Chapter 425 - By “My Friend,“ I Mean Me (2/2)

Antis was still supervising the city guards as they charged taxes and maintained the order of the city.

Roland walked to him and said with a smile, “You seem rather bored.”

Turning his pretty face around, Antis seemed rather impatient. “Why are you here again?”

“To ask you about something.”

“You come to me when you need me and throw me aside when you don’t. Am I even a friend to you?”

“Okay.” Roland waved at him. “I’ll buy you a drink.”

“That’s so insincere!”

That being said, Antis still came with him.

They sat down in the most luxurious tavern in the capital, surrounded by four beautiful waitresses who were in their service.

Roland ordered some random wine and food. After they were served, he sipped the wine and asked, “Do you know Dinah Hibiscus?”

“Hibiscus? Dinah?” Antis frowned. “Seriously? You’re laying your hand on a Saint Samurai after you just lured the queen away? Do you love defiling the n.o.ble and the sacred?”

Roland happened to be drinking the wine. He choked at what Antis said and coughed so hard that the wine splashed out from his nose.

His face turned red as he tried to catch his breath.

After coughing for a long time, Roland finally came back to himself and said, “I’m not interested in her.”

“Then why are you asking about her?” Antis held the silver wine cup to his red lips with his jade-like hands and took a sip, before he continued, “Dinah is a Saint Samurai. She’s much trickier than the queen. Don’t do anything to her.”

“No, one of my friends knows her and is very close to her. He’s living in her manor.”

Antis chuckled. “I’ve seen too many people making up a friend. By ‘my friend,’ you mean yourself, right?”

“He’s really my friend. His name is Betta. I wonder if you know him.”

“Betta, the Homeless n.o.ble?”

Holding his tiny, fair chin, Antis finally seemed interested.

“He’s known as the Homeless n.o.ble? That’s rather a fancy nickname.”

“He’s rather famous.” Antis continued, “Although we can’t figure out which family he’s from, n.o.body suspects that his n.o.ble ident.i.ty is fake. It seems that a divine power almost introduces his ident.i.ty to the people who know him.”

It was probably the feature of the Divine n.o.ble as a cla.s.s.

“Tell me more about this Dinah.”

Antis turned his head and looked at him. “You’re not really interested in her?”

“I am interested in her, but not in the way you think. I’m only vetting her for my friend in case he’s being tricked.”

Antis shook his head. “The Saint Samurai never lie.”

Roland nodded.

He knew that the Saint Samurai never lied, but Dinah might not be a Saint Samurai though she seemed to be.

She might have talked about Schuck, but so what? Roland could tell that Betta was very familiar with her, and she could’ve learned a lot about Schuck from him.

Roland didn’t really trust her yet.

After all, the reward that Dinah offered was too unbelievable.

She promised the t.i.tle of a n.o.ble with real power and a ma.s.sive fief.

Even if the fief was a swamp, so what? That was still a territory.

If it was really worthless, the Hibiscuses would’ve given it away long before Betta showed up.

“The leader of the Hibiscuses is a marquis. Like my family, they’re also relatives of the royal family,” Antis said with a smile. “Dinah became a Saint Samurai at six. She has spent most of her time in the Holy Realm since then and barely came back, so I don’t know her too well.”

“Then tell me what you do know about her.”

Antis heaved a helpless sigh. “Do I owe you anything? As the most distinguished person in the younger generation of the Hibiscus family, she was very loved by the leader of her family, who gave her a swamp land even though she was a woman as her future dowry.”

Roland thought a moment and said, “But female Saint Samurai are rarely married.”

“Rarely, but not never,” Antis said. “Dinah has a lot of pursuers in the capital. After all, whoever marries her will become a viscount with real power and a fief. It is a swamp, but it’s still a piece of land, isn’t it?”

It seemed that Dinah wasn’t lying.

Roland asked again, “Then, have the Hibiscuses been in any trouble recently?”

“Sort of.” Antis thought a moment and said, “You know that the fight for the throne will begin soon. Unlike our family who do not need to take a side, the Hibiscuses have to. Dinah returned from the Holy Realm exactly to support her family, but to be honest, her power and abilities aren’t impressive.”

“Why not? A Saint Samurai is as influential as any prince or princess.”

“There are too many princes and princesses who only have a t.i.tle without any real power.” Antis shrugged. “She’s as strong right now as she was when she was six. How much influence do you think she has in the Holy Realm? And how many people will respect her here in the capital?”

Dinah had never made any progress since childhood. So, the people in the Holy Realm never regarded her as a real Saint Samurai.

Roland was dazed. “But you just said that she is the most distinguished person in the younger generation of the Hibiscuses.”

“She is,” Antis said matter-of-factly. “Because the other young people in the Hibiscus family are even worse than her. If things go unchanged, the Hibiscuses will disappear from the capital in twenty years.”