While the people in the hall nodded and discussed this ‘great’ idea, YunYun was confused once again.

“It’s fine to celebrate, but isn’t this a bit weird?”

“No.” Nick shook his head and sighed, “This is the real reward from his majesty. Now I am indebted to him, even if we take into account all my previous achievements.”

“How so?”

“Now I can freely walk around without fear of anyone recognizing my wristbands. He really is a great king who doesn’t forget favors.” Nick was, in fact, deeply shaken by the king’s grace. He knew king was smart, but this small event had a grand elegance for such subtle reason.

“So I guess I’ll have to wear such things as well. We will have to find some good material to create them.”

“What about a rank five snake’s skin?” Nick grinned and YunYun pinched him again. This rascal managed to get his hands on that precious material without her knowing.

“In addition!” King interrupted murmurs of the crowd, “This event showed, that none of us are safe, even those in the royal palace! But we also learned, that with a great perseverance and bravery, every single one of us is capable of a grand deed. And the three delicate girls, killing the grand and powerful enemy tyrant is the best proof. It is also a proof, that it is never too late for someone to start practicing Qi as well as picking up the sword! Therefore, in order to help our people, from the next month in every city and town once every ten days there will be a free lecture where an accomplished Qi master will teach the basic Qi techniques to everyone who has interest – no matter the age and it will be free of charge!”

The commotion that broke out was similar to the one when Clayton told about the emperor’s death. The idea of bringing Qi practices to the masses was remarkable, even genius. Nick stood up and, from the bottom of his heart, started to applaud to the king and many other people followed. There were no downsides to this, only endless positives.

“Why are you so excited?” YunYun pinched him.

“You don’t understand! This is the real genius! By bringing Qi practice to the regular people not only he conscripts everyone in this kingdom willingly, but improves health, strength, longevity and productivity of every person! I can’t even count all the positive things it brings to the nation. It is so simple, but such a hard step as well, because for centuries the Qi masters have always been the upper class, but now every beggar will be able to practice Qi!”

Nick was truly excited and he loved the idea that the people from this kingdom, which already was way more developed than others, will have even better lives.

“Alright!” King spoke again and immediately silence filled the hall, “Everyone, please raise your glasses. These events, albeit horrifying, had a happy ending. With this I want to express my deepest gratitude as well as gratitude of all the people of the world to these three heroines for vanquishing one of our strongest foes! Oh, by the way, after we drink this, everyone will be able to enjoy a piece of that rank five snake that girls killed as well. They didn’t forget about their old father during those times and brought home a barrel for me to have a taste. It is not much, but I wanted to share it with all of you! Thank you, girls, in the name of everyone!”

King raised his glass and the guests followed. Blushed girls did so as well and drank a mouthful to calm themselves down. They expected for Nick’s idea to work, but the king’s performance transformed them almost into goddesses, not heroines.

They knew their names were being used for political purposes as well, but there was no way around it – it was already their duty to begin with. But what followed after the feast during the next days no one could predicted. Hundreds of youngsters sent gifts and tried to meet them, some even invited to train or practice Qi together. People were thinking of many different ways to gain their attention. The advances from their fans a year ago seemed like a child’s play compared to what went on after the grand reception.

If the news of their return spread like wildfire though the capital, then the news of three girls killing the ‘immortal’ emperor Osman spread like a chain lightning through the continent. Of course, many smart people realized that reality was far from being that simple, but those smart people never cared about these girls returning ‘pure’ or similar nonsense.

But there was a person who did and his father came up to Winston Evans a bit later during the grand reception.

“Winston, my son ... he …” Duke William Belington tried to say something but nothing came out.

“Will, we have known each other for decades and have a long friendship. Only because of that I promised my only daughter to your son. There is no bad blood between us and will never be, we are still friends. It’s just that your son … is a total moron.” Kate’s father tried to diplomatically calm down his old friend, but in the end still said what was on his heart. On the other hand he was happy, his daughter’s reputation was at all time high and, despite her being over twenty years old, she could easily pick any husband in the country to her liking.

While the news shook the world, Nick went back to his peaceful life, the only difference was having YunYun as a company. He didn’t mind, although they had to build a separate alchemy workshop because couple of times she almost managed to burn down his house. Actually that was nothing surprising – he at that stage of alchemy practice was not better.

During the day they practiced, met friends for pizza and then practiced again.

