Henrietta says "Ash, I was getting worried! Did something happen?"

"Yes, I was attacked after I left the auction house. Luckily, they somehow disabled the observation magic, so I was able to deal with them. I was not injured."

Henrietta says "Disabled the observation? Only mages of high council rank or higher can do that! Just who did you piss off?"

Seraph says "You were actually attacked within the city?! I will file a complaint on behalf of my kingdom!"

"I am not sure who I pissed off, they only sent some minions after me. Seraph, you can't do that or you will draw my enemies to you."

Henrietta says "What happened to the people who attacked you?"

"They are all dead."

Henrietta says "Did you just leave the bodies? If so, there is a problem!"

"Yes I left them, but don't worry. The guard's time magic won't work!"

Seraph says "How did you manage that?!"

"The time spell works by reading the recent history from the mana in an area. Before I left I removed the mana from the area. The spell won't work at all."

Seraph says "Oh, that makes sense."

Henrietta says "No it doesn't!! Ash, since when are you a mage?!"

Seraph says "What, you didn't know he was a mage?"

Henrietta says "No! I thought he was a fighter! He didn't use any magic in the arena!"

"I was trying to keep a low profile. I assumed that foreign mages were heavily monitored."

Henrietta says "Oh, yeah they are. Now I understand, but I am still surprised! Normally, our merchant group is good at gathering information, but they totally missed this!"

"No, one of the owners knows I am a mage. I made some magic items for him. He probably chose to keep it quiet."

Seraph says "Anyway, Ash, is there anything I can do to help?"

"No. Thank you though. As I told you, I will be leaving tomorrow after the auction. So this will be our last meeting."

Seraph says "No! I don't want you to go! How about I hire you to escort me home?!"

"You know that isn't going to happen! However, you can have this token. Maybe it will come in handy."

Seraph says "My father's command token? But this was your reward for saving me!"

"As I said, I will never return to your kingdom, so it is useless to me."

Seraph says "You are so cruel!!"

Then she gets up and runs out of the room, but she takes the token with her. I may have been a little too blunt with her, but it was the only way I could think of. Otherwise, she just wouldn't give up and may have even gotten herself in trouble.

Whoever sent the mage after me earlier is probably someone powerful. I doubt they are going to give up and I don't want Seraph to draw their attention to herself. I didn't save her twice just to let her get herself killed because of me.

Henrietta says "She is right, that was cruel. However, I believe it was necessary and that you did the right thing."

"Thank you. However, she is the least of my worries right now."

Henrietta says "Oh, what else is bothering you?"

"I didn't want to say anything with Seraph around, but there was a witness to my fight."

Henrietta says "Oh! Who was it?"

"It was Lin, the auctioneer!"

Henrietta says "That is troubling! She isn't someone who can be bribed or convinced. Especially by a man! The best I can do is to try and talk to her."

"No need. I am fairly sure I convinced her to keep my abilities a secret for now. I just hope she is someone who keeps her promises."

Henrietta says "Well, I don't know her personally, but she has a really good reputation. If she wasn't trustworthy then the auction house wouldn't hire her to run the auction."

"That is reassuring."

Henrietta says "Well, since you don't need my help, we may as well eat dinner!"

"Sure. Oh, would you be interested in buying some magical warrior and mage gear?"

Henrietta says "Huh? Don't tell me you stopped to loot your attackers?"

"Yeah, I did! It is not anything I need, I just looted them out of habit."

Henrietta says "Sure, I will take a look at them after we eat."

We have a very nice meal and then I show Henrietta all the stuff I looted. In the end she agrees to buy all of it for just shy of a million crystal coins. It is more than I was expecting, but I didn't take a good look at what I looted.

I go ahead and agree, it is just some random stuff I picked up and it will give me a little extra money. Lin said she would give me some coin, but she never said how much she would give me. It doesn't matter much either way, it is just for playing around at the auction after all.

Once our business is concluded I bid Henrietta goodnight and head up to my suite. Once there I enter my meditation, open a soulscape, and invite the kids to come in. Once they arrive I put them through their training and then let them play afterwards.

Kechara says "Dad, can you teach me the designs of the training grounds for all of us?"

"Sure I can. But, why?"

Kechara says "Yui is going to help me build them for real. That way we can train properly."

"Oh, that's a great idea! Does Yui have enough resources for that?"

Kechara says "She should and if not we can get more easily enough."

"Alright. Come, I'll teach you right now."

While the other kids play, I teach Kechara the designs for the training courses. It takes a while for her to memorize all of them, but I don't mind at all. In fact, it brings back memories of when she was just a baby and I was teaching her all sorts of things.

Spending the winter with her in that cave was a really peaceful time, but I didn't appreciate it at the time. I really can't wait to get back to the peninsula so that I can see the kids in person. Also, I really want to introduce Albion and Nala to the others for real.

Just the thought of all of them playing together for real makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Before I know it, the sun is up and morning has arrived. So, I have some breakfast and then leave for the auction house to deposit some money.

When I get there the first thing I do is check the current balance of my paddle. However, when I check it I find an extra digit, Lin gave me ten million coins! I knew that she was probably rich, but I didn't think that she was that rich!