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Chapter 334: Making Trouble

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It was supposed to be just a normal day for Zelga.

Just like how Gats, through Kladis, instructed that every member of the Blue Card Legion must train themselves to increase their stats, although he wasn’t much a fan of it, he still maintained that one habit.

Today, after 8hrs of ‘training’, after five days of it, he had increased his STR and AGI stats by one point each. He was happy. To celebrate, he went out to have a walk in the capital.

With his 30 real-world retainers-turned-escorts-turned lackeys, the infamous number one King Candidate of the Order of the Wall of Jeremiah arrived to the busy market place of the 3rd District of the West Central Region.

West… Central… Region…

In the entire Central Region where the big castle is located in the middle, this place is the 3rd of the four districts that made up the West Quadrant.

This place was home to both the legal and illegal establishments —with the latter needing special passwords and privileges, aside from special kinds of identities before being granted access to their trades.

As a former member of the Blue Card Legion, he was, of course, aware of the ins and outs of this dark side of Jeremiah.

In fact, The Legion had managed to establish its own portion of this market in the underground side of the city through their Blue Card Merchant Group.

Zelga fulfilled all of the requirements on how to get treated as a customer to the underworld trade.

Leading his “platoon” through the busy crowd, he turned alley upon alley, landing himself on a booth that had the outer appearance of an herbal store.

After speaking the [password] that corresponded to the level of his treatment, he was then able to do business on this store’s secret underground shop and leave with his desired items.

Rare as they may seem, stat-building materials are still available, albeit very expensive.

And just as he walked out of the dark alleys and came back to the main streets, he was bumped by a pedestrian that ticked his temper.

He has yet to get over his defeat with Siva and now, he was going to be forced to wait three more days before he could use his ability once again. He needed to be strong. Fast.

And while he was in the middle of his thoughts regarding his revenge plan against Kladis, he was met with this arrogant noble.

He bumped into him and introduced himself as a noble of another faction, looking down on him just because he had his noble entourage and he was still ‘just a mere King Candidate’ without any real power to be strutting his status around.

This really annoyed Zelga.

A fight was just about to ensue when he noticed the noble seemed to be looking behind him and when Zelga turned his head... there... he saw her.

“I must capture her.”

His possessive disposition kicking in, he forgot about the arrogant noble and just stared at her descending figure.

“I must make her mine!”

Having murmured thus, he turned his gaze to the captain of his guards and gave a nod before he pulled four of his “fighter team” members and went towards the direction of the woman.

The captain led the 26 people and ‘dealt’ with the noble and his entourage... without hurting anyone.

Zelga walked on and ignored the yelling noble.

There are many other people going into the air and landing in the vicinity but of all of them, Siva and Scion’s slow descent attracted a lot of gazes simply because the two of them carried a weird sense of chemistry and brilliance.

Although Siva’s face is now covered by a faceless mask, his red cape attached to a scarf-looking bundle around his neck and his body armour that look like any other light-armour set you can see in the market, is already enough to attract attention.

But just on the fact alone that he seemed to be talking to Scion through that mask and making her giggle and smile, hugging him even, was all the reason enough to attract a few people’s eyes towards his direction.

What more, his posture was straight and gallant; and while these are all just outer appearance, his presence was what really attracted almost every young and semi-young female eyes’ towards him.

Even men, especially those who had a fair share of experience that bordered living from dying in the field, couldn’t deny the fact that his ‘presence’ was making them frown with a lot of discomfort.

Some of them even, those with sharper senses, walked away from him before they were crushed by this strong sensation.

And there’s her….

Her smile was really beautiful.

Despite wearing a mask, every man’s eyes were attracted at her direction… like a magnet, she was able to charm every man’s heart just by the fact that she was happy with another man.

When Zelga approached, Siva and Scion had just landed; he was still 30+ meters away.

The two didn’t linger and immediately went on the direction of another avenue.

Siva already planned to directly finish his tasks as soon as possible.

“You there, halt right this instant!”

But not even 20m when he started to float away with Scion while ignoring the eyes focusing on their direction, he heard someone’s voice calling.

But although he heard it, he didn’t stop and only gave mental orders for Cortana.

The two puppets that were falling a lot slower than them hovered 50m above instead. They were put into standby. Very few people noticed it.

Siva proceeded on the same pace as he had been floating; making sure that Scion was having a good time as they went on their way.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said stop!”

This time, the call was louder and it attracted a lot of attention as many heads turned to the source of the angry yelling.

Scion also heard it and she turned around to see the source of the loud bellow of anger.

“You two!” she saw the man leading four people pointing an accusing finger at their direction and she hugged Siva’s arm tighter when she felt the ill-intent reflecting on the Knight’s face.

This actions of hers made Zelga burn in jealousy.

Now that he had closed in, he could clearly tell that even though the woman covered the right side of her face with her hair, just her lips and her jawline alone was enough to tell him that she was a very beautiful woman without her covers.

But he kept his lust aside as glared fiercely at the man with her, pointing an accusing finger, “I know you heard me the first time. Why didn’t you stop?”

