Chapter 425 - By “My Friend,“ I Mean Me
Chapter 425
By “My Friend,“ I Mean Me
The girl who appeared to be a Saint Samurai stood up too.
“Brother Roland, this is Dinah. She’s the person who gave the mission to me.” Betta seemed a lot maturer than before. “Dinah, this is Roland, my good friend.”
“Nice to meet you.” The girl named Dinah slightly nodded at Roland. “Mr. Schuck mentioned you before. He said that you’re one of his best friends.”
“You are indeed a Saint Samurai.” Roland smiled.
It seemed that his intuition was right.
The girl nodded. “I’m also the worst of all the Saint Samurai.”
While speaking gently, she asked Roland to sit down.
She then continued, “I’m not even close to the real geniuses like Mr. Schuck.”
Roland felt that Dinah was only being modest. He didn’t think that they could be so different when they were both Saint Samurai.
But in fact… Dinah was telling the truth.
Among the Saint Samurai, the gaps between them might be greater than that between a pond and an ocean even though they were the same level.
It was well-acknowledged that Schuck was the most talented Saint Samurai.
In comparison, Dinah was the least talented. But it didn’t really matter. In most cases, Saint Samurai was a lifelong job as long as they didn’t violate the doctrines, however weak they were or how little progress they made.
Only the Goddess of Light had the right to deprive them of their title as Saint Samurai.
Pouring a cup of fruit wine for Roland, Betta said, “Brother Roland, you’re the fastest. It probably will take days before the rest of them come.”
Roland nodded his head. “Teleportation is always the fastest. That’s normal. But what exactly is your mission?”
Betta subconsciously looked around, as if he feared that anyone might be eavesdropping.
Dinah said with a smile, “Don’t worry. I won’t give this mission to them even if anybody else learns it.”
The girl stared at Betta with bright eyes when she talked.
Roland sipped the fruit wine and secretly nodded after he looked at Dinah and Betta.
However, Betta did not seem to understand the girl’s bright eyes. Instead of looking back at Dinah, he said to Roland, “Ms. Dinah hopes that we can fetch some water from the Well of Light in a desolate place. Her reward is a title of viscount under the Hibiscus family, and a rather broad land as my fief.”
Roland was briefly stunned. “You will become a noble with real power and land?”
Betta nodded.
Roland looked at Dinah in disbelief. He was rather amazed by the rewards that the girl promised.
A real noble and half-nobles differed in that the real nobles had their fiefs and their family properties.
Though Betta had always been a noble, it was nothing more than a title. He had some privileges, but he couldn’t really step into the class of nobles.
The situation would be completely different if he had a fief.
There was only limited land in a country. If some people had more, other people would have less.
Therefore, land was of critical importance to nobles, who would rather die before giving their properties away.
Did the girl have the right to offer such a large area of land?
What would her family say about it?
Seeing the confusion on Roland’s face, Dinah explained, “That part of land is mine in the first place. Also… it’s barely habitable. Betta has to reconstruct it thoroughly after he takes it.”
Thinking for a moment, Roland asked, “With all due respect, is that land full of woods?”
But woods wouldn’t really matter. They could always tear the trees down and build houses there.
“It’s a swamp,” Dinah said rather awkwardly. “It’s supposed to be my dowry. It’s a gift from the leader of my clan who felt sorry for me and is of little actual significance. Nobody will say anything even if I give it away.”
That explained a lot… So, women were discriminated against in this world too.
But Roland had other plans in mind. He asked again, “How big is that swamp?”
“More than 4,000 square kilometers!” replied Dinah casually.
It was not small at all. It was almost the size of half a modern metropolis.
Roland looked at Betta. “What do you think?”
“I’ll take it,” Betta said casually. “As a Divine Noble, I have a class quest which demands that I have my own fief. The larger, the better.”
“Okay.” Roland stood up. “It’s settled then. I’ll go to the Association of Mages and read some books. Inform me when the rest of the gang gets here.”
“Then will you stay here tonight?” Betta asked as he stood. “This manor is very large. It can accommodate a few more people. Dinah said that we could all sleep here.”
While walking away, Roland waved his hand. “That’s unnecessary. I don’t want to be a hindrance.”
Betta was too young to understand what Roland meant.
Dinah, on the other hand, blushed.
Roland left the manor. However, he didn’t go to the Association of Mages but to the city wall.
Antis was still supervising the city guards as they charged taxes and maintained the order of the city.
Roland walked to him and said with a smile, “You seem rather bored.”
