1061 Dragon Fangs Dueling Ground (1/2)
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
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”Very well, you've done well! Both Croatia's Magic Association and government have expressed their gratitude, and the Parthenon Temple no longer needs to pay any extra tax for the Black Rhododendrons from Croatia!” The Hall Mother was absolutely radiant in the hall, and her gaze at Xinxia was totally different from before.
The Black Rhododendrons had always been a material that the Parthenon Temple desperately needed, and Croatia would usually charge them an expensive fee. However, Croatia happened to have the best Black Rhododendrons. As such, the sum spent on acquiring the Black Rhododendrons each year was absolutely shocking. To the Hall Mother's surprise, the government of Croatia was willing to exempt them from paying the taxes as a reward for resolving the plague, saving lots of money for the Parthenon Temple.
It had only been possible because of the new candidate that was being picked on, Ye Xinxia. Not only did she resolve the plague, she also earned quite a reputation in Croatia!
The Parthenon Temple had eight Candidates, but now, with Xinxia officially becoming a Candidate, there were nine in total. The other Candidates were trying to earn their reputation at other places, and the competition would decide the person that would become the Goddess in the end. Once a Candidate had earned the support of the whole world, she would not be far from being respected and loved by the world, like establishing a new faith as a religion!
That being said, the candidates had merely earned the support of the people. Their trust in the Candidates was not deep-rooted yet.
Xinxia was basically a nobody in the Hall of the Goddess, but somehow, she had suddenly received support from a few places, including those that had fought the war against the undead in Egypt, and those that were involved in the plague in Croatia...
She had turned out to be the key person in resolving both incidents, and now, her identity as a candidate had been made public, too. Both the people of Egypt and Croatia immediately supported the decision of making Xinxia the ninth Candidate!
Even though the support was nothing compared to the influence that the other Candidates had, Xinxia was starting to establish her own influence.
”I believe everyone now agrees with my decision of making her a Candidate?” the Hall Mother asked as she looked at the members in the hall.
”Her contributions are still far from enough to make her a Candidate. The two countries are only supporting her by blindly following the crowd,” Great Muse Mellaura immediately disagreed.
”It's fairly difficult for a Servant that has recently been promoted to let the people remember her name and earn more respect for our Parthenon Temple...”
Xinxia looked at the Hall Mother. Somehow, she had a strange feeling.
Despite her outstanding performance of achieving something that many Servants would never be able to achieve, the Hall Mother was still going overboard with how impressed she was. Wasn't the Hall Mother supposed to focus more on the Candidates and the Muses? What she did was actually not as impressive compared to some other achievements that the Candidates had...
Xinxia was not really passionate about climbing the ranks in the Parthenon Temple, unlike the other Servants. However, the Hall Mother kept on showing her intention to promote Xinxia. In addition to her astonishment, Xinxia was also feeling uncomfortable.
First, Xinxia did not know the Hall Mother's true intentions. Second, Xinxia was a Psychic Mage, thus she could easily sense the hostility from the gazes of the members in the Hall of the Goddess!
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Venice, the City of Canals...
After returning to the city, Mo Fan realized that the crowd on the streets had grown bigger. Some of the narrower streets and canals were fully jammed. It felt like water transportation in Venice would suffer a breakdown if more people came to Venice!
”Brother Fan, can you really run around like that when you're representing the country in a tournament?” Zhang Xiaohou was utterly impressed by Mo Fan. The other national representatives were nervously preparing themselves for the upcoming matches, and were afraid to go anywhere else, worried they would not be able to perform well in the tournament. Meanwhile, Mo Fan was insane enough to simply pay a visit to Croatia!
”Of course I'll be here when there's an important match,” Mo Fan said.
”I believe our country is competing this afternoon, let me see who our opponent is...” Zhang Xiaohou took his phone out.
Lingling replied straight away, ”It's Spain.”
”Spain?” For some reason, Mo Fan was having a bad feeling.
”Is there any problem? Are they a strong opponent?” Zhang Xiaohou asked.
”That goes without saying. I think they were ranked thirteenth in the last tournament,” Lingling said.
Mo Fan turned and looked at Lingling with her little ponytail and asked, ”How old were you when the last tournament took place? How did you even remember a detail like that?”
Lingling suddenly fell silent, as if she had remembered something unpleasant.
Mo Fan had no idea what he said wrong, thus he was not too bothered by it. He told Lingling and Zhang Xiaohou, ”I'll bring you two to the resting zone, and you can watch the match from there. You won't be able to get a good spot if you try to buy a ticket now!”
Coming back to Venice, they were running short on time, and it was quite a nuisance trying to get to their destination due to the traffic congestion. Zhang Xiaohou was subconsciously worried that Mo Fan might be late to the match.