Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 616: Fifteen Again

Asher stared at the bowing Lyra for a moment, then sighed with a slight shake of his head. He turned and continued to walk with the same calmness as his thoughts wandered, his expression remaining composed and unreadable.

’At least, with this, she would step into the Dust Wavestar Life Rank much faster as a result of the pressure that comes with constant and varied battles,’ Asher thought to himself as he walked, his mind already moving several steps ahead.

Although he had not given Lyra any mission grade, normally, she was supposed to understand that she was meant to take missions of her level in order to improve, but if she chose to act smart and lazy, she could simply take any random weak missions, merely completing Asher’s orders each month without real growth.

If she did this, Asher would only sigh in disappointment and accept that perhaps he did not know Lyra as well as he thought he did.

But of course, Asher did not plan to just send her into the wild without any protection. In a dangerous world like Crymora, Lyra could die from her first mission alone; life was simply that unpredictable and unforgiving. Asher was not naive enough to believe that he was some reincarnated protagonist, and hence the laws or fate of the world would shield him and his loved ones... he was not delusional.

He planned to go to Yveric later in the day and tell him to send anyone of at least Radiant Voidstar Life Rank to follow Lyra and protect her during the mission. A Crownstar Life Ranker would be better, but Asher did not dare order around a Crownstar Life Ranker, even if they served the Wargrave family. Besides, he had not met any other Crownstar Life Ranker within the Knight Round Order aside from Yveric.

And he also planned on making this Knight protector follow Lyra in secret and only step in when her life was in danger and certain death loomed. Who knew, if he allowed the Knight to openly follow Lyra, she might begin courting death without restraint?

The Wargraves had thousands of Knights; Asher was sure that any of them would happily and willingly follow Lyra in secret just so they could get some fresh air, along with some battle and action. After all, they had been stuck here for what felt like forever, doing nothing but training unless called upon to follow the Duke on a mission, which he did not take every Knight on to begin with.

As Asher was lost in his own thoughts, Lyra was also lost in hers. Although she was on the fence about battles, she could not help but look forward to this mission. After all, she had not fought any real battles in a long while, and had only sparred with her fellow maids and butlers so that they could at least remain somewhat sharp.

She had not also used her awakened ability in a while; she looked forward to using it again. In this moment, Lyra felt like a child who had just gone through their awakening ceremony and obtained their ability, eagerly anticipating the chance to fight monsters and beasts with it... suddenly, she felt fifteen again.

An amused smile appeared on her beautiful face as she looked forward to it. The next moment, she was snapped out of her thoughts by Asher’s voice.

"If there are any papers you need, like a permit slip you need to show anyone, like the Knights or whoever, just tell me and I will sign it before I return to the Star Academy," Asher stated as he walked, his tone steady.

Although he did not know exactly what Lyra would need, he could reasonably assume that she might require something. If he mistakenly returned to the Star Academy without signing any parchment that Lyra might need, then his orders might become no different from dust.

And of course, the Wargraves had their own mission channels; Lyra did not need to head to an Adventurer’s Guild and register and all that. Although Asher was not familiar with the Wargrave’s mission building or hall, he was certain it existed somewhere within their vast estate.

"Yes, Young Master, I will get them ready as soon as possible," Lyra replied swiftly, her voice firm.

"One last thing," Asher spoke again, his steps coming to a halt before the First Training Ground where he had spent months in training. He had also returned here after his first Star Academy mission. He shook his head slightly as he continued speaking, "Later today, we will be visiting a few villages, the villages that posted the mission I took. I would need you to prepare things you think various villages would need. Clothes, food, crops, basic weapons and shields, shoes, seeds, wheat, medicine, water, and things like that."

He waved his hand, and a thousand platinum coins appeared in the air, suspended by his Astra energy control, "I think there are about ten villages in total. Even if what you are buying seems too much, still buy it; one can never have excessive food. Also, break some of the platinum coins into gold that we would share amongst them," he gave out another order, his tone leaving no room for misunderstanding.

Asher was going to enrich them with an abundance of resources. He would distribute everything evenly across all villages to ensure that one village would not go to battle with another over resources. Also, he was not going to grant them some powerful artefact or anything like that; he would only give them what could naturally be found in a village, just in far greater abundance.

Giving them artefacts or anything remotely close was simply setting them up to be slaughtered like pigs.

"Also, do we have anyone within the Wargrave family or any individual within our territory that has the ability to increase the fertility of land or something like that? If you find any, hire them," Asher stated in finality, his thoughts already considering long-term benefits.

Villagers were known to own their own farms; him increasing their land fertility would make them even more stable and content.

Lyra’s eyes flickered as her mind ran through Asher’s orders, mentally processing them and arranging everything she needed with precision and efficiency, "As you order, Young Master," she stated.

"If the money I gave you isn’t enough, use yours, I will refund you when we are done," Asher added as he walked, "Anything else?" he asked, glancing slightly in her direction.

Lyra fell into her thoughts briefly, then replied, "Not at the moment, Young Master," her voice low and respectful.

"Then prepare as fast as you can, we leave in five hours," Asher replied. It was still morning, there was no need to delay. "Also, inform the kitchen to prepare something for me, I’m quite famished. I will have it when I return. Do not wait for me to return in order to serve me, have someone else do that. Your priorities at the moment are the items I listed for the villages and villagers," Asher added, his tone leaving no room for negotiation.

"Yes, Young Master," Lyra replied promptly.

"Then I will be back," Asher stated. He turned to Lyra, nodded at her, and vanished, teleporting to his room where Malrik was waiting. Virelass, seeing that Asher had left her behind, simply hummed at Lyra as though saying goodbye, and also vanished as she teleported to Asher’s location.