248: Hey, I can ask Dick to take the punishment again.

Chapter 248: Hehe, I can ask Dick for punishment again!

By the time the fire was extinguished, three hours had passed.

Because Duke Bison was very fond of flowers, plants, and trees, the green coverage of the entire Baisen Manor was as high as 80%, making it a natural tinderbox.

Coupled with the fact that it was just dawn when the fire broke out and there were few staff on duty at the Royal Capital Fire Department, there was no professional Water Element Magic, and the fire was not dealt with in time.

Fortunately, under Dick's wise command, the servants of the Bison Family successfully controlled the fire using clever Wind Element Magic, gaining a lot of time.

Even so, nearly a quarter of the houses in Baisen Manor were still burned down.

The flames produced by End Magic were by no means ordinary; they were a blue-white magical flame that could not be extinguished with water. They could even burn underwater!

...

Inside the Manor Lord's study, Alice sat silently on a chair with a pouting mouth and bowed head. Her hair was messy, and her pretty face was covered in black ash.

In the recent firefighting effort, Alice contributed the most. Under Dick's guidance, she used relevant End Magic to redirect the flames, avoiding a lot of losses.

Although Alice was a firefighting hero, she was also an 'arsonist'. The fire was caused by her casting error.

"Hmph, you're really something. Anyone who didn't know would think bandits attacked Baisen Manor!"

Duke Bison was furious. He never expected his proud daughter to make such a huge mistake.

A casting error set the house on fire?

This sounded like something a few-year-old child would do. How could the intelligent Alice do this?

Putting aside the property losses caused by this fire, causing panic among the guests staying at the manor was the biggest problem!

When the fire broke out, Dick was still staying at the manor, and when Cecilia also walked out of the house, Duke Bison felt like the sky had fallen.

What was Cecilia's status? Besides being the Empress's attendant, she was also an Amyria Princess, a true member of the Royal Family, as could be seen from her beautiful silver hair... Wait, it seemed to have turned black?

Duke Bison didn't think much about Cecilia's hair color change, just assuming it was blackened by the thick smoke.

These were not the main points. The main point was how to stabilize the situation and make up for the disaster Alice had caused!

"Father, I..."

"You go take a bath immediately, change into clean and beautiful clothes, and then go find Count Grudia and Princess Cecilia to apologize to them!"

Duke Bison didn't want to hear Alice's explanation. The top priority was to appease the distinguished guests.

If Dick was unhappy and said a few bad words to the Empress, it would be terrible. Don't let the Bison Territory's qualification for the Magic Innovation Project trial be canceled later.

"I just apologized to Count Grudia. Although he accepted it on the surface, he was still somewhat displeased in his heart..."

Duke Bison looked at Alice and said earnestly, "As a member of the Nate Team, and also his former master, you must apologize as sincerely as possible later."

"I understand, Father."

"I know you are proud and perhaps still look down on him now, but you must take responsibility to make up for your mistakes, and this fire might not necessarily be an opportunity..."

Duke Bison looked at his daughter, at her perfect face and figure, and then suggested, "Remember to wear the birthday gift I gave you last year, that fiery red dress!"

"If something happens later..." Duke Bison narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Alice, saying, "You, being intelligent, should know what to do. The Fate of the Bison Family might be in your hands."

Hearing this, a blush appeared on Alice's face. Of course, she knew what her father was implying.

This was the destined tragic Fate of noble women. As sacrifices for political and family interests, their own beauty was just a means to achieve goals.

Duke Bison had long decided to bring Alice and Dick together. From a father's perspective, there was no better young man in the Aimiya Empire than Dick.

If it was Dick, his daughter would surely be happy!

"I, I understand. I will not let you down!"

Duke Bison nodded gently, feeling very relieved by his daughter's realization, and said warmly, "Okay, I've put you through trouble. Go."

However, in Alice's view, this was not only not troublesome, but she was even looking forward to it.

Because she made a mistake, she could legitimately ask Dick for punishment again, hehehe...

