thedancenovel Chapter 473: Higher Ups Scandal
Chapter 473: Higher Ups Scandal
Chapter 473: Higher Ups Scandal
As for why Ember City targeted young people under 30, it was because they were comparatively easier to talk to than the old monsters who had already seen how vast the world truly was.
These young people, who had yet to witness most of the world, could easily form friendly relations over the smallest gifts the city offered them. But experienced people would only talk about money—or more accurately, natural treasures. Where the younger ones would come to help simply because they had once received a small benefit from the city, the older generation would ask for at least a Low Blue-tier treasure for even the smallest favor.
In other words, the city was making investments in order to survive future disasters.
As the students calmly strode towards the accommodations, assistant professor Oliver gave a brief introduction of the prominent students who had arrived alongside him. By the end of the introductions, the official’s eyes were gleaming, and he immediately handed a large pouch of coins to Oliver.
Oliver opened the pouch and took out a bluish coin at least 6 to 7 centimetres in diameter. He pressed his nails against the coin to check its authenticity before the official spoke.
"That’s a gift of 50 Platinum coins from the City Lord; he is pleased to make your acquaintance."
Oliver nodded and stored the pouch inside his spatial ring.
"Tell the esteemed City Lord that if he requires further assistance, I am ready to talk more."
The official smiled in satisfaction and nodded, but he also knew that no amount of money could make Oliver open his mouth about crucial information—be it the students’ weaknesses, strengths, insider information... anything. The only information that could be bought was surface-level information that could already be uncovered with a bit of digging.
The professors lurking in the shadows allowed it because it served as a sort of extra side income generated from the tiring task of handling students. And since no critical information was being revealed, everything remained acceptable.
As a matter of fact, they needed to keep this path of information extraction open to outsiders because they could easily spread false information to misguide any group they wanted, all under the guise that they were obtaining trustworthy information from an insider.
"So the red-haired man--Lord Virex’s promising son--is 6th, the grey-haired one is 5th, and that black-haired one is 1st?" the official confirmed, and Oliver nodded.
The official’s eyes naturally landed on the other individual with bright red hair that looked even more stunning than that of some direct-line members of the Ember Family.
"That’s an elf? Is he here to sell her to the Ember Family for a high price? If that’s true, he really has a smart brain. He could actually sell her for double—no, triple—the price he bought her for. Not only will the men of the family drool at the sight of her, but her red hair promises the best among the best fire-affinity children born to her. And since the child will be half-elf, he or she will naturally possess higher innate mana and be free from the slave clause because the father is human!"
Though Oliver knew Leo would never sell her because Naelith was already at the cusp of Low 4-star and seemed highly loyal, he still entertained the official.
"What if it’s just the hair that’s red? She might not even have any fire affinity. Elves are known for their spiritual and nature alignment, so the red hair might just be a fluke."
The official shook his head.
"You don’t understand. Just the possibility of fire affinity is enough for the branch family heads to come running to claim her. Lord Ember recently passed an act that allows anyone from the branch family to join the main family and gain a chance at inheritance if their child possesses a high innate affinity for fire. Since that day, the branch families have been travelling from city to city in search of the most potent fire-affinity female candidates to become their sons’ concubines or even main wives."
Suddenly, Oliver’s eyes lit up.
"Doesn’t Lord Virex have a daughter with the Divine Flame Phoenix Physique that grants her extremely high fire-element affinity along with free, fire elemental control? Has the news not reached his ears? He could literally gain a chance to obtain some of his rival’s property if he marries her to the son of a branch family head."
"That girl with the extremely rare case? Apparently, Lord Ember and Lord Virex once had a discussion regarding that matter, but things went south, and an entire region outside the city walls was obliterated," the official said with a shrug, as though it were an everyday occurrence.
"I bet Lord Virex was demanding half of Lord Ember’s resources for withdrawing the complete rights to the child born from that girl and his son."
Both men laughed quietly, knowing that these old geezers could start fighting over even the slightest inconvenience.
"No, the problem wasn’t resources; it was the son Lord Ember was offering," the official said as he leaned closer to Oliver’s ear so nobody else could overhear them.
"Lord Ember was offering his 4th son as the marriage candidate. Apparently, he was trying to secure his son’s future by at least having a capable child with an influential and powerful woman. But Lord Virex wasn’t willing to accept that. He insisted it had to be either the 1st son or the youngest one with the highest potential so that the child born to the couple would be exceptionally talented."
"But after Lord Ember kept insisting that the couple was perfectly suited for each other, Lord Virex begrudgingly agreed to at least let them meet. However, on the very day of the meeting, when the two were left alone, the boy tried to assault the girl. He thought that once it happened, the marriage couldn’t be cancelled anyway—after all, no one would want a used girl—and his own future would be secured despite his lack of talent."
Oliver listened intently to the story, completely invested. It wasn’t every day that he got to hear scandals involving influential figures. The official continued in a hushed voice.
"And since the girl had yet to reach adulthood and was still weak, she was almost overpowered. But just before disaster struck, something miraculous happened. The girl’s physique activated, allowing her to resist the boy and escape to her father for refuge. After that, Lord Virex became so enraged that he slapped the 4th son, Nirvan Ember, half to death in a single strike. It was only because Lord Ember reduced the force of the attack that the boy survived at all."
"And you can already guess what happened after that. Lord Virex demanded compensation in the form of a high-level fire-based natural treasure for emotional damages, while Lord Ember refused, claiming the girl was lying and merely trying to frame his son after losing control of her physique and that he had already taken the compensation by harming his son. Blah blah blah... and in the end, we lost a mana-rich outdoor forest training ground."
The official finished his story, and by then, they had already arrived at the accommodations.