Knight and Wand

Chapter 347: Furnace Casting Card
The north wind howled and the griffin soared high in the sky.

Leon maintained the rising magic energy, and a warm current surrounded his body, helping Ines, who was wrapped like a dumpling behind him, to maintain her body temperature.

When the city of Orlandon was finally opened to traffic and the blockade was lifted, Avalon's team set out for home. He immediately drove the Deathclaw to send Ines to the North.

After flying at full speed for two and a half days, we finally arrived in Xiwan.

Instead of heading directly to North County, Ines asked him to take her back to her base camp first. So Leon followed his "past" memories and landed the Death Claw in the courtyard of Ines's mansion with ease.

As of now, he is more familiar with West Bay and even the North than with the surrounding areas of Glade County and Kossos County.

The huge mansion under his feet is his safe haven in another life.

The Death Claw suddenly flapped its huge wings and folded them. Leon jumped off the high saddle holding Ines, who was wrapped in a bear coat.

"Are you going to the Warlock Society on your own? Do you want me to stay and protect you?"

Leon put the girl down, feeling a little uneasy. Even though he knew everything about the Warlock Society now, that was in another destiny after all. The Atias of that time and space had not infiltrated the Kingdom of Orland.

"No need. I plan to send someone to invite Earl North to come to Xiwan for a secret talk. I am safe here with the protection of the Knights." Ines shook her head, then suddenly smiled and raised her eyebrows teasingly: "Or~ Lord Leon can't wait to stay overnight and sleep with me?"

Leon frowned, perhaps because he felt relaxed in the familiar environment, he directly pinched the little girl's cheeks and rubbed them.

They have become lovers, so he doesn't have to pretend to be a gentleman anymore. Shouldn't he take revenge on the other party for her repeated teasing in the past?

"We've been sleeping together for more than a month. What's there for me to be impatient about now?" Leon chuckled. The girl's little face felt really good in his hands.

".Woo~!"

Ines pushed awkwardly, but her weak strength was not enough to get rid of the opponent's bullying. After finally breaking free, she rolled her eyes at the guy and thought she had miscalculated.

Without Miss Olivia to "suppress" him, he seemed unable to suppress this guy who was releasing his true nature.

From the couple's experience that I shared with myself three years later, I learned that the other party is not as serious in private as he is in front of outsiders.

"Okay, go back and get busy. I'll come back to see you when I pass through Avalon on my way to the southern territory after I've dealt with some things in the north."

Ines rubbed her cheeks, the slight blush on her face not knowing if it was from the rubbing or from remembering the whispers she had given to him three years later.

“Okay, before we go,” Leon suddenly touched his pocket and took out a small box.

"I haven't found a suitable opportunity yet. I hope you can accept it."

"?" Ines took the box in confusion.

Opening the box, an exquisite lavender headband lay quietly inside.

The girl smiled slightly and looked up at her lover.

"You can't just give it to me. You have to bring it to me personally, just like you did to Miss Olivia~"

"Ah."

Under the familiar shade of the giant tree, Leon picked up the hairband and skillfully put it on the hair accessory that symbolized the contract for his beloved girl.

Unlike Olivia's bun, he tied up the girl's hair and put a purple headband on the left side of Ines' head, which made her look cute and elegant.

"I will marry you in a grand wedding. If it is really not in line with the traditions of Orland, then we can get married in Sobornitz Territory. The Kingdom of Kantadar has no rules in this regard." Leon said, his face getting red.

This bigamy speech was indeed shameless, but he never regretted his decision to hold on to his two wives.

Raising her hand to touch the hairband, Ines looked up at him and snorted: ".I really can't escape this time~"

She then sighed and said, "However, there is no need to rush our affairs. Now is not a good time. If I marry you like this, all the land and army under my name will be taken away by my brother.

Especially now that the Knights' Tournament has been terminated, the original plan to have King Casso publicly confer the title of 'Duke of Andeville' on you has been disrupted. Now I can't even see Casso. I think the political situation is unstable since my brother has just ascended the throne. Casso will definitely be detained in the capital for a long time by my brother. I don't know how to continue this deal."

After that, Ines stood on tiptoe, put her arms around Leon's neck, tapped her lips, and whispered softly.

"Give me a moment while I fix this, okay?"

Leon nodded solemnly and promised patiently: “Of course, no matter how long it takes, I will wait for you.”

Leon kissed Ines goodbye reluctantly, mounted the griffin's high saddle, waved his hand, and rose into the sky to start his journey back south.

Just as Ines said, now that he had a large amount of moon silver, he did have a lot of urgent matters to attend to when he returned to Avalon Castle.

