Chapter 16: Gaining the Power of Loyalty and the Wizard's Apprentice_1

Ivita made her way down to the first floor, only to find that the inn's ground level had been mostly torn apart, with just a few load-bearing walls standing rather desolately.

The innkeeper, the ruthless Rayli, glared at Ivita, seemingly regretting his earlier decision to let her and her party stay at the inn.

His property had been demolished now!

The adventurers who had been drinking here, seeing the disturbance subside, hastily crawled out of their hiding spots and, cursing under their breaths, took their bags and fled.

These adventurers, who tended to stir trouble wherever they went, were themselves outcasts in their hometowns, reduced to exploring and looting due to their inability to make a living.

These folks were incredibly cautious and good at avoiding danger.

Like, for instance, this place right now.

"Your Highness... you seem different." Black Wolf was in the process of tying up the Small Brotherhood of Trustworthiness' assassin to a pillar with a rope.

Given the likelihood that the assassin from the Small Brotherhood of Trustworthiness could shrink his bones, Black Wolf had cut the tendons on his hands and feet with a dagger to prevent him from escaping.

The assassin's mouth was stuffed with cloth, rendering him unable to speak, and much less to bite his own tongue in suicide.

Ivita looked at Black Wolf quizzically. "Oh? How am I different?"

"It's only been a few hours since we last saw each other."

"I don't think I've grown any taller."

Noticing that the twelve knight attendants on the ground floor had already been destroyed by the Dragon Flame, Ivita relaxed a bit.

It seemed that the vanguard of the Wild Boar Knights Group had been wiped out by her substitute.

"It's a change in your demeanor, you have become more confident. As you descended the stairs, you had the air of a king surveying his territory." All of a sudden, Black Wolf pulled out the giant sword on his back and struck at Ivita.

His speed was lightning fast.

In the blink of an eye, the sword was already close to Ivita's forehead.

Ivita reflexively raised her hand; using her thumb and index finger, she caught the large sword - it was stopped between her fingers and could advance no further.

Ivita was stunned for a second, but soon realized that Black Wolf was just testing her abilities.

What's surprising was, since when did she respond so quickly?

Black Wolf's face showed a slight change. With his left hand, he quickly pulled out a small crossbow from his chest, pulled the trigger and aimed it at Ivita's left eye.

If this arrow hit, Ivita would become a Cyclops.

"Black Wolf, I hope you understand that you're my subordinate. Even if it's a test, you need to seek my permission." Ivita raised her left hand, amazingly catching the short arrow shot at point-blank range in her palm.

The adventurers who had not yet left watched the scene and whispered amongst themselves.

"Who is that guy? He just caught a crossbow bolt fired directly at him with his bare hands! He's literally a monster."

"Don't you get it yet? Black Wolf and Hearthstone Witch are both monsters, so that youth must also be a monster. Let's get out of here quick!"

"Yes, if we stay here any longer, we'll have bad luck."

The remaining adventurers, after seeing this, all deemed this place too dangerous and ran for the door at full speed.

Black Wolf looked at Ivita admiringly. "Your Highness, congratulations on becoming a wizard's apprentice."

"I must say, I would find it hard to believe that you would choose the hardest career path of all - the path of the wizard."

"I have heard that Magic Power can strengthen the flesh. But the extent of your strengthening seems far beyond ordinary wizard apprentices. Merely in terms of physical strength, you can pretty much hold your own against the Hearthstone Grand Witch."

"Your late father, the true king of Alsace, would have been proud."

"Even without the support of your kingdom's resources, you have become a wizard's apprentice through your own efforts."

The Old Witch's body connected to her head that just came down the stairs. She looked at Ivita, feeling highly apprehensive inside.

'She is merely a wizard's apprentice, but the strengthening caused by her magic power has already reached the level of a great witch.'

'The quality of the magic power entwining around her is astonishingly high.'

'I don't know how much more her magic will be amplified and how it will change when she borrows the power of the six gods.'

'But all that will be known later.'

