Two hours later, Susan’s and Tom’s families arrived.

  They were all grieved to see the blackened bodies, but after Roland gave each family five gold coins as compensation, they smiled as happily as if the victims had died a natural death because of old age, which called for celebration.

  Roland watched them quietly with no change in expression. He didn’t say anything or make any remarks.

  The catgirl wiped her tears now and then.

  She was the only one who really cried.

  Roland temporarily put the studies of Lesser Benediction on hold. He didn’t give up, but he thought that it was too dangerous and he had to study it more cautiously in a safer environment where nobody else would be affected.

  Through Long-Distance Teleportation, Roland returned to Motasos. He went to the city hall and checked the civil affairs of Motasos first.

  This city belonged to Stephanie. She probably wouldn’t be bothered no matter what Roland turned the city into, but as her friend and for his own interests, Roland would be more reassured in constructing the foundation of his floating city if the city was safe and financially healthy.

  At this moment, many people in Motasos knew of Roland, but few had really seen him.

  So, Roland went to the city hall with Stephanie’s butler.

  After the butler introduced him to most people in the city hall, Roland quickly examined the recent reports and found a few noticeable mistakes. He smiled and said, “Although I’m just the acting mayor and my job may be taken by the First Princess any time, I don’t want to see anyone embezzling while I’m still in office.”


  A few clerks were shivering.

  Several officials and about thirty employees looked at him in the city hall, not daring to speak.

  A Mage’s warning always carried weight, especially when he was right.

  “I know that some of you are definitely angry with me. After all, I’m young and I have never been your leader before. But that’s fine. If you think you’re capable or have a powerful background, you’re free to try and topple me.”


  Seeing Roland’s vague smile, the officials and employees at the city hall could only smile awkwardly.

  “Of course, I’m not an inconsiderate man. I’ve seen your wages, which are indeed too petty, so you make a living through corruption. If I forbid you from embezzlement, you will barely be able to survive. So, I’ve decided to give you a little pay raise. You will all have double your old wages.”


  Hearing that, all the employees in the city hall widened their eyes.

  Motasos had been the First Princess’s territory since she was ten.

  The employees at the city hall had been working for her since then too.

  It had been fifteen years, and they’d never had even one pay raise during these fifteen years.

  But of course, their living expenses were as cheap as fifteen years earlier too.

  Now, Roland had given them a pay raise the moment he arrived.

  Therefore, the workers were more or less surprised, and generally overjoyed. Roland was happy to see how elated they were. He gave them a high salary because he wanted a clean government. But of course, he didn’t think that a high salary alone could prevent corruption.

  His deeper purpose was that, by giving them a high salary, he would have enough excuses to punish whoever was too corrupt without being criticized by everybody as mean and ungenerous.

  After his debut in the city hall, Roland returned to the mayor’s office and entered the underground hollow.

  The few solar systems had all finished their evolution and turned into white spheres.

  Roland squeezed them into bricks and put them in his system Backpack.

  The magic bricks made in such a way were of a better quality and fully automated. He didn’t have to work on them at all, but could spend time on other things, such as magic experiments.

  Creating another few solar systems in the basement for evolution, he teleported himself to the capital of Fareins and spent a few days with Andonara. Then, he returned to the Red Magic Tower. Hardly had he entered his own manor when two magic apprentices suddenly jumped him.

  They stopped in Roland’s path, and one of them said, “Mr. Roland, you must go to the Council of Elders right now.”


  Roland asked back in confusion, “You look rather nervous. What happened?”


  The other magic apprentice, who was younger, replied, “The Great Elder and a few other mentors came back earlier this morning in less-than-perfect shape. We were told that you were related to the matter.”


  After a shock, Roland remembered that Alfred said that they would deal with the First Princess’s ex-husband and the black-winged creature and asked him to leave it alone. Did anything happen to them during their hunt? After expressing his gratitude to the two magic apprentices, Roland quickly went before the Council of Elders.

  When Roland arrived, a dozen elders and mentors were having a heated argument.

  He attracted everybody’s attention the moment he appeared at the door.

  The conference room instantly fell quiet. The Great Elder waved at Roland and said, “Come here, son!”


  Under the watch of a dozen old but powerful Mages, Roland walked into the conference room and stood next to the Great Elder.