Turning his pretty face around, Antis seemed rather impatient. “Why are you here again?”
“To ask you about something.”
“You come to me when you need me and throw me aside when you don’t. Am I even a friend to you?”
“Okay.” Roland waved at him. “I’ll buy you a drink.”
“That’s so insincere!”
That being said, Antis still came with him.
They sat down in the most luxurious tavern in the capital, surrounded by four beautiful waitresses who were in their service.
Roland ordered some random wine and food. After they were served, he sipped the wine and asked, “Do you know Dinah Hibiscus?”
“Hibiscus? Dinah?” Antis frowned. “Seriously? You’re laying your hand on a Saint Samurai after you just lured the queen away? Do you love defiling the noble and the sacred?”
Roland happened to be drinking the wine. He choked at what Antis said and coughed so hard that the wine splashed out from his nose.
His face turned red as he tried to catch his breath.
After coughing for a long time, Roland finally came back to himself and said, “I’m not interested in her.”
“Then why are you asking about her?” Antis held the silver wine cup to his red lips with his jade-like hands and took a sip, before he continued, “Dinah is a Saint Samurai. She’s much trickier than the queen. Don’t do anything to her.”
“No, one of my friends knows her and is very close to her. He’s living in her manor.”
Antis chuckled. “I’ve seen too many people making up a friend. By ‘my friend,’ you mean yourself, right?”
“He’s really my friend. His name is Betta. I wonder if you know him.”
“Betta, the Homeless Noble?”
Holding his tiny, fair chin, Antis finally seemed interested.
“He’s known as the Homeless Noble? That’s rather a fancy nickname.”
“He’s rather famous.” Antis continued, “Although we can’t figure out which family he’s from, nobody suspects that his noble identity is fake. It seems that a divine power almost introduces his identity to the people who know him.”
It was probably the feature of the Divine Noble as a class.
“Tell me more about this Dinah.”
Antis turned his head and looked at him. “You’re not really interested in her?”
“I am interested in her, but not in the way you think. I’m only vetting her for my friend in case he’s being tricked.”
Antis shook his head. “The Saint Samurai never lie.”
Roland nodded.
He knew that the Saint Samurai never lied, but Dinah might not be a Saint Samurai though she seemed to be.
She might have talked about Schuck, but so what? Roland could tell that Betta was very familiar with her, and she could’ve learned a lot about Schuck from him.
Roland didn’t really trust her yet.
After all, the reward that Dinah offered was too unbelievable.
She promised the title of a noble with real power and a massive fief.
Even if the fief was a swamp, so what? That was still a territory.
If it was really worthless, the Hibiscuses would’ve given it away long before Betta showed up.
“The leader of the Hibiscuses is a marquis. Like my family, they’re also relatives of the royal family,” Antis said with a smile. “Dinah became a Saint Samurai at six. She has spent most of her time in the Holy Realm since then and barely came back, so I don’t know her too well.”
“Then tell me what you do know about her.”
Antis heaved a helpless sigh. “Do I owe you anything? As the most distinguished person in the younger generation of the Hibiscus family, she was very loved by the leader of her family, who gave her a swamp land even though she was a woman as her future dowry.”
Roland thought a moment and said, “But female Saint Samurai are rarely married.”
“Rarely, but not never,” Antis said. “Dinah has a lot of pursuers in the capital. After all, whoever marries her will become a viscount with real power and a fief. It is a swamp, but it’s still a piece of land, isn’t it?”
It seemed that Dinah wasn’t lying.
Roland asked again, “Then, have the Hibiscuses been in any trouble recently?”
“Sort of.” Antis thought a moment and said, “You know that the fight for the throne will begin soon. Unlike our family who do not need to take a side, the Hibiscuses have to. Dinah returned from the Holy Realm exactly to support her family, but to be honest, her power and abilities aren’t impressive.”
“Why not? A Saint Samurai is as influential as any prince or princess.”
“There are too many princes and princesses who only have a title without any real power.” Antis shrugged. “She’s as strong right now as she was when she was six. How much influence do you think she has in the Holy Realm? And how many people will respect her here in the capital?”
Dinah had never made any progress since childhood. So, the people in the Holy Realm never regarded her as a real Saint Samurai.
Roland was dazed. “But you just said that she is the most distinguished person in the younger generation of the Hibiscuses.”
“She is,” Antis said matter-of-factly. “Because the other young people in the Hibiscus family are even worse than her. If things go unchanged, the Hibiscuses will disappear from the capital in twenty years.”