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Chapter 1 : Strange Ruins

“It looks terrifying.” Purity hesitated. To Purity, dark and cold places were too scary.

Kaiser grunted: “Have you ever seen a place with treasures that wasn’t eerie and scary? If it were less scary, the treasures would have already been taken by now, or did you think it would wait for you? So the scarier the place the better, then other people wouldn"t come in before you. Understood?!”

Purity and Meinan nodded their heads, as if they’ve been taught a valuable lesson.

“Hurry up hurry up, the treasures await us!” Kaiser screamed, and waved his hands as if he had already gotten a hold of the treasures.

“Treasure!” Purity’s eyes flashed light beneath her huge gla.s.ses.

"The treasure must be a legendary sword, and stuck in a rock. Liola-dage wearing elder brother’s white Knight uniform, and under a ray of light, will pull the sword out. G.o.d, that would be too cool, too handsome, and too great."

Purity, who had always wore magical contact lenses, was afraid she wouldn’t be able to wash them properly during an adventure, so she had to wear humongous gla.s.ses. Cute girls will be cute girls. To match her dresses, she actually brought more than ten sets of gla.s.ses, and they took up more than a third of her luggage.

“Treasure!” Meinan brushed his bangs, and he was intoxicated by the various sets of white china, silverware with engraved patterns, and uniquely shaped candelabra adorned with jewelry.

"Ah! If one could dine within such art, what an elegant atmosphere it would be."

“Treasure!” Kaiser held his fists tightly. He dreamt of bills flying everywhere, a bed lined with money, endless amount of food, and an advanced housekeeping Maxun beside him to take care of all the ch.o.r.es. How wonderful!

“…”

Liola’s face was still expressionless because he was still currently using Heart of Consciousness to scout the surrounding of the palace.

The palace was a little strange. There were some places Heart of Consciousness can’t seem to penetrate. Then he saw something that could be the cause of this — a piece of rock that was emitting a strange energy. Liola was starting to get curious about this rock.

With the antic.i.p.ation of running into what they each consider to be treasures, the four of them stepped into the dark path. With Meinan’s Luminescence, the shape of the palace was starting to be visible.

There was a huge corridor, and two rows of strangely-shaped demon sculptures were lined up on each side, but this was not enough to scare the three of them who had been captivated by the idea of treasures.

As for the fourth person, Liola, it would be lucky for demons if he didn’t scare them into tears.

After they walked through the corridor, there was a fork in front of their path. What’s different was that, one path was filled with candlelight, as well as many majestic armor and beautiful vases. Not to mention, many majestic armor sets, and beautiful vases. Not to mention, many other shiny decorations that were enough to turn Kaiser’s eyes into dollar signs.

The other path, however, was as dark as the corridor they had just pa.s.sed, as if it was hinting at the darkness of their future.

“Which way?” Liola asked concisely.

But as soon as words left his mouth, the other three had already ran towards the bright and glamorous road.

One person stared at the armor and swords with worshipping eyes. One was fixing his hair in front of a large bronze mirror carved with various G.o.ds,while the last one was desperately stuffing any stuffing anything shiny inside his bags and pockets.

Liola frowned, and said: “There is a rock emitting energies at the end of the other road.”

Unfortunately, they completely ignored Liola. Had Liola used “gem” instead of “rock”, perhaps he would get a tiny bit of attention. But, in Liola’s eyes, rocks are rocks, be it diamonds or cobblestones.

The only thing that truly interested Liola was the strange energies coming from that rock.

However, the other three people were completely indifferent at his opinion, Liola said plainly: “I’m going to the other path and check it out.”

He thought about it. The path Kaiser and the others picked didn’t seem to be too dangerous, and Kaiser and Meinan were more than capable of handling a few small traps. So without further hesitation, Liola walked into the dark corridor.

* * *

Without Meinan’s Luminescence, the pathway was pitch-dark. For an ordinary person, it would be similar to walking with their eyes closed, and they would be practically unable to move. But for Liola, who had grown up in the dark, and spent more time in the dark than in the light, it was hardly difficult.

Liola walked as he normally would, and before long, he reached a stone door. Liola stopped two meters before the door, and also a centimeter before the contraption on the ground.

It was a common mechanism. When weight is put on the stone pressure plate, it will slowly sink deeper into the ground, and it would activate something bigger.

Liola thought, ‘Would this trigger a fatal trap, or open the door?’

‘Perhaps both.’

He had already sensed the area around the door. Other than the contraption on the ground, there was nothing else.

In other words, unless he wanted to break open the door with brute force, he would have to step onto the pressure plate before him.

Ever since he came to this world, he felt like he had lost the alertness he had before. While Liola thought of his circ.u.mstance, he stepped on the pressure plate, and prepared to face all kinds of dangerous situations.

However, nothing happened other than the stone door in front of him slowly opening. It led to an empty room. No, it was technically not completely empty. There were b.u.t.tons on the wall, and a large screen covered with layers of dust.

To Liola, who couldn’t fully comprehend Maxuns, these b.u.t.tons and screen were no more than patterns on the wall.

Other than curiously pushing a few b.u.t.tons, Liola didn"t do anything else. Finally, he headed for another door in the room, and continued his journey to find the strange energies emanating from a rock.

* * *

At this time, on the other side…

“I’m rich! I can really lie on a bed for the rest of my life and still afford food.” Kaiser hugged a strange statue that was a bit taller than him.

It was standing upright, with crossed arms in front of its chest. Though Kaiser didn’t understand why the statue was so simple and completely different from Meinan’s idea of beauty, but what mattered the most was, it was completely made out of gold.

“Dear goldman, I’m never letting you go for the rest of my life life.” Kaiser repeatedly kissed the golden statue.

Kissing gold seemed like a strange thing to do, but compared to the guy blowing on the mirror and wiping it clean, and the girl rubbing a sword with her face… Kissing gold seemed quite normal.

Clang!

Even if the three were in their own fantasy world, they couldn’t ignore the clear sound of metal colliding. Meanwhile, after the clanging sound vibrated throughout the area, it was followed by a sound of a heavy stride. Only one thing appeared in all three of their minds — armor!

Kaiser laughed wryly: “Don’t panic, armor cannot walk. Maybe the stand fell.”

Purity froze on the spot and tears filled her big eyes. The sword she was touching moments ago was slowly raised itself in the air. The cold sword swung merely centimeters away from her face, and the metallic foot got off the stand it was on, clanging the ground below it.

Meinan backed his face away from the mirror, and trembled as he looked at the reflection in the mirror. There seemed to be a bunch of metals that "shouldn’t be able to move" but were up and about, running around.

“D-don’t panic.” Kaiser said with a trembling voice: “Even if the armor moves, they may not be harmful to us… But… Has anyone seen Liola?”

“Uwaaahhh, Liola-dage said, he was going to go check out the other path.” Purity was crouched on the ground, held her head and cried.

