Chapter 22: 22 Counting the Spoils

Chapter Twenty-Two: Counting the Spoils

Beside the campfire, Ronin was tallying the belongings of the magician Pedro.

Apart from four parchment scrolls, the small black pouch contained three gold, fifty-seven silver, and two hundred and fifty-six copper coins. Adding the two gold, eighteen silver, and one hundred and fifty-three copper coins taken from the two slain knights, Ronin's monetary gains were quite substantial.

Oh, and then—the armor from those two knights had also been stripped by Ronin and claimed for himself. Two sets of full armor, not of the highest quality but decent nonetheless, estimated to be worth at least thirty gold each, totaling sixty gold coins.

Unfortunately, Ronin's physique wasn't quite suited for them, so he could only award one set to McKen and keep the other as spare.

When he stowed away that armor, it had nearly made the knight Cain of the Greene family drool with envy.

Too bad Ronin had saved their lives and was a member of the Wushan family, so Cain could only stare helplessly.

Actually, Ronin had considered whether to also claim the equipment of the Greene family's warrior, a mid-level knight, but after some thought, he refrained.

He was a kind-hearted man, incapable of such excessive actions.

Besides these obvious spoils, Pedro also possessed a fine quill pen (though whether it was actually goose feather was unclear), three small crystal bottles, and a thumb-sized purple crystal.

Ronin opened the bottle caps; a foul odor wafted out. He examined carefully and saw faint glimmers within the liquid.

"These three bottles likely contain the beast blood Pedro used to craft spell scrolls?"

Pedro had mentioned earlier that to create spell scrolls, beast blood mixed with powdered magic cores or powdered magic crystals was needed.

Such a small amount of material was probably quite valuable as well.

Lastly, Ronin gazed at the purple crystal, his emotions stirring intensely for a moment.

"This... this couldn't be a magic crystal, could it?"

A magic crystal, worth at least a hundred gold coins—if this was indeed one, Ronin would be making a fortune.

Unfortunately, he hadn't found any memories related to magic crystals in his predecessor's mind, so he couldn't judge.

As for asking the Greene siblings...

Ronin absolutely wouldn't do such a foolish thing. What if they asked to share a bit with him?

"Keep it for now; someday I'll figure it out."

Ronin stored all the spoils into his spatial ring. This rescue mission had yielded abundant rewards.

Indeed, supernatural beings were wealthy. One robbery—no, one rescue—had brought such rich gains, truly delighting both body and soul.

So, sometimes people needed a bit of righteousness, just like Ronin.

He chuckled gleefully for a while, then settled his mind and began serious business, carefully studying the parchment scroll of the Wind Gust spell.

It clearly depicted the pattern of the spell's magical lines and also noted the sequence of nodes when drawing the lines with spiritual energy.

"I understand!"

Ronin memorized the Wind Gust spell's magical pattern in his mind, then stored the parchment into his spatial ring.

"The spell pattern can be understood as the Big Dipper connected by lines. What I must do is start from the first star of the Big Dipper, using spiritual energy to guide magical power to illuminate the stars and then connect them."

"If the starting position is wrong, it can't form the spoon shape, and such a spell pattern would collapse."

"If the spiritual magical lines connecting the nodes are curved, not matching the straight lines in the Wind Gust spell's pattern, that also fails."

"Only drawing it out in one breath, with node sequence and lines completely correct, can release the spell."

Understanding this, Ronin spread his hand and first attempted to use spiritual energy to guide magical power, carving the Wind Gust spell's pattern on his palm.

He considered himself quite talented, but after several attempts, he couldn't smoothly condense magical power to form the spell nodes of the pattern, leading to repeated collapses.

But he wasn't anxious. Learning magic wasn't like learning swordsmanship with McKen; this was a field he'd never touched before, and failure was understandable and acceptable.

"This failure was because the first node was carved too hastily, without enough magical power to sustain it."

"This failure was due to insufficient concentration, causing a break between the second and third nodes of the spell pattern."

"This failure..."

Ronin failed repeatedly, tried repeatedly, and finally after over ten failures, a complete Wind Gust spell pattern appeared above his palm.

Immediately, this spell pattern flashed, and then a gust of wind generated from Ronin's palm blew forward.

At that moment, Ronin sensed that the consumption of magical power was several times greater than when carving the spell pattern.

But, success had finally come.

Ronin revealed a joyful smile.

"Ah—"

A soft exclamation interrupted Ronin's focus. He looked up ahead and saw Miss Marina of the Greene family pressing down her skirt, avoiding the embarrassment of being blown up by the wind.

"Good... good evening, Lord Ronin!"

Marina's face was flushed even more by the campfire. "The wind is a bit strong..."

Ronin rubbed his nose; it seemed she hadn't noticed he used magic.

Indeed, the Wind Gust spell wasn't as conspicuous as the Wind Blade spell.

"Good evening, Miss Marina. Why are you out?"

During dinner earlier, Ronin had briefly gathered with the Greene siblings, having short contact.

"I can't sleep." Marina lifted her skirt and walked over, sitting beside Ronin.

A gentle breeze blew, and Ronin smelled a faint perfume.

He sniffed lightly twice but couldn't discern what materials the perfume was made from.

"After today's peril, not sleeping is quite normal."

Ronin comforted: "But everything has passed. Tomorrow I'll have my team escort you to Lakeside Town."

"Thank you so much, Lord Ronin!"

Whether due to excitement or something else, Marina grabbed Ronin's arm, half her body leaning against him, and Ronin touched a softness.

"You know, from afternoon till now, my mind has been filled with your image riding and slaying the assassins. I think I'll never forget it in my life!"

Ronin: "..."

Are girls in this otherworld so direct?

He dared believe that even if he pulled Marina into his arms for a kiss now, or even brought her to his tent for a night, she wouldn't resist; perhaps she'd even be more proactive.

But, well, Ronin admitted he was somewhat a looks association member; he wasn't attracted to Marina.

Besides, after midnight, he needed to welcome his light attribute magician, which was far more important than intimate affairs with a woman.

Most crucially, Ronin aimed to become a great lord; how could he start such affairs before even beginning?

"Cough cough..."

Ronin subtly withdrew his arm and then stood up. "Miss Marina, the wind outside is strong; hurry back to rest. I still need to practice swordsmanship, so I won't accompany you further."

Speaking, he walked aside and began swinging his sword.

Marina, rejected, wasn't angry but instead smiled warmly at the man practicing swordsmanship.

She had heard of Ronin's matters, all unfavorable rumors; even the lady of the Haid family had committed suicide after mistakenly sharing a bed with Ronin.

But today, upon seeing him, not only her, but also her brother Malik, and even Cain felt that Rolin was completely different from the rumors.

This was clearly a man with courage, strength, and handsome charm.

Under that silver hair, his face grew even more captivating under the firelight.

"If only I could sleep holding Rolin," Marina thought inwardly.

Knight Cain watched from afar as McKane and the others trained.

He didn't grasp the significance or value behind this kind of training; he just instinctively wondered if this might be a new dance invented by the "playful" grandson of the Marquis?

A dance performance entirely composed of men was truly rare—was this perhaps Baron Rolin's unique, legendary preference?

But truth be told, when these guards shouted their slogans together, it was quite imposing and rather captivating.

(End of Chapter)