Mag faltered slightly upon hearing this, not expecting Byron to be so direct with his intentions. He glanced at Luna, who was looking at him with a slightly nervous expression, and nodded with a smile as he said, "You"re far too kind, Master Byron. I"m only a novice in the field of mathematics. However, if you deem me worthy to attend the debate, then I"ll be sure to do so."A smile appeared on Byron"s face as he said, "Good. The debate will be held tomorrow at 10am, and the venue will be at Carlo Church."
"I"ll make sure to be there on time." Mag nodded in response.
Byron released Mag"s hand, and turned to Kra.s.su with a warm greeting. "Master Kra.s.su, long time no see."
"Byron, isn"t it time for an old man like you to retire? Where"s the fun in arguing with a bunch of old men every day? I"m sure the priests at the church are getting sick of you."
Byron was not enraged in the slightest by this comment as he replied, "Only through debates can we continue to learn."
"Whatever, I don"t want to speak with you; you"re always such a bore. Let"s go." Kra.s.su waved a hand before turning to Mag as he said, "Boss Mag, Little Amy, I have to go and see an old friend. You two go back first, and I"ll come to find you soon."
Kra.s.su departed thereafter.
"Luna, you can go as well. I"ll join you shortly," Byron said to Luna before nodding at Mag and Amy, and then making his way toward another elderly man.
Mag could only accept Amy back from Luna"s arms in a rather resigned manner.
"Thank you, Mr. Mag." Luna was genuinely grateful.
Mag shook his head with a smile, and said, "You"re welcome, Teacher Luna."
Luna had done many things for Amy, so he naturally couldn"t refuse something like this. In any case, he was indeed the one who had invented the multiplication table, and it was his duty to see through its implementation to the end.
Amy looked at Luna with a rather concerned expression, and asked, "Teacher Luna, will you be coming back to Chaos City?"
"Of course I will. I only applied for a five-day break, so I"ll be going back with you the day after tomorrow," Luna replied with a smile.
"Really?" Amy"s eyes immediately lit up. However, she then shook her head as she said, "But Teacher Luna"s family is here, and your mother and father are all here as well. If you go back to Chaos City, you won"t be able to see them…"
Luna was very touched by Amy"s thoughtfulness, and she gently pinched Amy"s little cheek as she shook her head, and said, "That"s alright, I"m an adult now, and I couldn"t bear to leave Chaos City behind when you and all of the other students are there."
Amy nodded with a serious expression, and offered, "If you miss home, I can lend Father to you, and you can hug him. He"s super warm, and you won"t feel lonely when he"s with you."
Luna looked up at Mag, and a faint blush appeared on her face as she smiled and nodded. "Sure."
No! I have to feign disinterest! Mag remained calm and collected in the face of this slightly suggestive situation. If Irina were somehow able to see him now, he would be feeling very concerned for his own safety.
After bidding farewell to Luna, Mag carried Amy out of the royal palace. The horse-drawn carriage from the second prince"s manor was already waiting for them, and the butler hurried over with a respectful smile as he said, "Congratulations on winning the best dish award, Master Mag."
"Thank you." Mag gave a polite nod in response.
"All of your things have been packed up and transported back to the manor. Would you like to make a trip around the city or return to the manor right away?" the butler continued in a respectful manner.
"I"m a little tired, so let"s just go back." Mag looked up into the sky and discovered that it was quite overcast, making it appear as if it was about to rain soon.
"Sure." The butler nodded before driving the carriage out of the palace after Mag and Amy had boarded.
Mag looked out at the grand palace that was slowly receding into the distance, and a faint smile appeared on his face. The battle for the throne is getting quite interesting. I wonder if I should intervene. Yuri… He"s an interesting boy…
"Why are you smiling, Father?" Amy turned to Mag with a curious expression.
"I"m smiling because I have such a good and beautiful daughter," Mag replied with a warm smile.
…
In the royal palace"s conference hall, there was a long table positioned at the center of the room.
King Andre sat at the head of the table with Sean and Josh sitting on either side of him. All of the representatives of the different races were also seated at the table, and Novan occupied the last spot.
The atmosphere in the hall was slightly tense and stifling.
Everyone sat in silence, and it appeared that no one had any intention of saying anything.
After a lengthy silence, Andre looked at everyone with a solemn expression, and said, "Everyone has come here to celebrate my birthday, but the main objective on the agenda is to discuss the peace treaty that we"re re-signing in three months. Is the treaty that was forged 100 years ago still suitable for the current continent? Would anyone like to add or remove any clauses? Please state your opinions, and we"ll have a vote on everything at the end."
"At the conclusion of the war among species 100 years ago, all of our races signed the peace treaty, and peace did indeed reign over the Norland Continent for a century. The elven race is willing to re-sign the treaty." Irina raised a hand before turning to the orc and demon representatives with a cold expression as she said, "However, I have to warn you that any race that dares to capture and sell my elven brethren will be seen as the enemy of the elven race. I will save my detained brethren no matter the cost, then kill those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds who dared to capture them in the first place."
Gajeel"s and Sonha"s heart jolted in unison. As expected, this woman really was still the most terrifying woman on the entire continent. Despite that, they still had to maintain calm facades.
If she"s the hope of the elven race, then we"ll crush the hope of the elven race today! Gajeel thought to himself in a vicious manner before turning his gaze away.
The stubby dwarven representative looked at Gajeel with a serious expression, and said, "Our dwarven race is also willing to re-sign the treaty. However, I demand that the demon race return all of the territories that they"ve forcibly taken from us in the past years. I also propose harsher clauses to be introduced for races that encroach on the territory of others!"
"The goblin race has no objections. If everyone else is willing to re-sign, then we"re also willing to do the same, and vice versa." The goblin representative wore a sinister smile, revealing a mouthful of sharp fangs.
Bruno wore a neutral expression as he said, "Our giant dragon race is also willing to do what everyone else does, provided that no territory is taken away from us."
"Return your territory? You little dwarves sure are naive." Gajeel turned to the dwarf with a deriding sneer as he said, "Our demon race simply thought that the territory distribution laid out in the previous treaty was too unfair. Shouldn"t powerful races get more territory? Why do you need territory when you dwarves live underground anyway? Just take a patch of land and be content with digging your holes!"