“Defense Shield!” Meinan yelled hurriedly, shielding himself and the bronze mirror behind him.

As soon as the shield formed, a scary greatsword brutally slammed itself against the shield.

Meinan sweated and said in relief: “Lucky! Luckily my mirror is okay.”

“Don’t touch my goldman! You pieces of metal trash.” Kaiser held up his gun, and turned its setting to the highest.

He fired at will towards three sets of armor, and they were riddled with holes, becoming pieces of metallic trash.

“AHHH!” Purity screamed on the top of her lungs, and her trembling finger was pointing somewhere.

Somewhere… If Kaiser and Meinan remembered correctly, wasn"t there a super large armor standing in that direction? And the clanging sound that resembled earthquakes seemed to have confirmed their fear.

Kaiser frowned, looked at goldman, then back at the valuables he carried, and said with anguish:

“My goldman, I’m sorry. I can’t give up the treasures on me for you, nor my dream of eating on my bed for the rest of my life.”

After he moaned, Kaiser immediately backed up ten meters. With tears in his eyes, he saw goldman being flattened into a sheet metal by the huge armor.

Seeing the huge armor charging at him, Kaiser quickly ran toward the exit, meeting Purity and Meinan on the way.

They ran as fast as they could, and they were followed by a long line of walking armor, including one that was destroying the ceiling and walls as it walked. The place where they were before had immediately turned into shambles.

“Where the h.e.l.l is Liola?” Kaiser screamed.

“My bronze mirror is gone, uwaaahh.” Meinan was sad beyond belief, and with two rivers of tears streaming from his eyes, he ran for his life.

Purity responded to Kaiser’s question: “Uwaaahh, we went the wrong way. We’re dead, and I will never see Liola-dage wearing another Knight’s uniform.”

"Wrong way?" Kaiser looked at ruins behind him. If they turn back, they would most likely become corpses embellishing the shambles.

“I-I have never missed someone so much in this life. Liola, where the h.e.l.l are you?!”

* * *

Compared to three people missing him, Liola was leisurely examining the new room.

He deduced, the other three would spend a long time being intoxicated in that room, so there was no point for him to hurry back.

To Liola, the room he was in was yet another strange place.

There were many coffins laying around, and a portrait was found on every coffin. Liola opened a coffin, and found a corpse wrapped in bandages. It was quite extraordinary!

* * *

Kaiser took a deep breath, and looked at these "boxes" with portraits. His instinct were alerting him of the possible dangers. But considering the way they came from had walking armors, they couldn’t turn back.

“Kaiser, I-I’m scared.” Purity was trembling so much that Meinan, who was carrying her, was swinging back and forth.

“Don’t look. Shut your mouth, and don’t scream.” Kaiser turned his gun to the highest setting.

“Kaiser, I… I’m scared too!” Meinan turned pale and said: “I’d rather take my chances with the armor, than to run into rotten flesh.”

“What the h.e.l.l are you saying!” Kaiser grunted in disdain: “Corpses don’t walk!”

Snap!

“Didn"t it sound like a box that hasn’t opened in a long time, was being opened?” Meinan asked with a strange expression on his face.

Kaiser’s irises dilated as he saw every box cracked open one by one.

He screamed: “RUN!”

* * *

The shape of the coffin was very similar to the cross Anise had given to him.

With some hesitation, Liola took the cross from Anise out between the collars of his shirt, and started wondering who was really responsible for him sending him to parallel universe.

Liola walked in front of yet another door, but he couldn’t find any levers to open this door. The only thing he saw, was an indention on the door in the shape of a cross.

Although crosses were fairly common, this particular cross had a pair of Dragon"s wings in the center, which was uncommon.

This was the reason why Liola had started wondering. "Could it be this uncanny? That this ruin had something to do with Anise?"

“Should I put Anise’s necklace on it?” Liola hesitated and could not make up his mind. This was, after all, the only thing Anise had left him, and he didn’t want to destroy the necklace.

* * *

“Liola, do you believe in fate?” Anise asked leisurely, as she had always had.

“No.”

“Really?” Anise laughed playfully:

“You don’t think that our meeting was destined? If someone didn’t order a commission to kill me, I wouldn’t have gotten caught and brought here. And if I didn’t know how to heal, the organization wouldn’t have kept me. That day, If you hadn’t been injured for the first time in your career, you wouldn’t have come to me for healing.”

Anise suddenly held Liola’s hands, and she said emotionally:

“I believe in fate, Liola. I believe that our encounter was very significant. I hope, that you won’t run away from that significance, okay?”

* * *

At that time, he didn’t give Anise an answer. Back then, he could only do as the organization asks of him, he didn’t have the ability to give Anise an answer.

But now… Liola put the cross into the wall, and said firmly: “OK!”

The stone door slowly lifted, and a huge Dragon statue appeared before Liola’s eyes. It was a giant Black Dragon, whose statue looks somewhat similar to Baolilong, but far bigger, probably more than ten times bigger. There was also a huge horn on its forehead that Baolilong didn’t have. From far away, this statue looked practically like a black mountain.

Liola started to wonder if this was really a statue. It looked too life-like. The huge Dragon was made up of shiny black scales, and they made it look darker than the hallway behind Liola. It made him feel that if he gets close to this Dragon, he would never be able to see light again.

“My destiny seems like it has something to do with Dragons?” Liola shook his head. First it was Baolilong, now he meets another one.

Liola decided instantly that, regardless of whether this was a statue or a real Dragon, considering his injuries hadn’t fully healed and his ankle bone was broken, he wasn"t interested in forfeiting his life against a Dragon ten times the size of Baolilong. So he decided to leave without waking the Dragon.

Taking back Anise’s cross, Liola walked as if he were a ghost, and without making any sound he walked across the Dragon and reached the door on the other side.

He planned to continue his journey of fate, but who knew that as soon as he opened the door, there was definitely something he had been destined for. After he had opened the door, water came flowing in, together with three other people.

Liola side-stepped lightly, and dodged the stream of water coming from the door he just opened. He also fished out three people in the water, to prevent them from being pushed by the stream and collide with the Dragon"s skin. The three were completely wet, their clothes were torn, and they were gasping for air.

Liola was quiet for a second, then asked: “Were you guys looking for me?”

The three discomposed people raised their heads, and Kaiser even hugged Liola’s leg and cried:

“Uwaaahh, I will never leave you again. Not only did we get chased by armors, surrounded by mummies, we even almost drowned by water. Had you not opened the door, we would’ve all drowned outside. What’s even worse was that all my treasure was washed away, uwaaahh.”

“Liola-dage, sorry, Purity should’ve followed you obediently.” Purity bawled.

“Cough, cough…” Meinan couldn’t say anything. Purity was on his back, and she held onto his neck so tightly that she nearly broke his neck. This was the reason why he couldn’t use his shield to save their lives.