The continuous chaos caused by the all-powerful Atiyas people gave him an indescribable sense of crisis.

Although the death of Ledwin III was more due to the impact of ancient magic.

But if he had not discovered the siege crossbow's interception plan in advance, with the degree of infiltration of the Mage Empire into the Royal City of Orlandon, there might not have been any need to plan the Night in the Palace, and the king might have died in an assassination in public.

What if the enemy sets his sights on Castle Avalon?

Even if he and Olivia could deal with the Atias assassin, what about the other relatives and friends around them?

With thought, Leon raised the Death Claw to a height that Ines could not bear before, and flew south at full speed.

It took several days, but Castle Avalon finally came into view.

Landing on the open space of the main castle, Leon looked at the surrounding environment, recalling the ruins of this place in another destiny, and sighed in his heart.

To others, he might have only been in the capital for two months, but from his perspective, it had been four months, and he could even vaguely feel that he had not seen this scene for six years.

He jumped back to the ground and asked the servants to remove the saddle of the Deathclaw, so that the big fat chick of Rawdon could return to its nest to rest. Then, Leon saw the guards coming out to greet him. It was obvious that Lohak and the others had returned to Avalon before him.

"Where is Olivia?" Leon walked into the main castle and asked the guards.

"My lady went to visit Lord Brian and old friends when she passed through Selva, and she hasn't returned yet." Zabron replied.

Leon knew that Olivia was probably still haunted by the "nightmare" of Selva with a different fate, and had to visit relatives and friends in town to calm her nerves.

Moreover, during this trip to the royal capital, she learned a lot about the past of her blood relatives, and she probably had a lot to talk about with her adoptive father.

He went directly to the government hall of the main castle and pushed the door into the huge central office study.

Azerien, who was handling government affairs, raised his head and smiled at his best friend who had returned safely.

".You're back? I heard from Lohak that you guys ran into a lot of trouble on this trip."

He put down his quill and rubbed his nose, and couldn't help but sigh: "They actually managed to assassinate the king in the palace. I've heard from Corvis about the terrible Atias Empire, but I didn't expect it to be so rampant."

Leon waved his hand at him seriously: "I encountered more things on this trip than what Lohak told you. You probably can't imagine what I went through. I will tell you in detail later, but..." Walking around the large table piled with books and parchments, Leon put his arms around the noble son's neck and scratched his neat hair with his left hand while seeing the puzzled expression on his face.

"Well done boy, Your Majesty Azerien, you are really good at hiding~"

"What? What? What? Your Majesty?"

Azerien slapped the arm that was strangling his neck with an innocent look on his face and looked up with a dazed look in his eyes.

"Are you still playing dumb? You have a claim to the throne of Cerrian, but you never told me and Lohak. Are you pretending to be a poor buddy to us?"

"So that's what you meant."

Azerien was stunned for a moment, then smiled helplessly: "I didn't mean to hide it from you, but the Flarel family is only a branch of the royal family. My ancestors converted to the Holy Sun Church a long time ago. The matter is very complicated. In short, my father's family is hostile to the royal family, and the so-called inheritance rights have long been abolished."

Leon shook his head slightly. From another perspective, although it was unclear whether the political situation in the two destinies of the Serrian Kingdom would be very different, the influential Holy Sun Church would undoubtedly be able to push him to the throne.

But now the fate is different. Azerien, who chose to follow him, must have missed the opportunity to become the King of Serrian.

He let go of his good brother's neck and sat down to learn about the latest situation of the territory in the past two months since he was away.

They discussed the cooperation with the Alchemy Guild and the ascension of the new king, and stopped the mission originally assigned to Avalon College by Ledwin III.

"No matter what new plans His Majesty Eric has, the construction of the magic academy cannot be stopped. The bounty I received this time is enough to support the completion of the academy. In addition, Corvis and I will immediately make more detectors and start searching for talented apprentices throughout the barony."

Leon said, and then quickly added: "You have a good relationship with Feodor, so please write a letter to him for me and tell him that Lord Elliver hoped that the magic academy could train some spellcasters among the children of the Thorn Flower family. If he is willing, you can let everyone in the family come and try. There is no limit on age and gender. Everyone can come and try."

Azerien nodded and made note of it.

After briefly chatting about important government affairs and asking about Corvis's situation at the Magic Academy, Leon got up and went straight to find him.

In the partially completed lecture hall of the academy, he met Akao who was teaching Brandon magic. He waited until the lecture came to a temporary end before going up to ask him.

"Has Moon Meteorite Silver been brought back safely?"

