Chapter 528 Mutual Harm? It’s Nonexistent
Not only did the old king look bewildered, but so did Antis.
Roland didn’t explain, because even if he did, they wouldn’t understand.
It wasn’t that these two lacked intelligence, but the whole time they heard bleeps!
But the two quickly understood, and the old king said slowly, “Doc.u.mentation on Cornucopia’s illegal business in various territories, it’s no problem, we have plenty of it. And as for the speech you mentioned, what’s that about?”
“It’s not necessarily a speech. You can call a meeting and talk to your ministers about some of the detrimental actions of Cornucopia, talk about how they should be restricted, and finally mobilize your ministers to place restrictions on Cornucopia. And then just let me sit in on it.”
Both of them looked puzzled. What did this self-amus.e.m.e.nt mean? “It’s not a trick?” The old king sat on his high throne, looking down at Roland. “This seems a bit childish.”
“It honestly isn’t.” Roland thought about it and said, “I swear on my ident.i.ty as a Mage.”
As the old king closed his eyes in thought, Antis leaned in close to Roland, his body emitting a slight fragrance of flowers and his delicate face full of curiosity. “I’ve heard that Golden Sons have a special means of contact, is that right?”
“Looks like you’ve found out a little bit about
us.”
Roland smiled a bit, not surprised.
Even with the protection of the system, the royals and n.o.bles had been trying to find out about the players, trying to figure out what kind of social habits and cla.s.s structure this group of strange humans from a different plane had. Although the Golden Sons generally seemed to be relatively equal in status, they didn’t believe that; a society was bound to have a distinction between lowliness and n.o.bleness.
By identifying the true big shot among the Golden Sons, they might be able to establish a partners.h.i.+p and negotiate terms that were favorable for them.
Even if that didn’t work, they couldn’t offend people of high status, lest they elicit even more of an exaggerated response from the Golden Sons.
The Golden Sons were already troublesome enough as they were now.
“I understand. I will convene this meeting soon. After all, even if you didn’t mention it, we will still have formulated countermeasures for this matter.” The old king nodded lightly.
Having received the old king’s affirmation, Antis left the palace with Roland.
The two of them walked down the street. Antis’s manor was close to the palace, so they didn’t have to take a carriage. After months of not seeing him, Antis seemed to have slimmed down a lot, and he looked even more feminine and appealing now.
“Do you and Andonara have any plans for a wedding?” Antis asked as he walked slowly.
Roland shook his head.
This was quite inconvenient.
Andonara was still a queen, and even if many n.o.bles knew that she was following Roland, they only saw it tacitly as mere fun.
For example, some kind of special amus.e.m.e.nt.
After all, Roland was a Mage and had recently shown great strength and potential.
It was understandable to use a queen to follow him around and rally for him.
After all, one day, the queen would return to the royal family.
In reality, many n.o.ble families had done similar things.
The aristocratic wife, in this feudal society, had labels such as tool, relation by marriage, and luxury goods, in addition to her status as a wife.
When necessary, it was their duty to sacrifice their individuality and dignity for the family in exchange for greater benefits or a hope of survival.
This was why although they were somewhat amused, the informed n.o.bles didn’t take the matter of the queen following Roland too seriously.
They only envied and hated the queen because she was too beautiful.
But if a wedding was held, things would be different.
The royal family could have still been like ostriches, burying their heads in the sand and saying that by following Roland, Andonara was only pulling in the young and promising Golden Son.
But if Andonara married Roland, it would be a slap in the face to the royal family.
At that time, the face of the royal family would be completely gone. In reality, as early as a year ago, the royal family had been prepared to be humiliated by Roland in all aspects.
Although it was true that the royal family wouldn’t make Roland a mortal enemy by going to war with him, their relations.h.i.+p would definitely deteriorate to the level of hatred. The other n.o.bles would also express their disgust at Roland’s breaking of the default rules.
They would be subconsciously hostile to Roland.
At that time, the royal family was prepared for the worst and was already thinking of secretly trapping Roland and making his reputation throughout Hollevin infamous.
However, both Roland and Andonara kept a low profile.
They spent most of their time in Delpon and seldom socialized with other n.o.bles.
