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Aleya was also at the table, sitting right beside me.

After Pulun spoke his part, he turned his sights onto Aleya. But Aleya’s face was still as cold and unemotional as before, so Pulun was probably able to see nothing from her expression. He turned towards me, then continued:

“Both master and eldest young master send their apologies to you. As a matter of fact, it was only natural that they would be rejected by you last time since they threatened you to hand over Aleya. But it’s different this time, if you’re willing to let Aleya return from West-Resisting City, master is willing to yield 5 cities to you.”

Pulun spoke with a genial smile:

“Surely, now that City Lord Li De has cast off his identity as Yunyang’s fourth son, he should know the hustle and bustle of secular life. This West-Resisting City is one that is filled with hardship and exhaustion, without any place to enjoy oneself. Master knows that you’re unwilling to work hard and only wishes to reap what you haven’t sown, so he is willing to present five of Li Neng’s cities from his territory to you. If you accept, you’ll be able to treat West-Resisting City as your front-line while you reside in the cities behind it and indulge yourself in a good life with food and liquor. This way, both sides will win and it’s also suitable for miss Aleya. If miss Aleya returns to Lingyun City, master has the confidence to develop you into Yunyang Territory’s first ever Level 10 Grand Sword Hero.”

For a moment, I was almost unable to hold it back anymore and nearly laughed out loud.

To be honest, if it were money, honor, or even a better life, stuff along these lines, I might have asked Aleya about her opinion. But I absolutely didn’t expect that after he hesitated for so long, the only thing he could come up with was “helping you achieve Level 10”. All of the swordsmanship Aleya knows is taught by me, so based on her current level, only I am able to bring her swordsmanship one step further. If she did return with you guys, what the heck would you even be able to teach her?

However, I still pretended to be extremely flustered as I asked Aleya:

“Aleya, your opinion?”

Aleya placed the chopsticks onto the table, stood up, stood behind me, and calmly told Pulun:

“Aleya has no such idea of doing so, Aleya is satisfied as long as she is by young master’s side.”

Pulun still persisted in advising:

“Miss Aleya, please give it some more consideration. This is also for Li De’s sake; do you have the heart to see him stay in a small, broken city for the rest of his life? As the saying goes, a talented person chooses a patron of integrity, virtuous officials choose their own master, and besides, the eldest young master is clearly going to be the next appointed Overlord of Yunyang. One is in the heavens above while the other is stranded on the ground; how can you obstinately persist in choosing the wrong person to serve like such?”

Aleya placed a hand on her chest and slowly said:

“I am young master’s bodyguard, as well as young master’s sword. It has nothing to do with young master’s age, young master’s identity, or young master’s expectations or the expectations he’s to bear in the future are. So long as young master needs me, then even if it’s going to the Hell of Asuras, I will follow as long as young master wishes for it.”

I picked up my chopsticks, clamped some food, and put it into my mouth. As I chewed, I said:

“You heard her, sir Pulun. To tell you the truth, Aleya isn’t someone you guys will be able to poach. Aleya, sit down and eat, there’s no need to display such politeness.”

Pulun sighed and responded:

“It truly is as master expected……I heard that miss Aleya slapped the eldest young master for this reason at the time, it seems as if it wasn’t a baseless claim.”

I replied with great interest:

“True or not, that’s amazing, Aleya. Low-key when not doing anything and amazing the world when acting; worthy of being my bodyguard.”

Aleya’s face held a smile.

Pulun seemed as if he hadn’t given up yet as he turned to Felita and continued:

“Then what are miss Felita’s intentions?”

Felita had been eating without a concern up until now. Now that she suddenly heard her name being mentioned, she choked on her food and hurried to pat the area above her stomach. But because her stature was too well-developed, this patting of hers was filled with seduction, as if a great wind was blowing on verdant hills, a ripple passing through plains. After she recovered, she asked:

“What intentions?”

Pulun said with a smile:

“Master also feels that letting such a beautiful and formidable sorcerer painstakingly guard the frontier is a loss to Yunyang. Therefore, master hopes that miss Felita can go to Lingyun City and become a high-ranking guest official, teach a magic course, or whatever you wish to do, rather than suffer in such an impoverished area for the rest of your life.”

Once Felita recovered her usual appearance, she haughtily replied:

“Not going.”

This time, Pulun was ready as he immediately advised:

“Miss Felita, we’ve investigated your life experiences. You were once West-Resisting City’s sorcerer, a human-Demon hybrid, and suffered a lot. The reason why you’re following Li De now is nothing else except due to the fact that he saved you and the first person to treat you well. It’s only expected that you would grow some affection for him.”

“But let me remind you, miss Felita. As you can see from the conversation just now, you should be able to see that the bond between Li De and Aleya is much greater than what you can imagine. Even if offered several cities, Li De would never abandon Aleya; even if told that we can make her a Grand Sword Hero, Aleya isn’t willing to leave Li De. In such circumstances, I don’t think you have much of an advantage.”

“I’ll speak a bit more bluntly. Miss Felita, such a formidable and beautiful woman like you should be admired and chased by many men. You should be living a shining life like a celestial, a star in the skies, there’s no need to stay in a place like this where all you’ll receive is grievances. What can Li De give you? Wealth, fame? All that he can give you falls short in front of master and the eldest young master’s strong resources. And even if he were to give you his affection, the large majority of it would go to Aleya before the scraps go to you. I’m not ruling out the possibility that you might become Li De’s main wife in the future, but from what I can see now, there’s a 90% possibility that you’ll just be a concubine.”

Felita exposed an astonished expression.

Delight was apparently on Pulun’s face and just as he was about to speak more, he heard Felita speak with disbelief:

“I can……become a concubine??”

She placed her hands on her lips as large pearly tears fell onto the table, causing everyone at the scene to become shocked.

Meanwhile, Felita choked out with sobs:

“All I ever hoped for was for master to not abandon me and treat me like a dog he’s raising. I never thought that I could have such a future. For a half-Demon like me, my blood is lower than even the lowest of scum, yet I……still have a 90% chance, is this true?”

Aleya softly patted Felita’s back.

This time, not even Pulun knew what the say in response.

He awkwardly smiled before turning to face Moon. Before he even opened his mouth, Moon already spoke his part:

“Don’t mind me. If the ‘master’ or even the ‘eldest young master’ in your mouth is willing to dress up like a woman and sing and dance before the public like a certain someone, then I might actually consider it.”

Pulun took a deep breath and exposed an ugly smiling expression as he turned to face Bai Huang.

Bai Huang was in the middle of eating and drinking as she wished while pretending as if nobody else were present. After all, West-Resisting City was a relatively economical area. If not for emissaries coming over, there would be very few precious vegetable and meat dishes like now. The pitiful her was reduced into sometimes sitting on the same table as me and eating stewed radish with cabbage. Now that she’s found a rare opportunity to eat meat after maintaining a vegetarian diet for so long, there’s no way she would relinquish it for some idle talk. Her current very unrestrained state was one of ‘you guys talk among yourselves, I’ll eat without paying attention’.

Pulun prudently opened his mouth:

“Uhm, sir Bai Huang……”

Bai Huang didn’t even lift her head as she tore apart a roast rabbit thigh and concisely expressed her feelings in one of her gaps for breathing:

“Screw off.”