Witch Redemption

"You've seen someone like that before?!"

Li Lan's shock was palpable. If that meant the girl he had saved was some kind of ancient monster from a bygone era? A god-like being?

Good heavens, should I save him or not? He had originally planned to interrogate him after the rescue, but after Yu Hui's reminder, he hesitated for a moment.

"Save her! We must save her! The Empire wants to kill her, the Dark Order wants to kill her, a whole host of forces want to kill her. Whatever the deep-seated hatred between them doesn't matter. What matters is that she might become the Empire's enemy, and perhaps she can even turn the tables on them. Why shouldn't I save her? I originally planned to interrogate her about the deaths of the two witch seniors, but at this stage, the dead cannot be brought back to life. Right now, the biggest enemy is actually the Empire. If I continue to focus on this, I will only stagnate."

He made a quick decision and waved for the little girl Yu Hui to keep watch around. "Don't worry, for your master, everything can be measured by profit, even saving people."

...... ...... ......

Lachesis Wagner, as the adopted daughter of Viscount Ivan Hank, was essentially ostracized within the family for a long time.

The reason, besides the lack of blood relation to the Hank family, may also be related to the Wagner surname.

It is said that twenty-three years ago, Viscount Ivan's former fiancée, Vanessa, was born into the Wagner family, a commoner family. However, it is unclear what happened afterward that led Viscount Ivan to commit a massacre on the eve of his wedding, killing all thirty-eight members of the Wagner family. The reason for this remains unknown.

Lachesis was quite interested in that past event, but unfortunately, almost all the information she had come across was rumors, the veracity of which was impossible to verify.

The only explanation she personally agrees with is that she has no connection whatsoever with the unfortunate family that was wiped out. After all, she is only eighteen years old this year, and her unexpected rescue and becoming a member of the Hank family was more or less due to Viscount Ivan being a good person.

In this respect, Viscount Ivan did indeed have the demeanor of a loving father, and was always deeply respected by Lachesis. Many times, she even wondered if the tragedy twenty-three years ago might have been deliberately smeared.

After all, when it comes to nobles, politics, and religion, it's always inseparable from all sorts of dirty dealings.

Since her godfather arranged for her to assist in handling various affairs of the Beicheng Chamber of Commerce three years ago, she has witnessed far too many disgusting tricks. For the sake of profit, many people will stop at nothing. Not to mention smearing others, it is commonplace for them to stab each other in the back and do dirty tricks.

"My godfather must be really tired. There's the Dark Order suppressing him from above, and many damned noble families wanting to seize power from below... Oh well, this is something a woman like me can't handle. Let him worry about it himself. As for the task he gave me today... Hehe, Roman Hydra? Sounds like a handsome guy. He's supposedly a prince of the Dark Elves!"

Generally speaking, fifteen-year-old girls are at the age when they first fall in love and like all sorts of wonderful fantasies. But as these fantasies gradually shatter and they get older until they turn eighteen... well, a sense of defeat, like that of an older single woman, will gradually break a living girl and turn her into a dreamy, infatuated girl.

In other words, on the surface she is an impartial, shrewd, capable, and ruthless chamber of commerce assistant, but in reality she is a mature young woman with an extremely rich inner world and a romantic dream.

"Number 999, South 12th Street, this is it! I've heard that all the elves are handsome men and beautiful women. If I ever had the chance, hehe... Ah! I'm dead!"

Excitedly, she raised her slender, slightly trembling right hand and knocked on the door.

"coming!"

Hmm? Why is it a woman's voice? Lachesis felt a pang of jealousy. So this dark elf prince already had someone he loved. "Well, it's true, races can't have offspring. What was I thinking? As a prince, he'll definitely inherit the family business in the future. How could we possibly..."

With a creak, the door opened, leaving Lachesis somewhat bewildered.

"Hello, does Mr. Roman Hydra live here?"

The door was opened by a woman dressed in gray-white adventurer's attire, wearing a hood even in broad daylight, followed by a well-behaved and adorable little creature—a scene quite different from what Lachesis had imagined.

