As the Gustin Family's steward, no one on all of Qingyuan Star knew the tenants of the fief better than he did.
How many men and women there were among the tenants, when they had left, and when they had returned—he had a clear grasp of it all.
His knowledge of such information was not comprehensive, but it was certainly better than anyone else's.
Of course, he knew about the Five Elements Battle Array as well, but such a secret was simply too far removed from him.
Now the distinguished guests had actually offered this thing as a reward. To say he was not tempted would be a lie.
As for the prefix "entry-level version," he ignored it outright—who would dare covet the final version?
Having it and not having it were two entirely different things. Going from zero to one was already a leap. One had to know contentment!
Having managed the inn for years, Xiang Xue understood such petty thoughts perfectly. She said coldly,
"The reward is substantial, right? Don't bother mentioning any unreasonable requests."
There was no helping it. Since only one family could obtain the Battle Formation, she had to protect her father's interests to some extent.
Years of management experience had taught her that, within the bounds of her authority, showing a little favoritism was only human nature.
If the competitors had been teammates, she would not have done this. But the Gustin Family... she really had no such relationship with them.
The steward was also a sensible man, so he answered respectfully, "I know the value of the Five Elements Battle Array."
However, knowing was one thing. While issuing the reward to the public, he promptly notified several families.
The first, naturally, was his own employer, the Gustin Family, followed by several families on