Liola didn’t say anything, but instead remembered something Kaiser murmured before:

“We may be last two people on the world that should have met. One causes trouble, another makes the trouble worse.”

Liola remembered those words because he was now certain the Dragon in front of him was definitely not a statue, and the eyes of the Dragon were blood-stained red.

Kaiser probably realized there was something wrong with Liola. He gulped, and he was wondering what the h.e.l.l it could be to upset Liola, who would remain expressionless even if the sky falls.

Kaiser slowly turned his head back, saw what was behind him, and immediately stood up.

“I’m sorry, I was wrong. I think we should go separate ways!”

Kaiser took less than a second to say his parting words, while running in the direction of mummies and walking armor.

He’d rather help bandage the mummies and oil the armor, than to stand in the sight of this Dragon.

Meinan and Purity had also finally seen this mountain-like Dragon behind them. Purity climbed back onto Meinan’s back again, while Meinan continued doing what he was doing before — carrying Purity, and ran behind Kaiser.

Liola and the Black Dragon stared at each other, and neither of them blinked. It had almost felt as if it were Baolilong playing a staring game with him.

"This Dragon really looks like Baolilong… other than the color. Could it be…"

The blood-red eyes of the huge Dragon stared at the small body of Liola.

A terrifying Dragon mouth slowly opened, showing sharp teeth not unlike those of Baolilong, and then the room thundered with the Dragon’s voice:

“You have my child’s smell.”

Liola was stunned briefly, then said: “You’re black, it’s white.”

“Its color is white.”

Liola was quiet again. "This place was related to Anise, and Baolilong’s father… Was this all fate?"

“Do you want Baolilong back?”

The Black Dragon, who had not moved, slowly raised its head: “Baolilong? You named it?”

Technically speaking, Kaiser named it, but Liola nodded.

The Dragon let out a thunderous laughter, and the dust from the ceiling fell as a result of the laugh. Liola dodged a few of them, without making any sounds, and he waited until the Dragon’s deafening laughter stopped.

“You want Baolilong back?” Liola asked again.

The Black Dragon grunted in disdain: “Why would I want that runt back?”

“I’m leaving then.” Since the Black Dragon didn’t want its child back, Liola was planning on looking for Kaiser, so that they wouldn’t lose their lives here.

“Leave?” The Black Dragon laughed coldly.

Hearing the murderous intent of the Dragon, Liola stopped and, without turning back, asked: “Are you planning to kill me?”

“You are very direct, I kind of like you.” The Black Dragon narrowed its eyes:

“Unfortunately you are that runt’s master, so you have to die. But before you die, I will let you know the name of your killer. My name is Miluo. Tell me your name, runt’s master.”

Liola’s eyes grew cold as well…

“Liola!” A scream came from afar. Kaiser and the others ran back to Liola. Kaiser hurriedly asked:

“Liola, what’s outside of the door on the other side?”

Liola looked at the door he came from, and answered truthfully: “Nothing at all.”

Kaiser bowed: “Thanks, then I’m going to run for my life. You have a nice chat with Baolilong’s dad.”

In fact, Miluo’s voice was so loud that even Kaiser, who was running further and further away, had heard him, including the declaration of killing him.

Kaiser was only forced to turned back because the things that were chasing him were far too many and appalling.

Liola felt an abnormal heat behind him. His instinct told him to move away from the door. A fiery three-headed hound jumped out of the door. The center head looked at Kaiser, and shot out a stream of flames directly at him.

Seeing this, Kaiser jumped behind Baolilong’s dad, and caused the flame to land on Miluo’s body. Miluo had finally moved, and his enormous wings flapped, trying to extinguish the flame with the wind. But this instead angered the three-headed hound, whose heads all shot out flames, but this time it wasn’t at Kaiser.

Dragon vs. Hound, who would win?

Dragons and hounds were on different levels, and just judging by the size difference, anyone would know that the flaming hound losing would be just a matter of time. However, Miluo seemed to hate flames, and as long as he was avoiding the flames, they seemed to have been evenly matched.

“Liola, hurry, let’s go.” Kaiser waved his hand beckoning, gesturing Liola to flee.

Liola didn’t hesitate, and he left with Kaiser. Liola wasn’t interested in this Dragon-hound war, he was just a bit curious: “Where did you guys find this hound?”

“That you’ll have to ask our great magician, Mr. Meinan.” As he fled, Kaiser said snappily.

Liola was in shock. The hound was the result of Meinan, who had never gotten into any trouble?

“I…” Meinan showed an innocent expression: “I accidentally stepped on a hound statue’s tail; who knew it would become a real hound and started chasing us.”

“This place is really strange.” Purity had already cried her tears dry, and she weakly said on Meinan’s back.

“If this was wilderness survival, then who in the world could survive in this kind of wilderness?” Meinan said, with a pale face.

“d.a.m.n that geezer Barbalis. He obviously wanted us to die here.” Kaiser swore, outraged: “When I get back, if I don’t pull out all of his beard, I’m going to change my name to ‘Kaiter’*.”[T/N: Kaiter would mean "Kai-Idiot".]

* * *

“Barbalis, the Yaron Plains shouldn’t be hard to Liola, but wouldn’t it be too hard for others?”

Mizerui stretched comfortably and continued sunbathing: “Liola could get careless, and then…”

Barbalis sipped his bubble tea, and waved his hand:

“It’ll be fine. We won’t lose a single one of our toys. The strongest thing on Yaron Plains is the Leikesi Dragons, which is just 15 meters tall and 20 meters wide.

Meinan’s protective shield is as thick as the skin on his face, and Leikesi Dragon will never break the skin on his face… I mean, never break his protective shield.

Though Kaiser’s true strength is unknown, but at least this guy has mastered the Kung Fu of running for his life.

As for Purity, if she gets ferocious, then you will understand how much of a human weapon she actually is…”

Mizerui listened with increased interest, but these four interesting guys were sent so far away for a month, which means he won’t have any toys to play with for a month.

“A month is a long time. Why did you send them to the far away Yaron Plains?” Mizerui complained.

“Mi-ge, reconstructing the dorm would take at least a month, right?”[T/N: Mi is the short form for Mizerui, while ge (bro) is the short form for gege (brother).]

Mizerui looked at Barbalis skeptically.

"Constructing the dorms takes a month? A week would be already too long."

If all Maxuns in Aklan Academy were utilized, the construction could be done within a day. Even a Dragon Prince’s palace wouldn’t take more than three weeks.

“This definitely won’t be a simple dorm!” Mizerui already saw Barbalis’ sinister grin, and soon, the smirk on his face as well.

"Fine then, let Liola and the group rest in the Yaron Plains for a month, then they can resume playing after."

Mizerui leisurely turned, and imagined many fun scenarios in his head.

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Chapter 2 : The Mystery of the Cross Necklace

“Whoa! Baolilong’s dad is catching up! G.o.d, did the three-headed hound suck that bad? It sure got taken care of really quickly.”

