Chapter 189 - Night Banquet (Part 4)

Chapter 189: Chapter 178: Night Banquet (Part 4)Nono stood atop the Watchtower, overlooking the bustling night scene of Lingbing City, and when she heard a noise behind her, she quickly turned around, "Tukuru, have you come?" Excitement overflowed from her expression.

"I’m here." Lu Hong embraced the rushing Nono in a soft voice, "You’re the queen now, and you should act like one."

"In front of you, I will always be the one who needs protection." Nono’s voice was tender as water.

Lily’s cough was still inappropriately interrupting the sweetness between them, as Nono, restraining her anger, said, "Captain of the guards, Your Excellency, would you please leave us for now?"

"Sorry, Your Majesty the Queen, I am acting on the orders of the family elders’ council to ensure your safety." Lily flatly rejected Nono’s request; heaven knows whether these two would get up to any ’404’ activities once she left, and maybe after nine months, even the next generation would appear.

"Forget about her, don’t mind her." Lu Hong didn’t care as, after all, he wouldn’t do anything inappropriate to Nono.

"Alright." Nono suppressed her inner impulse and took a deep breath, "Are you mad at me for making you take part in the Roland Knight trials?"

Lu Hong shook his head, "Why be mad at you? Didn’t I tell you before that I would always protect you?"

"Tukuru." Nono’s watery eyes stared intensely at Lu Hong, "You’re so kind. Meeting you was the luck of my life."

"I... should feel the same, right?" Lu Hong spoke hesitantly. Before he was transported to this world, he had never been in love. Honestly, he didn’t really have a concept of love.

"Hmph!" Nono huffed, "Is it because of Loise?"

"Uh... why bring her up?"

"You’ve been in the palace for half a month; you must have written her plenty of letters, right?" Nono’s long-withheld jealousy finally erupted, "I knew you still have her in your heart!"

"Well..." Lu Hong scratched his head, "I was just casually chatting about this and that with her."

After returning to the Continent of God’s Grace, Lu Hong wrote to Loise early on to inform her of his safety. In return, Loise often wrote back, and one of those letters included a threat from Luo Bolun, claiming he had worked hard to become a somewhat famous captain in the War Scars mercenary group. He believed that before long, he would become the leader of the War Scars, and if Lu Hong dared to have any dealings with his sister, he would bring a hundred thousand members of the War Scars to make trouble for him, even if just spitting could drown Lu Hong.

Of course, to such an unsubstantial threat, Lu Hong just laughed and even replied to Luo Bolun, wishing him luck.

From small squad leader to leader of the group, there’s still a long way to go!

"Let me tell you, I’ve handled every single one of the letters you and Loise exchanged." Nono raised her little fist and waved it in front of Lu Hong, "Luckily you’ve been behaving. Had I seen you write any words that flirted with her, I would have found someone to castrate you immediately!"

"Hey, hey, that’s going a bit too far, isn’t it? How can you just open someone else’s letters like that?" said Lu Hong, displeased, "It seems like you have no respect for my privacy."

"I... When Lu Hong showed his displeasure, Nono immediately panicked, "It wasn’t on purpose... I was just..."

"Alright, alright, just don’t let it happen again," said Lu Hong, not wanting to dwell on it since there wasn’t anything secretive in the letters.

Ending that topic, Nono brought up the upcoming assessment for the Roland Knights, "I heard the Endless Forest is very dangerous."

"Should be okay, right? If they’re sending us there, then it can’t be too perilous." Lu Hong didn’t know much about the Endless Forest, but the goal of the Xia He family was to select outstanding members, not send people to their deaths.

Nono shook her head, "The Endless Forest is full of dangers; it’s a training ground for several of the strongest nations on the Continent of God’s Grace. I don’t fully understand the specifics, but tomorrow I will get all the intelligence on it and give it to you. You have to take it seriously and go through it."

"Then wouldn’t that take away all the challenge?" Lu Hong didn’t care; after all, there was no harm in looking.

"But I believe you will definitely pass this trial safely."

"Of course."

"That’s why I refused Konstantin’s offer." Nono continued, "Konstantin’s messenger came to see me just now, telling me he would arrange for someone to help you become a member of the Roland Knights smoothly. But I believe you have the full ability to become one on your own, so I took the liberty of declining Konstantin’s help on your behalf."

