Why Did You Summon Me?

Aldhelm sounded like a powerful, heavenly relic used by a god, but in reality, it was not a Divine Regalia, neither was it the lost possession of a hero. It was actually a weapon that was mass-produced, like the ‘Switch Blades’ or the ‘Lances of Claw’, despite sounding more mouthful and dramatic than “swords” and “lances”.

This was why no weapon or history experts worth a dime would ever make such a ridiculous distinction as “the real Aldhelm” and “counterfeit Aldhelms”. If a staff bore a pointy tip fashioned from a large Cobalt Crystal, a body made from the alloy, Agarthium Steel, which is known for its high endurance, and possessed a sort of functionality-swapping gimmick that allowed the staff to change into something akin to a nunchaku or a flail, then it would automatically be classified as an Aldhelm.

An Aldhelm was notably ill-suited for those who wanted to focus on maximizing their magical output simply because Cobalt Crystal was an unremarkable crystal for mana utilization, with its only merit being its durability. The main magical effect Cobalt Crystal could provide would magical buffs that changed depending on the runes carved onto the body of the Aldhelm, which were further personalized by the wielder. Some Aldhelms allowed its users to Silence their enemies’ magic and protect themselves from the latter’s passively-activated spells; Some may receive the ability to perform restorative blessings faster; Some may be able to fire out concentrated, deadly rays from the tip of their Aldhelms which could then boomerang back to themselves. There was no limit to the range of possible powers an Aldhelm may possess.

That was what made an Aldhelm special among other classes of weapons. It was a highly-individualized weapon in both designs and functionalities. Still, that was not the most important reason why it had such a particular charm among nobles despite having no business of using one in their lives. It became one of the most sought-after collections since the cost of its raw materials and the demand for the artisan’s skills were high, this strange weapon was made in scarce quantities despite the popularity of sorcery in Isythre. In fact, by this point, the knowledge of making one had basically become lost to all but the Voidwalkers and the current heir to the Harriott family.

The knowledge of forging an Aldhelm had become lost in the sands of time because its optimum users, the War Druids, had become extinct. To a normative sorcerer, the magical potency of an Aldhelm was actually subpar compared to its cheaper and lighter normative alternatives, so when the War Druids faded out of history, they took the demand for Aldhelms — and the art of creating one — with them. This, in turn, made all surviving Aldhelms incredibly rare and worthy collections.

Technically, the Aldhelm in Baiyi’s hand was the first, new one to be made since the last time they were ever found in the market. It was only made possible because the Sorcerer Walker — founded and leader of the Molocchian War Druids — had shared his knowledge of this strange weapon to the Blacksmith that one time, whom then passed it to Jason Harriott. Then, through dedication typically unfound in most sponsored students, this young man devoted his skills, efforts and time to forge an Aldhelm after the historical ones.

This was what pleased Baiyi the most. Even if the noble’s gift did not include that little loli as a bonus. This Aldhelm was still the first revival of long-lost weaponry that also happened to match Baiyi’s combat style. On top of that, it was the fruit of his alumnus’ labor!

The classic elites knew about the Aldhelms and their true history enough to not entertain the false ideas that there could only be “one” historical Aldhelm while the rest were cheap imitations and forgeries. The nouveau riches, however, had only managed to become as rich as these classic elites since capitalizing on the very recent Duat Invasion, which meant that they had never come across these expensive artifacts before, let alone knew about their true history.

After listening to Baiyi’s primer on what an Aldhelm was, those who had so loudly mocked and teased the House of Staffs became visibly flustered, their faces turning scarlet while their heads hung. The noble who presented it, however, was puffing his chest up and beaming in pride.

“If it was possible, I would like to purchase another one,” Baiyi announced. He had decided to gift this one to the Sorcerer while he himself got another one for himself. He had decided that his Saint Quartz Staff might as well as be considered taken by the Lich (who had even turned the whole thing green), while the other two weapons he owned — the Book of Servitude and the War God’s Sword — were too over-the-top for daily expeditions or requirements.

“How much would one be?” He asked.

“Our esteemed Grand Principal Hope, surely you must know that we do not plan to sell Aldhelms. Its cost is disproportionately high and the duration of forging one is too extensive to be available commercially. What we planned to do, however, was to use it as a proof of our friendship and fealty,” The noble answered loudly. “If an Aldhelm could fortify our relationship so, I’ll personally present to you the other Aldhelm we have previously made, by tomorrow!”

Did this fella just admit to siding with me even after knowing who we’re up against? Baiyi thought. He had little doubts that their swift decision to swear allegiance with Baiyi was largely motivated by how impressed they were with Da Xue’s reformative education to their child. It must have convinced them that an institution that could inspire a person’s true potential and cultivate would be a most superior asset, and so they rather secured a human resource-pumping factory such as Da Xue for themselves than allied with an organization whose direct benefits were more nebulous.

