Cthulhu Gonfalon

Ray’s sudden shout was a great shock to everyone.

The aristocrats and representatives on the stage were terrified. Among them, five or six people had immediately activated their magic to protect themselves, and they were shrouded by rays of colorful light. Meanwhile, more than one person had fallen over and the chairs they’d been sitting on had collapsed.

The viewers were also terrified. Those who were bold enough managed to stay upright, while the cowards among the crowd were so shocked that they immediately hit the deck. Almost a third of them were lying on their stomachs, too afraid to stand up, as if they had thrown themselves at Ray’s feet in admiration.

At this moment, many people saw a strong man famous for his power and laid their hopes at his feet. But this potential hero was not as tough as he usually was; in fact, his whole body was shaking, cold sweat sliding silently down his forehead and cheeks. His feet were shaking too, and he couldn’t stop stuttering.

Still, he managed to spit out a word with two syllables.

“Dragon…dragon…dragon…”

He was not speaking loudly, but in the dead silence of the room, his voice was loud enough for everyone to hear.

This only made everyone more nervous and terrified, and the sound of teeth chattering resounded throughout the room.

Since Steele had been onstage, Ray had been very quiet, acting as if he didn’t care about how things progressed and his presence here was a mere formality. Even when Steele was in a very tight corner during the debate and looked at him for help, he did nothing.

This had made the representative seated next to Ray feel very relieved, believing that Ray had given up on Steele for her incompetence. But now everyone knew what was really happening.

For such a peerless man with the power and influence of a dragon, things like rules and principles were all a meaningless formality. For Ray, his mind was the key to success.

They looked at the knight in black armor with fear and trepidation, behaving like a poor man waiting to be sentenced, who had offended a lord and had been tied up.

“Your Majesty, you have gone too far,” Ray said to Sui Xiong. “They are so afraid that they’re about to pee themselves…”

“That’s just because they are too mentally fragile. Look at Olian, she still looks perfectly fine, although her face is a little pale.”

“She knows you won’t hurt her, while everyone else does not! Please look at that big guy. He is so terrified that he looks as if he’s about to lose his mind!”

Sui Xiong looked closely at the big guy who was so afraid that he couldn’t see straight, and Sui Xiong became curious about his state. This guy was very powerful: how could he be so frightened?

Sui Xiong pried into the big guy’s mind while his defenses were lowered and saw a scene full of chaos. There was fire everywhere lighting up the dark sky. Everyone was running, yelling, and whining; at the same time, a huge, terrifying gray-red shadow was flying high in the sky. Sparks were constantly coming from its nose and mouth, as well as the occasional stream of flames, which burned the trees, the houses and even all the animals and humans in sight.

The shadow was a rampant and evil dragon.

Sui Xiong could tell that this scene, which must have happened before, had severely traumatized the big guy. Even now, when faced with the power and influence of a dragon, he would be paralyzed. This big guy had revealed his mental weakness, which explained why he could be so easily bribed by Romon despite his physical strength. But Ray, who was nearly as strong as the big guy, would never be tricked by a cheater and would definitely cut a cheater in half!

Ray didn’t show the power and influence of a dragon by himself. It had been transported to him from Sui Xiong’s real body, and it was based on Frost, the dragon most likely to get angry among the three dragons from the grocery store.

Frankly, Snow, a woman of legendary strength, was far more powerful than Frost, but when it came to the power and influence of a dragon, Frost’s was much more terrifying than Snow’s when he’d lost his temper. Perhaps this was because Snow was a gentle soul who did not get angry easily, while Frost was like a firecracker that would explode as soon as he became the slightest bit angry…

After he managed to silence everyone at present by using the real power and influence of a dragon, Ray proudly walked to the centre of the stage. He looked at Romon, who was trembling with fear, as well as the fearless Olian, and then said: “It is just a scroll. There is no need to fuss! There is so much open space on this stage. You two go over there, I think it will be quite sufficient for you two to practice a spell!”

“But Your Excellency, without an objective baseline to measure against, everyone will doubt the effect of the spell,” Olian said calmly.

Even when facing a possible dragon, Olian was still quite calm and did not fret at all, which impressed many of the neutral aristocrats and representatives. Many among them began to secretly harbor the idea that this young girl could be a suitable figure to inherit the title of Viscount.

If Romon’s bloodline was proven fake, then he would not inherit the title and would also be executed for trying to swindle the right of inheritance. Meanwhile, Steele had behaved very disgracefully in such a sacred situation, so she did not seem suitable to inherit the title. In their eyes, even if she had behaved very gracefully, this sl*t could not possibly be the best candidate to inherit the title.

Compared to these two, Olian Geerteng was indeed a distant relative of the Geerteng Family, and she was very talented as well. Besides, a person like her, who could maintain their composure while facing great power, would be very qualified as the new Viscount, even if she lacked other qualifications.

Besides, this young girl even possessed a legendary spell scroll, which probably meant that she was the “guardian” of the Geerteng Family. Actually, many families with a long family history had guardians in their family. Each guardian came from a collateral branch of a family and did not show himself to the outside world. But whenever a family’s safety was threatened, he would always be able to save the family from danger by using a treasured object or his great strength.

