Like a devil's advocate, Annan spent the morning making the Contestants honor their contracts with devils. His last stop was the mansion rented by Freya Holy Academy. The women had signed no contract, but they still paid the 1,400 gold coins without hesitation.
That left only the 10,000 gold coins from Habair Knights Academy.
Freya Holy Academy invited Annan to its banquet that evening, but he politely declined. He had something important to do today—good news had come from Siltovis.
Annan had brought honor to the academy, and the Dean had upheld his end of the bargain. He had asked Annan to return and choose his Fief.
People claimed mages were lazy. They had invented the Cleaning Spell to avoid bathing and washing clothes, summoned little sprites to avoid cooking, and invented the Sweeping Spell to avoid tidying their rooms. The mages' excuse was that magic changed lives. Why stand when you could lie down?
But when their own interests were at stake, no one worked harder. The Dean of Sol Magic Academy, for instance, had spent yesterday contacting old friends and local officials as soon as he received the news, all to settle the matter of Annan's Fief.
The Imperial Capital had a Portal maintained by the Department of Magic, but the Portal to Siltovis cost an outrageous ten Gold Narls.
Annan bought some Pastries for ten Silver Coins and went back on the pretext of visiting the Old Ancestor. Pretending to be curious, he asked about her past and praised how beautiful she had been in her youth.
Old people always missed the past. The Old Ancestor sighed. "Of all my descendants, Olin resembles me the most."
"You must be joking..."
Either the oil painting had flattered the Old Ancestor, or Olin Montreal wore a mask. Annan simply