IRM Chapter 51

As a physically and mentally healthy young man with well-rounded development in virtue, intelligence, and beauty, Brandon didn’t deny that he would develop feelings for attractive members of the opposite sex.

But Brandon was also a young noble master, and his standards were quite high. Over all these years, he had only blushed for two girls.

One was the Saintess of the Saint Trilley Empire… of course, this one was better left unmentioned. The other was the girl with short black curly hair from just now.

Of course, the key point was “from just now.”

The young master was completely dazed now. He could feel another person’s body warmth gently covering his back, and from the corner of his eye, he could glimpse a fair and beautiful face.

It was this voice, and the long sword held in front of him…

This was all too damn familiar!

The young master was about to cry out in despair and asked, “You’re definitely not Ji Chi, right?”

Ji Chi sneered coldly, “Do you think I want to be?”

The two of them were still pressed together at this moment. In the eyes of others, it looked like a brave young girl who had fearlessly rushed toward the righteous young man, raising her long sword with delicate hands and saving the young man at the critical moment.

It was quite romantic.

The surrounding crowd, not understanding what was happening, began clapping enthusiastically and cheering excitedly!

However, this beautiful tale left two people heartbroken.

The young master’s mood need not be mentioned, and Ji Chi was also depressed enough to want to hit someone—being forced into women’s clothing, being admired by his buddy, being recognized on the street, and now his buddy was crying beside him. What should he do?

Apart from the parties involved, the feelings of the other few people were also complex.

Tang looked at Ji Chi with that somewhat probing gaze, though he quickly concealed it and even roguishly whistled, joining the surrounding crowd in leisurely clapping.

The old butler was frightened to the point of cardiac arrest. He tremblingly stepped forward, grabbed Brandon’s arms and legs to examine them carefully all around, and only then relaxed, pleading heartbrokenly, “Young master, you mustn’t be so impulsive again! If something happened to you, how would I face the master!”

Brandon glumly let the old butler manipulate him, his gaze wandering everywhere except toward Ji Chi. “Is it okay to let those people escape?”

The old butler was suddenly reminded. After confirming that the young master was safe and sound, he immediately drew his long spike and chased in the direction the little dwarves had fled. He completely changed from his previous elegant demeanor, wearing a furious expression as if he wanted to roast the scorpions on the spot.

Tang also felt it wasn’t good to let those menaces escape. Since someone was willing to help at this moment, he gladly followed.

Thus, the remaining four little dwarves ultimately couldn’t escape the pursuit of the old butler and Tang. One was responsible for slaying, the other for ambushing. The two cooperated surprisingly well, and before long, four small corpses were buried in the crimson sand of the great desert.

Ji Chi put his long sword back into his backpack, turned to look at Brandon, and reminded him, “Next time anything happens, don’t take off your knee guards.”

The young master pouted, obediently found the knee guards from his magic bag, bent down to put them on, and muttered quietly, “Wasn’t it to save you that I took them off… Ah, wearing them really makes running so slow.”

The disturbance subsided. Bard had run toward Ji Chi’s direction early on and happened to see the scene of him supervising the young master putting on the knee guards. His gaze fixed sharply on the knee guards painted with ancient patterns, his breathing hitched. “This is also a legendary—”

Ji Chi looked at Bard with warning, interrupted his words, and asked Brandon, “What are you doing here?”

Brandon kicked his legs uncomfortably, accidentally stirring up sand that stuck to his knee guards, making Bard’s heart twitch. He quickly glanced at Ji Chi then looked away. “I came to participate in the auction… The weapons my family prepared for me are only wands. I had no choice but to come to the underground city to choose for myself.”

Ji Chi’s thoughts were led astray, and he asked with some curiosity, “Did you buy a suitable weapon?”

When this topic came up, the young master’s mood was obviously much better. For people in this world, a beloved weapon was their second partner. The young master raised his eyebrows and with great effort pulled out from his magic bag a broad-handled great sword that was a head taller than himself.

With Brandon’s current strength, even carrying the great sword was very difficult. He struggled to support the sword, letting it stand upright in the sand, and excitedly turned to ask Ji Chi, “How is this? The old butler says it’s not suitable for me… Ridiculous! A man’s weapon should be like this, okay?”

The young master laughed heartily with his hands on his hips, not noticing that the great sword was already falling toward him and nearly flattened him into the sand.

