Chapter 393: Brother
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Y-yes.” Hahn swallowed his saliva with difficulty; his face was covered in cold sweat. Hahn, who had worked for the Malfa Family for more than ten years, knew the temperament of Young Master Hutton better than anyone else. If the latter were to know that Hahn had helped Sir Harvey do those things, even having ten lives would not save him. It was especially so for the issue of the advance party…
Back at Blackstone Town, Hutton had already repeatedly emphasized that the advance party entering the Scar of Death was the most important part of the whole plan. The members of the advance party had to be those that were known through and through. They could not be too strong or too smart, and their background could not be too complicated. It was best that their past could be discerned easily.
Initially, Hahn had indeed acted according to these strict standards when picking candidates. He chose Reggie and then Johnathan, but after that, that mage called Felic actually came forward. He volunteered to go to the Scar of Death with Johnathan. Hahn was obsessed back then, and only wanted to please Sir Harvey. Thus, he actually agreed to it. He thought that it was courting death to go to the Scar of Death anyway. Sir Hutton would not notice a young mage with no status or background like him, either. Back then, he thought that he had done things without anyone knowing, but he did not imagine that Sir Hutton would look for him for answers in just half a day…
Hahn knew that this was the biggest taboo for Sir Hutton. Just thinking about the methods of this first heir of the Malfa Family, Hahn could not help but shed cold sweat. What do I do, what do I do? Should I push all the responsibility to Sir Harvey?
“Where is he right now?” Hutton gently put down the magic book in his hands. His expression was abnormally calm, and even Emendas, who was nearest to him, did not know what this first heir of the Malfa Family was thinking about.
But Hahn knew…
After working for the Malfa Family for so many years, Hahn could not be any clearer about the personality of the first young master. The calmer his expression was, the more furious it meant he was. Just thinking about the terrifying rage that was behind such calmness, Hahn did not care much anymore. With a “plop”, Hahn knelt down. Without waiting for Hutton to speak, he slapped himself with “pak, pak, pak” while sobbing to beg for mercy. “I deserve to die… I deserve to die… Sir Hutton, please be merciful. Please spare me this time… on the account that I have worked for the Malfa Family for so many years…”
“Spare you this time?” Hutton’s expression was as calm as before, but his tone slowly started becoming colder. “Back at Blackstone Town, I have already told you before. The members of the advance party must be known through and through. This plan involves the whole Malfa Family’s gains; there absolutely mustn’t be any uncontrollable factor involved. You promised me there would not be problems, but now, a stranger has appeared within the advance party. Hahn, can you explain to me what is going on?”
“I deserve to die… I deserve to die…” Hahn slumped onto the ground just like a pile of mud; only his hands were desperately slapping himself. Furthermore, each slap was harder than before. His sharp and long face had been slapped till it was swollen and round. “This really has nothing to do with me. Sir Hutton… It… It was Sir Harvey that made me do this!”
“Harvey?” Harvey’s face blackened. “Bring Harvey to me!”
After a short moment, Harvey walked into the tent with a sleepy look.
“Big Brother, why are you looking for me?” Harvey had just walked into the tent when he saw that Harvey’s face was purple with rage. In an instant, his head tightened. The second young master of the Malfa Family was not afraid of anything, and did not even care much about his own father. Yet, in the face of his own brother, he had never dared to be presumptuous.
Harvey was only two years younger than Hutton. It could be said that both of them grew up together, but it was also because of this that Harvey could be said to understand Hutton the most. He had seen this brother that was two years older than him seek tutelage under Master Cheyenne, and then he saw him use 20 years to transform from a mage apprentice into a level-18 Archmage. He watched him take part in the management of the family at the age of 12, and watched as he made the Malfa Family stronger every day. In Harvey’s eyes, his own brother was somebody omnipotent.
In an average family, the competition between the first son and younger sons was always bloody and cruel. It was because once the first son died, the position of the heir would definitely fall into the hands of the younger son.
