"You all!"

The City Lord of Qiling grabbed his head, almost pulling his hair off.

He picked up whatever he could find near him and tossed it at the guard who came to inform him.

The guard couldn't avoid the bottle that came flying at him. The glass bottle smashed on his head before shattering.

Some of the glass pieces even stabbed his face, causing blood to trickle down his face.

The Guard didn't react. He didn't wipe the blood either. He could only wait for the City Lord to calm down.

He knew that in anger, the City Lord could even kill him.

"I told you to be careful and not create any trouble, and even then...!"

"It's good that she killed that bastard! If not, I would have killed him myself!"

He stood up and wore a robe over his shoulders.

"Did you find out where she is staying?"

"I did. She is staying in a nearby hotel. I believe she will be leaving in the morning."

"Good. In that case, we still have time to apologize. And if we can get her to attend the Birthday Celebration of the Prince, it would be even better!"

He was scared of the woman and the consequences that came with her appearance, but it was also a great opportunity to impress the Prince.

If he could prove his competence by bringing such a powerful guest, then he could rise to an even higher level.

....

"Grade Three Alchemy Knowledge. What a reward. I definitely can't miss it."

Eren walked inside the city, still looking forward to the new reward.

In this world, an Alchemist was a profession that could be seen in all four continents.

Only after training for decades, could someone become a Grade Three Alchemist. And from that point on, it was even harder.

The Alchemists weren't strong like the four Overlords. But they had a lot of influence in this world.

Only a few organizations had independence and were allowed to operate in all four continents. The Alchemist Association was one of them.

It had branches in every Kingdom, in every Continent. They remained neutral in the conflict of the four continents, but that was only on the outside.

Eren knew that it was a secret that was still unknown in this world. It was only explored in later parts of the novel when the Main Character joined the Alchemist Association.

'If I become an official Alchemist, it could truly help me hide my identity when I travel. But I need to accept a second disciple for that.'

'She might be willing if I expose my identity, but I need to do that without exposing my identity. That makes things complicated.'

Eren was lost in thoughts, not paying attention to his surroundings.

Along the way, he almost bumped into the people around him. If it wasn't for Xiu Ying, he might have hit someone.

After thinking for a long time, he thought of something. He couldn't achieve it with just himself, but he wasn't alone here.

"Ying, I want to accept a second disciple."

"Is there someone in your mind?"

"Yeah. The girl who interfered before. She is a part of the Great Demon Sect as well. She also appears to have good values, which is rare nowadays."

"That arrogant girl? If you need talented people, I can have the Sect arrange for the Core Disciples. But that girl... She disrespected you. Accepting her now would be awarding her."

"I understand what you're saying, but I have made up my mind."

Xiu Ying looked at Eren. He was insisting on it and she couldn't say no to him.

"If it makes you happy, then so be it. I will drag her to you."

"It won't be helpful if you do that. I don't want to accept her as an Elder of the Sect. I don't want to tell her my identity when I accept her."

"Without exposing your identity? Isn't that much harder?"

"It should be harder, but I thought of a plan. And in that place, I would need your help."

Xiu Ying looked at him suspiciously.

"What plan?"

"Have you heard of the Hero saving the beauty? Now what if the Hero was a powerful expert who was looking for a disciple?"

Eren told her the plan. And the most important part of the plan was Xiu Ying. Or rather, it was her charm.

"If we go with the plan, not just this city, but the entire Kingdom..."

"That's correct. I would sacrifice this city to accept a disciple. But I don't see anything wrong in it."

Eren knew the true history of this Kingdom and how the Second Prince tricked Elder Zhang to kill the Crown Prince.

At first, he wasn't planning to bother about such things and be on his way after resting. But the guards of this city tried to do things that they shouldn't.

Even at a time like this, the guards were still behaving like this. It was clear that things in this city hadn't changed.

Even then, he thought about the greater good and wanted to avoid attracting too much attention. But with the option he selected, he had no choice.

He had to accept a disciple. He had to become an Alchemist.

The young woman looked down on weak people. To have her look up to him, he had to show her a glimpse of strength that she never saw.

But if he just did that out of nowhere, he might come across as a Villain. Hence, he wanted to create Villains for his story.

Only by creating Villains could he become the Hero of this story. And what better opportunity than this.

'My beautiful disciple, I'm really not the Main Character. So I can only use such tricks. I hope you won't mind...'

....

One after another, Carriages started arriving in the city.

The young representatives of various Sects had started arriving in the City of Qiling to attend the Birthday Celebration of the Crown Prince and the Personal Disciple of Asura Sect Master.

Special gates were opened for the carriages so they didn't have to wait in lines.

Before evening, most of the guests had arrived. And lastly, one more carriage arrived, belonging to the Crown Prince.