl shivered cutely, as if she truly saw a monster that devoured people.

The child's words made Li En laugh silently—but then, a strange sorrow settled over him.

This was the deepest instinct of a girl who had lost everything—she understood the world's nature better than Li En himself.

"Then I'll teach you. It'll be faster," Li En said, picking up a wooden stick and beginning his instruction.

He recalled how he had taught Dimon—seemed ineffective. Better to take it slow.

But surprisingly, the little one had unexpected talent—her battlefield intuition and sharpness far surpassed Dimon's, even Li En's own. Her progress was terrifyingly fast; show her a move once, and she replicated it instantly.

"Perhaps it's truly just picking up what was forgotten."

"Just admit it—this is a genius stronger than you, isn't it?" The snake cut straight to the truth.

Leisurely time always passes fastest. In a blink, Li En had played with Laina, read a book, and spent the entire day—something exceedingly rare for Li En, who never stopped.

And this usually meant that poor Shaliman, forgotten by everyone, was once again being forced into frantic overtime by the Princess.

"Doctor? Is there a doctor?"

That night, a weary voice shattered the courtyard's calm.

Li En looked out the window and saw several people standing in the yard—one dwarf warrior seemed to be calling out in confusion.

"Uh, basic healing? I can manage."

But the maid Li En had hired had already walked over.

Did they know each other?

Li En was baffled—how did these people know his courtyard so well? They had already fetched toolkits and bags from the small wooden shed beside it.

When had they put their luggage in the courtyard?

Li En slowly descended and saw that those entering the yard were a typical adventuring party.

Their condition was dire—most bore wounds; the worst was a half-elf female knight, whose shoulder bore a clear gash, blood seeping steadily from her bandages. Even Li En could tell: if untreated, her right shoulder and arm would be ruined.

"What's going on?" The cook had also come out to see. Li En asked directly.

Then they looked at him as if he were an alien.

"Aren't these your tenants?"

"What?" Li En was utterly stunned. He had tenants?!

At that moment, the cook—also seemingly Shaliman—realized.

"Oh right, you haven't stayed here for days. You probably haven't met them yet."

With the cook and maid's help, Li En remembered the rental agreement he had signed earlier.

He had entrusted a merchant guild (under Shaliman's command) to lease out the empty rooms and the courtyard's wooden shed to a trustworthy mercenary/adventuring party.

His courtyard had at least eight vacant rooms—enough for two full teams.

But repairs were needed, and for adventurers just seeking shelter, who could sleep anywhere outdoors, renovation was the last thing on their minds.

Li En could earn rent (four gold coins a month—something he couldn't have refused before) and gain a reliable guard team.

Li En himself had been frantic—this past month, he'd slept in his own courtyard so rarely he could count the nights on his fingers, and naturally forgot about it.

The merchant guild, however, knew this was the future lord's husband's request—how could they not take it seriously?

They pushed hard, mobilized connections, and found a high-quality, trustworthy, and reliable adventuring team.

Even secured a guarantee from the Adventurers' Guild to ensure their character and potential were solid.

The result? The team arrived—and Li En was away. Since he spent most of his time elsewhere, they couldn't expect him to return promptly.

The guild, granted full authority, signed the contract directly with the team, and the team moved into the vacant rooms.

"The adventurers have been deep in the underground ruins lately, rarely returning home. You probably just perfectly missed each other."

Li En was speechless. "Perfectly missed"? Any day he came back, he was almost certainly gone.

Both parties were professionals who spent most of their time away—so after over half a month, they had never met.

With Li En's frantic schedule, none of the servants had a chance to find him and remind him. After a while, everyone assumed he already knew.

"Uh… I have no objections," Li En sighed. The four gold coins meant little now, but kicking them out now would be strangely inhumane.

"What happened? Weren't you supposed to be an excellent adventuring team? How did you get this badly hurt?"

"We don't know what happened. The monsters in the underground ruins suddenly went berserk." Well, that seemed connected to Li En somehow—making it even harder to evict them.

(End of Chapter)