Chapter 481 – The Final Trial Mission

Sylph followed Mo Lan’s gaze toward the window. Mr. Aramir was crouching beneath the oak tree, seemingly talking to it.

“I think he’ll agree. But… Moira, let’s go with the second option!”

“I thought you really liked this house?” Mo Lan asked. “If we choose the second option, we probably won’t be able to buy it.”

Sylph’s fondness for this place wasn’t the kind where you just wanted to stay for a couple of days — it was the kind where you truly wanted to own it.

“Moira, you have such a good memory. If you walk through this house once, you could memorize the layout and decor, right? Make a {Renovation Template Card}! When I build my Witch’s Home in the future, I can use this template as a reference for decorating.”

Sylph had already thought it through. “No matter how beautiful this house is, we won’t be able to live here for long.

If I copy down the decor and put it in my own Witch’s Home later, I can enjoy it for as long as I want.

It’s not worth disrupting our original plans just for a house like this.”

“Don’t worry! We’ll give this house a proper ‘tour’ later!”

Mo Lan patted her chest in assurance, guaranteeing she would produce a {Renovation Template Card} of this house for her.

“So now… should we put on an act and distance ourselves from this house — or rather, from Mr. Aramir, who’s about to receive a Dawn Society invitation — as quickly as possible?” Lilith’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “I want to play the villain who coldly watches her dejected companion suffer!”

Hearing this, Vasida hurried to assign herself a role too. “Then I’ll play the villain who refuses to lend money to her upset companion!”

“The dejected and upset companion… you mean me?” Sylph said.

“That’s right! You want to buy this house, but you don’t have enough money. Your Instructor won’t lend it to you, so you come to me, and I refuse too,” Vasida said.

“Then you have no choice but to give up the house. You’re heartbroken, and I just watch coldly, pretending I didn’t see anything,” Lilith said. “How’s that? Doesn’t that seem pretty villainous? I hear competition among human mage apprentices is fierce, and many of them don’t get along at all.”

“Great! Great!” Sylph said. “Do I need to add a scene where I argue with you two and then storm out the door?”

“…” Mo Lan pressed her hand to her forehead. “If you three ever actually ended up in a mage tower full of scheming and backstabbing, you wouldn’t survive a single episode!”

Refusing to lend money, watching coldly from the sidelines, arguing and running away — that was the full extent of their imagination when it came to conflicts between mages.

This wasn’t even on the level of children’s quarrels. At least when children fought, they’d rip each other’s hair accessories off and declare their friendship over!

“Are we really that bad?” Lilith said.

“Of course you are!” Mo Lan said. “Just follow my directions!”

Mo Lan directly summoned her golden pen and used the Book Magic Transcription Spell to quickly write out a short script. “Read through it and practice a bit. We start performing today!”

She had granted their wish to act out conflicts between fellow mages. Whether they could pull it off was another matter.

Even if their performance was poor, it didn’t matter — their audience was an Elf, after all.

An Elf’s understanding of conflict and rivalry wasn’t much better than a witch’s.

Aramir had been talking under the oak tree for quite a while. The moment he stepped back inside, he faintly heard voices coming from upstairs — from the hallway, it seemed.

His ears twitched slightly.

“Vasida, could you lend me some money?” “Are you out of your mind? If you like this house, just ask the Instructor to let us stay a couple more days. Why do you have to buy it?!”

“I feel so comfortable here, and it’s only 20 Magic Gold Coins! It really is cheap… Please, Vasida! The Instructor and Lilith both refused to lend me any.”

“No way! I’m not as scatterbrained as you. The gold coins I worked so hard to save are for trading for spell structures, not for lending to you to buy some house!”

…

Aramir’s heart sank. It seemed this buyer, who had caught his eye, wouldn’t be able to purchase the place after all.

Was 20 Magic Gold Coins really that expensive? Any lower and he might as well be giving it away.

If he had gone upstairs at that moment, he would have seen that in the hallway, Vasida and Sylph were reading from scripts as they argued.

There was no helping it — this section had the most lines. They hadn’t had enough time to memorize them. Fortunately, this was a scene that only required their voices to be heard.

The two argued back and forth for several more rounds, dredging up all sorts of old grievances. Finally, Sylph dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief soaked in chili water, and with reddened eyes, ran crying down the stairs.

“Would you like a glass of juice?” Aramir offered.

Sylph shook her head. Right now, her mind was focused entirely on completing her part of the performance.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Aramir. I can’t buy your house after all. I don’t have enough money, and the Instructor says Lance City isn’t the final stop on our journey, so she won’t lend me money to buy a house…”

“It’s alright,” Aramir consoled her. “If you like it here, just stay and enjoy it for a couple of days! If nobody ends up buying it, the worst that can happen is I go ask the Marquis to merge the inn into the Gold Globe Flower Inn across the street. As long as they don’t cut down Yar and leave the flower bed it’s in, that’ll be fine.”

“I’m sorry… As long as I’m still in Lance City, I’ll come by to check on Yar for you!” Sylph lowered her head.

Just then, Lilith came walking down the stairs. Seeing Sylph and Aramir together, she let out a cold snort and rolled her eyes.

“Sylph! The Instructor is hungry. She wants us to go buy some food!”

“Coming!” Sylph wiped her tears and hurried over.

As the two walked toward the door, Lilith was still lecturing her.

“I really don’t understand why you insist on buying a house. Sure, it’s cheap, but we can’t stay here permanently, can we? Wouldn’t it be more cost-effective to just rent a place for a few years? We’re unlicensed mages! If you don’t start being more careful with your money, you might as well go take the noble investiture exam and tie yourself to a fief! Though with the pitiful amount of magic you know right now, I doubt you’d even pass the first round of the investiture exam…”

The two disappeared through the doorway, their voices fading into the distance.

Aramir let out a sigh.

So they couldn’t stay in Lance City for long either. It seemed his only real option now was to merge the inn into the Gold Globe Flower Inn. Fortunately, he and the Marquis were old acquaintances — she should be willing to let the old oak tree remain.

At the same time, in the restaurant of the Gold Globe Flower Inn next door, Greta — who was working there — noticed a new notification suddenly appear on the {Dawn Society Trial Card} that had been quiet for a long time.

Greta waited for a break between tasks, slipped into the washroom, and took a quick look at the card.

【Given that you have befriended five mages in difficult circumstances within six months, exceeding the requirements of Trial Mission Three, the Final Trial Mission is now being issued to you ahead of schedule. Completing this mission will not affect the subsequent rewards for Trial Mission Three.】

【Final Trial Mission: The owner of the Oak Inn is troubled over his ‘old friend.’ Please find the most appropriate way to deliver a {Dawn Society Invitation} to him. Time limit: three days.】

【Reward: Official Dawn Society membership】