The final rays of sunlight fell underneath the horizon, allowing gentle, silver-whitish rays of moonlight and the night sky to take over the world. The sky darkened gradually. Even though the Dragon Soul Continent wasn’t as peaceful as before, Grandia in the Void Territory continued to exude a calm and tranquil atmosphere. The earlier ambushes from Chaos beings didn’t cause too much disorder in Grandia, and people continued to lead their ordinary lives as per usual.
Meanwhile, in the well-lit palace located in the middle of Grandia, there was a totally different scenery…
“Argh… ah… ah…”
Moans of young ladies resounded in the room, leaving one’s heart palpitating.
“Right there, Leader, thrust with all your strength! Hurry, hurry! You’re almost there! Ah!! Wait! No, not there…!”
Mini Bubble Gum screamed and let out a high-pitched squeal. Then, everything returned to its peace.
“Ah…”
A young lady covered in sweat plopped onto the bed, before rolling around boringly.
“Leader, your skills suck. Even Big Sister is better than you. You were so great in the game during PK, so how is it possible that you’re so bad in another game? This isn’t logical!”
“Do you think I have as much time as you to play such a weird and shameless fighting game?”
Facing Mini Bubble Gum’s grumbles, Rhode threw the game controller aside and gazed oddly at the holographic image hovering in midair, where three flushed, beautiful young ladies confronted one another. Their clothes were completely tattered, revealing their fair, tender skin underneath. The other three young ladies laying on the ground were dazed as their clothes were torn apart in utter humiliation. Rhode couldn’t think of anything weirder than the fact that one would buy a ridiculous game like this with such a weird setting. Come to think of it, what was weirder was that these electronics could be operated by magical powers. Just this fact alone was enough to bewilder Rhode.
“Anne thinks this game is fun. Even though Anne gets a kick out of fighting in real life, it is quite interesting to play something like this once in a while.”
On the other side, Anne sprawled out on the bed and rocked her head, wishing to continue playing the game. However, Lize who sat beside her had already lowered her head in embarrassment, staring at the ground and not speaking a word. The character she chose was one of the three beautiful young ladies who were defeated. Witnessing the character she controlled panting and falling after having her clothes ripped was too thrilling for an innocent young lady like her. On the contrary, Lapis was excited. It seemed like she was highly amused with this new gadget from the other world. Meanwhile, Canary sat by the side with her usual, gentle smile, speaking to her projection and Rhode’s younger sister about something. As winners of the game, this was the first time Rhode realized his younger sister was equally skilled at games as him.
Even though the plot development wasn’t what Rhode expected, he still heaved a sigh of relief. That’s right, this night wasn’t some crazy orgy, but a ‘New World—Game Battle Tour’, came up by Mini Bubble Gum, instead. According to that little fellow, it was simply too thrilling to be playing modern games in a different world with a medieval setting!
After Mini Bubble Gum dragged Rhode into the room, he discovered that not only was his younger sister invited, but Lize, Anne, and Lapis were also involved. He had to admit that an immature young lady would always remain an immature young lady. Even though Rhode had an intimate encounter with Mini Bubble Gum in the past, it was unlikely for her to come up with anything crazier than that. Rhode was certain that Mini Bubble Gum purposely spoke in such an ambiguous way earlier to cheat him into this!
“Heh, heh…”
Facing Rhode’s remarks, Mini Bubble Gum stuck out her tongue, let out a mischievous laughter, and raised up the game controller high.
“Alright, on to the next game! I swear it will be fun! Call of Duty!”
“Oh-oh-oh, yay! Anne wants to play it too!”
Surely this little fella isn’t thinking of turning my harem into a bunch of gaming geeks, right?
