Chapter 104: Conflict

The duel that lasted for half a month has come to an end. Saint Priest Vladinoras has once again shaken the entire Continent of Phantom Beasts. To have openly and honorably defeated the successor of Red Moon City, the Divine Dragon Knight, during a duel—only Chu Tian could have achieved such a feat in the history of the continent’s priesthood!

Rumors are always exaggerated. The young Master Chu does not yet know how the bards have spun his duel with Clins, but he is already well aware that the Imperial Daily has mangled the event beyond recognition.

"Saint Priest Vladinoras Battles Divine Dragon Knight for Half a Month!" "Vladinoras Crushes Clins!" "The Saint Priest’s Peerless Valor!" Looking at these eye-catching headlines, Chu Tian could only offer a wry smile. What kind of nonsense was this?

After the duel, Makory immediately sent word back to the Imperial Capital that Chu Tian had forced Clins to withdraw from the war. However, by the time the news returned to Quarry Castle from the capital, it had changed. The story that Chu Tian had waited out the half-month under layers of protection had transformed into a legend of a fierce, indecisive battle between the Saint Priest and the Divine Dragon Knight that raged for over a dozen days and nights. The reason for the dragon's sudden paralysis was now attributed to the wise leadership and brilliant command of the Saint Priest, under which his magical pet, Apache, had unleashed its might and knocked the ninth-rank dragon to the ground with a single blow. As for Clins’s surrender, it was embellished as an act of mercy by Chu Tian, who spared him out of pity for the difficulty of his cultivation.

The most preposterous part was the sudden appearance of Brown, who, under the pens of Emperor Ludi III's royal writers, had been transformed into a magical version of Bo Le—someone who admired Chu Tian’s talent and had eagerly invited him to Red Moon City to learn ancient divine skills. Naturally, the great Lord Vladinoras had willingly postponed this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help the empire win the war.

Even the footage recorded by Arroyo with the magic camera stone had been edited and revised so many times that it looked like nothing less than a life-or-death battle between tenth-rank magical beasts.

The day after the duel, in the military command center of Quarry Castle, Chu Tian was listening to Makory introduce his "glorious achievements" from the past two weeks. "Marshal, the Emperor, he..." Chu Tian felt dizzy from all the news. Without realizing it, the young Master Chu had seemingly become a legendary hero destined to be etched into the history of the Continent of Phantom Beasts. That the empire’s writers could promote Chu Tian so tirelessly—surely no one believed that Ludi III hadn't given secret instructions!

"Vladinoras, the Emperor is doing this for the sake of the war," Makory said with a chuckle, patting Chu Tian on the shoulder. "Isn't it great now? The imperial citizens support the Emperor even more, and you have become a hero of the continent, haha..." Makory was in an excellent mood and even began joking with Chu Tian. With Clins withdrawing from the war, it was not Chu Tian who benefited the most, but Makory himself.

With one side lacking a ninth-rank magical beast and the other side possessing Apache, Kua Ta, and thirty thousand iron cavalry, the outcome of the war was no longer in doubt. The only remaining question was what kind of victory Ludi III wanted to achieve!

Makory was now relaxed and happy. To be able to expand the empire's territory in his later years and become a hero on par with the great generals of the past—he had no regrets. Thus, the more Makory looked at Chu Tian, the more he liked him.

After the joke, Makory’s expression turned serious, regaining the demeanor of a commander. "Vladinoras, there is one more important matter that requires your cooperation." War was not a game; although Makory held the winning hand, he still had to be extremely cautious when facing a powerful nation like Lais.

"What is it?" Makory’s expression was so grave that Chu Tian prayed silently: Please don't let me go to the battlefield!

"I hope your magical pets do not have too much contact with the magical beasts in the army!" Makory hesitated for a moment before adding, "It would be best if you could keep them from seeing any other magical beasts at all!"

"Praise the Goddess of Life! Why?" Chu Tian was stunned. What kind of important matter was this? Did his pets have some sort of contagious disease? What a joke—a veterinarian’s pets getting sick?!

Since Chu Tian arrived at Quarry Castle, his pets had been treated differently. Boeing had been requisitioned to transport supplies and was rarely at the castle. Hummer was too large and had to stay with the other heavy beasts. NMD liked to lie on the roof and stare at the sky, effectively providing a free protective barrier for Makory’s command post. Apache could transform into human form and stayed next to Chu Tian, while Xiaobai lived and ate with him. Thus, the only problem was the beautiful spider, Ak. She was neither too big nor too small, but since the buildings in Quarry Castle were built for war—small and sturdy—there was no room for her. In the end, Chu Tian had no choice but to let Ak stay with the mercenary beasts hired by Caesar.

"My magical beasts are all healthy, and their loyalty is not an issue, right?" Chu Tian asked, puzzled.

"That's not the reason!" Makory was about to continue, but was interrupted by Damar, who rushed in, "Marshal, brother, this is bad! The magical beasts are mutinying!"

"Sigh!" Makory looked at Chu Tian and let out a long sigh. "It happened after all. Vladinoras, come with me and take a look!"

Quarry Castle was half-mountain, half-city, with a vast interior. Facing the direction of Caesar, there was a plain where the Caesar iron cavalry and large magical beasts were stationed. Other troops were stationed inside the city, and the smaller mercenary beasts were kept behind the nine gates, ready for deployment at any moment.

Chu Tian followed Makory and Damar to the beast camp behind the gates, where dozens of magical beasts were in a standoff with the Caesar army!

"What are you trying to do!" As soon as they arrived, Makory began to shout, "Do you dare to violate the contract!"

