The sky began to lighten, and the sun rose as usual.

Lia returned home yawning, and the family knight at the door opened it for her.

Dealing with matters all night had made her somewhat drowsy, but she couldn't sleep yet.

Tired, she walked to Viktor's room and pushed the door open without hesitation.

"Viktor, I have something to..."

However, the room was empty.

She couldn't even see Viktor's shadow.

This puzzled Lia.

What's going on?

Did Viktor leave her behind and return by himself?

Closing the door with confusion, Lia suddenly thought of a possibility.

...

Hurrying to the training ground, Lia saw Viktor repeatedly swinging his sword with the same motion.

"..."

She remembered that not long ago, he used to enjoy reading books.

"When did you start practicing swordsmanship? Who taught you?"

Lia looked at Viktor suspiciously, then added in disbelief:

"It couldn't be Gwen, could it?"

Viktor didn't even look at her, nor did he respond. He simply put the sword back on the wall.

Vega took this opportunity to fly onto his shoulder and perch there.

Lia, however, took this as confirmation and was bewildered.

When did these two become close enough to practice swordsmanship together?

Besides, wasn't Viktor a mage? Was he really planning to change his class?

"How did it go?" Viktor's voice sounded, and Lia finally remembered the main issue. She spread her hands and shook her head helplessly.

"Sigh, he confessed everything."

How to put it... it was a bit boring.

Perhaps the shadow Viktor cast on him was too severe; Lia hadn't even used half of the methods she had prepared.

Chur just took one look at that red potion used for recovery and spilled everything.

"Simply put, the kingdom got scared."

Lia began to recount Chur's confession.

In fact, the kingdom had been paying attention to Viktor for a long time.

When Viktor became a third-tier mage at the age of twenty, the kingdom was already considering whether to secretly eliminate such a potentially threatening existence.

But Viktor was a strange person. He was so odd that he never communicated with any nobles, always did things his own way, and equally looked down on every noble.

This led to his extremely poor reputation, to the point where he was despised by everyone.

So the kingdom believed Viktor posed no threat, and if necessary, they might even be able to recruit him.

It was in the first half of this year that the kingdom found an opportunity and sent Chur to secretly infiltrate the Kravina family as a grain merchant.

They sought to find an opportunity, preferably to cause a direct conflict between Viktor and the empire's upper echelons.

"The result was you inexplicably acting up, going to confess to the Duke's daughter at her banquet."

At this point, Lia glanced at Viktor disdainfully and mocked:

"Not even knowing you had a fiancée."

Viktor remained silent. He knew that if he responded, Lia would use more words to shut him up.

Soon, Lia continued.

It was this incident that made the kingdom see an opportunity.

They set about using this incident to try to create hostility between the Duke and Viktor, forcing the Kravina family to split from the empire.

Unfortunately, the kingdom didn't anticipate that the Duke was a daughter-doting father.

Ever since the volcano incident, Erica's admiration for Viktor had grown to an extreme.

Even if the Duke wanted to, he couldn't antagonize Viktor because of his daughter.

Then, while the kingdom was still looking for an opportunity to approach Viktor,

The demon arrived.

Viktor demonstrated his powerful fourth-tier strength, beating the demon.

The royal family learned of this, and Viktor gained their favor.

The youngest fourth-tier mage had finally become an enemy of the kingdom.

"The kingdom didn't expect that you had been hiding your strength for these nine years, suddenly becoming a fourth-tier mage. This threw the kingdom's decision-making into error."

Lia shook her head and sighed.

She also hadn't anticipated Viktor's hidden strength.

"The radical faction in the kingdom believed your existence had already become a threat. You're too young; if not quickly eliminated, they feared you might become the ultimate threat to the kingdom's downfall by the empire in the future."

"So they provided Chur with the magic-suppressing stone and left loopholes in our territory's finances. Their goal was to lure you and me there and forcibly eliminate us."

"Even if the mission failed, Chur could commit suicide by poison, allowing the kingdom to easily escape responsibility."

At this point, Lia sneered.

Who could have imagined that Viktor would possess such miraculous little potion bottles?

Poison? Even poison couldn't take your life!

"I guess Chur thought he had it in the bag at that time, but who could have imagined?"

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Lia looked at Viktor, covering her mouth as she laughed.

"You turned out to be a mage who can engage in close combat."

Even battle mages who train their bodies and use magical items simultaneously wouldn't choose to engage in close combat with warriors.

Yet Viktor, a traditional mage, not only dared to do so, but he actually won!

It was truly... too dreamlike.

Viktor didn't respond because he could see that Lia still had more to say.

After she finished laughing, she raised her alluring eyes to look at Viktor.

"Actually, Chur's infiltration into our territory is also related to you."

Viktor furrowed his brows, somewhat puzzled.

Related to him?

"Do you remember that grain merchant from before? His name was Parson."

Lia looked up at Viktor's expression, which was exactly as she had expected - completely indifferent.

As if he had no recollection at all.

"I knew it. How could our mage lord remember such an insignificant person?"

Lia clicked her tongue twice and spread her hands.

"Parson had a wife. They lived in Lambado, but Parson was away from home for nearly half the year."

Lambado was a village under the Kravina domain.

"Our mage lord, at some unknown time, had a whim to inspect the territory."

"As a result, he was offended by Parson's wife."

"Just because you accidentally bumped into her when getting off the carriage."

Lia's voice was somewhat cold.

The story that followed was quite outrageous.