Ivita appeared somewhat surprised, "I thought that by becoming a wizard's apprentice, I would only be able to use magic."

"I didn't expect that my physical fitness would also be enhanced."

The Old Witch walked over and explained, "Your Majesty, as I have said earlier, even wizard apprentices with magic power alone can perform some feats beyond the abilities of normal people with their magic power."

"There are many uses for magic power. The reason a common farmer can't kill a newborn wizard apprentice with just a pitchfork, is because magic power enhances your perception, muscle strength, self-healing ability, magic resistance, and physical resistance."

"However, even so, the profession of a Knight still reigns supreme on the battlefield."

So even in such circumstances, is the knight still the most formidable profession for frontal combat?

Ivita thought that if this was the case, it indicated that the knight profession held superior capabilities in direct battlefield combat.

She couldn't belittle the profession just because she had killed a few knights by using substitutes.

After all, that substitute had appeared when she was in the most dangerous situation.

Who knew, next time, if the appearance of that substitute might have irreversible damage towards her.

Ivita ordered her companions, "You two deal with the bodies of the Wild Boar Knights Group, witch, you go and collect any useful materials from the corpses."

The innkeeper behind her, 'Heartless Rayli', suddenly spoke up in anger, "Madam, due to your actions, our tavern has suffered serious losses. A servant who has been with our family since my father's time also died because of this."

"I might even go bankrupt from this!"

"Don't your esteemed selves intend to compensate?"

"From the stature of your identities, it is beneath you to let such things occur!"

Ivita looked around at the destroyed ruins and felt somewhat guilty.

This innkeeper seems to have been severely impacted by their mishaps.

Black Wolf shrugged his shoulders at Heartless Rayli. "I sympathize with you, but we were only being hunted down. You should ask the money from the Wild Boar Knights Group."

The Old Witch snorted disdainfully, not treating it as a concern.

Heartless Rayli retorted angrily, "But I can only hold onto you guys for now."

"Factoring in the manual labor, material costs, and the historical value, my house is worth at least 40 gold pounds. I request that you compensate."

"And that's not even considering the other losses!"

The Old Witch scoffed, "Madam, I can deal with him."

"We won't owe a dead person money."

Heartless Rayli trembled with fear upon hearing these words.

Ivita squinted slightly, thinking that the innkeeper's attitude towards her was problematic.

She shook her head, "Hearthstone Witch, I am not one to kill my debtor. Heartless Rayli, consider it as if I owe you money."

"After all, it was because of us that you ended up in your current predicament."

"But for now, I don't have the money to repay you. But I believe I will eventually have enough to repay you."

"However, if you continue to invest in us, I believe my speed in returning the money would be much quicker."

Heartless Rayli blinked. "What do you mean?"

The Old Witch and Black Wolf were also dumbfounded.

What was she implying?

Ivita spread her hands, stating: "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the sole heir of the Alsace Kingdom, and those assassins are after me for this reason."

"Right now, I am preparing to restore the kingdom."

"We are currently in a vagabond stage, but if you invest all your remaining assets in us, once I become king, I will return to you 1.5 times the amount of your current investment and the returns that you rightfully deserve."

The Old Witch glanced at Ivita. She believed in the Demon God's ability to carry out this plan, so was the Demon God planning to overthrow a kingdom that had been inherited for thousands of years?

That sounded... quite stimulating.

She loved evil schemes.

On the other hand, Black Wolf was sweating. This was something anyone would disagree to.

A normal person would only think you're boasting and exaggerating, who would even lend you money!

"I agree." Heartless Rayli suddenly changed his face, from grim to grinning. "But I have one more request, this is a demand from the creditor to you."

"You can not refuse, otherwise I will demand immediate repayment."

"My request is that I want to pledge loyalty to you. You must hold a loyalty ceremony for me."

Black Wolf was dumbfounded, and even the Old Witch didn't expect that things would turn out this way.

Ivita looked at Heartless Rayli. Indeed, this cautious innkeeper dared to ask her for a debt because he wanted to make a non-monetary request to her.

However, she didn't expect that he would make such a request.