Due to the fact that I had given a very impressive speech that day, my speech had been very successful and attracted countless gazes. The very next day, my Great Industrial Party's headquarters had countless applicants, and it instantly became one of the top organizations in the Cloud Tower … Of course, that was impossible!
Reality would always develop in the opposite of what one would expect. Even though the advertisements for the Great Industrial Party were everywhere, there were still zero applicants yesterday afternoon. Perhaps it was because the mages were as cautious as usual, or perhaps it was because the Great Industrial Party's past notoriety left too deep an impression on people.
However, there was now an unwelcome additional supervisor who took the initiative to visit us …
"I'll keep an eye on you!"
Don't misunderstand, this wasn't a confession of love. This was a police officer's righteous roar at a suspect. She was determined to punish the criminal no matter the cost.
And so, the Great Industrial Party, which had very few members, actually gained a permanent internal supervisor. This was a treatment that only large organizations with more than one thousand members could receive. Since we were a subordinate organization of the Mystical Blade, it was impossible for us to refuse the Great Industrial Party's supervisor.
And now, the mage organization Great Industrial Party … Fine, I knew that this sounded quite awkward. Yep, the only business under this Great Industrial Party was this Thorn Garden shop, which was why she kept checking the accounts every day … How could that be!
As a qualified businessman who pursued profit as his goal (which was destined to be illegal), he would need at least three sets of account books. One set was for people to check after paying taxes, one set was for himself to read, and one set was for when he was forced to give up his pawn to save his riches.
According to the Mage Country's laws, the Mage Country could levy a 10% tax on any transaction within the country. This was quite a hefty tax, and it was common for private transactions to be done very carefully to avoid taxes. We were quite good at making fake accounts, but …
"What? She took the workshop's order and compared it to our inventory, and directly checked the amount that wasn't in our warehouse? That's completely against the most basic tax laws! "
"Do you really think that fake accounts are legal?"
"Of course! Is there any merchant in the world who doesn't fake accounts!?"
"… At the very least, the royalty doesn't need to."
Heloise thought about it for a long while, but she still couldn't remember a single merchant in her long life who didn't fake accounts. In the end, she hesitantly told me what she remembered. At the very least, back when she was still a princess, the royalty's subordinate merchants seemed to be quite honest.
"That's because they don't need to pay taxes at all! The tax will also go into their pockets as a subsidy! "
My angry roar echoed in the room. No matter which world I was in, a state-owned enterprise or a government background was a good way to earn money. In terms of taxes, financing, credit, and so on, it was definitely not something that an independent private company could compare to.
But that was not the point …
"There are 12 types of goods that aren't on the tax return list, and there are at least 400 transactions that aren't recorded in the account book. In less than a week, he has evaded more than 50,000 gold coins in taxes. The false accounting is flawless, and there are no flaws on the paper. I even suspect that he was born into a merchant family."
Looking at the unpaid taxes of 52452 gold coins on the form, there was also an expected fine of more than 20,000 gold coins. My heart was bleeding. This was all my hard-earned money! (Big mistake!)
"Hmph, are you indirectly praising your inspection ability?"
This was the most advanced accounting technique in the world. Unfortunately, I was still exposed. If I had known earlier that she would go crazy and check the inventory for an entire day, I would have long since turned hostile and refused to let her in.
"No, I'm telling the truth. Although your accounting form is simple, the mathematical skills involved are probably far beyond the level of an ordinary mage. I'm even beginning to suspect that you're a professional counterfeiter. That's precisely why I had to use unconventional methods in order to discover your problem. "
"… So you're saying that I'm investigating you not because there's a problem with you, but rather because there's definitely a problem with you, so no matter what, I'm going to investigate to the end. Do you know that you're violating the most basic code of conduct for law enforcers — presumption of innocence!?"
Even though Cher had a blank expression and didn't seem to know anything about this, and even though this didn't have much to do with me, I still mysteriously felt displeased to see a law enforcer acting so recklessly, causing me to keep a stern expression.
* Crack! *
What surprised me was that Cher directly tore apart the tax return form and instantly threw it everywhere. The next instant, the ground was covered in shredded paper.
"I didn't intend to threaten you. I just wanted to ask you something. Please answer me honestly. "
"… What is it?"