Kaiser slowed his pace for only just a moment to look behind him, and he immediately saw the corridor behind them was being crushed under tremendous weight of a Black Dragon with blood-red eyes, furiously chasing after them.

Suddenly, Meinan tripped. He and Purity both fell on the ground, hard. When Liola saw them, he stopped, grabbed them both, and said calmly: “Hurry.”

Meinan said breathlessly: “I… can’t run anymore…”

Purity, too, was trembling: “My legs are petrified.”

Liola turned and saw the Black Dragon was already less than 100 meters away from them, and it was clearly moving much faster than they were. The Black Dragon was going to catch up to them inevitably.

Liola yelled and stopped Kaiser: “Kaiser, take them with you to the sidelines. Meinan, use your protective shield, and if you find the chance, escape.”

“Are you really going to fight him?” Kaiser’s expression changed: “Are you confident that you can win?”

Liola didn’t reply. Logically, for him to escape from Miluo wasn’t hard. However, defeating Miluo wasn’t an easy feat, especially considering his current condition. His injuries from the previous fight weren’t fully healed, his ankle bone broken, plus he can’t kill…

“Liola, if you don’t kill him, he will definitely kill you!” Kaiser had probably guessed what Liola was thinking, and then added:

“Besides, that Dragon isn’t a person. Killing him shouldn’t be breaking your promise, right?”

"Is that so…?" Liola didn’t have time to hesitate. Miluo, who was hundreds of meters away moments ago, was already in front of them, in a matter of seconds.

Liola turned his head, wanting to tell Kaiser to back away… Nonetheless, Kaiser could sometimes be quite swift. By the time Liola looked at Miluo, they had already ran back to a hole in the wall, and were then surrounded by several layers of protective shield.

When Miluo opened his mouth in an attempt to swallow Liola, Liola started his Blood Fluttering Ki, and jumped using the Dragon"s whiskers as trampoline, launching himself over the Dragon"s head. Liola suddenly increased his weight, and stomped on Miluo"s head.

If Miluo was an ordinary person, the force would’ve been enough to crack his skull open like a watermelon. Unfortunately, Liola had had just about every kind of opponent, except an ordinary person.

Though it caused Miluo enough pain, to force him to let out a cry, it didn’t do much damage.

Miluo angrily swung his head against the wall, trying to crush Liola who was standing on his head. But with Liola’s agility, he would never get hurt so easily. He jumped onto the Dragon’s neck swiftly, and easily evaded Miluo"s attacks.

Miluo calmed down after failing to get rid of Liola in several hits. Miluo said suddenly: “Looks like that runt does have an eye for talent. Killing you would be a bit unfortunate.”

The Dragon’s enormous body suddenly emitted black smoke.

When Liola saw the strange event, he had already jumped down from the Dragon"s neck. However, he didn’t know whether he should take this opportunity to launch attack.

He had no idea what Miluo was up to. Though the smoke seemed harmless, but he wasn’t sure if would fall into a trap by attacking without resolve.

Meanwhile the black smoke had completely engulfed Miluo, and suddenly dispersed. Miluo, who was originally as large as a mountain, was now covered in a black smoke of only about a person’s height.

The black smoke slowly returned to Miluo’s body, and a person emerged. He was a handsome man with dark hair and blood-red eyes. His jagged face showed off his character, and it was quite the contrast, compared to Liola’s elegant face.

“Hmm…” Kaiser knitted his eyebrows and looked at Miluo, and said without holding back: “You look nothing like Baolilong, whose face is so smooth that it looks like an egg. Are you sure Baolilong is your offspring?”

Miluo’s red eyes looked at Kaiser, and a black ball of energy flew out of his hand and hit the protective shield. Meinan’s face went pale, and strengthened the shield. The black ball exploded, and the hole they had been hiding in disappeared in an instant, even the protective shield shook violently.

Kaiser, who was petrified at first, calmed down when he saw that the protective shield was still holding, pouted and said: “Getting angry just because what I said was true. You really are a Dragon without manners.”

Miluo narrowed his eyes, raised both hands, and created black b.a.l.l.s three times the size of the previous one.

Meinan was sweating profusely as he finished his incantation to increase the layers of the shield. The originally transparent shield had so many layers, it now looked like a giant gla.s.s sphere.

Kaiser was still itching to ridicule Miluo more, so he put his face near the protective shield. With the gla.s.s-like shield magnifying his face, Kaiser’s face looked like he really ought to be taught a lesson.

Miluo’s veins popped out of his forehead, the two black b.a.l.l.s doubled in size again.

Without any hesitation, Miluo threw them at the shield. But just as they left his hands, two throwing stars suddenly appeared in the black b.a.l.l.s’ trajectories. They collided and a giant explosion ensued. The explosion caused the entire palace to collapse into ruins, and the dust formed a mushroom cloud.

* * *

“Wow, what a giant explosion. The shield lost three layers in the explosion, Meinan hurry up and put them back. We might be facing Baolilong’s dad playing bowling again.”

Kaiser playfully looked outside, and looked to see if Liola was still in one piece after the explosion, or if he was already shattered into pieces.

Meinan turned and looked at Kaiser. Meinan"s face was completely pale, and as soon as he opened his mouth, blood oozed out the corners. Meinan looked at Kaiser with sad eyes.

Even for Kaiser, he couldn’t turn a blind eye to these gazes, so he grudgingly said: “F-fine, I’ll say less.”

“You really are crazy. With such a short distance even you will be swallowed by the explosion.”

Miluo was hurt by his own magic, and he got angrier as a result. However, seeing that his opponent wasn’t in a much better situation than him, Miluo started smiling.

Liola quickly examined his own wounds: medium internal injury, a twenty-centimeter cut on his left arm, and his sprained ankle seemed to have fractured, not to mention plenty of bruises and cuts… But it felt like it wasn’t too severe.

Compared to his opponent, Liola closely examined, he seemed better off. Miluo’s hands were severely burned, and there was a thirty-centimeter red mark on his chest. Liola was satisfied, at least his opponent’s situation was as bad as his — they were both seriously injured.

“Hmm, Meinan, look at them with those bloodied wounds. If we go out with a few bullets, shouldn’t we take care of it?” Kaiser pushed his face against the shield again, and saw the two people facing each other, both covered in blood.

Purity trembled: “Uwaah, the entire palace disappeared. What horrifying magic…”

Meinan said with a pale face: “And with such a large explosion, it’s more horrifying that there are two people standing up like that….”

“That IS horrifying, then I should just stay behind the protective shield.” Kaiser carefully concluded.

Miluo finally ran into a worthy opponent, so the smile on his face got wider. He reminded Liola:

“Stop caring about that little runt’s feelings and summon him already. Use your Dragon magic and let’s have a good fight!”

