"Someone approached you?" Ansu wondered if someone had beaten them to the punch.
"Did the other party also offer to sponsor you?" Celia raised an eyebrow and asked in a flat tone, "Professor, who exactly is this person?"
"I don't know who he is either," Professor Duncan said helplessly. "This person is a bit mysterious."
Under Ansu's repeated questioning, Professor Duncan finally revealed some information. He also explained why he had recently restarted the project to find the demon army's treasure.
Although the Empire allowed dwarves to study and teach, as a demihuman, Professor Duncan still inevitably faced discrimination from colleagues and superiors, making his academic career quite rocky.
Being marginalized, his research funds were limited and he even had very few students. Professor Duncan's academic research had yielded no results for a long time, and he was on the verge of being fired by the vice principal.
But just at this time, a mysterious man found him.
The man said he wanted to sponsor his research, but on one condition: the research he wanted wasn't his usual Magitech Mechanics, but an investigation into the legends of the demon army's treasure to eventually determine its specific location.
"He has already given me a sum of money, though not as much as Ms. Hailey's..." Duncan glanced apologetically at the beautiful girl. "But he promised a continuous injection of funds later, which will surely add up to a significant amount. Plus, he was the first to propose this, so..."
He scratched his thinning hair with a bit of a headache. "Sigh... why didn't you two come earlier?"
Money never came when it was needed, but now people were rushing to give it to him one after another...
Ansu and Celia exchanged a look. Ansu saw a hint of coldness in her eyes.
He felt that if the old professor refused again, the witch would just kidnap him...
"How about this..." Professor Duncan suddenly suggested excitedly. "Since both parties are interested in the demon army's treasure, why not just do a joint sponsorship! We can form a joint expedition team, so funds and manpower will be extremely plentiful!"
"No, no, no..." Ansu quickly stopped Duncan's sudden brainstorm. He had to keep this from Samantha, let alone bring in another sponsor.
"Professor Duncan, I want to confirm something." Ansu looked down at the dwarf scholar. "This mysterious sponsor, is he tall and thin? Black eyes, middle-aged, and seems to be a man of few words?"
Duncan asked in surprise, "How did you know?"
Ansu looked at Celia's puzzled gaze and thought to himself...
As expected!
The mysterious person sponsoring Professor Duncan was the leader of the other major villain organization besides the Echoes of Truth—the remnants of the demon army, 【Shadow King - Barcas】.
The reason he thought of this was a bit of a delayed realization, because Ansu had observed this little old dwarf for a long time, and the more he looked, the more familiar he seemed...
Finally, he realized that if you shaved his beard and put on thick glasses, wasn't he the dungeon boss from the game, 【Alchemist Doctor - Adams】?
【Alchemist Doctor - Adams】 was a frustrated university professor in the background lore who was expelled after being framed by an old rival in an academic incident.
Adams could only spend his days in a drunken stupor at a tavern, his hatred for this unjust world growing stronger.
But because he was skilled at creating Magitech Mechanics, he was chosen by Barcas to specifically build killing weapons for the demon army. Adams could finally research evil inventions without caring about public opinion, and he became a major asset to the demon army...
But Ansu didn't expect their meeting to happen so much earlier?
Perhaps the flapping of his butterfly wings had caused many events to change, and the world he originally knew was starting to become somewhat different...
Thinking of this, Ansu said sincerely to Professor Duncan, "Regarding this matter, let's think of another way. But I don't want our cooperation to end here. I will come back to find you."
Establishing a friendly relationship with a future mini-boss would still be beneficial for his own future.
Although this dwarf scholar's magic talent wasn't high, he was smart and good at inventing. If he could poach him to his side...
Ansu stole a glance at Celia. If he followed this line of thought... wasn't he forming a villain alliance?
All the unlucky villains defeated by the protagonist's halo, unite!
"That's fine too." Duncan certainly didn't want to miss out on a benefactor who came to his door. After chatting with them for a while, he enthusiastically walked them out.
"If it's for other projects, you can actually sponsor those too..."
Duncan continued to sell himself awkwardly. "If I don't produce some research results soon, my rival will probably laugh himself to death... and I might even be fired by that vice principal who dislikes me..."
Ansu looked at him silently. It seemed your intuition was quite accurate.
Celia grabbed Ansu's arm, already wanting to leave, but Ansu still showed a sincere and polite smile.
"Professor Duncan, I've already said that I've indeed read your book and greatly admire your academic achievements. The matter of sponsorship is negotiable. Let's keep in touch!"
"Mhm, good! Great!" Professor Duncan was coaxed into a happy mood, his beard almost fluttering.
...
By the time the two finally left the office building, it was already afternoon.
"Want to go eat?" Ansu looked at the sulking witch and suggested with a smile, "There's a barbecue stall in the academy's public cafeteria that's not bad."
"I'm not in the mood!" Celia curled her lip and said helplessly, "He didn't even agree, so why did you promise him so much? If you hadn't stopped me, I would have just..."
"My Lady Witch..." Ansu was also helpless. "Can you stop having a head full of thoughts about killing? Maintaining a friendly relationship with a scholar of some talent will also help our future career."
"My career is to stand at the peak of power, looking down on all living beings, without being threatened or restricted by anyone!" Celia glared at Ansu. "Why are you thinking so much? What you need to do now is find that ancient magic in the ruins for me!"
"But humans are humans after all, they cannot exist apart from society," Ansu advised.
"Then I will become a god!" Celia snorted coldly.
"What if gods also have weak and strong ones, or factional disputes?" Ansu said with a smile.
Celia said flatly, "Then I will kill my way up and become the strongest god."
Ansu looked silently at the proud young witch.
Good! Very spirited!
Celia's goal was consistent, but her current thinking was still very direct, lacking the leadership charisma from the original plot.
But Ansu really didn't want her to become like she was in the plot.
The tsundere and cocky vile witch before him, who couldn't help but share her joy with him and had a super strong sense of jealousy and possessiveness...
He actually liked her quite a bit.
Rate on N.U.
