“What? You’re going to the Sea of Mist?!” At the lavish banquet, surrounded by women, Marcel was so shocked that he spat out the wine he had just drunk.
The girl next to him instinctively covered her chest in surprise, only to realize that the wine hadn’t spilled on her but was hovering in mid-air.
“That’s right. What’s the matter? Are you interested in coming along?” Luca’s fingertips glowed with a blue light, and the wine in mid-air slowly gathered back into Marcel’s goblet.
“I’m not crazy like you.” Marcel glanced at his wine glass, his lips twitching. He gestured for a nearby servant to replace it and said, “That’s the Sea of Mist we’re talking about! Even Transcendent-level beings might not make it out of there. Are you asking me to go there just to die?”
Luca raised an eyebrow. “What a shame. I heard there’s a special race in the Sea of Mist, with incredibly beautiful looks and sweet voices. I thought you’d be interested.”
“What race?” Marcel immediately perked up, his interest piqued. “Could it be more… attractive than the Centaurs from our All-Beings Empire?”
“Ahem, Your Highness, I think you’ve had enough to drink.” Krik cleared his throat and quickly interrupted, adding, “We’re here to discuss the price, the price.”
It was fine when the prince behaved this way in his own territory, but now he was acting so irresponsibly in public? This kind of behavior was setting a bad example for the nobles of the All-Beings Empire. Krik couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
“I was just asking,” Marcel snapped back to reality, offering an awkward smile. He then looked at Luca, his expression turning serious. “One billion, not a single coin less!”
He spoke earnestly, “This is a good deal, brother. In the Via Empire, they won’t even talk to you unless you have at least 200 million. And mind you, this is a Superclass battleship with two of them, no less!”
Luca swirled his wine glass, pointing straight at the heart of the issue. “But you’re selling second-hand ships, and they’ve been used for many years.”
“You want me to pay 200 million for an old, broken ship? Why not add another 200 million and buy a new one?”
“How can you say that?!” Marcel became agitated. “This ship might be old, but it hasn’t seen any battle! It’s still practically brand new!”
Luca had no intention of lowering the price. He said, “It’s too old. Even if it hasn’t been used, it’s still not worth that price. I could easily find someone to buy a brand-new, fully-equipped one.”
He paused for a moment before looking at Marcel. “And you’re late.”
Marcel’s face instantly turned red with frustration.
Dammit, is this really where it’s going?
The two continued to argue for a while longer, and by the time they finished, it was already completely dark. In the end, Marcel didn’t manage to get a single benefit.
With no other choice, he had to compromise, reducing the price by 5%. Originally, it was only supposed to be a 5% discount, but the remaining 0% was something Luca had ruthlessly cut out, with each concession feeling like a blow to Marcel’s flesh, making him wince in pain.
Taking the pen, Luca signed the contract, and a smile finally spread across his face. It was done!
He raised his glass and gestured toward Marcel. “Pleasure doing business with you. I hope you won’t be late next time.”
“You may be pleased, but I’ve taken a huge loss.” Marcel forced a bitter smile. The price was way lower than he had expected—by quite a lot. And that was all his money!
Downing the rest of his wine, he let out a drunken burp and slapped Luca on the shoulder. “Brother, I think you owe me at least a few beautiful women tonight to soothe my wounded heart.”
Luca stood up and shook his head. “Chasing women is something you should do yourself for the sense of accomplishment. Even if I bring you a hundred, what’s the point? You don’t lack women.”
Marcel thought for a moment and oddly found that to be very reasonable. After all, there’s nothing like picking your own…
“Wait a second, no! Forget the women—if you can’t get them, just get me something else!” It was only then that Marcel realized Luca had already disappeared from sight. He immediately regretted it, his face turning green with frustration.
He had worked so hard, and in the end, got nothing. This was such a loss!
“I treated you like a brother, and you treated me like an easy mark!” he muttered to himself, vowing never to do business with Luca again. The guy was a total scam.
At that moment, Krik suddenly spoke up in surprise. “Your Highness, it seems Lord Luca forgot to take something with him.”
Hmm? Marcel glanced over, and noticed an envelope left behind at the spot where Luca had been sitting. There were no seals or signatures on it.
He immediately opened it and took a look, only for his expression to change instantly.
“Hahaha! Now this really is a great gift!” Marcel’s face flushed, and he couldn’t help but burst into laughter. The people nearby jumped in shock, thinking he had lost his mind.
Krik, puzzled, asked, “Is this letter really that important?”
“More than important!” Marcel gripped the envelope tightly, licking his lips as golden vertical pupils gleamed with excitement. He spoke with certainty, “This could even change the entire structure of our All-Beings Empire!”
Krik was startled when he heard this and exclaimed in shock, “Is that for real? Just because of this letter?”