Until now, the news that the queen was with Roland had only spread in a small area.
The royal family was a little surprised and touched by this.
So the time the old king had invited Roland to become the royal Mage was a gesture of goodwill.
Although Roland declined, he did not do anything to substantially harm the royal family’s interests afterward.
Now, it seemed that he had come to help.
…Even confronting his kind, the Golden Sons.
It seemed that putting the queen by Roland’s side was not a losing proposition.
These were the old king’s thoughts, the royal family’s thoughts.
It was out of this mentality that Antis mentioned the marriage.
Inwardly, he wished Roland wouldn’t do that and continue to maintain the relations.h.i.+p.
Seeing Roland shake his head, Antis was quite pleased.
Although he was friends with Roland, he also valued the interests of his royal family quite highly, and no conflict between the two sides was naturally a good thing.
The man looked even prettier when he was happy and his face seemed to glow slightly. “Where are you staying next?”
“Back to Delpon.”
“And how should we notify you when we’re ready?” Antis walked slowly with his hands behind his back. “We’re not like you, who can teleport around. Why don’t you just stay here in the capital for a few days?”
“That’s fine!” Roland felt that Antis had a point.
“Although there are a few inns in the capital that are considered upscale, there is no guarantee that their bedding and food are a hundred percent clean.” Antis smiled slightly. “Why don’t you come to stay at my manor for now, it’s close by anyway. And the guest rooms at the manor are large, and so are the beds.”
Hmm… Although Antis’s words sounded ambiguous, in reality, this was very common in Hollevin. There was a saying here: when inviting friends into your home, other things can be ignored, but they must sleep comfortably, so a big, soft bed in the guest room is necessary.
Roland knew there was no ambiguity in Antis’s words, and after thinking for a while, he said, “Sorry to trouble you.”
Antis smiled a smile like a rainbow, appearing very happy.
Ten minutes later, the two entered a huge manor.
The soldiers guarding the gate looked a little surprised to see their master return with a young man.
Of course, their surprise was only momentary.
Then it was stifled.
Roland followed Antis into the manor, where the layout was similar to that of most n.o.blemen’s manors, and if there was a difference, it was larger.
From the conversation on the way back, Roland learned that this manor belonged to Antis alone.
To be able to get such a large piece of land in a place like the capital, it couldn’t be done with money alone.
Even an ordinary n.o.bleman would not be able to do it.
After entering the manor, Roland was treated to the n.o.bleman’s routine hospitality. All sorts of delicacies and entertainment were offered.
Even a few maidservants were sent to sit beside Roland.
Of course, Roland didn’t touch them.
Antis wasn’t surprised.
Andonara was beautiful and kind. These maidservants were somewhat beautiful, but they were far from Andonara in other aspects.
It was already late in the evening when the set of aristocratic hospitality procedures had been completed.
Roland sat on the balcony and watched the stars. He had to admit that Antis’s cook was quite good, and the fried steak and the tender lamb soup were extremely delicious.
He had eaten a little too much, and now his stomach was a bit bloated. Shortly after, Antis came over. He had taken a bath and was wearing a nightgown.
His slender form could be seen through the nightgown, somewhat resembling a female body.
He sat next to Roland, also looking up at the starry sky, and said slowly, “You know what, Roland? When I was a kid, I had a wish to be the greatest Warrior in the world.” Roland turned his head to look at him. “Not anymore?”
“I was overwhelmed by Andonara,” Antis said helplessly. “She’s the one with true Warrior talent, and now she’s awakened the Hero’s bloodline. She’s still young, so probably in another twenty or thirty years, no one in the world will be able to beat her, maybe not even the ancient dragons.”
“Yeah.” Roland also thought that this was very likely.
Even though Andonara didn’t train much right now, Roland could still feel that she was slowly getting stronger.
This “slow” was relative… After all, when one’s strength reached a certain level, it would be extremely difficult to increase it further.
Others couldn’t increase it anymore, but for her, it was just slow.
As for the reason why Roland could feel this… they were often lovey-dovey with each other at night, so Roland could tell that the elasticity of some parts of her body was still slowly growing
If this kept up, G.o.d knows when he’d be able to break her defense.