"It was you who violated the contract first!" A... hmm? No! A beast? Or perhaps a jumper? Chu Tian thought for a long time but couldn't determine what species the leader was! A snake's tail, human arms, and a rooster's head—anyway, this strange creature was shouting at Makory: "I demand that you pay the gold coins according to the contract! Otherwise, we refuse to participate in the battle!"

"The gold coins have already been paid in full, not a single one missing!" At this moment, Makory didn't look like a marshal, but rather a merchant. "Kato! Go check your contract!"

So this guy was named Kato. Chu Tian shook his head—what a low-class name!

"Fine! I'll show you what the contract says!" With that, Kato waved his human hands, and a magic contract appeared. Then, Makory and Kato stood there, human eyes meeting rooster eyes, and began to negotiate.

Soon, Damar joined the negotiation, while Chu Tian slipped to the side and beckoned to Arroyo among the magical beasts. When he arrived, Chu Tian asked in a low voice, "Why are you all on strike?"

"Strike?" Arroyo shook his head. It was quite difficult for his wasp head to shake. "My Lord, what is a strike?" Arroyo's attitude toward Chu Tian was now closer than that toward his own father. When Chu Tian dueled Clins, he had asked Arroyo to lead his clan to block the sunlight, allowing Chu Tian to cripple the dragon. For Arroyo's help, the young Master Chu naturally couldn't leave him unrewarded.

However, Chu Tian had so much gold he didn't know how to spend it, and he had a habit of spoiling his magical beasts. So, when Lord Vladinoras casually gave a thank-you tip of tens of thousands of gold coins, Arroyo had started considering that very night whether he should lead his clan to pledge allegiance to Chu Tian...

"I mean, why are you refusing to fight!" Chu Tian said helplessly. Communicating with creatures from another world was truly difficult!

"Oh, you mean that, my Lord!" Arroyo suddenly realized, then said with immense envy: "Kato and the others are angry because of Miss Ak..."

Ak? My beautiful spider? Praise the Goddess of Life! What was going on?

Actually, it wasn't really Ak's fault. She was just doing what she did every day, but she hadn't expected to drive the other magical beasts half-mad. For the first half of the month, Ak had been following Chu Tian to the duel and hadn't appeared in the beast camp. Yesterday, the duel ended, and the beautiful spider returned to her temporary quarters to live with the other beasts. Then, the trouble began.

What kind of treatment did the young Master Chu's pets get? How could other beasts compare? Moreover, before leaving, Chu Tian had specifically equipped each pet with a large amount of luxury goods. When Ak took out a mattress made from the fur of a polar ice bear to go to sleep, the eyes of the other female beasts turned red immediately. And this morning, when the other beasts were already working hard on patrol, Ak woke up lazily, took a gentle sip of Zhu Ling fruit juice from a crystal cup, and the sound of all the other beasts swallowing their saliva echoed throughout the camp.

But that was just the beginning. After swirling the juice in her mouth, Ak spat it out, indicating: "Rinsing finished..."

As the beasts began their breakfast, Miss Ak frowned, clearly looking down on the rough communal food. She then went to the side to cook her own meal, and all the other beasts shamefully realized that while they were drooling over a simple pig-beast, someone was already treating South Sea shark fin as an appetizer.

After breakfast, the beasts, especially the females, watched in agony as skin care products made from ground magic crystals—something only imperial princesses were rumored to possess—were casually smeared on her face.

Once dressed, Ak still remembered her duties and began her daily training. But she didn't notice that her training method was too hurtful. She threw gold coins into the sky and then shot them down one by one with her spider silk. This nonchalant attitude toward gold coins made every beast wonder if their own hard-earned labor even had any meaning!

Tired from training, Ak naturally had to drink some refreshments. But who had ever seen a magical beast drink top-tier Vost wine like it was cold water!?

...

And so, the beasts, severely provoked by Ak, went on a massive strike!

After hearing Arroyo recount the sequence of events, Chu Tian curled his lip. Damn it! Ak made you jealous? If you saw Xiaobai’s treatment, you’d be scared to death! Psh, the money Xiaobai spends on wine in one day is enough to support you for a lifetime.

"Why is our treatment worse than Ak's!?" Kato argued with Makory, and the other beasts chimed in to support him. "That's right, why is our gold so little!?"

"Hmph! Ak is Lord Vladinoras's pet! Everything she has is provided by him!" Makory was getting anxious. "The empire has paid every single gold coin stipulated in your contract!"

"We are all fighting for the Caesar Empire! I'm not convinced!" Kato's eyes were wide. "We demand a revision of the contract!"

"No! The contract stipulates that the terms cannot be modified until the expiration date!" Makory’s expression turned cold. "After it expires, I don't care where you go, but for now, you must fulfill the contract and fight for the empire! Otherwise, I will spread the word throughout the continent that you have violated your contract!"

Kato stopped talking. The cost of violating the contract was something he could not bear. After his threat, Makory naturally had to offer some appeasement. "Sigh! Why are you only looking at Lord Vladinoras's pet? Why don't you look at the ones from Lais on the other side? They get paid even less than you do!"

Kato looked back at the other beasts. Caesar was a powerful nation, and the gold they could provide for the beasts was significant. Honestly, if not for the comparison with Chu Tian's pets, Kato and his companions were living quite well—at least at the level of a minor noble. But who told them to run into Ak?

"Praise the Goddess of Life!" Chu Tian walked up to Makory, gave him a look that said 'I'll handle it,' and then turned to Kato. "Two things!"

Kato was stunned, staring blankly at Chu Tian. Chu Tian held up two fingers and said slowly: "First, until the war ends, your treatment will be the same as my magical pets! I will pay the difference in gold!"

Then, Chu Tian lowered one finger and shook the one that remained. "Second, I, Saint Priest Vladinoras, guarantee that none of you will die in this war!"

After saying this, Chu Tian put his hands behind his back and walked away.