I, the wizard, the foolish Buddha

‘No wonder the prophecy said that I would be on a mission with a female boss this time. Katarina can afford an elf bodyguard like that, she really is a big boss.’

‘Both she and her follower are very strong.’

‘This combination of the two is even better than Catherine and Anna!’

‘Senior, if you stay in seclusion any longer, your C position will be snatched away by your older cousin!’

‘Speaking of which, these two are so strong, yet they still want me as a bodyguard... Isn't that just making me cannon fodder for the two of them?’

As they approached, the mentor whispered the names of the female boss and the elf to Roland.

That ‘older cousin’ who looks a lot like Catherine is indeed Her Highness Katarina.

And that ‘beautiful jade-like person’ elf lady beside her was also hired by Katarina.

Logically speaking, the two shouldn't be that familiar, but maybe it's because Her Highness Katarina is good at gaining favor? When the elf lady looked at Katarina, her eyes were full of little stars, as if she were looking at her own sister.

Her name is ‘Ariana’, meaning noble, emerald, or green gem.

This elf seems to have some ancient elf bloodline.

Ancient elves were born with great power. In ancient times, like elemental creatures, they were the ‘primitive gods’ worshiped by people in the primitive indigenous tribal era.

Nowadays, many ancient elves have degenerated into high elves, but they are still natural magic users.

Ancient elves have extraordinary significance for high elves.

High elves whose names are related to ancient elves are generally very special.

The mentor finally said to Roland in a very serious whisper: “Be careful on the road, and don’t provoke ‘Her Highness Katarina’ and Miss Hannah again.”

Roland really wanted to say, ‘Respected Rabbi, I am not the kind of person you think I am.’ But faced with his mentor's warning gaze, Roland wisely chose to shut his mouth.

The medusa mentor was chatting with Her Highness Katarina and the elf lady over there, seemingly doing ‘academic research’? The three were asking and answering questions.

The tower master of the Crab Eye Elephant Tower was also standing nearby, but he would not be going this time. This negotiation was somewhat special, and second-tier wizards would not be present. Both sides sent representatives.

Roland's ultimate destination was within the territory of the Twilight Council, but the destination of this ship was a neutral city.

Therefore, Roland's trio would secretly disembark halfway. I don't know what tricks the team used this time to make everyone still think that their leader was in the negotiating team presiding over matters after disembarking.

The mentor went over to communicate with Her Highness Katarina and briefly introduced Roland.

The female boss glanced at Roland. Roland inexplicably felt that she was very unhappy with him.

It's no wonder, his reputation now... is as bad as it can get. It seems that the female boss is very unhappy with such a ‘close bodyguard’.

Soon, Roland followed the female boss and the others onto the ship.

Before leaving, the mentor quietly gave some instructions again.

Mentor Usak had calculated everything, but he didn't expect that his good disciple would have a conflict with Her Highness after getting on the ship.

Airship Deck

The ship had already set sail when Roland remembered that he hadn't sent the jewelry to his wife!

Hearing wizards nearby talking about sending letters, Roland learned that there would be stops in several territories along the way, so he thought about asking the female boss for leave to disembark at the next location.

Speaking of which, Roland was also a little unhappy.

He boarded the ship with the female boss, but after she boarded, she went directly into a hall inside the ship, but the person guarding the door stopped Roland.

Everyone else went in, but Roland was kicked out.

What does this mean?

At least he is also a representative of the Serpent Tower, right? The only representative, the nominal ‘bodyguard’. The kind who acts as a ‘stand-in puppet’ for the boss.

Just as he was thinking about how to ask for leave, a high-level female apprentice came to find Roland. She said that the female boss wanted Roland to come over.

The space inside the airship was very large, and the roads inside were winding, like a small tower.

There was even a library inside.

There were also more than a hundred people in the team participating in the conference this time, and with the logistics servants, flyers, and guards, there were nearly five hundred people.

Roland followed the female apprentice and passed the hall where Her Highness Katarina had previously taken people—there were only a few apprentices inside cleaning up. The meeting was over.

