Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Carpenter stomped his foot and asked anxiously, ”Daring to come find me, and even specifically naming me...is there some idiot in my family who’s actually an idiot?”

Russell rolled his eyes helplessly: Not all families are the same, Carpenter’s family members are all very good at hiding themselves, regularly pretending to be crazy and foolish, driven by vanity.

So, even though Carpenter became an apprentice, the worst path would be to enter the town or marry into a Mage Family under certain conditions. However, the upper echelons of the Hainarson Clan wouldn’t dare to easily promote her family members.

Although the treatment is good, there’s no excessive elevation.

On the other hand, his family’s members tend to be quite thin-skinned, incapable of such behavior, and thus can only present themselves as cold and arrogant.

But how should I put it, Russell’s talents are much better than Carpenter’s. It’s the kind where, even if he won’t become a mage in his youth, there’s still a possibility...so the family treats his family members with caution.

With someone like Ulrich standing in front, and seemingly at odds with the family, the Hainarson Clan Leader and Elders dare not create another force to rival Ulrich.

After all, Ulrich could truly pull it off—taking his family and fleeing to Gilbert, never looking back.

Yet because of this vague connection, their families didn’t attract much attention...the Hainarson Clan is the big player.

Russell shook his head, pondering, ”Our families don’t really stand out much...do you think someone in the family already turned traitor and has some connection to your family? That’s why they did it this way?

If it were really someone from your family, they wouldn’t be so direct about it, right?

Let someone else try to pass a message, making you anxious to run out...that would be normal, right?”

The somewhat irritated Carpenter suddenly caught on: ”Are you saying, could it be my cousin’s family?”

”Hmm?” Russell didn’t quite catch it, ”Who? Your cousin isn’t also my...?”

”Don’t you remember? When we moved into the apprentice dormitory, weren’t there a few people inside?” Carpenter frowned and said helplessly, ”There was someone inside who, according to logic, is my mom’s sister and Uncle Tevel...do you remember? He and our parents should be grandchildren of our great-grandfather, but, well, only related to me by blood.

So, he’s my cousin, and has nothing to do with you, get it?”

”Oh? Oh...” Russell was still confused, ”I remember, their batch should already have been mid-level apprentices, right?

As long as you’re a Mage Apprentice, even if there’s a slightly awkward family relationship, as long as you’re named Hainarson, the treatment won’t be too bad, why would he hate you?

Does it have anything to do with your aunt?”

”My aunt always put giving birth above raising children.” Carpenter shook his head, ”She’s the one with the mage aptitude, but you know, though my mom and aunt can be said to come from a Mage Family... they only had a grandfather who was a forever 2nd-ring mage, and the family barely sustains its appearance by producing descendants with a bit of mage aptitude.

Not every branch of the Hainarson Clan is like ours, always marrying into families with mages.

When they came to the Tower of Dark Enigma, all marriages to establish footing, especially with the town public office apprentice families, were made using those branches.

Marrying off my mom and aunt to our branch was natural because they both exhibited some mage attributes.

Even if they could only use magic tricks to cast small light orbs, they had it.

So, it’s no wonder my sister and I have mage aptitude...on the contrary, it’s surprising my aunt’s side never had such children.”

”Oh, right, I remember now, isn’t your aunt over 20 years older than your mom?” Russell suddenly recalled...although their family wasn’t fond of discussing such gossip, he had heard that the Tevel family was quite dissatisfied with the lady’s blood because the consecutive children lacked mage aptitude.

So later, Carpenter’s mother marrying in might have had something to do with such rumors...her mother’s family relied entirely on marriage to support themselves! Such talk really hurt their family’s reputation.

Carpenter has two brothers, though their aptitude isn’t great...generally speaking, this referred to magic trick practitioners...but they had it, so the issue didn’t escalate.

Then, the Tevel family apparently had a boy with mage aptitude, and the matter completely vanished, and no one spoke about it anymore.

Similarly though, Carpenter’s mother’s family refused to send another daughter to the Hainarson family to be mishandled.

This disappointed many in the Hainarson Clan. Really, not many were willing to marry children with mage aptitude into the town Mage Families.

Even if the bride price was very high, it was the same...the offer from mages in the Tower of Dark Enigma was actually higher.

But girls with slight blood ties but unable to become Mage Apprentices were mostly sent off as mistresses.

Whether it was a bit of familial affection or the grandfather unwilling to completely tarnish his name, Carpenter’s mother’s family only married off their girls, never sold them off.

After Carpenter appeared, it seemed like many in the Hainarson Clan were quite annoyed with the Tevel family, so even when it was later discovered that the boy wasn’t truly of family blood, no one said anything: after all, their family was foreign, had a very distinct look, quite different from the locals at the Tower of Dark Enigma.

The boy’s face didn’t contain a single feature resembling the Hainarson—only an idiot wouldn’t see it.

”Hmm...” Russell finally grasped the implication in Carpenter’s words, ”Your aunt’s lover is someone from the Tower of Dark Enigma?”

”Could you not speak so coarsely?” Carpenter grumbled, ”What should I do?

He can come in, and even gets West to pass messages, surely not because of the Hainarson Clan, right!”

”West belongs to a faction, too.” Russell whispered, ”Him helping to pass messages doesn’t necessarily mean the other side’s strength pressures him.”

”Hmm?” Carpenter understood his meaning, ”Are you suggesting to just ignore it?”

”West is pretty adaptable.” Russell turned and grabbed Carpenter’s arm, quickly heading to the hall, ”Just cut the connection.”

”What if he contacts me again?” Carpenter said a bit uneasily, ”What if, his father brings him to our doorstep?

I’ve heard from my mom that my aunt’s lover holds a high status.”

”Why listen to them?” Walking ahead, Russell couldn’t help but sneer, ”Of course your aunt would say that, she’s endured so much suffering—she won’t rest unless she causes trouble for the Tevel family.

If even the family doesn’t interfere, and someone who cares so much about family reputation like Ulrich hasn’t spoken up, you should know, everyone understands.

They’re just asking for it.

But you should also know, the person she hooked up with definitely doesn’t have higher status than our teacher...power can indeed be useful at times, but against our teacher’s status, power can take a cut.

Unnoticed things, whether good or bad, don’t affect the family at all.

Are you really scared by your aunt’s boasting?

Oh? By the way, you haven’t said why your cousin would trouble you?

Your mom was pretty good to her sisters!”

”Probably, unwillingness?” Carpenter said, a bit confused, ”He became a mid-level apprentice shortly after leaving the apprentice dorms.

I suspect he received some help from that person, so he feels like the family didn’t give him what he deserves.

Especially when things get better for me.”

”Does he think his aptitude is similar to yours?” Russell asked bluntly, ”At 16, unable to become a mid-level apprentice on his own, what aptitude is he talking about?”

”Who knows?” Carpenter shrugged, ”My aunt doesn’t bother about such matters, so I haven’t seen him much.

I just could sense he didn’t like me, his attitude towards me in the apprentice dorm years was bad, but I was always following you around, he never directly troubled me.”

Russell suddenly stopped: ”Did he eat something that suddenly made him a mid-level apprentice?

So, what now? Is he a mage?”

”Never heard of it!” Carpenter said confidently.