Chapter 7: So United?
"C-Can you put me down?"
Pedeira, on Su Xiao's shoulder, blushed inexplicably. She had never been in such close contact with any man before.
Putting Pedeira down, Su Xiao walked out of the church, with the old holy man following closely behind. Pedeira glanced at the four unconscious maids, bit her lip, then closed the church door and followed Su Xiao.
Seeing this, the Saber felt a tightness in her chest. Clearly, she had meddled unnecessarily. The young girl was willing; what position they used was none of her business.
"I'll assist you, but only in that matter."
Having survived in the Black Abyss for so long, Saber's greatest growth wasn't in combat power, but in understanding the words her old friend once said: 'King Arthur doesn't understand the hearts of men.'
Back then, Britannia was divided by barbarian tribes. Saber had to quell external chaos while governing her territory with fairness. It was a miracle she wasn't exhausted to death. Yet even so, she didn't earn everyone's approval and was even betrayed by her own people.
In the Black Abyss, Saber pondered why. Her conclusion was that she did everything herself, intending to treat everyone with justice and equality.
But she was no longer a king, nor could she return to the Britannia of old. After learning the principle of the Holy Grail from the toad, Saber sulked for a few days—it was all a fabricated lie by the mages.
"Assist me?"
Su Xiao turned his head to look at Saber. She pulled down her hood.
"Yes. If I'm not mistaken, you're involved in a struggle for royal power. That person is among the high-ranking royalty. Compared to fighting, I understand this aspect better."
"As you wish, but..." Su Xiao spoke while placing his hand on his sword hilt. "If you get in my way, I won't hesitate to kill you, even with the penalty mechanism in place."
"If you can, go ahead."
Saber's tone was firm. Seeing this, the old holy man stepped forward with a 'kind' smile.
"We're all on the same side. With strong enemies outside, we can't have internal conflict."
Although the old holy man didn't know who Saber was, he could be sure of one thing: her combat strength was not weak, and she had value.
Saber smiled back at the old holy man, thinking he seemed like a good person. Yet, for some reason, she felt he wasn't as he appeared on the surface.
The group soon returned to the Senate. Civilians were frequently coming and going, showing that it wasn't as corrupt as it had seemed earlier.
Just as they reached the main entrance of the Senate, the old holy man's hands began to tremble uncontrollably—from anger. But he didn't mention rescuing the Moon Queen. That was impossible. Bloomer was no decoration. Making a move now would only get the Moon Queen killed.
As Su Xiao stepped into the main hall of the Senate, a servant immediately approached.
"Lord Kukulin, you are here to...?"
This servant had clearly been waiting for some time. This was Bloomer's contingency plan, to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control.
"To see Elder Bloomer. Regarding the military authority we discussed earlier, it's time to reach a conclusion."
"Yes, yes. This way, Duke. Lord Bloomer has been expecting you and has prepared lunch."
The servant gave a signal to a receptionist nearby, who entered a small door.
Whether it was due to compatibility or something else, Saber and Princess Pedeira got along well. Although they had just met, they were already discussing which restaurants in the Holy City were famous for their cuisine. Clearly, Pedeira was also a foodie.
The group went up to the third floor. As they entered the banquet hall, Bloomer, dressed in a red-and-gold formal suit, approached.
"Duke Kukulin, you left in such a hurry earlier. I wanted to invite you to lunch, but you didn't give me the chance. Are you refusing to honor my humble face?"
Bloomer put on a stern face as he spoke, feigning anger, but there was a hint of amusement in his eyes.
Su Xiao also smiled as he stepped forward, exchanging pleasantries with Bloomer. He was very good at acting.
Seeing this, Pedeira was a bit stunned. She suspected the person before her wasn't Elder Bloomer at all—the man had seemed so terrifying to her earlier.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, everyone took their seats. Saber didn't remove her hood, just sat there observing, while the old holy man enjoyed the food as if no one else was there.
