Natalie's magical growth record

Chapter 281 The peculiar mansion and Conrad’s appearance
  "Is it really okay to just let them go directly to see Conrad?"

Near the secret door on the second floor of the seminar venue, Qiaocelin quietly leaned against the door at the entrance of the secret passage and asked the leader of the former sage assistant who was using wind magic to organize various items and props not far away.

"Isn't there still you? With your strength, as long as you can get close to there, it's not difficult to lead them away safely."

However, Alina was not worried at all and remained calm and focused most of her attention on commanding the flying magic transport tools.

"But according to the contract I signed, you are the one I am truly responsible for."

Faced with such a careless look on the other side, Qiaoceline couldn't help but feel angry, but soon, she suppressed the emotion that shouldn't appear, clenched her fists hard, and emphasized in a calm tone. .

"But the contract also says that during the employment period, you will obey my arrangements first, followed by the employer, right?"

Alina asked back, continuing to control the flying magic everywhere in her hands.

"But this would violate the contract between me and my employer."

Qiaoceline thought for a while and finally decided to play her trump card directly without any concealment, thus prompting the willful protected object to change her mind.

"Then tell your employer that his target requires revocation of the commission."

Alina responded without question.

"Well, I hope this is the last time."

Qiaoceline sighed. After all, she still didn't have the courage to face the anger of her immediate boss, so she reluctantly agreed to the request of the leader of the Sage Assistant...

While Jocelyn and Alina were confirming tonight's itinerary, Natalie and Lilicia also took a not-so-distant car ride to a building with an architectural style in the southern part of the earth. Inside the villa built entirely of stone.

"Come in, ladies."

The moment the horses pulling the carriage stopped, Karem jumped out of the carriage in a hurry, opened the door of the carriage, and gave a standard salute to the two girls inside the carriage.

As he finished speaking, the door of the mansion, which was originally closed, opened on its own, showing the few visitors in front of the door the interior decoration of the mansion that was full of knowledge.

The wall pattern engraved with various magic circle patterns looks ordinary but is actually like a chessboard. The black and white checkered tiles seem to be able to weave a chess game according to the visitor's wishes. There are also mobile bookshelves that appear and disappear at times, as if they are everywhere. …

All these brought a strong visual impact to Natalie, and she couldn't help but be attracted by the exquisite layout inside the mansion.

"Welcome to you, Miss Natalie, Miss Lilicia, please allow me to briefly introduce myself. My name is Theodore Conard, I am the current owner of this 'Feast for Thoughts' mansion, and I am also the owner of this mansion. The inviter to the dinner party.”

As the two of them formally entered the mansion, on the winding staircase that was mainly black and supplemented by gold, there was a man in his thirties with neat black hair, a clean face, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, and a very gentle and kind temperament. The aged man suddenly appeared at one end of the spiral staircase like a magic trick, and bowed deeply to the two visitors with proper etiquette.

"I'm very grateful that you can take time out of your busy schedule to meet with us." However, Lilicia remained unmoved at all, and her tone of voice was still obviously wary and hostile. "But Mr. Conrad, I would like to Isn't it rude to call us by our names when we don't know each other well enough?"

"If you feel offended, I will gladly retract my previous words, Miss Syndra."

Conrad immediately pressed his chest again slightly and bowed as an apology.

"That's pretty much it, that's all."

Lilicia snorted, thought about it, and suppressed her desire to ask for a formal apology, and focused on the unique style of the mansion.

"So, Miss Natalie, do you feel that my behavior offends you?" After dealing with the first girl, Conrad immediately turned his attention to the other girl who seemed to be relatively silent.

"Eh..." Natalie, who was trying her best to distract herself and make herself look less nervous, couldn't help but be startled when she heard the words. Then, as if she remembered the necessary response, she carefully organized her words and replied, "If you can If so, I also hope you can stop calling me that..."

"Why, I want to hear your reasons."

Conrad asked with great interest, and at the same time, he took advantage of the opportunity to take a closer look at the little girl with short light brown hair who was near the entrance of the mansion.

"Because..." Natalie tried hard to suppress the nervousness of being suddenly asked, imitating Lilicia's calmness, and gritted her teeth and said firmly, "Because I also think this is not polite!"

"Is it the same reason? I understand. I will pay attention to it, Miss Arinor." Conard shook his head slightly, and then, as if to dispel the disappointment, he began to change the topic, "It's not until dinner." It’s still a while before we start, would you like to visit my mansion?”

"Well, since you said so, let's just reluctantly visit, right, Natalie?"

Lilicia continued to maintain a cold look.

"Yes, since we are not ready yet, let's take a tour."

Feeling the caution and alienation in her friend's words, Natalie realized her position belatedly, forced out a reluctant look, and agreed.

"Natalie, don't be fooled by his gentle appearance, he is pretending!"

Before they could reach Conrad, Lilicia quickly lowered her voice and whispered to her friend who seemed to be in a relaxed state of mind.

"Okay...Okay, I understand, thank you, Lily."

Although she didn't quite understand why she couldn't be hostile to Conrad, Natalie nodded vigorously, forcing herself to ignore the temptation of the other person's kind words.

"Actually, you don't have to obey Miss Lilicia on everything. After all, you are the leader of the whole thing."

Just as Natalie was observing her surroundings intently and trying to distract herself, Conrad's gentle but not very tactful words suddenly came to her ears.

"No, this is my own idea and has nothing to do with Lily!"

After a moment of surprise, Natalie responded firmly.

However, such determination did not stay on her face for long. She covered her mouth in shame because of her disrespectful words and glanced at Lilicia who was walking beside her with a guilty look.

"What's wrong, Natalie?"

Lilicia looked at her friend next to her strangely and asked.

"No, it's nothing..."

Finding that her friend didn't seem to hear what she just said, Natalie couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief, and then began to have doubts.

It's strange. I obviously spoke very loudly just now. Why didn't Lily hear it?
  As if seeing her doubts, after a while, Conrad's gentle words rang in her ears again:
  "Introduction, this is the dialogue selection magic I created. As long as I want, I can make any sound within the range of this magic only exist in the senses of the corresponding target."

　Modified it a bit

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)