Chapter 665: Tell Your Grandfather?

Chapter 665: Tell Your Grandfather?

After concluding his audience with Bern, Karen stepped out of the Chief Bishop’s office, only to find a relatively unfamiliar young attendant standing in wait. The man stepped forward proactively and offered a polite bow.

"Lord Minister, I am Bishop Delong’s attendant. My Lord Bishop learned of your arrival and specifically sent me to invite you to his office for tea."

In truth, Karen’s very next destination was already the Guman household.

"Very well, please lead the way."

"Please follow me, Lord Minister."

Upon his promotion to Bishop, Delong had naturally moved into a new office. The space had recently undergone a fresh renovation, though its stylistic overhaul was clearly not meant to mark a new master's arrival with fresh vigor, but rather to serve a purely professional purpose.

The moment one stepped inside, the eyes were met with an assortment of instruments, blueprints, and ancient texts. To the uninitiated, it might well have resembled an experimental workshop under the jurisdiction of the Formation Department.

The stark contrast between a dedicated specialist and a career administrator was glaringly obvious here. Even after ascending to the seat of Bishop, the old gentleman still carried himself like the leader of a research and development team.

"Ah, Karen."

Delong was currently peering through a specialized monocle, engrossed in a thick ancient volume. It was only when Karen stood directly before him that he suddenly became aware of his presence.

"My Lord."

"I thought you would be detained in the Chief's office for quite some time," Delong said, removing his monocle. "I didn't expect you to conclude so quickly, haha."

"My gratitude, My Lord, for last night—"

"Ah!" Delong waved his hand disarmingly. "Come back with me for lunch in a little while; it was ordered by the lady of my house."

"Understood."

"Do you have other matters to attend to?" Delong inquired. "I still have two hours before I can leave. I only requested half a day's leave."

"No other matters. Please, continue with your work."

"Oh, good. Don't feel like an outsider. I didn't actually have to come in today, as I have a very rich reserve of vacation days. But the lady at home seemed to guess with absolute certainty that you would come to the Educational Administration Building today. She made me come to work just to wait for you and bring you home for lunch. She also said she wanted to give me a surprise. My guess is it’s a new dish she has invented."

"I have always been quite fond of the Madam's cooking."

"You, you are simply too polite. Oh, well, that’s fine. There is no need for such courtesy between us, though it is still necessary to observe proper etiquette with others."

"You speak the truth."

"Haha, I have nothing to teach you in that regard. You understand the ways of the world far better than I do. There are tea and pastries over there; you may partake of some first while I review and double-check this research passage."

"Please proceed; I can wait." Karen hesitated for a brief moment before asking, "Should I call Richard back?"

Delong nodded immediately. "Yes, please. Ever since he became the office director, he has grown averse to coming home, always claiming to be 'busy with work.' Is his work truly that demanding?"

"The tasks are very heavy."

"It has been hard on you. I know you have always been promoting and guiding him as if he were your own younger brother."

"No, it is he who has always treated me as an older brother."

"Haha."

Karen walked over to the telephone apparatus and dialed the headquarters. After announcing his name, the operator swiftly transferred him to Richard’s office.

"Hello, have the files been retrieved?"

"It is me."

"Oh, Karen! What a surprise. I never expected to receive a call from you in my own office."

"Come home for lunch at noon."

"To your place?"

"Your home."

"Ah, excellent. I will hand over my current tasks and head right back." Then, as if sensing a slight impropriety in his own words, Richard immediately amended, "Ah, actually, I don't really have any work to do."

"Tell Philomena to come along as well."

"Understood."

Inviting Philomena was because she was now considered a student of his grandmother, having very little to do with Richard himself.

Setting down the receiver, Karen picked up the tea and pastries and walked over to the sofa to sit. As he enjoyed the refreshments, he began to flip through the ancient formation text laid out before him.

Initially, he had merely meant to browse, but as he read further, he found it rather intriguing and unconsciously became absorbed in its pages.

Delong, who had put his monocle back on, stole a glance. By all accounts, the ancient texts and materials in his room were restricted; even personnel within the department had to file an advance application to consult them. However, Delong merely assumed Karen was reading out of boredom and paid it no mind.

In a state of deep focus, time flew by rapidly, and an hour and a half vanished just like that.

Delong lifted his head, stretching gently. As he walked toward the sofa where Karen sat, he was surprised to find him still reading that same ancient volume. What astonished him even more was that the bone tiles originally resting on the coffee table had been taken out by Karen and arranged into a specific model.

This implied that Karen had not only understood the text, but was also actively deducing its progression.

Could this be real?

Delong cast a careful glance at the ancient book. It primarily introduced and recorded formations involving the soul domain from the previous epoch—a text of immense difficulty.

