“Yes, the school takes donations, just like any other school would. Do you have a problem with that?” Janice snapped, fully aware that Ace was enjoying her discomfort a little too much.

“I mean, I guess your family’s school is just like a regular school. After all, regular schools pump out slaves for the corporate world, while yours pumps out slaves for the McSuile empire,” Ace teased, grinning at the growing frustration on Janice’s face.

Janice’s eyes sharpened. “Give me back my crafting equipments. You don’t deserve them,” she demanded, stretching out her hand toward him.

“What crafting equipments?” Ace played dumb, already stepping down the patio stairs. He figured he had about ten seconds before Janice lost her temper and really tried to take the equipments back.

Before she could explode, a voice came from above.

“What are you doing here again?”

Ace froze mid-step and looked up to see Delores staring down at him. He smirked and said, “Came to see you, great-grandma.”

“That joke is getting old and getting on my nerves,” Delores warned, jumping down effortlessly. Then, turning to Janice, she reported, “We checked that section of the array. Same as always, nothing unusual. Just in case, Evil Eyes stayed behind to keep watch for a few more hours.”

“Wait, there’s a problem with the array?” Ace asked, suddenly on high alert. Also, weren’t Delores and Evil Eyes supposed to be on a regular patrol?

Janice shot Delores a glare before answering. “No, there isn’t. The alarm array we set up around town got triggered. Delores and Evil Eyes went to check it out personally.”

“You guys told me they were just doing regular rounds. Besides, the alarm array only triggers when it detects curse energy, right?” Ace asked, growing increasingly frustrated. The security team he had hired to protect his family was starting to seem unreliable in every possible way.

“Yes, but it could be anything—even just a wandering curseling. If it were cult members, I’m pretty sure they would’ve noticed the alarm array surrounding the town,” Janice explained, conveniently skipping over the fact that she had originally claimed Delores and Evil Eyes were just doing routine rounds.

“Then what’s the point of the alarm array? A false sense of security to fool ourselves while giving our enemies the perfect opportunity to slit our throats in our sleep? You do realize they probably have a dozen ways to bypass something this basic, right?” Ace argued. Given the cult’s history—along with its parent cult—he had no doubt they had countermeasures for simple detection arrays.

“Ace, get hold of yourself and let her finish. This color is unsightly on you,” Delores thundered, her tone sharp and commanding, like a grandmother disciplining an unruly grandchild.

Ace fell silent, glaring at the ground.

Satisfied, Delores nodded at a startled Janice, who shook her head before continuing. “The cursed alarm array formation isn’t meant for curse users—it’s for the curselings. With so many curse users gathered in town, the curse energy density here has skyrocketed over the last twenty-four hours. It’s off the charts. That kind of concentration is bound to attract wandering curselings. Unlike curse users, they don’t care about alarm arrays, no matter their tier. This way, we can take care of them before they make it into town and cause any damage.”

The cursed alarm array formation was a simple setup designed to detect curse energy passing through it. It was easy to arrange, required minimal resources, and cost next to nothing to activate. However, setting one up around an entire town was a different story—it was not only expensive to arrange but also costly to maintain and incredibly labor-intensive. Despite that, Janice had insisted on putting it in place to ensure the safety of the townspeople.

Ace simply nodded in understanding, though his mind was still preoccupied with something else—why had he gone completely silent when Delores yelled at him? He wasn’t the type to back down easily, yet the moment she raised her voice, he just… froze. He found himself stealing a few glances at her as she continued discussing things with Janice, like a scolded kid sneaking peeks at an angry parent.

Elinor stepped up beside him and whispered, “You know, one would think she’d get less scary once you get to know her, but she doesn’t. If anything, she just gets scarier. Do you know why that is? Took me years to figure it out. You’d think it was something deep and complex, right? Turns out, it’s the complete opposite.”

Ace turned his head slightly, intrigued. “And that is?”