Liola remained quiet. He couldn’t even feel a bit of magic element, let alone using Dragon magic. He even had trouble using the “Summon Dragon” that Baolilong and Purity spent a night trying to teach him.

“He wants Liola to summon Baolilong?” Kaiser’s eyes flashed: “It would be faster to call that geezer Barbalis and ask him to bring Baolilong with him.”

Miluo’s cold eyes scanned the shield, Purity and Meinan immediately used all four of their hands to cover Kaiser’s mouth. Kaiser, who still wanted to talk, could only make m.u.f.fled noises.

Miluo turned around towards Liola, and asked unbelievably: “You don’t know how to summon a Dragon? Are you really a Dragon Knight?”

“I’m not a Dragon Knight.” Liola answered simply and honestly.

“Oh? You are not a Dragon Knight?” Miluo smiled coldly: “Then is the cross around your neck fake? Only the Dragon Emperor’s bloodline has the necklace to enter the room that imprisoned me. Twenty years ago… the Dragon Queen was pregnant, so you are the Dragon Emperor’s son?!”

“I don’t know who the Dragon Emperor is. This necklace was given to me by someone else.” Liola calmly stated the truth. "Anise’s cross… has something to do with Dragon Emperor bloodlines?"

Miluo suddenly covered his face with one of his hand, and burst out laughing: “Y-you don’t know who Dragon Emperor is? Dragon Prince, your deception has gone too far. Who in the world would not know about one of the three biggest kingdoms: Dragon Empire, and its ruler?”

“I’m an a.s.sa.s.sin.” Liola frowned slightly, confused as to why he was mistaken as the Dragon Prince, something he couldn"t comprehend.

Miluo suddenly stopped laughing, and his eyes were filled with hate. He didn’t believe anything of what Liola said, and thought the Dragon Empire’s Dragon Knights were becoming less and less chivalrous.

"To save his own life, he would lie as far as this… that runt couldn’t be given to someone like this!"

Miluo lifted his bleeding arms, his eyes narrowed, and his arms began to change: skin turned into scales, muscles doubled, and fingers became sharp claws. Miluo said with hatred: “Die!”

Broken Silver was already in Liola’s hands, and it was already unsheathed, revealing a sharp dagger.

Liola had temporarily put the promise of not killing in the back of his mind, because he didn’t think that under the current circ.u.mstances, it was possible for him to kill Miluo at all. Or perhaps he should run?

Liola’s mind flashed with the most intelligent choice, but… Liola scanned the protective shield. If he were to run, what would happen to Kaiser and the others?

But why should he care about those three? He had only met them for a bit over a week.

While Liola stood where he was, fending off Miluo’s ferocious attacks, his instincts wanted him to run. An a.s.sa.s.sin would never fight his opponent head-on, nor would they attack when they are at a disadvantage.

Instinctively, Liola wanted to run, but his feet stood firmly on the ground. Liola’s conscious thought, he had already let Anise die, and he couldn’t let it go even now.

If he were to let Kaiser and the others die here, then perhaps he would never have the courage to speak to anyone else again.

“Dragon Blaster!” Though Miluo didn’t understand what Liola was struggling with and why he was distracted, but he wasn’t going to let this opportunity pa.s.s. When his Dragon claw was in front of Liola’s chest, Miluo used Dragon Blaster without hesitation.

When Liola realized what was happening, it was already too late. His body already flew off and blasted through several walls, only to be stopped by a large pillar.

He didn’t need to examine his wounds to know that his internal injuries had turned from mediocre to severe, but without having time to recuperate, Liola instinctively raised Broken Silver to block Miluo, who had flown over and was following him.

This block made Liola’s blood boil. Facing his enemies head-on was a disadvantage to him, but with his ankle fractured, Liola couldn’t use his speed to evade Miluo’s horrifying power. Every time Liola blocked Miluo’s attack, he felt as if his arm was going to break.

“Liola-dage!” Purity screamed. The white clothes she had specially prepared for him had already turned red. Everyone could see Liola was in bad shape.

Liola finally couldn’t hold onto Broken Silver any longer. When Miluo attacked, he hit Broken Silver out of Liola’s hands, and it flew and got stuck in the protective shield.

Liola could only use his arms to defend for a few more attacks, however, he couldn’t even raise his arms. They were deeply cut by Dragon"s scales, and his bones were vaguely visible in various areas.

Without being able to use his arms, Liola could only use his legs to defend.

Miluo let out an evil laugh. Ten black arrows appeared in his claw, and shot them with a wave of his hand.

Liola used Blood-Fluttering Ki to block the attack, and the dark arrows collided with his Ki, making Liola’s blood-drained face even paler.

Liola’s body went numb, and he no longer had the strength to stand up. He knelt in front of Miluo, with blood dripping out of his mouth to the ground.

Miluo looked down at Liola. With one arm, he grabbed Liola’s thin neck, and raised him high in the air as if to show off. He even laughed evilly toward Kaiser, while purposely waving Liola’s body back and forth.

“T-this is too ridiculous!” Purity had tears covering her face, while her body was trembling.

She kicked Meinan at the back of his head, making the “Protective Shield Generator” unconscious. Thus, the layers of shield instantly disappeared.

“Uh, Purity, do you know what you’re doing?” Kaiser gulped as he backed away a few steps. He even kicked Meinan in attempt to wake him up.

Meanwhile, Purity was unusually calm, and without any signs of fear.

She started making various gestures with her hand, and started chanting some indecipherable incantation. The presence of magic forced Purity’s black hair to fly in the air.

Miluo realized something was wrong. He threw down the dying Liola, and rushed towards Purity.

When his claw was just about to reach Purity’s face, a gunshot sound occurred.

Miluo didn"t care much about an antique weapon, for the handgun couldn’t do enough damage to him. However, a strong wave of magic and flame made Miluo duck. A white bomb brushed across Miluo’s face, which made him scream in pain.

The white bomb crashed into the side of a rock. Though the hole it made was only half a meter wide, and its power seemed nothing compared to Miluo’s black spheroid, but if someone were to measure the hole, they would find a surprising depth of the hole…

"Compressed Fireball?" Miluo’s iris contracted. The fireball was white.

"How long had it been since someone used a white fireball?" Miluo thought of Kaiser as another threat, so he immediately raised his claw to kill Purity and get rid of her first.

“Kyaaa, so ugly!” Purity finally finished her incantation. However, as soon as she opened her eyes, she saw Miluo’s face, which was already half destroyed by Kaiser.

Because of the surprise, Purity immediately used her magic, and Miluo’s whole body was surrounded by her terrifying magic.

Miluo felt a strong pull behind him, confused, he turned around only to see a black hole behind him. He finally understood what was going on, and he let out a scream louder than when he was. .h.i.t by Kaiser: “d.a.m.n! s.p.a.ce Magic.”

A strong gravity pulled Miluo’s body into the black hole.

