This chapter is brought to you by AnmesicCat, BboyBrian, and StellarAshes.
Blood Wolf’s Bad News
“I think this entire event is quite strange. Just because Miluo suddenly appeared and disappeared, the 3 Great Powers have to join forces to fight him? That’s an overkill. No matter how strong Miluo may be, he is still just a Dragon”
“Idiot! Didn’t you hear Miluo say he has allies?”
“Allies? What kind of allies would be able to resist against the 3 great countries?”
“Nobody knows whether there is a 4th great power in this world. Right, Miluo said there was a traitor, who knows it might just be you Aklan guys! First tell us what those students are doing wandering aimlessly about the place.”
“What did you say! The Black Dragon is from your Dragon Empire, but you want to push the blame on us?!”
“Are you saying we’re the traitors? Such a fat lie! Is the sacrifice of our second Princes fake?! If not for the alliance, we would have already gone back to the palace to hold a national mourning for the Prince. And you still haven’t answered my question about your students!”
“Knock it off, our Commerce Alliance should find out the truth first. We can discuss alliance matters all we like afterwards.”
The conference hall was triangular. On each side sat the Aklan Empire, the Dragon Empire and the Commerce Alliance respectively. Above the 3 vertices sat the Prime Minister Qiusi, the Dragon Emperor, and the 3 Leaders.
Since the start of the meeting, the 3 Great Powers had been arguing endlessly, the contents of their argument were none other than whether they should join forces to fight against Miluo.
Although the leaders of the 3 powers had not spoken, you could tell from their subordinates’ words that the Aklan Empire was not interested in the alliance; the Commerce Alliance was just going to wait and see what would happen and only the Dragon Empire, who had lost a Prince and a few gold and silver-ranked knights, stubbornly wanted to form an alliance.
As for the leaders of the 3 powers, Qiusi had been listening seriously the whole time.
Among the 3 commanders of the Commerce Alliance, only the Green commander’s eyebrows were knitted and he looked like he was pondering what had been said, whereas the Yellow commander was all muddled up by the conversation, and the Red commander didn’t stop yawning.
However, everyone knew that within the Commerce Alliance, the Green commander is responsible for public affairs, the Yellow commander is in charge of training military and the Red commander’s job is to develop new mechas, so no one bothered with their bad conduct.
The Dragon Emperor’s face grew darker and darker. Finally, he slammed his fist down on the table. The loud bang echoed around the large hall and in an instant the 3 agitated parties were silent. Despite his black face, the Dragon Emperor still managed to restrain himself and said,
“Prime Minister Qiusi, Green commander, let’s not allow our subordinates to continue spouting nonsense. Just state clearly whether or not you want to form an alliance.”
There was a flicker in Qiusi’s eyes. As an experienced Prime Minister, he was very familiar with dodging official decisions.
“About this… Your Majesty, I am but a Prime Minister, but the authority I have is nowhere near yours. If my subordinates do not wish to form an alliance, then no matter what my choice may be, nothing will change.”
The Dragon Emperor shot an icy glance at Qiusi, which seemed to say, “I do not believe your words one bit.”
However, Qiusi just gave a little innocent and apologetic smile in return.
When the Dragon Emperor turned to look at the Green commander, the commander sported a hesitant look and said, “Well, I would rather find out the truth first before deciding.”
The two leaders’ quibble really infuriated the Dragon Emperor. His face and tone turned to ice. Coldly, he said,
“If you do not want to join forces, that’s fine, nobody will know who the traitor is and we would be vulnerable to sneak attacks. The Dragon Empire might as well fight alone!”
With that, the Dragon Emperor stopped talking and stared out of the window, ignoring everything else. His speech about the traitor descended like a black cloud over the other 2 parties.
They looked at each other nervously, thinking who could the traitor be? Or maybe the traitor was actually their own country, but the higher-ups kept mum about it so their subordinates would firmly deny any accusations?
Qiusi face remained unchanged, it still had its Prime Minister dignity, neither soft nor hard, and a slight smile. He stared at the Dragon Emperor, not knowing what he actually wanted.
The Green commander was kneading his temples, not knowing what to do.
“An alliance must be formed to fight against Miluo!”
There was a sudden loud roar and a black shadow flew in from the window, scattering shards of glass. In an instant, the 3 Great Powers each took up their spears and armored guns to guard their leaders, fearing the uninvited guest harbored bad intentions.
Only the Aklan Republic sat calmly in their seats. All of them had been promoted by Qiusi and had experience in managing countries. Their one flaw was they were neither Knights nor Mecha Fighters. Although considering the circumstances, it was strange the only ones without firepower would be the calmest, but maybe it was because they knew their Prime Minister’s defense was unbreakable.
