The Lord Is Too Overbearing

Slightly more than a week had passed since Exodus became public, and every Knight and Mage seemed to have known about the upcoming Outbreak.

The Kingdom also wasn't so discreet about it, as they were quite open in their recruitment.

...

Firefly Knight Guild, Danver, Crownveil Dukedom, Braxtein Kingdom.

Knight Guild is an organization that gathers every existing Knight Parties in the area where it is settled. Every Knight Guild is given the right to manage themselves autonomously, but they are still responsible to the Knight Association.

Unlike any other Mage related association that managed all of their members by themselves, Knight Association was willing to split their "authority" to manage the existing Knight in Braxtein Kingdom.

There were many Knight Guilds spread around the entirety of Braxtein Kingdom, and the biggest of them were all located in the capital city of Dukedoms.

Firefly Knight Guild was one of the biggest Guilds that was located in Crownveil Dukedom. The building was currently filled with many party leaders who were chatting with each other.

The news about Exodus was a hot topic among every Knight. They were here to make sure whether the news was, in fact, a news or nothing but a rumour.

Of course, they knew the news itself was legit, since it had been announced by the King himself. They were all here to inquire about the thing that followed right after: the Outbreak.

Although the news about the incoming Outbreak wasn't public yet, any Knight who were in tune with the Guild and some High Rank Knights knew about it.

The Kingdom had Royal Army that was consisted of Mage and Knight alike stationed in BA-22. Although capable, the amount of the people in the Royal Army was too little to mind every problem that would follow in the upcoming Outbreak.

The scant amount of personnels in the Royal Army was due to its strict acception requirements; especially, for Knight. It was for this reason many Knights became a Free Knight and created their own Party.

In times like this however, some of the chosen Free Knights would be able to "contribute" to the Kingdom without joining the Royal Army.

Therefore, the crowd of party leaders were here to secure their "spot" in the upcoming event. Although the task would definitely be dangerous, they didn't care about; they were used to danger already.

Furthermore, If they managed to secure their spot, not only would they get the fame for having a role in such occasion, but also the fortune. For them, it was an opportunity they couldn't just let go.

"Man, I have to join this fight; I can't disappoint my party!" One of the gathered party leaders commented.

As he had said, they were here not only for themselves, but also their party. If they managed to secure a spot, their party would be able to join the fight alongside them; their party would be able to enjoy the fortune.

One of the party leaders laughed at the person who had just spoken. "Hahaha! Isn't your party consisted of a bunch of Yellow Core Knights, Carl?" The man slapped Carl's back, and said in humour, "You will send them to death that way."

Carl's face contorted, as he turned his head to the man. "What is your deal, Keith? Can't you just, for once, say something good?!"

"Hahaha! I don't like to sugarcoat things." Keith winked.

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Carl said, "That's why I hate you, bastard."

Keith merely chuckled and looked around. There were not many people chatting friendly with each other in the hall.

Although the other party leaders were chatting, none of them saw each other as a friend. In times like this, everyone suddenly became their enemy in their eyes.

That was how much of a deal their spot in the upcoming Outbreak to them was.

Keith shook his head. "Look at them; like a moth, they are drawing themselves into fire."

"What are you talking about? Aren't you the same?" Carl asked weirdly. Keith shrugged nonchalantly. "I am just here to enjoy the fire, not drawing myself into it."

"Shameless bastard," Carl muttered.

Keith merely laughed, and slapped Carl's back once again. Carl was about to protest about Keith's habit of slapping his back, when a sound attracted their attention.

Click.

Everyone's attention turned to the opening door hall. Two people came inside, and they were not people every individuals inside the hall were unfamiliar with.

In fact, all of them knew of the two's identity as they quickly greeted the two people amiably.

"Oh, it's Thompson and his vice leader, Steven," stated Keith.

Carl nodded his head, and said, "Yeah. They are always together. If I didn't know better, I would have thought they were a thing."

"Oh, how do you know they are not a thing?" Keith asked curiously.

Carl clicked his tongue in irritation. "Quit your bullshit, Keith. The last time I believed in you, I got slapped by a woman. A WOMAN!" He glared at Keith fiercely.

Not long ago, Keith had told Carl that no woman wouldn't like a man putting a flower between their breasts. Carl had believed it, and had immediately tested it to a random passing woman.

The result was as stated above.

"Pfft! Hahaha!" Keith couldn't hold himself from laughing. "You can't blame me on that. You are too clueless for your own good!"

Carl contorted his face. "Shut up, bastard! I can't help it; I was sheltered!" He grasped Keith's collar and shook him back and forth.

Like always, Keith merely laughed merrily.

"Hello, you two."

