Long Time No See

Following his pounding of Zhicheng, Edrick spent some time preparing for his next sect visit, wondering which of the three remaining vassals he should go to next. He didn’t really make favourites, so it was mostly about geographical convenience and how refined the business plans he had to offer were.

Though for one of them, there wasn’t really much Anoteros could offer. Despite the fact that they hung low, they were a big sect with lots of revenue, which was why they could do what they were known for without having to worry. They were the current biggest earners for the Elt clan by far, and thus a big earner for the kingdom itself, which granted them a lot more leeway to do things that would usually be more than just frowned upon.

…Not to say that Anoteros had no idea what he would speak of with them…

In any case, as per usual, Edrick was also reading reports gathered up by Shu, which now included the performances of Eltysia’s Coffer. The shop was doing great, but the main part of the reports was actually about the other businesses in the domain that the scion was doing his best not to suffocate.

Alas, one of them couldn’t handle the pressure and failed to adapt. It closed its doors quickly after Edrick set foot into the market. However, it seemed like the fall of one of them led to the rest of the competitors getting a boost, as they were able to see firsthand that the consequences would be dire if they were unable to resist.

As such, whilst they weren’t doing too great, they were managing to stay afloat and were slowly but surely reinventing themselves. Soon enough, they should be able to get back on their feet thanks to the new products and services they are introducing into their shops.

‘Good, I was expecting more of them to shut down, so this is a nice surprise’

Anoteros had prepared for dozens of them to fall, but as he knew, it was quite easy to be pleasantly surprised when you always prepared for the worst.

After going through the reports, he discovered that he had received a letter with a very distinct wax seal upon it.

“Shu, we’ll be rescheduling. I’ll be having an esteemed guest this week”

He handed the letter to his Business Maid once he was done reading it, and she quickly understood the situation.

“It will be done, Master!”

As she left the office, Anoteros leaned back in his comfortable chair. He was in the company of two nameless maids, but instead of under the desk, they were providing him with a shoulder massage.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve seen this guy…’

The letter had been sent by Chang Sheng, the candidate sword saint of this generation.

‘Looks like Alilah got word from Bedi and the others’

He smiled. It was indeed quite easy to get Chang Sheng to come over. The promise of a sparring session was all that was needed to get him to show up. Of course, it also had to do with the fact that Chang Sheng believed Edrick to be a powerful opponent–Which wasn’t wrong, but Anoteros was doubtful if he could actually be much of an opponent for the candidate sword saint.

Chang Sheng wasn’t a script holder, but according to Xiaolie, he was nonetheless a big part of the script she used to be the star of. He was a friendly ‘overpowered’ individual, as she had put it. As far as she had read into the story, he had been invincible in every single situation he had been in, and thus, the ‘author’ had had to come up with ways to keep him out of the story, or to occupy him with tricky opponents.

This script had been shattered into pieces now that Xiao was Xiaolie–An obedient maid of Edrick. Still, the various pieces remained. Some had completely diverted course as a result of the script falling apart. Some might never appear, some would appear at the wrong times, and some were simply still present, but now free from the script manipulating events.

This was the case for Chang Sheng. He used to be closely bound by the limitations of the script, but he had begun moving away from it back when Edrick introduced him to Alilah–And ever since, the script was completely gone. He had been free to do whatever he wanted, which mostly involved seeking out good sparring partners.

…Xiaolie would probably make for a great adversary, but Anoteros was unwilling to let Chang Sheng see her. He was likely to notice that she was, or rather used to be, Xiao… And the Elt scion didn’t feel like he could come up with an excellent explanation as to why the one he used to parade around as his friend had not only become a woman, but also his submissive maid.

In any case, the Sheng scion showed up not even a full day after the arrival of the letter.

“Chang, it’s been quite a while!”

“Likewise, Edrick! I’ve never come to the Elt clan before. I didn’t know the place would have so much greenery… My clan grounds just look like a big sect”

His white hair flew slightly in the hot wind. On top of being the most valued scion of the Sheng clan, he was also the top disciple of Bright Sword Peak... Though from what Edrick had been hearing, Chang Sheng was oddly humble.

Not because he believed himself to be weak, as he would be stupid to believe so. Instead, it was because he knew well that his Alrinir–Jianrou Sheng–Was just as powerful as him.

“I tried to get Jianrou to come as well, as I know that you are interested in her, but…”

Chang sighed.

“She’s just… She’s a bit of a special girl, let’s just say. If you want to meet her, you’ll have to go see her, or run into her on one of her outings. To convince her to come, I would have had to win a duel with her. And let me tell you… She doesn’t know the difference between a duel and a fight to the death”

The golden-eyed scion shook his head.

“Well… Only when it’s me. Do you think she wants to kill me or something?”

“Surely not. She probably just gets excited because you are an opponent of her level”

“Mmh… By the way, I should thank you, Anoteros! Without you, I never would have met Alilah. She’s really a sunshine in my life, even if my Vals are opposed to our union due to her being a part of Red Mansion”

“She even picked up a typical dual cultivation technique to just dedicate herself to me, but they still don’t seem to think it’s enough”

Edrick listened, rubbing his chin before smiling.

“So… Do you want to hear my expertise on the subject, or spar first?”