Now, the Geerteng Family was indeed facing a critical moment, so allowing their guardian to inherit the title would be a very good choice.

Ray was walking as proudly as if he was a real dragon; he was indeed a very good actor. He smiled and kicked Steele to the square from the stage, but Steele did not fall down onto the ground clumsily; rather she landed on the ground gently and was unharmed. How marvelously Ray used his strength!

Of course, Ray could not do all this all by himself. It was Sui Xiong who was helping him put on such a show. If he could manage to do all this by himself one day, he might really put one foot in the world of the legendary.

“See, doesn’t that work as a baseline?” Ray said rather casually.

Olian nodded, jumped off the stage like an agile sparrow, turned over in the air, and managed to stand on the ground steadily.

Ray looked at Romon and asked, “Do you need my help, or do you prefer to get down by yourself?”

Romon looked at Ray’s flawless poker face and felt a shiver run down his spine. He said, “I can manage myself! There is no need to bother Your Excellency!”

However, when he landed on the ground, he did not walk toward Steele or Olian. Instead he turned around and hid beneath the stage, and then took out a scroll and activated it.

“I am not so stupid as to be attacked by a Magic Disintegration spell! I must run away!”

The transportation spell stored in the scroll was immediately effective and before everyone noticed, a ray of white light shrouded Romon and flew into the sky, vanishing together with Romon in the blink of an eye. Only the sound of Romon’s voice echoed around them.

He’d managed to run away. All of a sudden, everyone was shocked.

“Even I didn’t expect this…this guy is really good. He even managed to trick a god!” Sui Xiong found this both funny and annoying and couldn’t help letting out a long sigh.

Romon was indeed a professional crook, who could not only put on a show but also take prompt action.

Sui Xiong was sure that when Romon was standing in front of Ray, he had not intended to simply run away, but during the short period of time when he’d come off the stage, he had weighed all the advantages and disadvantages and decided to run away.

Besides, the way he had run away was indeed clever: first he’d hidden beneath the stage, which was a blind spot for Ray and Sui Xiong. Then he managed to activate the transportation spell to run away before everyone realized leaving all his belongings behind as well as all his peers without any hesitation.

Sui Xiong had seen many talented people since he had come to this world, but no one who could compete with Romon when it came to quick-wittedness and decisiveness!

“Romon really is an elite,” Wahl said that night, in the plain cottage of the library. “As long as he is still alive, he is sure to be famous!”

Both Sui Xiong and Ray agreed with him. A talented person like Romon, a professional cheater who could quickly find a way to escape when in danger, was really rare. This time, the reason Romon had failed was not because of a loophole in his plan, but because he’d encountered some unforeseen obstacles.

“Teacher, do you plan to continue working in the library?” Olian asked with her eyes watering. “You won’t leave, right?”

The next morning, after Romon ran away, the aristocrats and representatives had a discussion and made the decision that Olian should be the next Viscount of Geerteng.

Since Olian had already expected this, she was not that happy about this decision; in fact, she was rather upset by other news entirely.

Sui Xiong and Ray had decided to go south to Golden Pagoda in the Commonwealth of Mifata by crossing the Wild Marsh of Ancient Woods, Broken Cloud Mountains and the Ancient Forest. There they could recruit the poor aristocrats who were good at dealing with domestic affairs.

Olian was surprised by this, and she tried to persuade Sui Xiong, “Your Majesty, you said you want to establish your own Holy Land. Why not build it in the Geerteng? I am the lord here. I can arrange everything for you. It will only take eight or ten years at most…If everything goes well, maybe Geerteng City will become your Holy Land before the establishment of your Holy Land in the North is even finished!”

“You may be right, but I am still very curious about the knight whom Satan admired so very much,” Sui Xiong smiled and said. “Besides, you have been the lord for such a short time. I don’t think it’s good for you to get involved in this business.”

It’s only natural for a follower to do things for the God they believe in. How could it be anything but good?”

“…Alas! You people are too naive!” Sui Xiong shook his head. “Anyway, what you should do now is be a good lord and manage this place well. Once you have solid control over this place and I successfully build my own church up north, I will come and preach my religion. Then you can help me.”

“I want to do more!”

“What I’ve said is enough, and that’s an order from me,” Sui Xiong said, turning his tentacles into a big hat that covered her head. Olian was stunned and stopped talking, so Sui Xiong turned his tentacles into a palm and gently touched Olian’s soft hair, and said while smiling, “Don’t worry, by the time you are old, my Holy Kingdom will have been built already. You can come and be the lord there if you want.”

Things were settled then. Olian also worried that Wall might leave.

“I won’t leave; where could I possibly go?” Wall was amazed by Olian’s rather serious face. “I have been cleaning the street here for almost fifty years. Don’t worry, I won’t abandon you; I will still be here until the day when I can use a black knife to kill the people in the Cloud Castle.”

Seeing Olian finally bursting into tears, Sui Xiong could not help but laughing. He hoped that she would always be as kind as she was now, and be a considerate ruler who treated the locals well.