“She actually cares about you,” Elinor said, smirking. “Even if you don’t care about her, she cares. She’s like… the non-toxic version of clingy. A strict parental figure who’s always there for you—whether you like it or not. And do you know what that means?”

“What?” Ace asked, begrudgingly admitting that Elinor had a point.

“You’re part of the family now,” she announced, pulling out her cursed phone with a grin. “I’m adding you to the family chat group.”

“Elinor, I’m flattered, but I don’t want to be part of the McSuile family,” Ace immediately declined. Though, a second later, he regretted it—realizing this could have been a golden opportunity for Dame Wasp to eavesdrop and spy on the McSuile family.

“No, no, no. Not the McSuile family,” Elinor corrected, shaking her head. “I mean Delores’s family. It’s a small group of people my aunt is close to. And now… you’re one of them.” She grinned as she added Ace to the group chat.

Ace raised a brow. “I thought Delores wasn’t exactly popular in your family?” From what he’d learned from Dame Wasp, Delores was hated by various factions in the McSuile family—for being the Patriarch’s favorite disciple, for almost being adopted by him, and for sponsoring Jason McSuile as the family’s next leader.

“That’s true,” Elinor admitted with a knowing smile. “But there are a few people close enough to be considered her family.”

Ace decided to check out the group chat later. The thought of Delores having even a handful of people she cared about was… interesting. He’d assumed she was more of a lone wolf.

“Ace, let’s go,” Delores suddenly called out.

Ace, who had been preparing to head home and start on his upgrade plans, blinked at her in confusion. “Where?”

“Janice said you had an important errand to run,” Delores answered matter-of-factly.

“About that—Are you sure?” Ace started to reject the offer but quickly changed his mind. Delores wouldn’t have offered to help if she hadn’t thought it was a good idea.

“Question—do you physically have to be there, or can one of your clones handle it?” Delores asked. She had already deduced from the information Elinor had given her that Apex was actually Ace, and the version of him she’d tagged earlier was just a clone.

“What’s the plan?” Ace countered. He wasn’t about to send Emi or DD out as his clone without knowing exactly what Delores had in mind. From the way she spoke, it sounded like she assumed his clones were as expendable as Janice’s—but they weren’t. Sure, he could revive his toy summons, but he didn’t want them to go through that ordeal if it wasn’t necessary.

“My board will take your clone to and from the destination while you and I wait here,” Delores explained. And from how casually she said it, this definitely wasn’t the first time she’d pulled something like this.

Ace frowned. “Are you sure about being so far from your innate curse tool?” He found her plan a little reckless.

“Yeah, don’t worry,” Delores reassured him. “I’m always connected to my surfboard with this curse energy leash. I can retrieve it at will.” She lifted her right leg slightly, showing him a translucent rope made of curse energy, tethering her to her board. Then, she added, “Range isn’t an issue. As long as it doesn’t leave this dimension, I have full control over it.”

“Amazing,” Ace muttered, genuinely impressed. The range on her innate curse tool far surpassed that of his Cursed Toy Box, which was limited to just a mile.

“Yeah, she used it to provide taxi and delivery services to our most valuable customers back in the 1800s. She played a huge role in the growth of the McSuile family’s business empire during its early days,” Elinor revealed, clearly proud of her incredible aunt. Meanwhile, Delores just rolled her eyes, visibly cringing.

“Wow, aren’t you a pioneer,” Ace remarked, genuinely impressed.

Delores waved him off. “The real pioneers were the ones with teleportation-related curse tools, arts, or array formations. I just piggybacked off their work by undercutting their costs.”

“Okay, we get it. You were a hustler. Happy?” Ace teased, smirking.

Delores’ annoyance deepened. She hated it when Elinor made a big deal about her past. Without the teachings and protection of her master and senior brothers and sisters, she wouldn’t have survived, let alone accomplished anything. Everything she had achieved was a team effort, and whenever Elinor or others raved about her past deeds, it felt like they were painting a picture where her master and seniors had used her rather than raised her.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep