Chapter 343: Demon Eye Worms, Creatures from Hell

After a satisfying meal and a fun time, Little Wei Ya and Little Mi fell asleep in Little Weir’s arms. Only then did everyone take a carriage back home. This was Gru’s first time seeing the neatly planned Rose Duchy, and his exclamations of admiration made Little Weir and Lilith feel a great sense of accomplishment.

Of course, the old-fashioned appearance of Rose Castle was not included in their praise. They didn’t have much feeling for the seemingly magnificent but not very useful castle walls. However, Gru liked it very much. He had always lived in a tribe located in an underground mine. Seeing such a tall and grand castle, and a private one at that, made Gru extremely envious.

With Lilith and Little Weir leading the way, Gru entered Rose Castle very smoothly. First, he went to Rand to get a temporary resident permit, and then he was sent to Little Weir’s boutique blacksmith shop. There, Gru saw the hundred-refined fine steel magic rune equipment forged by Little Weir, which gave him a deeper understanding of his brother Weir’s forging skills.

It turned out that brother Weir was not a novice. Although his forging skills were not as good as his own, they were not far off. No wonder those people looked at him strangely when he was teaching him basic knowledge by the river. However, thinking that brother Weir not only didn’t perfunctorily listen to him but listened very carefully and seriously, Gru felt very warm.

Hmph, you shallow people! Brother Weir is the truly smart one. Fundamentals are very important. Even though I am a well-known genius in the tribe, I spent twenty years learning the basics, which is why I achieved the rank of high-level warrior before adulthood.

Moreover, fundamentals never become outdated or invalid. Advanced techniques are all derived from fundamentals. If the foundation is not strong enough, advanced techniques are nothing but castles in the air and cannot be performed.

The blacksmith shop was very large, with all kinds of equipment. The warehouse had a wide variety of ores in sufficient quantities. Gru also unexpectedly found some very high-grade magic ores, which made his hands itch and his eyes burn with desire.

From the height, the shorter one was Little Luo’s workbench, and the taller one was brother Weir’s forging table. Gru looked at the two large forging hammers and habitually weighed one in his hand. “Bang!” Gru, momentarily careless, almost dropped the forging hammer on his foot. So heavy!

Gru knew that Little Luo was a bloodline awakened, a high-level warrior, and stronger than himself. But why was the forging hammer used by the seemingly thin and weak brother Weir also so heavy?

Wait, what? Gru suddenly realized. Hundred-refined fine steel magic rune equipment. To forge hundred-refined equipment, one must at least be a high-level warrior. Refining steel requires a lot of strength, and he himself only gained the ability to forge hundred-refined fine steel after becoming a high-level warrior.

Brother Weir looked thin and was still a wizard apprentice, but his body was unexpectedly very strong, at least that of a high-level warrior.

This is very much like us dwarves. As expected of my brother, Gru Ironhammer!

In the evening, Rand delivered a cartload of gifts. The blacksmith shop had resting rooms, but no bedding was prepared. Following Little Weir’s instructions, Rand quickly made the arrangements and bought a large barrel of ale and large portions of meat and bread from the tavern.

“This is holy water, made by the Church of the Goddess of Dawn. Every once in a while, all houses in the Rose Duchy need a simple purification.” Rand sprinkled the holy water in corners and other dark places, and finally came to Gru, sprinkling a few drops on his forehead, shoulders, hands, back, and chest before stopping.

“Is this stuff useful for wizards too?” Gru, who already knew that Rand was a third-level wizard apprentice, was somewhat puzzled by his actions.

“Wizards seek truth and study all things. To speak a little disrespectfully, even gods are within the scope of a wizard’s study, let alone this holy water.” Rand then brought up Little Weir’s great achievements in using holy water to create potions and befriend the church, giving Gru a new understanding of his brother.

“Is brother Weir someone of particularly high status? I saw many people show him great respect on the way here.” Gru didn’t interact much with humans, but he wasn’t a fool. He could still distinguish between genuine respect and feigned respect.

Rand’s face was solemn: “Teacher Weir is a scholar, and also a respected viscount, polymath, and superior.”

Then, Rand, whose floodgates of conversation had opened, drank and ate meat with Gru in the blacksmith shop, chatting and boasting, and at the same time revealed most of Little Weir’s background.

An advanced knight with awakened elf bloodline, a first-level wizard apprentice who had visualized and inscribed thirty-six basic runes, an honorary viscount of Drake City, an honorary knight of the City Hall, an honorary temple knight of the Church of the Goddess of Dawn, an honorary temple knight of the God of Storms, a martial arts instructor for the City Guard, and the leader of the Boy Scouts.

Most importantly, although he was only a first-level wizard apprentice, he could guide third-level wizard apprentices in their cultivation, including himself. At this point, Rand was slightly excited: “Brother Gru, you wizard apprentices from orthodox backgrounds probably don’t know how hard it is for us wild wizards. A year and a half ago, I was just a second-level wizard apprentice, knew no more than three tricks, and my basic knowledge of various wizarding common sense was incredibly weak. You could say that before, I was a disgrace to the wizarding world!”

