RNP Page 52
Page 52
Arthur glanced at Lawson, gesturing for him to look at the dark-haired horse beside him:
"I unexpectedly obtained a fragmented Wind King Mark from the corpse of a third-tier one-eyed wolf that I asked Mr. Merlin to refine for me."
My companion, Nightshade, successfully absorbed it, thereby advancing to a second-tier magical beast and breaking free from the shackles of a low-tier magical beast, embarking on the path to becoming the Wind King.
"That was indeed a huge gain!"
Lawson raised an eyebrow and praised him.
But Arthur didn't explicitly say that he had an even greater gain: he had won over the second Knight's Heart holder, Gawain.
Then, Arthur took out from his bag the item that the alchemist Merlin had entrusted to him to deliver to Lawson—a bracelet wrapped in a witch's cloth.
Arthur handed the object to Lawson:
"This is what Mr. Merlin asked me to give you, and he also asked me to pass on a message—'Your reward is far from sufficient.'"
Lawson frowned slightly upon hearing this, and silently accepted the bracelet wrapped in the Devil's Cloth that Arthur handed him.
Arthur could tell that Lawson was lost in thought, as if he were pondering something.
After a while.
Lawson finally snapped out of his daze:
"My lord, thank you for running errands for me."
"It's alright, just a convenient thing to do."
Arthur didn't press him about the deal he made with the alchemist Merlin. After decisively ending the topic, he moved on to the more pressing matter at hand:
"I also want to thank you and Miss Lani for your help in building the forging workshops in Rinfeng Village and Hanwu Village so quickly."
It's a pity I didn't keep my promise and finish in time.
"Hehe! I, this old man, only did a little bit of work in this matter. You should thank that girl Lani properly."
Upon hearing Arthur mention his granddaughter Lani, Lawson's face brightened with a kind smile, the gloom that had settled on it.
"She mobilized the people of both villages and actively communicated with the blacksmiths who were originally in Frostraven Town, which enabled the blacksmith workshop to be completed ahead of schedule so smoothly."
Upon hearing this, the image of a beautiful young girl involuntarily surfaced in Arthur's mind:
"Really? Then I must thank Miss Lani properly. May I ask where Miss Lani is now, Mr. Lawson?"
"The forging workshop is now in its initial stages of operation. She should select able-bodied young villagers in Cold Mist Village and assign them suitable tasks."
So, after learning of Lani's whereabouts...
Arthur bid farewell to Lawson for the time being, mounted his black-haired horse Nightshade again, and headed towards Coldmist Village.
"Has this kid really finally figured it out?"
Lawson watched Arthur's departing figure, recalling how Arthur had previously ignored his granddaughter, and couldn't help but complain.
But then Lawson picked up the bracelet wrapped in the Witcher cloth that Arthur had given him again.
He unpacked the Devil Cloth and laid the bracelet inside out in his palm.
"Isn't my compensation enough?"
Lawson murmured the words relayed by the alchemist Merlin, while gazing at the bracelet's strange appearance:
The outer ring is jet black, as if it were made of some kind of rough, obsidian-like rock.
However, its inner circle is completely different; it is purely transparent and colorless, as if it were made of some kind of smooth and rounded jade.
At the same time, the bracelet does not appear to be a closed circle, with a clearly visible seam at the break.
Between the tiny cracks at the break, a wisp of silvery-white light slowly swirled.
After observing for a while, Lawson seemed to be deep in thought.
Immediately, he activated the "Thunder Badger Breathing Technique," unleashing a powerful wave of lightning that he channeled into the strangely shaped bracelet.
The next moment, the bracelet underwent a strange change.
Its originally pure, transparent, and smooth inner ring was now tinged with a bewitching crimson hue.
Upon seeing the crimson hue sealed within the bracelet, Lawson immediately displayed an expression of sudden realization:
"It's actually a drop of a witch's heart's blood?"
Merlin, you're certainly generous; no wonder you said my payment wasn't enough.
Chapter 60 Lani's Gift
Cold Mist Village.
A cold wind blew, dislodging the snow from the roof of a house.
Looking inside the room, it was brightly lit.
A young girl in a royal blue dress was surrounded by a group of simply dressed villagers from Hanwu Village.
They were all listening attentively as the young woman explained the arrangements for the forging workshop:
"I believe you all still remember the promise our lord made to make Rinwind Village and Cold Mist Village prosperous and wealthy, free from poverty and hunger."
Now that the forging workshop is completed, the lord wants to implement a work-study program in the two villages, allowing you to enter the forging workshop and start as assistants to gradually learn the forging skills.
You are the first batch of trainees selected by my acting lord, and I hope you will cherish this hard-won opportunity.
Next, to help you master the forging skill more quickly, I will first explain in detail the rules to be followed in the forging workshop.
"Boom! Boom!"
Just then, a sudden knock on the door interrupted the girl in the blue dress.
So the girl in the blue dress stopped talking and turned to walk towards the closed door.
When someone suddenly interrupted her, the girl frowned, and a rare hint of displeasure appeared on her delicate face.
I'm going to teach this guy who knocked on the door a lesson!
