Tan Lin’s affiliated apprentices obviously recognized Lin Jin. Upon seeing the man, they hurriedly greeted him, “Appraiser Lin.”
“Where’s the chief?”
“Chief is in the back room. I’ll go and inform her of your arrival.”
Lin Jin waved. “That’s alright. I’ll just go and see her. You guys can get back to your work.”
The apprentices figured that would work too. After all, they knew how well acquainted Lin Jin was with their chief and this regularly happened too.
And so, Lin Jin headed straight for the back room.
At that moment, Tan Lin’s brows were furrowed hard as she held a letter in her hand.
This was a letter from her father, Tan Xun, just delivered today. The contents requested that Tan Lin transferred back to the imperial capital’s headquarters as soon as possible to participate in an important ‘selection’.
Tan Lin knew the specifics of this selection. A beast appraiser academy of the premium ‘Heavenly Spiral Kingdom’ would be recruiting students. Heavenly Spiral Kingdom was the strongest country in United Continent so the nation’s beast appraiser academy was also the greatest institution on the entire continent. Tan Lin’s father used to study in Heavenly Spiral Kingdom’s beast appraiser academy too.
Generally speaking, the institution only took in Rank 1 and Rank 2 students. However, as too many candidates in the continent would like to study there, the academy was difficult to enter and its enrolment standards were extremely demanding.
Tan Lin had wanted to enter last year but she didn’t pass. This time, however, Tan Xun told her that after gaining experience in managing a branch office, Tan Lin should have a greater chance at enrolment.
Tan Lin obviously wanted to go, but someone had to take over her position in Maple City.
At the current stage, who could do it?
Would she have to request that headquarters send a representative over again?
In fact, Tan Lin already had a candidate in mind and that was Lin Jin. However, Lin Jin had yet to return and she had to depart latest by tomorrow without further delays.
Just as Tan Lin was fretting, Lin Jin came in.
When she saw the man, Tan Lin thought her eyes were deceiving her. Why did this person appear just as she was thinking of him?
Tan Lin didn’t know about Lin Jin’s activities in the royal capital. She only heard that he had business there but didn’t think he would be gone for so long. Her father, Tan Xun, mentioned meeting Lin Jin in his letter but that was more than ten days ago, he didn’t know what happened to Lin Jin after that.
Meanwhile, Tan Xun never mentioned the odd things that happened in the capital in his letters so Tan Lin knew nothing.
However, Lin Jin’s return was a good thing. She immediately got up to receive him at first sight.
“Chief Tan, I’m sorry…” Lin Jin looked apologetic. He had been gone for too long this time so he must have caused Tan Lin some trouble.
Hence, apologizing first before all else should be correct.
However, Tan Lin didn’t care about that at all. She sat Lin Jin down and said, “Appraiser Lin, you’ve finally returned. I’m leaving tomorrow.”
“Huh? You’re leaving? To where?” Lin Jin couldn’t process the information for a moment there.
After all, Tan Lin just said that abruptly without any explanation.
“Listen to me carefully.” Tan Lin knew that she was being hasty so she explained to him the whole situation and now, Lin Jin understood.
Everyone in the beast appraiser’s community knew about Heavenly Spiral Academy. It was the best institution for beast appraisers and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a sacred place.
Rumor had it that their weakest instructor was at least a Rank 3 beast appraiser. They had many Rank 4 beast appraisers, some Rank 5 even.
Hence, calling it a holy ground for beast appraisers seemed reasonable.
“Chief Tan, congratulations,” Lin Jin cheered. This was indeed worth celebrating. Being able to study in Heavenly Spiral Academy was definitely a huge deal and far better than being a mere branch chief.
“That’s why I’ll need a successor to my position,” Tan Lin said, looking at Lin Jin.
Lin Jin’s heart thumped, but he could guess what was to come. This must be the reason why Tan Lin was in such a hurry to see him.
Lin Jin had improved too much by now. Basing judgment purely on his beast appraisal skills, even without relying on the Museum of Deadly Beasts, he could definitely achieve the standard of a Rank 2 beast appraiser. Perhaps higher even, to be on par with a Rank 3.
With this, he was certainly qualified for the role of a small branch’s chief.
As for his age, that wouldn’t be a problem at all. Tan Lin wasn’t much older than him and she was even a girl. If she could do it, Lin Jin could too.
Thus, Lin Jin didn’t evade the responsibility and accepted it just like that.
Tan Lin smiled. “Well, aren’t you confident? But, to be fair, your capabilities are indeed superior to mine, which is also why I recommended you.”
Tan Lin wasn’t being humble. She knew of Lin Jin’s beast appraising and treatment capabilities best. Moreover, it was probably thanks to Lin Jin that she could be successfully accepted into Heavenly Spiral Academy.
All this while, she had been researching Lin Jin’s evaluation reports, even discussing skills with him at times. Just like playing chess, if one constantly played with an expert, their skills would eventually improve. It was the same for beast appraising. After being with Lin Jin for so long, her standard and outlook had certainly grown, thus allowing her to pass this enrolment.
Perhaps because she would soon be leaving, or maybe because she hadn’t chatted with Lin Jin for so long, Tan Lin spent the entire morning talking to Lin Jin. Lin Jin tried to tell her more about beast appraising and Tan Lin was naturally curious about his business in the royal capital where Lin Jin only told her selective parts of his experience.
However, in the afternoon, a messenger came in reporting that someone from the City Lord Manor had arrived.
Annoyed, Tan Lin ignored the messenger.
However, the messenger shouted, “The city lord has arrived personally.”
Now they had to go outside and take a look.
“City Lord Bai rarely comes over. Could something have happened?” Tan Lin looked confused. Lin Jin smiled instead, able to stay calm. Tan Lin was still chief for now anyway. If anything were to happen, she had to deal with it.
And so, Lin Jin didn’t move from his seat. Knowing that he had no intention of going outside, Tan Lin went on by herself.
However, just as Lin Jin was about to take a sip of his tea, Tan Lin led the city lord, Bai Zhenkong inside.
“Appraiser Lin, City Lord Bai is here to see you.” Tan Lin looked baffled.
Lin Jin quickly put his cup down and went out to receive his guest.
As lord of the city, Bai Zhenkong held the greatest authority in Maple City. He would never personally attend to something if it wasn’t important.
However, this task today was extremely important. It was a personal decree by Jade Dragon Kingdom’s emperor, so Bai Zhengkong held it in the highest regard and did his job seriously.
At the sight of Lin Jin, Bai Zhenkong showed unprecedented courtesy.
“Appraiser Lin, I heard that you’ve returned from the royal capital so I came to see you. Was I bothering you?”
His words simply baffled them.
Bai Zhenkong didn’t use to be this way. He had always been daunting and would at least put on airs. But now, none of that was present on his smiling face.
Lin Jin immediately put his hands together in salutation. “City Lord Bai, please don’t say that. How can I be bothered by a visit from you?”
Bai Zhenkong let out a hearty laugh but didn’t continue this conversation. Instead, he took something out.
A royal decree.
“Appraiser Lin, this was personally written by His Majesty and I will be passing the message on his behalf.”
Having said that, he cleared his throat and begun reading it in a serious manner.
Jade Dragon Kingdom wasn’t particular about kneeling to show respect. Hence, even when receiving a royal decree, the receiver need not kneel but only bow instead.
This decree was filled with fancy wording but its meaning was easy to understand.
And Lin Jin understood.
In general, they were acknowledging Lin Jin’s contribution so, with his privilege, the emperor had the Beast Appraisal Association Headquarters make an exception to promote Lin Jin to show the emperor’s grace.