The time left until the start of the tournament was mostly spent by Edrick going onto ventures into the woods with Yin, and as per usual, the tomboy was remaining mostly the same on the surface, she was not one to wear her heart on her sleeve with just anyone, but Edrick was experienced enough to tell that she had begun to respect him more deeply ever since his slaying of the killer sasquatch.

Which was only natural, for a woman with such deep dedication toward cultivation and the pursuit of strength in general, overcoming a great foe was something Yin could only find greatly respectable, now, it would be presumptuous to claim that he had succeeded in his goal with just this, but outside of that, Hui was also working hard, and he also had Yin meet his other wives, just about anyone who discussed with them for long enough would inevitably have to hear about the beloved husband, they sung his praises to Yin, particularly highlighting the clear power dynamic in the residence, which marked Anoteros as someone with the qualifications to be the head of a family.

The tomboy remained a tough nut to crack, however, and whatever it may be that she thought about Anoteros, it did not show on her face or actions, on that front, even Edrick had to admit that he could not tell whether everything stopped at respect and friendliness, or if her impression of him had progressed to further lengths… He would see to this after the tournament, where he would be certain to demonstrate other feats of strength, and then, if she did not show any signs a while after that, then he would probably have to go for it, and see Yin’s reaction afterwards.

In any case, the whole town was aware that Edrick Lucien Anoteros, or rather, Zixuan Elt, scion of one of the greatest cultivation clans of the whole kingdom, had acquired a bloodline at the young age of twenty, he certainly gave off the impression of being older than that, but that was indeed his current age.

Furthermore, as he had been told, the reward for the slaying of the sasquatch had indeed included an invitation from the city lord in person, the money itself was a considerable sum all things considered, but not only was Edrick already plenty rich with Silver and Copper Leyens, but he also had a whole lot of funds still being stocked within the system, and he could pull some, or all of it, out of thin air at any time, so the money just went into his treasury for now.

Speaking of which, the whole matter of finances, expenses, and the treasury was now the dedicated duty of Yifei, her background as a prosecutor might not seem like that much of a good fit, but the blonde was used to managing things and was very good with numbers.

It seemed like the job of a prosecutor mostly involved going after tax evaders and other crooks of the sort.

Anoteros was planning to have her become a prosecutor again, but since she now had a new identity, she couldn’t be recognised as a true worker of the law anymore- Edrick was looking forward to having his own personal attorney and prosecutor all in one cute package.

As for Lisha, not that she was an idiot, but her skills were better used as a guard for the residence, or bodyguard when outside- Edrick decided that she would be the one particularly in charge of safeguarding and surveying the residence, however.

So, despite gaining two more maids, things had not changed much since they were all given distinct tasks, Jingyi, as the head maid, was naturally the de facto leader of all other maids, the one that they all needed to report to when the master needed to know something.

But of course, to make such a big residence function properly, not all maids could simply be house cleaners, cooks, or the like- So he ended up with four maids, but they were all given very different missions, Muxing was in charge of the nursery wing, Yifei of finances, Lisha of security, and Jingyi, technically in charge of every maid, but currently mostly doing the chores.

Not that it was problematic, no one was complaining, Edrick just found it somewhat humorous that it turned out this way, he could theoretically hire more people, but there was no need to rush, and he wanted his maids to be of good quality.

In any case, the tournament arrived swiftly, it was set to begin on the fifteenth of Decina, which was the last and twelfth month of the year in this world, or at least, according the particular calendar used in this kingdom, one thing to note was that although it might appear similar to his old world, here, every month had thirty-one days each.

Meaning that a single year was three hundred and seventy-two days long, according to the time it took for the ‘main’ sun to orbit around the world, Anoteros had learned quite a few egregious things while researching the subject, reminding him that this world was indeed full of fantasy elements everywhere, and that bizarre things were rather common.

But setting aside the matter of how years and months functioned, or the fact that seasons had nothing to do with the sun’s position- Today was the fourteenth, and currently, Edrick was lying in bed, night had already fallen, and midnight was soon.

The tournament would start early in the morning, and although it was technically just a small event for outer disciples to fight one another and demonstrate which of them could rise above the rest, it should be quite crowded, it wasn’t like events of the sort were exceedingly common within the sect, so most disciples would be around to watch it.

Furthermore, the so-called protagonist would be in it, so one could be certain that the surroundings of the arena would be crowded and full of gossipers who somehow could not help but spout whatever they had to say clear and loud.

And also, Anoteros had not forgotten that Ku Xing and Ting Zhenniao would have their great-niece and niece, respectively, come along as, despite having lain in bed with him on many occasions, they were still intent on getting the younger generations to get together.

The intent was obvious, those two girls were a Xing and Zhenniao, so naturally, absolutely demolishing his opponents was the manner in which he might get their attention, and actually, Anoteros was very interested in doing just that, if he could add noble ladies like them to the ranks of his wives, the boons of it would be tremendous, not just to him personally, but to the Elt family as well, and if he benefited his family, that would translate into more boons for himself.

Not to mention, they were probably very much worth the effort…