As she spoke, Nono looked at Lu Hong and blinked, "You’re going to be mad at me, right? I believe, with your personality, you would never accept such handouts."

Lu Hong rolled his eyes at Nono, "How long has it been since the other party’s messenger left?"

"He jumped out the window and left right when you arrived."

"Then send people after him quickly, are you stupid not to take advantage of the situation?!" Lu Hong shouted, "Isn’t it nice to coast through a mission while lying down?"

"Uh...."

Nono looked flustered, while Lily let out a burst of cold laughter.

But in the end, they did not chase the man down, and as for what Konstantin would do, that was up to him.

The trial in the Endless Forest would be seven days after the evening banquet, and these seven days were provided solely for the members of the Preparatory Knights to form teams, to get used to one another, and also to independently gather information about the Endless Forest.

As for Lu Hong, with a stack of information Nono had given him, he passed through the portal to the mercenary plane outside the Continent of God’s Grace—Normandy.

This continent was only slightly inferior to the Continent of God’s Grace in terms of the first level, with the highest combat power reaching the Third Transition Level 11. Moreover, this continent was about a quarter of the size of the Continent of God’s Grace and hosted a large number of mercenary groups.

Moreover, the Blazing Flame Mercenary Group had just recently withdrawn, and it was the time when tensions were highest in the mercenary world, with everyone eyeing the fat piece of territory Blazing Flame had left behind.

Lu Hong didn’t come to get a piece of the action; he didn’t have the ability. After a nocturnal discussion the last time, Lock Fan had returned to Normandy with his classmates, and Lu Hong was here specifically to visit Lock Fan and, by the way, to gossip about his love life.

The headquarters of the Black Antiquities was a grand and ancient city—Black Chrysalis, so large that Jinrui City seemed tiny in comparison.

Having informed the mercenaries guarding the city of his purpose, Lu Hong soon saw Lock Fan hopping and skipping over to him.

"Boss, what brought you to see me?"

"I’m here to make sure you haven’t become downhearted," Lu Hong said with a familiar sense of relief upon seeing a friendly face and a faint smile on his lips.

"Come in, let’s talk. It just so happens my father is also here." As Lock Fan said this, he looked towards Silver Wind behind him, "Huh? Aren’t you the soldier who guards graves in the Swanflower plane?"

"Graves?" Silver Wind scoffed, "Boss, he’s saying East Look Mountain is your grave. He’s cursing you!"

"Boss?!" A sense of crisis rose in Lock Fan’s heart—this guy had reached the Third Transition and had even become one of the boss’s subordinates?

Facing the threat of the other’s strength, Lock Fan suddenly realized that his position as the number one henchman might not be secure.

Silver Wind, of course, was aware of Lock Fan’s status among Lu Hong’s subordinates and gave him a particularly provocative look.

"Okay, cut it out. We’re all brothers here," Lu Hong slapped his forehead, thankful he didn’t bring his dog out, or who knows what chaos these three clowns might stir up.

"Let’s go see your dad first, don’t keep Mr. Lan Sa waiting."

"Oh, right."

Under Lock Fan’s lead, the three of them took a mini teleportation array within Black Chrysalis directly to the headquarters of Black Antiquities.

Lock Fan introduced them, "Dad, my big brother has come."

"You’re here?" Lan Sa looked at Lu Hong, who seemed hardly different from when they had met in Tuzhui City; it was his son who had grown up more, "Sit down. We’re about to eat, then you can leave after the meal."

"...." To leave after the meal—was he rushing him away? Lu Hong was somewhat speechless, "Well, Mr. Lan Sa, it’s only nine in the morning right now."

"No problem, I haven’t had breakfast yet, let’s eat together," Lan Sa said carelessly, shouting towards the door, "Hey, bring up a feast with drinks for me!"

"Who drinks alcohol early in the morning?" Lock Fan muttered, "Aren’t you going to fight over territory in the afternoon? Aren’t you worried about messing it up if you drink?"

"Worried my foot!" Lan Sa smacked Lock Fan on the head, "A belly full of food and drink, who can beat me?"

It seems Lock Fan’s father was still as... uncouth as ever, not at all reflecting his gentle and refined appearance.