Zelga was berating the two of them and his eyes were disdainfully looking down at Siva. Scion felt afraid of him. She wasn’t used to these kinds of situations.

Siva, wearing a [faceless] mask —in fact, his head is covered by a ninja cloth hiding his ears and his face was covered by the silvery-white [faceless] mask, the same mask as his [Faceless] puppets.

With it, he could hide his frown as he had thought of where this very scene itself was heading.

“I didn’t know that you were specifically calling out to us. May I know as to the reason why you were calling out to stop us?”

Scion hugged his arm even further as she hid behind him while Siva answered Zelga’s claim.

She was a very shy girl and doesn’t have much any friends— or any interaction in the real world.

In fact, she was the kind of woman that was not even aware that she was actually very beautiful.

Her disposition is like a shiny, glittering gem.

Everyone can look at her beauty but also because of this face, many people doesn’t want the idea of tainting its sacred purity, especially since she was a very cheerful girl ever since she was young.

Just who would want to taint such precious gem?

While there are those who will have the audacity to do so, they will still be barred by the defenders.

Thus, throughout her younger days, she enjoyed a safe and comfortable childhood free of worldly interactions.

And as she was the pure type because of her parents’ manner of upbringing, this was also the reason why her thoughts were pure and free of any evil intent. She was so pure, in fact, that it pushes away those with low-level evil intentions.

Only those really evil-at-heart like Kladis and even Zola —now Zelga— would really want to taint her.

When she hid behind Siva, her adorability stars in Zelga’s heart increased by 99 star levels. It made his desire to monopolize her grew even greater.

And yet…

Did he just question me?

Didn’t he see my badge and my uniform?

Siva’s reply wasn’t impeded by the mask and his voice still travelled as clear as it was without into everyone’s ears in the vicinity. A crowd naturally started to form around their group.

Zelga found Siva’s reply insulting. All the while, he had been sticking out his chest as well as the badge on his collar —indicating his identity as both a Knight of The Wall and as well as a King Candidate who has a special identity in Jeremiah.

This was the reason why many people gathered around them. They wanted to see how a King Candidate with special privileges will display the authority of his special status.

Zelga pointed at Siva, “Insolence! How dare you question me? Don’t you see the emblem in my uniform? Can’t you see the insignia in my collar, huh? You are in the capital and yet you have no idea who we, with this insignia, are? No wonder why you are so brazen enough to actually violate one of the strictest laws of the capital. You have eyes and ears but it’s as if you’re an invalid.”

Siva felt puzzled more than humiliated. It wasn’t even at the level he’d think he was just insulted.

To him, everything he said was just bubbles.

He clearly knew the laws of the city and because of his [curse], to avoid gathering the attention of the world towards his direction, he specifically studied these rules and acted to avoid triggering any single one of them.

To his memory, he didn’t remember ever violating even one of these rules thus far.

So this guy is really looking for trouble…

When he thought of this, a plan emerged in his mind although he wasn’t negatively inclined enough to actually enact on it.

But if this guy pushes the limits of his patience, then he wouldn’t mind making it really hard on him since he was the one who started it.

His earlier conjecture made a sudden turn for the worst. He gave Cortana a mental command to prepare for trouble.

Siva took a humble pose making a very courteous gesture of a short bow, “I’m sorry, Sir Knight of the Wall of Jeremiah, King Candidate, and honored guardian of the city… might you be magnanimous enough as to clarify to me what law in the Kingdom have I violated that warranted your great self to be the one to intervene and enact the hands of justice? If I have indeed committed such violations, then I shall comply with all of the inducted punishments to reflect on my actions.”

Many people, especially the Users, blinked at this very polite manner of speaking. Just what era is this guy born from? Who in the 22nd century still speak that way?

Zelga, however, with his experience in the Royal Court of his own kingdom, was able to read the lines hidden within Siva’s politeness.

He had just been found out and mocked.

Of course, Siva might have taken a humble stance but he knew that Cortana won’t make the mistake of advising him with wrong information. He knew that there are two reasons why this guy purposely sought them; one is for Scion, the other is to show off.

The latter has a 20% chance of happening while the former had 80% chance of being the fact.

He trusted his instincts. He believed the first.

One of Zelga’s loyal retainers couldn’t help it and lashed off verbally, “You lowly trash! How dare you question the prince’s authority?”

“Prince?” many people felt surprised but majority of them were already used to this.

Every year, there are people like Zelga who like to address themselves as Princes.

Being chosen as a King Candidate is a privilege that only comes once in a lifetime.

Normally, only Crown Princes are allowed to be the King of their country but Jeremiah is a special case and although it was an awkward title, when a King Candidate calls himself thus, it wasn’t actually a farfetched self-entitlement. All King Candidates are practically Crown Princes themselves.

Still, there was a difference to a real Crown Prince and this pseudo-effective title.

And this difference was bridged by this retainer upon his next choice of words: “And not only did you question him, you did not even address him properly! Who are you calling a guardian of the city? He’s a Crown Prince! You must address him as his highness! Kneel down and ask for forgiveness! NOW!!!”