Rand didn’t care about belittling his former self as utterly useless. “It was Teacher Weir. He first enlightened me with ‘The Book of Wisdom of Weir Decland,’ and then, instead of ignoring me for my incompetence, he began to guide me from basic knowledge. He even planned a clear and definite path forward for me, allowing me to now stand tall in front of other third-level wizard apprentices and say that I am no worse than anyone.”

“So brother Weir is that powerful, but his own wizard level seems to be?” Dwarves are very talented in forging and also quite good at warrior cultivation, but their wizard cultivation is only average. Their advantages are longevity and physical fitness.

“Teacher Weir’s growth journey can be called legendary. Do you know how long it took him to go from an ordinary teenager to an advanced knight and a first-level wizard apprentice at the peak?” Rand acted mysteriously, but Little Weir’s age was there, so the time certainly wouldn’t be long.

“Five years? Wait, if you ask like that, it must not be simple. So, three years?” Gru had already learned that his brother Weir was not yet fifteen, and generally speaking, starting cultivation at twelve was normal.

“Five years? Three years? Brother Gru, you know nothing about geniuses. It took Teacher Weir less than a year to go from an ordinary teenager to an advanced knight and a first-level wizard apprentice at the peak! Although there were continuous fortuitous encounters and bloodline awakening involved, it was still less than a year! Just thinking about it feels terrifying.” Rand truly admired Little Weir, even revered and stood in awe of him.

“Do you know there’s another person as amazing as Teacher Weir?” Rand was clearly not a heavy drinker, and he winked at Gru with a smile.

“Little Luo?” Gru thought of the little one who was stronger than himself and felt that the elven druid bloodline might be fake; she definitely had dwarven blood!

“Little Luo is very good, but her wisdom hasn’t reached the point where I admire her, and she certainly can’t be compared with Teacher Weir. Guess again.” Rand was determined to keep him guessing.

Gru also enjoyed this game. Among the people he met today, who else seemed powerful? Wait, he could actually guess in reverse: who was the most ordinary and inconspicuous? “Lilith Kendall?”

Excluding the few children, and considering his and Rand’s identities as wizard apprentices, Gru chose Lilith, who had the lowest wizard apprentice level.

“Oh~” Rand was quite surprised, “How did you find out?”

“It’s really her?” Gru was also startled. “I just saw you acting mysterious, so I picked the one with the lowest wizard apprentice level to try, and I didn’t expect…”

Rand was speechless after hearing Gru’s reason. It turned out the problem was with himself. But it also seemed to make sense; to be a genius like Teacher Weir, it was good to choose someone who mirrored him in all aspects. Lilith was indeed very, very similar to him in age, knight level, and wizard level. Sure enough, only monsters can be paired with prodigies.

“Let me tell you, Teacher Weir and Teacher Lilith, they are not human, they are prodigies, they…” As Rand was drunkenly venting, he was completely unaware of Little Weir and Lilith arriving outside the door.

Little Weir held a thumb-sized black insect in his hand. The black insect was soft and boneless, shaped like an eye, with two rows of tentacle-like eyelashes. Under the Eye of Appraisal, its origin was easily discernible.

A demon eye worm, a creature from hell. A male and female pair share vision. He casually put the demon eye worm into a small pouch, then sacrificed it to the Demon God of Wisdom. “This thing can transmit everything it sees. It must be a follower of some demon from hell who guided Gru here, or a demon from hell itself. Everything we saw along the way has pretty much been exposed, including my grandfather and the defenses of the Rose Duchy.”

Lilith rolled her eyes and completed his sentence: “Next, something will definitely happen in Drake City that forces you to go deal with it, and at the same time, Wizard Stardashan will go with you to protect you. At that time, the hell cultists will send forces capable of dealing with Auntie and thirty to fifty warriors to forcefully attack the Rose Duchy, right?”

Little Weir gave a thumbs-up, then shook his head and said, “Don’t think of the demons of hell as so simple. How do you know their target must be Big Sister Jasmine? Couldn’t it be my grandfather? You know, a second-level wizard who is proficient in astrology poses a much greater threat than a great knight.”

“And their strength is also much greater than a great knight, much harder to deal with,” Lilith immediately retorted. “Moreover, a single person’s strength is always limited. Wizard Stardashan cannot initiate a war, but Auntie can.”

“If it were me, after understanding these circumstances, I would deploy two to three times the strength to flatten the Rose Duchy, and then have a master holding the line in the rear.”

Little Weir’s words left Lilith speechless. “If you have absolute power, why bother with so many petty tricks? Just push straight through.”

“Better safe than sorry.” Little Weir shrugged and didn’t continue arguing with Lilith. “I expect to be recalled to Drake City very soon. I’ll leave things here to you.”

“Student Weir, it seems this is the Rose Duchy, and I, Lilith Kendall, am the first heir to the Rose Duchess.”