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Well.

I probably don’t need to worry about what Moon plans on saying to Bai Huang. If “he” remains in West-Resisting City, no matter his capability or qualifications, it’s enough for him to be the head of internal affairs. Furthermore, he’s also very good at dealing with interpersonal relationships. Even though his mouth might say that he’s worried about retaliation, I’m sure that he’s probably already had some way of solving it.

I asked Moon:

“Apart from marrying her and clinging onto her fame, what other use does Little Huang have? I can’t always really support her for nothing.”

Moon grinned as he replied:

“There’s no need to be anxious. I’ve already thought about it.”

He brought me over to the window and looked outside the loft’s window at the scenery of the city within the walls. West-Resisting City had already withstood its most difficult phase; now, the long-standing pressure from the outside world had instead aroused the sense of urgency within the populace. Adding on the fact that West-Resisting City currently had relatively lax policies, relatively less taxes, and everyone was immersing themselves in the ambience of labor, the entire city seemed to give off the breath of a thriving place.

Moon sighed with emotion:

“West-Resisting City is truly quite unfathomable. But upon closer inspection, everything starts making sense. The people here are uncivilized, yet still maintain their ignorant and conservative side. Even after so many years, they haven’t collapsed under the threat of the outer Demon Race and inner nobles. Now that we treat them like trusted aides, henchmen, subordinates, whatever you name it, they’ve started displaying their strong resilience. This year will probably be a good year.”

Moon shook his head and continued:

“Two days ago, a brawl incident occurred within West-Resisting City. There was someone who had opened up an underground casino, causing a noisy dispute as a result. The inhabitants within the city gathered together to form several big groups to get rid of them. By the time our soldiers arrived at the scene, the culprits had already escaped the scene. Two young and vigorous young men died as a result with another severely injured one that couldn’t be saved.”

I pursed my lips, responding with a not particularly cheerful tone:

“The reason why we lowered taxes was to allow them to eat their fill, not to make them eat their fill until they burst.”

Moon shrugged, returning:

“But we can’t control them. These fellows are in the gray zone away from the reach of law and order. Moreover, the law isn’t aimed at the populace, so a large-scale brawl like this is really headache inducing. I intend to establish a specialized department for patrolling the city collectively known as ‘Overseer Guard’. The position of Overseer Guard’s chief can be given to Bai Huang since she’s always been acting as a female hero who upholds virtue and condemns evil in Yun Hai. Patrol work for her is a walk in the park for her.”

After obtaining my nod of approval, Moon went over to have a talk with Bai Huang.

I yawned and began heading out, but then I suddenly heard an ear-splitting explosion from the direction of the back garden.

I quickly ran over and saw the thick smoke permeating the atmosphere. It felt as if a factory making military goods had exploded.

The sound of someone coughing while running could be heard, then suddenly a cold sword wind blew and scattered the dust. Aleya was half-kneeling on the ground as she held her sword that was deeply thrust into the ground. The ground seemed as if it had been overturned and all the flowers that I painstakingly planted were also overturned as if a horse stampede went through the place. Heji grasped a greatsword with both hands as he looked at Aleya sternly. After seeing me, the taut expression on his face eased a bit.

Aleya spit out a mouthful of blood and continued her half-kneel in my presence, lowering her head to say:

“Sorry, young master. It’s Aleya’s fault……”

Heji interrupted her words and declared:

“It’s not her fault. It was me who was unable to control my own strength. I originally said that I wanted to compare notes, yet I was the one who accidentally blew the place up.”

I remarked:

“Why are the both of you trying to take the blame off the other. It’s nothing important, I actually hope it’s your fault, Heji, that way I can justifiably ‘ask’ Little Huang to compensate me. But before that, tell me what’s going on.”

Heji gave me a simple rundown of what had happened.

Truthfully it wasn’t anything big. During the time I was speaking with Moon, Aleya invited Heji to compare notes with her. Heji felt that he was very strong since he was a Level 6 Swordman in the perfection realm and felt that he would be bullying Aleya, who was a “newbie” to the realm of a Level 5 Swordsman, so he suppressed his own realm down to Level 5 Swordsman to match with Aleya. What he didn’t expect was that after around 20 to 30 moves, he was nearly killed by Aleya’s sword, so he hastily released the shackles he placed on himself. In that split-second, he wasn’t able to control his power well, so he consequently blew up my garden.

Alright, you’re the only one to blame here.

Heji said with a bitter smile:

“Although this was supposed to be a notes-comparing session, young lady Aleya’s rather a little……too aggressive. It’s probably more apt to say that every move she took seemed to be in order to take my life.”

I spread out my hands in response:

“What’s the problem with that. My Aleya trains in murderous swordsmanship, aka swordsmanship meant for killing people, so every move she makes is naturally an optimal choice for killing people. She uses an unconventional, more practical approach, completely different from those who aim for a ‘once my sword is pulled out, the world will tremble’ feel. You don’t understand any of this, yet still suppressed your realm to fight with her? Within the same realm, there’s no opponent that Aleya can’t kill.”

Heji frowned, saying:

“The sword is a noble person’s weapon, it’s not for such reckless behavior.”

Aleya swayingly stood up with the support of her sword, not saying a word as she stood by my side.

I said to Heji:

“You’ve suppressed your realm to Level 6 for quite some years already. I assume you’re trying to lay a solid foundation before rushing straight towards the top? How leisurely……not having to worry about suddenly meeting someone much stronger than yourself. Once you die, your realm won’t ever rise again, yes? I can smell a faint medicinal fragrance on you; you’ve probably consumed your fair share of heavenly treasures, hm? If I haven’t guessed incorrectly, you should’ve once been a child of one of Yun Hai’s rich families and this should be the reason why you have wiggle room. In your eyes, the sword is a noble person’s weapon. But to us, people who our own grandmothers don’t take pity on and people who our uncles don’t even show affection to, it is merely a sharper weapon for killing people.”

I patted Aleya’s shoulder and smirked as I comforted her:

“It doesn’t matter if you’ve lost. There are many more opportunities to fight with him during this period of time, it’ll be helpful towards promoting your realm.”

Heji waved his hand in a hurry:

“No fight, no fighting. We should peacefully coexist. I’m no match for her if I suppress my realm and I might accidentally break things if I don’t suppress my realm. The wages I earn aren’t enough to compensate for broken things.”