Why Did You Summon Me?

Baiyi addressed the Emperor as he would a commoner, not a ruler.

Unsurprisingly, this insensitivity infuriated the Emperor, and he could not help but complain in his heart about his guards’ inability to stop the rude intruder. On the outside, however, the Emperor looked unperturbed, turning his eyes to a picture that Baiyi was looking at and, in his most agreeable tone of voice, said, “It seems that you and I share similar taste in aesthetics, Master Hope. I’ll love to indulge in a discussion with you about art.”

The Emperor clapped his hand, signaling the maid standing by outside his study to go prepare tea.

“That wouldn’t be necessary,” Baiyi said flatly, waving the maid away. He dragged a chair across the floor and sat down, paying no attention to decorum.

Baiyi looked at the Emperor and said, “I heard that you’ve been looking for me for quite some time now, is that true? Sorry, I’ve been a little busy lately; you’ll excuse me for that, right?”

‘Excuse you? For what? For being absent, or for forgoing basic formalities?! Shouldn’t you address me properly as “Your Majesty”, you uncouth little wretch?!’ The Emperor roared in his mind. At this point in time, he was so angry that, despite possessing impeccable acting skills, he could stop veins from bulging on his forehead.

However, the Emperor knew better than to express his fury at the Voidwalker in front of him, so he took a couple of breaths and calmly said, “So many years have passed, yet you’re still using the Sanctus I gave you as a gift back then.”

Baiyi truly had used the Augustril armor in question for ten years. It had accumulated so much wear and tear over time, and it no longer glowed silver. Some parts of the armor were dented — scars from Baiyo’s many battles.

Seeing Baiyi still using his old gift made the Emperor hopeful. As the Fifth Walker still wore his gift after all these years, it might mean that the man still considered him an ally, so there was still some hope for a deal to be reached.

‘There’s every chance that he’s just being difficult with me because he’s displeased with my contact with the Church. Maybe he thinks that by being aggressive, he would hold a higher negotiating power than mine. Yes, that must be it,’ The Emperor thought to himself.

Baiyi’s reply, however, smashed the Emperor’s rose-tinted glasses. “Oh, we already developed armors much more superior than this. I still wear this because I feel people may not recognize me if I switch into someone else. Having them get used to a new look would be quite the hassle, would you not agree?”

The Emperor’s next words were stuck in his throat. ‘ Just why the hell are you here, then? You’re not here to do any negotiating, are you?’

Seeing the Emperor fall silent, Baiyi explained the reason for his presence. “I’ve completed the quest you assigned me, to investigate Duat. The reward is why I’m here. You know what you promised, right? The arms-providing contract with the Empire? I want in.”

The Emperor froze. It was true that he had issued the quest to investigate Duat, but he had tried to masquerade the order as the Imperial General’s personal request. However, he knew that Baiyi would know who the Imperial General received the directives from, so he was not surprised that Baiyi came to him directly for the reward. Hence, the Emperor replied, “This isn’t the most important matter at hand now, is it? This discussion can be had another time.”

“I beg to differ. To me, there is nothing no more important than this,” Baiyi replied.

A wave of confusion assaulted the Emperor, and the man was no longer able to contain himself. He got up with a start and bellowed, “Are you even serious?!”

Baiyi was stupefied by his outburst. “I came here to see you about it. Doesn’t that show how serious I am?” He saw the Emperor’s eye twitch uncontrollably, so he said, “Unless, you think there’s something even more important that I should be worrying about.”

The Emperor, who no longer saw a need to hold himself back, sneered, “Heh! It seems that you, sir, have been hidden in your cave for too long. You really have no idea how perilous your situation is, haven’t you?”

It was clear that the man in front of him was clueless about his own situation. The Emperor had decided to weaponize Baiyi’s ignorance and amplify the threat from the Church, making it as terrifyingly as possible so that he could force Hope, the idiot, into making a deal with him.

He was just about to say something when Baiyi cut in, “Oh, you mean the thing with the Church? Right, I guess that counts as a big deal, too. But, then again, that’s a conflict between me and them; it’s got nothing to do with you, so fret not! Just wait for the good news. I’ll make sure that no innocent parties get dragged into our bar fight. Sounds good?”

The Emperor was stumped. ‘ Nothing to do with…. Nothing to do with me? Your mind absolutely confounds me! The two of you plan to duke it out in my territory, for God’s sake, yet you suggest I watch and “fret not”? Seriously, who do you think I am? What’s the Empire to you?’

Baiyi, who watched the Emperor’s face darken, shrugged. Suddenly, a familiar black book appeared in his hand, and he began flipping through its pages casually, staring at them as though he was reading the book. “History has shown us that those only given the privilege to watch something unfold, without getting involved, are the luckiest. What do you think about that?”

The Emperor knew what that book was and, by extension, what it was capable of. The swirling rage in his heart instantly disappeared, deflated like a balloon.

With a look of reluctance, the Emperor lowered his voice and hissed, “So, you really think that you can win this war without the Empire’s support, do you? Have you ever thought about what would happen after that? Do you really think that your little Da Xue will not have to rely on the Empire at all?”

Baiyi continued pretending to read the Book of Servitude. He flipped a page over and said, “Oh, look at this: it is stated in this book that a person who doesn’t provoke others gets to outlive the fools who do. It is also stated that many, many people are vying for the chance to be emperor. This competition is so great that the competitors don’t mind getting their hands dirty for it.”

