Henwell and Leom talk te into the night. Finally, Leom leaves Peace Tavern, carrying the grand “blueprint” Henwell drew, his face full of excitement.

  After the Veil Organization members leave, Orak approaches.

  At the start of their meeting, Henwell gave Orak a subtle signal, telling him and his two companions to keep their distance. It’s not about trust, it’s because Veil Organization is a special case. Being hunted by various powers on the Abundant Continent, even by gods, makes them a huge liability. Just knowing their name is trouble, let alone learning too much.

  Especially since Orak still has to undergo training at the Holy Spirit Church, he must avoid any ties to Veil.

  Orak is sensible and doesn’t ask about Veil Organization. He knows Henwell well enough. If something isn’t mentioned, it probably means trouble.

  Henwell waves to the tavern owner nearby, who’s been on alert the whole time. “Boss! Come over here, let’s chat.”

  The owner stares at Henwell. “You’re the lord of Blood Hill!”

  Henwell smiles. “Seems my reputation precedes me. Even here, so far away, people know me. I told you before, your tavern’s name fits perfectly with mine. You run Peace Tavern, and my territory is Peace Haven, it sounds like a perfect match! How about it? Boss, want to open a small tavern in my territory? Don’t worry about the nd or the shops, I’ll take care of all that!”

  After a moment of silence, the tavern owner says, “Sounds like a threat. If I don’t go, I guess I won’t live through today!”

  Henwell shakes his finger. “No, no! I’m not a bad guy! If anything in your tavern gets damaged, I pay for it! How could I kill you?”

  The tavern owner gnces around at the wrecked tavern—the headless corpse on the floor, the severed limbs—and thinks Henwell must be talking nonsense.

  Henwell sighs. “Sigh~ Boss, I guess all the unpleasant things that happened this time have made you biased against me. I really won’t kill you, that’s the truth. Otherwise, why would I have let you live until now?”

  ”But I don’t kill you doesn’t mean others won’t. Like those people from before—I won’t name names, but I’m sure you know who they are. They’re no saints. Also, I think your enemies have already set their sights on you.”

  ”Today you had a ranger sent to kill you; tomorrow there will be more. You either keep running or find someone who can protect you. And I happen to have that power. Plus, I need a spellcaster to help me with some things.”

  Tavern owner: “You want me to swear loyalty to you? Do you know who I am? Do you know who my enemies are?”

  Henwell thinks to himself: Your enemies are tougher than mine?

  He smiles. “That doesn’t matter. What matters is that you know who I am, and your enemies know who I am. Besides, I don’t need your loyalty. I’m just hiring you to do a job, and it’s not dangerous or difficult.”

  The tavern owner considers this. “You want me to be your extraordinary consultant? To make extraordinary equipment for you?”

  Henwell shrugs. “What would I need those for? I have plenty of money. If I want equipment, I just buy it. What I need is for you to be a teacher, to train some underlings for me. You don’t have to fight, just teach a few lessons every day. In return, I’ll pay you, or give you whatever else you want, and of course, protect your safety.”

  The tavern owner ughs. “Heh… Lord of Blood Hill, you’re underestimating extraordinary magic. You want me to train spellcasters? Do you know how hard that is? How rare people with spellcasting talent are?”

  Henwell replies, “Of course I know. Though I’m called a cultivation prodigy of the younger generation, I don’t have spellcaster talent. Those gifted in spellcasting are one in ten thousand, and require huge precious resources. I get all that.”

  ”But maybe you misunderstand, I’m not asking you to help me train extraordinary spellcasters. I just want you to be a teacher of the spellcasting system. I need you to teach the basics, the theories of magic.”

  The tavern owner looks even more puzzled. “Why do you want this? It’ll still cost a lot of resources.”

  Henwell shrugs. “That’s not your concern. I pay, you do. Simple as that.”

  After a moment of thought, the tavern owner bows. “Then I, Galgher, a Vague Epiphany-level Arcanist, will serve you for the next ten years. During this time, you must provide me at least ten thousand gold coins worth of extraordinary resources annually. And you must protect me and my family.”

  Henwell lightly taps his chest. “I, Henwell, hereby decre that Arcanist Galgher is under my protection! Your conditions will be met!”

  Henwell needs Arcanist Galgher not to train spellcasters per se.

  The training cycle for spellcasters is far too long, with no short-term payoff, and they’re incredibly resource-hungry. Right now, Peace Haven needs money everywhere, so Henwell has to prioritize cost-effectiveness, getting the biggest results for the least investment.

  Training one extraordinary Awakening-level spellcaster—that is, a magic apprentice—consumes enough resources and time to instead produce over ten knights. And a knight’s combat power isn’t much weaker than that of a magic apprentice. Without preparation, a knight charging in can easily snap a spellcaster’s neck.

  Spellcasters are a te-game profession, their strength grows over time. If an Iron Knight cshes with a spellcaster from Hope of the Rising Sun, once the spellcaster loses the initiative, there’s almost no chance to fight back.

  Using Newwood’s theory, spellcasters pursue the fundamental ws of the world, so their starting point is very high.

  In the short term, Henwell doesn’t pn to build his own spellcaster team, but that doesn’t mean he ignores that path. He intends to train more subordinates to understand the extraordinary spellcasting system and analyze those theories to uncover deeper truths, especially about why extraordinary resources have their special effects.

  Henwell needs a research system that knows not just how things work, but why they work.

  This isn’t a task for one or two people, it requires many intelligent minds, especially those familiar with spellcasting systems.

  Henwell’s middle school students are about to graduate, and he pns to select the most outstanding and intelligent among them to join this department.

  Arcanist Galgher will be the initial guide for this team.

  Finding an experienced spellcaster was one of Henwell’s goals in coming to the Western Federation.

  Now it seems Henwell is lucky to have caught a lone Arcanist.

  Though Galgher is only at the Vague Epiphany rank—equivalent to a Battle Knight—he has enough experience, exactly what Henwell needs.

  Age doesn’t matter, and if Galgher were younger, he might not even accept Henwell’s offer!