"I am."

"You are? Roman isn't a man?" Lachesis's eyes widened, and the frustration of shattered illusions surged into her heart once again.

"It doesn't matter whether it's a man or a woman," the guy waved his hand dismissively, seemingly unconcerned about the connection between name and gender. "What's up?"

...... ...... ......

At 2 p.m., Li Lan finally met the person Ivan Hank had mentioned for the handover, a very well-developed dark-haired beauty.

She was over 1.7 meters tall, wearing a brown-black short skirt specially made by the Chamber of Commerce. Her face was cold, and her big blue eyes were slippery. She looked like an extremely cunning person.

"Hello, Miss Roman..."

"You can call me a doctor; it's my profession."

“Oh, Dr. Roman, I am Viscount Ivan’s adopted daughter, Lachesis Wagner, and currently one of the assistants of the Bay City Chamber of Commerce. My father appointed me as the liaison between the Chamber of Commerce and Your Excellency.”

After shaking hands, the capable and beautiful woman quickly glanced around the sparsely furnished room and exclaimed with some surprise, "Dr. Roman is such a frugal person."

"Ahem!" Li Lan seemed a little embarrassed. He didn't dare to dwell on this matter. Instead, he took out a list of medicinal herbs that he had prepared beforehand. "Please pass this on to Viscount Ivan. Also, please inform him that the handover should take place within a week."

“That’s no problem. I will also have someone personally deliver the monster materials that Dr. Roman needs. If all goes well, the first batch will be delivered to you the day after tomorrow.” Lachesis frowned as he glanced around the shabby room once more. “In addition, my father asked me to help you renovate the shop. I hope you won’t refuse. As for the money needed for the renovation, it will be deducted from the profit-sharing agreement. Is that alright?”

"Of course!"

Li Lan hadn't expected her boss to be so thoughtful; she was both surprised and flattered.

Soon, the two men and their follower began to walk towards the trade area in the northern district, observing the new person in charge of the handover along the way.

The first thing he noticed was her height and beauty. Her dark brown short skirt paired with seemingly rough animal-hide boots, along with the accessories at her waist, exuded an aura of unapproachability. Her steady gait was in no way inferior to that of most gold-level adventurers. Thinking about it carefully, this was the first time he had seen such an outstanding female native since he had transmigrated to this world.

Little did he know, the person making the handover had been observing him all along.

"Roman Hydra? How could she have such a masculine name? It made me misunderstand, damn it! But this girl seems quite cute. She seems very mature. Her manner of speaking and her demeanor are not like those of an ordinary woman."

In the Viana theocratic state, where the strong are respected, women have a relatively low status, especially those without any power. They can only live a dependent life; otherwise, so many women wouldn't choose to work in brothels. It's truly a tragic situation.

Their low social status often leads to most women being extremely insecure, speaking in a submissive and timid manner.

However, this guy named Roman Hydra was different. Lachesis had a feeling that this guy was strong! And not someone to be trifled with!

"I don't know what Father sees in this guy, is it his looks or his abilities? Forget it, I'd better not worry about it too much. Some people don't live long because they know too much. For now, I'll just do whatever Father asks me to do in the handover, and I won't ask about anything else, so as not to cause any trouble."

Powerful forces have their own conflicts, and noble families also have their own internal conflicts!

The current situation of the Hank family is even more chaotic than Laksh had imagined. For example, Lady Brun, who is in a political marriage with Viscount Ivan Hank, represents the royal family and has always wanted to seize Ivan Hank's branch of power. They have long been trying to eliminate her as a thorn in their side.

Perhaps because she was too bored on the road, this seemingly cold but actually warm-hearted beauty finally couldn't resist her curiosity and started asking all sorts of questions, from the many strange tales of the wilderness to her various interpersonal relationships and even her life ideals. Once she started talking, she couldn't stop.

"Is this your daughter? This headdress is quite nice... Strange, it feels just like the real thing?"