With this thought in mind, the girl in the blue dress opened the door.
"Is Miss Lani here?"
But when the door opened and the girl in the blue dress saw a familiar, handsome blond young man standing in the doorway, her resentful expression froze.
The next moment, an indescribable excitement and joy welled up inside her.
"Little lion, why are you back!"
Driven by this emotion, the girl in the blue dress immediately lost her dignified demeanor when lecturing the villagers and stepped forward to embrace the handsome blond young man in front of her.
Indeed, this handsome blond young man was Arthur.
After entering Cold Mist Village, he wandered around for a while and finally found Lani, who was lecturing a group of Cold Mist Village residents.
So he took the initiative to knock on the door and visit.
Upon meeting Lani, as expected, she still held a kind of almost "fanatical" feeling for him that he could not understand, just like before.
Lani's intimate embrace overwhelmed Arthur, especially when he caught a whiff of the sweet scent of the young woman pressed against him. He blushed and turned his head away.
“Miss Lani, I didn’t go out to fight a war. I just went to make a deal with Fengpu Territory, which is next to Blackrock Territory, and came back.”
So, please let go of my embrace, okay?
But when Lani heard this, she clung to Arthur like a hungry beast that had caught its prey, refusing to let go.
“I heard from Grandpa Lawson that you were supposed to come back yesterday, but why did you only come back today?”
Do you know how worried I was about you?
After saying that, the girl pouted, tilted her head back, and stared at Arthur with a reproachful look.
Faced with the girl's question, Arthur's heart skipped a beat.
He pondered to himself that he had indeed returned to Blackrock Territory a day later than planned, the reason being that he had to bring Gawain, the newly subdued owner of Knight's Heart, with him on his way back.
Gao Wen had no means of transportation, and Mo Binma Yeting was extremely averse to being ridden by outsiders, so he could only slow down his pace.
If it weren't for Gawain's Lv.4 "Blessing of the Sun," which gave him endurance and recovery abilities far superior to ordinary Iron-rank knights, it would probably have taken them quite some time to return to Blackrock Territory.
Arthur was at a loss for words to explain this to Lani, and was immediately speechless and sweating profusely.
"Is that our lord?"
"Why has the lord graced our village with his presence?"
At this moment, someone came to his rescue: a group of villagers from Hanwu Village inside the house.
They recognized Arthur as the passionate speaker who had gathered all the villagers together on the day they first arrived in Frostwind Village and Mist Village.
But during the days Arthur was away, their impression of Arthur as the new lord did not fade; on the contrary, it deepened.
Of course, all of this is thanks to Lani, the girl in the blue dress who is clinging tightly to Arthur in front of them.
Because every time Lani spoke to these villagers, she almost always mentioned the lord.
Thus, through her tireless explanation, the image of Arthur, the new lord, in the minds of the villagers of Rinwind Village and Frostmist Village had been molded into that of a wise, powerful, and all-knowing leader.
Back to the present.
Arthur seized the opportunity and pointed at the group of villagers:
"Miss Lani, there are still so many villagers watching."
So, shouldn't we... pay a little more attention to our image in front of others?
But Arthur clearly underestimated the extent of Lani's "fervor" for him:
"So what if everyone sees this? My feelings for the little lion are genuine. I just want to hold the little lion forever!"
Upon hearing this, Arthur immediately gave up resisting, only inwardly complaining:
What a troublesome woman!
But to Arthur's surprise, after he mentally complained about Lani, Lani seemed to hear his thoughts and suddenly released her embrace from him.
"Ok?"
Arthur turned his head back and looked down at the girl who was so close to him.
He noticed that Lani had her arms crossed over her chest and was still pouting, but she had turned her head to the side.
The girl in the blue dress's sudden change in temperament puzzled Arthur, so he tentatively bent down and leaned close to her face:
"Um... Miss Lani, what's wrong?"
"It's nothing. If Lani's actions just now caused any trouble for the lord, Lani is very sorry."
When Arthur leaned closer, Lani turned away immediately, giving him a cold shoulder.
"Cough cough!"
Arthur immediately sensed something was wrong:
Could this girl have actually heard what I was thinking just now?
"Um... Lord, it seems you and Lady Lani have some matters to attend to, so we won't disturb you any longer and will head out now."
At this moment, the villagers of Cold Mist Village, who usually held Lani in great awe, were also frightened after seeing Lani's unusually low mood, and one by one they quickly left the house.
"boom!"
They made sure to close the door behind them when they left.
Soon, only Arthur and Lani, a lone man and woman, remained in the room.
After a brief silence.
Arthur walked up to the gloomy Lani, took something out of his bag, and broke the silence:
"Miss Lani, please forgive me if I have done or said anything that has made you angry."
This is a protective amulet I obtained from an alchemist in the Windpu Territory during my trip. I hope you like it.
After hearing this, Lani seemed to feel better. She glanced at the object Arthur was holding out to her, which was a square black jewelry box.
However, she still feigned a somber mood, hiding a smile at the corner of her mouth:
"What kind of talisman? Our esteemed lord is so busy with affairs of state, would he really remember a nobody like me?"