However, the uninvited guest was someone everyone knew. Even if some did not, they would have at least heard of him. The man rode on his trademark, a giant black wolf. Once the black wolf was identified, there was almost no one who did not know who the man was, for he was as renowned as Holy Knights – the Dark Knight Blood Wolf!
“Blood Wolf?”
Blood Wolf’s sudden appearance surprised Qiusi. He initially thought the Dragon Emperor would get the more appealing Lancelot to advise them to form an alliance, so why would Blood Wolf come rushing out of nowhere?
Blood Wolf was an infamous Knight for not upholding the code of Knights, and he had never really obeyed the Dragon Emperor… Or maybe it was the exact attribute which would allow him to produce remarkable results concerning the alliance.
Qiusi’s eyes did not stop gleaming, but for now he could only listen to what Blood Wolf had to say.
Blood Wolf had an anxious expression and he did not waste time, “At Yaron Plains, I felt a great amount of magic. In my whole life, I have not witnessed such complicated magic since I’ve fought with Gle.”
The hall was suddenly quiet. A voice whispered,”Gle?”
The Dragon Emperor coldly said, “Didn’t Miluo appeared in Freesia right from the start?”
The moment the Emperor’s words were heard, the entire room raged with questions and discussions.
“Isn’t Freesia the nearest place to the Yaron Plains?”
“Heavens! Miluo …. and G, Gle are acquainted, could the allies he talked about have been …”
The speaker’s mouth was immediately covered by the people beside him. Too much was at stake, and nobody dared to conclude about anything, much less think about concluding!
“Prime Minister Qiusi, what are your views about this matter?” A single sentence from the Dragon Emperor placed all the attention on Qiusi, the person who was the most familiar with magic, being a Sorcerer himself.
Qiusi coolly asked Blood Wolf, “What did the magic look like?”
In one leap, the giant wolf was beside Qiusi. Blood Wolf handed Qiusi a piece of white paper and explained,
“I have drawn the general shape and incantation of the magic, but I wasn’t able to capture the details. After all, I am not a Sorcerer.”
Qiusi casually replied, “Even if you were a Sorcerer, nowadays there aren’t many who can recognize this kind of large scale magic. Right, how large was the magic symbol?”
Blood Wolf replied, “The magic symbol was circular, roughly 500 meters in diameter.”
“500 meters?”
Qiusi suddenly had a strange expression. Other people would just think a 500 meter long magic is “gigantic”, but as a Sorcerer, Qiusi knew such larger-scale magic would have an enormous magic-consumption rate, hence it could not be the work of a single Sorcerer.
Qiusi was doubtful as to whether the magic could even activate. There would have to be many Sorcerers, but in recent years Sorcerers had been fading out. Also, these Sorcerers would have to be comprised of — as they were called in ancient times — Magicians, not just people with special abilities. The Magicians would then need to fully understand the magic…
Qiusi frowned and explained to the terrified audience, “This is a summoning magic ritual, but it is just too big, I suspect it has another way to activate.”
“What if it’s him?”
Someone asked shakily. Everyone had the same question, no one doubted ‘he’ could activate the magic. After all, they all believed ‘he’ was an omnipotent Magician.
“If it’s Gle, he wouldn’t even need to draw the symbol.” Qiusi said coldly. He was not going to use ‘he’ to address Gle. He despised those people. They look down on Sorcerers, but when it came to the most powerful Sorcerer named Gle, they didn’t even dare to say his name, and for that he scorned them.
Blood Wolf scratched his head and asked, “So this magic symbol wasn’t drawn by Gle?”
“Gle is no longer in this world.” Qiusi calmly stated the fact.
Blood Wolf scratched his head again and seemed relieved. “Really? So have I been making a big fuss over nothing?”
“A fuss? This is such a gigantic magic symbol and you say you’re just kicking up a fuss? Maybe, maybe it’s Gle’s descendent, who may possess the same powers as Gle… Ye, yeah, I once heard about the Aklan Republic sheltering his offspring.” Someone from the Commerce Alliance shouted.
Everyone’s eyes once again turned towards Qiusi, now filled with suspicion and shock. That year, Gle’s unfathomable power had really scared them speechless, and no one was willing to overlook this matter.
“The Aklan Republic didn’t shelter Gle’s offspring.” Despite the suspicious glares, Qiusi still maintained his disposition and replied calmly.
“Really?” The Dragon Emperor said. “Although it is rumoured Miluo first appeared in the Freesia, I know I had sealed him below the Yaron Plains, hence his first appearance should have been in the Yaron Plains. Now we have suddenly discovered a gigantic magic symbol in the Yaron Plains. I can’t help but think these events are all connected. Prime Minister Qiusi, since it’s come to this, do you still want to refuse to form an alliance?”