The two continued to walk forward. On the way, Roland saw many wizards who had just walked out of the conference hall. After passing through this group of people, Roland and the female apprentice arrived at the observation deck on the upper level of the airship.

Her Highness Katarina was looking towards the Twin Towers, the female elf was standing beside her, and there were a dozen wizards from various schools nearby. He didn't know what they were doing, and many people were holding compasses.

After reporting, Her Highness Katarina turned her head and looked Roland up and down.

“Did only one person from the Serpent Tower come?”

The surrounding wizards couldn't help but whisper to each other after hearing this.

Roland replied indifferently: “One person is enough.”

Her Highness Katarina raised her eyebrows slightly and said: “Heh heh, what an arrogant kid. I've heard of you. Your abilities had better be as loud as your reputation on women's bellies.”

Roland sighed secretly: ‘My reputation is completely ruined.’

He found that this older cousin was very different from Catherine in terms of personality.

Her Highness Katarina was a little arrogant, sometimes speaking without thinking, and exuded the scent of a flower grown in a greenhouse. And the kind that was raised to be stupid.

But Roland inexplicably felt that she was very dangerous.

When Roland spoke to her, he could faintly feel her sense of oppression. This sense of oppression far exceeded that of the ‘elf little sword saint’ beside her.

It was like a demon in sheep's clothing.

Either Roland was overthinking it, or she was hiding very deeply and her acting skills were off the charts.

The princess seemed unwilling to pay much attention to Roland, so Roland directly stated his request. He said that he had forgotten to give some things to Her Highness Princess Catherine.

Hearing Roland mention his cousin, Katarina was slightly stunned.

Suddenly, she remembered Roland's other identity and showed an expression of disgust, ‘You toad, you still want to lick a swan.’

Roland was very upset, but in order to ask for leave, he still said:

“Her Highness Catherine has taken good care of me. Although we don’t communicate much, I have always been grateful for her kindness.

So in the past few years, I have asked my friends from the White Fang Society to help me pay attention to the antiques that Her Highness likes.”

Her Highness Katarina asked curiously: “What kind of things are there?”

Roland was even more upset. Are you in charge of privacy too?

Why are you so curious?

Who did these sisters inherit their curiosity from? The White Queen?

After thinking about it, Roland felt that he was not very confident about this trip to ‘Bloodless Fortress’. The princess and the elf lady had some characteristics of pig teammates.

So, he took out the two oddities and four antique jewelry pieces he had prepared for his wife.

Seeing the exquisite little gift boxes floating in the air, Katarina's eyes couldn't help but light up slightly.

These little gift boxes were carefully prepared by Keira and were very particular. Moreover, each little box was different. At first glance, they were very fancy and interesting. It could arouse people's curiosity at a glance.

These six little boxes alone were worth more than two hundred magic stones.

Of course, they were given away for free.

Keira was very good at doing superficial work.

Seeing Katarina curiously opening a small box, Roland simply explained their history—I'll make you jealous, you smelly woman!

If you have the ability, you can also find a rich husband.

After watching two of them, Katarina showed a bit of sourness and said: “Are you using your own money, or the money that my good sister gave you?”

After contacting her for a while, Roland felt that this older cousin was particularly low.

Roland did not reveal the contempt in his heart, but replied: “Your Highness, I have a territory and still have some savings.”

Katarina sneered: “Can such a broken place like Straw Town produce anything?”

Roland said lightly: “Your Highness, you don’t know, Straw Town produces a kind of wheat called Twilight. Every autumn, it can actually be harvested in the fields.

In the past, I was too lazy to walk out of the tower, so I let the wheat grow wildly.

This year, I happened to have some leisure time, so I went to the field and harvested ten or so. So I have some spare money.”

“Harvesting Twilight Grass?”

Katarina was stunned for a long time before she understood what Roland meant.

She sneered: “What an arrogant Alexandra kid, I want to see how you perform later.”

Her Highness Katarina waved her hand and asked Roland to leave, but after thinking about it, she called him back.

