What He Wanted

So he really had been drawn into the internal struggle of a noble family? Adam thought.

The moment Matt entered the room, he knew who had sent McLaren.

He had sent birds to follow McLaren, memorizing everyone McLaren contacted and spoke with at length. Whenever Adam encountered one of them, the birds would alert him with their cries.

The first had been David, and the birds had cried out once.

When that middle-aged man entered, the birds gave another warning.

Walker, who had been standing quietly to one side, also looked out the window, his gaze settling on those birds.

Seeing this, Adam decisively walked to the window and opened it. With a beckoning hand, the birds landed on him. The last one, slightly plumper than the rest, wobbled onto Adam's head.

"They're pets I keep. I was afraid they might cause trouble, so I had them stay outside," Adam said apologetically.

"Master Adam worries too much." Doug found himself appreciating Adam even more.

Though he was merely a commoner, aside from his birth, he outclassed Doug's own son in every respect. If only such a young man had been born into the Rom Family.

At first, Doug had only sought Adam's friendship for the Elixir of Immortality. Now, however, he genuinely cherished his talent.

"Master Adam, you will stay here tonight." Doug made the decision with a trace of forcefulness, then instructed Walker beside him, "Later, have someone notify the Boku Family. Bring along a small gift while you're at it."

"Then thank you, Mr. Doug." Adam had made a token refusal before, but this time he did not decline again.

Doug wanted something from Alva. Adam being dragged into this was already a fact; refusing a gift that morning would not have allowed him to avoid it. Besides, Adam did not actually like running away, even though his foremost goal right now was to flee the country where the Holy Sound Church was located.

"That is my eldest son, Matt." Doug took a sip from a cup engraved with the emblem of a floating city before speaking unhurriedly.

Seeing that cup, Adam blinked. Did all nobles like floating cities?

When he had secretly observed Mansla's residence before, he had seen a maid carrying a similar cup into the study.

Keeping that detail in mind, Adam continued listening to Doug. A qualified listener could make others feel much more favorably inclined toward them.

"When I was young, I was busy with the family business and neglected his upbringing. Now, Matt has become more and more useless." Doug's expression was exceedingly grim. "The eldest son of a noble family does not even know what businesses his own family owns."

"Of the several trials I arranged for him, he only passed one through sheer luck. Letting him inherit the Rom Family would be nothing but a disaster." Perhaps because he finally had someone willing to listen, Doug rarely poured out his frustrations.

It was not as though he had never considered passing the crest to Matt. He had secretly arranged tests for him. As long as Matt could pass them, Doug would not have stubbornly clung to the crest.

Yet the results had been too disappointing.

Matt could not even recognize his own family's casino. Under deliberate manipulation, he gambled away his entire fortune and incurred an enormous debt.

That alone would not have meant much. As a noble, being schemed against was unavoidable. Who had never fallen into a trap?

What disappointed Doug even more was that after being set up, Matt did not even know to seek help from his elders.

If Matt had immediately called for people and used connections to tear down that casino, then refused to acknowledge those debts, Doug would have felt better, even if it meant disgracing the family.

Instead, he had been frightened. A few petty tricks from the casino had scared the wits out of him, and they had used the promissory notes to keep him firmly in their grasp.

He was not sharp enough to evade schemes, did not know to seek help from those capable of helping him, feared death, and could not even bring himself to shamelessly deny it all.

Having such an heir had infuriated Doug to the point of coughing blood.

Though Adam did not know the full details, he sympathized with him. For nobles, inheritance was always the most important thing.

After Doug finished venting, Adam had thought he would immediately bring up what he wanted from Alva. Yet Doug was unexpectedly patient and did not mention Alva at all.

That evening, Adam was invited to dinner. In the dining room, he met Doug's other children. They were poor with words, feared Doug as one would fear a tiger, yet each harbored their own little schemes. That was Adam's impression of them.

Only after seeing them did Adam understand why Doug had remained unwilling to revoke Matt's inheritance rights despite being so disappointed in him. Once they were revoked, it would only create even greater problems.

His education had been an utter failure. Adam watched them. If only one descendant turned out this way, it could be said that person was the problem. But if every descendant was incapable, then the problem could only lie with Doug's upbringing.

Doug's other children wore varying expressions at Adam's arrival, while Matt's attitude was clear. Until the dinner ended, Matt never appeared.

Matt felt that his territory had been invaded. That old bastard actually dared bring someone into the estate so openly. Was the next step going to be announcing the revocation of Matt's inheritance rights, then driving him out of the estate?

When Matt heard that Adam and Doug had entered the study that afternoon, he instantly lost all reason. Without thinking of anything, he rushed over. Only after pushing open the door did he realize what he had done.

Facing Doug's rebuke, Matt did not even dare show his anger. Instead, he transferred all his resentment onto Adam, this guest. At that moment, Matt had instinctively begun viewing Adam as his rival.

Especially after learning that Doug had secretly arranged for someone to go to the Central Clock Tower, he became completely convinced of his suspicions.

"Is that old bastard already so impatient?" Matt raised a vase beside him, intending to smash it, but suddenly wondered whether the noise would be too loud and draw the old bastard's attention.

So he set the vase down again. Alone in his room, the more he thought about it, the more stifled he felt. Was the Rom Family really going to be taken by some commoner bastard?

"No, I have to act." With that thought, Matt pushed open the door and summoned his attendant.

Elsewhere, several people hurried toward the Central Clock Tower under cover of night. They quietly slipped inside and carefully searched the entire tower, looking for places where mechanisms might be hidden.

But after checking it several times from top to bottom, they found nothing concealed. As they were leaving, however, they discovered that one of them had vanished.

Silently, without a single sound, he was simply gone.

The others exchanged glances and hurriedly withdrew from the Clock Tower.

On the eleventh floor, Xilin held a spellbook in her hands. Her sky-blue eyes stared at the unconscious person on the ground, then she looked up toward the twelfth floor. Two invisible whips wrapped around that person and dragged him into the room.

After dinner, Doug disappeared for a while. When he reappeared, he invited Adam to the study for a conversation.

Adam understood that it was time to discuss serious matters, but he did not refuse.

"Master Adam has seen my children as well, hasn't he?" Doug seemed to have aged considerably. "None of my sons has amounted to anything. Among my daughters, there are one or two with some cleverness, but they have all married."

"Mr. Doug, if you have any request, please speak plainly. If there is anything Adam can help with, I will certainly help." Adam made promises that cost him nothing.

And Doug finally voiced his true request.

"Master Adam, since you study the profession of a spellcaster under Master Alva, I wonder if you know that Master Alva once achieved something astonishing."

"The Elixir of Immortality." Doug coughed as he spoke the thing he desired, and an unusual gleam seemed to rise in his eyes.

Yet Adam felt an indescribable malice shrouding him. That malice did not come from Doug, nor even from any person, but from the name Elixir of Immortality itself.

Adam's eyes widened in surprise at Doug's words, but inwardly, he understood everything.

Why had Alva, one of the Holy Sound Three Heroes, become a painter? Most churches believed that birth, aging, illness, and death were laws ordained by the gods, things that did not need changing and merely needed to be accepted.

Yet because of this, the churches had indeed been weakening. The rise of noble power was proof enough.

Thus, ambitious people had emerged within the churches, seeking to change this. But none of them had met a good end.

He had not expected Alva to be one of them.

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