Mage Manual

Chapter 76: Chapter 70: Treasure_2

“Just as he, a One-winged Mage, would not inherit a Two-winged Technique Spirit from the estate—because to him it would be nothing more than a burden and encumbrance,”

“And this treasure, which required Half-winged magic power to open, was naturally a perfect fit for his current situation.”

“If Felix were to advance to a Two-winged Gold and then open this treasure, he would no longer need such help by then, not even to gild the lily; but right now, even if he could acquire only half, it would be like sending coal in snowy weather.” @@novelbin@@

“Years of assassination attempts had already made Felix pragmatic and rational.”

“He wouldn’t squirrel away food like a squirrel. Filled with a sense of crisis, he believed in the principle of ‘use it when you need it’, and maximizing benefits was the only Law he abided by, even if it meant sharing his mother’s heritage.”

“Sonia agreed but didn’t agree entirely.”

“She proposed a condition that made Felix feel utterly bewildered: she wanted to bring friends to participate in this operation, and she would share her portion of the treasure as a reward to her friends.”

“At first, Felix thought he had met a Saint who could not be allured by wealth or compromised by force, but on second thought, he understood Sonia’s worries—she feared that he would kill and seize the treasure!”

“Without Professor Trozan’s support, Sonia would almost be a background-less outsider in college, but even with Trozan as a backer, her collaboration with a local Noble like Felix was tantamount to asking a tiger for its skin—she could only suspect the worst of Felix!”

“And by bringing along three roommates, she could spread the risk nicely: Ingrid was the child of a minor Noble from out of town, Lois was the daughter of a local merchant, and Adelle’s father was an official in Jiale City… The focus was on Lois and Adelle; they surely had emergency alert artifacts, which would transmit their location signal to the police station if they encountered danger!”

“Plus, since they all reported their whereabouts to their families, Felix would also need to be careful to escort these young ladies back to school, otherwise if anything happened, the Noble House would not let him off the hook first.”

“Felix admired Sonia’s caution, but naturally, he was not keen on more people knowing his secret, so he argued persistently, tempting with benefits, even willing to adjust the distribution ratio from fifty-fifty to forty-sixty, which could be said to be quite humble.”

“But Sonia stuck to her guns, ‘If you don’t agree, then I don’t need this treasure,’ clinging firmly to Felix’s bottom line.”

“The winner in negotiations is always the one who cares the least.”

“Felix knew how much the treasure would elevate him, and in the end, he capitulated.”

“After Sonia finished explaining the situation, her roommates looked at Felix with wariness, hiding behind Sonia like little chicks, making Felix almost want to laugh: ‘If you’re still concerned, you can leave now, just don’t talk nonsense outside.’”

“‘No, I want to stay and protect Sonia!’ Lois declared righteously, though her eyes sparkled with eagerness, while Adelle looked as if she relished being a spectator at a grand event.”

“Ingrid was straightforward: ‘I am just really curious about what a treasure that requires a Technique Spirit to open looks like.’”

“It was no wonder that these Mage Apprentices were curious about a treasure even the young master Felix of Vosloda coveted. They were, after all, teenage girls in the prime of youth—how could they not desire this sort of treasure hunt straight out of a novel’s plot?”

“Felix sighed, took out five blank sealed contracts, ‘Then let’s sign the contracts first.’”

“Sonia and the others mentally exclaimed at the extravagance—sealed contracts were a common Artifact Spirit tool, functioning to temporarily store ‘Miracle·Void Realm Oath’ onto paper. Those who sign the contract would be subject to the constraints of the Void Realm, punished by the Void Realm for breaching it: minor penalties could mean sleep without waking, severe ones, soul extinction.”

“Sealed contracts didn’t come cheap; their market price was equivalent to a One-winged Technique Spirit, not used for trivial transactions. Felix being able to produce five at once not only indicated his wealth but also the extraordinary value of the treasure; otherwise, he would not have invested so much.”

“The use of sealed contracts was simple. The user would peel off the seal and directly copy onto the contract template. Any corrections or ugly handwriting didn’t matter—as long as the transcription was complete and the five contracts signed overlapped perfectly, meaning that the contents of all five were identical, the oath would be effective.”

Pre-sealing, separate transcription, overlapping verification—these measures were all designed to minimize the possibility of Mages tampering with contracts. As a matter of fact, the sealed contract had proven to be trustworthy; Sonia’s student loan agreement, for example, was executed using such a contract.

The template of the contract was simple: it forbade the disclosure of anything that happened in the underground chamber, the creation of any records pertaining to it, exposure of any details regarding the treasure, no matter what was obtained, each individual had to find their own way to conceal the origin and to not implicate Felix personally.

Meanwhile, Felix and Sonia would split the findings of the underground chamber evenly, and then Sonia would share the treasure with Ingrid, Lois, and Adelle.

It was essentially a contract of confidentiality and profit sharing.

While transcribing, Adelle whispered, “Sonia, why did you reject the fake marriage proposal? If I were you, I definitely wouldn’t want the treasure, I would choose the fake marriage… that’s the Vosloda Emblem after all…”

Lois was also curious and looked at Sonia.

Sonia’s face turned a bit unnatural, and after struggling for a long time, she managed to blurt out, “It’s shameful!”

What’s shameful?

Is it shameful to have a fake marriage with Felix?

Or is it shameful to seek a shortcut into the noble class?

If it were Ingrid who said this, it might be understandable, but you are Sonia Sevi!

Lois and Adelle couldn’t understand, considering Sonia was not known for her integrity, and more importantly, they didn’t think Sonia was someone who cared about face. What’s the shame in that? Losing money is the real pain!

They couldn’t understand, nor could Felix, but Ingrid had a vague guess as to why.

It wasn’t because she was particularly close to Sonia, but rather simply because they both came from small places.

Unlike Jiale City, which had open-minded thinking, small places harbored conservative attitudes. To city dwellers, these attitudes seemed backward and unsophisticated, but to rural folks, some things were not to be trifled with.

For example, marriage.

Perhaps because Sonia had assimilated quickly into the city, others felt she was a very modern and trendy college student. But Ingrid knew that deep down, Sonia still carried the naivety and fantasies unique to country folk, such as believing that effort leads to success, that hardship paves the way forward, that marriage is sacred, love is pure, without the slightest flaw.

She might view marriage as a way to climb the social ladder, but she hadn’t cast aside her dignity for it. Otherwise, there were plenty of slick nobility’s second generations out there. She simply wanted to find the marriage partner who was most suitable for her within an acceptable range and then dedicate herself to that marriage for life.

Not everything could be traded, an idea incomprehensible to city people.

Of course, besides this, Ingrid felt that part of Sonia’s reason was pride—taking shortcuts was easy, but since she could succeed on her own merit, why should she tarnish her honor?

Sonia, feeling Ingrid’s gaze, grew a bit uncomfortable, “Why are you staring at me, do I have something on my face?”

“Hehe, are you blushing?”

“You’re sick.”