Victor sat in the carriage, waiting for the servant's notification, but Vega's low, chirping voice came to his ears.

"Are you interested in that dead volcano?"

The one-eyed crow was grooming its shiny feathers again. Perhaps its body was too fat, and its beak couldn't reach the back anymore.

Victor glanced at Vega. "How did you find out?"

Vega tilted its head up, confidently saying, "Otherwise, you wouldn't have come to find this fiancée of yours."

Victor didn't respond, which was considered an acknowledgment.

Before long, Victor was still patient, but Vega couldn't help but speak up first. "Why hasn't anyone come to call us in?"

The sound of flipping pages stopped abruptly, and Victor closed the spellbook, saying lightly, "Imagine this: if you were a beautiful woman, alone at home, and someone wanted to see you late at night, and this person was your fiancé, what would you do?"

Vega tilted its head for a moment, then hoarsely said, "Dress up beautifully and meet in the most exquisite manner?"

"I understand. She's dressing up to meet you specially! And you're patiently waiting for her."

"Wrong, she would only think this person is sick and feel annoyed."

Victor denied it expressionlessly, but obviously, the crow was somewhat unconvinced. "Why? All those romance novels say so. Don't you understand women?"

"You don't understand Gwen."

Victor turned his head, looking at the gate of the Delin mansion's courtyard. This noble knight had never considered himself a 'woman'.

Well, in fact, Victor himself didn't quite understand Gwen now. But he thought that, at this time, Gwen should hate him.

After all, no woman would like a man who was always wearing a grumpy face, petty, and even did bad things every day.

The relationship between fiancées, I'm afraid, would be a stain on Gwen the knight's life until the end. So after Victor's death, she never married.

"Get ready, we should go in." He reminded the crow on his shoulder, which quickly assumed a posture of 'I'm just a pet', lazily standing still on his shoulder.

After a while, a maid came to the carriage and respectfully told him that Miss Gwen was ready and invited him in.

Victor got off the carriage and, led by the maid, passed through the gate and arrived at the meeting hall.

As soon as he entered, he saw Gwen.

She was sitting on a soft sofa, not dressed up, wrapped in a very thick bathrobe, not revealing any skin.

It seemed that she had just finished bathing.

But she didn't need to dress up. In Victor's eyes, even if she was bare-faced, her exquisite and perfect face alone was enough to captivate any man.

"So late, what are you doing here?" Gwen's tone was indifferent, with a hint of alienation.

Victor sat down opposite her without hesitation, his tone equally plain, and went straight to the point. "I heard you're going on a mission and won't be back for half a month."

Gwen, without being curious about where he had heard this, nodded honestly. "Yes, leaving in a week."

"Can I go with you?" Gwen's reaction to this sentence was somewhat... subtle. First, she was puzzled, then she frowned, seeming to confirm repeatedly. Finally, she leaned back, a look of disbelief gradually appearing on her face.

Gwen put her hand on her forehead, lowered her head, and asked again. "Repeat what you just said."

"Can I go with you?"

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Without any hesitation, Victor repeated it.

"Huh..." Gwen exhaled lightly. She felt that the other party had gone crazy.

"Reason?" "There's no suitable reason. I can't take you with me."

Victor said, "I know the terrain of the surrounding mountains, including the weaknesses of the monsters distributed around them. With me, including the round-trip distance, you only need seven days to come back."

Hearing this, Gwen didn't look up, and it was unclear whether she was considering Victor's value or simply ignoring it.

Victor wanted to say something to raise his value in Gwen's eyes, but Gwen preempted him and cut him off. "What I want is the truth."

Victor's eyes grew colder, looking at Gwen, and slowly said, "You used your ability on me."

As a naturally just knight, Gwen Delin had displayed her unique talent since childhood.

She had a heart of justice.

As long as she wanted, she could clearly distinguish whether the other party was lying.

This ability, Gwen could control freely, so when it was unnecessary, she wouldn't use her own ability.

However, she didn't believe in herself.

Victor didn't feel too angry. Instead, it was somewhat expected.

Because this indirectly proved how much Gwen disliked him.

