The Grand Duelist

Joseph's voice was powerful and it astonished everyone who heard him, including Alice.

"I'm going too far? You're saying that I'm going too far? She almost killed me back then!" Alice pointed her finger at Joseph, her voice sounded so frustrated that Lily couldn't help but turn to look at Joseph.

'He's going to help me?'

Lily doubted it at first since it seemed that both Alice and Joseph had an ambiguous relationship.

But when she saw the heroic look on his face, Lily stopped doubting anymore...

She beamed with a smile and replied. 

"Joseph is right, you're going too far! I'm willing to apologize, but I am not willing to be humiliated!" Lily's voice suddenly became filled with vigor.

Now that she was convinced that Joseph was trying to help her escape her current predicament, why would she hesitate? Of course, she'd fight back!

Joseph furrowed his eyebrows and said, "Alice, you're really going too far. Lily is willing to apologize, but please don't humiliate her. A lick is just too much... How about a kiss? If she kisses your foot and admits to her fault, will you be willing to let her go?" 

'What? '

'Kiss her foot?'

Lily was dumbstruck.

'What is he talking about?' 

'Isn't he going to help me?'

'Why do I feel like he's trying to push me on the brink instead?'

Lily's eyebrows scrunched. But before she could say anything.

Joseph turned to look at her and said, "You're willing to do at least that much, right?"

"What are you saying, Joseph? You want me to kiss her foot? Why would I do something like that? I'm not stupid!" Lily angrily glared at Joseph. 

Joseph let out a sigh and said, "Lily... I already negotiated a compromise. From the looks of it, Alice really isn't willing to let you go unless you show to her that you're sincere in your apologies. And what's more sincere than a submissive display of a kiss on a person's foot?" 

"Sigh..." 

Joseph shook his head.

"If you're not willing to do at least that much, then you can get out."

He then gestured towards the Palace Halls.

"Jo-Joseph..." Lily's figure visibly trembled. She looked incomparably pitiful at this moment.

Kayn who didn't really know anything about Lily apart from the fact that she almost killed Alice felt pity towards her. 

'Why was his liege doing all of this to her?'

He reckoned that if his boss was in her place, he would also do the same since he seemed to be quite a greedy man when it came to money.

'Yet, why was he doing this to Lily?'

'Why was he being such a hypocrite?'

Kayn felt that Joseph was a kettle calling the pot black.

He wanted to speak up, but before he could do so. Lily's voice rang out.

"Fine! I'll do it..." 

'What?'

'She's going to do it?'

'She's going to kiss Alice's foot?'

Now, Kayn couldn't understand what the hell was going on.

He thought that Lily wasn't willing to humiliate herself, yet what was this?

Kayn furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

Alice let out a triumphant laugh, but there was a barely imperceptible light of anxiety within her eyes.

"Okay, go ahead." She stretched her naked foot in front of Lily.

She then turned to look at Joseph and the two communicated with their eyes.

'I didn't expect that she was a pervert.'

'Me too...'

Joseph bitterly smiled.

He wanted to humiliate Lily because he wanted her to stay away from him.

At first, he thought that Alice would serve as enough deterrence and with the addition of that revelation that the two were actually irreconcilable enemies. Joseph was sure that Lily would do her best to stay away from him from now on.

He knew that Lily was a prideful woman, she'd rather kill herself than be humiliated and lose face.

Yet, what was this?

'She's actually going to apologize?'

Joseph was still stuck on this train of thought until Lily stood up from kneeling. She immediately spat onto the floors of the Palace Halls and wiped her lips, tears welling up in her eyes. Glaring at Alice, it was clear that she now hated Alice to the max.

"Sigh..." Joseph let out a sigh and then turned his attention to Kayn and Ezreal.

"Both of you..."

"Are you guys done with collecting the Sealed Artifacts and the items that those players left?" 

Ezreal nodded his head, "Yes, master... We're done. But what are we going to do with the remaining gold coins in the treasury?"

Joseph's eyes brightened, "There are still a lot of gold coins within the treasury?"

He glanced at Kayn.

Kayn noticed his glance and promptly replied, "Yes, boss. I don't know how much the members of the Number One Bandit Group took, but there are still several mountains of gold coins in the treasury. Furthermore, those mountains were at least three meters in height." 

"Woah..." Joseph let out an audible gasp of amazement. His eyes then burned with avarice, but when he remembered that he needed to fix the domestic problems of Victory and such an endeavor required a large number of gold coins.

He couldn't do anything other than sigh once again.

This discovery was really painful for Joseph.

It was akin to having an incredibly beautiful goddess on your bed, but you're unable to touch her since you couldn't get an erection.

'How frustrating!'

Joseph inwardly screamed.

But having such a beautiful soon-to-be-wife, Joseph couldn't complain anymore. He soon calmed himself down and turned to look at Ezreal before asking, "Ezreal, what do you think should we do with those gold coins? I don't think that it's appropriate for us to just take them all." 

Ezreal's eyes brightened upon hearing that Joseph wanted to know his opinion.

