Their dinner was brought in by a maid, and Princess Melia hasn’t seen them since she entered the court.
After dinner, Luo’er finally decided to pay a visit to the girls’ room next door. He invited Hu Daoke and Cheng Ziang, who were frolicking around, to join him. The three left the room and arrived at the door of the girls’ room. The brazier in the hallway was burning brightly, casting their shadows on the door.
Soon after Luo’er knocked on the door, Tangmo arrived running to open it. As soon as she saw Luo’er outside, she was so excited she almost jumped on him.
Once inside their room, it was clear that the two girls had been having fun. Baiyue was dishevelled, her hair messy, and the fluffy bunny ears on her head were all sticking up. Seeing Luo’er and the others coming in, she suddenly blushed, got scared and hid under her blanket.
"Wow, they seem to be having more fun than us!" Hu Daoke said, looking at Cheng Ziang.
"Get lost, I’m not going to play this with you!" Cheng Ziang coldly refused.
After a while, Baiyue carefully poked her head out from under the blanket, looking like a frightened little rabbit, very lovely.
"What on earth have you two been doing in this room?" Seeing Baiyue’s appearance, Luo’er couldn’t help covering his face and asking.
Ignoring them, the three sat on the bed by the window. After making sure that everything around was safe and no one was eavesdropping, Luo’er began to discuss their plans for tomorrow in a low voice.
"Tomorrow we will meet the King, and now Melia owes us a favor. What do you plan to do?" Luo’er asked.
"Of course, reward us with a thousand taels of gold, and make us dukes!" Hu Daoke said boldly.
"We’re discussing the mission here, don’t mention irrelevant things." Luo’er furrowed his brow.
Cheng Ziang took a more straightforward approach. He sent an elbow jab to Hu Daoke’s stomach. Hu Daoke lay on the bed, rolling around in pain. He didn’t recover until their meeting was over.
"What do you plan to do?" Cheng Ziang asked.
"I intend to apply to join the frontline units of the Masaya Kingdom’s army, to see if we could find the whereabouts of the Aud magician’s army from there. However..." he frowned, "We don’t currently know in which frontline unit the magician’s army is in, so it’s not practical to search one by one."
"Are we going to the frontline?" Tangmo pointed at herself and asked.
"Yes," Luo’er nodded, and then said, "The magician’s army sent by Aud could not possibly be stationed at the rear. The frontline is in desperate need of their Visit NovelHub for more amazing novels and chapters."
"Masya’s army’s front line against the rebels is so long, how do you know which line the magician’s army is in?" Cheng Ziang asked.
"I think, the lines that are most likely to encounter large-scale conflicts or those about to fall are most likely to have the magician’s army deployed. If I were the commander, I would send these troops to these places to fill the gap." Luo’er analyzed.
"In that case, we’re really going to the battlefield." Cheng Ziang said, with a smile on his face.
"That’s also what I’m worried about. I’m really afraid that this decision will lead to someone’s sacrifice in our team." Luo’er sighed.
"Moreover, we can’t be sure of finding the magician’s army, and thus can’t complete the mission." Cheng Ziang added coldly.
"Yeah," Luo’er drew a deep sigh, paused, and then said, "Let’s just leave it to fate. I’ll let the king assign me wherever he wants, and see if we can find the magician’s army. If we can’t, then so be it. If we do, it would be like a blind cat catching a dead rat."
"Luo’er..." Seeing Luo’er’s worried expression, Tangmo couldn’t help but grab his hand and move it to Baiyue’s head, which had just moved closer.
"What are you doing?" Luo’er asked, looking at her.
"Relax, feel her, she’s nice and warm." Tangmo said with a grin.
"Sister Moumou..." Baiyue blushed, her head diped, the blush almost reached her ears.
"You two really are something." Luo’er gave a bitter smile, unsure of what to say.
After some discussions, Luo’er did not arrive at any results. Thinking about the prospect of going to the battlefield, he instinctively chose to back out. He was indeed afraid of death, because his goal was to find his mother in this otherworld. Before finding his mother, he didn’t want anything to happen to him, or his teammates.
Cheng Ziang dragged a haggard Hu Daoke out of the girls’ room. As soon as the door closed, the two girls resumed their frolicking, totally disregarding the serious decision they were supposed to make about their lives.
The next morning, Luo’er, who was sleeping in his kitten-like bed, was woken up by a maid. After having breakfast delivered by the maid, they were about to meet the highest ruler of Masya.
Before they entered the Consultation Hall, the Knight Captain stepped forward to confiscate all the weapons they had on them. Luo’er knew there was no room for them to make any decisions at this point, so he had no choice but to let them proceed with the weapons search. Lucky enough, last night, they had hidden their magic wands in the spare barrel of Hu Daoke’s light machine gun and sealed them tight, ensuring these people wouldn’t find them.
