Chapter 116: Monitor
Translator: Wuxia Dog Editor: Wuxia Dog
This great fortune would definitely arouse jealousy. Apart from the captured caravan, Reg and Cessacioun had also found the storage place for the goods and three large underground warehouses that were sealed up, in which there were a great amount of military supplies. These were all Woodrow’s preparations for future military expansions and the coming wars.
Now that Rudolph had been killed, and Reg had taken control of Ninth Town, the four castellans were going to send an army against Zaganide. There wasn’t much time for Chasel to wait anymore; he had to transport all the military supplies out of town as soon as possible. Unfortunately, he had trusted the wrong person and had caused such an enormous loss.
Morgan Commercial Corp was now Woodrow’s personal property. When Dismark, the owner of Holy Crown City, had wanted to clear out Morgan Commercial Corp, Woodrow had followed him, and the corp’s branches in Beit City were immediately allocated to him. They both knew that such behaviors would cause antipathy and hostility from the other commercial corps, but Dismark was forced to do so, and Woodrow had no other choice. To plot a rebellion required the courage to go against the current, and to do something dangerous like quenching one’s thirst with poison.
Keeley got a heavy blow from the news. Han Jin and the others tried their best to comfort her, and encouraged her to face the future bravely. They told her that she could rebuild Morgan Commercial Corp after they occupied Black Raven City; if her forefathers could build such a large corp, she could also do the same.
But they all neglected telling Keeley the latter part as it would place a huge pressure on her.
Although it sounds hypocritical, but it makes sense that only under pressure and adversity could a person mature faster. However, this wasn’t a good enough reason to place such pressure upon Keeley.
When dusk came, they sat together and started chatting. Chatting had become their habit during the days when they were travelling, as they had nothing else to do to kill time. So up till now, even though they had settled down, the habit stayed. Reg and Ronning, the two newly joined members, had gotten used to it. It is undeniable that chatting helps tighten the relations.h.i.+ps amongst team members and must not be overlooked. By chatting, Reg and Ronning had gradually gotten more familiar with the others, and would even joke with them.
Han Jin sat at the table, flicking his finger. A black beetle the size of half a melon seed quickly climbed on the tabletop.
“Don’t waste your magic, Raphael!” Moxinke stared at the little beetle. “You can save this magic power to help me as well!”
“I have already mentioned this: write down what you have learned from the lesson one thousand times, and then I will release the magic for you again,” Han Jin said without even raising his head.
The others jeered in a low voice. This task was nothing for Keeley, but it would drive Moxinke crazy.
“What are you laughing at?” Moxinke looked up and shouted. Just as he raised his head, the little beetle jumped on to his body.
“Is your present magic strength still insufficient to release the replacement magic, Raphael?” Sunier asked softly.
Moxinke’s experience had shocked them all. They had doubted the magic in the past, but the facts had proven them wrong! What was the scariest thing any professional could think of? Making mistakes! Any errors caused by false judgement and mal-response! Mistakes could bring them disastrous consequences, and even death. But the magic released by Han Jin provided them with a chance to make up for those errors. Nothing in this world was more precious than that!
Even Sunier, an experienced and knowledgeable elf with a special ident.i.ty in the past, was looking forward to that magic, not to mention the others.
“Hmm…” Han Jin paused. “Tomorrow. There may be enough tomorrow.”
Moxinke suddenly became silent and so did the others. Their expressions were complicated. Everything was simple when Han Jin had no power to release the magic, or when they had no idea of the specific effectiveness of such magic, but now things had become complicated. Han Jin could only release the magic once this time. Who would become the lucky one? The fact was, all of them wished themselves to be protected, as accidents could happen any time. It was highly possible that one of them, who was unlucky and was not able to be protected by the magic, would be killed in an accident in the near future!
This complicated feeling had nothing to do with unity, but rather it was decided by the laws of evolution! There was no complete altruist in this world.
Moxinke had hung onto Han Jin every day for his magic, but now when he knew that Han Jin could release it the next day, a strange feeling came to him. He had been saved by this magic once, while the others had not. If Han Jin released the magic on him again, he would feel embarra.s.sed.
It turned into an awkward silence in the room while Han Jin signed in his heart. In fact, he was already able to release the Art of Faked Earth Corps, but he hadn’t told them the truth for fear of such a predicament. He might not be as good at commanding a troop as Ronning and Sunier, or as good at fighting as Moxinke, or as good in many other aspects as the others, but when it came to humanity, none of them knew it better than him.
