Chapter 560 – Months Later.

“Is there something on my face?”

“No…”

“You sure? You’ve been staring for a while.”

“Just taking in the view.”

“I didn’t know you were such a flirt, Mr. Wayland.”

“Only with you, Mrs. Wayland.”

Elodia laughed softly as she sat up in bed. Roland watched her, though his eyes flicked to the system message lingering in the corner of his vision. He’d tried before, but it seemed impossible to grant someone vassal status without a battle class. It was just another rule of this world he’d have to accept.

“Oh… look at the time!”

Just as their lips were about to meet, Elodia pulled away, her eyes darting to the clock.

“There should be some leftovers from yesterday. Just heat them up… I have to go. We’re having our first extracurricular activity today!”

“Oh, that was today?”

“Mhm.”

Roland felt a flicker of disappointment, but when he saw the excitement on his wife’s face, he held back any complaint. Instead, he got ready to tackle the day himself. A lot had happened recently, and the formation of the school for children was just one part of it.

As Elodia stepped outside, two guards approached her. A carriage waited nearby to take her back to the city, along with the orphans who were still living at the estate. The scene reminded Roland of his past life, as he also rode the bus to get to school on time, always rushing to avoid being late.

“Things have been going smoothly lately”

With the house now empty, he decided to check on what was happening in the city. Nearly a year had passed since he rescued his brother and Lucille, his brother’s wife. It had taken a few months for them to settle in, but now both served as respected knight commanders in the Valerian army.

“I’ll just grab a few sandwiches, should be enough for now…”

After grabbing some food from his version of a refrigerator, Roland headed down into his workshop. Rows of screens lit up to greet him, the sterile overhead lighting reminding him of the kind of office spaces people spent their lives trapped in. As he munched on his breakfast, his eyes scanned the screens, monitoring the movements of his allies.

Durendal had become one of the leading knight commanders in Arthur’s army. Robert now acted as his right-hand man, handling most of the logistics and responsibilities that came with the role. With them managing the military side of things, Roland had been free to focus on leveling his own skills, though progress had slowed lately.

While he’d managed to keep leveling, the pace had dropped off sharply. The main issue: a lack of proper monsters to hunt. Combat-based advancement was becoming inefficient, forcing him to lean more on the craftsman side of his class. Thankfully, the elemental armors had given him a significant boost. But assembling the resources and finding the time to craft them had taken months.

“Should I take a trip to the super dungeon once all of this is over?”

Roland leaned back in his chair, finishing the last bite of his sandwich. He knew he was much stronger than the average adventurer. With his current strength, he could hunt monsters well above his level, making it relatively easy to progress. The only thing holding him back was the weight of his responsibilities in Albrook, along with the need to wait for the upcoming culling event. Once that was out of the way, he would finally be free to focus on his growth again.

However, venturing into the super dungeon was a different matter entirely. It was dangerous. From what he could gather, most of the creatures inside were tier-3, and there were even reports of tier-4 monsters lurking deeper. The main boss was said to be a tier-5 creature. At least, that was the rumor. Hard evidence was scarce since few ever dared to approach the creature’s territory. Most adventurers kept their distance, afraid it might awaken and attack without warning.

The dragon was unique, a slumbering beast said to rest in the heart of a volcano. Challenging it without permission from the Duke’s house was forbidden. Doing so would bring condemnation from the entire island. Roland was far from being ready to face something of that scale. He had not even reached the level of a tier-4 class holder.

At his current pace, it would take him over ten years, perhaps even longer. He did not fool himself into believing he would reach tier-4 as quickly as he had reached tier-3. Still, this was his goal. He was well aware that powerful threats still existed, and any one of them could endanger him or the people he cared about.

Only a handful ever reached that level. Tier-4 class holders were considered the elite of the elite. Each country or empire treated them as living weapons, valuable enough to change the course of wars. Tier-5 class holders were rarer still. They remained within their own territories, acting as symbols of power and deterrence. They rarely moved unless another of equal strength appeared. When they did, legends were born, and the world around them was forever changed.

“The training is going well, and thanks to all the mana fluid, we were able to pay off the debt much sooner than expected.”

The loan Arthur had been so concerned about was quickly paid off after they discovered the long, winding tunnels filled with mana. Using their specialized filters, they could liquidate the mana. Besides powering their golems, it could be sold for a considerable profit. Coupled with the resources they were gaining from monster farming through the runic turrets, they had cleared the debt a few weeks ago and were now beginning to turn a profit. If this continued, they would catch up to Arthur’s brother in no time.

Roland’s gaze swept across the training grounds, where several golems moved in perfect formation. Lucille led the group, but she couldn’t control them all at once. To solve this, they had implemented a command unit within their forces. Only those units were directly under her control, and they relayed orders to the lesser-intelligent golems. Her runic magic had grown stronger after numerous upgrades to her gear, equipment she had a hand in assembling.

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“I wonder how Lucienne is doing…”

Seeing Lucille always reminded him of his younger sister. He still visited the institute every week, sometimes even conducting lessons in the nearby dungeon. This time, at least, no one was trying to kill him. But his sister never returned. Their father had apparently decided it was too dangerous for her to continue studying there.