Once they arrived in the vast Consultation Hall, it was only filled with the King, his ministers, and a few knights serving as guards, making the entire space seem even more spacious. Huge fire pits were arranged around the place, illuminating the hall warmly, making Luo’er hardly believe that it was snowing outside.
An old man, about sixty or seventy years old, imposing, with his hair graying on both sides, sat on the throne in the middle of the hall. He was dressed in splendid and exquisite clothes, sporting a Mediterranean hairstyle. Likely from years of pampered living, he appeared quite obese and seemed to be languishing in his throne. In contrast, it was hard to place him side by side with the young and pretty Princess Melia.
The man standing next to the king was a tall, thin old man adorned in lavish, complicated clothing, with his hair slicked back and sharp, eagle-like eyes observing Luo’er and his team.
Luo’er glanced around and noticed that Princess Melia was not present. He wondered what the princess had been up to since they hadn’t seen her since yesterday.
"Are you Captain Luo’er?" King Varen asked lightly with a faint smile on his face.
"I am Luo’er, Captain of the adventure team, leading my team members to greet Your Majesty!" Luo’er took a few steps forward, half-kneeled, and performed a Masya salute; the rest of his team quickly followed suit.
"You’re a half-elf?" Varen’s attention was immediately drawn to his dark green eyes and elf-like ears.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Luo’er replied.
"It must have been quite challenging for a half-elf to become the captain of an adventure team!" Varen said, smiling broadly.
Luo’er understood what he meant. According to the class traditions of the Aud people, as a half-elf, Luo’er would certainly be deemed unfit to lead a whole team, especially a team including an Aud person like Cheng Ziang.
"You flatter me, we all grew up together since we were young!" Luo’er clarified, and he was not lying. After all, all the students from Haiya Academy had grown up together.
"I see." Varen gave a leisurely chuckle.
"As a half-elf, I am fully aware of my humble status. Please forgive me if I offend you in any way," Luo’er said, bowing his head.
"I heard that you saved Princess Melia?" Varen asked, casually.
"I happened to be in the right place at the right time and managed to lend a helping hand to the princess, it’s an overstatement to say I saved her," Luo’er said modestly.
"Melia promised to reward you when you made it to the Kingdom. I don’t want to go against her wishes as her father. So tell me, what do you want?" Varen asked.
"Your Majesty," Luo’er turned his head and glanced around before he spoke loudly, "I wish to serve Your Majesty. I implore you to let us join Masya’s army as mercenaries and earn merits on the frontline."
"Interesting, I didn’t expect you to have such ambition," Varen said, laughing upon hearing Luo’er’s request.
"Given the current rise of the rebels, it could be very dangerous for you at the frontline. Are you willing to go?" asked Fergus, the King’s consultant, as Varen made no indication of his decision.
"The greater the danger, the greater the opportunity. The more critical the situation, the more our value can be exhibited," said Luo’er confidently, wearing a self-assured smile.
Varen exchanged glances with Fergus before he continued, "Not everyone can join Masya’s army as they please, especially if you’re planning on joining as mercenaries. You should know that Masya has never hired mercenaries, even in dire circumstances."
"Then does Your Majesty mean...?" Luo’er gritted his teeth, surprised that Varen has rejected his proposal, obviously not intending to let Luo’er and his team infiltrate Masya’s army.
"You are still..." Just as Varen was about to dismiss them rudely, Princess Melia, the hem of her dress fluttering, arrived. She softly brushed off the snowflakes from her head, glanced at Luo’er and his team, and spoke up, cutting off Varen’s sentence.
"Father, I promised them that I would reward them with whatever they asked for. You’re not planning to make my promise meaningless, are you?" Without fear, Melia held Varen’s gaze as she asked.
"Melia, they want to join the Kingdom’s army as mercenaries. That’s simply not acceptab..." Varen was caught off guard by his daughter’s sudden arrival.
"Why isn’t it acceptable? We’ve already reached the point where I need to be sacrificed to Aud people for reinforcement, what’s wrong with just a few mercenaries?" Melia continued to face him unwaveringly.
"Melia," Varen raised his voice, trying to reason with her tenderly. "How could it be a sacrifice? Marrying into Aud is a good thing for both you and our country. Why can’t you understand your father’s dilemma?"
"I know this is my destiny. I only hope that your promises won’t turn out to be empty words, Father," Melia murmured, looking down and biting her lip.
"Ah," Varen sighed heavily and finally relented, "Fine then, but this will not become a precedent."
"Thank you for your indulgence, Father!" Melia finally lifted her head to look at Varen. There was no trace of emotion on her face, it was impossible to tell what was going on in her mind.