Gazing at the elated Mini Bubble Gum and Anne who cheered and joined in the excitement despite not knowing what the game was, Rhode couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his eye. But eventually, he didn’t comment a word. He was aware of Mini Bubble Gum’s true intention. The reason why she organized this party was so that the original Bubble and Canary could blend in with the family. No matter what, this was the Dragon Soul Continent, the home of Marlene and the others. It was just like an orientation for graduates who entered society in Rhode’s world. Perhaps this couldn’t instantly improve their relationship, but they could at least use this opportunity to familiarize with one another, albeit this method from that little fella being somewhat childish… But maybe this was a decent choice too. After all, Rhode couldn’t possibly gather his harem for a party just for the sake of them getting along in harmony. He felt like it was much better having Mini Bubble Gum getting everyone together, which was why he didn’t stop the activities and stood on the side instead to observe how Mini Bubble Gum briefed everyone on the new strategies.
At that moment, he heard someone knocking on the door.
“Is anything the matter?”
Rhode turned around and saw Agatha pushing the door open and entering the room. She saw the bustling crowd, shifted her gaze away, and extended her arms. Along with this action of hers, she dexterously delivered a pitch-black envelope to Rhode.
“Your Majesty, sorry to interrupt you. This is an urgent encrypted envelope from the Country of Darkness.”
“Oh?”
Upon hearing her words, Rhode was taken aback. He glanced at the crowd before walking out to the corridor outside quickly. After scanning the pitch-black envelope in his hand, he discovered an emblem that surprised him.
“Where did this envelope come from?”
Rhode didn’t open up the envelope immediately, but turned and asked Agatha instead. Upon hearing his question, Agatha pondered for a while and answered calmly.
“It was delivered to the Void Territory by the Mage Association in the Country of Darkness. Then, the Mage Tower in the Void Territory sent it over.”
“I see.”
After hearing her reply, Rhode knitted his brows and nodded. He thought this was an envelope from Erin, but after recognizing the emblem, he knew immediately that he was wrong. It was apparent from the emblem printed in the middle of the envelope that it came from the legendary generals, which explained why he was bewildered. After all, his relationship with the legendary generals wasn’t favorable to the extent where they exchanged letters with one another. He felt strange receiving this envelope. But even so, he extended and waved his hand.
Swish!
Along with his action, the envelope flew out of his hand and floated in midair. He squinted, held his right fingers close together, and made a downward sliding motion. Shortly after, the envelope quietly opened on its own. An invisible force shook the white letter as it fell out from the inside, expanding in front of Rhode to display its content.
“Hmm?”
After reading the letter, Rhode puckered his brows instantly. He didn’t expect this letter to be sent by Garcia, one of the four legendary generals, under Erin’s command. In the letter, Garcia introduced the situation in the Country of Darkness to a certain degree and mentioned the issues surrounding Ion, as well as the predicament of their living creatures.
“That really happened?”
Rhode didn’t believe in Garcia’s words at first because no matter what, he was one of the four legendary generals of the Country of Darkness. Not only was passing on information about the Country of Darkness a major crime of treason, but it also wasn’t beneficial for him. Even though Garcia was also a human, did he really believe that Rhode would send his troops to go against Ion just to rescue him? Rhode didn’t have such an intention and as a matter of fact, it was still too earlier for that. But this didn’t mean that Rhode had the intention of letting Ion off. Ever since Ion went to the Country of Law to snatch his dragon essence, Rhode had already decided to wipe out the entire Country of Darkness and slaughter the Dark Dragon. However, this wasn’t something he could achieve with the swing of his arm, after all. The current population of the Void Territory wasn’t sufficient for him to mobilize a large-enough army, which was why Rhode’s only choice was to join forces with the Country of Light and Country of Law to go against the Dark Dragon. And all of this required some time.
But regarding the issues about Erin mentioned in the letter…
Rhode stared at the letter. After a few moments, he let out a snort, retracted his right arm, and clenched his fist. Along with this action, the floating letter and envelope were devoured in a puff of flames, turning into ashes that disappeared in sight in just a few seconds.
“Is everything alright, Your Majesty?”
Upon realizing his reaction, Agatha blinked curiously at her master. Rhode pondered in silence and shrugged.
“Yes. It’s just regarding some insignificant matter.”
