The Herb King

235 Brian’s Visit

“Only the best Level 4 Engravers could make runes at that level. Even in our Aracan Kingdom, only a few capable Engravers could achieve it.” Aenwyn muttered.

Hearing this, Aethelwolf chuckled lightly. “Have you forgotten who removed the Slave Rune placed on you?”

Aenwyn saw Aethelwolf giving him a strange smile. She then recalled how easily Aethelwolf managed to remove the Slave Rune that was placed on her. That’s right! This guy is also a Level 4 Engraver! How could I forget about it?’

“I can make a Slave Rune that even Level 4 Engravers couldn’t dismantle or decode. The only problem with this is that we would need a bunch of materials. I’ll send some people to look out for these materials and once we gather all of them, I will make the rune right away so that we can proceed with our plans.” Aethelwolf muttered.

Aenwyn nodded her head upon hearing his words. “Alright.”

“There is a high chance that Brian will visit us tonight. Don’t let him agitate you, okay?” Aethelwolf stared deeply at the elven princess.

“Don’t worry.” Aenwyn answered calmly.

And just like that, evening arrived and the Lassiter Household received an unexpected visitor. The only ones who weren’t surprised about his arrival were Aethelwolf and Aenwyn.

“Good evening, Sir Aethelwolf.” Brian smiled warmly when he saw Aethelwolf getting out of the mansion to receive him personally.

.....

“Sir Brian, I’m surprised that you came here in person! Come inside! The sky is getting darker, I believe that there would be a heavy rain soon.” Aethelwolf shook hands with Brian. He then cordially dragged the man inside the mansion.

Brian allowed Aethelwolf to drag him inside. He didn’t want his identity as an Esper to be exposed so he could only act as if he was a normal human. However, he didn’t know that Aethelwolf had long since learned about his true power...

“Bring a specially brewed coffee to my study.” Aethelwolf told the servants as soon as they entered the mansion.

“Yes, Sir Aethelwolf.” The maids bowed their heads before they left.

Aethelwolf turned his head to Brian and muttered with a smile. “Recently, I created a special mix of coffee and I taught them how to make it. Drinking hot coffee in this kind of cold weather is good.”

In truth, Brian didn’t want to drink coffee, but since Aethelwolf had already told his subordinates to brew for them, he could only smile helplessly. “Sir Aethelwolf is truly talented! You even know how to brew coffee!” He praised Aethelwolf with a sincere tone.

Aethelwolf chuckled and shook his head. “It’s just a hobby of mine to create things.”

They chatted idly as they headed to Aethelwolf’s study and when they entered the room, Brian noticed an expressionless elven woman standing motionless inside.

“Aenwyn, our hot coffee will arrive soon. Please pour some for me and Sir Brian later.” Aethelwolf said to Aenwyn in human language.

“Alright.” Aenwyn replied as she nodded her head.

Hearing the interaction between them, Brian’s heart jolted in agitation. ‘It’s actually true! She can indeed speak in the human language!’ He exclaimed in his heart. Although he already heard from Aethelwolf about this, he still had some doubts in his heart. Now, all his doubts vanished after that short interaction.

“Sir Brian, take your seat first.” Aethelwolf sat on the sofa as he pointed to an adjacent seat.

“Thanks.” Brian sat down and inspected the room. He noticed that there were all sorts of books neatly piled on the bookshelves. From the number of books, there should be about three thousand to five thousand books in total. It wasn’t much to a true book collector, but it created a nice intellectual touch to the room. “I didn’t know that Sir Aethelwolf is actually a book lover.” He muttered with a smile.

When Aethelwolf heard this, he laughed lightly as he responded. “Well, I read some of them before I became the headmaster of the academy, but now, I don’t have much free time anymore. They could only sit on the bookshelves and collect dust.”

While they were chatting, there was a soft knocking on the door.

“You may enter.” Aethelwolf said.

A maid entered the room, pushing a small cart with a thermos flask filled with freshly brewed coffee on top of it. There were also two small ceramic mugs and a small glass box filled with sugar cubes on top of the cart.

“I’ll take it from here.” Aenwyn said to the maid.

