Translator: Legge
“What have you lost?” Ren Xiaosu wondered, “I realized that you’ve had insomnia for the past few days. And now, you’re suddenly telling that I’ll lose more than I’ll gain if I pursue the sorcerer dream? What exactly have you been through?”
“I don’t mind telling you all this, but my Eye of True Sight doesn’t belong to . It’s actually my father’s,” lgor said.
“Wait a minute.” Ren Xiaosu realized the two servants’ account did not match up with lgor’s. “The two sheeple told that if an old sorcerer with a family passed away, the Eye of True Sight in their possession would get taken back by magus order. In that case, how could you possibly have inherited it from your father?”
After that, Ren Xiaosu looked at the two servants hostilely. “Are you trying to fool or did they lie to again?”
After being punched by Ren Xiaosu earlier, the two servants could not get back to sleep. At this mont, they had just walked over to the campfire and saw the sinister look in Ren Xiaosu’s eyes. They imdiately shuddered and shouted at lgor, “Lord lgor, can you speak without pausing? Make it clear to him!”
lgor quickly pulled Ren Xiaosu back. “Listen to my explanation!”
lgor did not know whether to laugh or cry. What was wrong with this newly appointed steward of his? He was too tyrannical!
“I ntioned so people waste their entire lives in pursuit of their sorcerer dreams. Actually, I was referring to my father when I said that.” lgor explained, “My family was originally based in Ghent City, the capital of the Kingdom of Sorcerers. When I was still a child, my family was very well-to-do and could be considered an influential clan of Ghent City.”
Ren Xiaosu realized there was a story behind lgor’s status as a sorcerer.
He did not interrupt lgor again and listened quietly.
lgor continued, “When I was young, my family owned a huge manor outside of Ghent City and many businesses in the city. In the sumr, we’d have our servants fetch large amounts of ice from cellars situated outside the city and transport it back to our residence in the city to cool ourselves. During winter, we would keep warm using underfloor heating. We had countless servants in our family, and just the professors alone who were responsible for teaching amounted to six.”
In the nation of sorcerers, “professor” was not an academic title but a collective form of address for those of high social standing and profound knowledge.
lgor reveled in his recollection. “I still rember when I was very young, my father would bring to the racetrack outside Ghent City to ride horses and teach how to play polo. He would also bring to the city’s arena to watch passionate battles between gladiators. The victorious gladiators would get the cheers of the audience, and I couldn’t help cheering along with them too. It’s entertainnt that only aristocrats are allowed to watch, and sorcerers enjoy such shows very much as well.”
“Ren Xiaosu, I wanted you to beco my steward because I feel you have the potential to beco a gladiator. Frankly, I need this opportunity to mingle with the aristocrats and sorcerers so I may be admitted into the inner circle of the magus order and get away from my current fief,” lgor said.
“Later, it all changed.” lgor sighed. “My father had dreams of becoming a sorcerer since childhood. This is probably also the dream of all young people in the Kingdom of Sorcerers. The magi are powerful and mysterious, even ranking above the monarch. This filled every teenager with fantasies of becoming a sorcerer.”
“However, a sorcerer is not sothing you can just beco because you want to. Moreover, you can’t just purchase an Eye of True Sight with money.” lgor looked at Ren Xiaosu and said, “You’ll need luck, very good luck.”
“May I interrupt for a second?” Ren Xiaosu asked puzzledly, “So there’s still a luck elent involved when buying an Eye of True Sight? I just don’t understand. Don’t you just pay up and receive the item?”
“Of course not.” lgor shook his head. “This is not how an Eye of True Sight looks before it’s unsealed. It’s encased by a layer of stone that we have to break apart. Only then will we find out if there’s an Eye of True Sight within, or if it’s just a plain rock that was purchased.”
Ren Xiaosu was stunned. Wasn’t this the sa trick they employed in jade gambling back in the Southwest?!
lgor explained, “This business is controlled by a certain archmage’s family based in the secular world. Normal people can try their luck to obtain an Eye of True Sight at the stone gambling market. The magus order will also acknowledge them as true sorcerers if they manage to get one. The black market that hosts stone gambling activities in Ghent City is the craziest place in the entire Kingdom of Sorcerers. Over the years, rumors of people becoming sorcerers from gambling on stones have caused a large number of people to go and try their luck.”
“What are the chances of getting an Eye of True Sight through that avenue?” Ren Xiaosu asked curiously, “How many people have beco sorcerers using this thod?”
“Very, very few.” lgor said, “At the very least, my father didn’t manage to beco a sorcerer after spending all the family’s wealth.”
After hearing this, Ren Xiaosu thought the Magi was really ruthless in how they plundered the people’s wealth. But since they were already the actual controllers of the entire nation, why did they still have to resort to such petty ways to swindle the wealth of others? Compared to the necessities economy, the money earned from the stone gambling market was probably too little to bring about any qualitative impact for them, right?
No, Ren Xiaosu carefully recalled how the consortiums were structured in the Central Plains. In fact, the largest manufacturer of lipstick was the Wang Consortium.
What did a large organization such as the Wang Consortium still bother to manufacture lipstick for? Why would they even bother earning this bit of money? The truth was that they did not want to miss out on even a single cent and earn from every market there was.
Ren Xiaosu looked at lgor and asked, “Then where did you get your Eye of True Sight from?”
“My father was diagnosed with an illness when he was 40. If he had treated his illness, he could’ve lived for another three years, but that would’ve required him to spend all the savings we had.” lgor said sadly, “I said we should use the money for his treatnt, but he disagreed. He gave all the savings to and told to go try my luck at the black market one more ti. He wanted to give it one last shot. If he had used it for his treatnt, that would really have been the end for our clan.”
“I’d never dread about becoming a sorcerer, so I insisted he use the money for his treatnt. But he dragged to the black market and forced to pick a random stone. If I didn’t do as he said, he would kill himself.” lgor said, “Helpless, I could only pick one as he told . But who could’ve expected I would actually obtain an Eye of True Sight from the stone I had chosen? On that sa day, my father died. I don’t even know if he felt remorseful or gratified before he passed on.”
Ren Xiaosu thought this story was full of irony. His father had exhausted all of the family’s wealth in pursuit of his life’s dream of becoming a sorcerer only to see it unfulfilled. anwhile, lgor, who never harbored any ambition of becoming a sorcerer, managed to pick an Eye of True Sight randomly and beca the next lucky sorcerer.
It was no wonder lgor said normal people had a lot to lose if they sought to beco sorcerers.
“I used all our family’s wealth and my father’s jinxed life in exchange for the status of fringe sorcerer.” lgor gave a bitter smile. “Was it worth getting sent to a godforsaken place to do the dirtiest and most tiring work for the order? I don’t know, but I found out later that sorcerers who bought their Eyes of True Sight were sent to the toughest places to be trained for two years.. Of course, this is not about training your willpower, but the magus order’s way of telling you that even if you beco a sorcerer, your fate still lies in their hands.”
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