Become a True Lord

When Landen appeared again, it was already dinnertime, more than an hour after he had interrogated Ella.

He had spent the entire time in the Alchemy Workshop. It had originally been prepared for Ella. Given the supplies Landen had on hand, the Alchemy Workshop was never going to be luxurious, but it had all the basic equipment.

Besides that, after Landen fell unconscious, the Minotaur Butler had confiscated everything Ella had been carrying and placed it all in here as well.

Landen had stayed inside for more than an hour, while the Minotaur Butler waited outside for more than an hour. He had only left twice during that time. Once was to order the Dark Elves to prepare the ingredients—of all the people here, only the Minotaur Butler could make food that was reasonably edible.

The other time was to meet the envoy sent by Landen's second sister, Vivian. The poor fellow had traveled a long way to get here, only to be forgotten like this. After hearing the Minotaur Butler's report, Landen had thought about it for barely two minutes before putting the matter out of his mind.

When he saw Landen emerge from the Alchemy Workshop, the Minotaur Butler secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He seemed about to ask something, but in the end only said, "My lord, you finally came out. Shall I serve dinner now?"

"I didn't notice it until you mentioned it. Now that you have, I'm hungry." Landen glanced at the Minotaur Butler and said, "Sorry for the trouble. You waited outside for so long, and now you still have to cook. Oh, right, you told me earlier there was some envoy? Bring him along later."

A look of surprise flashed through the Minotaur Butler's eyes, but he ultimately said nothing. He bowed and replied, "Yes, my lord."

Just as he turned to leave, Landen's voice rang out again. "Oh, right. Try this first. I just made it." Landen turned and walked back into the Alchemy Workshop, then soon came out carrying a cup.

Before he could even see what was in the cup, a familiar scent already entered his nose with the air. A look of shock immediately appeared on the Minotaur Butler's seemingly unchanging bull face. He exclaimed, "This! This isn't..."

"Ah, Corona Ginger Juice? I forced the recipe out of Ella earlier and tried making it on a whim." Landen wore an unconcerned expression as he raised the cup toward the Minotaur Butler. "Want to try some?"

When the cup drew near, the strongest Minotaur in the bunker actually took a step back instinctively, as though Landen were holding a cup of deadly poison—something that would kill anyone merely by touching them.

Then he came to his senses, quickly composed his expression, and said solemnly, "My lord, this was what caused you to fall unconscious before. Why are you drinking it again?"

"So you're not going to have any? Then I'll drink it myself." Landen shrugged, as though he had not heard the Minotaur Butler at all. Under the other man's astonished gaze, he raised the cup and drained it in one go!

Once again ignoring every reaction from the Minotaur Butler, Landen patted his shoulder, which stood several centimeters higher than Landen's head, and said, "All right, go cook. I can go hungry, but we can't keep our guest waiting."

Watching Landen's back as he walked up the stairs, the Minotaur Butler's expression shifted repeatedly. After remaining silent for a long while, he ultimately said nothing...

Landen paid no attention to the Minotaur Butler's reaction—or rather, the other man's reaction had already been within his expectations. By then, he had returned to the swivel chair and was slowly turning in it, while his mind spun nonstop. "Corona Ginger Juice still tastes awful. Can't they improve the recipe at all? But how did that previous owner actually die from being overwhelmed by the effects of a few cups of this tonic? This is a genuine Low-tier Black Iron body, and one inclined toward constitution at that. Who would believe that a few cups of Corona Ginger Juice killed him?"

"It seems my original guess was right. Someone must have added something to the Corona Ginger Juice. I just don't know what. Hmm, that isn't important. What matters is... heh!"

This was definitely a cold laugh. Since that person had harmed Landen once, they would naturally do it a second time, a third time, until this body died completely. Landen, of course, could not allow that to happen again. In fact, from the moment this soul awakened and learned the truth of everything in the outside world, he had already begun investigating it. By now, he had a fairly clear lead.

"Oh, right, my second sister..." After finishing one matter, Landen's thoughts immediately shifted to another.

Whenever he thought of this second sister, Landen's head began to ache slightly.

Vivian was Matriarch Isis's second child. By human standards, she was about years old this year, only slightly older than Landen's Third Sister and Landen. Yet among Matriarch Isis's children, she was the strongest. She was also the most talented and ambitious of the group.

When Landen was still an ordinary Dark Elf striving toward Black Iron, Vivian had already reached Black Iron Peak. When Landen had barely become a Low-tier Black Iron, Vivian had already reached Silver Peak. Even more astonishingly, during that process, Vivian had successfully seized control of a city with a population of tens of thousands. Relying on her unique personal charisma, she had also recruited several extremely powerful subordinates. At that time, Vivian was not even an adult.

When Landen was appointed lord, Vivian had already begun advancing toward Gold Rank. On this continent, a Gold Rank powerhouse could already be considered one of the top existences!

Of course, none of that was what gave Landen a headache. The reason was that his second sister had an extremely fiery temper and found her little brother intensely unpleasant to look at.

Vivian had once been Matriarch Isis's greatest fan. She was also a staunch supporter of the Dark Elf matriarchal tradition and had always believed that the world should naturally be ruled by women.

However, that belief suffered a tremendous blow after Landen appeared. Vivian could not believe that the mother she had always idolized would give birth to a male child by a human man—one who was clearly not a Dark Elf. Thus, almost from the instant she first saw Landen, Vivian came to hate her little brother.

What awaited Landen afterward was all sorts of torment from this older sister. It was not the simple sort of sibling bullying where they glared at each other or occasionally pinched and hit one another. Vivian already possessed Black Iron strength at the time and could control her power with considerable ease and precision. As a result, various injuries began appearing on Landen from time to time. They were not fatal, nor would they leave him missing a limb, but they were by no means light. Even now, Landen still bore more than scars, all gifts from Vivian.

Those were only the minor things. The true reason Landen was so hostile toward his second sister was that she had been involved in several incidents that had nearly killed him.

From the time of his birth until now, excluding the incident that had caused the previous owner's death, Landen had faced the danger of death times in total. Of those, times had been blatant assassinations, while the other times had appeared to be accidents. But how could there be so many accidents in the world?

Based on the memories left behind by the previous owner, Landen could confirm that at least times had been directly connected to his second sister!

"It's time to become a true lord!"