She was very curious and asked Roland to open the other four small boxes and asked him to explain them carefully.

When she saw the two oddities, her eyes widened slightly. They were really too exquisite.

When she saw the ‘Millennium Pendant’, the corners of her eyes twitched fiercely.

Damn it, do you have too much money to spend?

The White Fang Society made a lot of gimmicks for this thing. It seems to cost more than 12,000 magic stones, right?

Katarina was overthinking it. The price her subordinates got when they went to buy it was different from the price Roland got when he went to buy it.

One was a fat sheep, and the other was a living Yama.

If Keira didn't quote a high price to the fat sheep, would the people who came to handle the matter be willing? If you give a low price, how much of a kickback will those of us who handle the matter get?

If the price is low, do you think Her Highness the Princess should bring cheap goods?

These ‘art pieces’ favored by wealthy patrons typically go through several auctions to inflate their value.

They're passed around a few times to drive up the price, making them known to the world before being given to the patron.

However, Kayla is daring and willing to cut into her own profits. Would she dare inflate the price on Roland's 'mentor'?

Moreover, these antiques and art pieces are targeted at a specific group.

If the patron suddenly becomes too poor to buy, she'd be stuck with them. When Roland bought them, he was helping Kayla clear her inventory.

Kayla gave him the normal price and then applied a friendly discount.

All six items together didn't cost several thousand magic stones. But if Catherine or Katarina had bought them, it would have cost tens of thousands.

Even for a princess, tens of thousands of magic stones is a huge sum.

While explaining things to Katarina, Roland realized that the two sisters had identical tastes. He couldn't help but silently complain.

Soon, Katarina put down the items, a hint of desire, even greed, flashing in her eyes.

She narrowed her eyes slightly and asked, "Are these all gifts for my sister?"

Roland said, "Of course."

Katarina waved her hand and collected all six treasures.

Roland: "?"

Katarina, unusually gentle, said, "We won't be passing through Catherine's territory on this trip. Leave them with my people, and once we reach my territory, I'll have them sent over."

Roland clearly felt something was off.

But surely such a noble princess wouldn't stoop to the level of a petty king from a small country, seizing the goods carried by passing envoys, right?

He still had a special mission to carry out with her. If she had any sense, she wouldn't do something like that.

Although Princess Katarina seemed a bit like a foolish monarch from the White Chess Council, that should just be her protective coloring.

After thinking for a moment, Roland said, "Your Highness, I borrowed some money from my friend 'Wallace' before. Please help me send it along as well."

Katarina asked curiously, "How much money?"

Roland said with a strange expression, "Two thousand magic stones."

The debt wasn't actually that high anymore, but as an old brother, Wallace had provided the money when everyone was short, supporting Roland like a support feeding an ADC.

Now that Roland was rich, and he'd owed the debt for eight years, he wouldn't feel good about only returning a few hundred magic stones.

No wonder Roland, the nouveau riche, had saved so much money over the years.

He already had a lot of money, and in the eight years in Straw Town, he had reaped several waves of profits—all from those attending the auction, who were filthy rich.

Now that he had bought so many things, he still had more than eight thousand magic stones left!

He wouldn't feel comfortable if he didn't spend some of it.

After sending out these two thousand magic stones, he would still have six thousand left.

Hearing that Roland wanted to send another two thousand magic stones, Katarina smiled even more gently, saying, "Very well, I'll have my people help you send it along."

Roland believed her.

For the rest of the journey, Roland spent most of his time in his cabin, studying Baron Holler's 'Valerian Swordsmanship'.

The swordsmanship manual not only contained sword techniques but also a lot of information about the origins of the sword style, as well as some theology and information about the Southern Church.

After roughly reading through it, Roland understood. The baron's swordsmanship actually came from the South and was called 'Great Vermick Swordsmanship'.

Valerian Swordsmanship was just the baron's adaptation of this sword style.

No wonder Catherine had tricked him earlier, saying that since he understood Valerian Swordsmanship, he should comprehend some of the Holy Fire.

