"Disciple!"
"Kid Ethan!"
In the next second, the two archmages both appeared in front of Ethan, then spoke over each other eagerly.
"Help us count them and see whose Ice Galls are more and whose are fewer."
"No problem!"
Ethan nodded, and the two archmages immediately waved their hands.
They each separated the Ice Galls they had brought back, piling them up individually. This time they truly looked like two mountains. After all, when thousands of Ice Galls were stacked together, the sight was honestly a bit terrifying.
"Hmph! See that? I've got way more than you."
Genie Sylas stood proudly beside his mountain of Ice Galls.
Naturally, Nostradamus refused to be outdone.
"You're basically just a cloud of fog. Fog is about the same as a fart, so I won't blame you for not having eyes. Let my disciple take a look and we'll know who has more and who has less."
"Bah! You already said he's your disciple, so obviously the kid will side with you. If he counts them for us, won't I be the one getting the short end of the stick?"
"Haha, whose fault is it that your lousy mouth has never said anything decent? If you don't have a disciple, why blame me?"
"You old bastard…"
These two people couldn't even speak three sentences before they started arguing again.
Meanwhile, Ethan glanced over the Ice Galls brought back by the two archmages. The two small mountains looked about the same in number. It really wasn't easy to tell who had won and who had lost.
"Lord, with so many Ice Galls, what do you plan to do with them?"
The attendants looked somewhat worried at the two small mountains of Ice Galls. The countless spike-like icicles alone made their scalps tingle just from looking at them, let alone counting them.
But Ethan simply smiled.
"I've got my own clever plan."
"But those two magicians seem unwilling to give in to each other, and they even think it would be unfair if you count them," Mr. White stood nearby, eyes gleaming as he rubbed his hands together, "How about I count them?"
"Get lost! I'll do it myself!"
Ethan would never let that profiteer Mr. White count them.
After all, each Ice Gall meant a thousand dragon coins in profit.
If Mr. White secretly pocketed a few hundred, Ethan's losses would be huge.
"Then how are you going to convince the two magicians to trust you?"
Mr. White raised his eyebrows at Ethan with a smug expression, as if he was certain Ethan wouldn't be able to think of a fair and impartial way to count the results of the competition.
"Heh! I know what you're thinking. You'd better drop it."
After saying that, Ethan walked straight between the two magicians.
"You two, I have a method. It's very simple, and absolutely fair and impartial."
"Oh?", Genie Sylas raised his eyebrows, looking unconvinced, "You're not planning to count them one by one, are you? Even if we count until dawn, we probably won't finish. I don't have time to waste with you."
Seeing Sylas's disbelief, Nostradamus immediately sang the opposite tune.
"My disciple really is talented. Go ahead and say your method so this old bastard can hear it. He always thinks his lousy brain is the greatest in the world."
"I don't believe this kid has any method. I can tell at a glance he's about to trick people again. What if he just throws out some random number later? What then, you'll go count them yourself?"
"Stop slandering my disciple! Just because you can't do it, you think nobody else can?"
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. So for Nostradamus, anyone opposing Genie Sylas was basically an ally. He didn't even care whether Ethan really had a method.
The important thing was not losing momentum!
"Oh, I'm slandering him?", Genie Sylas retorted, "How many people did this kid fool back in the Treasure Land? Don't tell me you don't know. I bet even you were tricked out by that kid. Otherwise why would you agree to help him instead of staying in that damned place guarding the gate?"
"That's none of your business!"
The moment Sylas brought that up, Nostradamus's face instantly darkened.
At that moment, Ethan also remembered this matter. He had never asked the scarecrow exactly how it had tricked Nostradamus into coming to help.
Judging by Nostradamus's arrogant demeanor, he didn't seem like someone who would beg others for help.
And besides… at Nostradamus's level, what could he possibly be lacking?
His magical power was stronger than everyone present. In terms of status, he was also at the very top.
Even if he wanted someone to help him return to his original form, it would probably be easier to just stand there and wait rather than run all the way to Ethan's territory to find someone.
So this made Ethan feel very puzzled. Why had Nostradamus agreed to help him?
'Brother Scarecrow!'
Ethan used his spiritual sense to communicate with the scarecrow.
'How exactly did you trick Nostradamus into helping me back then?'
["Very simple,"] The scarecrow laughed, ["I know his daughter, and I promised that after my magic is lifted in a year, I'll go to the First City to find her. So he agreed to come with me."]
'How do you know his daughter?'
Ethan was a bit shocked. After all, back then the scarecrow had been beaten miserably by Nostradamus.
He hadn't seen any possibility of the two knowing each other.
["Her name."]
The scarecrow said proudly, ["When I entered through the teleportation array, I saw a name carved in the middle of the door. It said 'Dedicated to my beloved daughter Erin.' After that there was a long string of surnames. Her surname was quite strange, so it reminded me of a beautiful woman I met before when I was in the main city!"]
'So basically you've only heard of her?', Ethan was stunned by the scarecrow's boldness, 'And you still dared promise to help Nostradamus find her? What if you can't find her and Nostradamus tears you to pieces?'
["I'll worry about that when the time comes. At the time I was in a hurry to help you get someone, haha!"]
The scarecrow laughed shamelessly.
Naturally, Ethan couldn't expose himself at a moment like this, so he pretended he hadn't heard anything. He turned to the two magicians and prepared to explain his method.
But he didn't expect the two magicians to already be arguing about something else.
Suddenly Nostradamus said, "Then if my disciple really proposes a fair and impartial method, what do we do?"
"How should I know what to do?", Genie Sylas put his hands on his hips and snapped back, "Ask the kid yourself what he wants!"
"Fine!", Nostradamus suddenly turned his stone head toward Ethan, "Disciple, you say it yourself. If you win, what do you want?"
"Nothing much. I just want these Ice Galls."
Ethan answered with a foolish grin.
Genie Sylas raised an eyebrow at Ethan, feeling certain the kid must be scheming again, but he couldn't figure out what trick he had in mind. In the end he simply nodded.
"Fine! They're just some lousy Ice Galls, right? Sure, they contain quite a few fire-element beast cores. Sure, they taste pretty good. Sure, they're worth a bit of money. But whatever, I agree generously."
"I'm not stingy like someone here," Nostradamus proudly lifted his head, "Whether I win or lose, I'll give all this stuff to my little disciple for free."
"Heh! Heh! Heh! Yes! Yes! You're generous. The most generous in the universe, okay?"
After mocking Nostradamus, Genie Sylas finally looked at Ethan.
"Alright, speak! What exactly is your absolutely fair and impartial method?"
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