Chapter 9 Uninvited Gift
When Beichen brought Yagard and Gu Yinyue and hurried to the highest-level reception hall, what caught his eye was not only the figures of Redis and Rui, but also a person lying on the sofa next to them. Even though he was asleep, his aura was still hard to ignore - Xiaxue.
Seeing Beichen coming, Redis used his eyes to send away the guards of the Heyang Kingdom standing aside. Beichen also asked the guards of Elysion to withdraw as well. So when the door closed, only a few familiar people were left.
"Beichen. Long time no see."
Rui came up first with a bright smile, opened his arms and gave her a hug, and Beichen also smiled and reached out to hug him:
"Long time no see, Rui, you seem to have become a little darker?"
Rui twitched his lips and glanced resentfully at Redis, who was drinking tea behind him.
"Yeah. I've been treated like cheap labor by my brother the Emperor all day long. I'm thinking of changing jobs. Will you hire me?"
"As long as Redis lets him go, I will take him in."
Beichen said this and turned to smile at Redis.
"...Redis, how are you doing lately?"
Redis answered the question irrelevantly: "Why did you return the Star Spirit Ore necklace I gave you? You know why I want to get back together with you, right?"
"Uh, Redis, we are kings now, it's impossible for us to marry..."
"Who said I wanted to marry you? I'm not interested in that kind of boring marriage relationship. I married three noble ladies in the past few months. Do you want to put yourself on the same level as them?"
"If it's not a marriage, then you..."
"Of course it's an affair. Isn't there a saying that it's worse to steal than to marry?"
"...Don't talk about this kind of thing so confidently."
"Don't be ungrateful," Reddys knocked the lid of his teacup on the table. "A rare handsome man like me invites you out for an affair. You should be grateful for the favor of fate."
"...Let's forget it." Beichen twitched his lips. "If you're talking about the cold type, look, there are two behind me."
He pointed at Yagad and Gu Yinyue.
"Your physiques don't match at all... You really have a strong taste."
"Why does everyone complain about me using the same words?"
Beichen slapped his forehead exhaustedly, Gu Yinyue blushed again, and Yagard went to prepare refills of tea and coffee with an expressionless face.
"Okay, brother, stop teasing Beichen."
Rui interrupted with a smile, then raised an eyebrow at Beichen.
"Have you been receiving a lot of marriage proposals lately? You're not young anymore, it's about time you settled down."
"Why is everyone rushing me?"
"Of course you are the center of attention right now. ...So, have you chosen the person? It is indeed His Excellency Gu Yinyue, right?"
"Really?" Redis snorted. "Gu Yinyue is good, but Darim, ah, let's call him Yagad... Is he more suitable from a political perspective?"
"Royal brother, you said this because you know that Yagad and I have a personal grudge, right?"
"Oh, yes, you almost died at the hands of that guy's double."
"...Please don't expose my shortcomings in front of me, okay?"
Just then, Yagad came to the sofa with two cups.
"Lord Rui, please don't mind me. From the perspective of an ordinary corrupt official, you are already very remarkable. If you were facing a rebel other than me, you would have won long ago. I also taught that substitute how to use his skills. You don't have to feel unwilling to lose him."
"...Are you trying to comfort me or are you trying to piss me off to death, Agard?"
"Hmm?"
The colorless knight frowned somewhat innocently.
"I'm sorry if I've offended you in any way. You're Miss Beichen's friend, so naturally I won't harbor any hostility towards you. Your Majesty Redis, Lord Rui, please."
After saying that, he placed two cups of brewed coffee in front of the two of them. At the same time, Redis and Rui raised their eyebrows in interest while a vein on their forehead twitched.
"Why did your brother get a full cup while I only got half a cup?! You're taking revenge on me, right? You're taking revenge on me for not supporting you and favoring Gu Yinyue, right?!"
Yagard's face changed. He leaned over to look at Rui's cup, then picked it up nervously.
"Strange, how could this happen? Is there something wrong with my self-discipline? I'm sorry, please wait a moment. I'll replace it for you right away."
The knight said this and walked away, while Rui looked at his back with a twitch of his lips.
If he can be like this unconsciously, then if he really becomes jealous someday, what a mess it will be... No, Beichen's surroundings are already in chaos enough, so this doesn't seem to be a big deal.
At this moment, perhaps because Rui was making too much noise, Xiaxue, who was dozing on the sofa and rubbing the sofa cushions in a childish manner, woke up. Seeing Beichen, she squinted her sleepy eyes:
"Oh, I finally see you! Little Oulika! How did you escape? Where's your wig?"
