Surprise, Alarm

Hillman was startled. "Lord Hogg, you still intend to investigate this matter?"

A Seventh-Level Warrior had already forced Hogg to exhaust every means and suffer serious injuries.

If he continued investigating...

Hillman did not dare, nor did he wish, to imagine the consequences.

"Investigate. I must investigate!" Hogg smiled. "Only when I am doing this can I feel that I am still a living person."

"Don't worry. I will be even more careful before then."

Hogg looked at the ancestral tablets of the Baruch Clan and said solemnly, "Wharton has awakened the Dragonblood Warrior Bloodline. I want to send him to O'Brien Warrior Academy in the O'Brien Empire!"

"Only there can he receive the best training."

"So, I need to gather enough for his tuition."

Hearing this, Hillman immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

O'Brien Academy was known as the number one warrior academy on the Yulan Continent.

For those outside the O'Brien Empire, the annual tuition was as high as five thousand gold coins!

Wharton was still young and needed someone to look after him, so with all the living expenses included, it would probably cost six thousand gold coins a year.

And for Wharton to grow up, he would need to study for at least ten years.

Ten years, sixty thousand gold coins!

For the current Baruch Clan, that was an astronomical sum.

"Sixty thousand gold coins will be enough to give Lord Hogg a headache for quite some time."

Hillman was rather happy inside. At least this would keep Hogg from taking risks for the time being.

"Oh, right, Hillman. It has already been half a year. Go visit my sons for me."

Hogg's gaze suddenly softened.

"Me?"

Hillman quickly said, "Lord Hogg, aren't you going yourself? I think Young Master Moke and Young Master Linley both hope to see you."

"I won't be going."

Hogg shook his head. "I will be very busy lately, gathering Wharton's tuition."

There were not many valuable things left in the house. He had to carefully consider how to sell them for a good price.

Sixty thousand gold coins truly put Hogg under immense pressure.

"Uncle Hillman, why are you here?!" Both Moke and Linley were delighted by Hillman's sudden arrival.

The three sat down at a restaurant outside Ernst Institute and chatted warmly.

Outsiders could not enter Ernst Institute, but fortunately, there were restaurants outside.

Hillman said with a genial smile, "Your father sent me to come see you two."

He looked at Linley and Moke. In half a year, both had grown quite a bit taller.

Adolescence was already a period of rapid growth, and with the two of them meditating and training so often, their bodies had developed even faster.

"Why didn't Father come?" Linley felt a little disappointed.

"Your father..." A trace of worry flashed through Hillman's eyes before he smiled. "Your father has been too busy lately."

"Hm?"

Moke was extremely perceptive. Catching that flicker of worry in Hillman's eyes, his heart immediately skipped a beat. Father couldn't have acted ahead of time, could he?

"Oh, right, do you know?"

Hillman suddenly smiled happily and said excitedly, "Your little brother Wharton has awakened the Dragonblood Warrior Bloodline. The Baruch Clan will have a Saint Realm expert in the future!"

"What?!" Linley was so happy that he nearly jumped out of his seat.

"My brother Wharton, he... he awakened the Dragonblood Warrior Bloodline?"

Linley felt his blood boil. This had truly taken him by surprise.

He was happy for his younger brother.

"A Dragonblood Warrior?"

Beside Linley, the illusory Doering Cowart also showed a very interested expression.

Moke had known long ago. At that moment, he was wondering whether something had gone wrong on his father's side.

The three chatted for a long time and ate together.

"Linley, you head back first. I have something to say to Uncle Hillman."

As they were parting, Moke said with a smile.

"Oh?"

Linley was somewhat surprised, but he obediently bade Hillman farewell. "Goodbye, Uncle Hillman."

"Alright, goodbye, Linley."

Hillman waved at Linley, also curious about what Moke wanted to say to him that Linley could not hear.

"Uncle Hillman, did something happen to my father?"

Moke got straight to the point, staring directly at Hillman.

Under Moke's gaze, Hillman actually felt a chill run through his body, as though he were being watched by a ferocious magical beast. It sent shivers down his spine.

"You brat!" He suddenly laughed, pretending to be relaxed. "Your father is perfectly fine. What could happen to him?"

Hillman had previously called him Young Master Moke, or at the very least Moke.

Yet now he called him "brat"... He was clearly flustered.

With his father's safety at stake, Moke did not intend to let Hillman brush him off so easily. "Uncle Hillman, I'm not a child anymore."

"Just because Father doesn't tell me certain things doesn't mean I don't know about them."

He was very serious, his face taut. Combined with his height of over one meter sixty, Hillman subconsciously felt as if the person before him were an adult.

At the same time, Moke's words startled Hillman.

"What do you know?" Hillman frowned.

"I used to sleep with Father, and I heard him say some things in his sleep..."

Moke stopped there.

"So that was it..." Hillman suddenly understood.

Hogg thought of Lina day and night. Hillman did not find it strange at all that he would talk in his sleep.

"Father... did he go looking for Mother? Was that why he was injured?"

Moke pressed again.

"You know that much?" Hillman was shocked once more.

He suddenly smiled in relief. Looking at Moke, his gaze was somewhat complicated. "You've been mature since you were little, but I never expected you to be this mature."

"These years, it hasn't been easy for you either, has it?" Hillman painfully rubbed Moke's hair, making Moke's eyes moisten involuntarily.

Linley had little impression of their mother, Lina, but Moke remembered her clearly.

His mother had been very gentle. In both his previous life and this one, he had never seen anyone so gentle and kind.

To Moke, his mother had been like an angel.

Such a kind woman, who had always gently called him Little Moke, had her soul offered to the Lord of Light by the Radiant Church.

How could Moke possibly feel good about that?

Hillman sighed. "Your father did indeed investigate the truth behind your mother's disappearance, but he was injured by a Seventh-Level Warrior."

"Father really was injured?" Moke's mind buzzed as though it had exploded.

Hogg had actually investigated the truth behind his mother's disappearance so many years ahead of time?!

"Don't worry. Your father is a Sixth-Level Warrior. He will recover after resting for a while."

Hillman hurriedly explained, then added, "But I really am worried that your father will continue investigating. If he does, his life will truly be in danger."

"Uncle Hillman, I'm going back with you!" Hearing this, Moke relaxed slightly before speaking firmly.

"You're going back?"

Hillman froze, then said, "That works too. I can't persuade your father, but perhaps you, his son, can make him change his mind."

"Change his mind?"

Moke knew his father would not change his mind. Hogg's feelings for his mother even surpassed his feelings for his sons.

"Perhaps it's time to tell Father some things."

Moke thought that he should reveal part of the truth, such as the fact that he was a Dragonblood Warrior.