Book 9, His Fame Shakes the World – Chapter 31, The Anticipation of the Crowd
“The Wildthunder Stormhawk will attack anything which touches my body in a manner it deems threatening.” These words seemed very simple, but all of the nobles present were extremely intelligent. They immediately realized what had happened when they heard Delia say this.
All of the nobles turned to stare at Marquis Jeff, who was currently clutching his wounded hand. His face was pale and very ugly to behold.
“This Marquis Jeff actually tried to make a physical move on her. Jeeze...” Many nobles secretly cursed him in silence. Although they didn’t speak aloud, it was only natural that their gazes would convey their thoughts. Marquis Jeff felt extremely awkward.
Emperor Johann glanced at his nephew with dissatisfaction as well.
He knew that the Wildthunder Stormhawk behind Delia was a magical beast of the ninth rank belonging to her wind-style Grand Magus Saint teacher, Master Longhaus. Most likely, Delia really was unable to react to the Wildthunder Stormhawk’s attack on Marquis Jeff, and in turn the Wildthunder Stormhawk was unable to speak with Delia.
A situation like this most likely wasn’t a result of Delia intentionally acting against Marquis Jeff.
Indeed...
Delia hadn’t intentionally acted against Marquis Jeff. Before arriving at the banquet, Delia had already told the Wildthunder Stormhawk that if anyone wished to try and make a physical move on her, the Wildthunder Stormhawk was to ‘peck’ them in punishment.
None of the other young nobles had dared to make a physical move on her, but Marquis Jeff did. Naturally, he was the one who took the spear in the belly.
“Attend me! Take Jeff to the healers.” Emperor Johann snapped an order to his servants.
Marquis Jeff didn’t try to explain, only hanging his head while holding his hand, with that astonishingly large hole in it. He rapidly left the main hall. Only then did Emperor Johann say comfortingly to Delia, “Ms. Delia, sincere apologies that you had to experience something like this. This was our fault. We hope you won’t be too upset.”
“No, no. Emperor Johann, this was Little Wind’s mistake. When I go back, I’ll definitely ask Teacher to rebuke him.” As she spoke, she intentionally ‘glared’ at the Wildthunder Stormhawk.
And then, Delia said apologetically, “Emperor Johann, I’m not feeling very well today. I’ll go home now. I hope you will forgive me.”
“That’s a good idea. Ms. Delia, when you get back, you need to have a good rest.” Emperor Johann said in a very gentlemanly manner.
With the guest of honor, Delia, having left, the other nobles began to buzz and chatter. Poor Marquis Jeff, naturally, became the center of their gossip.
After this event and after having his wound healed by light-style magic, Marquis Jeff actually fearlessly and shamelessly went to serve as a ‘guide’ for Delia, and Eighth Imperial Prince Scott accompanied him as well.
But unfortunately...
Although Ms. Delia was very friendly, those two magical beasts were terrifying.
Once, when Ms. Delia stumbled while walking, as she was about to fall, Prince Scott reached out with ‘good intentions’ to help steady Delia by embracing her. Welcoming him, however, was a peck from the Wildthunder Stormhawk. This time, the injury was even more severe than Marquis Jeff’s, as a hole was pecked straight through Prince Scott’s right hand.
After this experience, both Scott and Marquis Jeff learned their lessons and no longer dared to reach out with their hands. But just as they thought they were being nice and proper, misfortune came again.
That Worldbear suddenly stretched out its two palms and sent both Scott and Marquis Jeff flying into the air.
How terrifyingly strong were the paws of a Worldbear? Even a casual slap from the Worldbear was enough to injure Scott and Marquis Jeff to the point of vomiting blood. They were beaten to the brink of death, but fortunately, light-style magi were there to heal them.
This is what the Worldbear, Hatton, said to them: “You two keep swaggering around every day in front of me, Lord Hatton. You are so motherf*cking annoying. In the future, every time I see you, I’ll beat you!”
Good heavens!