He couldn’t imagine what could be inside that would make Marcel say something like that.
“You’ll know when we get back. Let’s go now.” With that, Marcel stood up and quickly made his way towards the exit of the banquet hall. He couldn’t wait to share this news with his father.
It wasn’t hard to understand why Marcel was so serious. The contents of the letter were the evidence that the Crimson King, Ogg Stuart, had been colluding with the Phillips family to release monsters into the world!
Colluding with monsters to harm living beings—this was an unforgivable crime for all the races on the Eternal Continent! With tensions between the Dragon King and several other monarchs already reaching a boiling point, this information came at just the right time!
That very night, Marcel and the aristocrats of the All-Beings Empire, eager to act, swiftly boarded their warships and turned back towards their homeland.
They didn’t even finish the banquet, leaving only two ships behind as proof that they had been there.
The next morning, Luca, not wasting any time, gathered the hundreds of high-level materials he had bought from Tark. With Sophia and the others, he boarded the “Windrider,” a magical-tech warship.
And officially set sail toward the Sea of Mist.
Catherine sat on horseback, gazing at the gradually disappearing ships. When they were no longer visible, she withdrew her gaze, pursed her lips, and tugged at the reins, heading in the direction of Riverfall City.
The red tail of the horse flickered in the wind, like a flame burning brightly.
…
Meanwhile, at the Dawn City palace.
In the spacious and tidy royal study, sat an exquisitely beautiful figure clad in royal robes.
She wore a sapphire crown, and her features were flawless. On her youthful face, there was an expression of authority that seemed far beyond her age, mixed with deep surprise.
“Luca killed the pirate king of the Western Sea?” Fratis looked at the stunning widow duchess before her, clearly astonished by the news.
If she recalled correctly, Luca had only just arrived in the Western Sea a few days ago, right?
“Yes, not only did he kill him, but he killed two of them,” Evelyn replied with a bitter smile as she took out an envelope from her storage ring and handed it to Fratis. She had no words for the man in the Western Sea.
It had only been a few days since Luca left Dawn City, and yet he had already stirred up such a ruckus in the Western Sea. Though he was doing good deeds, it couldn’t be denied that this guy had a knack for causing trouble.
After reading the letter Luca had sent, a smile appeared on Fratis’ face. She said, “This is a good thing. Those pirates are utterly detestable, and the civilians along the coast have been terrorized by them for far too long. Now that Luca has gone over and killed two of the major pirates, these people will certainly think twice before being so reckless again.”
“Your Majesty is right,” Evelyn agreed, but she wasn’t here to discuss that matter. Sighing, she continued, “However, according to Luca, not only did he kill the pirates, but he also killed Geo Sack, the vice president of the Five Seas Chamber of Commerce.”
“That man has Rod Valvis behind him, the strongest of humanity, a Transcendent-level powerhouse. Luca hopes that we can offer him some support.”
“To help him temporarily hold off the pressure from Rod and the Via Empire, at least keeping Rod outside the Western Sea. But he hasn’t explained why we should do this.”
Evelyn was visibly frustrated as she spoke. Putting aside Rod’s strength, at the very least, Luca could have provided them with a convincing reason to persuade the other officials. His lack of explanation was incredibly frustrating.
“Since Luca needs our help, we should help him keep the Via Empire out of the Western Sea,” came Fratis’ voice, which immediately froze the angry expression on Evelyn’s face.
Fratis smiled. “I believe Luca has his reasons for doing this.”
“Your Majesty, this is not a matter to be taken lightly.” Evelyn rubbed her face, offering a wry smile as she looked at the young emperor before her. “People could die—many people.”
“Countess, I understand what this means.” Fratis put away the envelope, her face taking on an unprecedented seriousness. “But history tells us that at times like this, we need to show strength.”
She gazed down at the brightly lit Dawn City in the distance. “Only by doing so will the wolves of the Eternal Continent realize that we are not weak or easily bullied, and that they cannot send our empire and people to the slaughter.”
Evelyn looked at the young woman before her in shock. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she could hardly have imagined such words coming from the mouth of the once innocent and naive princess.
After a moment of thought, she frowned. “But right now, we don’t have the strength to show such firmness. If we act now, we may very well push the empire into an irreversible abyss.”
During the earlier internal turmoil, the Clinton Empire’s strength had been greatly reduced, and even now, it had not managed to settle the internal chaos. If they were to escalate the conflict between the two nations at this point, it could trigger even greater turmoil and ultimately cause the empire to collapse.
“No, we do have the strength,” Fratis suddenly smiled.
At Evelyn’s puzzled gaze, she opened her hand, revealing a shard of crystal that glowed with multicolored brilliance. It shimmered and glowed faintly, as if it were a beautiful, dreamlike vision.
It was a fragment of the Primordial Crystal!