City of Sin

Book 7, 182

Lesson

All of Dragon Valley was startled by the ruckus, many people leaving their houses to look at Richard and Saunder who were facing off in the sky. On one side was a legendary mage who had been famous for a long time, and on the other was a newly-advanced saint runemaster. Nobody wanted to intervene before they knew what was going on, nor did they even qualify to.

He’s talking about my balls? Richard looked at the rowdy youth once more before shaking his head; even Saunder wouldn’t speak to him so rudely. Instead, he contacted Nasia mentally, “What’s going on here?”

It took a moment, but she replied lazily, “Does it matter? If you don’t want to do it yourself, I’ll take care of it. That old man hasn’t felt like a saint in centuries, I bet. Let me give him a taste of his youth.”

“Tch. What’s going on?” Richard asked again.

This time, Nasia sighed, “Alright, alright. That kid heard about Rosie’s beauty and wanted to take a look. You know how she spends her days; he tried to force his way into the workshop, but I happened to be around so I stopped him. Then the kid wanted to take my mask off and see what I looked like. He even wanted me to go back to him, promising me all sorts of things. I remember things about making me a legend and giving me a few top-tier offerings and stuff like that. Tsk tsk, look how sincere he is compared to a certain someone!”

A few top-tier offerings? He couldn’t help but laugh. Even Saunder likely only had a few in total. “So he treated you pretty well, and your reaction was to beat him up?”

“Beat him? Heh, he’d die in a second. He wanted to take my mask off so I slapped him, simple as that.”

Oh? Richard was a little surprised. Nasia hadn’t revealed her face even to him; for the kid to get away with just a slap instead of being beaten half to death meant she did consider the consequences after all. He suddenly smiled, “Still, to think he’d be interested in an old hag like you.”

Nasia went quiet for a moment before responding viciously, “Are you forgetting how it was at level 13?”

He wisely avoided the topic, ending their communication. It had all been quiet, and Saunder was running out of patience, “Hand that knight over right now, and we’ll consider this matter settled.”

Richard snickered, “And that’s my best option?”

“Am I wrong?” Saunder asked coldly.

“Nasia did nothing wrong here, your son was trespassing through my rune workshop. That is not a public location.”

“She is a mere servant! I’ll repeat myself once. Hand her over, or else!”

Richard’s smile died down as he snapped, pointing downwards, “Take a good look around you, Saunder. This is my plane, my land. My will is law here; if I say a place is out of bounds, it’s out of bounds. You should be thankful your son is still alive.”

At this moment, the portal suddenly flickered as another legend walked out, taking a look at the confrontation in the sky and asking immediately, “Saunder! How have your profits been... wait, what’s going on here?”

Saunder waved it off, “I have some issues with Mister Richard here, Duane, just watch. Hehe, a saint runemaster really is an amazing thing, huh, you don’t even care about legends anymore. Why do I recall that the Archerons don’t have a single legend?”

“No legend has managed to bully us before either,” Richard retorted.

“Then I better teach you a lesson in Sharon’s place. You should know to respect a legendary mage.”

“Please, no need to bring Master into this. You’re not worthy of speaking her name,” Richard replied calmly.

Saunder went red, his robes billowing despite the lack of wind as he stated coldly, “You leave me with no choice.”

Having heard this, Duane rose into the sky and grinned at Richard, “Your Grace, if this isn’t a huge issue, do compromise on my account. Saunder doesn’t have a good temper, he’ll take this seriously.”

Richard answered icily, “Rosie is a great runemaster and Nasia is my most powerful follower. If this isn’t a huge issue, what is? Saunder’s son wanted them both? Just because he’s the son of a level 22 mage?”

Even Duane cringed hearing this, but he still continued, “Even so, they’re still your subordinates. This shouldn’t be a big problem, right? I believe it’s best to let this go; give them to Saunder and make him pay you some compensation, isn’t that enough?”

Hearing the threat in those words, Richard looked Duane straight in the eye for the first time and chuckled, “You want to participate in the battle?”

The legendary warrior clearly hadn’t expected such a direct counter-threat, his expression growing worse, “You shouldn’t put it that way, Richard. Aren’t you just forcing my hand?”

Richard stopped paying attention, his swords leaping into his hands and starting to buzz, “If you don’t want to get involved, then get lost. One more minute here and you’ll be considered an enemy; a pathetic mage like this one doesn’t qualify to take Rosie and Nasia from me.”

Hearing this, Saunder couldn’t even stay angry, laughing thunderously, “Fine! I’ll see just how a level 22 mage has no right getting two women from His Grace and Saint Runemaster Richard. Don’t bother yourself with this, Duane; if I can’t even take care of a kid who doesn’t know his place, I don’t need to show my face in Norland again.”

Duane shook his head, but he flew a distance away to a point from which he could intervene whenever he liked. Richard noticed and snickered, sending out orders for his rune knights to assemble. A dense formation assembled in only a single minute, bloodlust flaring all around. Duane’s eyes narrowed in shock as he saw 160 rune knights below him, all preparing javelins for ranged attacks.

Just how could so many rune knights be here? This was Duane’s first time in Dragon Valley; he had originally used the random portals back from Blackrose Castle. Knowing that the Archerons had half a dozen planes under them, he couldn’t help his confusion. Did their other planes not need rune knights? Did their land in Norland not need rune knights? Did their floating island not need rune knights standing guard?

He couldn’t even take on the attacks of eighty rune knights, much less double that number. So long as Richard stayed within range of them, he would have no way to intervene.

Saunder’s expression grew terrible as well, “Do you think you can just beat me with rune knights, Richard?”

“Not at all!” Richard shook his head, “Those guys are just here to deal with any idiots that want to interfere.”

These words were extremely humiliating, but they allowed Duane who had just become a legend to finally understand the power of the Archerons. No matter how angry he was, he could only shift further away. He had no choice but to yield.

At this point, all of Richard’s followers showed themselves as well. Almost every one of them was powerful or mysterious, causing Duane’s expression to sour further. Even ignoring everyone else, just Tiramisu and Waterflower alone were enough to force him to retreat. On top of that were Phaser, Zangru, and Zendrall, with Nasia being the only one he could read perfectly. However, her strength was far too clear, to the point that she felt like the most fearful of them all. He had never seen a saint with a full set of legendary equipment before; such people likely had powerful families backing them or astounding battle might that couldn’t be measured by level. Neither type was someone he was willing to provoke.

Even though he could still run, Duane clearly wasn’t a threat to the Archerons. Saunder looked just as horrified, realising just how much he had underestimated Richard. While he was stronger than his friend, he still couldn’t compare to Richard’s forces. Duane couldn’t take on eighty rune knights, but he couldn’t take on ninety.

Nasia glanced at Duane, a smile appearing on her metallic mask, “This one looks like he wants to get involved in something he shouldn’t. Want to give him to me? I haven’t had a good fight in a while now.”

Richard shook his head, “Don’t do anything rash. He can do whatever he wants unless he butts in.”

“Then can I take care of that mage?” she asked eagerly.

“He’s mine!” he almost bellowed, his aura starting to flare.