  The atmosphere was dull in the conference room. Everybody stared at Roland with subtle expressions, some even with obvious curiosity.

  Roland found that the Great Elder’s face was pale.

  “Great Elder, is there anything I can do for

  you?”


  Roland opened his mouth and slightly broke the suffocating atmosphere in the conference room.

  The Great Elder coughed again. This time, he sounded graver and weaker than before.

  “We found the First Princess’s ex-husband and even locked onto his phylactery with a prophecy spell.” Maybe because of his wounds, the Great Elder seemed rather miserable and was trying to hold back his pain. “However, when we tracked him down, the black four-winged angel showed up. We were no match for him. Although we escaped, Mentor Raquel has been perpetually detained in that place, and we’re all badly wounded too.”


  Roland was rather surprised. He didn’t expect such a result when multiple Legendary Mages had taken action.

  How strong was the black four-winged angel exactly?

  Looking at Roland’s surprise, the Great Elder smiled and continued, “Although we had to escape, the black angel can’t be in a better condition. He’s gravely wounded too. Also, the First Princess’s ex-husband has been locked onto by our spells and cannot escape. His phylactery cannot be moved away from that place for a hundred days, when our spells run

  out.”


  “Great Elder, what do you need me to do?” asked Roland.

  “You are a Golden Son, and you don’t die. I don’t think the black angel will stay there with the heavy wounds. Summon your partners and kill the First Princess’s ex-husband. An evil lich doesn’t get to live on in this world.”


  Roland already had the epic quest to kill the First Princess’s ex-husband. Now that the Great Elder brought it up, Roland was more than happy to carry it out.

  “Also……” Pondering for a moment, the Great Elder continued, “The black angel shed a lot of blood in that place. The blood of high-level creatures won’t decay or disappear easily, and it can scare off low-level creatures. So, a lot of his blood must be still lingering there. Fetch as much of the blood as possible. Understood?”


  Roland nodded.

  “This is the location.”


  The Great Elder sent a pair of coordinates to Roland with his mental power.

  Then Roland left.

  After Roland left, the Great Elder took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The argument in the conference hall restarted.

  Very soon, a middle-aged mentor came in and said, “Roland has already teleported himself away. We can continue our discussion about him.”


  The Great Elder opened his eyes.

  “I stand by what I said. It’s not worth it,” shouted a bald mentor who was a Legend. “Roland is just a Master Mage. Do we really have to be so nice to him? Raquel died exactly in order to take care of problems for him. Speaking of which, he is a Golden Son. Does it really matter even if he dies once or twice? He should take care of his own issues. It’s unnecessary for us to help him.”


  Several other people echoed the bald mentor and nodded in agreement.

  However, the Great Elder asked back, “Cook, it’s unfair of you to say that. I remember that you pissed off quite a few bigshots when you were young, but the Red Magic Tower took care of tons of troubles for you because you were talented in magic. Would you have become one of the elders if we didn’t help?”


  Bald Cook blushed and said angrily, “I was different from Roland, all right? I’m a Legend!”


  The Great Elder chuckled. “You weren’t even a Master yet when you were Roland’s age, and you think you’re better than him?”.

  “Alfred, you’re busting my balls. I’m not happy.” The bald Mage rolled up his robe and showed his muscular arms. “Come on. Let’s honor the tradition of the conference hall and have a manly duel. Whoever loses will have to endure Sex Transformation for a day.”


  Hearing that, the dozen old men nearby all got excited.

  They quickly rose and separated the table into a dozen pieces. Then, they fluently rearranged those pieces into a square arena around Cook and the Great Elder.

  After that, all the Mages discussed with each other excitedly.

  “Wow, what huge stakes. Sex Transformation! Cook is getting cocky!”


  “I think he must be confident about the duel. He probably learned boxing from a Legendary Warrior.”


  “I’ve never seen the female version of the Great Elder. The target of Sex Transformation will appear in their younger form. The Great Elder was very handsome when he was young, right? He must be gorgeous if he’s turned into a young woman.” “He was very handsome.” One of the old men blushed. “I think I can take the female version of the Great Elder!”


  Shoot!

  The few Legendary Mages quickly dispersed and looked in fear at the blushing old Mage who just spoke.

  What a pervert!