Chapter 1075: Liberated Serfs, Sing
After Sorcerer Melgor woke up, it felt like his entire world had become a little different.
His two servants stayed by Ren Xiaosu’s side and tried their best to please him. It was a complete 180 from their cold att.i.tude yesterday.
Previously, Li Chengguo and Liu Ting refused to accept Ren Xiaosu. After all, they had been working for Melgor for two years and were only recently acknowledged as his servant apprentices. They had only just been allowed entry into the Sorcerer’s Tower to learn sorcery from Melgor.
For the past two years, not only did they have to eat gra.s.s, but they also had their wool sheared by herdsmen. Sometimes, they were even targeted by female sheep for mating.
The bitterness of their experience was not something outsiders could truly understand.
And as soon as Ren Xiaosu joined them, he was appointed the sorcerer’s steward. Disregarding the difference in seniority, he even had the nerve to order Sorcerer Melgor around, and this left them feeling very resentful.
But last night, Ren Xiaosu had a friendly exchange with the two servants of Melgor and convinced them of the importance of teamwork.
They were also made to understand that teamwork was extremely important for their own safety.
After Melgor walked out of his tent, the two servants quickly came over to greet him. Again, Melgor felt that other than the black eyes on their faces, the world did not actually seem to have changed much.
Ren Xiaosu walked up to Melgor and said in seriousness, “Remove my shackles. I want to learn sorcery from you.”
“Do you really want to learn sorcery?” Melgor wondered.
Ren Xiaosu chased the servants off to pack up the tents before saying to Melgor, “I feel that with my talent, I can definitely achieve great things after learning sorcery. Your current situation must not be too good, right? But it’s alright. After I become a sorcerer, I can help you improve your situation.”
In Ren Xiaosu’s opinion, it was very necessary to help Melgor improve his situation. After all, it was impossible to rely on his own Central Plains status to infiltrate the inner circle of the magus order. Even if he could become a sorcerer, the magus order would not trust him, a young man from the Central Plains.
Therefore, he had to push Melgor to the fore, and helping him to be the next rising star in the magus order should be the best approach.
Melgor looked at Ren Xiaosu and did not know whether to laugh or cry. “You probably spoke with the sheeple… ahem, I mean Li Chengguo and Liu Ting, so you know they’re following me because they want to be sorcerers, right? But actually, you’re different from them. You don’t have the conditions to become one.”
“Conditions? What conditions?” Ren Xiaosu was taken aback.
“Although the two of them might look meek, their families are actually some of the most influential clans in my fief. As such, they stand a chance of buying an Eye of True Sight.” Melgor guessed that Ren Xiaosu must have asked Li Chengguo and Liu Ting many questions last night, so he should also know about the secret of the Eye of True Sight. Therefore, he decided to be honest about it.
Melgor continued, “Their families are willing to use all their resources to ensure that a sorcerer emerges from their clan so their standing in the secular world can rise further. But you’re different. You don’t have the financial means, so you can’t buy an Eye of True Sight, and even the two of them might not be lucky enough to get one.
“It’s extremely difficult to become a sorcerer. I was only able to become one because I got really lucky. After getting the Eye of True Sight, there’s still a need to a.s.sess if your mental strength is strong enough and whether you have the potential to advance as a sorcerer. I suppose you might not be aware of all that yet?”
“Oh.” Ren Xiaosu nodded. So it turned out Melgor believed he couldn’t get an Eye of True Sight.
However, this was actually the simplest of Ren Xiaosu’s problems, for he had already obtained an Eye of True Sight.
“So my advice to you is still to give up on this unrealistic idea.” Melgor tried to persuade him nicely. “I know it’s a good thing to have dreams, but you haven’t seen it before. There’s people back in the Kingdom of Sorcerers who wasted their entire lives pursuing that dream only to end up with nothing.”
When this topic was brought up, Melgor’s mood visibly dropped. Ren Xiaosu could sense that there was a story behind this.
Ren Xiaosu said, “You don’t have to worry about whether I can succeed or not. As long as you’re willing to teach me, I’m willing to be your steward and protect you. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine with me around.”
Melgor could not help but laugh. “You’re just a big oaf. Who gave you the b.a.l.l.s to talk big like this in front of a sorcerer? But since I’ve given you my word, I’ll teach you sorcery.”
In Melgor’s opinion, there was no loss for him to teach Ren Xiaosu sorcery. What did it matter to him whether Ren Xiaosu could become a sorcerer? Besides, if teaching Ren Xiaosu sorcery could win him over to his side, why not?
Melgor looked at Ren Xiaosu and smiled. He felt that he had struck a good deal here.
Meanwhile, Ren Xiaosu was thinking about how to continue using this dumb sorcerer to complete his infiltration plan when he saw Melgor smiling at him.
Ren Xiaosu had set a target of half a year for his Prosperous Northwest 3.0 plan to be completed. In other words, he was planning to fully understand the situation in the nation of sorcerers within six months.
After half a year, it would be great if the plan turned out to be successful. But if it failed, he wouldn’t wait around. He would just kill a few of the more important magi before returning to the Northwest.
After all, if he stayed there for too long, his family would get worried for him.
After hesitating for a moment, Melgor finally undid Ren Xiaosu’s shackles. Awhile later, he finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Ren Xiaosu had no intention of attacking him.
Then Melgor asked Ren Xiaosu, “Since you’re my steward, I should at least know your name, right?”
“Ren Xiaosu,” Ren Xiaosu said with a smile. He was not afraid the man might have heard his name before. After all, he already concluded that the people from the nation of sorcerers had not fully infiltrated the Northwest yet.
Not far away, Li Chengguo and Liu Ting were packing the tents and whispering, “Is that kid really serious about learning sorcery?”
“Let him learn if he wishes to learn.” Liu Ting said nonchalantly, “Most people in the world would also want a power that transcends nature after finding out about it. That’s only human nature.”
“But he can’t get his hands on an Eye of True Sight,” Li Chengguo said.
“Why do you care whether he can get one or not?” Liu Ting said, “We’ll just have to bear with him for now so that we won’t have to suffer his beatings. When the two of us become sorcerers, we can turn the tables on him. At that time, he’ll still be an oaf while we’ll have become honorable magi. He’ll only be able to look up to us when he meets us again.”
“That’s right.” Li Chengguo was also getting excited by Liu Ting’s explanation. When he thought about how he could turn the tables on this boor in the future, he was elated.
“Hey, sheeple, what are you two blabbering about? You still haven’t finished packing the tents after this long?” Ren Xiaosu shouted at the two of them. “Hurry up, Lord Melgor wants to be on his way. Don’t delay his journey.”
Li Chengguo and Liu Ting hurriedly replied, “Sorry, sorry, we’re almost done packing!”