Clearing his throat, he swept his gaze across everyone before saying, "I propose that we don't touch those gold coins at all. We need them for the establishment of your kingdom. After all, kingdom establishment requires a lot of money." 

Everyone nodded their heads, what Ezreal said made sense.

But Joseph frowned instead. 

"Ezreal, do you have any idea on who can help us manage the domestic problems of this abandoned Kingdom?" 

From the looks of it, Ezreal seemed to have a proposal to make.

Joseph decided on taking a step ahead and asking him this question instead.

Ezreal was taken aback when he heard Joseph's question. However, when he realized that Joseph seemed to have read his mind by taking a look at his expression.

Ezreal immediately became happy.

The fact that Joseph noticed his emotions made it clear that he was paying attention to him.

He took a deep breath to suppress the excitement that he was feeling.

Afterwards, he said...

"The Divine Sword Sect may be able to help us."

Joseph's eyes flashed with understanding.

At this moment, Alice spoke, "But isn't the Divine Sword Sect quite far? We're at Reinhardt right now, and the Divine Sword Sect is directly at the center of this abandoned Kingdom." 

Joseph nodded his head.

The Royal Palace of a Kingdom must be at the center of the capital city within its territories. Yet, this wasn't a fact in the Kingdom of Nether. Instead, at the center was the towering mountain of the Divine Sword Sect. The reason as to why something like that happened actually caused quite a stir. 

Rumors say that the true rulers of the Kingdom of Nether weren't actually the Oligarch Family, but the Divine Sword Sect. Those rumors also said that the only reason why the Oligarch Family became the rulers of the Kingdom of Nether was that the Sect Leader of the Divine Sword Sect was too lazy!

Joseph wasn't sure if those rumors were true but until then. It was safe to assume that the Divine Sword Sect was an organization that could definitely help them manage the abandoned Kingdom of Nether.

But what Alice said was also true.

The Divine Sword Sect was indeed quite far from Reinhardt.

It would take them several days to reach the Divine Sword Sect and within those days.

An uncontrollable civil war was sure to happen.

Joseph must manage the domestic problems of the abandoned Kingdom of Nether before a civil war erupts.

He must placate the citizens of this abandoned kingdom and give them what they needed.

It was at this moment that Ezreal spoke up, "The Divine Sword Sect is really far from Reinhardt. But I have a solution to that, master..."

"Really?" Joseph was delighted, "Are you going with us, Ezreal?"

Ezreal nodded his head, but then determination flashed across his face, "I'll be going with you, master. But I'll be late. I still have some unfinished business to do here in Reinhardt."

Joseph was confused for a moment, but then he revealed a look of enlightenment, "I thought you already forgot about those times..." He let out a sigh but didn't say anything towards what Ezreal was planning on doing. Ezreal was his own individual, not only that but he was also his friend.

If Ezreal wanted to do something then he would undoubtedly support him.

He proceeded to not mention it anymore as he asked, "What kind of solution do you have in mind, Ezreal?" 

Everyone turned to look at Ezreal in curiosity.

The Divine Sword Sect was extremely far from Reinhardt that journey from Reinhardt towards the Sect would take several days.

None of them was willing to wait that long since they were sure that the Capital City of Reinhardt would probably be already ransacked by the angry citizens by the time that they returned.

This was why everyone felt confused and conflicted as to what they should do in placating the citizens of Nether.

But now, they were quite happy since Ezreal had a proposal to make.

Ezreal lightly smiled and took out an ancient scroll from his chest pocket, "I have here a teleportation scroll that can transport people towards any location that I once visited..."

"Of course, it can't go through the defensive formations of the Divine Sword Sect, so I can't directly transfer all of you inside the sect..."

"However, I can at least teleport everyone in front of their gates."

Everyone was astounded by what they had heard.

Joseph turned to look at Ezreal. A teleportation scroll that could cross extreme distances in an instant probably took a while and a lot of resources to make. In other words, it should be incredibly expensive. However, Ezreal was actually willing to give them such a one-time-use scroll?

Joseph was moved. 

"Thank you, Ezreal..." Joseph simply said.

He and Ezreal were brothers, not a lot of words were needed between them!

"I'll be going to the Divine Sword Sect? Who is going with me?"

"I'll be with you." Alice stepped forward. As a Sword Adept, if she missed such an opportunity of possibly meeting the leaders of the Divine Sword Sect, then she'd be ashamed of herself.

"I'll be going with you too, Joseph!"

Lily hurriedly exclaimed as if she was afraid that she'd be forgotten.

Joseph paid her a glance but he didn't say anything.

He then turned to look at Kayn and asked, "Kayn, how about you?"

Kayn shook his head, "I would love to go with you boss, but..." He surreptitiously glanced at the Sealed Artifacts piled-up behind him and then continued, "I still have to find some ways on dispatching these items."

Joseph lightly chuckled, "In that case, then how about you just go and sell them online?" 

"Huh?"

Kayn was dumbstruck.

That's right!

I could do that!

Wait, I could do that?

"Are you sure about that, my liege?" Kayn carefully asked.

"Yeah, why not? What we need right now are gold coins instead of those Artifacts. Remember it, and make sure that you're able to maximize profits in selling those artifacts, all right?" Joseph chuckled once more.

