Wolf left the Church of Fairness. Just as he headed towards the Mage Academy to shout at that conning old bastard, a Duke’s footman arrived to escort him to the palace. Wolf swallowed his grievance for the time being and followed the servant.

The meeting unfolded exactly as Headmaster Smith speculated. Wolf received a ridiculous offer to become a Viscount without-a-land, with the possibility of further advancing his noble rank, depending on his contributions.

Wolf refused, still becoming a Baron without-a-land. However, Duke Silverhound didn’t offer his daughter’s hand in marriage. The Duke hid it well, but even Wolf figured out that Silverhound’s ruler shunned him for being a pervert.

Wolf returned to the Mage Academy at three in the afternoon. His anger died down. He was even clear-headed enough to knock on the Headmaster’s door, and wait until the disembodied voice allowed him to enter.

Wolf entered the office, bowing just enough. Richard was present, smiling faintly at Wolf’s forced show of respect.

“At ease. Are you here to return my loyalty card?” Headmaster Smith asked without raising his head.

“You conned me!” The young Mage shouted, straightening his servile posture.

“Sir.” He added when the Headmaster lifted his gaze and cocked an eyebrow at Wolf.

“I conned you? Did you use my loyalty card?” Headmaster smiled and lowered his eyes, pretending to examine official documents, like reading a report could take more than an instant of his time.

Richard stifled his chortle behind Headmaster Smith’s back.

“You gave me that card—” Wolf started, but the Headmaster didn’t let him finish.

“Correct.” The man’s voice was sharp as he cut apart Wolf’s words. “I gave you that card, and when you expressed your gratitude, I told you that you shouldn’t thank me. Correct?”

“Well, yes, but—”

Headmaster Smith raised his hand. “We’re all men here. No butts, please. Have I mentioned YOU getting a discount from using my card?”

Wolf’s face turned red from anger and embarrassment. “Um… No. You never said that.”

Wolf paused, trying to make a reasonable case. Split second later, he had an argument. “But the purchase I made resulted in you getting a discount!”

“Well, yes.” Headmaster Smith nodded, destroying Wolf with a collected voice. “Thank you. That was mighty decent of you. However, you lost nothing to achieve it. Meaning, we can treat it like you never held that card in your hands.”

“But, I thought—”

“Stop thinking with your butt and start asking questions.” Lord of Steel twisted words with a straight face. “Mages can’t lie. However, we can deceive. Implied meaning, unfinished sentences, acting without speaking and letting people misunderstand your intentions, or making long, complex verbal constructs in which those without strong enough faculties get mired up are just some of the most obvious approaches you can use.”

Wolf frowned. He shut up and considered his situation. Headmaster tried to portray this scam as an effort to educate him.

Wolf wouldn’t fall for it. “Don’t you already have more than enough money? And do you ever buy stuff from House of Fairness? If you were a regular, the card should’ve given me some discount.”

“You aren’t poor.” Headmaster dodged Wolf’s questions. “I gave you a bunch of Academic Credits this morning, and you killed that kid from Highseat. Even after you overpaid for the regeneration potion, you must have money on you. So why would you care about miniscule discounts?”

Just as he was in the middle of his righteous speech, Lord of Steel remembered something. He stopped himself from barraging Wolf with rhetorical questions and changed the subject.

“Oh, by the way, do you mind returning my loyalty card? You never know when you might need it.” Richard bit his cheeks from inside, stopping himself from laughing aloud.

Wolf sighed, looking at the two stooges.

Richard said he endured this crap for twenty years before going crazy? I don’t think I could last a week with this loon. He admired the old secretary’s mental fortitude.

Wolf surrendered and placed the black card on the table before sitting down. He knew this was Headmaster Smith’s teasing, but he was powerless. The old kook didn’t care about the loyalty card. If Wolf destroyed it, he’d appear like a child throwing a tantrum.

Wolf could curse and shout, but Headmaster Smith was insane and by venting Wolf would stoop down to his level. And finally, the Headmaster was right. He never claimed Wolf would benefit from using his card, so he didn’t scam him in the literal sense.