Miluo struggled with all his might, and he even left deep claw marks on the ground. He finally realized that there was nothing else he could do, so he screamed at Liola, who was lying on the ground:

“Dragon Prince, just you wait. I, Miluo, will never forgive any Dragon Empire royalties!”

As he finished his last word, his last claw could no longer hold on, and he was sucked into the black hole. After the black hole had “swallowed” Miluo, as if it had been satisfied, it obediently closed its mouth. Everything went back to normal, as if nothing had happened.

And the ruins were even more in ruins. Everything that should or shouldn’t have been destroyed, had all been in shambles.

* * *

“What’s going on?” Meinan finally woke up, but he didn’t see Miluo, so he asked his friends what had happened.

Purity and Kaiser didn’t answer Meinan, they simply looked at each other. Finally, Kaiser pointed at Purity with blaming eyes and yelled:

“You had this kind of magic but you didn’t use it earlier? Why did you wait until Liola was almost dead?! You obviously wanted to see how Liola looked when he was covered in blood, you vicious woman!”

“Ridiculous! Purity would never want Liola-dage to die.” Purity protested profusely:

“Besides, why didn’t Kaiser use that white bomb earlier, then Liola-dage wouldn’t be hurt by Miluo. Kaiser is the vicious one.”

“Are you joking?” Kaiser wouldn’t back down either:

“Do you know how hard it is to successfully cast that magic? Last time I tried, I almost blew myself up, and I had to spend a fortune just to patch my wounds. Do you really think that I would use it all the time? You really think I have too much money for hospitals?”

‘Hey… The most important thing is your life, right?’ Meinan thought while black lines covered his face.

Purity pouted and said:

“At least you would only kill yourself. The last time I used this magic, I almost sent the entire Aklan Academy into the black hole, so do you think I should use it all the time? And then they would have to find more students to accept, how troublesome it would be!”

Of course, after the incident, she never admitted that the s.p.a.ce magic was her doing, although she had always felt that princ.i.p.al Barbalis already knew…

‘Hey… The important thing is the students’ lives, right?’ Meinan was already on the ground, speechless and crying.

He wept towards Liola: “Liola, we are still alive. How miraculous!”

“Can you tell me about Dragon Empire?”

Liola turned his head toward Meinan, but as he tilted his head, blood gushed out of his mouth like water out of a facet, but in his eyes, he still showed a desire to know the answer, though that too was diminishing. Then Liola tilted his head, and went unconscious.

‘This guy isn’t normal…’ Meinan realized that despite his strange habits, he’s probably the most normal person out of the four.

“If you argue like this, Liola is really going to die.” Meinan placed Liola on his back, and anxiously yelled at the other two who was still screaming at each other.

Purity and Kaiser both turned their heads around, and saw blood gushing out in every areas of Liola body, despite the fact that Meinan had already bandaged parts of him. The blood from Liola’s mouth and his pale face indicated that, if they don’t get some help soon, there would be an additional corpse here in the ruins.

“Purity, use your s.p.a.ce magic and send us back to Aklan Academy.” Kaiser said immediately.

Purity instead said with tears: “I don’t know how. I have no idea where my s.p.a.ce magic would send people to.”

“What?!” Kaiser screamed in surprise: “Then where the h.e.l.l did you send Miluo? Don’t tell me you only sent Miluo back to the Yaron Plains?”

Purity shook her head, because she had no idea where Miluo was sent to. Perhaps he’s in the next room, or perhaps he became an interdimensional traveler like Liola.

“Purity, can’t you at least try?” Meinan asked anxiously: “Yaron Plains is too far from the city. Liola will never live long enough for us to reach the city.”

Purity was just as anxious, but she was too afraid to try because she didn’t know how to position her magic. If she uses it to send Liola and the rest of her group away, no one would know where they could end up.

Seeing that Purity had no confidence in positioning, Meinan and Kaiser were both helpless. Judging from Liola’s wounds, perhaps they would be visiting his grave the next year…

“Kaiser, tell me about the Dragon Empire.” Liola, who was unconscious seconds ago, raised his head and asked.

“…Someone is dying and you’re still asking questions?” Kaiser was surprised, and snapped. But he was worried that this might be Liola’s last moment of consciousness before he dies.

“Someone is dying?” Liola asked, confused: “Who’s dying? Is anyone hurt?”

Kaiser, Purity, and Meinan all yelled unbelievably: “You are the one dying!”

Liola was stunned. He’s going to die? Liola frowned, wondering if he missed any fatal wound in his last scan. To make sure, he checked his wounds again. Though he did confirm that he had sustained heavy injures, but they weren’t enough to kill him.

Liola asked skeptically: “Why am I dying?”

“Your arms are almost similar to a skeleton!” Meinan pointed the arms around him that were covered in blood.

“Hm, I can’t move my arms for now.”

“You are covered in blood!” Purity observed that his white shirt had turn red.

“I’ve already stopped the bleeding.”

“You are f—ing spitting blood like a water faucet.” Kaiser yelled.

“I have internal injuries, so I’m spitting out the clotted blood.”

Kaiser and the others stared at Liola, who should be “near death”. After a long moment of silence, Kaiser said calmly: “Okay, actually… It’s because we want to kill you!”

Liola replied calmly after observing: “Even with my disabled arms, fractured ankle, severe internal injury, and severe loss of blood, the chance of the three of you succeeding in killing me is less than 10 percent.”

Upon hearing this, Kaiser laughed coldly, and raised his gun. A small white bomb slowly materialized.

“Stop! Kaiser, calm down, you are going to blow yourself up…” Meinan and Purity quickly held Kaiser.

Kaiser struggled and said: “Let me go! Let me butcher this ungrateful b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”

Liola frowned, and with a light jump, he got off Meinan’s back, and landed with his left foot. He bent over, and with his mouth he took out the dagger from his boot. As the three stood still, stunned by his actions, Liola disappeared where he stood, and then the blade of Broken Silver appeared a centimeter away from Kaiser’s neck, with Liola standing behind Kaiser like a ghost.

Kaiser’s face was immediately changed to a flattering smile: “Liola, you know, we’ve always been best buds! Why would I really want to harm you? I was just kidding, just kidding!”

Liola moved Broken Silver away, and accurately spit it back into his boots. He seemed indifferent towards Kaiser’s lack of humor, and said plainly: “Didn’t you guys want treasure?”

Treasure! Lights shone again in the other three pairs of eyes.

Liola nodded towards the right: “Over there.”

“What kind of treasure?” Kaiser asked curiously.

“A stone with energy.” Liola answered directly.

“Is it a art piece/sword/gem?” Three of them asked together, but each with what they wanted.

Without responding to any of the questions, Liola said softly: “Behind that pillar.”

Though each of them three were disappointed that it was just a rock, but even if it’s not what they wanted, simply because Liola said that it was "emitting strange energies", it meant that, even if it’s just a rock, it was definitely not an ordinary rock.

