Chapter 183: Perfect Miss

Li En woke from a nightmare.

In the dream, snakes danced wildly; countless large female snakes surrounded him, trying to bind him into a ball.

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

"Happy? This is the great harem I built for you!"

"Happy my ass! Damn it!"

Just as Li En was about to pounce on the snake, ready to throw a good punch even if he couldn't win, he found he suddenly couldn't move.

A pale purple snake tail and a snow-white snake tail, at some unknown time, had wrapped around his feet and were dragging him backward with brute force!

"I will be back!" he screamed in agony.

Then, he was dragged back into the snake ball's room.

"Aaaaaah, damn snakes!!"

"What's wrong? Can't people sleep in the middle of the night?!"

Li En, startled awake by the nightmare, then got bitten by a snake. Dazed, he prepared to bite back, but fell asleep again in an even more dazed state.

"Nightmares can continue?!" He was back in that nightmare.

By morning, he was awakened by the rare scent of creamy soup and roasted bread.

Perhaps the Oath of Magic had drained too much of his physical strength, or perhaps the nightmare had exhausted his spiritual energy; not only did he miss morning training for once, but he woke without his usual freshness, feeling strangely fatigued instead.

"It's not your fault; that armor extracted part of you. Isn't it normal to be weak for a few days?" From the snake, Li En received an answer that seemed plausible.

"Hah! Attack!"

Outside the window, the sound of battle cries in a child's voice caught Li En's attention.

He looked out the window into the courtyard and saw little Miss Lana waving a small wooden stick; her rigid, methodical posture was surprisingly standard.

This didn't look like a child playing; rather, it looked like a little warrior practicing.

"Miss Lana? She started a few days ago; she said she wanted morning training, so she's been swinging that wooden stick around." From the maid, Li En received an answer that was somewhat unexpected.

"Tsk tsk tsk, even though the soul's memories have been erased and physical evolution suppressed, do instinct and the body still remember some things? Quite a nice little kid."

Li En fell silent; he recalled his sudden whim from yesterday.

If physical memory and aptitude truly still existed, the possibility of her being dragged into the Hall of Heroic Souls was not low.

"Are you stupid?" But the snake, at that moment, looked at him with the eyes one uses for an idiot.

"Transcendents lick blood off the tip of a blade; they look glorious but may die suddenly at any moment. Isn't it wrong to expect her to live happily and carefree?"

"Do you think this is Earth with its peaceful regions? This is a messed-up world where the strong can make the weak lick shit; right now, she can live carefree only because she is under your protection." Lana can be innocent because Li En is not.

When a warrior may die suddenly on the battlefield at any moment, not being a warrior makes one even more likely to die suddenly at the hands of thugs; being a Transcendent at least allows one to grasp one's own destiny.

The snake's words left Li En stunned; he immediately realized this must be the absolute truth.

Since coming to this world, among everyone he had encountered, all possessed an almost instinctive craving for power (except Miss Shaliman); this was the overall social atmosphere, and naturally, there were reasons for its formation.

The peace of this city could topple at any moment; even staying within the city, a beautiful girl could suffer misfortune at any time; he couldn't follow her twenty-four hours a day, and even a small kingdom could be destroyed, let alone an individual in a great era.

Possessing power is not only the right to develop, but the very right to survival.

"Breakfast will be slightly delayed; I'll go take a look." Li En sighed and walked into the courtyard.

He watched the girl swinging the stick seriously, focusing on her earnest eyes and the sweat constantly dripping down, and gradually made up his mind.

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

"Yes!" The little girl responded decisively.

"Why!"

"I'm not sure, but I feel it's wrong not to become stronger! I'll get eaten!" Saying this, the girl even gave a cute shiver, as if she had truly seen some man-eating monster.

The words spoken by the small girl made Li En laugh in speechless amusement, but immediately after came a strange sorrow.

This was the deepest instinct of a girl who had already lost everything; she understood the essence of this world better than Li En himself.

"Then I'll teach you; it should be faster." Saying this, Li En picked up a wooden stick and began his own instruction.