"They have all been put into the treasury of the Mage Tower." Corvis nodded.

"How much is it exactly?"

Leon escorted Ines northwards, and they were in such a hurry that they had not been able to see with their own eyes how many alchemical treasures there were.

Corvis couldn't help but smile: "Your Highness, I'm afraid that the princess has obtained all the moon meteorite silver in the royal treasury for you. The amount is enough for us to make more than a dozen Neti cards.

We have no shortage of Lunar Silver now, but we only have enough Molten Gold and Permafrost to make four."

Leon was overjoyed when he heard this.

Although the latter two are also rare alchemical treasures, the difficulty of obtaining them is not as exaggerated as landing on the moon.

Now that I have established contact with the Alchemy Association, I will be able to collect the information if I am willing to spend a lot of money.

Besides, being able to make four Neti cards right now is already a huge gain beyond imagination.

He regretted not kissing Ines a few more times when leaving Xiwan. The "dowry" sent by this rich young woman was really too generous.

I wonder if King Ledwin III would vomit blood if he knew about Ines's elbow pointing outward.

Come to think of it, is there any "bride price" that I can give to Ines that is comparable to this one?
Leon thought that since Crown Prince Eric was now king and the Hecha Dynasty had not fallen into the civil war started by the Queen of the Golden Lion, he was afraid that he would not be able to help Ines become queen again.

How about waiting for her to resolve the legal issues regarding the inheritance of the territory, and then establishing a new kingdom with her in the Territory of Sobornitz?
It seems a bit difficult. I'm afraid neither Eric nor Casso would admit such a thing.

Leon shook his head. It was a pity that he still didn't know whether Ines had the talent to learn magic. Otherwise, making some Neti cards for her to use would be a more appropriate return gift at the moment.

The girl's own combat power is weak, about equal to 0.5 spear-wielding old farmers. If she could change her job to a summoner, it would make me feel more at ease when she is not around.

The conditions for using Neti cards are very simple. You don't need to learn any magic. As long as you can mobilize magic power, this should be the fastest way to improve her self-protection ability.

Having made up his mind to wait for her to come to Avalon next time and then take her to test it with the detector, Leon suppressed his thoughts, said goodbye to Corvis, and entered the Mage Tower alone.

Passing through the hall, Leon bowed to the empty wizard throne as usual.

With mixed feelings, I reminisced about Ms. Aphrodite, who created all kinds of miraculous magic and almost turned the whole world upside down.

He took the elevator and first went to the treasury to get the materials.

Casting a spell to open the treasure chest that Corvis had sealed with a ban, and looking at the full Moon Meteorite Silver inside, Leon sighed, wondering how Ines had gotten so much, could she have really emptied the royal treasury?
After picking up enough materials, Leon hurried into the high-level workshop. Recalling the instructions recorded in the ancient manuscripts, he put the materials into the corresponding compartments of the magic furnace.

He activated the formation connected to the Neti cards under his feet and began the production process. Suddenly, a bright light appeared in the mage's workshop.

Repeat the alchemical magic of casting Neti cards step by step.

The huge amount of magic power in the earth veins is continuously input into the furnace.

After a while of work until the sky gradually darkened, Leon suppressed the excitement in his heart and walked out of the workshop.

He spread out the four empty black crystal cards in his hand like a fan in front of him.

It took Leon a long time to suppress the joy that was grinning from ear to ear.

Including Seething Heart, Canis, and Callisto, he already has seven Neti cards.

If Garron can be repaired, there will be eight of them, which form a small stack in the hand. This powerful magic artifact brings a full sense of security.

However, as the number of cards increases, I may have to change the way of carrying them in the future.

When you only have two or three cards, it is convenient to put them in your waist bag and use them as soon as you take them out. But when you have a lot of cards, it will be troublesome if you take out the wrong one in a hurry during a battle.

Although he could use the art of object manipulation to pull all the Neti cards in front of him for selection, pulling and manipulating each card one by one would inevitably distract his attention.

Or, how about a magic book that can connect to magic power? Insert the Neti cards one by one, so that as long as you open the page, you can instantly activate different cards.

Putting this idea aside for the moment, Leon put the Neti cards in his pocket and left the Mage Tower.

There is no rush for other things, but the safety of Earl Elliver must be confirmed as soon as possible.

After walking out of the tower, seeing that it was getting late, he decided to go to Lady Adelina tomorrow to ask for some "relics" from Elif's past to try to summon him.

His recast "Fake Thorn Blade" had been with Elifer for many years, and perhaps it could also be used as the basis for the ceremony.

(End of this chapter)