“What should we do now?” one of the guards asked. “Evermore’s near-invincible, Consul. Maybe we should agree to their conditions.”“Their conditions?” Stefan glared coldly. “They want me to either kill myself, or they kill me themselves. How am I supposed to agree to that?”The guard shivered; he couldn’t say another word at this point.Stefan casually sat down, and took a sip of his cold tea.“Since Evermore has already announced my death, they’ll surely take action soon after.“They’re probably using me to make an example. They want Amos to understand he has no right to negotiate with Evermore, despite being the young master of the Smalt Sect.“Or, they’re forcing Amos into a corner to ensure he continues Evermore’s plan.“Either that, or this might be some plot to shift blame towards Sir York. If that’s the case, my master would fight him to the death if he doesn’t know about the situation.“They’ve planned everything…”Stefan revealed a gloomy expression.“Should we conta
Elaine froze. She looked confused.“I didn’t agree to kill off Stefan…“This probably doesn’t align with Evermore’s benefits. That was why they planned to kill him themselves.“They might just blame us for his death, too.Elaine frowned. “What? Isn’t Evermore working with us right now? If anything, they should be shifting the blame to Harvey instead! What’s the point of throwing all that mess to us?”“Evermore would naturally do that if they could. After all, they could pit him against Great Wall Vaati. However, Harvey might have backup plans against that,” Amos said. “For so long, Evermore is a rat hiding in the shadows of history. No matter how long they’ve been in this world—no matter how powerful they are, they simply can’t put themselves in the public.”Amos showed a horrible expression. Disdain could be heard in his words.After all, Evermore was essentially threatening him with this move; he was being utterly disrespected.For a prideful man like him, it was already ba
“If our men show up right now… Not only would we fail in killing Stefan, we’d be forced to flee while also leaving tracks for him to find.”Amos showed a scheming gaze.“Besides, Evermore must’ve leaked the information to us intentionally. The more they want us to take action, the more we should opt to do nothing. If not, we’d be the ones suffering!”Murderous intent was evident in Amos’s eyes.Other than his hatred towards Stefan, who dared to fight him… He started to despise Roue as well, who had been constantly forcing him to do things.‘I told him to give me a few days! Stalling is a legitimate tactic! Why would he force my hand like this?!’“If we don’t take action, Evermore would use the sect’s name anyway,” Serval said.“That alone would show a huge hole in our plan. Evermore might even tell Stefan you were the one who started all this after keeping him alive.”“Sigh…” Amos sighed, his face grim.“You didn’t think of all this yourself, did you?” he asked after a long
Harvey wasn’t thinking about the Budokan’s situation for the time being. He blended into the crowd, and headed inside the Kendo Hall that just opened.The place was recently renovated, but the smell was covered by air fresheners.Harvey glanced around, and saw almost two hundred parents and their children gathered in a tight space.Since the children didn’t understand history very well, they were heavily brainwashed by cartoons of the Island Nations. They showed looks of curiosity and excitement the entire time they were inside.Harvey frowned without saying a word.Invading the country through cartoons and games was one of the Island Nations’ main goals.Schemes like this weren’t easy to deal with.After all, they were only selling products without revealing their true goals publicly.This was a normal thing to do in the marketplace.More importantly, shameless businessmen in the country would usually pretend not to see the malicious intent, pretending to be kind. Some of the
“Good evening, dear students and parents!“I am Caspian Lee of the Martial Arts Association! I’m honored to begin the enrollment ceremony of the esteemed Shinto Way tonight!“The expert of the school, Tojo Nomura, will be here to show off his swordsmanship! Let’s give him a round of applause!”Only a few people clapped their hands.Harvey grinned at the sight; it was clear to him that Caspian’s ancestors weren’t good people. If that wasn’t the case, the man wouldn’t be standing on the platform.As for the Martial Arts Association, there was no need to take the organization seriously since it wasn’t an official one.Caspian felt a little embarrassed after hearing the sparse applause.“I know the outskirts have always admired martial arts!” he exclaimed proudly after letting out a cough.“You’ve all heard of the Shinto Way, the leader of the Six Schools of Martial Arts…“But you have no idea just how impressive the school’s swordsmanship is!“Before we proceed with our enrollme
“The Hong Kuen? That’s a strong martial art in the south!“No sacred martial art training ground uses that, but rumors say that there are at least ten thousand disciples who learn it!“Impressive! This should be exciting!”Someone in the crowd spoke up as if they were knowledgeable.The people who didn’t know cheered loudly, filled with exhilaration.Harvey glanced at the man on the platform, instantly speechless. ‘Can’t these people tell that he’s just for show…?’Before Harvey could say anything, the man quickly dished out a few flashy moves that were just that.The man then smiled at Tojo.“I’ll begin now, Mr. Tojo!”He took a big step toward Tojo, throwing out a punch.The punch seemed incredibly powerful, making a lot of parents and their children cheer in excitement.Bam!Before the punch made contact, Tojo swung the scabbard of his sword across the man’s face. The man’s body shivered, and he was sent tumbling down the platform while screaming in pain.After stumblin
Harvey frowned; he knew the experts of the country were all brought here by Caspian as well.Caspian’s goal was to show off just how invincible Tojo actually was.From an economic standpoint, Caspian’s tactic was quite successful.But in the people’s eyes, this was just shameless behavior. He was insulting the country’s image while raising the Island Nations to a pedestal.Calling him a traitor to the country would only scratch the tip of the iceberg.Harvey figured that his ancestors had already been doing the same since a long time ago. Maybe it had been their tradition since ancient times.“Ten! Ten well-known experts of Country H! They couldn’t even last ten moves against Mr. Tojo!” Caspian said in a confused tone.“Who knew that the martial arts of the country would be this lackluster? Everyone said the country’s filled with hidden talents! Looks like its all just a bluff, after all!“Everyone! Would any of you be happy to let your children train like this?“The expert of
The parents cheered loudly when they saw a young man stepping up against Tojo.Since they were all citizens of Country H, none of them were willing to accept that the Island Nations’ swordsmanship was better.Tojo froze before instinctively looking at Caspian.Caspian quickly came to his senses. He sized up Harvey after standing in between Harvey and Tojo.“What are you trying to do, young man?” he asked coldly.His eyes were filled with disdain as he looked down on Harvey.“I want to fight him,” Harvey said. “You want to fight?”Caspian chuckled coldly, and subconsciously raised his voice.“Are you insane? Or are you just stupid? What right do you have to challenge Mr. Tojo?“What’s going to happen if he accidentally slaps you to death? Your family will start complaining about us after you die!“Scram! Stop embarrassing yourself here already!”Caspian crossed his arms.“I hate young people who only know how to show off like you! You’re completely talentless, but you insi