Chapter 412

412 Decision to sponsor the first soldier

Ester became surprised, while Lupa became confused. Both didn’t expect to see a soldier kneeling in front of them and thanking Ester from the bottom of his heart.

On the other hand, Maria held mixed feelings swirling inside her. Vincent didn’t reveal her identity, yet the man on his knees was over the moon to find the woman who froze the fountain.

Maria understood Vincent didn’t want to reveal her identity. Yet, Vincent still turned the situation into one where she could hear what the people who knew about the frozen fountain had to say about her indirectly.

Maria never wanted to mention the subject because she feared recalling horrible memories, yet seeing the soldier being this thankful for what she had done made her heart feel warm.

A faint warm smile appeared on her face, and Maria felt happy to hear how her act ended up saving someone’s life.

“Soldier. Now that you found your ice mage, what do you intend to do?” Maira asked.

“I will do my best to use my body and protect my sister’s savior from harm.” The soldier unhesitantly responded.

“Is your sister healthy now?” Maria asked next after a satisfying answer. She wanted to know if the person she saved was alive and well.

“My sister was born with a weak body, and she gets sick easily. I work overtime because I fear she would die if she went to work somewhere...” The soldier paused and showed a distressed expression. “I need to buy her medicine because she recently caught a summer cold.”

.....

The soldier shook his head and continued, “But I will not beg the people who saved my sister for help.”

.

[Name] Phil

[Race] Human

[Age] 26

[Condition] Healthy

[Traits] Blood Tempered Body Stage One

[Class] Warrior

[Stats] Strength 15 || Agility 12 || Perception 10 || Mana 0

.

[Class Warrior]

*Wild Blow

*Strong Body +2

.

‘This soldier’s words are giving me an idea. How about I ask if he is willing to...’ Vincent thought when Kazumi interrupted while saying the same thing.

[Vincent. We can make him our sponsored soldier.]

-Yea, Iris could provide some herbs, and we might snag ourselves a soldier to watch our property.-

“I can help if you agree to become the Lionheart’s sponsored soldier. We need more protection, as you saw. And if it is difficult, your sister can work here as a live-in maid. However, the payment I can offer her is lodging, food, and medicinal herbs.” Vincent said his recruiting pitch.

Ester, Lupa, Maria, and the soldier Phil stared at Vincent in surprise. It made him feel a little nervous if he said something wrong.

*Gulp* The soldier Phil isn’t that strong because he spends a lot of time working to provide for his remaining family member. But still, he was offered a deal from a noble. He couldn’t believe his hearing.

Being sponsored means receiving a favor of different magnitudes from nobles. In turn, the soldiers would display how they have received a favor by displaying the noble’s family emblem. Furthermore, they would have more chances for favors. Thus, it becomes a sponsorship because they could receive a favor at any time.

“W-will my sister be in safe hands?...” Phil respectfully bowed and continued nervously, “I-I-I am sorry, my lord, for doubting your magnanimity but m-my sister...”

“Phil, you decide what to do. I am not going to force you to accept. You don’t know us. You don’t know if I will keep my word or if your sister will become a hostage.” Vincent said. He approached Phil and helped him stand up.

“I will need to go back to the academy, and my wife, who is proficient with herbs, will also be with me.” *Pat* Vincent placed his hand on Phil’s shoulder and continued, “Bring your sister today if you accept my offer. I will wait until five o’clock in the evening. I will prepare to depart at the fifth bell ring of the afternoon.”

Phil became shocked to hear his name. He never mentioned his name, yet Vincent said it so confidently as if he knew. Regardless of his surprise, the noble making this offer didn’t act with bad intentions, and his sister’s savior lived in this mansion as well.

“My lord...” Phil looked at Vincent and then at the mansion. His sister’s life was all he had left to live for, and after hearing nasty rumors about noble’s, letting his sister become a hostage would be his death.

“I... I need time to think about it...” Phil said.

[How about we provide a sample? He is our very first customer, after all, hehe.]

Kazumi sounded excited to recruit a soldier. She felt as if they could have an army of sponsored soldiers if they tap into the market the nobles themselves created because of their greed. The market of healing and medicine.