"Who's little Oulika? And this is real hair of mine—or rather, what the hell were you dreaming about, Xiaxue?"
After being scolded by Beichen, Xiaxue seemed to sober up a lot, and sat up from the sofa:
"Hey, long time no see,...Xiaoou, Beichen."
"Don't tell me you always dream about me and that my name in your dreams is Little Oulika."
“…How could that be? Haha.”
Xiaxue smiled boldly and changed the subject casually, but that smile looked a little guilty.
"Let's not talk about that. I'm here to see the new First Combatant. Where is he now?"
"You know her, it's Xiang Ying." Beichen scratched his head a little embarrassedly, "Um... I'm sorry."
Seeing Beichen apologize, Xiaxue twisted her mouth in surprise.
"What are you apologizing for?"
"Uh, that's it... Xiang Ying stole your position as the number one combatant... so..."
"What else can I do?"
Xiaxue smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"Indeed, it feels good to be at the top of the world, but after being the number one warrior for hundreds of years, I'm already tired of it. Honestly, when I met Xiang Ying, the first person I should thank is him. When I found out I wasn't number one... I felt so relieved. That feeling of relief... can't be described in words.
“…Xiaxue…”
"Is being number one fun? Actually, you only see the bright side. Being number one means you have no rivals and no goals. Being number one also means you attract everyone's attention and carry a huge invisible pressure. I'm worried if Xiang Ying can handle it."
"He's fine. Even if he's under pressure, there are so many of us helping him cope. It's okay."
Seeing Beichen speak so confidently, Xiaxue narrowed her eyes, smiled with relief and nodded.
"Well, that's good to have this awareness. But I still need to meet Xiang Ying, and the handover of the first combat weapon position must be done. There are some secrets that I must tell him in person."
After Xiaxue said this, the expressions of everyone in the room became solemn.
Beichen leaned forward slightly: "Secret?"
"Yes. Aren't you curious about why that tactile ball can rank and give names to weapons all over the world?"
“……!!”
Xiaxue leaned back on the sofa, with one leg ostentatiously placed on the coffee table in front of her.
"Since they can integrate the data of all the weapons that have touched the tactile ball, classify them according to their order, and give those with special abilities unique names, then there must be some large-scale data platform operating behind the scenes, right?"
"Yeah... Such an important question, why haven't I thought about it?"
Beichen frowned in annoyance. Yagad on the side immediately spoke in a low voice.
"So, what is the secret you want to tell Xiang Ying?"
"I can't tell you the details. It's probably useless to tell you. But I can reveal a little bit. It's about the 'Red Tower'."
"Red Tower?"
Beichen fell into deep thought.
I seem to have heard this term somewhere before──Oh, that’s right!
"I've seen this term in documents about ancient ruins around Latia! It seems to be the center of a human base, right?"
Xiaxue just smiled, neither nodding nor shaking her head.
Beichen, on the other hand, felt a sudden surge of unease when she spoke of the ruins. For the past two years, she'd been so focused on stabilizing her country that she'd paid less attention to the Red Moon and the catastrophe, instead sending people around the world to explore various ruins.
As for the old Atlas, she wanted to get more information, but for some reason, ever since she saw him again after being injured by Xiaxue, during the night of the star disaster, even though Atlas's personality went into hibernation, the old personality did not come out. Beichen was worried for a few months at first, but then saw that Atlas seemed to be fine, so she slowly put the matter behind her.
Fortunately, although the world has been in turmoil recently, there have been no major ominous signs. Beichen once thought that the Protoss Revolution two years ago was the great disaster that will happen every ten thousand years - but judging from Xiaxue's arrival this time, it seems that things are far from that simple.
"Strange, why is the First Combat Weapon qualified to know the secrets of the Red Tower?"
Rui murmured softly.
"Well."
Xiaxue curled his lips and gave a wicked smile.
"The Red Tower is most likely related to the Red Moon. As for why the number one was chosen... well, this secret is very good information. The Red Moon probably wanted to bribe the number one. As for why I wasn't bribed, you should all know it. I am Poison Moon Selenkrade."
Beichen nodded solemnly:
"Okay then, I'll call Xiang Ying back right now—"
However, before Beichen opened the mental communication channel, there was a knock on the door, and Lahan's voice came from outside the door.
"Your Majesty, Yaxiu, a messenger from Youyu has arrived, and he wants to see you immediately."
Beichen exchanged glances with everyone in the room, while Gu Yinyue silently opened the door. Standing outside the door was Lahan, who was wearing exquisite light armor and was currently serving as the leader of the secret guards 'Blood Vampire Camp'. Next to him stood a familiar-looking Star Vein.