"Ah, she has a problem with her throat. Sorry, I was just being nosy... By the way, what does Dr. Roman do? Save lives? Is that even a profession?"

This amazing woman can ask all sorts of questions with a blank expression; it's truly incredible.

Taking this opportunity, Li Lan naturally began to gather a lot of information about Viscount Ivan and the city, enriching her understanding of the city...

On July 16, 10003 in the Gregorian calendar, Imperial Major General Virginia died, the Sixth Apostle Kalamiti disappeared, and Roman Hydra, the "King of the Dark Elves," officially settled in Kobe City, where he established a strange little shop with the help of Lachesis Wagner.

"Roman Clinic".

Chapter 26 Preparations Before the Imprinting of Faith

More than a week has passed since the day I was almost taken away by the Imperial soldiers, and the day I agreed to meet with Viscount Ivan has arrived without me even realizing it.

It must be said that the person Viscount Ivan arranged to take over, Lachesis Wagner, was indeed a very capable foodie beauty. She helped Li Lan renovate the entire "Roman Clinic" in just one afternoon, and afterwards she would personally visit every day to freeload.

In Li Lan's opinion, the red-haired beauty was indeed very pretty, but unfortunately she looked a bit cold.

She verbally claimed to be Ivan Hank's goddaughter, an adopted orphan, but to outsiders, her demeanor was no different from that of her adoptive father, Ivan Hank; that seriousness could easily be attributed to her father.

In addition, Lachesis always seemed to come to tease the little loli Yu Hui. Occasionally, she would bring all sorts of cute dresses to try on. Whenever Li Lan saw her like this, she couldn't help but think of a former comrade-in-arms who often looked at her with prejudice, Lorina Yuffie, a crow-feather witch who was not at all "loli" and was more like a "Yamato Nadeshiko".

"I'll process this new batch of monster materials tomorrow night."

After sending the red-haired beauty downstairs to mind the shop, Li Lan went alone to her bedroom on the third floor of the building and secretly opened the magic book to check the information inside.

First of all, he has obtained three batches of monster materials in the past week, most of which are the corpses, intelligence cores and magic cores of low-level monsters. He has also succeeded in life alchemy six times. However, it is a bit of a pity that although these creations are all in human form, they are not suitable for people to see.

Their composition is similar to that of the servants created from the corpses of the Mimic Chaos or the Shadow Monster. They are not very intelligent and their appearance is somewhat mentally polluting, so he can only leave all these servants in the Magic Book for the time being.

On the other hand, the servant Thomas has not returned since joining Wood Annason's Westne Mercenary Group. It is said that he went to the Mountain Temple for training, which has brought Li Lan a lot of experience with magic books. He is not far from leveling up his magic book to level eleven.

"It seems that to create an intelligent creation like Thomas, we still need the intelligence core of a mid-level monster or higher. We may have to rely on Thomas for that. Also, once the servants created by these low-level monsters reach level ten, we may be able to equip them with armor and make them Thomas's assistants."

After another careful mental calculation, he quietly closed the magic book and hid it in his personal "wallet".

The moment he stepped down the stairs, he saw the figure of a girl lying quietly on the bed. Ever since the day a faith imprint was implanted in her "heart," she had not woken up after regaining her life force. Li Lan had little chance of getting any information from her, and had no idea when she would wake up.

"The wound has healed, and the skin has returned to its normal human color. It seems like there's nothing seriously wrong with him. Why is he still not awake?"

He shook his head, not thinking too much about it, and went straight downstairs.

"Why did it take Dr. Roman to go up there for so long?"

Lachesis, seemingly somewhat excited, held the innocent-looking Yu Hui in her arms, a rare look of happiness appearing on her usually indifferent face.

"There were quite a lot of materials, and it took some time to organize them," Li Lan quickly changed the subject after concealing her true purpose. "Did Viscount Ivan mention what time he would be coming today?"

It's around 2 p.m. now, and there are still seven hours until curfew. No matter how you look at it, Viscount Ivan shouldn't be going to stay out too late, right?