But the Malfa Family did not have this problem, because Harvey would definitely not fight with Hutton for the position of the heir. It was not that he did not want to—it was because he did not dare to. When he was very, very young, Harvey already knew that the gap between Hutton and himself was giant. Thus, Harvey never dared to compete with Hutton for anything. Other than respect, Harvey also had a deep-rooted fear of this older brother that was two years older than him…
“I heard that you let Hahn enlist a mage called Felic into the advance party?”
“I…” Harvey was not really an idiot. Although he looked like he was miles apart from Hutton usually, this was also because of Hutton’s judgment. In terms of intelligence, he had not reached the stage of being an idiot beyond help. When he heard Hutton’s question, Harvey’s expression was stiff because he knew that something had to have happened regarding the matter he had asked Hahn to handle…
“Speak!” Hutton’s voice abruptly rose.
The fear that was deep-rooted since young immediately made Harvey’s knees weak. “Y-yes.”
After that, there was a crisp “pak”…
Hutton’s slap landed right on Harvey’s face.
“Idiot!” Hutton’s face was purple with anger, and his hand was trembling. “I said this long ago. I told you not to come, but you insisted on coming! Great, look at it yourself. What have you done?”
“I…” Harvey held his face with one hand; he was lost in an instant. Indeed, he had been beaten by Hutton quite a number of times since he was young, but there was not a single time he had been beaten in front of so many people. Harvey looked at Hutton with a shocked expression as though he did not really understand why his big brother had suddenly become so furious.
“Tell me, why did you do this?”
“I… I took a liking to the female adventurer that was with him…”
When Hutton heard this, he was so angry that he almost had a heart attack. He raised his hand and almost let loose another slap, but luckily his hand was stopped by Emendas.
“Sir Hutton, please calm down. Sir Harvey is still young and clueless. Just tell him nicely. Everyone is family, there’s no need for things to be so rigid…”
After being pulled back by Emendas, Hutton’s slap didn’t follow. After Hutton calmed down for a bit, he also remembered that this younger brother that had grown up together with him had always been respectful even though he was not too smart. After thinking about this, Hutton’s expression became warmer.
Seeing the change in Hutton’s expression, Harvey let out a sigh of relief quietly. He carefully gave off a smiling face while pitifully trying to justify himself. “Big Brother, that’s just a low-level mage. What can he possibly do to you…”
“A mage?” When Hutton heard this, the rage that he had suppressed just now surged up again. “Idiot, do you still remember that last month, Father told us that the Supreme Council had finally set its sights on the Breezy Plains and established a new Guild of Magic at Doland? Back then, Father told us worryingly that this time round, the Supreme Council’s involvement would very likely change the hierarchy of powers in the whole Breezy Plains!”
Harvey was instantly stunned. “What you mean is that Felic is a member of the Guild of Magic?”
“Member?” Hutton’s face gave off a cold smile. “If he was just a member of the Guild of Magic, why would I call you over in the middle of the night? I told you long ago to pay attention to the news of the border regularly, but you just spend your days willfully with those idiotic friends. If you are to continue to this, Father will chase you out of the Malfa Family sooner or later. Did you not hear anything about such a huge news such as the establishment of a Guild of Magic?
“What news?”
“The President of the Guild of Magic is a young mage in his twenties, and… his name is Felic!”
“How can this be!?” Harvey almost jumped up. “You’re saying that this Felic in the advance party is the President of the Guild of Magic?”
