Chapter 72: Contract Proposal

A few minutes later, the carriage arrived at Bristol Street and soon entered the Holmes Mansion.

Raven quietly stepped out of the carriage and walked into the mansion house while Marcellus and Selene closely followed him.

As they reached the foyer, Raven stopped his footsteps, thought of something, and looked at Selene.

“Do you want to become a fully-fledged wizard?” His question startled Selene and Marcellus.

As Selene was in confusion, Marcellus composed himself and answered in her stead.

“You don’t even need to ask an answer to such a question, My Lord. In truth, our leader tried his best to look for an alternative idea using his influence and even talked with many nobles. Unfortunately, what the nobles want isn’t her talent but her complete freedom. They asked her to sign a lifetime contract and even put harsh conditions in place. And the thing is, not all noble households are capable of nurturing mages. Only Nobles from Mage background and high rank have the elemental circlet techniques and spell models.”

“Oh? What if I ask my teacher’s help and become her sponsor?” Raven asked with a smile.

“I-I don’t know.” Selene got flustered and soon spoke.

“Please talk to our leader. I’m not good at negotiations.”

Raven raised his eyebrows and sighed.

“Once Jacob comes back, tell him to visit my study. I’ll talk with him.” Saying so, he stepped towards the left corridor and approached the study.

Meanwhile, Marcellus and Selene stood frozen in the foyer for a few seconds and glanced at each other.

“Selene, go to Jacob’s house and tell him what happened here. If possible, bring him right away.” Marcellus deliberated for a second and then added.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you. If this Lord’s teacher is a high-rank wizard, you might have a chance to become an Official Wizard in a decade!”

“Yes. I’ll go right away.” Saying so, Selene turned around and moved out of the mansion.

An hour later, she returned with Jacob and Quincy.

“You go and stay in the guest room. We’ll do the talking.” Quincy said as they arrived at the foyer.

Meanwhile, Selene nodded and quietly went towards the guest room.

Jacob and Quincy, on the other hand, went towards the left corridor and soon arrived before the study.

As Jacob was about to knock on the door, Raven spoke from inside.

“Come in,”

Jacob and Quincy quietly walked in and soon saw the young boy sitting on the wingback chair, reading something.

As soon as they arrived inside, he closed the book and spoke.

“Please make yourself comfortable.”

Jacob and Quincy quietly sat on the wooden chair before the table and glanced at each other.

After a little hesitation, Jacob finally spoke up.

“Is it true? Can you help Selene to become an Official Wizard, My Lord?”

Raven smiled instead of responding.

“Of course, it won’t be easy, huh?” Quincy quickly caught up and showed a forced smile.

“I asked my teacher’s permission, and he said he wouldn’t mind helping. But he won’t accept her as his disciple. Instead, he will support her with resources, spell models, and techniques. In return, she must remain loyal to the Holmes House for 100 years. Once the period ends, she can either stay in the house or walk away.” Raven said solemnly.

“A 100-year contract is too much!” Quincy shook her head.

“By that time, she might become an Expert Wizard. I heard that an Expert Wizard has a lifespan of around 700 to 900 years. So, serving the house for 100 years isn’t an unreasonable demand, right?” Raven asked.

“True. But that only happens if Selene manages to reach the realm of Expert. What if she stuck in the Official Wizard?” Jacob asked.

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Raven pondered for a moment and soon spoke.

“Let’s adjust the conditions a bit then. As long as I help Selene become an Official Wizard, she will have to serve the house for 30 more years after the contract period. During that time, if she manages to become an Expert Wizard, she has to serve 100 years for the house. That will also include the 10 years of the current contract period.”

“Deal.” Jacob didn’t even hesitate for a second and agreed.

“Then, I will tell Emanuel to prepare a contract paper later.” Raven suddenly thought of something and soon added.

“And my teacher wants Selene to accompany us when we leave for the capital. It seems he wants to test her.”

Jacob didn’t say anything and quietly nodded.

In truth, he was extremely pleased with the current condition. When he went to the other noble houses, they wanted Selene to work for 250 years. If she died even before the end of the contract period, her descendants had to complete the servitude and remain loyal to the noble family like slaves.

‘This is the most reasonable deal for her.’ Of course, Jacob knew that she also needed to sign a magical contract but didn’t mind it.

‘Wizards always keep secrecy after all.’

“So, when are you guys leaving?” Quincy asked.

“Day after tomorrow. Emanuel will tell you the exact time, so be prepared. Inform Selene, too.” Raven answered.

After talking for a while, Jacob and Quincy left the study, leaving Raven alone.

‘So, why did you want Selene to accompany us to the capital?’