He recalled how he had taught Dimon before; that apparently didn't work well, so he should take it easy.

But to be honest, the little kid really had unexpected talent; her battlefield intuition and acuity far surpassed Dimon's, even Li En's own. Progress was terrifyingly fast; whatever move he demonstrated, she could instantly imitate.

"Perhaps it really is just picking up what was forgotten."

"Honestly admit it; is it really that hard to acknowledge this is a genius stronger than you?" The snake, however, spoke the truth in one sentence.

Leisurely times often pass the fastest; in the blink of an eye, Li En had played with Lana for a bit and read a book himself, spending the whole day; for Li En, who never stopped every day, this was truly too rare.

And this often meant that Miss Shaliman, busy and having forgotten him, was once again forced by Her Highness the Princess into crazy overtime work.

"Doctor? Is there a doctor?"

By night, a weary voice broke the courtyard's peace.

Li En opened the window to look and saw several people standing in the courtyard; among them, a dwarf warrior seemed to be calling out in confusion.

"Uh, simple treatment, I can do that."

The maid Li En had hired had already walked over.

They seemed to know each other?

Li En was somewhat confused; how did these people know his courtyard so well, and how had they already taken toolkits and bags out of the small wooden hut nearby?

When did they put their luggage in the courtyard?

Li En slowly walked down and finally saw clearly that those entering the courtyard were a typical adventuring party.

Their situation was quite dire; most had injuries on their bodies; the most severely injured was a "centaur" female knight; there was a very obvious gash on her shoulder, blood constantly seeping from the bandages; even Li En could see that if not handled properly, her right shoulder and right arm would be ruined.

"This is..." The cook also came out to see the situation, so Li En asked directly.

Then, the other party looked at him with the gaze one uses for an alien.

"Isn't this your tenant?"

"What?" Li En was completely baffled. He had tenants?!

But at this moment, the cook, who was also suspected to be Miss Shaliman, suddenly realized.

"Oh, right. You haven't been back to stay for a few days, so you probably haven't met them."

With the help of the cook and maids, Li En finally remembered the recruitment lease he had signed before.

At that time, he had entrusted a merchant guild (under Miss Shaliman) to handle it, renting out the empty rooms and the wooden house in the courtyard to a relatively trustworthy mercenary/adventurer team.

Li En's courtyard had at least eight empty rooms, enough for two teams to rent.

They just needed repairs, but for adventurers who were just looking for a place to stay, they could lie down in the wild, so they were too lazy to renovate.

Li En could get some rent (4 gold coins a month, which he couldn't refuse for his previous self), and also have a relatively reliable guard team.

Li En himself was busy going crazy; for this month, the days he slept in his own courtyard could be counted on his fingers, so naturally, he forgot about this matter.

And the merchant guild he entrusted knew this was a commission from the future head of the family's husband, so how could they not take it to heart?

They naturally pushed hard, using their connections to find a high-quality, reliable, and trustworthy adventurer team.

They even sought a guarantee from the Adventurer's Guild to ensure His character was reliable and their potential outstanding.

The result was that the team arrived, but Li En was not at home; in fact, since he was away most of the time, one couldn't even expect him to return in time.

The merchant guild had already received full authority, so they signed a contract directly with this team, and the team moved into the empty rooms.

"The adventurers have been deep in the underground ruins these days, coming home very rarely, so they might have missed you perfectly."

Li En was speechless. It didn't need to be "missed perfectly"; if he came back on any random day, he would most likely not be there.

Both sides were professionals who were away from home most of the time, yet the result was that one had rented for over half a month without meeting once.

Given Li En's crazy busy state, no servant had the chance to find him and remind him specifically; after a delay, everyone thought he already knew!

"Uh, I have no objection." Li En sighed. He didn't care much about these 4 gold coins anymore, but kicking them out now would be subtly too inhumane.

"What happened?" Wasn't it an outstanding adventurer team? Why are they injured like this?

"I don't know what happened. The monsters in the underground ruins suddenly went berserk." Well, it seems it has something to do with Li En, making it even harder to kick them out.

(End of this chapter)