The ‘Grandpa’s Association’ wasn’t actually an organization that was formed on a whim to ‘admire Emilia’ as the other fans of the girl believed. In fact, it wasn’t a group that was too concerned with the girl at all, except for their leader.
The real name of their group was ‘Oriana Country’s Martial Arts Alliance’, and the alias of ‘Grandpa’s Association’ was only used by the leader when dealing with ‘personal matters’ as of late.
Of course, none of them would object to helping him out from time to time, but only if their own interests weren’t violated.
Established by grandpa Brown in his early teens, their group was originally meant to compete with the fabled Nightingale clan of the Carmen country for large-scale influence, but over time, their ambitions had been all but snuffed out by the giant.
As for the reason… simply put, after their generation, they had no ‘worthy’ successors who could compete with the Nightingale clan’s younger generations.
Even if some of them weren’t weaker than the Nightingales in individual strength, it didn’t take them long to realize the difference between their ‘bloodlines’.
Even grandpa Brown, the strongest in their group, only had a single granddaughter who lacked interest in fighting, while his only son was actually a waste who couldn’t fight even if he wanted to. And for the others… the situation wasn’t much better.
Naturally, aside from this ‘old enemy’, few things could make these old men fly to gather up this late at night in a panic. And just when they had barely started calming down, this kind of ‘absurd’ request arrives at their table, making them wonder if they should laugh or cry.
Grandpa Brown frowned. “You said the ones who sent this letter were those little girls… uh, what’s the name again?”
The elderly man who had first opened the letter nodded. “Ooh Lala or something, wasn’t it? Oh, it’s signed right here. OO LAA LA. That’s it.”
If he recalled correctly, that bunch consisted of less than a dozen office ladies, all from the White Deer’s office. Unless they were being misled, the information they provided was very likely to be true.
Although any man who dared to do the things they had mentioned was probably not worth their time and would be cleaned up by the White Deer’s people sooner or later, the old man couldn’t bring himself to ignore his granddaughter’s ‘friend’ be bullied, after all. “… Let’s take care of it, then.”
The other members of the Martial Arts Alliance couldn’t help but look at him in shock.
”You mean we’re going to do it ourselves?”
”Why not just mention it to one of your ‘brats’? I’m sure teaching a lesson to such a little upstart shouldn’t be an issue for them at all. There’s no need to get our hands dirty.”
”That’s right. Even if the boy was bothering or trying to take advantage of your granddaughter’s friend, we still shouldn’t involve ourselves in a children’s dispute unless necessary!”
Grandpa Brown knew that they were only thinking about his own granddaughter’s growth since she had started to show a lot of potential recently, so he didn’t get mad at their rebuttal. “… Don’t you realize it by now? The one for whom that old snake came for?”
The atmosphere in the room chilled instantly.
”You mean… his arrival here has something to do with that little girl?!”
”So she’s the one he’s targeting?!”
’Old snake’ was the nickname of a top-tier powerhouse of the nightingale clan. Although he wasn’t as strong as some of them, and nowhere close to grandpa Brown, none of the people here could claim they would be able to catch him or find out where he was if he decided to hide. Simply put, he was one of the best spies in the Nightingale clan, and also a superb assassin.
The moment someone caught wind of his arrival in the country, their entire ‘Martial Arts Alliance’ instantly lost any notion of sleep.
What a joke! If the old snake really came to kill one of them, were they supposed to peacefully wait for him to come and reap their life? No way!
Even if some of them had one foot in their graves, none of them were eager to actually jump in!
They had to figure out a way to smoke him out and crush him to paste! Now that he had dared to enter Oriana country… he can forget about leaving.
As for the matter of the boy who was harassing the White Deer Corporation’s little princess… what did that have to do with them? With the White Deer Corporation’s ability, their assistance was unlikely to be of much use.
Plus, if their conjectures were wrong and the old snake’s target wasn’t Emilia White but one of them instead, wouldn’t their actions be self-defeating? They believed that even if grandpa Brown liked to play around, it still shouldn’t be with their lives!
If the old snake was really here to kill Emilia White, however, things wouldn’t look so bad.
After all, even if he was sneaky and clever, it wasn’t like the man had any supernatural abilities.
With the background of the White Deer Corporation’s little princess, as long as they alerted her family about the ‘surprise’, wouldn’t the old snake just be a wet rat running towards a trap?!
Just thinking about achieving such a ‘sleeping victory’ against the Nightingale clan was enough to put them in a good mood.
Grandpa Brown smiled as he tapped the table with the back of his wrinkly hand. “Don’t dream too much. I know you all are usually lazy and complacent, but now that we have this chance… why not show those conceited fools of the Nightingale clan that we’re not dead yet? Or are you satisfied living the rest of your life with your head down?”
The complacent and content expressions around the table instantly collapsed into a mixture of rage and shame, but none of them dared to refute grandpa Brown’s words.
After all, not only was he the strongest among them, but his words also rang with a truth they had subconsciously wanted to deny.
Whether the old snake was really here for Emilia or for some other purpose, the fact that he was here at all was already like spitting in their face.
Since both the Black Tiger and White Deer’s heirs lived in this Green Leaf city, not to mention all the other industry leaders that resided here, even if it was not the capital city, it could still be considered the lifeblood of the Oriana country.
Sending someone like the old snake who specialized in spying and assassination was the same as declaring that the Nightingale clan, or the Gray Wolfe, didn’t take anyone in their country seriously at all. This included not just the major corporations and the government, but also the residents themselves.
But for grandpa Brown, all of this was secondary. What he cared about most was that this man’s arrival here not only endangered his precious granddaughter who had just started to shine, but one of his possible targets could possibly include his future granddaughter-in-law!
The other people here may only think it was one of the possibilities, and the old snake could be aiming for anyone in reality, but grandpa Brown had a strange hunch that the reason this bastard arrived here had something to do with Emilia.
His instinct had never been wrong before, so grandpa Brown very much believed in this hunch. Thus, even if he had no clue about the reason why the Nightingale clan would target her, that didn’t stop the old man from speculating.
Could it be that the money he had invested in those unreliable science mumbo-jumbo guys actually showed signs of bearing fruit, scaring the pigeons and startling the snake?!
If so, grandpa Brown was confident he could convince Dixie to start courting her friend, and the great-grandchild with the apex talent in the world was only a matter of time!
The more he thought about it this way, the more it seemed to make sense. If his granddaughter and Emilia could really have a child together, the talent it had would surpass not only anyone in the Oriana country, but also the whole world!
If such a thing happened, who would be the biggest loser? Naturally, it must be the Nightingale clan!
With their thousands of years of pride as the strongest in the world at stake, it was understandable if they were a little restless right now, and even had ideas about a child that had yet to be conceived.
At first, he still had some doubts that perhaps the Nightingale clan was only working on the orders of the Gray Wolfe, but now he was completely sure they must be working on their own here.
After all, although they worked for the Gray Wolfe and were sometimes mocked as their loyal dogs, the Nightingale clan officially only had a ‘business’ relationship with them, and still retained a lot of independence.
Thinking about the fact that someone might have dared to set their sights on not just his future granddaughter-in-law, but also his great-grandchild, grandpa Brown couldn’t calm down at all!
”I’m going to skin that old snake alive and make some snake soup!”
The other members of the Martial Arts Alliance looked at each other in dismay. If their leader served snake soup to them, would any of them be able to refuse giving him face? Just thinking about the wrinkly and stinky meat on the ‘old snake’, their expressions immediately twisted in disgust and panic.
”Don’t! Lord Brown, old snake’s meat is probably way past its expiration date, you’ll get sick!”
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