Try Your Luck

Now that everything had been settled, Dumbledore firmly committed it all to memory. Still, he asked Josh about the personnel and plans he needed for developing his territory, and Josh did not stand on ceremony with him.

"I need some experienced people who can help me plan the city layout and so on—preferably people familiar with the Muggle world. Damn it, this place looks completely like medieval Europe. It’s filthy as hell. Thank goodness my castle is fairly clean, or I wouldn’t even want to come back."

Dumbledore naturally nodded to show that he understood. He himself enjoyed dealing with the Muggle world and was well aware of the prosperity of Muggle technology, so he fully understood the direction Josh wanted to take in developing his territory. He readily agreed.

"Oh, right. If you find people like that, I can consider teaching them meditation methods and giving them some magical knowledge about alchemy and enchantments. Unfortunately, I’m not interested in that sort of thing myself, so they’ll have to study it on their own."

Josh truly was no good at that sort of thing—or rather, he simply had no talent for it at all. But Dumbledore did not care. "It’s fine. I’m sure they’ll be thrilled when they see the materials you provide. You know, back in our world, you’re practically a myth. Who hasn’t heard of Professor Josh Augustus, the man who changed the Wizard World?"

Josh scratched his head. He had not expected himself to be that famous. But thinking about it, it was not so strange. In the Wizard World, he had not only spread meditation methods they had never possessed, but also helped their children find elemental spirits. He had even killed Voldemort in a single move. Becoming a legend had been inevitable.

Over the next few days, Josh took Hermione and Dumbledore on a proper tour of his castle, and naturally, his territory as well. Because of the difference in time flow, Frank was still on the road, so Josh could only handle these matters himself.

As a result, Dumbledore did not say much, but Hermione looked at him as though he were scum. In Hermione’s words, Josh was a feudal slave owner who oppressed and harmed innocent commoners! Just look at what Josh ate, used, and where he lived, then look at the living conditions of those subjects. The difference was like heaven and earth.

Josh felt rather depressed. It seemed he had never mistreated those subjects, had he? Besides, their awe of him was entirely due to the nature of this world and had nothing to do with him. Fortunately, the little girl did not seem intent on starting some messy revolution, perhaps because she had spoken with his maidservants.

That put Josh much more at ease. If this little brat really dared to start some kind of revolution in his territory, Josh would lock her in her room and toss her back into the Wizard World the moment the seven days were up, never allowing her to come again.

I don’t want to become the enemy of the entire continent over this kind of nonsense. It might sound exciting, but that would be the idiotic behavior of someone seeking death. The world has its own laws of development. This is a mythological world—I don’t want to go looking for trouble.

Over the next few days, Josh returned to his old routine. He spent most of his days either in the lord’s hall or in his own room. Since Frank had taken a group of people to conduct a population census, Josh had to personally handle much of the territory’s administration, which gave him quite a headache.

Fortunately, he had brought Dumbledore along this time, and now he even felt it had been his wisest decision. Dumbledore had been a headmaster for so many years and had previously served as Gryffindor’s head, so although these matters were somewhat outside his specialty, he could at least handle them.

These matters were not quite as far outside Josh’s knowledge as alchemy and magical runes, but they still gave him a terrible headache. Fortunately, although his territory was vast, the only truly troublesome matters were the aftermath of the bandit raids.

Dumbledore had no objections to helping Josh. He felt that this would allow him to better understand the world and assess the capabilities of its bandits. That would make it easier for him to select students to come here for practical training in the future. Since he had promised Josh, he naturally had to consider his students’ safety as well.

For some reason, Garen had gotten along with Josh’s guards—or rather, the guards all assumed Garen was a new helper Josh had recruited. Garen was young and powerful, carried himself with noble bearing, and possessed the iron-blooded aura of a soldier.

Josh’s guards all liked him. They believed Garen was the son of some minor noble family who had come to seek Josh’s protection. One guard even quietly told Garen that following His Highness Josh did not offer a bright future. Garen stood stunned for quite a while after hearing that, then saw Josh grinning foolishly nearby.

As for Hermione, the little girl obviously did not possess Dumbledore’s abilities, so Josh could not be bothered to manage her so closely. Besides, she seemed to enjoy running around outside more than meditating. Not only did Josh not stop her, he even found a maidservant to accompany her.

Anyway, my territory is the safest place. And she’s wearing magic robes. Anyone with eyes should know that she has some connection to me. On top of that, one of my maidservants is with her. If anything really happened, then I’d be a lord for nothing.