It has to be said that this place is really dangerous. After nine o'clock at night, the inside and outside of the house become two different worlds. He almost killed himself last time because of his recklessness, and he was still a little scared. Naturally, he would not do something reckless a second time.

"I don't know, but my father asked me to stay here tonight, saying that I can provide backup."

Lachesis's task was simply to help open the door once a night; she had no idea what Ivan Hank was doing there and had no interest in it.

"I see."

"By the way, it seems you're being monitored. Shop number 977 has been rented by those people from the Empire, and they're watching your place all the time. Shop number 978 was taken back three days ago by clergy from the Dark Order using the royal name. They say it's going to be converted into a small confessional for believers to pray in."

"Shop number 976 is also a bit strange. It was rented out properly, but yesterday that adventurer sublet it to another group of adventurers. This group of adventurers has an exaggerated background. They are elves from the western continent and look a lot like you. I heard that things are not very peaceful there right now, but it is really rare for them to travel tens of thousands of kilometers to come here. It seems a bit of a coincidence that they chose a location near you. Maybe they are targeting you."

"......" emmmm? For a moment, Li Lan was stunned. He knew that the people of the Empire would not let this go, so it was normal for them to send people to monitor him. But what was the purpose of the Dark Order also monitoring him? And why were there elves from the Western Continent?

"Perhaps it's just a coincidence, but in my twenty years of adventurous life, I haven't made any enemies. I've always been a helpful and kind person."

If he weren't a good person, he wouldn't have helped that despicable Wood Annason or the thick-skinned pig-headed beastman Austin Rune. At least compared to most of the native inhabitants of this world, Li Lan is a righteous and kind person.

"Twenty years? No way? Dr. Roman looks..." Lachesis's usually indifferent face finally showed surprise.

"You look very young, don't you? Actually, I'm already fifty years old, which is considered old by human standards."

Li Lan is known for his boasting without thinking. If you subtract fifteen years from his current age, that's his real age before he transmigrated: an older, single, and reclusive man destined for a lonely life.

"This...this is really unexpected. It seems Dr. Roman has taken very good care of himself!" Lachesis's sapphire eyes revealed envy.

"Um, it's alright."

"In this world, all intelligent races are different from those of the mythical era. Whether it's humans, elves, or orcs, their lifespan is basically only a hundred years. I've heard that to break through the shackles of lifespan, one can only continuously increase their magic power until they awaken their primal power. Judging from Dr. Roman's strength, he probably hasn't awakened his primal power yet, right?"

Lachesis probed.

"The power of origin?"

"Don't you know?"

Li Lan genuinely didn't know anything about it; she had never even heard of it, and it wasn't mentioned in any books or literature.

"It's what's called atavism. It's said that awakening one's primal power requires a trigger, something that requires comprehension. I don't know the specifics, it's all just legends. Most intelligent beings who awaken their primal power possess great strength. If we look at it from the perspective of adventurer rankings, they're basically all legendary adventurers."

Lachesis gave a brief overview of how orcs who have awakened their primal power possess a second beast avatar, elves possess elemental forms, and humans possess active magic—all terms Li Lan had never heard of before, but he memorized them all without missing a single one.

"A legendary adventurer? The highest rank that the Adventurers' Guild can register is Diamond, which, if judged by the Empire's military ranks, is roughly equivalent to Major General. In other words, a legendary adventurer might be at the level of Lieutenant General or General? Would the actions of such a being be similar to what I witnessed that night? Or even more terrifying?"

As Lachesis spoke, she stroked Yu Hui's cheek, completely ignoring the latter's resistance. She loved to "torture" these cute and fragile little animals, as it always aroused her protective instincts.

"By the Goddess of Darkness! This is the best gift you have given me! Although I didn't manage to snag a handsome dark elf prince, I'm even more satisfied with such a lovely princess! It's not enough, if I could take her home... hehehe, I'm dead, hehehe!"

Li Lan naturally had no idea that this seemingly aloof beauty came every day just to pet the little girl Yu Hui beside him, just like the "cat lovers" Li Lan knew in his previous life.