Chapter 213 “The world!” (part one)
Move, or not to move, this is the question put before him.
The shaman’s tone of voice may sound polite, but from their words, he can smell a faint scent of arrogance.
Move aside so they can search?
This is my land, my territory! You want to search my land by just flinging your Shaman King’s command?
Based on what?
Logically, it would be wiser to not clash with the Shaman King and his followers, but things isn’t that simple.
He’s only just arrived in the Northwest and they expect him to yield in front of all his men? That’s nothing but humiliation!
If word spread of this incident, he can expect his fame to be swept under the rug for being the lord of this land. This place is the Northwest, a land of predators where only the strong survives. If you take a step back, your foes will take two steps forward.
Thinking of this, Du Wei suddenly came down with a thought.
The Northwestern Army! What a good Northwestern army!
What a good warlord!
Charged with the task of guarding the empire’s frontier, they have the nerve to so casually let hostile forces enter their own territory! And damn those checkpoint soldiers in the corridor! They didn’t even send him a message!
The doings of the Northwestern army made Du Wei exceptionally angry.
What use is there for such an army!!
Looking at how gloomy Du Wei’s face became, Longbottom can already guess the young Duke was thinking: “Boss……”
“General Longbottom, what’d you have in mind?” Du Wei narrows his eyes.
“Boss, as long as you give the order, we will charge out. Though they outnumbers us, but my men are no pushovers!” Of course, Longbottom isn’t always so reckless: “The situation may not look very good, but this is our land. At the very least, we can push them back.”
Du Wei nods in understanding. Thinking it over for a second, he then cried out at the two shamans: “Dear shamans, I would like to ask you two a question.”
“Oh?” The two shamans glanced at each other. The one that spoke earlier slightly frowned as he looked at Longbottom: “Lord Mossad, I like to ask who this is?”
Longbottom was about to speak when Du Wei interrupted him: “I’m the aid of Duke Tulip, the lord of this Desa Province.”
Both shaman nods in understanding.
Du Wei’s word did not arouse suspicion because he never did like wearing the gorgeous looking clothes of an aristocrat.
“If so, I like to ask.” His words were aimed at both shamans.
“I like to ask. “Du Wei straightens his back and raised his voice: “At this moment, the soil you are stepping on, is it the land of the Roland Empire or the prairies?!”
“……” The two were silent.
“I like to ask!” Du Wei’s voice became even louder: “At this moment, is the master of this land your Shaman King, or Duke Tulip!”
“……”
“I like to ask! Is the flag waving on this land the Blood Skull banner, or is it our flaming Tulip!?!”
Du Wei’s booming voice echoed through the air, and the knights that came with him instinctively straightened their body.
Both frowning, the two shamans looked at each other for a moment until one of them spoke in a serious voice: “Young man, i like to know why you would refuse the mighty Shaman King’s command.”
Du Wei smiles coldly: “I’m sorry. You mentioned the word ‘command’. I’m a citizen of the empire! I don’t believe the Shaman King has any right to give me any command!”
The Shaman that asked turned someone green on his face. Just as he was about to get angry, the less impulsive guy came forward: “Young man, I think you are taking this matter too seriously. This is just a request proposed by the great Shaman King….. If you accept, you will receive the Shaman King’s friendship, isn’t that enough?”
“Friendship?” Du Wei raises his voice again: “May I ask, if one day our Duke loses his pet and runs off to demand a search in your land, would you consider it an act of friendship?”
The more ill-tempered shaman shouts out in anger: “Ignorant boy! How can your Duke be compared to the great Shaman King!”
“Is it?!” Du Wei laughs. Then turning to point at the knights behind Longbottom, he shouts: “I ask you, whose warriors are you!”
A thousand people shouted in unison: “Tulip!!!!”
“Tell me, who do you swear your allegiance!”
“Tulip!!!”
Du Wei nods as he sneered at the watching shaman: “Mr. Shaman, I heard that even in the prairies, the act of respect is also considered a virtue! I’ll tell you now; our Duke will never make such impolite words like you so did.”
The calm Shaman smiles he took over: “Young man, please forgive my partner’s tongue.
I of course heard of Duke Tulip’s prestige. He is your country’s youngest genius and also an outstanding magician. Even in the prairie, the tales of his miracles are far and wide, especially the story of him building a city in three months. We mean no disrespect, but we’ve been given explicit orders to find the Shaman king’s pet. So please, we can’t go back empty handed.”
“If So, let’s have his lordship come make the decision.” Du Wei slowly speaks his next words for all to hear: “The only master of this land, Duke Tulip! Luckily, his lordship is also present here today. I must go ask for his decision.”
With that, Du Wei gave no second glance at the two shamans as he turned back to his people.
Watching how the kid before them was moving away, the two shamans can only frown because they never expected to encounter such a large force in this remote little town. Above all else, this force is led by the infamous General Longbottom and the Duke himself!