Admittedly, Baiyi would not mind fostering a relationship with a noble as smart as one who followed that line of reasoning, so he replied rather invitingly, “Let us talk about this after this was over.”

The noble nodded, beckoning one of his servants to approach him before whispering something into her ears. She nodded hurriedly and strode away, leaving the noble and the little loli to take a seat in the back while waiting for the auction to end.

The auction continued with the offering for the third till the fifth spot being relatively mundane—no share or long-term profit, no legendary regalia, nor any work of long-lost weaponry. Most of them came to barter with raw materials as they were wont to do every year, with the only change being how much more expensive and recherche these offerings had become even by rare materials’ standards. A few of them even offered such rarities such as Pagan God’s Heart and Angelic Feathers!

Not only were these considered incredibly exotic because they existed in minimal quantities, but also because they could only come from a single source. One could only obtain a Pagan God’s Heart from the Templar Fort at the south where the Church’s armies regularly clashed swords with the demonic forces spawned from the Abyss; On the other hand, only the Church could ever produce Angelic Feathers, which was then used exclusively to earn support with nobles whom they found valuable enough to connect with. To see that what were essentially proofs of support between the Church and the nobles now be used to foot the academy fees for said nobles’ children, without any sense of dissonance—

‘How low can these nobles sink? Their view of the importance of allegiance can’t possibly this unimportant, can it?’ Baiyi remarked quietly.

There was not much to talk about throughout the auction all the way to the tenth seat; All of them had been exchanged for all sorts of rare materials which Baiyi gleefully stuffed into his national-GDP-rivaling personal hoard. Soon, there were only five seats left to compete, which galvanized the competition as the rest of the nobles started pulling out their trump cards.

Take the eleventh seat for example. One of the latest boorish addition to the richest families in the Empire was a noble who managed a gigantic human-trafficking empire. For his bid, he had offered a pair of nose-bleedingly bodacious twin sisters!

The girls spotted such devilishly voluptuous bodies that they were like succubae donning human skins, easily riling up any heteronormative man’s innate desire to procreate; That was despite the fact that in addition to their lust-inviting bodies, they also bore heartbreakingly beautiful faces which embodied so much blissful naïveté that one suspected they were heavenly maidens who had been locked out of mortal soils and defilement for their whole lives.

This was the sort of combo that would trap any normal man since it played both their lust for the unrestrained and desire to initiate the innocent. If this pair of twins were to be presented in any other auctions, there was little doubt that their final bidding price would be astronomical.

However, Baiyi was not exactly a “normal man” after all, since he rejected the twin without much thought. In fact, immediately afterward, he leered disapprovingly at the Southern Duke whom he was sure was an enabler.

The Duke shrugged in feigned innocence and made some signs with his hands which seemed to say, You’re still a bachelor, aren’t you? What’s wrong with gifting you a pair of hot bodies to keep you warm in bed, huh? I mean, are you seeing what I’m seeing?!

Of course, the Duke would not tell Baiyi that the real reason why this human trafficker even made it here was that the latter had also bribed him with a pair of sisters who were similarly alluring.

Baiyi found himself at loss of words. Seriously, when had he ever lament the need for the company of beautiful women? He had the rotating company of the three Huffing Piggies, the little dragon lady was still waiting for him, and here it was, his so-called fiancée, Little Miss Undine Dole, shooting daggers with her eyes at the twin. this one would move any conversation between themselves to their “marriage” no matter how unrelated the former was with their topics! Not only that, Baiyi had even received quite a number of love letters too; Even though most of them came from male students while his female admirers were a lot less than the most popular male teachers’, one still had to admit that in summary, Principal Bai never runs out of female companions!

Baiyi’s refusal had put the Southern Duke into an awkward position, causing the latter to begrudgingly return his twin too, even though he had not gotten the time to play with them enough.

Not that the Duke ever got a hand in controlling Baiyi’s decision.

Surprisingly, that human trafficker did not retreat after Baiyi’s blatant refusal. In fact, he flashed the Fifth Walker a dissonantly confident smile before giving two claps of his hand.

Two of his servants marched out from the crowd flanking a veiled woman dressed in elegance noble gown. She was dressing as if she was the human trafficker’s partner for the night, and even with a relatively conservative black dress, it was plain that her body was even more superior than the already-inhumanely-seductive twin succubus’.

The woman slowly took off her veil and revealed a face of breathtaking beauty. However, her beauty was hardly the reason why Baiyi and Vidomina’s mouths were hanging agape.