That was what Josh thought, and reality was more or less as he had expected. To be honest, Josh had even wanted to see whether there were any foolish little nobles in his territory who bullied men and women and caused trouble. But now, it seemed those fellows were not so blind after all.

Seven days really was not very long. Josh felt as though he had barely done anything before the time was up. Dumbledore and Hermione, on the other hand, still looked as if they had not had enough fun. Hermione especially seemed to have done quite a few things in Josh’s territory that did not fit her status.

To put it plainly, she had done a lot of good deeds. Josh had known about these things long ago, but since she was a mage, it did not look quite so wonderful. Still, Josh had not expected that helping so many commoners would earn the little girl such a good reputation.

"What an unexpected gain!"

Since the time had come to activate the Void Gate again, Josh saw no reason to delay. He had originally intended to have Dumbledore come over and give him Hogwarts blueprints to help with construction. After learning Memory Replication, Josh had obtained the blueprints and reached agreements with Dumbledore on many matters. He felt things had gone rather well.

Besides, Hermione had left the Wizard World without discussing it with her parents at all. With the seven-day time ratio, that meant she had been gone from the Wizard World for a month and a half. Josh could not help maliciously wondering whether her parents had reported her missing to the authorities.

As for Josh and Garen returning to the Wizard World, he had no such plans for the moment. A messenger knight had brought word that Sir Frank would be returning soon. It was neither good nor bad news for Josh, but at least it made him feel that he should meet with Frank.

When we meet, I’ll simply tell Frank that I’ve reached an agreement with a magic academy. From now on, they’ll bring some young Magic Apprentices here for training. Once they graduate, they can come work in my territory as well. I wonder what Frank will think when he hears that?

"I don’t know what he thinks, but I’d like to know what you think."

As Josh sat there spacing out, Akathosh suddenly flew out from his tattoo and landed on Josh’s shoulder. His words made Josh freeze for a moment. What did he mean, what did Josh think?

"It’s simple. Aren’t you planning to visit the next world?"

"Go to the next world?"

"Yes. Since you’re waiting here for that fellow named Frank anyway, why not take advantage of the fact that the seven days are up and choose another world to visit? If it’s a good one, you can find a remote place to leave a Void Gate. That way, you’ll have more reserve worlds."

Akathosh’s words made Josh ponder. Indeed, rather than waiting here, he might as well visit other worlds. Although everything on the Muya Continent would pause when he went to another world, if it was not a good world, he could simply return!

Besides, because the Void Gate had been stabilized, the time flow between the Muya Continent and the Wizard World was no longer fixed. In the future, he could wait for the Void Gate’s cooldown in the Wizard World as well, couldn’t he? If he truly encountered a world that suited his tastes and held great potential, then Josh would strike it rich.

"That really is a good idea. By the way, why are you so enthusiastic about finding new worlds?" Josh nodded without denying it, but he was puzzled as to why this fellow was even more enthusiastic than he was. Hadn’t Akathosh only just returned to the Muya Continent?

It would have been fine if Josh had not brought it up, but the moment he did, Akathosh exploded as if he had swallowed gunpowder. "Isn’t it because of you! Don’t you know?"

"I don’t. What’s wrong, buddy?"

"Your damned inheritance is incredibly powerful! But why the hell does the power system you gave me include something called Feast?! And there’s nothing I can do about it even if I don’t use the damn thing! I have to restore my size!"

"Feast?"

Josh stared blankly for quite a while before finally realizing what Akathosh was talking about. Wasn’t that Cho’Gath’s ultimate skill? Josh carefully looked the creature over from every angle. Only when Akathosh’s scales began to prickle and he opened his mouth, ready to blast Josh with dragon breath, did Josh stop.

"Uh, but you don’t look much like it, do you?"

"Of course not! I’m a dragon!"

"A young one."

"Shut up!"

"Fine. By the way, buddy, do you have a passive ability that restores health, stamina, and magic power every time you kill a target? And can you use spikes, silence opponents, or launch three long-range attacks?"

"Are you an idiot?"

Josh rubbed his chin. Although the dragon did not want to discuss it, through their shared memories Josh knew that Akathosh did not seem to have inherited those abilities. While their memories were linked, they generally did not probe into each other’s memories out of respect.

"You only have Feast? So you want to find a world like, uh, Jurassic Park, where you can have a proper feast?"

"The Middle-earth from your memories would work too."

"To be honest, we can try our luck. But if we really go to Middle-earth, I think Smaug might swallow you in one bite. Or worse, if we run into Ancalagon, a single breath from him might wipe out both of us. Do you believe that?"

Anyway, happy National Day, everyone~