Law of Space and Time

Chapter 31: Imperial Conference

The Fulway Empire's imperial family had always been renowned for its sophisticated taste. As a result, the imperial palace at the center of the northern part of the city was not just grand and majestic as one would expect of an imperial palace, it was also unexpectedly elegant and tasteful. The garden in front of the imperial palace was immaculately maintained, with close attention paid to even the finest of details. It was near the beginning of spring, and all of the flowering plants had been carefully pruned to complement one another to perfection, presenting a truly beautiful sight to behold.

At this moment, the garden and the front hall of the imperial palace were filled with members of the highest echelons of society. The average wealthy merchant didn't even have the right to set foot in this place. Countless luxurious carriages were parked at the entrance of the imperial palace, creating congestion all along the wide imperial road. The carriages were all intricately crafted and plated with gold and silver, but what was much more remarkable were the magic beasts drawing the carriages. It was a vast array of what was supposed to be some of the rarest and most exotic magic beasts in existence, but they were so prevalent here that it was like a livestock market. The two-colored conch horses belonged to Duke Olnar of the Kratos Dukedom, the fire-ice camels belonged to Duke William of the Oro Dukedom, the ice-lightning leopards belonged to Duke Tuhar of the Fantiwenross Dukedom...

Thankfully, the servants of the imperial palace had already sealed off the road leading to the east and the west well in advance. Otherwise, the congestion would've been even worse.

Erwin didn't have any rare magic beasts at his disposal, so he could only rely on his two legs to carry him to the imperial palace.

However, true confidence wasn't tied to any external belongings. Given Erwin and Onean's physical appearance and disposition, there was no need for them to prove themselves by bringing ornate carriages and exotic magic beasts. Many of the dukedom rulers present were quite surprised when Erwin pulled out the emperor's summons from a hidden pocket in his robe. The palace servants examining the summons had never seen this young couple before, and they couldn't help but take a few extra glances at them.

Erwin's confidence stemmed from the fact that he was able to rule over a dukedom at such a young age. Many of the dukedom rulers present had inherited their positions from their fathers, while Erwin had climbed to this position through his own power and intelligence. Hence, regardless of how lacking he seemed to be compared with all of the other dukedom rulers when it came to materialistic belongings, he never felt like he was inferior to them. In fact, he was even feeling a little smug about it.

As Erwin and Onean were walking through the garden, they attracted a great deal of attention from the various dukedom rulers around them, all of whom were wondering where this gorgeous young couple had come from.

As soon as Duke Tuhar caught sight of Erwin in the front hall of the imperial palace, he immediately approached Erwin with a wide smile before patting him on the shoulder as if they were old friends. "The star of the show always turns up late, is that right?"

A smile also appeared on Erwin's face at the sight of Duke Tuhar. He knew that a major contributing factor to how quickly a friendship had been established between them was the age-old adage, which was that the enemy of an enemy was a friend. The Delair Dukedom and the Fantiwenross Dukedom had had bad blood for quite some time now, so Duke Tuhar was naturally happy to see the ambitious City of Freedom rise up south of the Delair Dukedom.

Erwin wasn't going to go as far as to suspect whether his encounter with Duke Tuhar in the Dreambind Pavilion had actually been a chance meeting, but he knew that it would've only been a matter of time anyway before the two of them met and established a collaborative relationship.

"I'm far from the star of the show. Look at all of the people here, all of them are more important figures than I am," Erwin said with a modest smile.

"So what? They're just like the snow bears over in our Fantiwenross Dukedom. They may be large and powerful, but they're dumb as a rock and blind as a bat. Compared with them, you're more like a snow eagle that can attack these snow bears as you please." Duke Tuhar had no intention of making Erwin into a public enemy, so while making this joke, he made sure that his voice was audible only to Erwin.

Snow bears and snow eagles were both creatures that inhabited extremely cold regions. The Fantiwenross Dukedom was situated right next to the snowy mountain ranges of the northwest, so those two types of creatures were a very common sight there.

Even though Erwin had never seen those two creatures before, he had a rough idea of what they were like after hearing Duke Tuhar's analogy.

Right at this moment, a seductive voice rang out from behind Erwin. "You're Mr. Erwin from the City of Freedom, right?"

Erwin turned around to discover that a beautiful middle-aged woman was looking at him with a warm smile. However, Duke Tuhar's expression instantly darkened at the sight of the woman, and it seemed that he was trying to kill her with his hostile gaze.

"May I ask who you are?" Erwin asked with a puzzled expression.

"That's the evil hag, Sanfesa," Tuhar whispered into Erwin's ear.

Erwin's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and a wary look appeared in his eyes as he watched the woman before him. This was his first time meeting Duchess Silon in person.

"Please don't go around badmouthing me, Duke Tuhar. See what you did? Mr. Erwin is looking at me like I'm public enemy number one all of a sudden," Sanfesa chuckled with an amused expression as she cast her gaze toward Erwin.

It had to be said that she was an extremely seductive woman, but for some reason, Erwin remained completely unmoved by her charms. Theoretically speaking, someone as fond of women as he was shouldn't have been able to remain so calm and collected in the presence of such a seductress, but it seemed like Erwin had suddenly turned over a new leaf.

Duke Tuhar could see that Sanfesa's attempt at seduction wasn't working on Erwin at all, and he pursed his lips in disdain as he mocked, "A washed-up old hag like you can perhaps hope to seduce some of the old men here, but you're only going to be embarrassing yourself if you try to seduce any of the young men around."