It was Harllotte, Vidomina’s hot mother!

“I met Lady Harllotte on a chance one day and decided to pledge my assistance and support to prevent her capture from the Church,” The human trafficker explained with an edge of pride in his voice. “I heard that Grand Principal Hope and Vice-Principal Vidomina were looking for her, so I’d intended to return her to you. However, spies from the Church were operating everywhere, and so the only chance I had was today, in this private party.”

It was a sly ploy, plain and simple. The human trafficker knew — from the expression Baiyi and Vidomina wore — that they could not possibly refuse his gift. His plan was succeeding.

The ex-Duchess of the North was just as ethereally beautiful and young as she was ten years ago, almost as if time itself could not bear to inflict its scars on her. Since unveiling herself, she had been staring at Vidomina, who was standing across the hall, with a look of morose longingness.

Just as the two women’s eyes were welling with tears, their hearts were welling with a tide of emotions…

Baiyi let out a sigh of relief and raised the placard. He fixed the human trafficker a good look and asked, “You didn’t do anything to her, did you?”

“Heavens, no! Of course not! Lady Harllotte is a powerful Legendary-level fighter in her own right! How could an average Joe such as me even be able to touch her? I swear, I’ve been treating her with no less respect than the most esteemed of my guests,” he clarified hurriedly.

Hearing that, Harllotte nodded in affirmation and bowed slightly to the man. “I’m grateful for the help you’ve given me during my most trying times.”

“Oh, it’s my pleasure to be able to of service for such a beauty,” He replied with the most chivalrous tone he could summon.

In the end, Baiyi had to hand the placard to that human trafficker for this unexpected gift, although he did wonder about the man’s intention for sending his kin into Da Xue. It was not like there was any course on “the art of trafficking human” or “training women for a special line of works”, anyway!

As the human trafficker left the party with a bright, delighted smile, Baiyi turned to Vidomina and said curtly, “Go.”

She nodded and rubbed her eyes. Nervously and unsure what to do, she approached Harllotte and stood a few feet away from her. The poor girl could still feel her old agony of being abandoned by her own mother all those years ago, yet since she understood her mother’s position and experience, she was also just as unable to bring herself to admonish her mother…

Harllotte understood what was going on in her daughter’s mind. She moved closer to Vidomina and extended her hand uneasily as if trying to gauge her daughter’s reaction. Seeing that Vidomina did not reject her gesture, she moved forward in a bold stride and grabbed her daughter by her hand.

Then, the two turned their backs to the hall and walked away.

Baiyi was silent. This entire affair was ultimately an internal one between them, but he was still relieved that at least one of his wishes had ticked. To be honest, it would be tragic for Vidomina to have only a set of cold, fleshless armor like himself as her sole parental support, so it was great that she now also had her mother with her.

Unfortunately, this meant that the human trafficker had it easy…

After that small yet unexpected incident, the rest of the auction continued without much event. As usual, Baiyi earned a lot for himself, while Little Mia herself got a diamond-studded necklace as a gift from a renowned jewelry-maker. Since then, Mia had not torn her eyes away from that exquisite necklace.

In general, most of the seats were taken up by the classic elites, while only seven nouveau riches took the rest. Everything had gone exactly as Baiyi had expected, other than the human trafficker’s success, of course.

The only agenda left for the night would be a talk on the investment for the Engineer’s project, which did not require Little Mia’s presence at all. Hence, Baiyi told the girl to return to her quarter for an early rest.

She nodded absent-mindedly, her eyes completely glued to the necklace she was fidgeting with.

“I think it’s beautiful too,” Baiyi remarked, ruffling her hair. “You’ll certainly steal the spotlight if you wear it… Ah! Maybe you should save this up until you’re about to get married!”

“What, I’m only allowed to wear this only then!? ” Mia raised her head and grumbled unhappily before staring at him with a pair of puppy-dog eyes. If she could only wear it for her wedding, then it was as if she could never wear it in her entire life!

“Uh-hem, why the pessimism? I mean, you can wear it anytime you like! … Okay, that depen —er, I mean, it depends on you !” Baiyi stammered awkwardly. “You know what? You should go home and take some rest. I still have some important business to deal with.”

“Okay, Mister Hope! Goodnight,” She replied jovially. Standing on her feet (despite already wearing heels), she extended her arms towards him as if asking for a hug. Obediently, Baiyi bent down and per their family tradition, he hugged her while rubbing his cheeks on hers.

Satisfied, the girl returned to her own quarter, wisely leaving Vidomina alone with her mother.

Baiyi stood straight up and strode to the lounge nearby. There, a few nobles were already waiting for him.