To comprehend it required not only a rock-solid foundation in formations, but also deep cultivation within the realm of the soul.

Delong took note of the specific volume Karen was currently reading, then shifted his gaze back to the arranged bone tiles. As he looked, his expression grew deadly serious.

Such a small fragment could not possibly be a complete formation, of course, but what Karen had laid out was the absolute core point within the core position of this entire matrix.

Delong could now confirm that the young man before him truly understood it!

This was truly... incredible.

Karen had once saved the lives of his son and daughter-in-law, and had continuously guided and protected Richard. It could be said that the relationship between Karen and the Guman family had long been inextricably bound.

Earlier on, the elder Delong had felt that this young man’s proactive approach was an attempt to attach himself to the Guman family to gain leverage for his career. But with the young man's meteoric rise and the unfolding of various events, Delong had lost that mindset long ago. If anything, it now felt as though the Guman family was curry favoring him.

If nothing else, his own current seat as Bishop was only made available because the previous Bishop in charge of the Formation Department had been toppled during the last incident. Whether there was any deliberate maneuvering involved to pave the way for him... Delong himself could not be certain.

He knew how exceptional this young man was—exceptional to a breathtaking degree. His wife adored Karen as if he were her own biological grandson, not a single bit less than Richard... Err, rather, compared to Karen, Richard looked like someone picked up from the side of a trash bin in his wife's eyes.

Richard also loved to recount stories of Karen at home: "What happened to Karen today," "What did Karen do again"...

Yet, this was the first time Delong learned that this young man was also highly proficient in formations.

Proficient!

If it were merely an amateur hobby—reading a bit, learning a bit, gesturing a bit, or even using a few formations as a prelude and empowerment when casting spells—all of that would be easily understood.

But as the foremost authority in formation seniority within the current district, Delong keenly perceived that with Karen’s current level, even if he resigned from his post in the Whip of Order, he could completely take up a high-ranking position within the Formation Department itself.

Just what kind of... monster was this?

In the old gentleman's heart, only the word "monster" could fitly describe him, for "genius" felt entirely inadequate. The last young man who had ever drawn such a lament from him was...

A young figure from the deeply distant past surfaced in Delong's mind.

His own wife could tell him without the slightest reservation that that person was a beam of light before her eyes.

Delong had never been angered by such words from his wife, even though they described another man, because back then, he too had briefly bathed in the radiance emanating from that contemporary.

No matter how dangerous the environment, no matter how intractable the hardship, as long as that man was present, everyone felt completely at peace.

At this moment, that young figure named "Dis" began to overlap with the young man before him.

Yet, Delong quickly shook his head. They were different.

Although Karen’s actions were often forceful, even resorting to flipping the table on several occasions to express his attitude and break through a deadlock, he was highly courteous and well-mannered in his personal interactions;

That Dis, however, was different, as the description of a beam of light inherently carried a sense of aloofness and untouchability.

By comparison, this young man was much easier to accept.

Delon spoke up, “Your arrangement of details in this position is a bit too loose; it could actually be more rigorous.”

He spoke in broad, abstract terms, but he believed Karen would understand.

Karen shook his head and said, “Here, I took into account the uniqueness of the soul, as everyone's soul is one of a kind; a looser arrangement makes it more convenient for fine-tuning when the time comes.”

“Fine-tuning? Then the soul strength must reach a certain level, oh, did you arrange this according to your own characteristics?”

“Yes, I believe I can handle and adjust it, but I have a question now, which is how to achieve true embedding and resonance, as the effect of the array strength is inevitably weakened after incorporating the soul attributes.”

“Guidance.”

“Guidance?”

“Arrays acting on the soul do not necessarily have to be arranged and driven by the soul itself; you have absolute confidence because your own soul strength is very high, so your perception was immediately confined.”

A look of realization came over Karen’s eyes, “So that is how it is, I understand, the array can be arranged on the outside, as long as the effect can cover the soul, so the only thing left to solve is the guidance.”

“Exactly, the solution to guidance is also very simple, just like a teleportation array, since you dislike that arranging the array at the soul level weakens the effect, you can just arrange a simple receptive array to usher the effect of the outer array inside, which will achieve the best result.”

“You are truly magnificent, my Lord,” Karen praised sincerely, “Thank you for your guidance.”

After saying this, Karen stood up from the sofa and bowed to Delon.

He had not intended to hide his lack of skill earlier, because he could not resist the temptation to learn real ability, and there was no need to hide what could be obtained through the simplest questions and answers, only to miss out.

“You boy, you are not simple, who is your teacher?”

“I once had the honor of obtaining a set of array notes.”

“You mean you taught yourself by reading array notes?”

“Yes.”