Who would dare anger a Saint-level Worldbear? Even for the Monolithic Sword Saint, Haydson, defeating a Worldbear wouldn’t be a simple task. After all, a Worldbear was definitely a top-class magical beast, even amongst Saint-level magical beasts. If it hadn’t been that Master Longhaus’ Dimensional Edge spell was simply too terrifyingly powerful, how could he possibly have subdued such a creature?
Having learned their lessons, Scott and Marquis Jeff no longer dared to bother Ms. Delia again.
Those other young nobles of the imperial capital who had ambitious designs on Ms. Delia, seeing the disasters which had befallen Marquis Jeff and Prince Scott, no longer dared to try anything. There was nothing for it. If they were swatted to death by that Saint-level Worldbear, they wouldn’t even have a chance to cry.
Emperor Johann, while chatting with Delia, finally learned that Delia had actually been classmates of the same year with Master Linley at the Ernst Institute. In addition, Delia was in no hurry to return to the Yulan Empire, and was planning to stay and watch the duel in the O’Brien Empire between Linley and the Monolithic Sword Saint.
Emperor Johann naturally was very welcoming and magnanimous.
Although a stay of several months from a foreign Special Envoy was quite long, Emperor Johann expressed welcome to her, saying that the longer she stayed, the better.
Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, nearly three months had passed. Tomorrow was August 4th. Countless people in the imperial capital were discussing the upcoming Saint-level duel. Even the towns outside the imperial capital were beginning to fill up with people who had come from distant places.
This was because there were simply too many people coming to watch this duel. The imperial capital was totally full.
On Boulder Street. Count Wharton’s estate. Hillman and Housekeeper Hiri were drinking wine and chatting idly.
“Uncle Hiri, have you noticed that recently, at mealtime, Linley smiles a lot more than usual, and often cracks jokes.” Hillman’s face was all smiles.
Housekeeper Hiri’s ruddy nose was as red as ever. He chortled as well. “Hillman, I imagine you know the reason why as well. Ms. Delia comes to visit young master Linley every day. How can young master Linley not be happy? As I see it, this Ms. Delia is a fine young lady. And I feel that Ms. Delia is interested in young master Linley.”
“Right. When Ms. Delia eats with us, I recognize that look in her eyes when she looks at young master Linley.” Hillman spoke with the air of experience.
Hillman and Housekeeper Hiri were both quite satisfied with Delia.
However...
“But young master Linley himself always dodges this topic. I’ve raised it with him several times.” Hillman shook his head helplessly.
“No rush. As long as both of them are willing, when the time is right, they’ll definitely get together.” Housekeeper Hiri was actually quite confident.
Right at this time, Wharton, Barker, and his siblings all came from the back courtyard’s training fields. Those six massive bodies formed an amazing sight.
“Grandpa Hiri. Uncle Hillman.” Wharton called out to them from far away.
As soon as Wharton entered the living room. “Eh? My big brother and Ms. Delia haven’t arrived yet.” Right now, every day, Delia would come have lunch with Linley.
“They’ll be here soon. Don’t be impatient.” Hillman said.
“They are here.” Gates, who was at the back, turned his head and saw Linley walk in alongside Delia, both dressed in light blue robes. The Blackcloud Panther, Haeru, was behind them, while Bebe was standing on Haeru’s back.
Both dressed in light blue robes, the natural, at-ease Linley and the beautiful, moving Delia did appear to be a match made in heaven indeed.
“Big bro, time to eat. You’re still busy chatting? Don’t you think you’ve chatted enough?” Wharton’s loud voice boomed out.
Linley and Delia looked at Wharton, and Wharton laughed while shaking his head.
Yulan calendar, year 10009. August 4th. Afternoon. Today, the weather was excellent. The sky was pure blue, with only a few clouds in the sky. The wind wasn’t too strong, and the soft wind gently blew comfortably against everyone’s faces, as gentle as the caress of a lover’s hand.
West of the city. Mt. Tujiao!
This was a small mountain that was only around a thousand meters high, and a few thousand square meters in area. It wasn’t a large mountain. Compared to War God Mountain, it was far smaller. Today, however, the area surrounding the mountain had already been divided into countless regions by various painted lines. Over a hundred thousand city guards were there maintaining order as well.