Longbottom and his people may not know what the hell Du Wei was up to, but they all knew the young Duke likes to scheme, so they naturally kept their mouths shut.
While Longbottom and his men faced off against the enemy, Du Wei was running back into the village. Outside the farmhouse where a hundred of his guards were located, the first person Du Wei looked for was Sandia: “Hurry Sandia, take off your clothes! Fast!”
Sandia was stunned by the request, but Du Wei didn’t care. In his impatient state, he reached out and began unbuttoning the kid’s cloth without permission.
It was at this moment that Sandia came back to reality, “My lord!……..” He cries out in shock.
“Quick! There’s no time to explain. Listen to me while you take them off.”
Rummaging through his storage ring, Du Wei took out a set of clothes and some decorations befitting a aristocrat. Aside from making Sandia wear all this, he also tidied up the kid’s hair to make him look totally like a noble.
Carefully looking over Sandia, he then took out another black cape – this is a reformed version of his black mage robe. Aside from this, Du Wei also called over Ziggy, the leader of the students, and asked him to hand over his staff to Sandia.
(Note: Staff and wand in chinese is the exact same word, there’s no distinction for it so you will see me changing it up depending on the situation)
As he fiddled around to help Sandia put everything on, the poor kid was dumbfounded by Du Wei’s hyper fast explanation. He was reluctant to wear such luxurious things, but he didn’t have the nerve to refuse.
Sandia’s true age is slightly smaller than Du Wei’s actual age, but after dressing up he didn’t look too far off. Besides, the kid has already been in the Northwest for quite some time so his body is much stronger than before. Though Du Wei had plenty of students to help him, but they are all from the military. Their age is certainly more of a match for Du Wei, but after so many days of training, the air around these people is too soldier like. This leaves Sandia. Not only is his age passable, the kid also knows etiquette, something very much lacking in everyone else present.
“In a bit, you only need to follow through with my instructions.”
After Du Wei finished giving his orders, he swiftly ran into the farmhouse.
Inside the farmhouse, the red hair monster is still guarding by Muse’s side. The kid didn’t look as scared as before, but he definitely looked more pitiful with strands of straws mixed in with his hair.
Du Wei didn’t have any more patient to spend on the kid, instead, he directly went for the monster: “Listen up, I know you are the Shaman King’s pet, right?”
The Monster nodded.
“They came for you and are just outside. But you don’t want to go back to them, right?”
The Monster immediately shook his head very hard, seemingly full of determination.
“If you want to get away today then you can only choose to believe in me.” Du Wei quickly said, “I’ll give you two choices: either you kill my friend now and you break out of here, Even if you could get past me, I know you won’t be able to get past the shamans outside! The second choice is you release my friend right now and I help you hide.”
Moments later, the two shamans from the Prairie finally gets their chance to meet the famed Duke Tulip.
This “Duke” is exactly like the rumors. Rather than calling him a teenager, its better to call him a kid.
As the two Shamans glanced at each other, both of them can see the disdain in each other’s eyes.
Nevertheless, the demeanor of this young Duke is befitting that of someone in great power, especially the black cloak and walnut tree staff in his hand. Seeing the symbol of a grand magician, even the two shamans didn’t dare act arrogantly.
After all, the destructive powers of the Roland Empire’s magicians are something very much ingrained in the prairie shamans.
Whether in respect to a magician, or the identity of this distinguished nobility, the two still reluctantly dismounted to perform a greeting bow to the newcomer.
“Duke” The two were quite nonchalant in their smiles.
“Dear guests.” This Duke spoke in a smooth and calm tone: “I’m very surprised by your sudden visit. However, through my tolerance and mercy, I will forgive your lack of etiquette. Aside from this, I also want your guarantee that such rude behavior will not happen again. You know, even if a noble lord wants to visit a friend, they must still first gain the person’s permission. Personally, I hold great respect towards your Shaman King, but under imperial decree, I cannot allow your army into the village. However, as a gesture of friendship to the Shaman King, I can make an exception for this one time…..” Under Du Wei’s order, counterfeit Sandia did not give any room for the other side to speak: “I will permit you two to bring your personal attendants to look around town for your lost pet. But according to imperial decree, your attendants cannot exceed ten people. Also, after you finish your search, I must ask you to immediately return to the prairies! Otherwise, I must consider your move as a provocation to the empire.”
With that, Sandia also didn’t give any chance for more words as he turned and walked back into town.
Du Wei was standing on the side the entire time. Sneering inside, he looked at the gloomy faced shamans before him: “Please, this way.”
This is the best and only solution Du Wei can come up with at the moment. No too hard or too soft, just enough so both sides come out without losing.
Du Wei’s decision seems to be right because the other side also doesn’t intend to have a falling out with the empire just yet.
Though the two Shamans were somewhat displeased, but they can only quietly accept the Duke’s decision.