“Now my wish is just to live in peace alone until I’m 80.”
Roland was surprised. “You’re not considering marriage and children?”
“I’m too halfhearted, and my body is in a strange situation; I can’t change back!” Antis said disappointedly. “This situation has been doc.u.mented in our clan, it’s almost impossible to have children.”
Roland froze for a moment. He vaguely remembered that Antis was a so-called Quark. He took the time to look up the characteristics of Quarks some time ago. Mainly, he found that they were able to determine their gender based on their “feelings.”
In other words… nowadays Antis was both a man and a woman.
So complicated.
Roland shrugged. He had no prejudice against people’s gender ident.i.ty
“It’s okay, you’re still my friend. I’m all right with this.”
Roland shook the gla.s.s he was holding at Antis. Antis looked at Roland steadily, and after a while, he smiled, reaching up and pulling his robe down over his chest to reveal a flat but white patch of skin. “Want to see what state I’m in?”
“No.” Roland immediately turned his head.
“Hahahahaha.”
Seeing Roland’s aversion, Antis laughed aloud, and after he stopped laughing, he said, “Roland, I suddenly want to sit on the king’s throne. Will you help me?” Roland: ???
“I am also a member of the royal family, and with the blood of the royal family of Hollevin, I have the qualifications,” said Antis with a smile. “The other princes and princesses are so incompetent that making them king or queen would be a curse to us in Hollevin, so I want you to help me, my friend!” Roland was silent for a moment. “How should I help? You should also know that we Golden Sons are very restricted and cannot do many things, especially evil things.” “Of course, we can still find out about that,” said Antis slowly. “I just need you and Andonara to protect me for a while from being a.s.sa.s.sinated. I can do the rest myself.”
“That’s no problem.” Roland thought for a moment and said, “The old king… are you going to kill him?”
“No. Uncle has been very good to me. He will be free to move about after he abdicates the throne, and if he is too disgruntled, he will only be under house arrest at best,” said Antis in an odd tone of voice. “Actually, I am of direct royal blood—you understand. If I stand up for the throne, Uncle will not be angry, and perhaps quite happy.”
Oh, I see.
Antis is an illegitimate child.
Gee… what a messy circle.
Roland felt a whole lot of information coming at him.
After getting Roland’s reply, Antis left.
Roland stayed in this manor for two days, and on the third day, he went to the council chamber, where he watched the old king and his ministers discuss the matter of Cornucopia.
There were various complaints and accusations.
The king finally followed Roland’s suggestion and said in a reluctant tone, “They aren’t strong, but under the protection of the other Golden Sons, we can’t resist even if we wanted to. Isn’t there anyone in this world who will initiate a sanction against Cornucopia?”
Roland edited the video of this meeting with a bit of sorrowful music and then opened the forum to prepare the video for uploading. It turned out there was a popular post t.i.tle that was pretty eye-catching because it had his name.
Denouncing Roland for His Shameless Behavior, Taking Control of a City, and Maliciously Oppressing Casual Players.
The post was about how Roland had bullied Cornucopia and how he had forcefully and unreasonably kicked them out of Delpon, causing them at least a million or so in financial losses.
After reading the content of the post, Roland scrolled down and found that many people had already left comments.
“Tsk, people get c.o.c.ky when they’re powerful, and it’s the same with the number one Mage.”
“People change.”
“A one-sided story, who knows if it’s true or not. Show decisive evidence.”
“Don’t say that. If they could get it, they wouldn’t have just written a post, they would have uploaded a video.”
“Roland is really lofty and domineering. I’ve fought him and suffered at his hands. It’s no surprise that there’s such an incident.”
“Tsk, what Cornucopia has done in other cities, you paid posters honestly think we don’t know.”
Casually browsing through this, Roland shook his head.
This post must have been made by Husso—the thief crying thief.
It might be enough to get some of those who didn’t know the truth to fall for it, but the lack of decisive evidence would cause a large portion of the population to choose to watch the show sensibly.
And once it was countered, it would be a flash flood that couldn’t be stopped.
Now Roland was about to strike back. He quickly finished editing the post and clicked “post.”
The Economic Lifeline of Hollevin May Be in the Hands of Cornucopia.