Dinner at the inn was delicious; Anna's mother's cooking skills were truly amazing. It's not my intention to look down on her father's skills or Anna's, but I think that the reason for the economic decline of the inn was not only because of her mother's medications but also because of her absence in the kitchen.

I looked at my surroundings; the inn had a merry ambiance, and both regular patrons and new clients sang and drank under the various candlelights. I must say that I wasn't much of a party person, not even in the past. But I couldn't help but get a little infected with the joy.

At that moment, my gaze fell on Anna, who was pinching the hand of the customer who tried to squeeze her behind. After due punishment, Anna looked in my direction with a smile. I'm sure she wanted to brag that she had protected my property...

After a sigh, I looked at her seriously; she, still smiling, gave me back a sharp gaze and nodded her head. I finished my meal and went to my room; it was time to act the next day.

That morning, I woke up with Anna naked, sleeping on top of me... After that night together, something had awakened inside her, and I couldn't contain it. If we didn't start the night together, she had the habit of crawling into my bed after I fell asleep.

I thought that with my last few years of solitude, I would have believed situations like this to be a dream come true, but the truth was, she had left both of us completely sweaty, and having her on top made it hard for me to breathe.

However, I must admit that waking to the feeling of her soft body was not bad at all.

"Anna, wake up," I said while brushing back the almond-colored hair that covered her face. Not receiving an answer, I squeezed her two cheeks softly.

"Ahiuu... goo mooiing," said Anna, or tried to.

"You arrived pretty late, didn't you? I imagine the mission was a success, or am I wrong?

"Of course. Is there a waitress prettier than me? Getting information from drunk men is easier than cutting butter," Anna answered with a smug smile that didn't match her rubbing cheeks gesture.

Besides the fact that she lacked a little modesty (and that butter, when frozen in the ancient refrigerators, could be quite challenging to cut), this girl always did a good job.

With her mother healthy again and the economic problems of the inn solved, the truth is that Anna no longer needed to work there. In fact, she was excited about moving into the academy with me, as she had always heard rumors about Rosdan.

But in these last three days, I had tasked Anna to use her communication skills and collect rumors, specifically about people with unique abilities.

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Of course, the reason was that I was looking for candidates to recruit as magic knights.

Unfortunately, Anna had no magic aptitude, but she did have the perfect qualities to collect information (Among many others).

Now, back to the topic of unique abilities. One of the things that the goddess could not foresee (and one of the reasons why she is "grounded" after breaking a series of taboos) is that when the first humans died, the Gifts that corresponded to skills, such as my immortality, not only remained in the world but could also be inherited by any living being. And that included monsters...

But well, forgetting about that gruesome fact for now, as someone might have already noticed, I'm trying to find people who have inherited those Gifts.

The first reason is to see if I can begin to get the various skills under control, as I have done with my many artifacts. I mean, stopping them from being inherited by monsters would be progress...

Secondly, magic knights with Gifts would give me a significant advantage, not only in the admission exam but in my plans in general.

"So, which rumors do you think have the best chance of being true?"

After getting dressed and sorting through the information Anna had collected over the past three days, I consulted her opinion. Tavern and inn workers are professionals of rumors, so she was the right person to verify their veracity.

"The dwarf who can cut down the gods with his ax and the old homeless who can see the future…" Anna answered, turning her head towards the window with the clear intention of avoiding my gaze.

"Everyone knows that there is only one goddess, and if she had been cut, The Church of the Mother Goddess would be proclaiming the end of the world right now.

"Mmm, that's true," Anna agreed without looking my way.

"And even if that old man really could see the future, I highly doubt he's magic knight material… At the most, some kind of advisor."

"Hmm, that's true too..." Anna said.

"Anna"

"…"

Letting out a sigh, I placed my hand over her uncombed hair and proceeded to mess it up even more.

"You also think those two are the most promising, don't you?" I asked with a reassuring smile. "Although the number of women in our group increases, it does not mean I will no longer spend nights with you."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise. Also, I'm not looking for magic knights to do "that. "... Is "that" the only thing you think about?"

"But if you do, you must include me, Master!" replied Anna with a smile. "So, as you have guessed, the most believable rumors are those of the girl with heterochromia and those about the adventurer elf."

From what I understand, I can already take the exam with only one magic knight. But it would be good to have two to choose from.

Convincing an elf is the most complicated since the elves are a proud race that never bows their heads to humans. Usually, I should try with her later, but I've always liked to do the most challenging problems first.

According to rumors, that elf is not a magician, but she apparently can control the wind to help her archery skills. With the power and direction of the arrows at her whim, she has been able to succeed as an adventurer on her own, without the necessity of being someone's magic knight.

If she can use magic without an affinity for it, it means she most likely has a Gift. Of course, without magic affinity, she can only use a small part of its potential.

I don't have to worry about aptitude. If we say now that magic is the car and aptitude is the ability to drive it, almost all elves are Formula One drivers. In addition, if she hadn't had the aptitude, she would not have been able to use the Gift, not even a tiny part of it.

"Then, I think I'll pay a little visit to the adventurer's guild first."

"Do you want me to go with you, Master?"

"It's not necessary. Besides, if I'm going to deal with an elf, I might have to take some drastic measures."

"Are we going to kidnap her?"

"I'm not a criminal!"