Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 735 Christina's Dilemma
At eleven o'clock in the evening, Leipzig was still brightly lit.

In a manor on Bronze Avenue in the city center of Leipzig, guests are gradually leaving.

A middle-aged man, whose black hair was a little sparse but still combed back neatly and groomed to a nearly glowing color, was holding up a glass of red wine, smiling and nodding as he bid farewell to his guests.

At this moment, a girl in a yellow dress who looked no more than seventeen or eighteen years old and had long curly light blond hair suddenly stepped forward and bowed: "My Lord Earl!"

"Ok?"

The middle-aged man smiled gently, but his tone was almost kind: "What's wrong, our party star? Are you having fun, Christina?"

"I am very happy, Earl Dawn! Thank you very much for inviting me to your party..."

The girl had a bright and innocent smile on her face: "So I thought about it...does what you said before still count?"

"Which one?"

Lord Dawn just smiled and said, "I don't remember it very clearly."

"that is--"

Christina looked a little anxious.

She paused, lowered her voice and said, "You were very optimistic about me and wanted to hire me as your secretary..."

"Ah, that's a very unfortunate coincidence, Miss Weber."

Lord Dawn smiled. "But I have found a secretary. She is from Hircine University, just like you. But she is a doctor. You must have heard of her name, Miss Zoe Ravens."

"Hmm, I see... She's actually interested in this too..."

Christina Weber obviously knew the name and showed some fear and unwillingness. It was obvious that she did not dare to compete with the girl named Zoe.

...Is this the last time I attend a banquet of this level?

Christina bit her lip subconsciously.

As an alchemist, if you can't get funding, there is basically no possibility of further progress.

It's funny to say that alchemy was originally a science of turning stone into gold, and later it could easily bring wealth and status to great alchemists. But learning alchemy requires a lot of money...

Her parents were just ordinary company employees, and it was difficult for them to support her to go to college. Even more than half of her tuition was paid in loans. The price of extraordinary materials was not something they could afford... But if she just graduated like this, she would not be able to find a lucrative job!

——The dress she was wearing to the banquet was borrowed from her senior schoolmate who was of noble birth!

Although there are scholarships in college... But that is too far away for Christina. Just trying to keep herself from failing the courses and keep up with the learning process to become a transcendent, she is already sweating profusely.

She was almost a genius in high school and had many suitors - but at Hirsing University, those around her were either true geniuses or extraordinary people who had been exposed to alchemy at a very young age.

Among her classmates alone, there were more than a dozen alchemists of the third energy level, and there were also extraordinary people who had been promoted to the fourth energy level in the next class. Some people had set up alchemy workshops based on their skills. There was even a senior who founded his own company two years ago based on the many alchemy patents he had obtained during college!

It is said that the size of his staff now numbered close to a hundred people, and he himself had even joined the Third Alchemy Group - that was one of the alchemy groups personally controlled by the Count of Leipzig!

Christina couldn't understand what these geniuses were discussing. Just maintaining a fake smile and an expression of curiosity and sudden enlightenment was enough to make her feel painful.

——And now, she is due to graduate in a month.

Hirsing University is a six-year program, and graduates are automatically awarded a master's degree.

If she continued like this, forget about becoming a big shot or making a lot of money... She couldn't even pay off her student loans, and might even have trouble graduating - the minimum required to graduate from Hirsing University was the second level, and she had already failed her first promotion ceremony six times in a row!
...She didn't want to go to the White Pigeon Opera House and wear such ridiculous clothes to make people laugh.

After all, there were several junior students who admired her and were also frequent visitors to Baige. She couldn't afford to lose face.

If she couldn't pay back the money, she would probably have to sell the house and leave Leipzig in disgrace. But now Xing Ti had no money anywhere, and Leipzig was the most promising place... At least her parents could still find a job.

And she was already considered good - she had a junior from another place who had just enrolled in the school. Because she spent too much at the White Pigeon Opera House... It was said that she went to the VIP room on her birthday and pretended to be very skilled in playing cards with other nobles in there.

But she had never played cards before, so she was no match for the veterans. She easily lost money that she could never pay back in her lifetime. She also refused to work at the White Pigeon Opera House to pay back the money, because after all, Hirsing University was very close to the White Pigeon Opera House, and many students would come here to play when they didn't have classes...

...So, now she has gone to the Spiritual Tower to work as a "secondary teaching assistant" who has no official position but whose salary is several times that of a formal teaching assistant.

Judging from the generous salary and huge gap in the number of assistants recruited by the Spiritual Tower, I'm afraid the number of "assistants" there is consumed quite quickly...

Fortunately, Christina was born with a good appearance and received a relatively good education when she was a child.

She was noticed by the Earl during a ballet performance at school.

Earl Dawn claimed that his recent secretary had to go back to her hometown for something, and wanted to recruit her to be an intern secretary for a period of time, and offered a generous price that she could hardly refuse -

In just one month, not only could she pay off her student loan, but the remaining money could at least support her advancement to the third level!
Christina is certainly no fool.

After all, Helsing University is the best university in Leipzig and is also one of the top three universities in the entire planet. Being able to enroll on her own has already proved her strength.

This was obviously an invitation for her to be his lover - perhaps not even a lover, but just a fresh plaything at best.

This was a bit too exciting for the conservative and proud Christina.

She is now 24 years old and has never even been in a relationship... After all, before going to college, her peers were too childish for her; and after entering college, she has been working hard on her studies and has no time to participate in various social activities.

She hesitated for a moment, but still risked angering Earl Dawn and rejected the Earl's invitation.

But fortunately, the Earl had a good character and did not get angry even when she was rejected. Instead, he invited her to a banquet at his home.

At this banquet, Christina met important figures that she had never seen in her life.

There were more than a dozen nobles above the rank of Viscount alone, all crowded in this small Leipzig, complaining that the Count of Leipzig did not give them more land, while discussing the future of Star Antimony, widespread unemployment, damned goblins, ever-inflated prices, and investments of hundreds of thousands of gold coins with merchants whose names she had never heard of.

She also saw the senior she had admired when she entered school, who was now following closely behind a beautiful and evil lady; several of her teachers were also invited to the banquet, and they were all surprised when they saw her, which made her very proud. There were also several handsome and well-dressed men and women who invited her to dance and praised her beauty in different words.

However, no one invited her to play with him like the Earl did.

Christina had even thought about it. As long as someone invited her, she would definitely agree. No matter if he was a noble, a businessman, an alchemist, or a demonologist...even a stinking necromancer, she was willing to play with him.

...Perhaps from that time on, she had regretted her original decision.

And now, Earl Dawn's words made her even more embarrassed.

Senior Zoe, of course she knew her.

She was the dream lover of many male classmates back then, and now she has reached the fourth energy level before the age of 30, and has been invited by the Royal Alchemy Association to become a director. And such a person has become the "secretary" of Earl Dawn... Then what is her original reserve? Is it stupid?
But just when Christina wanted to bow and say goodbye to the earl, Earl Dawn changed the subject: "But——"

"--You say?"

Christina's eyes lit up and she couldn't wait to continue.

(End of this chapter)