Kayn gulped a mouthful of saliva and he then straightened his back.

"Yes, my liege! I'll do my best!"

"But my liege, what do we do with the items that we got from those players?" Kayn suddenly asked and it was at this moment that Joseph realized the presence of a certain problem.

Indeed, how should they maximize profits on selling those artifacts that belonged to the elite members of the three guilds? Especially the items from the members of Guild Strongest Under Heaven.

If the members of Guild Strongest Under Heaven came to know that other players bought their items, then those players would undoubtedly acquire the anger of Guild Strongest Under Heaven.

In other words, it was impossible for Kayn to sell their items to other players once those players realized where the items came from.

Joseph fell into deep contemplation, but his pondering didn't last long for he now had a brilliant idea in his mind.

"How about you go and sell those items back to their owners?"

"Huh?"

Kayn was speechless and dumbstruck.

But in the very next moment, he laughed out loud and said, "Hahaha! That's right! How did I not think of that? If I want to maximize my profits on selling these items then I can only sell them back to their original owners! My liege, you're really such a brilliant and genius man." 

"Stop saying that..." Joseph rolled his eyes at him and rubbed his nose out of embarrassment.

"He's saying the truth, Joseph. You're really such an amazing man."

Lily quickly took advantage of this opportunity. 

She glanced at Alice in apparent pride, but she found out that instead of being bothered about her praise to Joseph. 

Alice had a look of happiness on her face, "You're right about that, it seems that you're not blind at the least. My man is indeed quite capable." 

"Stop it, Alice." Joseph rubbed his nose once again and turned his head to the side, he was afraid that Alice would see him blushing. If she did, then Alice would definitely use that as her weapon to tease him for weeks. Joseph wasn't willing to see something like that happen.

Kayn's lips repeatedly twitched when he saw how casually Joseph was flirting with the two women.

Rubbing his nose in apparent jealousy, he awkwardly asked, "Boss... Can I go now?"

Joseph noticed Kayn's awkwardness.

He didn't want to judge, but he could see that Kayn probably never had a girlfriend in his entire life.

But since Joseph was the same as him until he met Alice, he could thoroughly understand Kayn's feelings.

He didn't bother him anymore as he nodded, "Then, go on! Contact me once you are done with everything." 

Kayn also nodded in return before turning around and arranging everything along with his brothers.

"It seems like there's only the three of us." Joseph glanced at Alice and Lily.

Alice furrowed his eyebrows, "What's wrong? I'd love it more if there's only the two of us though."

She threw an annoyed glance at Lily and Lily could only bow her head in shame.

Though, inwardly...

She was seething in anger. 

Joseph made a sidelong glance at Lily before saying, "Are you sure that you're going with us?" 

Lily puffed her cheeks when she heard Joseph's question, "Why are you asking me that question as if you didn't want to be with your friend here..."

"You know what, Joseph? I thought we're still close friends, but now that you have another woman doting on you, you're suddenly alienating me. It really hurts, you know?"

Lily's eyes welled up with tears.

Joseph let out a sigh and said, "No, I'm not say-"

"It's okay! You don't have to explain. I bet I'm just being a third-wheel." Lily said in a voice filled with sadness. But even though she was complaining. There was no way that she'd stay away from Joseph at this point in time. Since she was already this far, there's no way that she'd let go!

Joseph could only scratch his head before turning to look at Ezreal.

Ezreal lightly chuckled upon seeing Joseph's predicament.

But he didn't dare to tease his master as he opened that ancient scroll and teleported the three in front of the gates of the Divine Sword Sect.

"Ugh... I feel sick."

Joseph complained.

Suppressing the urge to vomit, he raised his head and found that there were numerous members of the Divine Sword Sect staring at him with hatred behind the towering double-door gates of the Divine Sword Sect.

"What are you doing here, you absolute garbage?" One of them coldly spoke.

Joseph received several system notifications.

[You are currently hated by every member of the Divine Sword Sect. Negotiations are impossible.]

[Players affiliated with the Divine Sword Sect will receive a quest to kill you once you are sighted.]

[Penalty upon death when dying in the hands of a Divine Sword Sect member or affiliated player is tripled.]

[Please be careful!] 

Joseph's pupils constricted when he saw these system notifications.

He then realized that there was no way for them to peacefully enter the Divine Sword Sect.

Since the system itself said that negotiating with these people was impossible.

Why bother?

"What should we do... Joseph? It seems like they really hate you?" Lily asked in nervousness.

She didn't have her Gunner weapon at this moment, but she still had her daggers.

Alice stared at the members of the Divine Sword Sect with a frown, but she didn't draw her sword.

Upon hearing Lily's words, she also turned to look at Joseph in curiosity.

She wanted to know what Joseph had in mind against these people.

"Since they don't want us to enter..." Joseph stood up, taking the Nameless Rapier out of his inventory. The brilliant light of his divinity surged as he took a stance and exclaimed.

"We're going to crash their gates!"

A flash of dazzling light streaked past everyone's eyes followed by a loud explosion.