Madam Zheng’s group and Baron’s group made their way to a very lavish looking room that made even the unknown duo of Madam Zheng’s faction awe in surprise. It seemed to Baron that these two were not of the top brass within the Forever Pirates faction, but rather rising stars of some sort who were being nurtured. Upon further inspection, Baron determined that one was male and one was female. He went up to introduce himself.

(MZ) “Baron, allow me to introduce you two to these two behind me. They are relatively new to our faction and are siblings. The girl that you see is Zi Ji Ge, while the other one is Zi Bo. The little sister is very outspoken and a bit condescending at times, while the bigger, older brother likes to stay silent and just observe. Why don’t you introduce your group, Baron?” Madam Zheng said to Baron.

(BM) “Greetings, I am Baron, leader of the Under 1 Banner group. The ones behind me are Meng Tian and Meng Yi of the Meng duo, as well as two elders Yue Fei, and Guan Yu.” Baron went up to the brother-sister pair and introduced himself.

(ZJG) “Hmph, only a group? How did you manage to get the favor of Madam Zheng if you aren’t even a full faction yet? I bet you did something to blackmail her is that right?” Zi Ji Ge basically shouted at Baron and their group.

Baron’s group was not exactly pleased with the comments that Zi Ji Ge had just made, but insulting someone from another group, even if they were allies, did not bode well for Baron’s non-existent faction. Zi Ji Ge continued to look menacingly at Baron and the others while the brother Zi Bo just stared and spectating the situation that his sister had just created.

(MZ) “Haha, now, now Zi Ji Ge. That is not how we treat our allies, you may have a bit of talent and I may be more inclined to accept girls, but your attitude is a factor that might decide who gets the position out of you two.” Madam Zheng said quite suggestively.

(ZJG) “.....” Zi Ji Ge’s face was now quite red showing her obvious embarrassment.

(MZ) “I must apologize for her behavior Baron, she can be like that to people she hasn’t met before. While that is not usually a problem, I cannot have insubordination amongst my faction members towards my allies.”

(BM) “That is quite alright Madam Zheng, it is indeed true that I have not made enough merit to warrant such a big name such as yourself to ally herself with me so wholeheartedly.” Baron said trying to give some face back to the lady who just badmouthed him. He snuck a peek to look at the brother and sister pair to study their reactions, but he had seen something that tipped him off of what the dynamic of the two was.

From his brief inspection of the two, he was sure that although Zi Ji Ge seemed more confident than her brother, Zi Bo was the truly terrifying one. His cold and calculating eyes were just something that did not escape Baron’s observational skills. He had seen those eyes a few times before in the simulation playbacks in the hall of records. Wang Jian and Bai Qi, two of the four co-leaders of the Yellow Wang faction. Those four may have the skills on par with each other, but Baron reckoned that Wang Jian and Bai Qi were the most dangerous.

(MZ) “Baron, come with me.”

(BM) “Sure.” He said and went with her to another room.

(MZ) “So, what do you think of those two?”

(BM) “I can’t say anything about their skills, but the brother seems to be quite the… how do you say, dangerous-looking individual.”

(MZ) “So you noticed too. Indeed, these two have quite a bit of potential within them. I believe that the brother, in the long run, will be a more important strategist. These two haven’t been here long, only a few hundred years. So slightly older than me.”

(BM) “How did you manage to net these two?”

(MZ) “They came to one of my faction recruitment events and absolutely decimated everyone there. Even almost beat a pair of my elders in the water.”

(BM) “Interesting, what did you mean by deciding which one was being selected for a position?”

(MZ) “I have one elder spot available for one of the two to occupy. They are currently trying to impress me in this tournament. Should you meet them in the water, don’t hesitate to try your best to beat them. I need to accurately decide their value and skill in this tournament.”

(BM) “What happens to the one who isn’t selected to become an elder?”

(MZ) “Well, at the moment, both of them fave fallacies that make it hard for me to choose which one is going to become one of my elders. You have already witnessed the loud one. As for the male’s is that he is just a bit too extreme when it comes to his tactics as well as being overly risky to achieve his goals. They have a choice to either stay in my faction and be under their sibling, or they could choose to leave and join another faction should they not be chosen.”

(BM) “Do they understand how the tournament works?”

(MZ) “No, I was going to explain it to them just before the tournament, and give them some advice as well since this is their first time joining such a prestigious tournament.”

(BM) “Let’s go back, I need to talk with my friends as well.”

The two of them left to go to the room where all the others were to see one of Madam Zheng’s husband telling off Zi Ji Ge about not being so condescending to everyone she meets. Madam Zheng faced towards her group and asked what had happened.

(H1) “She just insulted the head elder of the one faction that hates us more than the Vesper faction while out on a little walk. As if we didn’t have enough to worry about” Husband 1 replied.

Madam Zheng looked at Zi Ji Ge and then to Zi Bo, and for the first time that she had known him, he frowned.