"Regarding the military authority we discussed earlier, it's actually quite difficult for me. There's a fiscal gap over there. Wufu has already lost all shame, nominally transferring the military authority to the Senate. 260,000 soldiers—their daily expenses are nearly draining the Senate. They're all part of the Empire's system. How could I watch them starve? Sigh~"
Bloomer let out a long sigh, then savored the wine in his glass, looking somewhat 'troubled.'
"Is that so? Then the Senate has worked hard. But that's no longer a problem. Princess Pedeira will be responsible for these soldiers. Finances won't be an issue."
"Well..."
Bloomer smiled and shook his head. This old fox was clearly using both soft and hard tactics.
"How about this: we can hand over the military authority to you, and the Senate will handle the finances. Consider it a sponsorship for Princess Pedeira. When she becomes queen, she mustn't forget this."
Bloomer's words sounded nice, but they were essentially meaningless. Was the Senate really maintaining the military expenses of 260,000 soldiers? That was just to fool children. If the Senate wasn't skimming from the Empire's allocated funds, those legion commanders would be thanking their ancestors. Without war, the authority over those 260,000 soldiers wasn't just a symbol of power—it was a fat piece of meat.
"That's also a good suggestion."
Su Xiao fiddled with the silver fork in his hand, bending it. Seeing this, Bloomer set down his wine glass but kept his smile. The curve of the bent fork was exactly the same as the one Bloomer had bent earlier.
Saber slowly lifted her foot and kicked Su Xiao's calf. Clearly, she thought Bloomer's suggestion was a trap. However, Su Xiao had already known that.
"Elder Bloomer, I heard the Sea Race has been restless lately."
"Have they?"
Bloomer was still smiling, but it was becoming harder to maintain.
"Of course. With the mermaid trade becoming more rampant, the Sea Race is naturally dissatisfied. This matter needs the Senate's 'management.'"
Su Xiao spoke as if casually, but it was a blatant threat.
"Hmm, indeed."
Bloomer's smile began to falter.
"Where were we?"
Su Xiao tossed the silver fork in front of Bloomer. This sudden, rude gesture startled both Pedeira and Saber.
"We were discussing... the transfer document for military authority."
Bloomer's face twitched almost imperceptibly. It had been a long time since he had been this angry.
"Oh, the transfer document for military authority. Shouldn't we deal with the Sea Race matter first?"
Su Xiao said this on behalf of the old holy man, who had been a great help to him.
"Indeed... it needs to be handled. Since Princess Pedeira is about to gain military authority, we'll 'leave it' to you to deal with."
Bloomer stared intently at Su Xiao, as if trying to etch the face of this enemy into his memory. By now, Bloomer had realized who the most troublesome opponent was.
Saber speared a small piece of steak with her fork and chewed it. Seizing military authority was much simpler than she had imagined. Were the people of this empire... so united?
---
Stop Cultivating
She refused to acknowledge it, partly because she was determined to cultivate, and partly because she was his father's fiancée.
These matters were truly troublesome. Doing them well was expected; failing was incompetence.
Time was tight. Lu Chen had no mood to waste time and didn't bother exchanging pleasantries with the people he had saved.
At this moment, Senggelinqin was still in Jinan, having not yet received the imperial order to lead his troops south to reinforce the Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps.
"It was meant to give him children! What would I give them to you for? Can you even bear children?" Zhang Shi shouted angrily and viciously.
Since Lu Chen's meteoric rise, especially after he soared in the Tianxuan Secret Realm and became a subordinate of General Changle.
Luo Wuhui angrily spat out the dirt in his mouth. Just as he was about to curse, he only got three words out before shivering and swallowing the rest.
Lately, he had lost count of how many times he had been plagued by this unanswerable confusion.
With these thoughts, Gu Qing clenched his fists. He was an ordinary person, a true ordinary person.
The polo here looked similar to football in the apocalypse, except it was played on horseback. The commonality was probably scoring goals in the opponent's goal.
If I had seen her like this in my past life, I probably would have been trembling with fear. But in this life, I just want to laugh.