There was an extremely high number of spectators here today, even more than during that last duel between Olivier and Haydson. Although many people had come, with those millions of people all divided into one region after another, it was quite orderly, with each region having an army regiment standing guard.
Mt. Tujiao didn’t have any people on the mountain itself. But in the air above Mt. Tujiao, Linley stood in mid-air!
Even the nobles stood several hundred meters away from the base of Mt. Tujiao, with the city guards maintaining a perimeter.
Wharton, Barker, and his brothers naturally were in the front, quite close to Emperor Johann. As for Delia and Master Longhaus, they were quite close to Wharton’s group.
Wharton and Delia both raised their heads, staring at Linley’s figure with concern.
“My big bro will definitely win.” Wharton murmured silently to himself.
Master Longhaus gently patted Delia on her shoulders. Delia looked towards her teacher, her eyes slightly red. Delia felt tremendous mental pressure.
“It’ll be fine. Linley will be fine.” Master Longhaus said comfortingly.
“He definitely will be fine.” Delia said softly to herself, as she looked up towards Mt. Tujiao again.
“F*ck, why hasn’t that Haydson come yet?” Gates cursed angrily. He didn’t care about the Monolithic Sword Saint at all, and cursed as he pleased.
Right now, Wharton, Housekeeper Hiri, Hillman, Delia, Barker and his brothers, Jenne, Rebecca, and Leena...all of them were quietly hoping and praying for Linley’s victory.
“For Linley to win will be very hard.” A gray-robed figure suddenly appeared next to them.
“Olivier?” Wharton and Gates stared at this man in astonishment.
Olivier had come back to life!
Olivier’s face was ashen pale, but his aura was even more restrained than before. Blumer was standing by his side. Olivier glanced at Wharton, then said calmly, “That Haydson’s defense is extremely powerful, and his attack force is very astonishing as well. You should remember how when I fought him, my arm broke from aiming a single sword blow at him. His strength far exceeds mine. In addition, his spiritual energy is very powerful, and he is also very fast...he is essentially flawless. Beating him will be hard.”
“Olivier, our Lord is not you.” Gates said unhappily.
Olivier laughed calmly and fell silent. He walked with his younger brother to a different area, quietly awaiting the coming battle.
“Lord Haydson has arrived!” A surprised shout came from somewhere within that endless sea of humanity.
Everyone turned to stare at a figure that was flying over at high speed from the east. In the blink of an eye, Haydson appeared in the air above Mt. Tujiao, standing opposite from Linley.
Right now, Linley and Haydson were only a thousand meters off the ground.
The dwellers of the Yulan continent all had good eyesight. In broad daylight, they could clearly make out these two figures who were a thousand meters away.
Delia’s hands were balled into tight fists, and her palms were sweaty.
At this moment, none of the millions of spectators surrounding Mt. Tujiao made any noise. It seemed as though they were all holding their breaths, as they all felt an incredible pressure.
Everyone’s gaze was fixed on those two figures high up in the air.
“Linley, you arrived rather early.” Haydson said casually as he stood in mid-air.
Linley just looked at him calmly. A gentle wind surrounded him. Linley was currently in his human form. The reason he was able to fly was because he had already utilized the wind-style spell of the ninth rank, Windshadow.
The Soaring Technique was a spell of the seventh rank, while the Airwings spell was a spell of the eighth rank. The Windshadow spell of the ninth rank combined the Airwings spell with the Supersonic spell. When using this spell, not only could one fly, one would also possess astonishing speed.
Linley casually removed his outer garments, collecting them into his interspatial ring, then stared coldly at Haydson. “Haydson, let’s cut the crap. Prepare to fight.” As he spoke, Linley’s body quickly began to be covered with black scales, and those sharp spikes appeared from his elbows, knees, forehead, and spine. That iron-whip-like tail swung about behind him, and those dark gold eyes stared coldly at Haydson.
“Oh, how refreshingly blunt. Come, then...let’s see if you are qualified to make me draw my sword!” The Monolithic Sword Saint, Haydson, looked at Linley with confidence, and he laughed calmly as he spoke in a bright voice.