“Heh,” Delon gave a dry laugh, wanting to continue speaking but not knowing how to open his mouth for a moment.

His original intention was to tell Karen to follow him and learn arrays.

But given their current identities and relationship, he was somewhat unsure how to organize his words.

This feeling was like looking at an extremely precious dish placed in front of you, where you clearly could not control the secretion of saliva, yet because the occasion was far too serious, you felt too embarrassed to even lift your fork and knife.

Just then, the office door was knocked.

“Come in,” Delon said.

The attendant walked in, “My Lord, you may finish your shift, and Director Richard has arrived.”

“Oh, where is he?”

“In the parking lot in front of the academic building.”

“Why doesn’t he come up?”

“Director Richard said he would just wait below, he does not want to enter your office like a grandson looking for his grandfather.”

“Heh, he has quite the pride.”

Delon glanced at the time on the wall clock and said to Karen, “Let us go.”

“Very well, my Lord.”

Karen followed Delon to the parking lot, and Richard proactively got out of the car to open the door.

Delon nodded, and just as he was about to sit inside, he saw his grandson say to Karen:

“Minister, please.”

Delon: “...”

Karen said to Delon, “My Lord, please.”

Richard, however, said, “Why be so polite, it is not as if my grandfather lacks hands.”

Delon snorted, opened the car door himself, and sat inside.

Richard took the driver's seat, starting the car while saying to Karen, “Leon handed over his shift to me and went back, he said he was going home to burn some coupons.”

“Mm, what about Philomena?”

“She said she would go by herself, no need to take my car.”

Delon immediately spoke up, “She said she would go by herself, so you really let her go alone? Aren't you afraid she won't be safe as a girl?”

“Hahaha!” Richard could not help but laugh out loud, “Grandfather, have you been drinking, I think I might be unsafe, but she is definitely safe.”

“That is different.”

“How is it different, I would never have the face to say something like it is unsafe for you to travel alone as a girl so I must protect you, I know exactly what level I am at.”

Delon’s face turned red first, then sank, and finally began to darken.

This kind of shameless talk was something he used to say often when he was young;

But,

Why did it feel completely natural to say such things back then?

This was a small interlude, and the car drove on the way home.

Several times, Delon wanted to proactively open his mouth to say something to Karen, but each time the words reached his lips, he swallowed them back down.

In any case, the image of Karen looking at ancient texts and playing with bone tiles kept crashing around in his mind.

Richard looked through the rearview mirror from time to time at the two people sitting in the back row, and finally, he could not bear it anymore:

“Grandfather, if you have something to say, just say it directly.”

“Cough...” Delon coughed to hide his embarrassment, and then still forced himself to speak, “Karen, if you encounter any problems or have any ideas regarding arrays in the future, feel free to come and find me, we can communicate and discuss with each other.”

Karen immediately replied with a smile, “Very well, my Lord.”

“Grandfather, save your breath, Karen has an array master teacher in the Dinge district whose status is very high.”

Richard was currently helping Karen organize information on his surrounding network, and Alfred had given him a list, which included Piro and Levin.

To be fair, in the past, whenever there was a festival, Alfred would send gifts to these cheap teachers in Karen's name.

“Didn’t you say you have no teacher?” Delon asked in confusion.

Karen replied, “Before heading to the Gate of Samsara, I underwent a brief period of training in the Dinge district and received guidance from a mentor.”

“Oh, I see,” Delon felt a bit more comforted in his heart.

Richard, this grandson, began to continue stabbing the knife:

“That mentor invited Karen to the Dinge district, and Karen refused him.”

Richard had also read the correspondence, and anyway, he was used to boasting about how powerful Karen was in front of his family.

To save face, Delon said, “The direction each array master specializes in is different, no matter how excellent an array master is, it is impossible to be proficient in all aspects.”

Karen immediately responded, “Yes, what you say is correct.”

That bastard started twisting the knife again:

"What that mentor meant was that they could arrange a special training program for Karen, and when the time comes, everyone from the formations department of the Dinge Region would come to help Karen learn formations."

If Richard hadn't been driving at that moment, Delon really would have kicked him away.

Is there water in your brain, always running down your own grandfather!

Restraining the urge to beat his own grandson, Delon let out a snort through his nose and said, "There are some things others cannot teach, such as the unique heritage of our Guman family."

"The Key of the Rubik's Cube?" Richard pressed the horn to urge the car ahead to start moving faster, "I already made a copy of it and gave it to Karen a long time ago."

Delon: "..."

"So Grandpa, don't worry yourself over this matter. Karen has no interest in formations. I gave Karen that version of the Key of the Rubik's Cube you teach your students, but I've never seen him use it."

"Never used it?"