There was a glint in Qiusi’s eyes, and he replied,
“I already told you, Your Majesty, I am no King, only a simple Prime Minister. If my subordinates are not willing to…”
Before Qiusi could finish speaking, he was interrupted by his own subordinates. Some of them said cowardly,
“Prime Minister, we feel it is better to form an alliance? If, if Miluo and Gle are really working together…”
Qiusi’s icy glare swept towards them. “I’ve said it before, Gle is no longer in this world.”
The Dragon Emperor glanced at Qiusi and gently said, “Not in this world? Why didn’t you say he’s dead?”
Everyone gasped. Qiusi had indeed been using the strange phrase ‘not in this world’. Although it had the same meaning as ‘dead’, it could also imply other things.
Qiusi still kept his collected look and said plainly, “Your Majesty, please do not nitpick at my bad wording.”
Till now, the two leaders both had a bit of a cold face and the atmosphere was stiff. However, based on the audience’s immense reaction towards Gle, the situation seemed to be moving towards forming an alliance.
Blood Wolf scratched his head and said, “I don’t understand, what’s wrong with forming an alliance first? It won’t even matter if there isn’t anything wrong.”
All who were shocked at the mention of Gle immediately nodded their heads fervently and looked at Qiusi, who was most against forming an alliance. Qiusi almost couldn’t resist shooting a sharp glare at Blood Wolf.
“I think we can look at this from a long-term perspective…” Qiusi answered tactfully, since he did not want to be guilty of a public outrage.
“There’s no need to! My Dragon Empire is willing to fight alone.”
The Dragon Emperor coldly admonished Qiusi, and stormed out of the conference hall. The rest of the Dragon Empire followed their leader, not forgetting to give the other 2 groups some disdainful looks first.The alliance was broken. Not only was the Commerce Alliance disappointed in Qiusi, there were even some from the Aklan Republic who wanted to hate their leader for it.
Deep down, Qiusi laughed a bitter laugh. He had really lost the bout badly.
* * *
Qiusi wasn’t the only one mulling over matters, his son Meinan and company were also considering a tough question: Should they continue looking for Cappuccino?
Although Kaiser was all for giving up, the Assassin showed a surprising amount of stubbornness, he was even willing to disguise himself up as the female tormentor again, and insisted the Dragon Cross Necklace must be retrieved.
“What if we bump into the Dragon Emperor again? Even his daughter told you to consider her father!” Kaiser looked straight at Liola.
Even though Liola knew what ‘consider’ really meant based on Kaiser’s previous explanation, he didn’t think it was much of a problem.
He coolly said, “We can get the Dragon Cross Necklace and leave.”
“Well, if you say so… ” Kaiser thought they should cause more trouble since they were going to run away anyhow, otherwise wouldn’t it seem to belittle their prestige as the Aklan Troublemaking Squad?
“No! You’re forgetting something very important.” Meinan said suddenly and seriously raised a finger.
“Huh?” Kaiser immediately leapt up and asked, worried.
“As long as he has the Dragon Cross Necklace, the Dragon Emperor would know about us like the back of his hand, didn’t the principal say that?” Meinan exclaimed.
“Hmph!” Kaiser lazily spread himself out on the bed once again. “Calm down, calm down. I’ve already considered this problem.”
“You’ve got an idea? What is it?” Meinan asked curiously.
“Secret!” Kaiser purposely laughed mysteriously, which really sparked Meinan’s curiosity. Kaiser scratched his face and said,
“However, the fact that the Dragon Emperor knows the location of Dragon Cross Necklace where ever we go is a problem. Once we grab the Necklace, we must immediately use Baolilong to run away, otherwise we will be in big trouble.”
Kaiser then took a deep breath and said, “Let me be clear, Daylight, you have to leave with us. As for Purity and Meinan, we might have to part ways”
The moment Kaiser said it, everyone fell silent. Purity reluctantly asked, “Do you guys really need to leave?”
Kaiser said, “If we don’t leave, then should we wait until we are arrested and then try to jailbreak?”
“I don’t want to leave, I haven’t completed my studies.” Daylight firmly opposed Kaiser’s advice.
Kaiser stayed silent for a while, then said, “I’m not going to force you to run. Purity and Meinan should be fine since their family background is prestigious. However, you have no family to back you up whatsoever, so the situation will be much worse for you.
Daylight frowned, “But I haven’t done anything wrong, so I should be fine…”
“This isn’t a question of whether or not you have done anything wrong.” Kaiser said somewhat annoyed.