Parson's wife apologized fearfully, but Viktor didn't accept it.

With a casual remark, he sent this pregnant woman to work in the mines.

Such intense labor was naturally unbearable for a pregnant woman.

"During work, the woman miscarried and was on the brink of death."

"Although she was later discovered and saved, she was left with lasting health issues and could no longer bear children."

Lia narrated the past events, and Viktor listened silently.

Although these were things the former Viktor had done.

The grain merchant returned home to find his once beautiful wife no longer smiling.

So he resigned from this job that could have supported him for a lifetime, and driven by revenge, he made contact with the kingdom's soldiers, namely Chur.

"Parson used his established connections in the territory to forge an identity for Chur and introduced him here."

What happened after that doesn't need to be retold.

After hearing the whole story, Viktor remained silent.

In summary, all of this was the former Viktor's own doing.

Strictly speaking, the former Viktor was truly a detestable existence.

He disregarded the lives of every commoner and noble alike, and in his heart, there was only himself.

No one could enter his heart; he equally despised everyone.

Except for himself, everyone else was just a speck of dust and an insect in the world.

Among the nobles, his reputation was extremely poor.

When others became third-tier mages, although they might be envied, they would also receive sincere congratulations from friends.

Only Viktor - expecting nobles to greet him? They'd be doing well not to spit on him.

Even among players, Viktor's reputation was nothing but looks and strength, with no other redeeming qualities.

So he had no friends, and even his only relative eventually ended up on the opposite side.

In the future, there was a plot about Viktor that was recorded and passed down among players.

A fallen noble, with no one to help him, wandering the streets.

Viktor saw him and said, if you exchange your most precious possession with me, I will help you regain everything you once had.

The noble, hearing Viktor's words, gave him his most precious family heirloom.

As a result, Viktor took the heirloom but then told him:

"You violated our deal. The most precious possession is never your material belongings."

He forcibly took the fallen noble's family into his mansion, sent them to work in the territory, and told them that their family member had sold them, left the empire, and gone to another country to live a life of luxury as a rich man.

This poor noble was eventually exiled by Viktor, and from then on, players never saw his trace again.

To this day, he still remembered Viktor's famous saying:

"Why weren't your family members your most precious possession?"

Many players tried to dig deeper meaning from Viktor's words, but the game developers never wrote about the past of these in-game NPCs.

However, Viktor's despicable actions were enough to be remembered for a lifetime.

Lia was still talking.

"There's something I didn't tell you before. Our item shop was vandalized on the day it opened."

"And I suddenly remembered, just a few days before that, you gave me this."

Lia raised her hand, the crystal gem on her fingerless glove particularly dazzling in the sunlight.

Viktor listened silently as Lia continued:

"I was quite curious before, because during that time, the only one who had a grudge against you was the Duke."

"But when I sent people to catch those who vandalized the shop and questioned them thoroughly, I found out it wasn't like that at all."

"Now it seems that grain merchant had been prepared for a long time."

Lia's voice was somewhat cold.

After Viktor gave her the Mage's Hand, she had only used it once when the merchant convoy was attacked.

Only the people in the convoy at that time saw her use magic.

But when she went to catch Chur today, Chur used a magic-suppressing stone on her.

He even thought she was a second-tier mage.

From the very beginning, when the convoy was attacked, the kingdom's people had set their sights on Viktor through Parson.

Everything was connected.

She naturally knew her brother's reputation was poor, but she didn't expect even the people from the neighboring kingdom had their eyes on him.

His talent made the neighboring kingdom feel threatened.

At this moment, she heard Viktor suddenly say:

"Go send some consolation money to that grain merchant's wife."

Lia was stunned. She looked up at Viktor, not quite understanding his meaning.

Consolation money had two meanings, one for injury compensation, and the other for...

"Then, find that grain merchant and bury him."

Viktor's expression didn't change; he just spoke plainly.

But in his indifferent tone, there was full of cruelty.

Lia paused slightly. For a moment, she felt as if the former Viktor, the one everyone disliked, had returned.

But he didn't go to extremes, which made Lia slightly understand that he was still the current Viktor.

This Viktor that she didn't quite dislike.

However, she still asked:

"Why do this? You deserved what happened to you."

Viktor narrowed his eyes, as if the newly risen sun was a bit dazzling.

But his emotionless voice still sounded as usual.

"When he prepared to kill you, this person could only be sentenced to death."

Lia was stunned and took two small steps back.

She lowered her head, not wanting Viktor to see her current expression.

Her voice remained as normal as ever:

"You think I don't hold grudges?"

"Don't worry, I've already sent people to do it."

Viktor nodded. He hadn't noticed Lia's current state and just continued speaking indifferently:

"So, are you going back?"

"...You go back first. I have some things to deal with, and I also need to find a new grain merchant. Sigh, so many things are pressing on me."

"I'll be back in the capital in a few days. Remember to have the servants clean my room every day."

Viktor nodded, left a "Take care," and the hidden teleportation array under his feet instantly rose.

Under the sweep of the air currents, his body turned into a blue light and disappeared.

As the last drop of indigo light dissipated, Lia still stood there motionlessly, head lowered, as if trying hard to control something.

Viktor was gone, and no one could see the emotions on her face anymore.

She finally didn't have to hold back, as if the dam of her emotions had been opened.

A tear rolled down Lia's cheek, through the dry air, falling to the ground, splashing dust.

After the silence, only a self-talking voice sounded:

"Lia."

"You're really useless."