Better than nothing, was what they thought. So they all ran as fast as they could to the pillar Liola pointed.

A bright "rock" quietly laid on a pedestal, waiting for them.

Judging from the snow white light that the "rock" is emitting, they all knew, this "rock" was hundreds of times more valuable than the treasures they’ve seen before.

Kaiser even gulped continuously, then murmured to Liola: “Liola, next time, if there’s any rock emitting energy… no, no, if anything emits energy, please tell me first, and as soon as possible.”

“Such a pretty gem!” Purity had already forgotten anything about swords. Her feet walked towards the rock as if they had minds of their own, and her eyes had only the reflection of the rock.

However, Kaiser was faster than Purity, and suddenly ran to the rock and held it in his hands. Purity, on the other hand, also seemed to show a woman"s natural desire for gems.

When Kaiser held up the gem, Purity also put her hands around the gem; her pouting face indicated that she was determined not to let go.

Liola turned to see why Meinan didn’t line up to grab the gem, only to see that Meinan had gotten a huge mirror out of nowhere, together with a comb, and was combing his tousled, gold hair carefully. He then pulled out his bottle of cologne, carefully sprayed it around his body. The carefully grooming Meinan didn’t seem to care at all about the gem.

While Kaiser and Purity were each trying to grab the gem for themselves, they didn’t realize that the pedestal on which the gem sat, flashed some strange pattern, and then slowly disappeared.

But Liola noticed something was wrong. Something was moving around the ruins. Something that shouldn’t be moving.

Even though the fight between Miluo and him had caused many loud explosions, "they" hadn’t moved, but why would they now…

Liola looked at the gem in Kaiser and Purity hands as if something was on his mind.

‘Perhaps that gem was some sort of seal?’

“Uh… Purity, Kaiser…” Originally Meinan was about to put two strings of hair back to where they belong, but what he saw in his mirror made him decide otherwise.

Meinan took a couple of steps toward Liola, and trembled as he tried to remind the two friends of his, who didn’t notice the surrounding dangerous due to the allure of the gem.

A few headless "people" walked past Liola and Meinan, completely ignoring them. Their target was obviously that gem… Or perhaps the two people who were trying to take the gem.

Seeing that the two had already been surrounded by corpses, Meinan couldn’t hold back anymore and yelled: “Purity, Kaiser! Look around you! Stop fighting!”

The two finally seemed to be woken up.

After being stunned briefly, Purity and Kaiser finally realized the situation they were in. Purity immediately screamed, and let go of the gem. She ran back to Liola, while trampling a few corpses on the way. She then held onto Liola tightly.

Only Kaiser was left.

He gulped, and carefully put his arms around his precious gem. He wanted to run back to Liola like Purity, but he wasn’t successful like her. Wherever Kaiser went, all the corpses moved in that direction.

Finally, Kaiser was just about buried by corpses. He got angry, and pulled out his gun and fired at will. For corpses that had heads, he shot the heads, as for the others, he shot the legs.

However Kaiser quickly realized it wasn"t helping his situation. The corpses didn’t seem to mind that they didn’t have heads, and the ones with broken legs crawled on the ground towards him.

With more and more corpses coming out of the surrounding rooms, Kaiser finally started calling for help: “Liola, help me! If you want, I’ll share 0.5 carat with you!”

Liola said plainly: “Put the gem back to where it was.”

“What are you saying?!” Kaiser ground his teeth: “No! This is my darling. I’m never letting it go.”

“Put it back, and the corpses will stop.” Liola calmly determined.

“Never! Not even if I die!” Kaiser screamed.

“Let’s go.” Liola said straightforwardly, and at the same time turned around to leave this strange ruins.

“Wait, are you really going to leave your friend behind? d.a.m.n you, Liola, we are friends, how can you possibly leave me behind! Remember when you first came to this world, who took care of you? Who answered your questions?” Kaiser cried on the top of his lungs.

Liola thought quietly. All he remembered was someone telling him to go the shelter.

And by now, the corpses had already gotten a hold of Kaiser. The decomposed and smelly hands had grabbed Kaiser’s ankle, shoulder, arms…

Back to top

Chapter 3 : Light and Darkness

“Kaiser seems extremely depressed. Is he going to be okay?” Purity kept turning back to check on Kaiser, who was walking with his face parallel to the ground.

“Yes.” Liola said straightforwardly.

“Sigh, it was just a gem. Could it be more important than his life?” Meinan brushed his bright, golden hair, and shook his head in confusion:

“Kaiser really overdid it. He almost got torn to pieces by those mummified corpses for that gem. If Liola didn’t put the gem back on the pedestal in time, Kaiser would have turned into a corpse too.”

Though Liola saved Kaiser"s life, all he received in return was a couple of days of death glares. Liola was beginning to think, perhaps he should have let Kaiser die with the gem, then maybe he would be happier?

“Liola-dage, how’s your arm?” Purity worriedly looked at Liola’s arm.

“I can move it now.” Liola lifted his arm, and stretched his fingers to rea.s.sure Purity.

“Don’t worry.” Meinan interrupted: “The northern city of Freesia is just up ahead. When we’re there, I’ll bring him to the best healing Maxun, and I promise it won’t even leave a scar.”

“I’m hungry.” Kaiser’s eyes were staring at the others, with stares full of rage from losing his precious gem.

Purity, who was on the brink of tears from being stared at, said with a trembling voice: “Purity will buy you the best food. Kaiser should stop being mad. Purity is scared!”

“Really?” Kaiser’s eyes immediately brightened.

Purity nodded continuously, and Kaiser finally seemed to have lifted his spirit, with the desire for food flashing in his eyes.

Before long, Kaiser arrived at the gate to Freesia, and turned around to beckon at Liola and the others. Liola and the others sighed and quickened their pace. Then they all arrived at the tall gate of Freesia.

* * *

“Put your student ID inside the checkpoint, and the Maxuns there will automatically identify us.” As Kaiser inserted a black card into a Maxun, he explained to the confused Liola.

With Aklan Academy’s student IDs, the four easily entered Freesia.

The city was an obvious contrast to the capital city of Aklan. It was open and s.p.a.cious, and there were far less flying Maxuns in the air. There were many people who, like Liola and the others, walked on the side of the road.

There were far fewer metallic buildings compared to the Aklan"s capital, with quite a few real trees buried in the earth. The buildings were also short… At least far shorter than buildings in Aklan, which are all hundreds of stories tall.

“Freesia, the city closest to the Yaron Plains, and the city furthest to the north in the continent of Aklan. It’s also called the Northern Star, Freesia. Since people living here will often have to fend of sub-Dragons, they are all very strong, and their customs are fairly rough.”

Meinan explained to everyone:
“Their barbecue is quite famous. When Liola is cured, I’ll bring you to the most famous restaurant here.”