Because this sword style was a divine lineage, something from the Holy Church.

And interestingly, Roland discovered that the divine lineage of the South was very similar to some of the magic of the White Chess Wizards and the Twilight Wizards!

Roland believed that there were two possibilities.

The first possibility was that the god worshiped by the Southern Church was an ascended wizard!

And the White Queen had obtained His inheritance, or was simply one of His disciples!

There was some evidence for this—such as the churches in the small country where Straw Town was located, which worshiped the White Queen as a god.

The second possibility was that the path of the wizard was originally the path to becoming a god. Modern wizards had already summarized the laws of nature. The divine power of the divine system was a type of holy attribute magic.

It's just that the Church's divine arts were more 'evil', belonging to the kind of demonic cult—because they drew on the spiritual power of the world! Or rather, they used the faith of mortals as nourishment to increase their realm.

This was essentially the same as the Twilight Wizards merging with the mysteries.

After merging with the mysteries, the Twilight Wizards would lose their personality and become part of the mysteries!

And gods, after absorbing too much faith, would also lose their personality and become part of the laws!

No wonder the sects of the divine system hated wizards so much. Because in the eyes of wizards, the path of the divine system was a heretical path!

After reading the swordsmanship manual given by the baron, Roland began to have a headache.

He discovered two problems.

The first was that he had already gone astray. If he returned to the 'original Valerian Swordsmanship' path now, the methods he had practiced in Straw Town for all these years would be in vain. He would have to start over.

The second was that the body refinement methods in the swordsmanship manual were difficult to reconcile with the things of the Black Abyss lineage. He could practice them, but they couldn't complement each other. It was equivalent to walking two completely different paths at the same time.

Originally, Roland wanted to find a body refinement method from Baron Holler. But now he discovered that trying to do so forcefully would be counterproductive.

Most importantly, walking this path would neglect the cultivation of magic. He would then become a pure swordsman. Although reaching Baron Holler's level would also be very powerful, it would be a case of losing a watermelon to pick up a sesame seed.

Therefore, Roland had to find other cultivation methods for body refinement.

However, although Roland was not suitable for Valerian body refinement, he could cultivate some of the 'divine powers' in the book.

This would be the best of both worlds!

He would still take the original path as the core, and then learn all the best divine powers from the swordsmanship!

For example, the most core divine power: 'Sword of the Heart' or 'Summoning the Holy Sword'.

Baron Holler, or rather, 'Sword Saint Victor', called this move 'Dawn Holy Sword'.

Roland understood it as 'Man and Sword as One'.

This move could allow oneself to explode with power in a short period, becoming like a god descending to earth, with life force, magic resistance, and attack power becoming extremely terrifying.

The stronger the swordsman's willpower, the better the effect. Even without a sword, one could arm-wrestle with a giant.

This willpower was spirit + sanity value, and Roland had a very strong foundation in willpower.

However, there were two prerequisites to using this move. One was that it required a certain physical foundation. Otherwise, one couldn't bear this power.

Roland couldn't use the content in the book to refine his body for the time being, but he had an avatar. His avatar was a divine bird, and its physical foundation was very terrifying.

When the divine bird flapped its wings, the forest would be filled with violent winds, and it was very strong in terms of power.

Therefore, Roland could let the avatar practice 'Holler's version of Valerian Swordsmanship'.

The second prerequisite was that the swordsman needed to have the aptitude of the holy attribute and consume some 'holy power'.

This holy power was obtained through body refinement cultivation.

Roland's divine bird avatar could do the opposite. Like Roland, its own magic power could be converted into seven attributes. After converting the magic power into holy attribute magic power, and then quenching the body, cultivation would be twice as effective!

When fighting enemies with real weapons, Roland could 2v1 with his avatar.

He could also 'merge with the bird'.

'Miss Leona Divine Bird' was originally Roland's sword. As long as he put the avatar on his body, he would be even stronger when man and sword became one.

Therefore, Roland had a natural advantage in cultivating this move.

He only spent a few days to get started.