Chapter 1309 (1/2)

“Shush, it’s about to start,” Le whispered. Both Xia and Ann straightened in the wooden outdoor seating of the cafe where they had set up shop, but Han Yazhu practically wanted to pull out his hair. He was thoroughly tired of this game that Le was playing.

“Please Le, let’s not-” Then Han Yazhu paused as he saw a large group approaching out of the corner of his eye. “...is that King Phirun?”

When the group from Zone 7 had arrived at Kharon proper, they had been checked in at the entrance of the city but largely left to their own devices to get to the venue for the party. Han Yazhu had been scornful when they had simply been given a map of Kharon and let to wander within the bounds of the city, but the trio that was Xiang Le had been delighted by the freedom.

It was, after all, a far cry from what they could do in Zone 7 with the recent political unrest. They had known the publics' reaction to lying about Xiang Le would be strong, but the truth was… much more disturbing than that. The three women that had exhausted themselves for the past several years guiding the Zone needed a break.

So for the last two hours they had meandered around, looking at the different districts and shops. And to the three women’s delight, no one recognized them as the now-contentious leaders of Zone 7. They were just who they were.

Han Yazhu had been tempted to remind them to be careful due to the recent assassination attempts since revealing that they were women, but couldn’t bring himself to spoil the smiles on their faces. So he had accepted the diversion and followed his leaders around. He had even been amenable to taking a break when Le had suggested taking a break at a bakery along the ‘official’ route to the venue.

But now Han cursed his own shortsightedness as he saw the extremely massive body King Phirun waddling side to side down the cleared street. It was almost four o’clock and it seemed like the other delegations were starting to arrive.

“Yes,” Le said gleefully. Then she pointed to the empty plate on their table that once housed a decadent and heavy cinnamon roll. “And you remember his love of sweets, I’m sure. It is without a doubt that this combination of factors will trigger an event.”

“Event!” Ann whispered almost reverently.

King Phirun, leader of Ifrenne the Floating City and the whole of the Great Sea Zone, had likely been a large man even before the System had arrived. And because of the System’s strange magic, he had spent the last few years transforming from fleshy to ‘shocking to look at’. Every part of his body was covered with sweat and grease, to the point that his own black hair seemed to be slicked back with by-products of his own body.

Of course, he was also extremely strong. Despite the fact that his government was the most decentralized due to the vast amount of space his Zone covered, Phirun was one of the first groups to actively adopt some of the information about images put out by the Order Ducis. Which meant that despite their small number, Phirun’s warriors could hold their heads high against the larger armies of the other Zones that had been more resistant to the Ghosthound’s teachings.

And a group of his finest warriors followed after Phirun, chests bared and covered in intricate ink tattoos that supposedly denoted their status. All of the people present seemed to have torsos that were living tapestries of bright primary colors, indicating that no one was a slouch when it came to combat.

Han Yazhu was torn between urging his leaders to greet Phirun and staying silent to avoid the man’s attention when Phirun’s bulk stopped with remarkable abruptness only a few meters away from them.

With almost comical seriousness, Phirun sniffed. “Ah… hum… that smell…”

“Cinnamon rolls from this cafe,” Le supplied helpfully, pointing toward the green awning of the building behind them. Phirun’s eyes shifted and landed on her. Le adjusted her glasses and continued to smile at the gargantuan man. The moment stretched.

Then Phirun’s aura grew slightly heavy. He rolled his shoulders and began to frown. There was a claustrophobic, suffocating wetness in the air around them suddenly. Rather than in a cool autumn day with the sun overhead, it felt like they were isolated in a cramped cave. Han Yazhu’s hands on the table tightened. Xia straightened but didn’t look up from the task of writing continued notes on the details of Kharon. Ann almost lazily began to create a series of colored lights that danced around her palm in imitation of the Moss Spirits of Kharon.

Just as abruptly as he stopped moving his body, the image Phirun pressured the group with vanished. He glanced at the four people at the table doubtfully, clearly not recognizing them even though Han Yazhu had spoken with the man twice during his trips to Ifrenne. But it seemed enough that none of them had panicked in the face of his image. “...thank you for the information. Kiruk?”

A tattooed man behind Phirun punched his fists together and bowed. Phirun gestured imperiously toward the cafe. “Bring me one of these cinnamon rolls.”

Kiruk bowed again and then strode confidently into the cafe. The minions of Phirun glared at the group sitting at the table as their King dug into his ear and produced a fat, green-yellow glob of wax. Le calmly took a sip of her tea with her eyes shining. If anything, she seemed excited by drawing Phirun’s attention.

Even without System-enhanced Perception, it soon became clear that an argument was occurring within the shop. There were even reverberations from images clashing within, but Han Yazhu was surprised to find that the shop owner wasn’t intimidated in the slightest by the muscular, tattooed man that went in to talk to her.

It seems that even the average citizen in Kharon isn’t a slouch when it comes to images.

And in fact, thirty seconds later, Kiruk stomped out with red face but no cinnamon roll to show for his time inside the cafe. He hesitated for several seconds while Phirun’s face warped in fury. “Ah… your honorable highness… the merchant within demands payment before she is willing to-”

“WHAT?!?”