[Hehe, she will be the key player to fool the Legendary Wizard Judith.] Zera said with a laugh.

‘How?’

[Enter the Memory Library. I’ll show you.]

Raven furrowed his brows and soon closed his eyes.

A second later, he stood in a large hall filled with bookshelves and slowly turned around.

[Follow me.] A silver-haired young woman with pointy ears suddenly appeared before him and started walking towards the left side aisle.

Raven followed her while looking at the books.

‘Alchemy section… Divination… Runology… Necromancy… Elementalism… Arcane Studies…’

As Raven was observing, Zera walked past the shelves of books and soon reached the area where spell books were stored.

[Hmm, here are the rank-1 spell books. Each book has one spell model and information about creating them.] She spoke as she walked towards the next shelf.

Meanwhile, Raven walked closer to the nearby shelf and soon saw something written on the top.

[That shelf contains Rank-1 spell models of fire affinity. There should be around 2500 spellbooks here. And this one has darkness affinity.] Zera explained calmly and soon arrived before a small shelf containing only 50 books. It looked more like a cupboard than a shelf.

[This is where the spells of ‘Dream’ related spell models are stored.]

“Dream?” Raven’s eyes widened.

[All the spell models here are particularly modified and used by the students of the Rebirth Tower I used to oversee.]

As Zera started talking, Raven walked closer to the small cupboard and read the titles.

“Nightmare Induction, Dream Walk, Dream Shifter, Forgotten Memory, Dream Whisper, Eclipse of the Mind, Dream Harvest, Accelerate Dream, Dream Freeze, Nightmare Summon…”

[Once you have completely learned the Basic Rune Language, you should memorize Dream Walk, Dream Harvest, and Alter Dream spellbooks and transcribe them. They will be of great help to Selene.]

“But won’t a legendary mage easily see through Rank-1 Spells?” He couldn’t help but ask.

[Creating a Dream-related spell is a challenging task even with the help of a Class Gem Mystic. And this world has no class gem pathway. So, there is no way for this world’s Wizards to know anything about the Dream World.]

“Oh?” Raven nodded, memorized the Rune Language for the next few hours, and stayed in the memory library.

It was around 6.30. P.M.

Raven slowly opened his eyes and felt a headache.

‘I read too much, making my head feel like exploding.’

“Emanuel.” He shouted.

A few seconds later, a young man in a butler suit walked in and greeted him with a bow.

“You called me, My Lord?”

“Arrange four train tickets to Royal Capital on 11th September. Also, tell Stephene that she will be coming with us.” Raven said calmly.

“Yes, My Lord. Anything else?” Emanuel asked.

Raven thought for a second and nodded.

“I plan on practicing spearmanship every day, but I don’t like being watched by others. Is there any training space in the mansion?”

Emanuel thought for a moment and nodded.

“Although there isn’t any training room, I saw an empty hall on the second floor, My Lord. It used to be a banquet hall, but not even tables and chairs are left now. You can use it for your training.”

“Oh? That’s good.” Raven was pleased inside.

“Send the dinner to the master bedroom. I’ll eat late at night, so keep it on the table.”

Emanuel froze for a second and nodded with hesitation.

“You can leave now.” Without minding his confused look, Raven waved his hand and dismissed him.

Once Emanuel left the study, Raven also stood up from his seat and quietly walked out. Then, he went upstairs through the split staircase to the empty hall and practiced spearmanship until 7.50 P.M.

After that, Raven went to the master bedroom and lay on the soft bed while taking out the Frozen Ender spear.

Then, he gripped the spear and activated the ‘Past Touch’ ability.

A second later, he felt a familiar pulling sensation from the spear and blanked out.

…

When he opened his eyes again, Raven found himself lying on a vast grassland with few trees.

He instantly sat up, looked around, and saw the blue-skinned humanoid creature practicing spearmanship.

Raven slowly stood up, creating a spear out of thin air, and moved closer to that being.

Then, he focused on the being’s movements and started observing it.

Raven started with simple moves like thrust, parry, gripping, and pulling, then began focusing on footsteps, body posture, and breathing.

As minutes passed, his movements became refined and looked similar to the blue creature’s. But whenever that being started practicing consecutive movements and techniques, Raven couldn’t follow them at all.

Alas, the two hours of practice gave him many pointers and ideas!

He corrected more than hundreds of his mistakes and even gained some spearmanship insight!

…

Two hours later, Raven left the illusion world and woke up in bed.

He then quietly walked out of the bedroom, moved towards the empty hall, and started practicing what he had learned in the illusion world.

After diligently practicing for more than three hours, he returned to the master bedroom, took a long bath, and had dinner, which was kept on the table.

After that, he quietly lay on the bed and fell asleep.

…