Edited by: Dr.Lock
Proofreader: Arya
Lord Bloodcloak was sitting by the large fountain at Aboul Hotel.
He was throwing scraps of food into the water, feeding the fishes.
“Well then, I’ll be going first”
He threw the rest of the scraps in his hand down and informed everyone.
Kitty reminded him: “You’re going to leave now? The Bramble Bird Empress is about to present everyone with rewards and commendations, and you want to give it up?”
“That’s nothing but a publicity stunt” Lord Bloodcloak shook his head: “I heard that this generation’s Empress has only just had her coming of age ceremony, does a personage of my caliber really need to bow and greet such a little girl?”
He suddenly remembered something and looked to Iron Fist Barry.
“What are you looking at?”
Being stared at like that caused Barry to feel a bit annoyed.
Lord Bloodcloak spoke full of implications: “Ah, I forgot, unlike me you actually need a few things to pay for your debt, poor Barry, so poor that you almost have to use your own Super Dimensional world as collateral”
Barry clenched his fists.
Voices immediately went into his ears——– the Combatants on all sides pretty much sent their voices to him at the same time.
“Wanna beat him up?”
“Now that we have a chance, wanna gang up on him?”
“Barry, you go first and I’ll immediately follow up”
“This prick needs a beating, Barry”
“Give the signal, all of us will go at once”
“Bloodcloak needs to be taught a lesson!”
“If we don’t beat him up now, we won’t get such a good chance again, boss Barry”
…
Barry fell into thought for a second.
But in the end, he smiled bitterly: “Seriously, Bloodcloak, can’t you at least try to act in a way that people will actually like you?”
When he said that, the Combatants around all sighed.
Seems like we won’t get to do it today.
Another Combatant shook his head: “Barry, don’t be naïve, even if the Apocalypse comes knocking, Bloodcloak would still be exactly the same”
“I’m sorry, but aren’t you misunderstanding something?” Lord Bloodcloak spoke with a serious expression: “Why would I have to go out of my way to please you? Keep this in mind, this Bloodcloak is a man of principle——”
As he was talking, a Bramble Bird guard quickly came up to him and presented him with a list.
“What’s this?” Lord Bloodcloak asked in surprise.
“The items on the 91st page is the treasure the Empress wanted to present to you, please take a look and tell me if you have any issues with it” the Bramble Bird guard respectfully told him.
The 91st page…
Lord Bloodcloak couldn’t help but turn the pages and take a glance at it.
A projection came out from the paper to show a floating card.
This was a strange-looking card.
The border of the card depicted a boiling sea of blood with the back being a dim, bright red abyss.
The front of the card depicted a portrait of a beauty.
She was a peerless beauty of unrivalled charm.
She kept her eyes closed, as if nothing in the world was worth being graced by her gaze.
Even so, she exuded an indescribable charm from every angle.
If they didn’t see it with their own eyes, no one would believe that a mere card would be able to rouse so much emotion.
Looking at the card in the projection, Lord Bloodcloak went silent for a while.
“Indeed, I know her”
He muttered to himself, his voice becoming a bit hoarse from simply being too excited.
This was one of the three most mysterious cards within the Bloodsea deck.
Supposedly, when this card was activated, all cards used in the battle before would manifest within the Blood Sea and return to the card user’s hand.
Having this card was the same as having two card decks at the same time.
Lord Bloodcloak sighed and returned the list to the guard.
“Very well, I’ve taken a look”
“Do you have any issues with it?” the Bramble Bird guard asked.
“…I do not” Lord Bloodcloak replied.
“Then that’s perfect, my apologies, I will leave first”
The Bramble Bird guard bowed and turned to leave.
He left to look for the next Combatant on the list.
Lord Bloodcloak stood still, frozen for a few minutes.
“Barry, I have a question” he said.
“What?” Barry replied.
“On the battlefield just now, what do you think about the Empress’ ability that granted everyone items and power?” Lord Bloodcloak asked.
Not expecting Lord Bloodcloak to ask about that, Barry hesitated a bit before answering: “Aerm—– it’s a really powerful ability, it could completely change the circumstances of the war”
Lord Bloodcloak nodded: “It is indeed, I’ve never seen such an ability before. While still a child, this alone proves that she has a certain level of strength”
He then muttered: “Not to mention, for Frost of the Cold Night Ilya to eliminate the [Demon King Order], she must also be quite the character, it is worth my time meeting them in person…”
While saying so, Lord Bloodcloak headed to the audience hall.