“This whole situation needs someone to shoulder the blame, and if we run away without you, you will definitely be the one who has to do the shouldering!”
Liola had been silent for the whole time. He did not know what to do altogether. The words “The Dragon Cross Necklace must be retrieved.”, echoed with steadily growing voices in his heart, and Liola could not ignore them.
However, towards his tired comrades, Liola’s heart was one of remorse and self-accusal, but he knew even if he wanted to shoulder the entire blame, all of Aklan Academy knew the few of them were almost always together, which would make Kaiser and the rest accomplices.
“But my studies…” Daylight had a troubled expression.
“Just listen to me.” Kaiser mercilessly interrupted him. “I have a feeling Miluo is not faking and the situation will continue to escalate. Once a war breaks out, do you think that you can still continue studying?”
Daylight however, was even more insistent than before. He almost roared,
“If a war breaks out, then I would have a duty to take part in it and prevent Miluo from doing whatever he wants!”
“Hey hey, just how~~ big an impact do you think a single Blue Knight would be able to make on the war? Or maybe you’re thinking of annoying Miluo to death with your mouth? That might really be possible. After all, nobody can stand you of preaching the code of knights for hours.” Kaiser shot out a stream of his finest sarcasm.
Upon hearing Kaiser’s sharp sarcasm, Daylight’s face turned red, and he shook with anger. His mouth twitched furiously but stayed soundless, his hands clenched and loosened up. At last, Daylight stormed out of the room without looking back and slammed the door shut.
“Just a slam of the door and that’s it? I thought he would have punched me, or at the least lecture me for a bit. In the end there is nothing… Who exactly instilled in him the Knightly-spirit?” Kaiser asked in amazement.
“I know it is all for Daylight’s own good, but even so you still shouldn’t phrase it so outrageously.” Meinan grimaced.
“Exactly. What you said was really too much, Kaiser.” Purity balled her fist to help Daylight hammer Kaiser, but the latter comfortably got out of the way.
“Alright alright, Purity you should also stop hitting Kaiser. Go out and check on Daylight.”
Meinan was urgently trying to separate the two, but when Purity noticed Kaiser was not hurt and instead seemed to be enjoying it, she got furious and kicked Kaiser in the leg, hard. Then, she stomped out of the room after Daylight.
Ignoring Kaiser’s howls of pain, Meinan suggested, “Maybe my dad can protect him, after all he is a Blue Knight and the time he spent with us was the shortest. If he wants to join the fight against Miluo, he probably won’t get tangled up in this matter.”
Kaiser wasn’t interested in the suggestion. Without even lifting his head off the pillow, he said, “A Knight who is overflowing with knightly-spirit wouldn’t survive the battlefield.”
“Oh!” Meinan finally realized Kaiser’s true intentions in making Daylight leave. He stood up and said,
“I’ll go find Jasmine so she can arrange for Cappuccino to meet with us and advice Daylight to leave with you.”
“Hey!” Kaiser finally lifted his head off his pillow and stopped Meinan.
“Your dad and Purity’s mom wouldn’t be foolish enough to let you two naive fellows on the battlefield, right?”
Kaiser really couldn’t change his tawdry mouth! As expected, he was awkward.
Meinan couldn’t resist laughing and said, “Rest assured, the Red commander wouldn’t dare to send Purity to war, and as for me, it’s not like you haven’t seen how my father treats me, do your think he would send me to the battlefield?”
“Ok.” Kaiser didn’t say anymore and immediately buried his face back into his pillow, as if he wanted to hide his queasy expression.
When Meinan saw him, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Even Liola chuckled lightly, which made Kaiser’s ears turn red.
Finally, Kaiser jumped up with his face flushed and shouted, “What are you laughing about? You’re so noisy I can’t sleep! Meinan why haven’t you gone to look for Jasmine and Daylight! And Liola you go cook some meat to feed your son, why are you just staring into space!”
“Ok, I’ll go immediately, hahaha!” Meinan laughed as he skipped out of the room. Kaiser angrily ground his teeth in frustration and even threw his beloved pillow across the room.
“Papa, Kaiser’s face looks as red as fresh beef.”
Baolilong drooled as it stared at Kaiser’s “Fresh-beef” face. Kaiser fiercely glared at Baolilong, who did not know what it had done. Baolilong’s eyes watered, and it grudgingly hid behind Liola and buried its head into Liola’s chest.
“I’m taking Baolilong to eat now. Should I bring some meat back for you?” Liola grinned and asked.
“Rubbish! Would you rather I starve to death?” Kaiser pretended to be angry and turned away.
“Got it.” As Liola carried Baolilong out of the room, he couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from twitching upwards.