Wilderness of Dreams.
Angel’s figure appeared directly on the first floor of the attic where Nis lived. After nodding slightly to Tullas and Mandhela, he quickly walked up to the second floor.
Upon reaching the second floor, Angel saw Ironclad Granny and Nis.
Besides them, there was also a fat, somewhat apprehensive Wizard Apprentice, who, despite sitting, kept his head lowered, looking quite uneasy.
"Granny." Angel greeted Ironclad Granny and walked over. When passing by the slightly chubby male apprentice, Angel paused for a moment.
"Are you, Ju Linton?"
Upon hearing his name, a look of astonishment and an indescribable complexity and awkwardness flashed through Ju Linton’s eyes, which were squeezed into a slit by fat.
"G-g-great Sir... you still remember me?" Ju Linton’s voice was slightly trembling, not daring to make direct eye contact with Angel.
Angel shifted his gaze, gently responded with an "Mm," and passed by him, sitting opposite Ironclad Granny.
On the other side, Nis, sitting on a single sofa, looked over curiously: "How come, Angel, you know this apprentice?"
Being called again, Ju Linton’s body stiffened, and he buried his head even lower.
"I met him briefly in Apprentice Town shortly after I arrived at the Barbarian Cave." Back then, Ju Linton came with a few beauties, trying to forcibly establish a relationship with newly advanced Angel by offering beauties.
After being rejected, Ju Linton seemed a bit embarrassed and angry. During that period, Angel was worried about Ju Linton’s retaliation. After all, Ju Linton was already a Third Level Apprentice and was rumored to be quite petty. However, later he found out that his worries were needless; Ju Linton might have had the intention of revenge, but with Sanders backing him, Ju Linton didn’t make any moves.
Angel didn’t mention these minor frictions.
However, seeing Ju Linton so fearful and hesitant, he probably feared revenge for what happened back then.
Ju Linton was overthinking it. To Angel, what happened back then didn’t even count as a footnote, and since Ju Linton hadn’t made any actual moves, Angel wouldn’t be so bored as to target him.
"Is that so? Seeing his fearful face, I assumed there was one of those novel-like scenarios where after years, the roles are reversed, and you smack him in the face... or something." Nis spoke in a rather regretful tone.
"I thought Wizard Nis was busy studying stone slabs in the library of Originheart City. I didn’t expect you to have time to read those fictional novels." Angel raised his eyebrows. The slap-face plot novels mostly came from the library in Originheart City, curated from Earth novels by Jon.
"You read them too. Aren’t those novels quite interesting?" Nis shook the communicator in his hand: "The Tree Group Development Team recently started a project called Project Blue View. They’re planning to put those novels on the tree group forum soon; I’m looking forward to it."
Angel turned his head, too lazy to respond.
At this moment, Ironclad Granny spoke: "Alright, enough with the side talk, let’s get to business."
During the conversation, Angel also learned that the so-called business was indeed about those two Task Teams. Ju Linton was the representative of the team sent to the Nirvana Continent to investigate the Man Huan Family.
"Ju Linton, recount what you said before in detail, once more." This time, it was explicitly meant for Angel.
Ju Linton nodded, opened his mouth with large gold teeth glinting, and recounted the process of executing the task.
According to Ju Linton’s account, after their team set sail, it took them a week to reach Nirvana Continent. Then, they spent a day traveling to Windchime County in Leidu Province of the Night Lily Kingdom.
In Windchime County, they found the Man Huan Family.
Out of caution, they didn’t immediately approach the Man Huan Family but split into two groups. One group secretly observed the Man Huan Family’s estate, while the other group investigated any folklore about the Man Huan Family in Windchime County.
The group that observed didn’t notice anything unusual, but the group gathering information did uncover two anecdotes.
That was an event from thirty years ago.
In the Man Huan Family’s castle, a distant relative of the family head but with the same bloodline, known as Silver Miss, had been living there since long ago.
This Silver Miss was never favored by the family matriarch, and there had always been rumors in Windchime County saying that Silver Miss was actually a mistress of Viscount Man Huan and even bore him a pair of children. Only such a relationship could explain why the pitiable Silver Miss was so targeted by the matriarch.
Initially, it was just a salacious tale in Windchime County, meant for idle gossip. But subsequently, something happened that spread Silver Miss’s name rapidly throughout the county.
While out on a trip, Silver Miss’s carriage, for unknown reasons, fell off a cliff. The driver and servants all perished, but Silver Miss survived, although she was paralyzed. Except for her head, which could barely move, her limbs lost all sensation, and it seemed her future would be confined to bed.
At this point, everyone still felt a sense of pity for Silver Miss—having just entered an age to enjoy life, yet facing such a calamity.
But what happened later shocked everyone.
About two months later, Silver Miss’s paralysis mysteriously healed, and at the same time, the wife of Viscount Man Huan, who had been antagonizing Silver Miss, suddenly died.
For a time, speculation ran rampant.
Later, it was announced from Man Huan Estate that Silver Miss was never paralyzed; she had only broken her leg, which healed after two months. The viscountess’s death was due to natural illness.
People believed the first half of this statement, but not the latter half.
Many speculated that perhaps Silver Miss was indeed not paralyzed, and the rumors of paralysis were to lower someone’s guard, allowing for a counterattack. The carriage falling off the cliff was simply someone’s scheme to eradicate Silver Miss.
That someone referred to was the viscountess.
Thus, the gossip about the love-hate dynamics within the Man Huan Family became the hot topic of discussion.
However, anyone analyzing the situation would realize there were still inexplicable aspects, such as the initial reports of the viscountess’s paralysis coming from a renowned doctor in the county, a Puritan who wouldn’t intentionally spread rumors for personal gain.
Upon investigating, it was discovered that after the incident thirty years ago, the doctor resigned and returned to his hometown, disappearing from public view.
Another oddity was that although the Man Huan Family was a powerful entity, the true authority in Windchime County, they did nothing to suppress the rampant rumors or the discussions about their internal love and hatred.
This was very unusual. No matter how enlightened or benevolent a noble might be, when faced with matters concerning the matriarch’s reputation, orders to silence gossip would definitely be issued.
But this matter was not at all forbidden to discuss, as if deliberately trying to spread this information.
When Jon got to this point, he paused: "Besides this, we also found out about a strange rumor concerning the Manwhale family, and once again, it centers around the Silver Lady."
Fifteen years had passed since the Viscountess died.
The Silver Lady was old by then, and should have been addressed as the Silver Lady Madam. She still resided in the Manwhale family’s castle, and the old rumors had faded over time, with few remembering the past events. People’s impression of the Silver Lady Madam had shifted from a hidden lover to a powerful figure in the Manwhale family.