Since she had spent the entire day trying to find out what hurt me, what she wanted to ask would definitely not be a small matter. However, the most important thing right now was …
"Why are you still standing there in a daze? Hurry up and help me destroy the evidence and repack the warehouse! Also, mess up the order of the goods and redo the accounting. If I get caught again, I'll deduct the fine from your wages. "
Yep, I should first take care of the aftermath in order to avoid being caught again in the same situation. As for Cher's condescending expression, I ignored it. And then …
"Since you're asking so sincerely, I'll listen to you."
After hesitating for quite a while, Cher grit her teeth and finally asked.
"Are you my biological grandfather?"
* Pfft! *
The tea in the mouths of the spectators turned into fountains. Even the silly cat knocked over her milk bowl. I was so scared that my soul almost left my body. Just what was going on here!?
…
Due to a certain female mage's astonishing revelation, everyone was thrown into a complete mess. It took ten minutes for the room to be cleaned up. During this entire process, my mind was completely blank.
"Damn it, did someone come to my door and ask for alimony? Or was I being blackmailed? Why did someone suddenly hug my leg and call me father? I didn't participate in any elections. This doesn't seem right. I don't even have a wife, so why did a granddaughter suddenly pop up? "
Cher Aran, human (at least in appearance), Gold rank. Her exact age was unknown. She was born as a rogue mage and specialized in prophecy and runic magic. If one only looked at her information, she didn't have any special background. She was already a Silver-ranked mage when she arrived in Bardi. She could be considered a classic example of a self-reliant mage.
I didn't believe that a woman like her would need to "recognize a traitor as her father" and use such a thing to improve her relationship with Bardi. In fact, when she asked that question, she had a disgusted expression, as if she was saying "How could my relative be this person?" This was still fresh in my memory.
Soon, her explanation made it even harder for them to accept it.
According to where she was born, she was a citizen of Bardi. However, she was actually an orphan who was taught magic by a dragon. Later, she became an adventurer in the Bardi Empire. However, when Orloss became an official mage, a large number of adventurer teams were forcefully absorbed into the Bardi Empire. In the end, she chose to leave.
"… I think it's been more than twenty years since the Bardi Empire became an official mage. In that case, Madam Cher is at least four … Ahhh!"
As expected of my disciple, she was incredibly perceptive. She immediately found the main point that I was concerned about and even said it first. However, it seemed that Xue Li's movements were also quite fast. Her kick landed squarely on the other party's ankle. She was fast, accurate, and ruthless. Just looking at it made one think that she was actually a monk.
Looking at the unlucky Cohen who was crying out in pain after being stepped on, I secretly rejoiced at the fact that my mouth was a step too slow. Then, I sighed at how inexperienced this brat was. Even if he had doubts, he shouldn't say it out loud. Isn't that just courting death?
"Even a female mage is still a woman. Didn't you see that I've never talked to Heloise, Amelia, and the others about age? That's just suicidal. Right, Amelia's age should be in the three digits. If she's the princess of the Elven Empire, could she be in the five digits? Pfft, she's so old … Ahhh, it hurts! Silly cat, stop scratching me! Damn it, I'm suicidal! I forgot to pay attention to our connection! "
This time, it wasn't the usual playful tearing. Cher's claws had even been metalized. Heloise didn't hold back at all. I felt a burning pain on my nose. I looked in the mirror at the eight bloody claw marks on my face, as well as the silly cat who was still clawing at my head. I began to seriously consider how I was going to meet people tomorrow. Perhaps it was time to make a cat skin bib.
"… I was raised by that three-headed dragon when I could remember. She taught me everything, but she never told me who I was or if I had any relatives."
Cher seemed to have lost her patience for idle chatter as she directly told me about her past.
"Three-headed dragon? Raised you? That's almost legendary. You're so lucky. "
"You actually believed it? I told others later, but they didn't believe me. They said that three-headed dragons didn't exist in the world, and that I only saw them in my dreams. Evelyn obviously existed. From a certain standpoint, Evelyn is my mother! "
Cher's name, which I had just seen not long ago, caused me to instinctively retract my attitude of thinking that I was lucky. A chill ran down my spine, making me uncomfortable. My premonitions of misfortune were always incredibly accurate. This time, I was afraid that I would truly be in trouble.
