CHAPTER 127: CHAPTER 126: YOUR IDEAL

Ave felt heavy-hearted; lately, Valerie Tutor had sent another letter, but her attitude had changed, warning her repeatedly not to return to the Imperial Capital anytime soon, and not to mention anything related to "that person" in her letters.

Her previous letter had caused significant trouble for the Margaret Clan, and now Judicial Court investigators would frequently come to investigate. If not for the Queen’s mediation, she might have already been accused of being an Evil God’s Follower and publicly executed by the Holy Hall.

When she left the Imperial Capital, she had blamed her family, thinking they were ignorant, but now it seemed they might indeed understand the power games of the Imperial Capital better, and sending her to the edge of the Empire was possibly the best outcome for her.

Valerie Tutor’s attitude in the letter seemed to confirm His Majesty Henry’s death:

"Ave, you’re no longer a child, you should grow up, or even your aunt won’t be able to help you anymore."

Ave sniffled and looked at Ethan, "What’s your plan?"

Without realizing it, she had become accustomed to listening to Ethan’s views.

"I’ve recently studied customer feedback and plan to innovate some of the equipment in the store... Um, Sister Bi’an, what is this sauce made of?"

She couldn’t see any sense of tension on Ethan’s face; he was casually handing a piece of wild boar meat covered in sauce to the cat on his shoulder, which nibbled leisurely, though its mouth was still greasy.

Rowena was hiding under the table wolfing down food with Miss Keroy lying there; this heartwarming scene somewhat alleviated her heavy mood.

Ethan always had solutions.

Even Ave didn’t know why she had such a thought.

"Right, I used to wander the south and north, and when out there wanting to eat something good, I’d have to hunt for myself; these are secret recipes I learned from the army’s chefs!"

Sister Bi’an, as always, was carefree, as if nothing in the world could trouble her.

Ethan thoughtfully stroked his chin, "I think opening a snack stand at Old Sen Magic Technology Store would be very popular."

"Oh? That’s a good idea!"

"Don’t come up with lousy ideas; you’ve turned the dignified Imperial Knight Commander into a chef!"

Ave joined the discussion and didn’t forget to tousle the golden fur on her head—why do you agree with everything Ethan says? Whose side are you on anyway?

"There’s nothing wrong with being a chef," Sister Bi’an said happily. "When I went to the Neseriel Sanctuary for an assessment, I thought if I couldn’t pass, I’d become a wandering chef."

"The gap between a chef and a knight is a bit too wide, isn’t it?"

This was the first time Ave heard Sister Bi’an mention her dream of being a chef, and Sister Bi’an said, "Come to think of it, the reason I wanted to become a knight in the first place was also related to food. Back then, our family was dirt poor, living in a slum in the city; we only had wild vegetable soup and hard bread to eat every day. Once, when I helped deliver goods to the Kingdom Army’s camp in town, it was lunchtime, and I saw they were eating meat—such big meat, roasted golden brown, dripped with oil in pans, filling the whole room with aroma."

As she spoke, she gestured with her hands.

They said it was a bird magic creature hunted by the Kingdom Army, with leg meat enough for several burly men to eat.

Looking back, it seemed as if Sister Bi’an could still smell the fragrance from that time, "Can you imagine how shocking that was to a little girl who often didn’t have enough to eat?"

Sister Bi’an held her face, savoring what she saw in the barracks, "From that moment, I knew I had to become a knight, though at first, I didn’t think I could become a Knight Commander. Now that I’ve relinquished my position, I feel a lot more relaxed."

She was naturally restless; during her time as a commander in a border city, she frequently led a knight squad into the mountains for wild game, but after becoming a member of the seven-member council, she was criticized for setting a bad example. In the north of the Imperial Capital, there was only one snow mountain, and since the Bigfoot creatures couldn’t be eaten, she could only spend her days idly in the camp growing mold.

Coming to Ximu Town had made Sister Bi’an feel revived.

She and Miss Keroy had established the Ximu Town Wild Game Association—when it came to food, she and Miss Keroy had much in common. More importantly, Miss Keroy was much more comfortable to ride than the Big Ice Bird, with soft and warm feathers, unlike the Big Ice Bird that froze your butt.

Sister Bi’an heard that after Miss Anna made a mess, she lay at home covering her butt for three days; she thought it was because of a beating, but it was clearly because she got frozen.

"I didn’t expect you too!"

Rowena, eating under the table, popped her head up and looked at Sister Bi’an deeply, evidently finding a kindred spirit, "I also became a mage because I heard it could make big money, and ended up owing a huge debt to the Imperial Reserve, but luckily my economic sense is strong, and I saw through their tricks!"

"Tricks?"

"A bunch of unscrupulous businessmen; the things I bought were often unnecessary expenses. The teacher they arranged for me was bought off by the consortium and always tried to get me to spend more!"

Many naïve youngsters were tricked, realizing too late and being saddled with debts they couldn’t pay off even in decades. But Rowena was much more mature. "I self-taught all the basic and intermediate courses for mages, bought all my spell materials cheaply myself, though they weren’t cheap, it never led to such absurd debts. But the teachers always saw me as a thorn in their side, giving me a hard time, and never supported me after graduation; my research funding applications were perpetually rejected."

"Not only that, people in the Astrologer’s Guild even stole my research, blatantly putting their name on my Cutting Magic and publishing it in the astrologer’s magical journals, winning awards and receiving recognition from scholars. When I argued about it, my tutor always sided against me, making me furious!"

Rowena felt that before she went on a rampage through the Astrologer’s Guild in anger, she might have been the most poorly treated Great Mage, with even the Tier Three Mages in the guild being more respected than her.

Initially, it was the tutor who led the bullying, and after she passed the Level Four assessment and became a certified Great Mage by the Astrologer’s Guild, they resorted to cold violence.

"So when your cat invited me, I agreed immediately."

Rowena sneaked a glance at Lindong and overall was quite satisfied with her days partnered with a witch, "You’d better watch her, don’t let her scratch people’s faces casually again!"

The cat shot Rowena a sideways glance, extended a claw while baring its teeth, and seeing this, Rowena quickly hid back under the table, using the fluffy Miss Keroy as a shield.

The good-tempered Miss Keroy gently patted her with a wing to soothe her.

"By the way, Ethan."

The joyful breakfast time was about to end, and Ave felt it was time to discuss business, "You mentioned earlier about innovating the equipment in the shop, in what way?"

Ethan had many clever ideas, probably the most she had ever seen; for example, with the ’telephone,’ she couldn’t imagine where Ethan’s fantastic ideas came from. But she understood very well that if the technology of the ’telephone’ spread to the Imperial Capital, it would undoubtedly cause a huge uproar and revolutionary progress in many industries.

"In various aspects."

Ethan said, "I call it the Magnetic Storm Infantry Program."