Erwin could tell that Duke Tuhar harbored a great deal of enmity toward Sanfesa, but even so, he was quite surprised by just how scathing Tuhar was with his words.

Sanfesa remained completely unbothered by Tuhar's snide remarks, and she reached out with a gloved hand to stroke Erwin's cheek. This was a seduction tactic that she often employed with those who caught her fancy, but unfortunately for her, Erwin didn't want to have any physical contact with her, so he reflexively took a half-step backward to avoid her touch.

However, even if he hadn't taken that half step backward, Sanfesa's hand wouldn't have been able to reach his face anyway.

This was because Onean had raised her fan to keep Sanfesa's hand at bay, and she smiled as she said, "I don't like it when other people touch my things without my permission."josei

Tuhar almost burst into laughter upon hearing this, but he didn't want to lighten the atmosphere with Sanfesa around, so he could only clap his hand over his own mouth and pretended to sneeze into his own hand. It seemed that not only was Erwin a very humorous man, the woman beside him was also a very intriguing character.

Upon catching sight of Onean, there was an immediate shift in Sanfesa's demeanor, and it was as if a layer of frost had settled over her face. However, she still put on a slightly forced smile as she said, "I was wondering why you had no interest in me. It makes sense now, seeing as you have someone so beautiful accompanying you. By the way, I heard that even that niece of mine has become a slave of yours, is that right?"

"Theresa is living her best life," Erwin replied in an indifferent voice.

Sanfesa nodded in response as she put on a serious expression. "I don't doubt that at all. In fact..."

"In fact what?" Erwin asked as his brows furrowed slightly.

"In fact, I'm sure she's thoroughly enjoying herself," Sanfesa said with an amused expression.

Right at this moment, a boisterous voice rang out as the group was approached by a middle-aged man with a coarse yet well-groomed beard. "What are we chatting about here?"

Even though the man had a very healthy and rosy complexion, the wrinkles in the corners of his eyes and the graying hair on his sideburns betrayed his true age, so it wasn't all that accurate to refer to him as a middle-aged man.

"Prince Xar." Sanfesa and Duke Tuhar immediately extended respectful salutes toward the man.

Even someone as unconventional and uncouth as Duke Tuhar had to suppress his own rebellious nature and afford the appropriate level of respect to someone of Prince Xar's extremely lofty status.

So this is Prince Xar, Erwin thought to himself as he looked at the man before him, who both had the regal disposition of a high-ranking noble, but also the domineering demeanor of a seasoned veteran on the battlefield.

In contrast with Sanfesa and Duke Tuhar, Erwin refrained from extending a salute to Prince Xar. As a noble himself, he was naturally aware of the appropriate formalities in a situation like this, but he had left his life as a noble far behind him. The goal of the City of Freedom was to overthrow the nobility, and as one of the leaders at the forefront of the City of Freedom, he had to renounce the formalities of the nobles.

"You must be Sire Erwin, right?" Prince Xar asked with a benevolent expression.

Most of the dukedom rulers nearby didn't know who Erwin was, and their curiosity toward the young man was piqued even further at the sight of Prince Xar greeting him in such an enthusiastic manner.

One thing that was worthy of note was the way in which Prince Xar had referred to Erwin. Sanfesa had referred to Erwin with the title of "mister", which indicated that she was acknowledging Erwin as a commoner. At the very least, it reflected a sense of disdain toward him, even though she could also tell that Erwin was clearly also a noble himself. In contrast, Prince Xar was referring to him as "Sire Erwin", which was a reminder to Erwin that he was also a noble, as well as an attempt to establish something in common between himself and Erwin as a means of befriending him.

"Indeed, that is me," Erwin replied with a humble smile. "It is an honor to be in your presence, Prince Xar."

Prince Xar inspected Erwin carefully for a short while, then patted him on the shoulder as he praised in an earnest voice, "The younger generation really is proving to be a force to be reckoned with. It's extremely remarkable that you were able to establish such a strong foothold in the Fulway Empire by yourself in such a short time."

He then took a subtle glance at the woman beside Erwin, and as soon as he caught sight of her, he knew that trying to bring down Erwin through seduction was most likely going to be a futile endeavor. In terms of looks, there was no one at his disposal that could compete with Onean, so it appeared that this was not going to be a viable option.

"I see you're accompanied by an extremely beautiful woman, Master Erwin. I daresay her beauty is unmatched in all of Finklan," Prince Xar remarked. "It's truly fitting that a brilliant young man such as yourself has such a stunning partner by his side."

This was a genuine sentiment from Prince Xar. Only when looking at outstanding young men like Erwin was Prince Xar reminded of his own true age. It seemed that these brilliant spearheads of the younger generation served as a constant reminder to him that he was already well past his own prime.

Right at this moment, a man who appeared to be around 50 years of age with a goatee on his chin also joined the conversation. "What's going on here, Prince Xar? It sounds like there's a very exciting conversation going on here."

In contrast with Prince Xar's burly and slightly portly frame, this man was quite thin, and his bright and piercing gray eyes were filled with gleaming exuberance and vitality that was not befitting of someone of his age.

"My goodness, Prime Minister Henry, must you follow me everywhere I go?" Prince Xar sighed with a wry smile.

Erwin's heart jolted slightly upon hearing this, and he began to carefully size up the thin middle-aged man in silence.

Aside from the emperor, these were the two most powerful figures in the entire empire, and Erwin was sandwiched right between them.