“Indeed…” Hutton nodded his head, and glared at Harvey fiercely. “Don’t think that I’m pulling your leg. This was heard by Becca today in the afternoon. This Felic that you have assigned to the advance party to be sent to his death… There is 80-90% chance he is the owner of the Tower of Dusk, the newly appointed President of the Guild of Magic…”
When Harvey heard this, he suddenly laughed. “I still wondered what was going on. So, the Guild of Magic that you and Father have been worrying about had appointed such an inferior mage to be the president. In the end, you and Father have been worrying for nothing. Big Brother, don’t say that I caused trouble for you. In this world, everything requires strength. So what if this Felic is the president of the Guild of Magic? He’s just a level-10 Magic Shooter at the very most. After entering the Scar of Death, Adelo would be able to deal with him with just a finger, and coincidentally help you and Father settle this big problem…”
“Idiot!” Hutton was so angry that he stomped his feet. “Do you think that the Supreme Council would be as stupid as you and assign a level-10 Magic Shooter to be the President of the Breezy Plains Guild of Magic?”
“Ok, I know that you are trying to tell me that this Felic is hiding his true strength…” Harvey pouted, and turned a deaf ear to Hutton’s words. From his perspective, this brother of his was excellent in everything, but he was too careful when dealing with issues. He was afraid to commit himself, and was just scaring himself in the end. “But no matter how he conceals it, he would not be stronger than Adelo, right? Big Brother, don’t forget that Adelo is your senior. He is also Master Cheyenne’s disciple. With his peak level-17 power, could it be that he can’t handle a mage in his twenties?”
“Know my…” Hutton held it back again and again before he stopped himself from cursing. Looking at this useless younger brother of his, Hutton started becoming annoyed. In the end, he let out a long sigh, and patiently explained, “When the Guild of Magic had just been established, Father had already deployed people to investigate it. This president was not assigned randomly. Apparently, in order to select this guild’s president, the Supreme Council had organized a trial. The 24 Guilds of Magic in the Felan Kingdom had each sent forth their best disciple. In the end, it was this Felic from the Jarrosus Guild of Magic that emerged victorious. Think about it yourself: how could this Felic that stood out from all of the genius mages be an average person?”
When Harvey heard this, he could not help but panic. “What should we do now?”
“What to do?” Hutton heaved a sigh, and called Emendas over. “Emendas, notify Adelo immediately. Tell him to be careful of that Felic. If there really is a need, then just use that gem that I have given him.”
“Roger.”
“Big Brother, you… you mean that gem?” Harvey swallowed his saliva, and his eyes were filled with disbelief. “That gem was given to you by Master Cheyenne to be used at the most crucial moment…”
“And you still dare to talk about it. If you hadn’t got Felic into the advance party, how would we have ended up in such deep waters?”
“But…” Harvey opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn’t say anything…
Still, Harvey did not approve of Hutton’s decision.
From Harvey’s perspective, no matter how hard a 20-year-old mage tried to conceal his strength, it would not be much. Unless he really was an Archmage? A 20-year-old Archmage, what a joke! Was he supposed to be the next Geresco…?
Take a thousand steps back—so what even if he really was an Archmage? Could it be that he could escape from Adelo’s grasp? Adelo was Hutton’s senior, and a disciple of Legendary-realm mage, Cheyenne. He apparently already was an Archmage at the peak of level-17 a few months ago. Other than Hutton, Harvey had not seen any mage stronger than him.
How many geniuses, like Hutton, were there in Anril?
After lecturing Harvey, Hutton looked at Emendas again. The face that was originally furious and annoyed slowly started smiling. “Emendas, you’ve done well. You did not cause problems together with Harvey.”
Hutton was an intelligent person. Even though he did not know that Harvey looked for Emendas, and did not know how Emendas rejected Harvey, after connecting dots together, he could immediately guess most of what had happened.
“I’m sorry, Sir Hutton. It’s my fault for not stopping Sir Harvey in time and letting things escalate to this degree…”
“No, this has nothing to do with you…” Hutton shook his head. “Furthermore, the situation doesn’t seem so bad at this point. Adelo just needs to hang on for another night. Just one more night would do. When our allies set off tomorrow morning, this Felic would not be able to do anything much even if he really has exceptional capabilities…”