Chapter 149: She’s Very Interested in You

"You know me?" Gorsa smiled slightly. "But I've never seen you before. Can you introduce yourself?"

Introduce himself? In a place like this, at a time like this?

Although the tone was gentle, even carrying a hint of humility, Bedi still felt deeply humiliated.

When did this Gorsa appear?

This place was still half a day's journey from the Wizard Tower—otherwise, Bedi wouldn’t have dared to stop here.

As Bedi was contemplating a way to escape, he suddenly felt the parasitic worms inside him start writhing frantically.

"Killing intent!"

He immediately realized that Gorsa was not as mild-mannered as he appeared. In less than three seconds, Gorsa had already developed killing intent toward him.

Just as the rumors said—moody and unpredictable!

At this point, Bedi dared not hesitate any longer and immediately said, "Tower Master Gorsa, I am Bedi, a formal wizard of Landship Sail."

"Landship Sail is not permitted to enter the Wizard Tower's domain without authorization. Did you forget that?"

"I—I was just here to recover our lost wind-sailing ship."

"Lost? That should be the spoils of war for the apprentices of the tower, shouldn't it?"

Gorsa lowered his head and looked at the people on the deck.

Meeting Gorsa’s gaze, Saul stood up and loudly affirmed, "Yes, Tower Master. This is our spoils of war, along with five prisoners."

Bedi shot Saul a shocked glance. He hadn’t expected a mere apprentice to dare insert himself into a conversation between formal wizards.

But since Gorsa wasn't angry, Bedi naturally didn’t dare object.

Not only was Gorsa not angry, but he even nodded approvingly. Then, he looked up at Bedi and said, "There is nothing here that belongs to you anymore. Please leave. And tell your captain that if they trespass into the Wizard Tower’s domain again… whoever enters will become our spoils of war."

Bedi gritted his teeth and said with difficulty, "I will relay the message to the captain."

"Then you may leave."

Finally receiving amnesty, Bedi let out a long sigh of relief.

He only wanted to flee as quickly as possible.

Still, for the sake of maintaining the dignity of a formal wizard, he forced himself to remain composed and saluted Gorsa.

"Thank you for your mercy."

Bedi discreetly scanned the ship one last time before turning to fly away.

"Wait a moment." Gorsa suddenly called out.

Bedi turned back, his heart leaping into his throat, fearing that Gorsa had changed his mind.

"From now on, the outer perimeter of Hanging Valley also belongs to the Wizard Tower. Other forces are forbidden from entering without permission."

Bedi's mouth fell open in shock.

He truly couldn't understand how Gorsa could say something so domineering in such a concerned tone.

"But… Tower Master Gorsa, that wasn’t part of the Western Treaty—"

"It’s fine," Gorsa said, as if smiling under his hood. "We’ll just change it."

Bedi's entire body went stiff, nearly dropping from the sky.

What could he even say to that?

"Understood. I will inform the captain."

"Much appreciated. Now, you may leave."

Only then did Bedi turn away again. But fearing that Gorsa might say something else, he kept glancing back repeatedly—making it seem as though he was reluctant to part.

Once Bedi’s figure disappeared into the sky, Gorsa looked down at the people on the deck.

"The ship was sailed back by you all, but I was the one who protected it." His voice was tinged with amusement. "Remember to give me half of the contribution points when you return."

There was a moment of silence.

At that moment, Wright wanted to flatter him, saying something like, "The entire ship belongs to you, Tower Master!"

But strangely, his mouth, teeth, and tongue all felt stuck together—he couldn’t speak.

Then, he heard Saul answer once again.

"Understood, Tower Master."

Gorsa narrowed his eyes, his silver pupils sweeping over Saul's entire body.

"I’ll take Saul with me. You all can return at your own pace."

As soon as he finished speaking, Gorsa and Saul both disappeared without a trace.

It was as if a paused scene had suddenly resumed. Everyone left on deck let out a collective sigh of relief, collapsing onto the floor.

Even the prisoners from Landship Sail looked as if they had narrowly escaped death.

Suddenly, Wright scrambled up and rushed toward the cabin, shouting, "Byron, where did I throw my debt note?!"

Byron: "…"

Nick also sat up but merely rested his arms on his knees, smirking. "Hah. These past few days, I’ve been going through fear and despair over and over again. My emotions nearly collapsed multiple times."

Byron: "Mhm."

Nick tilted his head back, squinting against the sunlight. Yet, the smile on his face grew even wider.

"Now that I know Saul is really the Tower Master's student, I'm not even surprised anymore."

"You’re smiling."

"Yeah. I realized I’ve finally learned to control my emotions and keep them from affecting my mental state. I think I might be close to leveling up. Byron, my dear senior—"

"Hmm?"

"I will never trust you again."

"…"

---

Meanwhile, completely unaware that he had triggered a trust crisis for Byron, Saul was now sitting inside a spacious yet understated carriage with Tower Master Gorsa.

He had expected Gorsa to teleport them straight back to the Wizard Tower, but instead, they had landed in a carriage filled with soft cushions.

It felt a bit… unimpressive. But at least only he and the driver knew about it.

"Your hand?"

As the carriage swayed forward, Gorsa slumped into the cushions in an oddly stiff posture—whether he was comfortable or not was unclear.

"It melted," Saul replied stiffly, feeling slightly uneasy about being alone with the Tower Master.

Byron had already returned the pouch containing the melted plastic bones back on the wind-sailing ship, but Saul didn’t have the materials to reconstruct his hand yet.

"Let me see."

Saul pulled out the small pouch with his bony hand and passed it to Gorsa.

Gorsa opened it and first pulled out a long black glove.

With a flick of his fingers, the glove floated out of the pouch.

"Your taste?"

Saul suddenly felt embarrassed. "Mainly to prevent electric shocks."

"Swoosh—"

With a flick of Gorsa's finger, the black glove flew out the carriage window.

"Not a good solution. It’s like standing on the battlefield and loudly reciting your own weaknesses."

Saul lowered his head in silent shame, mourning the loss internally. "Damn, that was expensive!"

"The spirit resin improvements are decent, but the materials are too low-level—their limits are already set."

Gorsa stared at Saul’s hands. "Everyone chooses their own path in life. It’s like planning one’s future—you can’t interfere arbitrarily. If you continue on this path, you may find surprises… or you may face an abyss."

The Tower Master was saying strange things again, but Saul listened carefully.

"Don’t think about covering your weaknesses—overcome them."

Gorsa flicked his fingers, making a small piece of gray matter float up from the pouch.

"Electric shocks temporarily alter the connections between elemental particles. Try studying counteractive reactions."

Saul committed every word to memory before Gorsa casually tossed the pouch back to him.

It seemed the lesson was over. Gorsa sat back again, as still as a statue.

But Saul had too many questions. He couldn’t hold back anymore.

"Tower Master, in Hanging Valley, we encountered an evil spirit named Morten. Have you heard of him?"

"Oh, it’s him."

"I heard he was from the Kema Empire?"

"Yes, the former emperor of Kema Empire—and the great-grandfather of my wife, Yura."

Saul immediately tensed up. H-he had shredded the Tower Master’s great-great-grandfather just a few days ago?!

"A-and… will your wife be angry?"

Could Byron have been right after all?

"No, she won’t. After all, she’s been dead for a long time."

"…I’m sorry."

"No need to apologize. If you want to deal with Morten’s lingering will, you can ask Yura. They were quite familiar."

Saul: "?"

Then Gorsa added unexpectedly, "She says… she's very interested in you."

Saul: "???"

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