Delon was baffled. This shouldn't be the case. Karen's proficiency in formations was clearly very high; even his own modified version of the Key of the Rubik's Cube could immensely help a formation master increase their layout efficiency. How could he not learn it, how could he not use it?

In truth, Karen had been using the Key of the Rubik's Cube all along, and quite frequently at that, though in front of Richard, he would deliberately avoid letting him see it.

Because Richard would not see a castrated version, but rather a genuine version that could only be manifested by someone possessing the bloodline of the Guman family.

"My Lord, I will come to seek your guidance on formation matters in the future, so I apologize in advance for my future disruptions."

"To speak such words is far too polite. You are welcome to come to me at any time; we can progress together."

Looking at Karen, and then looking at his own grandson, Delon suddenly understood a little why his wife was so fond of Karen.

The Guman residence had arrived. The moment Richard parked the car, Karen stepped out first, then walked around to help open the car door for Delon.

He was afraid that the boy Richard would personally open his door again and leave his grandfather stranded there.

He was, after all, his own cousin; there was no need to make his already terrible survival environment within the family go from bad to worse.

Delon, on the other hand, felt a wave of being flattered by the unexpected honor. After stepping out of the car, he looked back at his own grandson, only feeling that the eyes, eyebrows, and nose were somehow grown so asymmetrical.

At this moment, Madame Tangli, wearing an apron, opened the courtyard gate and walked out.

"Grandma!" Richard flew toward his grandmother; he hadn't been home much lately.

"Ah, you're back!" Madame Tangli opened her arms and came jogging over.

Then, she brushed right past Richard.

Richard: "..."

Madame Tangli grabbed Karen's hand and began to inspect him: "You aren't hurt, right?"

Karen replied, "No, Grandma."

Richard smacked his lips a few times. Fine, he was already used to this. Ever since his grandmother first laid eyes on Karen, his own status had automatically dropped a tier.

However, Richard never harbored any feelings of jealousy; on the contrary, he was quite pleased that his family could grant Karen special treatment.

Because this would give him a genuine illusion that he and Karen were "brothers." Well, he liked this illusion.

Seeing Richard completely missed by his wife, the corner of Delon's mouth instantly hooked into a curve, and he had to restrain himself forcefully from laughing out loud.

"My dear, the surprise you said you had for me today, is it..."

"A surprise? Is there one? I don't know, maybe there is, maybe there isn't. Go home first and check the soup pot in the kitchen for me."

"Oh, alright, my dear." Delon smiled at Karen, then walked into the house first.

Richard stood there without moving.

Madame Tangli turned her head to look at him and said, "Your father is waiting for you in the study."

Hearing this, Richard instantly shuddered and could only walk toward the house.

Madame Tangli continued to hold Karen's hand, whispering, "I have an idea, and I want to hear your thoughts."

"Grandmother, please speak."

"I want Delon to know your identity. After experiencing what happened with Richard and Vikole, he has changed a lot, especially last night—I could feel it.

Not telling him before was because he wasn't worthy of knowing back then.

Now, if we tell him, I believe he can place protecting his grandson in the first priority.

In his heart, he has actually always harbored a fierce guilt toward his daughter, which is your mother. I know this.

Karen, I am not emotionally blackmailing you with this, you must absolutely not think of it that way. If you don't want to or if you find it troublesome, then we will continue to hide it from him, it doesn't matter."

Wherever there is emotion, blackmail will inevitably appear.

However, Karen did not develop the slightest resentment toward his grandmother, because he knew very well: his grandmother and Delon truly loved each other. Although she would habitually mock and tease her husband with her tongue, she wished for her husband to know that he still had a grandson, that his daughter had descendants. She wanted to give this joy to him.

Sometimes, lying in bed, the moment Madame Tangli thought of Karen, she would smile because she had such an outstanding grandson, even turning over repeatedly in bed;

But looking again at her husband beside her, who was either sleeping or reading and entirely oblivious, she would also feel it a pity, because originally two people could have smirked together and turned over continuously in happiness together.

Delon's change was actually very clear to Karen. Since there was no longer the possibility of him exposing his own family for the sake of loyalty to the Sacred Church, then the only remaining obstacle was probably whether Karen was willing to change his phrasing to call him "Grandfather."

Karen was unwilling, because he found it troublesome, and unlike Madame Tangli, he and Delon had not nurtured that kind of grandparent-grandchild affection.

Yet, this was a request from his grandmother...

Karen opened his mouth and said, "Grandmother, it's fine for you to decide. I'll listen to you."

"Really?"

"Really."

Madame Tangli took a deep breath, the corners of her eyes instantly turning moist. She drew Karen into her embrace, speaking with a slight choke in her voice:

"Thank you, Karen. Today is his birthday; you are going to give him a true surprise."