The loyal old butler quickly helped him steady the sword and sighed worriedly, his brow full of ‘My beloved little young master, who on earth brainwashed you into choosing such a thing? This is so inconsistent with the Elliott family’s elegance. Master, I’ve failed you. I might as well apologize with death!’

What could Ji Chi say? The young master’s eye for choosing a “little wife” was also quite puzzling…

Brandon had finally gotten somewhat used to Ji Chi’s face and was no longer blushing, but he was still somewhat fidgety around him. “What are you doing here? And… dressed up like this…”

Ji Chi was silent for a moment, frantically thinking about how to make his answer neither expose information nor seem too perverted.

“Never… never mind.” The considerate young master directly chose the latter option for Ji Chi. He quickly looked Ji Chi up and down again, “As long as you’re… you’re happy.”

Brandon, I’ll remember you too. Ji Chi opened his mouth but couldn’t argue back, his expression gloomy.

Only the shrewd old butler saw through some of it. He stepped forward and smiled as he bowed slightly to Ji Chi. “Please allow me to rudely guess that you probably want to go somewhere without being discovered, right?”

The old butler looked at them kindly. “If you’re willing, you can use the Elliott family’s teleportation array. This can only be considered a tiny token of gratitude, but I hope it can help you somewhat, to thank you for saving the young master in that critical moment.”

Unlike the half-amateur Ji Chi, the native Bard and Tang better understood the significance of private teleportation arrays in this world—only families wealthy enough and with long enough histories would spend enormous human and material resources purchasing properties across the continent and setting up dedicated teleportation arrays.

Of course, such teleportation arrays sounded high-end, but their main advantage was simply time flexibility and strong privacy, not having to wait for fixed times or squeeze together with a bunch of unknown travelers.

Bard was somewhat tempted upon hearing this, because the teleportation array in the desert was really too remote and couldn’t directly reach where they wanted to go, requiring several transfers. If they could use a private teleportation array, it would certainly be convenient and efficient.

But after thinking about it, he still declined. “Sorry, the place we’re going is even more remote than Fren Desert… But thank you for the Earl family’s kind intention.”

The old butler followed Bard’s gaze to look at the public teleportation array not far away, understanding flashing in his eyes. “Please don’t misunderstand. We also have a private teleportation array in the desert, it’s just that the young master wanted to experience the common people’s…cough, so he came here.”

The old butler put on an impeccable smile of the wealthy elite. “Please rest assured, except for a few forbidden areas on the continent, Elliott has a bit of land everywhere.”

Bard was a bit numb. I haven’t even said anything yet, is this the confidence of you rich people? However, their destination was indeed not any forbidden area, so if they could use the private teleportation array, it would be beneficial without harm to them.

Seeing that they seemed to agree, the old butler smiled with satisfaction. He clapped his hands toward the other side, and with rumbling sounds, a carriage stopped steadily in front of them.

Ji Chi looked up, his expression somewhat dazed.

Calling it a carriage was too modest—this was a small villa! Its exterior walls were carved with exquisite patterns and coated with a layer of bright gold, appearing luxurious yet understated in the desert.

Pulling the carriage were seven energetic, sleek giant lizards, larger than ordinary giant lizards by a full size—probably the leader among the lizard group.

The interior of the carriage was even more outrageous. Soft velvet seats, luxurious gilt-gold small tables, with refreshments still emitting wisps of lingering fragrance—it was simply like moving an afternoon tea gathering to a different location.

The old butler’s gaze swept over the red tea on the table, frowning with some dissatisfaction, and invited them in with apology. “Terribly sorry, the desert temperature is still hard to control. This time we couldn’t bring out the flavor of Yakodilin Black Tea. Please bear with us, guests.”

Ji Chi, Bard, and Tang, who couldn’t even understand the name, fell silent.

True wealthy people don’t slap faces by throwing out ten million, but press faces to the ground and crush them with incredibly meticulous details.

Brandon looked back reluctantly at the “commoner teleportation array” worth ten gold coins, sitting on the velvet cushion in the carriage with a bored expression. “Forget it, I’ll come again next time.”

The old butler agreed, smilingly shut the carriage door with a snap, thinking ‘there will absolutely be no next time.’