Wolf could only pretend nothing happened, while learning from this incident. That being the case, he calmed down. “Why did you promote Mandy?”

“Because of nepotism, naturally. A wise man stated nepotism makes the world go round.” Headmaster Smith grinned with disgusting self-satisfaction. Wolf knew at a glance the kook waited for that question.

Watching expressions dance on his face is interesting. He’s like an actor or a jester. Based on that smug look of his, I bet he’s the wise man who said those words. Wolf didn’t want to delve into details. Staying silent saved him from headaches.

“Thanks, I guess. Do you mind if I ask a question? Um, Sir.” Wolf realized Lord of Steel messed with his head so much he’d forgotten about addressing him with respect.

“Not at all. Ask away.” Headmaster Smith motioned the youth to speak freely.

“Why do you need money?” Wolf couldn’t understand what drove this crazy bastard.

“To buy stuff, stupid. I don’t have women who take loans to buy trinkets for me. Anything else?” Headmaster Smith rolled his eyes at Wolf’s stupid question.

“What I mean is, what’s there worth buying for someone like you?” Wolf clarified, failing to understand why Lord of Steel regretted not being a gigolo.

“Plenty of things. Research materials, like those irregular Monster Cores you brought, ancient books, ores, crafting materials… The more powerful you are, the more money you throw on random things.” The Headmaster had a bitter expression as he said this. It was like him telling Wolf ‘You poor people can’t understand the woes of us rich people’.

Wolf exchanged a couple more sentences with Headmaster Smith before retreating in an attempt to salvage his sanity.

Once he left the office Richard chuckled. “Sir, you’re still scamming people with those loyalty cards? I remember when you tried to fool me back in the day. Fortunately, Uncle already had one, so I took his when…”

I wonder if he’s ever going to figure out why I made him act before me the way he should act before a Duke? Headmaster Smith half-listened as Richard retold the story of the proud time of his youth when he didn’t fall for one of Smith’s harmless pranks.

This is the twenty-third time he’s telling that story in front of me…

***

Wolf hurried back to his dorm suite. Unfortunately, Wayde wasn’t in. Wolf wanted to have a chat and a drink with his friend, but it wasn’t reasonable to expect Wayde to spend his days lounging on the couch, waiting for Wolf to open the door and barge in just so that he could lock up properly.

Wolf opened the door to his bedroom. He looked at the floor, but found no envelope there.

She’ll get over it. Wolf closed the door with a sigh. His mood improved the next moment as he took out the Cube of Fusing. The item was a tad bigger than Wolf’s hand, and based on its weight, it was constructed from a fingernail-wide sheet of avarium.

Wolf read the instruction manual again, then recited the proper chant.

The black cube twisted as if caught in a vortex of space. An instant later, Archibald’s Ring of Holding sucked it in. This Ring of Holding wasn’t the biggest one Wolf ever had, but it was big enough. And Wolf planned on using this memento for the rest of his life, even if its space was only of a ten thousand gold pieces grade.

As soon as the last bit of blackness was sucked into the Ring of Holding Wolf inspected it. A black cubic space formed in the center of the ring. Its side was a whooping ten meters.

How can this ever be too small? Wolf focused and shifted the adamantium sticks and mithril bars into the black cube. The blackness greedily devoured them, and ten seconds later a powerful ward covered its surface.

Curious, Wolf tried to add a silver piece to the cube, but the coin was repelled as the ward turned into layers of shiny golden runes.

So, in two weeks I should have a new sword. Wolf flashed a smile and his eyes sparkled. He felt naked without a good blade. Considering the amount of materials, this should be a proper-sized long-sword. And since it's made solely from mithril and adamantium, it should be usable against Monster Beasts above Tenth Order.

Wolf then thought about how to spend these two weeks. He couldn’t explore Demon Forest weaponless.

I’ve been slacking with Soul Force harvesting. If I start now, I can hit some thirty brothels.

Wolf was about to go and explore houses of pleasure when he suddenly felt a tug on his soul.

Ah, dammit. I promised Mandy I’d spend the night at her place.