Wizard starting from shoeing donkeys

The crest was of an exceptional design, depicting a winged woman whose visage was strikingly beautiful, but whose arms had metamorphosed into wings, and whose legs still retained human form.

Her whole figure appeared to be in flight, exuding a peculiarly eerie sense of beauty.

Rein had no idea what creature this could be, but he felt it must also be a being from the arcane side.

"Eh? This is the family crest of Viscount Usman," the beautiful woman said with a hint of surprise.

"Viscount Usman?" Rein voiced his confusion.

Having only recently been elevated, Rein was, naturally, not well-acquainted with the various nobles within the Meister County.

Of course, the main reason was that Rein himself did not wish to expend his limited energy entangling with the various colored nobility.

"Yes, the Usman family is said to be a branch of a certain Duke's family in the Empire; a long time ago, they migrated to Meister," the beautiful woman thought for a moment before adding more explanation.

"It was rumored that the Usman family were originally a lineage of Magicians, hence all their descendants carry the blood of sorcerers."

"By the way, a Magician is a Wizard merged with a special bloodline, considered a particular branch of wizards," the beautiful lady elaborated in detail.

"Hmm? Magician?" Rein raised an eyebrow, having indeed read about such matters in those few ancient spirit-scripted tomes.

Ancient Magicians were actually a group that had fused with extraordinary bloodlines, a unique branch of ancient wizards. These wizards had assimilated a myriad of bloodline types, leading to varied combat capabilities with some extremely strong and others quite weak.

Later, wizards discovered that although bloodline integration could bring a surge in strength for that generation, it also came with clear disadvantages.

That is, an alien bloodline could subtly affect a person's personality, emotions, appearance, and so forth, causing the ancient wizards to reflect upon an issue, "Though one has gained immense power, is he still himself?"

Additionally, there was another issue: when reaching a certain level of power, the alien bloodline would deeply merge with the individual, thus passing down to the next generation.

And so, a greater drawback emerged.

Many Magician lineages with unstable bloodlines would experience mutations in their offspring. If the mutations were benign, that would have been very good, but all too often there would be uncontrollable, even malevolent mutations among the progeny.

For those Magician families with relatively stable bloodlines, they faced the trouble of blood purity weakening over generations of offspring.

Unless during this process, an exceptionally outstanding heir emerged to strengthen the bloodline, but the chances were extremely slim, leading many Magician families to extinction in the river of history.

Upon hearing that the other party could be from an ancient Sorcerer family, Rein's interest was piqued, and at the same time, he was quite curious as to what they wanted from him.

"Invite them to the parlor," Rein turned to the servant and instructed.

After some thought, Rein turned to the beautiful woman and said, "Madam, please accompany me."

Since there were others present, Rein always addressed Jennifer as Madam.

Outside the entrance of Rein Mansion.

By the side of the carriage.

"Miss Naya, wouldn't it be inappropriate for me to invite him directly? Perhaps we should wait for Lord Hamilton to return and have him extend the invitation,"

Naya replied, "Knight Lawrence, did you not hear it a couple of days ago? Baron Rein is about to depart to take up his new assignment in Fishing Port Town."

"Besides, no one knows where Lord Hamilton has gone these past couple of days. I think I'd like to try inviting him myself."

"Miss Naya, are you implying that the frequency of your episodes is increasing?" Knight Lawrence seemed to realize something and asked with a tinge of anxiety.

Naya nodded gently without a word.

Knight Lawrence instantly understood why Miss Naya was in such a rush.

"Miss, I understand," he said.

"Knight, Baron Rein invites you to come inside for a talk," announced the servant who had come out quickly from the mansion, addressing Knight Lawrence.

...

Within the parlor.

"Baron Rein, good day. I am Lawrence, a knight of the Usman family. This visit is to seek your assistance for Miss Naya," he said.

"In fact, we had reached out to Lord Hamilton quite some time ago, but for some reason, we could not reach Lord Hamilton these past couple of days."

Rein nodded.

That day, Hamilton seemed to hold back from speaking, probably about this Usman family matter.

In the last few days, Hamilton must have been busy with arranging the essence of the behemoth for Rein, hence not being in the County Town, as Rein had not seen Hamilton even during the duel.

"This... As it involves some secrets, could you possibly find time to visit the Usman family's estate?" Knight Lawrence looked at the beautiful woman and the Attendant, then spoke.

"Knight Lawrence, how about this: if Lord Hamilton hasn't returned in three days, I will pay a visit to the Usman family. Is that acceptable?" Rein considered before replying.

It wasn't that Rein liked to court trouble, but since Jennifer mentioned that they were a family of sorcerers, perhaps the Usman family might hold sorcery conducive to his needs.

If he could help them with this undisclosed issue...

"Of course, that would be fine. Thank you, Baron! I shall take my leave now," Lawrence said with a hint of joy.