Vincent looked at Lupa, requested her to bring Iris, and told her to bring something to help with a cold. Soon, Iris arrived with Lupa.

Iris noticed the soldier was strangely looking at her because Vincent called the herbalist his wife. She nervously went beside Vincent and asked what he needed.

Iris understood the situation and smiled warmly. She felt help to help someone in need.

“Here, take this and this. If this dried seed is crushed and mixed in warm water, it will help with a cold. But it will make the throat sore, so crush his leaf and add with the crushed dried seed to help reduce the soreness.” Iris said while placing a leaf and a dried seed in Phil’s hand.

Phil stared at his hand. The seed and leaf looked ordinary, but the two ordinary items became precious after hearing the explanation.

“Thank you.” Phil respectfully bowed to Iris, and it made her blush. She never expected to be thanked by a human, moreover a soldier so respectfully.

Phil bowed respectfully to everyone once each and left.

“Vincent. Is this why you called me?” Maria asked with a frown.

“Yes. I didn’t want to reveal your identity. But hearing that soldier showing gratitude to someone who wanted to hide her identity made me feel bad for not letting him know that the search can be finally over.” Vincent glanced at Ester and continued, “Because Ester can use Frost Sigil, I decided she can represent you.”

“Teacher Maria. I read this line once in a novel. Every deed can bear good consequences. So I hope you can forgive me if you feel what I did was unnecessary.” Vincent expressed his reason to help Maria lessen her cold defensive gaze.

[Vincent. We have an appointment with Byron. Why don’t we prepare?]

-Yeah.-

“Ester. Lupa. Iris. Could you tell Sakura to wait for me a little longer? I need to visit Marquis Byron Sunrise. Also, could you tell Lilith’s parents about the possibility of having our first sponsored soldier?” Vincent requested.

“I will also tell Maid Xu to prepare the possibility of two people living in our home. ” Ester said. She looked at Lupa and Iris. “Sisters, you can continue doing what you planned.”

“Yey! I can tell those sisters to change with he copy humans and spar with them!” Lupa responded excitedly.

“Thank you, sister Ester. I want to play with the children and tend to the plants with them.” Iris responded with a pleasant smile.

“I will stay here for a while and go take a stroll around the south part of the city.” Maria shooed Vincent with her hand and continued, “Hurry up now. I can’t go back to the academy late, so be quick with your business.”

Vincent and Sofy soon left the mansion and went to the Sunrise Mansion.

Byron greeted Vincent like a noble this time. The two of them stayed in a comfortable living room, but a situation arose.

Vincent asked the maids serving him tea also to serve Sofy a cup. The maids frowned because Sofy was a slave. She was of lower stature than a commoner.

However, with one snap of his fingers, Byron’s words surprised everyone in the living room. Byron ordered his maids to prepare Sofy a chair to sit near Vincent and serve her as she was also his guest. A noble treating a slave as a guest was a rare occurrence in noble households.

Vincent thanked Byron for his action and discussed what he wanted to commission the Sunrise Construction Company. Later, Byron’s architect presented a blueprint of the requested commission.

“One cabin made out of wood that isn’t too big in size. It needs only to have a ground floor and a first floor. A slanted roof is preferred to protect it from collapsing because of the snow. Three windows for both floors and a slightly larger entrance door with two doors to allow large familiars to enter. And lastly, a thick stone foundation that can’t be destroyed easily.”

Byron read what was requested and checked if the blueprint had all the requested needs. He handed Vincent the blueprint and saw a smile on his face.

“Look, Sofy. This will be my pocket cabin, hehe.” Vincent was over the moon. Kazumi was also interested to see the expression of someone suddenly stumbling into a cabin in the forest when they go adventuring one day.

On the other hand, Sofy didn’t understand why Vincent called it a pocket cabin. She didn’t know Vincent could upgrade his Soul Dimensional Storage endlessly.

“Great. Please tell me the cost, and I will come here to retrieve my building when it is ready.” Vincent said.

“Because I have undertaken another project, I might be able to finish your cabin almost by the deadline date you have specified. But Vincent, what do you mean by coming here to retrieve the building?” Byron asked with a puzzled frown. He felt the word retrieve contained a lot of mystery.