Everyone cheerfully agreed. However, Kaiser still murmured “But I’m about to die from starvation.”

Everyone arrived at the healing center, and with Purity’s insistence, Liola used the best as well as the most expensive healing Maxun.

Although it wasn’t as good as the one Barbalis purchased, it wasn’t too far off. Besides, Liola’s injuries weren’t nearly as bad as last time, so Kaiser only had to chant “I’m hungry” for half an hour, before Liola’s wounds were completely healed.

Liola realized, the healing Maxun was quite amazing at external wounds. Wherever it touched, the wound would be healed. But for internal injuries, its uses seemed extremely limited. So, although Liola looks perfectly fine on the outside, his internal injuries remained quite severe.

‘Looks like I’ll have to rely on my Ki to heal the internal injures for the coming days,’ Liola thought.

With Kaiser’s continuous urging, Meinan lead everyone to a special restaurant. Kaiser arrived as if he were a hurricane blowing through the front door, and he was so happy that he almost danced on the spot. His eyes sparkled as he requested a room from the waitress.

Meinan showed a proud smile: “Fortunately, there is one room left.”

As soon as he heard, Kaiser cheered with Purity, and even Meinan showed a big smile on his face. Though Liola seemed expressionless always, but judging from the tension from his face, he was a bit more relaxed, indeed.

“We want a room.” Another person appeared through the door, and rashly asked for a room.

The waitress at the door was apologetic and said: “I’m really sorry, the last room was booked.”

“What? No room? Do you know who we are?” The black haired, black eyed man showed discontent, and started yelling. The waitress seemed to have gotten more and more angry, and her middle fingers from both hands looked as if they were about to be out of control…

Originally, Liola and the rest had already walked away, but then they suddenly stopped. The reason as to why they stopped, was obviously not because of Kaiser, who only had grilled meat in his mind. Nor was it Purity, who would be trembling at the mere sight of an argument. Of course, nor is it Liola, who was a cold-hearted a.s.sa.s.sin that didn’t care much about others.

“Sir, if there were no rooms left, can’t you find another place to eat? Why make things difficult for this lady?” Meinan brushed his hair, and denounced at such rude behavior.

The yelling man heard Meinan’s criticism, and flashed a smile as if some evil plan had worked; he then turned all of his anger towards Meinan:

“It’s none of your d.a.m.n business. If she doesn’t want me to yell at her, then give me your room! Otherwise stop faking chivalry over there.”

As soon as they mentioned giving up their room, Meinan had already felt two burning eyes on his back. If he says yes, then those eyes would probably materialize as bullets, and Meinan certainly didn’t want to hold a protective shield while he was eating, so he decidedly declined:

“No! We booked the room first. My friends and I will never submit to bullies.” Although, he was already giving into the bully known as Kaiser…

“Bully? Haha, do you know who my master is?” The man said in disdain.

Meinan said righteously: “No matter who it is, you shouldn’t…”

“My master is the Paladin Lancelot!” The man’s face sank, and all the rough expressions were gone. When he said Lancelot’s name, his att.i.tude was similar to that of a devoted follower saying his G.o.d’s name.

At this time, everyone was quiet, and their eyes opened wide, showing complete disbelief. Meinan stammered: “H-How is that possible? A Paladin appearing in such a remote location.”

The man laughed. Every time he says Lancelot’s name, everyone’s expression would always make me laugh out loud.

The man resumed his rough expression: “What? My master disappeared long ago because he wanted to travel the world. Now he"s traveled to Freesia, what’s wrong with that?”

“Mr. Paladin is really here?” Purity rushed up, her eyes filled with sparkles: “Where is he? Where? Can you tell me where he is?”

The man was dazed by the long series of questions, and said:
“Lancelot… couple days ago he went to the Yaron Plains to check out the disturbances there. Today I got a message from him, saying that he’ll be back today, and told me to book a room to have a drink with him… Wait, why the h.e.l.l am I telling you this?”

“So I will be able to see the famous Paladin soon?” Purity resumed her fantasy of the prince charming.

"Disturbances in the Yaron Plains?" Liola thought, "these “disturbances” were all in the barbecue restaurant in Freesia, other than one who was sent to G.o.d-knows-where."

“That’s right, so give up your room! Lancelot wants to eat meat and drink.” The man laughed evilly

Meinan and Purity almost nodded, but the sound of a gun stopped their heads. Meinan took out his mirror, and with a shaky mirror he saw Kaiser pointing a gun at two people in front of him. Their faces went pale, and immediately changed their nodding to shaking of their heads. But they were afraid that, when the Paladin arrives, he would be giving the speech on their funeral.

“I-WANT-GRILLED-MEAT!” Kaiser said slowly, word by word.

Liola, who was next to him, murmured, “I haven’t felt this strong of a murderous intent in quite a long time…”

Meinan ran back to Kaiser’s side, and used this action to show that he won’t give up the room. Purity was crying instead, and said unwillingly: “I-I want to see the Paladin, wooo…”

“What’s so great about the Paladin? Is he edible? Can he fill my stomach?” Kaiser yelled angrily. Kaiser, who had already smelled the scent of barbecue, will never give up the room.

Though Purity was trembling, but in order to fulfill her dream of seeing the Paladin Lancelot, she heaved her small chest, and screamed on the top of her lungs: “I want to see the Paladin~”

This explosive scream made everyone cover their ears in pain. Kaiser was the only one covering one ear with his left hand, while his right hand still pointed a gun at Purity.

“I say…” The man also covered his ears, and tried to find a way to resolve the current situation:

“Since you don’t have that many people, and there’s only Lancelot and me, how about we share a room?” The man thought, if this continues, then the whole restaurant might be destroyed today.

“W-We can eat together with Sir Lancelot?” Purity covered her chest, as if she were about to faint.

“He’s not going to rob me of my grilled meat, is he?” Kaiser asked skeptically.

The man’s mouth twitched: “Order separately!”

After coming to an agreement, they all followed the waitress, who sighed in relief, into the room.

* * *

When Kaiser saw dishes of red meat being served, he almost forgot that humans ate cooked meat, and picked up the raw meat as if he were going to eat it. Fortunately, Purity grabbed them back, and within seconds she cooked them, so Kaiser didn’t have to eat raw meat.

The black haired man drank a few cups, and then started laughing. He turned to the cold Liola and asked: “Bro, what’s your name?”

Liola gave the man a cold look, and said: “Liola.”

The man frowned: “That’s a strange name…”

“What is your name?” Purity asked curiously, while her hands were still busy cooking meat for Kaiser.

“Oh, my name is Blood…” The man suddenly paused, then continued: “Just call me Wolf.”

Purity nodded understandingly: “So it’s Wolf-dage.”

A thought suddenly flashed through Liola"s head, but he didn’t say anything. Besides, after this meal, they will be going in separate ways. It didn’t matter who this man was at all.

“Wolf! L-Let’s drink