Thus, Ji Chi and the others inexplicably enjoyed a lady-like afternoon tea in the middle of the desert. They had thought they would return to the underground city again, but unexpectedly, the giant lizards went further and further, actually coming to another small oasis in the desert. Beside the oasis was set up a huge magic array, blocking wind, sand, and idle people from entering.

The old butler explained, “To avoid the inconvenience of staying overnight in the desert, we used magic to create an oasis here, which can enhance the living environment a bit…”

No, can’t you just stay overnight directly in the dwarf underground city! The civilian trio turned to look at him, roaring inwardly!

However, the trio soon understood the significance of the Earl family doing this—they had directly copied an underground city.

The old butler brought them into the Elliott underground city, telling them: “Fortunately, guests won’t be staying here tonight, otherwise having you reside in such a cramped place would be too shameful.”

Stop showing off, stop showing off! This underground city could accommodate several thousand people!

The civilian trio was powerless to complain anymore. These three were all wealthy, but in front of the refined and particular Earl mansion, they seemed no different from paupers sleeping on the streets.

The Earl family’s exclusive teleportation array was in the center of the underground city. The old butler brought them to the edge of the teleportation array and took out a special nameplate, placing it on the stone platform in front.

When the teleportation array was lit up by magic power, he bowed toward them and made an inviting gesture. “Considering that you probably don’t want to reveal your itinerary, I’ve already ordered the manor servants outside Gaia Continent to refrain from outside activities. You can safely enter and exit the manor without worrying about being discovered.”

The three were quite startled by such a grand gesture. Even Bard hadn’t expected they could do this to such an extent. They walked into the teleportation array in a dreamlike state, like silly geese that moved only when poked.

“Once again, sincere thanks to you, and wish you a smooth journey.” The old butler smiled outside the teleportation array, as if he had finally sent away the troubles that threatened the young master’s safety, his expression revealing some relief.

The usage of private teleportation arrays was very simple, even somewhat similar to teleportation in ordinary online games. When the array formation began operating, a map of the continent would appear before their eyes, with coordinates they could teleport to lighting up with bright dots. They just needed to click on the light dots to wait for teleportation.

Bard hadn’t held much hope before entering the teleportation array, because their destination this time was the Weiss Islands, the most remote sea area of the Demon Sword Continent, where the vast ocean was even more desolate than the endless desert.

But when the teleportation coordinates lit up before their eyes, the three people were once again stunned by the Earl family’s wealthy extent.

Teleportation coordinates like stars, each one symbolizing a manor. Except for places too sinister like Dark Night Forest and Burial Grounds, the Earl family even had a teleportation point in the Angel Kingdom…

“Is Elliott really just an Earl?” Tang was also stunned. He himself was the head of a major power, with gold coins numerous enough that he had nowhere to spend them, but compared to this, it was like comparing a small witch to a great wizard.

Bard suddenly looked back at the outside of the teleportation array with some lingering fear. “Fortunately, the Earl isn’t interested in treasure maps, otherwise it really wouldn’t be certain who would have won the auction in the end…”

Ji Chi looked at those teleportation arrays with some desire… If he could buy them, he would definitely pay without hesitation, but in the real world, just having money was indeed not enough…

When the light of the teleportation array faded and the figures inside disappeared, the old butler finally straightened up. He looked at the teleportation array that had returned to calm, then turned around to stand behind Brandon.

The old butler smiled and said, “This must be the all-profession genius from young master’s class?”

Brandon scratched his cheek somewhat awkwardly. “Yes… but he’s a boy.”

Old butler: “Haha, I can tell! The panther’s disguise technique can disguise gender, but it can’t disguise a person’s aura and soul… Young master was rash today. Regardless of whether the other party needs help or not, your safety is the most important.”

Upon hearing this, Brandon immediately became dejected. “If I had known it was him, I wouldn’t have gone over to cause trouble… He can do everything very well.”

The old butler looked at Brandon with some surprise. His young master had been the most excellent one since childhood. This was the first time he had seen the young master look somewhat discouraged.

However, this was a good thing. The old butler smiled. “Yes, that child is indeed very excellent, but he also has flawed areas.”

Brandon perked up with some interest and looked up at him.

The old butler put his hands behind his back, looking toward an unknown direction, and said calmly, “He seems to always be relying on something. I can feel that he’s bound by his own thoughts. However… if he could become aware of his own power, that would really be a frightening thing.”