Chapter 16: Celebrating with Underlings

“Is it that power ful?” Old Xie was taken aback. He knew the Old Mage’s skills. If he could only reach the ninth floor, then I’m afraid it’s questionable whether the current Old Xie could reach the fifth floor!

“Of course it’s true!” Lilith laughed immediately.

“Is that so?” Old Xie decided not to discuss this issue anymore and turned to say: “Then tell me about the surrounding situation!”

“Okay, Young Master!” Lilith then began to explain to Old Xie.

It turned out that the Mage Tower Old Xie was in was located on the top of a mountain. Outside the Mage Tower was a ring-shaped Noble Castle. This castle, named after the Stephen family, occupied an area of several li. It was built tall and majestic, magnificent and splendid, combining practicality and ornamental value. It enclosed the entire mountain top, strictly protecting the Mage Tower.

But what puzzled Old Xie was that there were not many people in this castle which could accommodate ten thousand people. To be precise, only the Old Mage and Old Xie existed there. The entire castle was empty, with only some Puppets responsible for cleaning work. As for why, Lilith’s answer was that the Old Mage liked quietness when doing experiments, so he didn’t like others living there. In fact, this had almost become a tradition of the Stephen family. Unless special circumstances were encountered, this castle had almost never been inhabited for hundreds of years.

As for outside the castle, it was the location of the highest institution of the Griffin Kingdom, the Noble Academy. The entire Noble Academy occupied half of the mountain. The front of this mountain was entirely the place of the Noble Academy, about several tens of li in size.

The Noble Academy was divided into three branches. The top layer was the Magic Academy, which had almost all the Magic Apprentices in the country. Even so, the number of people was pitifully small. Counting the Teachers, there were only a few thousand people.

The middle layer was the Noble Etiquette Academy. The few thousand people studying here were all the dregs of the Noble children. They had neither Magic talent nor Warrior talent, so they could only study painting, etiquette, arithmetic, and other subjects here, so that they would have a way out when they grew up.

As for the bottom layer, it was the Fighter Academy with nearly ten thousand people. This place specially taught various combat skills. Whether they were large or small Nobles, or some commoner children, as long as you had the talent to become a Warrior, you could receive training here.

Due to the constant wars in the Continent, every country attached great importance to the development of high-end combat power. That was why this Academy existed. And Mages and Warriors with Battle Qi were undoubtedly the highest-end power. Although their numbers were small, the combat power they burst out was definitely not something ordinary people could overwhelm with a sea of people tactic.

Therefore, the Griffin Kingdom stipulated that no matter who it was, even if it was a slave’s child, as long as they had Magic talent, the whole family could be freed from slave status immediately, and they would be sent to the Magic Academy for free training. Once they became the lowest level Mage, they could be granted the title of Noble.

Those with Warrior talent were a bit more pitiful. They themselves could change their status, but they could not benefit their families. But in any case, the implementation of this measure made a large number of outstanding talents enter these two Academies for training every year. The Empire indeed gave these talents the best treatment. Not to mention anything else, just among the Empire’s current five Magic Saints and four Sword Saints, half of them came from commoners. It was precisely this kind of measure to promote talents without sticking to one pattern that made the Griffin Kingdom stand out from many competitors and eventually become one of the overlords of the Human Race world.

In addition, Old Xie also learned that this Academy was in the suburbs, but it was not far from the capital Griffin City, only about ten li away. Many Noble children could go home on holidays. And the Stephen family obviously also had a huge mansion in the capital.

After listening to these introductions, Old Xie pondered for a while, and then said to Lilith: “Okay, that’s it for today. Help me get some wine and meat to send down below. I’m afraid if I don’t show up, there will be a riot down there!”

“Riot?” Lilith immediately asked puzzledly: “I’m sorry, Young Master, I don’t quite understand what you mean.” Obviously, she still didn’t know what had happened below.

Old Xie naturally couldn’t be bothered to explain to her, and directly said vaguely: “You just need to send a large amount of wine and meat. Ah, by the way, there should be enough wine and meat here, right?” He was worried that there were few people here and they might not have prepared any.

However, Lilith immediately said: “No problem, here we have long-term preparation of a large amount of food, enough for thousands of people to use for a long time. I will help you prepare it immediately!”

“Okay!” Old Xie nodded, then stood up and said: “I’m going down first, you go prepare too!” After saying that, he left.

“Yes, Young Master!” Lilith hurriedly agreed.

…

Returning to the basement where he had lived for more than ten years, Old Xie immediately saw the Underlings still queuing up. He smiled slightly, then waved his hand and said: “Okay, everyone be at ease. Those who should sit, sit; those who should lie down, lie down. No need to be so restrained!”

Hearing this, the group of Underlings gradually dispersed, but they did not go far. Instead, they all looked at Old Xie with expectant eyes.

Among them, the leader of the Imps, Kaz, walked over and asked Old Xie respectfully: “Master, did you gain anything this time?”

Old Xie naturally knew what they were worried about. He smiled slightly and said: “Of course there is a gain. I have beaten the old guy into submission. He promised to give me freedom!”

“Roar~” A group of Underlings roared excitedly after hearing this. The excitement from the bottom of their hearts was as if they were the ones who were free, which really moved Old Xie.

Old Xie waved his hand to stop their howling, and then said with a faint smile: “Don’t worry, my freedom means your freedom. Now I have negotiated with the old guy, I will find a world that belongs completely to you! Let you live freely, and never have to worry about being persecuted by others again!”

“Roar~” This time, those Underlings shouted even more loudly. Those Imps even cried excitedly. Old Xie understood their feelings and didn’t stop them, letting them vent their emotions.

After a long time, these guys gradually quieted down. Just then, Lilith sent some servant Puppets to deliver a large amount of wine and meat. So Old Xie called everyone to eat and drink together. Whether it was Savage Bulls, Wyverns, or even Demon Explosive Spiders, they were all very interested in the cooked meat made by humans. What surprised Old Xie the most was that they all unexpectedly liked that kind of sweet drink, red wine.

Watching them drink the red wine by the barrel, Old Xie felt like crying and laughing at the same time. However, Old Xie did not stop them. It was just some wine. Although Old Xie knew that this wine must be very valuable, he was always extremely generous to his own Underlings. So not only did he not stop them, but he also asked Lilith to get more, making sure they drank to their heart’s content. Under these circumstances, this large group of Underlings eventually almost all got drunk. Only Old Xie and a dozen Imps who didn’t like alcohol were still sober. Even the Demon Explosive Spiders were lying on the ground sleeping soundly.

The next day, after the Old Mage woke up and got the list from Lilith, he was so angry that he jumped up from the bed. Without even changing his pajamas, he directly called Old Xie to his face and cursed: “You spendthrift, you actually used my wine to feed Magical Beasts? Damn it, you drank thirty barrels of good wine in one night. Do you know how much this is worth?”

“You miser, isn’t it just a few buckets of cat piss? With your stingy look, I know you’ll definitely be poor for the rest of your life!” Old Xie said with extreme disdain.

“You brat!” The Old Mage was almost driven mad by Old Xie’s anger. If he didn’t need something from him, he would have probably attacked with Lightning long ago. Finally suppressing his anger, the Old Mage roared: “From now on, your pocket money is gone. Don’t even think about it until you compensate me for my wine!”

“Che!” Old Xie sneered directly and said: “I’ve grown up so big, I’ve never seen a dime you gave me!”

“You~” The Old Mage then remembered that he had locked up Old Xie for more than ten years, so how could he have given him a single copper coin?