The last word was yelled in a very loud voice and it echoed for over 50 meters that many shoppers in this 40m-wide market turned their heads on the direction of this condescending voice.

Zelga didn’t correct nor even berate this. In fact, he even raised his head higher than before as he stared down at Siva.

He even slightly inched his left foot forward as if telling Siva to worship his foot as he begged.

But…… as understanding as he was, Siva wasn’t a kind person.

All his life, he never started trouble and unless it was threatening him or his family, he will never move against anyone and will remain an observer until there was a reason to stick his nose into the issue.

Right now, or rather, earlier, he had already made his stance and the crowd was the witness.

He wanted an explanation why he was being called down and yelled at as a violator of the laws.

“Boss, calm down.”

“I am calm.”

“But you’ve already devised 34 ways to deal with them. Violently. If I hadn’t stopped you just now, you would have actually pulled the Rewloola out from your Inventory and started a bombardment.”

“…”

It should be noted that a [Spatial Artifact] is truly a miraculous item for people who owned their own Cyclones.

Cyclones practically are [items] and all items can be stored in [Spatial Artifacts] —if the artifact supports its slot requirements.

And Siva has 9M slots…

400,000 were taken away by the dragon’s corpse and now, 25K slots were taken away by Rewloola.

The [Inventory Plus Ultra] is a Spatial Artifact just by itself alone!

Siva didn’t deny her.

His temper was already short to begin with and now, these guys —no, this guy— was testing the limits of his control over his fragile jar for temper.

He wasn’t stupid. He was a perfectly normal and ‘aware’ citizen of the 22nd century. Why wouldn’t he be aware of why Zelga was seeking trouble?

Scion was just that kind of woman.

She is a “Helen of Troy” as they call it.

Siva faced Zelga and now, he didn’t try to hide his own presence and released his battle intent right at his face.

“I will ask you again, Crown Prince… might you tell me the violation I have committed?”

Having completely been ignored, this retainer had his entire left face twitching and he took a step, drawing his blade, and was intending to force Siva to comply with his demands.

The crowd knew that trouble was brewing and while there has been the presence of the actual Patrolling Knights nearby who had been watching for a while now, no one dared to make their move because the one involved in this incident is a King Candidate with a special status.

On the other hand…

He was still a King Candidate retainer.

As followers of a King Candidate, these retainers have special statuses themselves. One of such privileges of their status is being personal hands of the King Candidate on certain matters.

The current ‘matter’ is an example of such that they are allowed to enact the authority of their charges.

He pulled his blade that reflected his status and aiming to knock Siva down. The crowd close by became excited. This is a rare occasion where a King Candidate is practicing his authority.

“KNEEL DOW—”

He yelled, but— “You’re too noisy.”

BANG!!!

A gruff male voice spoke followed by the sound of sledgehammer hitting paved floor.

Midway through pulling his sword and uttering his command, a shadow descended from above and directly, mercilessly, stamped down on the fellow.

With the protection of the [Safe Zone], the man did not die but his face was buried on the ground, making a meter-wide crater.

Everybody knew that although you wouldn’t die in the vicinity of a safe zone, the impacts of attacks still hurt and it wasn’t a good experience.

The tremor of the impact traveling for 50m, the sound of crushed pavement and cement made a few people cringe when their imaginations were triggered.

Dust clouds floated away and there are people that staggered back, horrified by what they saw.

His head was planted to the ground and a foot of a heavy-armoured knight 2m tall were pressing on his head as if it was a mere rock in the road.

The heavy knight’s shoulders were wide and its body frame bulky. Just his hands alone could grab any person’s head and crush it like a watermelon.

Zelga’s eyes were wide with surprise. He didn’t even see where this heavy-knight came from. All he saw was a shadow and then there was a thud, and the next thing he knew, his loyal retainer had his face planted on the ground and his feet high up in the air.

By this point, Siva’s temper is reaching its limits and one more provocation and he would explode.

And now, although he was still able to control his [Killing Zone], he didn’t try to hide his full intent to slaughter his way out in this city if Zelga would still insist on disturbing him.

He wouldn’t mind flipping this city upside down just so he could kill Zelga.

“I will ask you again. What is my violation?”

His eyes hidden but still focused only on Zelga.

“My Lord is asking you a question, trash.” Again, the gruff voice of the heavy knight echoed and not only it didn’t contain respect to Zelga, he was even called a trash.

A King Candidate… was just addressed as trash.

Many people in the crowd gasped at this.

“He’s really brave!” they murmured.

The towering 2m high [Smasher] was one thing but in the next moment, the [Destroyer] landed close to Scion from behind.

“A mere ant thinks he’s something just because he is wearing a knight uniform and a silly badge.”

One more set of words that didn’t hide its disdain came from another Heavy Knight whose size did not lose to the first.

Their faces were hidden in the Y-shaped gaps in their helmets but their red glowing eyes reflected the indifferent hostility that told anyone with keen senses they will violently attack those who will come closer.

And by ‘violent’… it was something that is left to their imaginations to ponder.

It made people cringe in fear.

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Zelga in muddy waters…

Will Siva really be imprisoned?

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