During their conversation, Gwen even used her heart of justice to measure whether he was lying.

"I don't trust you."

Gwen was very straightforward and didn't offer any further explanation.

Suddenly, Victor laughed in relief.

He thought for a moment, then spoke again,

"The Vesuvius volcano has a magical creature that produces a unique crystal stone, and I need that to make magical artifacts."

As he spoke, a powerful desire shone in Victor's eyes.

[First-level magic, self-suggestion]

Effect: Self-hypnosis suggestion, can randomly increase any one ability by 1 level for a period of time.

Dealing with Gwen's sense of justice is simple - he just needs to tell the truth. Even if that truth is fabricated on the spot, as long as Victor himself believes it, then it is the truth.

As a mage, he has his own methods - flexible morals and an intelligent mind.

Gwen finally looked up at Victor.

"It seems you do understand that volcano, otherwise you wouldn't have said those words."

"To achieve your own goals, you can even use the royal knights as your guard."

"That's just like you, the selfish Victor."

Victor, who rarely showed an open expression, smiled and nodded.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Gwen would not doubt Victor's selfish motives, because that's just who he is. She also knows that Victor will only become more persistent in order to achieve his goals.

If that's the case, then it's better to just agree.

"I will request a need for an accompanying mage, you can come see me on that day."

Seeing Gwen's agreement, Victor smiled back, "Thank you, even for someone as selfish as me, Gwen the knight is willing to selflessly help."

"I'll have everything arranged this week, no need to see me off."

With that, Victor got up and left.

Gwen nodded and watched him leave.

However, the smiling face he had when flattering her lingered in her mind.

Has Victor ever smiled like that before?

Back in the carriage, Victor leaned calmly in his seat, his dark eyes staring at something unknown.

"Are you angry?" the raven asked puzzledly.

"How did you get that idea?"

Vega, "Seeing your poker face for so long, it's just an intuition."

"If you didn't have any strong emotions, you wouldn't have smiled as brightly as a chrysanthemum."

Angry?

Hearing its words, Victor thought for a moment.

Perhaps the education instilled in his bones made him want to be a good person, but he was called selfish by the other person's lofty righteousness.

And the only way for him to gain that person's recognition is to pretend to be what she thinks he is.

Not angry, exactly. Just makes him feel a bit nauseated.

...

These days, Victor taught at the academy during the day and buried himself in the basement researching magical potions at night.

As long as there were enough materials provided, he could make a hundred bottles a day, all of which he would hand over to Leah to sell.

Leah said that once the shop renovation was done, these potions would be put on the shelves, and for now, only this one type of potion would be sold.

They need to first establish the shop's reputation before considering stocking other magical items.

Of course, Victor knew that once these consumable items were on the shelves, they would certainly spark a frenzy.

So he told Leah not to sell them all, only limit it to fifty bottles per day.

Hunger marketing.

Leah, being a merchant, understood this immediately.

At the academy, Victor was not idle either. On one hand, he was pondering the lecture topics, and on the other, he made a decision.

Every time he taught a class, he would have Hernie sit beside him and listen.

Ostensibly, it was to gain experience.

Erica came to his office every night, often with many questions to ask, and the frequency increased.

Although Victor found it somewhat annoying, Vega answered them one by one without getting tired of it.

In order to stop Vega's constant chatter in his head, he simply relayed everything to Erica.

Incidentally, he could also learn some magic knowledge from Vega.

After secretly learning from Vega, he realized that Erica was truly a genius.

Vega's complex and esoteric content that he couldn't understand at all, Erica grasped it easily after being taught.

Even at this level, she still seemed to have countless questions waiting to be asked and answered.

Victor couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration.

With Erica's talent and diligence, who else but her would top the exams?

Everything was progressing smoothly, and soon the sixth day of his appointment with Gwen arrived.

Hernie quietly followed behind Victor. Today, she would still be sitting in on Victor's class.

She didn't quite understand why Professor Victor had her sit in, as it was originally her own course.

Until they reached the door, she finally understood Victor's intentions these past few days.

"Today, I want you to go in there by yourself and use your knowledge to teach the students in this class."

Hernie, "????"