Meanwhile, Aethelwolf and Brian were already talking about the materials.

“I gathered all the materials in your list, Sir Aethelwolf. You can check it.” Brian said as he took out a huge jade box. He then placed it on the table and pushed it towards Aethelwolf.

Aethelwolf opened the cover of the jade box and saw a bunch of materials lying inside. After seeing that everything was there, Aethelwolf smiled happily. “I’ve really troubled you, Sir Brian.”

Brian laughed as he shook his head. “Not at all! Not at all! The payment you gave me was more than twice their market value so I’ll add that jade box as a gift. Please accept it, Sir Aethelwolf.” He said.

Aenwyn poured coffee for both men as they chatted cordially. She almost thought that they were best buddies from the way they conversed.

“You even gave me such a valuable jade box! Since it’s a gift from you, I’ll accept it shamelessly.” Aethelwolf grabbed the jade box and covered it before he kept it inside his storage space.

“Try our coffee, Sir Brian. I believe that you’ll like it.” Aethelwolf confidently said while pointing at Brian’s ceramic mug that was already filled with coffee.

Brian forced out a smile after seeing his enthusiasm. He could only bite the bullet since he still had something to ask from this guy.

Brian grabbed one piece of a sugar cube and mixed it into his coffee. He then lifted the mug and lightly inhaled the dense aroma. When the fragrance of the coffee entered his system, he silently nodded in his heart. It was indeed different than the normal coffee in the market.

After a moment of hesitation, Brian took a light sip.

“Mn. Not bad!” He praised after tasting the coffee’s delicious flavor. “Can I ask for some of this coffee?” He looked at Aethelwolf expectantly.

“Of course!” Aethelwolf smiled gently. He then turned his head to Aenwyn and said to her. “Tell the servants to prepare five hundred grams of this special coffee for Sir Brian.”

Aenwyn nodded her head and left the room to deliver his commands to the servants.

“I apologize that I can only give you a small amount, Sir Brian. I just created this mixture so I didn’t have the chance to make another batch.” Aethelwolf muttered apologetically.

Brian smiled as he waved his hands. “No, it’s alright. I’m fine with it. Sir Aethelwolf, to tell you the truth, I didn’t visit you here just to deliver the materials to you. In fact, I have another objective.”

Here it comes!

Hearing this, Aethelwolf squinted his eyes as he adjusted his sitting posture. His expression also turned serious as he looked at Brian. “What is it, Sir Brian? As long as it’s something I can do, I’ll help you as best as I can.” He said.

“There’s no need to be serious. It’s just a small matter. Actually, I only want to have a small talk with Aenwyn. I just want to ask her a few things. Are you fine with this?” Brian stared at Aethelwolf deeply to see his reaction.

“Oh? You want to talk with her? That’s fine, but please bear in mind that Aenwyn could still not speak our language fluently so she might not be able to converse with you properly.” Aethelwolf reminded him.

“It’s good as long as I can speak with her.”

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Speak of the devil. It must be her.” Aethelwolf smiled as he turned his gaze to the door. “Come in.”

Aenwyn entered with a calm look on her face.

“Aenwyn, Sir Brian wants to speak with you.” Aethelwolf said.

“Sir Aethelwolf, I’d like to speak with her privately.” Brian muttered at the side.

The corner of Aethelwolf’s lips curved upwards upon hearing this. “Sure. I’ll go to the balcony for a smoke. Just call me if you guys are done.”

“Thanks.” Brian muttered gratefully. ‘At least this guy is sensible.’ He muttered in his heart.

“Remember your promise.” Aethelwolf whispered discreetly to Aenwyn before he headed to the balcony for a quick smoking session.

As soon as Aethelwolf left, Brian inspected Aenwyn from head to foot. He could still see the Slave Rune on her neck so he heaved a sigh of relief. “Hello, Miss Aenwyn. Please sit down first.” Aethelwolf was just nearby so he put on a smile as he looked at Aenwyn.

Since she was still bound by the Slave Rune, she was still under his control, but what he didn’t know was that the Slave Rune he was seeing was just a fake created by Aethelwolf to fool him.