Alice tried her best to suppress the rising corners of her mouth. After bowing to Duke Bison, she quickly left the study, her body trembling with uncontrollable excitement.

Just thinking about asking Dick for 'punishment' later, Alice couldn't help but hum softly.

On the other side, looking at his daughter's departing back, especially seeing her trembling body, Duke Bison sighed deeply.

The sorrow of nobility was perhaps no more than this. Thinking back, Alice's mother might have married him this way too.

Recalling the past, Duke Bison fell into depression. Alice's mother was his first wife, and also an incredibly stunning beauty that could captivate a city.

Unfortunately, it was a cold political marriage, and she died in depression just a few years after giving birth to Alice.

And now, Alice seemed to be following in her mother's footsteps. Noble women were indeed pathetic canaries in a cage.

Thinking of this, Duke Bison felt a little sad and secretly vowed that once the Bison Family gained a firm foothold in the Magic Innovation Project, he would give Alice freedom.

At the same time, in a guest room in the manor, Dick was lying on the large bed with his eyes closed.

He was not sleeping, but was engaged in "online shopping". His consciousness was currently browsing the Wizard Trading Market.

With eight hundred thousand merit points in hand, Dick could basically buy whatever he wanted.

He was leaving for the Eternal Frost Forest tomorrow, so Dick had to make full preparations. He needed to clarify everything related to the mission information, the situation in the Eternal Frost Forest, and major events that had recently occurred.

After all, in the previous ninety-nine lives, Dick had never gone to the Eternal Frost Forest at this point in time.

In the Wizard Trading Market, there were quite a few Black Wizards who bought and sold information. This was a business infinitely close to making a profit with no capital, and it was very popular.

Soon, Dick found a Black Wizard active in the Eternal Frost Forest and obtained a large amount of useful information for only ten merit points.

This kind of ordinary, unimportant information was not valuable at all; ten merit points were actually too much.

Although he had eight hundred thousand merit points, it didn't mean Dick would spend money recklessly or be taken advantage of.

Currently, the Eternal Frost Forest was still the territory of the Snow Elf. Large-scale towns were basically managed by the Snow Elf; they were the absolute rulers.

However, due to their extremely poor reproductive capacity, the distribution of races in the Eternal Frost Forest was such that the Snow Elf Clan only accounted for 10%, while Humans accounted for over 80%.

This was the most powerful race in the world, the Human.

Almost everywhere, regardless of the harsh climate, regardless of who the ruling class was, whether in the surface world or the inner world, one could almost always see traces of human activity.

Extremely strong reproductive capacity, adaptability, and professional talent, all of these allowed Humans to be ubiquitous.

Many scholars believed that Humans were perhaps the most perfect race in the world, as could be seen from all aspects.

All Beasts, whether flying in the sky, crawling on the ground, or swimming in the water, when they broke through level fifty and could transform, uniformly chose Human form.

And for races like the Dragon Clan, those with dual forms, one of their forms was 100% in Human form.

Almost all races were moving towards Humans!

Even the high and mighty gods, even their images in mythology, were in the form of humans with two hands and two feet!

Of course, more importantly, Humans could reproduce with almost all humanoid races: Elf, Dwarf, Orc, transformed Beasts, Dragon Clan in Human form...

There was no reproductive isolation; this was the most terrifying aspect of Humans.

Currently, there were three large cities in the Eternal Frost Forest, managed separately by three Snow Elf families, forming a tripartite balance of power.

And the Snow Goddess Sect, where Vivian was, remained neutral, above the three great families, holding a transcendental position in the Eternal Frost Forest.

For millions of years, the situation in the Eternal Frost Forest had not changed much. Although wars would break out every few tens of thousands of years, overall, it had always maintained the state of "three families and one sect."

Of course, there were also many ambitious people in the surrounding areas who attempted to invade the Eternal Frost Forest and develop it into a colony.

But no matter when, once external forces invaded, all the Snow Elf in the Eternal Frost Forest would immediately unite and face the enemy together.

This was also why the Eternal Frost Forest had always been under the rule of the Snow Elf since ancient times.