There was another change to Nick’s life. Princesses and Kate didn’t stop practicing Qi even after return and often came to them for advise. On one occasion Steven and Conny even brought three little Al’s with them.

Nick was happy to see them, but for some reason he felt that the “Sunshine” as well as his place were lately getting too crowded.

Ali was confused and disappointed when he saw Nick’s home. In his mind Nick was a strong hero, but here he lived like a pauper compared to the others from their group.

“What is it?” Nick asked when he saw boy getting upset.

“I … I didn’t know you were their … servant.” Ali stuttered, but everyone around him started to laugh hysterically.

“Ali, Nick probably is the richest from all of us, may be he is the richest man on the continent.” Kate explained while still laughing. Everyone in their group knew how Nick gave away meteorite rings like candies – how he could be called poor?

“But then why does he live here and not in the palace?” Boy was still confused.

“Ali, here is perfect place for me. I can practice all day long without anyone disturbing me, well, mostly.” Nick sighed.

“Sorry about that, we really get bored there.” Beata pointed in the direction of the palace with a guilty look.

“Then what’s the big deal? Didn’t you ‘five flowers of Aurora’ have a fashion business?” Nick shrugged. These girls loved the idea of hats, bags and the rest of the useless stuff women wore and it was endless market as the caprices and dreams were never ending.

“The business goes well, just that it somehow feels the same thing over and over.” Conny complained.

“Just think of something new, then wear it on the streets and everyone will buy it. You guys hold the market in capital and anything you say goes!” Nick really didn’t understand the problem.

Kate looked at him, “Then help us, throw few ideas so we know where to start.”

“May be you want me to make designs in your stead, then craft everything and sell as well?” Nick snorted. The girls could be annoying sometimes.

“No, just one idea, please?” Kate joked and at the same time teased.

“Is it really that hard? Now everyone in country wants to wear bracelets or wristbands. Just design some for beauty, but at the same time craft practical ones that suit warriors as well. You will have a huge new market and if you do it right, it will be even better business than the one with your hats.”

Kate, and three sisters were visibly shaken. This was great idea! They even were the main promoters without doing anything special!

“Are their designs any good?” YunYun asked Nick.

“Actually they are not bad at all. You can ask them to create a design for your wristbands as well, from time to time they produce a really good product.” He seriously answered only to get kicked by Kate and Conny.

“What do you mean ‘from time to time’?”

Nick escaped and YunYun finally could discuss her ‘urgent needs’ with few understanding people. The princesses and Kate glared angrily at Nick because he allowed himself to neglect his fiancee in so many important ways! Not only she didn’t have proper bracers, she needed design for new jacket, coat, boots and shoes and all of that had to be made from the snake’s skin as well. Of course, all these pieces had to be durable and suitable for battle.

After listening to their discussion, Nick gave up his pride and asked for a leather jacket, boots and shoes as well. In fact, it was a really good idea and now that they didn’t have to hide, they could wear not only practical, but also good looking clothes. Nick even suggested that YunYun should cover her old scabbard with same leather as well and the idea was accepted after discussing with the four present ‘professional fashion designers’.

Then immediately Nick got an idea to make a new backpack from the same leather and in the end he was ‘allowed’ to place an order.

Nick was thinking of giving the rest of the snake’s skin away, but then realized this material was too good to waste. In addition they might need to make new shoes or boots in the future, but there was no telling when they could catch the next rank five beast and therefore the snake’s skin wardrobe became unique signature of this couple. Others didn’t mind, even though they teased them a little about it.

After YunYun and Nick placed their orders, ‘flowers’ disappeared for many days. They had an inspiration and a tons of ideas, therefore Nick was soon forgotten. Of course, he didn’t care about it at all. The girls started to produce wristbands and bracelets in bulk and the whole country soon was overtaken by the new fashion style from young to old. Or course, not everyone bought these items in shops and mostly produced themselves, but many people in the capital felt they had to support the three little girls who managed to kill the evil emperor.

Few days after the grand banquet, old king Albert arrived as promised. Nick used this opportunity to ask for old king’s opinion on the dual cultivation as well.

Going step by step, the old king listened to the theory, then saw their demonstration which once again lasted till the sunrise. He was much more interested in their phenomenon than queen Hua and, before giving any advice, went to study old books in the royal library.

When he came back few days later, he could only share his disappointment. There were couple of mentions about people having Qi resonance, but not much else. Nick shrugged and expressed his readiness to continue practice and testing to which the old king asked them to share their findings as a personal favor.