Chapter 87: Fishy Question

Amon gently put Seraphina down, allowing her feet to touch the floor before releasing his hold around her.

Seraphina looked at him curiously, adjusting her clothes slightly as she asked, "What happened?"

"Your mother is calling me outside."

Seraphina blinked in confusion. "Why would she call you for?"

"I have no idea." Amon shook his head and quickly picked up his bag, storing it inside his spatial bracelet before walking toward the exit.

Seraphina followed him for a few steps before stopping near the door. "I’ll see you this evening."

Amon looked back at her with a small smile. "I can’t promise that, but I’ll try."

He stepped closer and gave her a gentle peck on the lips before turning around and leaving the training room.

A few minutes later, Amon walked out of the Adventurer Bureau and immediately noticed a familiar car waiting nearby.

One of the windows was rolled down, revealing Felicia sitting inside while looking down at a tablet in her hands.

Amon walked closer, and the car door opened automatically.

Felicia raised one hand and gestured for him to get inside without even looking up from the screen.

Amon sighed before getting into the car and sitting on the seat opposite her. "Why did you call me?"

Felicia finally looked up from her tablet without saying anything.

She was dressed in an elegant vintage-style dress, with a high collar, fitted waist, and long flowing skirt that gave her an old-fashioned appearance.

Her pale golden hair fell neatly over her shoulders, while her golden eyes carried the same sharpness that Amon had learned not to underestimate.

Even while sitting casually, her posture remained graceful, and the dress emphasized the mature elegance of her figure.

The car began moving through the city.

Felicia leaned back against her seat and continued staring at him for several seconds before finally speaking. "My daughter has been walking strangely for a while."

Amon immediately crossed his legs and chuckled awkwardly. "I have absolutely no idea why she would do that."

Felicia slowly turned her eyes toward him.

The cold glare she gave him was enough to make most people reconsider their words.

Amon’s smile became slightly stiffer.

Felicia’s voice remained calm. "What were you doing with my daughter just now?"

Amon raised an eyebrow. "Why do you have to keep tabs on your daughter all day?"

Felicia’s expression became even colder and Amon immediately cleared his throat. "We were just training."

Felicia stared at him for another moment before rubbing her face with one hand. "Why does my daughter have to like an idiot?"

Amon’s eyebrows twitched. "I can hear you, you know."

Felicia completely ignored him as she tapped something on her tablet and quickly changed the screen before turning it toward him. "I want you to look at these."

Amon leaned forward slightly.

A map of the surrounding region appeared on the screen, with several locations marked across it.

"These are places I believe may contain mana-rich land."

Amon studied the locations carefully and he recognized several of them almost immediately.

He pointed toward the four marks one by one. "These are false, and are not worth checking."

Felicia’s eyebrows rose slightly. "You’ve checked them?"

"All four."

She looked at him with mild surprise. "You’re actually searching for mana-rich land on your own?"

Amon leaned back against the seat. "Of course I am. I’m more in need of money than you are."

Felicia gave him a strange look and Amon ignored it and looked back at the map.

"But why are you interested in this business when you already have your own weapon business?"

Felicia’s expression became slightly more serious. "You wouldn’t understand how saturated the weapon industry has become."

She tapped the tablet with one finger. "There are too many businesses competing for the same customers, too many merchants fighting over materials, and too many nobles trying to control supply chains."

Her eyes narrowed slightly as a soft sigh left her lips. "The entire industry is screwed."

Amon listened quietly before he added. "Too much saturation doesn’t mean a dead business."

Felicia remained queit for a while before she said. "I don’t want my daughter anywhere near that dirty business."

Amon nodded slowly. ’So that’s why.’

He looked at Felicia for a moment.

She was trying to find something safer for Seraphina.

Something that could give her a future without forcing her into the same ruthless business environment.

’She’s actually a good mother.’

Felicia leaned farther back into her seat and closed her eyes.

Amon looked toward the window before becoming confused. "Where are we going?"

"We’re going to check every location I marked."

Amon looked at the map again. "All of them?"

"Yes."

"That will take forever."

Felicia opened one eye and said bluntly.

"I don’t care." She closed it again. "I’m free."

Amon stared at her for a moment. "You’re really unemployed."

Felicia’s eye immediately opened and a cold glare was directed toward him.

Amon quickly turned toward the window.

He decided that silence was probably the safest option.

---

They eventually arrived at the first location.

The car stopped beside a wide stretch of countryside where the city gradually gave way to farmland and scattered woodland.

Amon stepped out and looked around.

The area was surrounded by low hills covered in thick grass, with several narrow streams flowing between them.

A few farmers were working in distant fields, using small mana-powered machines to cultivate crops.

Unlike ordinary farmland, the soil here had been reinforced with low-grade mana crystals mixed into irrigation channels.

Amon remembered that mana-enriched agriculture had become increasingly common near larger cities because certain crops could grow faster when exposed to small amounts of ambient mana.

However, too much mana could cause the plants to mutate or attract magical beasts.

That was one reason most farmers regularly checked the mana concentration of their land.

Amon looked toward the hills and Felicia stepped out beside him.

Amon glanced at the road behind them. "We would’ve arrived much faster if we came here on the bike."

Felicia looked at him. "Do you want to make me sit behind you?"

Amon shrugged.

"I wouldn’t mind if you rode the bike and I sat behind you." He paused for a moment. ’As long as I can hold you tightly.’

Felicia gave him a strange look. "...Just check the place."

Amon immediately decided not to say anything else. "Fine."

He activated his Merchant’s Divine Insight and began examining the surroundings.

He walked across the field, checked the nearby stream, and even climbed partway up one of the hills.

The mana concentration remained completely ordinary.

After several minutes, Amon returned to Felicia and shook his head. "There’s nothing here."

Felicia nodded without arguing. "Then let’s go to the next place."

They began walking back toward the car.

As they walked, Amon couldn’t help thinking about the possibilities. ’If we actually find mana-rich land, what would happen if I gave it to Seraphina?’

The thought immediately reminded him of the Tenfold Return System. ’What kind of reward would I get?’

Amon glanced toward Felicia as his eyes narrowed slightly as another thought entered his mind.

He stopped walking and called her. "Felicia."

The older woman stopped and looked back at him. "What?"

Amon scratched the side of his face. "Would you say yes if I asked you to become my wife?"

Felicia remained completely still. For several seconds, she simply stared at him.

Her golden eyes became difficult to read as she slowly turned around to face him.

Then she asked calmly, "Do you have a fetish for collecting wives?"

Amon immediately shook his head. "No. I was just asking."

Felicia narrowed her eyes.

"There is something fishy about that question, you asked Nadya the same question." She studied his face carefully. "I can feel it’s really fishy."

Amon cleared his throat as he turned around and continued walking toward the car. "You’re overthinking it."

Felicia didn’t immediately follow and Amon could feel her gaze remaining on his back.

Even after he reached the car, he still had the uncomfortable feeling that those golden eyes were watching him.

’..Fuck, I shouldn’t have asked her.’

Still Amon wasn’t too strongly opposed with what he said.

At the very least, he put an idea in Felicia’s mind that could work on his favour in future.

Amon grumbled inwardly as the two of them entered inside the car.

’...Man, I really am a bastard.’