Her gaze was steady and resolute. She thrust her hands forward, and a thick, black-light-emitting shield instantly appeared in her hands.
Lucifer didn't mention it, and Charles had actually forgotten about it. But since it could help now, he wouldn't hide it.
When I came out of the room, Li Tan asked me where the assassin was. I said she had been moved by my sincerity and had left.
Three old teammates who were familiar with Wu Qianqian chatted for a bit before realizing Kong Yixian hadn't spoken. They felt a bit apologetic but didn't know how to broach the subject.
And with that, he needed to think carefully about how Heng Yanlin's words matched so perfectly with what the Taoist priest had said.
His voice carried a hint of grievance. The next second, he was looking at her with tearful eyes, his gaze sparkling with innocence.
Amu needed to hold on a little longer. As long as she brought that fool Mu Yun'er back to Snow City, the battle situation would be overturned immediately.
Grandmaster didn't ask me how I got the beads back. He stared at them, his expression shifting from confusion to gradual clarity.
Yilin beside him blushed deeply. Though she chanted 'Amitabha,' her gaze secretly drifted toward Linghu Chong, a hint of shyness rising in her heart.
He ordered Ma Han, Zhao Hu, and Zhang Long to scout the east, south, and west city gates to see where Zhu Shiyong had left the city, while he led two divisions of the Imperial Guard straight to Yuema Bridge.
Bujie's face suddenly turned bright red, and his body involuntarily flew three zhang away, crashing to the ground.
They had returned to Fang Youli's office. Ping An held Fang Youli's hand and sat down on the sofa.
Suddenly, Yue Feng gritted his teeth, stretched out his right index finger, and pointed straight at Ren Woxing's Danzhong acupoint. But it seemed almost impossible for him to hit Ren Woxing, while Ren Woxing could easily take the opportunity to injure him.
After the flute music ended, the zither music began. Long after the zither music stopped, the entire melody lingered in people's hearts, unable to dissipate completely. If the flute and zither sounds hadn't been separate, Yue Feng would have suspected he was back on the night Qu Yang died.
Buck said it unintentionally, but it struck Dark Night like a thunderbolt. Nothingness was actually a main god? And one that several main gods couldn't kill together? How powerful was he in life? But at least he was weak enough now, or else he would have died last time.
"Yes," the young esper led the way, followed by Wenren Di and over a dozen espers from the Wenren family.
In fact, it wasn't just the Huashan Sect; several other sects in the martial world were the same. For example, the Shaolin Temple had over a thousand formal disciples and over ten thousand lay disciples. With centuries of accumulation, their manpower was no less than a hundred thousand.
Chen Muyang watched me walk toward him step by step, looking at me in disbelief, his face dazed. The smile had already faded from his face, and his eyes held not only disbelief but also a hint of tension.
Li Rui was even more confused by these words. Frowning in thought, he couldn't figure out Sun Feifei's intention. If he didn't get to the bottom of this, he wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully.
Suddenly, lowering his gaze, Qiu Qier naturally noticed that Ye Qingcheng had changed into a set of high-quality pajamas.
Jun Wuxie remained indifferent, his eyes calm and unruffled. He looked at A Xue, motionless and silent.
Li Chen never expected that this Zhang Zhennan would invite him to Africa, let alone that Zhang Zhennan's so-called 'inspection' was not that simple.
Then, he took out his phone from his pocket, made a call, and instructed someone to send a few ties from the 'Ten Miles Prosperity' brand store to the Bai Mansion Banquet.
At the same time, hundreds of miles away, the Heavenly Man No. 738 also noticed the anomaly on the surveillance screen.
Thinking of Liu Getao's mention that this guy had worked here chopping vegetables, Susan couldn't help but laugh.
The big green ox was busy swatting annoying horseflies. When it met Mu Tian's gaze, it showed a pained expression, drooping its head with dull eyes. Could it be that the ox in the spirit land had become a spirit ox too?
Thinking of this, Li Chen immediately asked An Lisiya for a phone and dialed Cai Shao's hotel number.