"I'm a Fate Weaver …"
The moment Cher opened her mouth, everyone nearby instinctively took a step back. Cher could only smile wryly as she helplessly shook her head. It seemed that she was already used to such treatment. This wasn't because my subordinates were cowardly, but rather because the Fate Weaver job class had such a frightening reputation.
The Celestial Tower's experience proved that prophecies were completely unreliable. Changing one's fate would only result in greater misfortune. This was a basic rule that the God of Fate had revealed to mortals. However, as mages who feared nothing, how could they possibly submit to fate? And so, this abnormally special job class, Fate Weaver, was born.
As a high-level job class that was above the Gold rank, the Fate Weaver job class basically had zero requirements to advance. Yep, as long as a mage reached the peak of the Silver rank, they would be able to advance into the Fate Weaver job class. As for the success rate … there was a saying that it wasn't that this job class had no requirements, but rather that it had chosen those who could advance into the Fate Weaver job class from the very start. After all, it was impossible for those who weren't chosen to advance into the Fate Weaver job class, so there was no need for any additional requirements.
The Fate Weaver job class was so rare that there were no more than ten of them in the entire continent. It was only natural that the Fate Weaver job class was favored by the God of Fate, Catio.
The Fate Weaver job class wasn't a powerful combat job class, and it wouldn't be of any help to casting spells. However, it had two basic abilities. The first ability was to see through an object's past and future, and the second ability was to change the object's future fate.
However, since changing the object's fate would only make the object's fate worse, even if the Fate Weaver used this ability out of kindness, such as trying to change someone's fate that was about to die, it would only make that person's death worse. That was why the Fate Weaver job class had another name: Summoner of Misfortune.
From a certain standpoint, the Fate Weaver job class was truly vicious in that whoever it looked at would become unlucky, and whoever it looked at would become pregnant … and whoever would become even more unlucky.
"Our abilities aren't as mystical as the legends make them out to be. Prophecy abilities are no longer as mystical as they were in ancient times. Even if I use my Fate Gaze at full power, I'll only be able to see what will happen to an inanimate object within one minute. Rather than calling it a prophecy, it's more like a prediction. And, our ability to 'weave Fate Threads' will only bring about negative consequences. That's why we usually don't use our abilities. "
I had done some research on prophecy and fate magic before (although I hadn't learned anything), so I knew the basics. Stargazers would often trip over the rocks they were stepping on. The more something was related to them, the more difficult it would be to predict it. However, it was publicly acknowledged that this job class was definitely not to be trifled with. It definitely wasn't as useless as she made it out to be. After all, the second-ranked member of the Calamity Rankings, the "Misfortune Goddess" Ain, was the most famous Fate Weaver in the world.
And after the God of Fate Catio used that God-ranked forbidden spell to transform his divine power into a net that covered the entire mortal plane, the Lines of Fate should have been thrown into chaos. Prophecy magic should have been rendered useless, so perhaps we could relax a little.
"… Direct prophecy magic is no longer usable. Perhaps we really are the God of Fate's favored children. Now, we can actually borrow the power of fate from the divine power net. My power is much stronger than before. Although it's still quite difficult to predict the fate of living creatures, it's quite easy to summon misfortune for them. All I need to do is change the Fate Threads. "
Alright then, this time, even I wanted to run away.
"Catio's gift is the God of Fate's favor for us. He can allow us to bypass all restrictions and directly ask him for an answer. However, we can only do this once in our lives."
She paused for a moment. Her tone was rather strange, and her expression was rather unnatural as she looked at me. In the end, there was even more expectation in her eyes.
"When I was at my most confused, I used this gift. 'Where is my family?' and he told me, 'The Cloud Tower is waiting for the Lord of the Night.' Your Highness Roland, are you my grandfather? "
"No, I'm your father!"
And then, everyone was astonished. I was so proud of myself that I wanted to laugh out loud, but a dark ominous aura suddenly gathered in front of me, causing me to recall who this person was. It seemed that I had gone too far?
"… Don't take it so seriously. I was just joking, a joke! A hilarious joke! Have you watched Star Wars before!? I highly recommend it! It's really amazing. I especially like this line. "
Alright then, after the silly cat's desperate biting and nearly choking to death on cold water for three consecutive days, I learned that some jokes shouldn't be made.
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