At the call, Carl stopped shaking Keith. He let go of Keith's collar, and turned to the speaker. It was an attractive man with tall stature, black hair, and muscular body.

He was no other than Thompson with Steven on his side.

"Hi, Thompson ... And Steven. Good to see you guys here," Carl said.

Thompson smiled, and Steven merely nodded his head at the greeting. Unlike Thompson, he was not that of a sociable person. Especially, with someone whose personality didn't suit his taste.

Keith smirked, and slapped Carl's back. "What do you mean you are glad to see them here? You have seen them when they entered the hall!"

"Oh, pardon me! I didn't know you are lacking in common courtesy," Carl replied sarcastically. Thompson laughed. "You two really are close to each other." At that, Carl instantaneously responded, "Yeah, it's unfortunate this bastard is my brother."

Keith and Thompson chuckled; even Steven slightly smirked in amusement.

They talked about some trivial things amongst themselves to entertain themselves while waiting for the waited person's arrival. When the person entered the hall they stopped talking.

He was a tall and burly man in his late forties. He was dressed in a sleeveless, high collared and quality, tight brown shirt; and light grey pants. Standing at 2 meters tall, he had a handsome beard, and eyes that could easily scare a child away.

His name was Zander, an Early Violet Core Knight, the Guild Master of Firefly Guild—the waited person. Everyone straightened themselves, and paid their attention keenly to this awesome man.

None of them made a sound, as they didn't want to miss what Zander would say. Furthermore, none of them were bold enough to irk him.

Zander gazed at the people, and hummed to himself. "Hmmm... Rumours travel faster than heroes indeed." With a smirk, he asked, "What are you expecting coming here?"

The answer came instantaneously from the crowd. "Death!" None of the people even blinked their eyes at the answer they had given.

Despite how eager they were in participating in the upcoming event, they were aware of the risk: they could only profit if they managed to survive. Therefore, they came here hoping to be chosen, while expecting death to await them.

Zander nodded his head in satisfaction at the people. "As you have already heard, the first Outbreak after 2000 years of inactivity will soon occur. Therefore, the Kingdom needs your help to guard the place the Royal Army can't cover."

Everyone nodded their heads at the information they already knew.

"Of course, you can't just help our Kingdom without possessing any of the stated requirements, which I am about to mention. But I assure you, once you are chosen, as long as you can stay alive, you will be rewarded handsomely."

Zander turned his head to the person on his side—his assistant. His assistant nodded her head, and carefully brought the orb on her hands to Zander.

Right after it landed on Zander's hand, the assistant returned to her place. Zander raised the orb in his hand, and showed it to the people.

"This is an Orb of Truth. One of our genius Crafters created it to read the emotion hidden behind the Qi you exude. I just need you to answer some questions, and it will decide your fate."

Some Knights squirmed in their place; they were uncomfortable with the fact that they couldn't lie about their party's qualification. Still, they didn't back away; they were sure they could somehow trick the orb.

Zander sneered condescendingly at the squirming people, then put the Orb of Truth on the platform in front of him. Looking at Thompson, Zander pointed his hand at him.

"You will be the lucky number one, handsome guy."

Thompson nodded his head, then wordlessly head to the platform. Steven nonchalantly watched him from the side, while leaning his body on the wall with crossed hands.

Upon arriving right in front of the platform, Zander, who was standing right beside it, motioned Thompson to touch the orb. Thompson did just that, and the orb quickly turned white.

It was as if a glass suddenly filled with milk.

"What is your Body Forging mastery level?" Zander asked.

"Peak Stage Green Core."

Zander didn't look at the orb to check for the truth, as his sense could plainly detect Thompson's true level of mastery.

With a smirk Zander continued, "How many members your party has?"

"Excluding me, there are five people."

The color of the orb remained, signifying the truth in Thompson's word. Although he was not anxious, Thompson was still relieved inwardly; he was relieved Effie decided to stay in his party.

"A party of six, I see." Zander nodded his head. "Then, what are your member's current mastery levels?"

"One of them is Early Stage Blue Core," everyone gasped, and immediately turned to Steven, "three of them are in Middle Stage Green Core, and the last one is on the verge of breaking through to Middle Stage Yellow Core."

The orb didn't change its color, and Zander nodded his head in satisfaction.

"Very well. Your party is chosen. Go and take your participation token from my assistant, and she will tell you of your assigned post."

Thompson nodded his head, then approached the lady in grey suit. She took out six wooden tags, gave them to Thompson, and told him his party's assigned post.

Grasping the tokens in his hands, Thompson sighed. He actually didn't want to participate in the upcoming event.

However, his party was eager to participate after witnessing Basil's selfless sacrifice to save them.. They would pay their life debt to him this way.