That was an unveiled threat, delivered to the Emperor himself! The Emperor’s face contorted in rage, and he pointed a trembling finger at Baiyi. “You!”

“Please take care of yourself. As I’ve said, you just need to sit back and enjoy the show,” Baiyi said and clasped the book shut. finally and clasp the big, black tome tight. He stood up, turned, and strode out of the room without even waiting for the Emperor’s answer.

The Emperor was so livid that his body was practically shuddering. Many times, the order for this knave’s head roared in his mind, threatening to be let loose from his mouth, yet at the last second, the remnant of his sensibility would halt the thought from escaping his mind.

In the end, all the Emperor could do was to slump back into his chair weakly and breathed heavily. It took him a while to finally calm down enough to summon his vassal.

“I need you to pass my message to the Church. Tell them I…” He hesitated, his face belying an expression of a man struggling to pull himself out of a quagmire. It was an expression completely alien to the vassal, who had served the Emperor for more than a decade.

The vassal waited patiently, his hands crossed behind his back.

The silence went on for a long time before the Emperor, with his fists clenched and his teeth gritted, squeezed out his message as if it pained him. “Inform the Church that our deal… Our deal from before shall be suspended. Please be careful with your word choice. I do not want any misunderstanding and ambiguity with my message, lest we attract the worst kind of troubles.”

The Emperor loathed Baiyi, yet in the end, he still sided with him. The reason was simple and obvious, despite Baiyi’s threat and blatant imprudence, the Emperor was still wise enough to recognize the bargain the Fifth Walker was offering backhandedly: by telling the Emperor that he should just “wait and fret not”, he was really saying that the Voidwalkers could guarantee the Emperor to be a bystander and watch the conflict resolved unscathed.

That was the only deal the Voidwalkers offered to the Emperor. It was nowhere as lucrative or profitable as the ones the Church had offered, but it was a lot more practical, and more importantly, it appealed to any mortal’s inherent desire to preserve their life. After an intense reflection, the Emperor had come to realize that to be given the privilege of assuming the position of neutral bystander was probably the luckiest deal he would ever get,

The vassal, upon hearing his liege’s words, displayed a morose expression. He lowered his voice and whispered, “Your Majesty, we still have three Demigod-level savants loyal to your command. Don’t you want to—”

“Haha. Demigods? This wretch is waging a war against the Church . He doesn’t even give a single hoot to the One True God anymore, let alone some demigods !” The Emperor replied weakly.

“I… I see. I understand,” The vassal said and bowed deeply before the Emperor, bowing even lower than the vassal had ever done in his life.

It was as if he was giving respect to the tremendous sacrifice his liege had made.

Meanwhile, Baiyi decided to return to Da Xue after his happy visit to the Emperor, positive that he had raised his voice quite loudly enough. The first person he thought of visiting was the Archmage.

The old man was studying a famous treatise from Earth when Baiyi found him. Without any digression, Baiyi reported his doings and waited for his master’s approval.

After listening to his report, however, the Archmage raised his head from the book and complained, “I thought I told you to raise our voice!”

“Excuse you, you think it’s not raised high enough?!” Baiyi retorted, puzzled.

“Please. If it were me? I would have killed that stupid both-side-pleasing emperor right there and then, and then I’ll kill every last one of his kin. The Empire will face a power vacuum, and there will be a civil war as the dukes try to rob the empty throne for themselves… Oh, the Church will be involved too, out of their own will. Our enemy would be effectively distracted, and how dangerous could they be by then?” The Archmage explained. “You can even support Vidomina’s father in that civil war too, and then after he won, you murder him and his sons so that our sweet little Nina could become the Empress. Boom! The Empire is now completely loyal to you!”

Baiyi could only gasp quietly to himself. Now that was the way of the Sage-Emperor of Magi, the conqueror of nations and kingdoms! Baiyi could probably never be able to learn this at all…

“You really learned nothing from me, son. Ah well, that as may be. Go and do whatever it is that you’re supposed to do now. I, for one, would like to return to my study, finish it as soon as possible, and then go back to playing my favorite gatcha game,” The Archmage said dismissively before turning back to his book again.

The Archmage was so addicted to gaming because he needed something to prevent him from meddling in his protégé’s affairs. Otherwise, he would have often clashed with Baiyi frequently about his decisions.

After leaving the Archmage alone with his book, Baiyi was about to head to Little Mia’s place to see if the girl had been alright while he was away. It was this point that he realized that the sky had become dark, so he decided not to go; he did not want to disturb her rest.

Baiyi thought about the upcoming war with the Church and suddenly felt the need to chat with someone about it. After some musings, he found himself walking towards the Cleric Walker’s quarters.

He was just about to knock when he heard three different voices discussing loudly behind the door…

“Oh. My. One-True-God! This babe is just hawt ! As hot as a nymph! No wonder she became the dark horse who smashed through the latest Hottest Female Student poll. I mean, look at that body! If only this stinking uniform isn’t so conservative… To have her assets hide and wither away like that is a crime!!!”

“Okay, but have you looked at this chick over here yet? Pretty, isn’t she? A beautiful maiden who is into literary works… Ah. So serene, so wise, and so goodie-good…”

“Gentlemen, allow me to show you this one! She may not boast the most exquisite face, but those long, lean legs are bodacious! Arr-arr-awwooo! Imagine them shrouded with either black or white silk socks; I’ll lick them so hard her legs could snap! Goddamn it, if it wasn’t that bloody Grand Principal Hope getting into our way… He’s the vilest! The archnemesis of our kind!!!”