Anything that needed a detective was either knotty or shady. Han Jin had seen lots of strange and weird cases. He clearly knew that if he could deal with this appropriately, the team would be more united. Otherwise, estrangement would occur amongst them. To keep it simple, it was not an easy thing to do!
It might be better for him to arbitrarily decide this by himself, but the problem was that although he was able to release special magic and had helped the rest of them numerous times, making his position in this team quickly soar up, he was not their autocratic leader yet.
The little beetle climbed onto Moxinke’s shoulder, but Moxinke didn’t notice it. He was lost in his thoughts. Suddenly, it jumped into his ear.
Caught surprised, Moxinke reached out a hand to hastily grab the beetle, but it had already climbed into his ear. His finger was too thick to even pick his nose, let alone his ear.
Moxinke slapped and worriedly scratched his own head. A moment later, he realized something and grimaced at Han Jin.
“Can a bug stump you, a seventh-grade fighter?” Han Jin said with a half smile. “Don’t look down on any little thing. Understand?! Are ants little? They are, but they can turn a millennial ancient tree into a piece of rotten wood, or a high building into ruins! Some insignificant selfishness or dissatisfaction may seem to be nothing, but it can ruin a whole team in the future. For example, if Chasel was not selfish and had reported it to Woodrow the first time, what could have happened?”
Neither Sunier, Cessacioun, Reg, nor Ronning were fools. They all knew what Han Jin meant. They cast a glance at each other and showed an understanding smile.
“It’s itchy…” Moxinke had no time to guess what they were thinking.
Han Jin smiled and the little beetle exited Moxinke’s ear. Upon seeing the beetle, Moxinke acted as if he had seen a monster and immediately swept it to the ground.
Sunier bent over and curiously looked at the little thing. But when she squatted down, it suddenly jumped up and hit her in the neck, falling down along her chest and into her soft armor.
“Raphael!” Sunier covered her chest with both her hands and shouted in a delicate voice.
“Sorry. I… I didn’t mean it!” Han Jin hurriedly explained. He would never tease Sunier, and was even more unlikely to tease her when the rest of them were there. He had wanted to get the little beetle to jump onto her knees, but there was a time difference between his mental control and the movement of the spiritual creature. The beetle was too little to be precisely controlled, and he had not expected for Sunier to suddenly squat down.
“Get it out!”
“You are pressing onto it so tightly, how can I get it out?”
“…” They could see that Sunier was gnas.h.i.+ng her teeth even though she was wearing a mask. She wouldn’t be as nervous if it were an ordinary beetle, but Han Jin had just boasted that he could see from the perspective of any animals which he manipulated, which meant that wherever the beetle was, he could see the scenery. How could Sunier loosen her hands?
“I have something to discuss with you. Let’s go out,” Reg gave a dry cough and said.
“I see!” Moxinke suddenly shouted. “I finally know why Raphael would make such a small puppet! If he put one in Sunier or Keeley’s rooms, would they notice it? Ho ho…”
“Don’t talk nonsense!” Han Jin gave Moxinke a dirty look, but Cessacioun and Reg were all staring at him in surprise. He immediately explained, “Don’t you think it is the best monitor to spy on others?”
“Ah yes.” Cessacioun and Reg nodded and said in a strange tone. “It’s really a good way to spy on others.”
“To spy on or to peep?” Moxinke added.
Han Jin was totally speechless. He realized that there was still a long way to go before he could achieve autocracy.
“He won’t,” Keeley suddenly retorted. “Raphael is not that kind of person.”
“I don’t care what kind of person he is!” Sunier said word by word. “Get it out! Now!” She had never been teased like this due to her special ident.i.ty and experience. Those who had seen her real face all knew who she was and respected her very much. No one had ever dared to play a joke on her or even court her. Most men were more concerned about their egos and would not want to be the toad who wished to eat swan’s meat only to be mocked by others. As for those who did not care about their egos, they were mostly n.o.bodies in this disordered world. They had no power or position at all, not to mention having a chance to tease her.
Sunier didn’t know how to deal with such a situation, for she had never met one like this in the past. Though she knew that Han Jin hadn’t done it on purpose, she felt embarra.s.sed and the dilemma overwhelmed her with both shame and rage.
“Ah!” Moxinke suddenly stared at Keeley in astonishment as if he had discovered a new continent. “No… something is wrong…”
“What’s wrong?” Keeley blushed.
At this time, a voice from a soldier came from outside the door, “Young Marshal, there are people gathered outside the camp who are asking to see you. One of them claims to be Woodrow’s granddaughter.”