The location was the biggest hall in Aboul, temporarily used as an audience hall, Laura was going to use the venue to commend the heroes who participated in the war.
Barry and everyone else exchanged confused looks.
“What’s going on? Didn’t he say he wanted to leave?” Barry was surprised.
Kitty was also shocked: “But now he’s heading towards the grand hall, apparently preparing to attend his audience with the Empress”
The other Combatants were similarly shocked.
All of a sudden, someone whispered: “I’m guessing that the Empress’ rewards are quite considerable”
The Combatants all went silent.
Ah, that must be it.
Recalling Lord Bloodcloak’s attitude from before and his actions now, everyone saw the truth as clear as day.
That shameless son of a…
Everyone silently thought this.
Kitty noticed something and looked in a certain direction.
Gu Qing Shan was slowly approaching her.
“Gu Qing Shan, lady Tethys told me about what you went through, it’s fortunate that you’re fine” Kitty was glad.
Gu Qing Shan smiled: “I’ve just been hiding in Aboul, what danger would I be in? You guys, on the other hand, participated in a really fierce war unless I heard wrong”
Barry glanced at Gu Qing Shan from top to bottom, confirming that he was ok before smiling: “That’s good, I was afraid we’d lost another member who just joined the club”
He came up, patting Gu Qing Shan and introduced him to his close buddies.
Gu Qing Shan’s strength wasn’t particularly high, but that was the same for his age.
A cultivator reaching Projection realm at such a young age was already quite the feat, not even someone with particularly sharp discerning eyes could find fault in that.
And since Gu Qing Shan had Barry’s and Kitty’s recognition, he was even more impressive.
The Combatants greeted him.
They’ve all been through a lot and seen too many people to count, so as they talked more, they found themselves being more and more pleased with this young man.
“Ah, Barry, I’m sorry but I couldn’t get anything from the Bramble Bird’s call to pay back our club’s debt this time” Gu Qing Shan told him.
“It’s fine, I’m already fully healed, so it won’t be as tough as before if I want to go make some money” Barry patted his own chest in confidence.
“We can’t blame you, no one could’ve guessed that the situation would turn out like this” Kitty gently told him.
“The club’s debt——” Gu Qing Shan hesitantly spoke.
Barry pointed at the audience hall and smiled: “Take a guess. What does the Empress intend to reward me with later?”
Gu Qing Shan was surprised, then spoke: “Ah right, there was still that. You must’ve already seen the list, what kind of treasure it is?”
“There’s no treasure, only a single line: ‘All of the Iron Fist Club’s debt will be taken care of by the Bramble Bird royal family’”
“Yes! This way we won’t be in debt anymore!” Kitty happily clapped her hands.
“That’s great then”
Gu Qing Shan silently sighed in relief and thought to himself: “Ilya really did settle everything perfectly”
He then looked at Kitty and curiously asked: “What did the Empress reward you then?”
“A ring, one that can help me accurately use my spatial powers”
“In other words—–”
“That’s right, from now on, whenever you want to go somewhere, just leave it to me” Kitty proudly declared.
…
The time for the audience quickly came.
Not everyone was allowed to enter the audience hall.
The Bramble Bird guards began to call out names one by one.
Only Lord-class Combatants and leaders of large organizations were allowed entry to the audience hall to personally receive commendation from the Bramble Bird Empress.
The Bramble Birds were the only race from the Mystic Zones willing to establish relation with outside races, they had countless treasures and the awe-inspiring Saint Bramble Tree, so everyone treated them with respect.
The Combatants of 900 million World Layers all gathered in the guest room outside the audience hall, waiting to be commended.
Quite a few young people were confused and didn’t understand why this was the case.
But as these youths took a look at the list of rewards that were made public, they now truly understood what it meant to be Bramble Bird royalty, and what it meant to be the Bramble Bird Empress.
This would be their very first contact with the Bramble Bird Kingdom, everything that would happen today would be carved deep into their memories.
They would remember for the rest of their lives that the Bramble Bird Kingdom existed within the Mystic Zones, and that it could never be looked down upon.
The Bramble Bird Empress, Laura, had now officially stepped onto the largest stage of the 900 million World Layers.
As time passed, more and more Combatants were called into the audience hall.
“Iron Fist Club, Barry, Kitty” the Bramble Bird guard called out.
Barry and Kitty stood up and went into the audience hall.