"...Yizhi?"
"snort."
The purple-haired, golden-eyed Star Vein species walked into the room and saluted Beichen without much sincerity. The look in his eyes when he looked at her was still slightly aggressive.
"Greetings to the noble Queen, Her Majesty Yashu. Because your birthday is approaching, Lord Sumo has specially ordered me to come here and personally present you with a generous gift. I hope you will accept it."
As he spoke, he took out a beautiful small brocade box from the storage space and handed it to Beichen.
Beichen was completely stunned and unconsciously reached out to take it, but was stopped by Yagard and Gu Yinyue at the same time. Seeing their actions, Beichen suddenly startled and jumped up.
"Birthday? Are you kidding me? Why does Su Mo know my birthday?!"
After hearing what Beichen said, Redis and Rui turned their heads and exchanged glances: Indeed, it seemed that they had never heard Beichen mention her birthday.
Seeing Beichen so surprised, Yizhi was also a little annoyed.
"The Lord is extremely powerful. He can obtain any information that exists in the world. What's wrong? It's strange."
“…It’s strange.”
Beichen frowned and spoke in a cold voice:
"Because this is information that doesn't exist in the world. I'm an orphan, an abandoned child who was picked up and raised. ...I don't even know when my birthday is, so how would Su Mo know?"
After these words were spoken, everyone in the room fell silent.
Yizhi was also stunned for a while, but then he raised his eyebrows and laughed.
"No wonder the Master said you were so excited when you saw this gift. He said that if you could guess his identity, all mysteries would be solved."
"...I've roughly guessed it."
Beichen took a breath and pressed his hand against his brow.
Someone who knows my birth details better than I do.
Who else but Red Moon Serland?
"Alright, alright. Why are you so nervous? Since it's a birthday present, just accept it."
Xiaxue seemed to have guessed Su Mo's identity, but he didn't seem to worry at all that the gift was a fraud. He stepped forward, took the brocade box, and opened it casually.
"Yes, confirmed, no problem. No poison gas or trap."
As he spoke, he handed the brocade box to Beichen - inside it lay a small, all-black card, which looked very much like the magnetic card in the original world.
"What kind of card is this...?"
Beichen touched it carefully, and only after finding that it was fine did he muster up the courage to take it out.
It was a card that had no idea what it was supposed to be used for. There were no grooves or platinum on it, and not a single word was written on it. Su Mo sent this thing over, but he didn't know what she was going to do with it.
But I always feel that the thing Chiyue gave me is a bit scary, so it’s better not to take it out casually... right?
Thinking of this, Beichen put the card back, closed the brocade box, and handed it to Yagard.
"The Lord said that when the time comes, you'll naturally know where it can be used. So don't let your imagination run wild now. You won't be able to come up with anything."
Yizhi spoke from the side, then his eyes wandered and he coughed lightly.
"Ahem, well... Well, you're a queen after all, so it wouldn't be nice to come to see you without anything. Here! Take it, this is a personal gift from me! Don't say our Youyu's weapons are impolite!"
Then a small transparent box was forced into Beichen's hand, and inside it was a beautiful brooch carved out of red crystal.
"Ah, thank you."
Beichen seemed to be receiving a birthday gift for the first time, so he looked a little flattered. Unfortunately, Yizhi was only happy for a few seconds before she said something very disappointing:
"But, can you tell me when my birthday is, Yizhi?"
“…”
Everyone in the room showed some sympathy and looked up at the ceiling silently.
"It's October 10th. It's only three days away."
"……ah."
"Then let's not think about those mysterious things for now." Rui came up and patted Beichen's shoulder. "We finally found out about your birthday, and we happen to be here. Why don't we take advantage of these three days to prepare well and give you a grand birthday party?"
“…Huh? But now…”
"That's a good idea. We can also take advantage of this opportunity to collect some tribute gifts to enrich the national treasury."
Redis interrupted without thinking, and Lahan, who had been listening, finally couldn't help it and took a step forward with excitement in his eyes.
"Speaking of which, I recently discovered a very interesting place while on a mission to defeat the Iron Ghost. It's just right, Your Majesty, let's go there for your birthday party and take a vacation at the same time—"
Gu Yinyue turned around and asked, "Where is the place you are talking about?"
"It's an uninhabited coast. People in the Legion now call it 'Golden Paradise'."
coastal.
Hearing this word, Yizhi's face turned green, and the silver-white long-handled axe behind Yagad fell to the ground with a clang.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
