Chapter 281

Chapter 281

Secretary-General Lin and Deenlie walked one after the other and quickly made their way around to the back kitchen.

Once there, Secretary-General Lin consciously stepped to the side, while Deenlie walked straight past him and headed over.

The middle-aged man glanced at the young man beside him, and the young man took half a step forward, blocking his path.

But Deenlie’s pace never slowed, as it had been from the moment he appeared, his aim clear.

The staff near the food cart couldn’t help but step back.

He stopped beside the cart, looked at the staff member, and gave a slight lift of his chin. “Send it to Grath.”

The staff member still wore a troubled expression. “I’m really sorry, but there’s a bit of an issue right now. The guests over here…”

Deenlie looked at the other man. “Do you have a problem?”

The middle-aged man cleared his throat. “We are—”

He had just started speaking.

Deenlie moved. The young man in front had been on alert, and as Deenlie stirred, he instinctively shifted, reaching for his Mecha Button. Though the space was tight, it was suitable for a mecha’s close-combat mode, and the mecha began to quickly cover his body.

But Deenlie didn’t waver. He swiftly wrapped his arm around the man’s neck, placed a hand on the back of his head, and delivered a knee strike.

The young man let out a muffled groan and collapsed. Deenlie turned without pause to the middle-aged man, grabbed him by the neck, and slammed him against the wall. He held him there for a few seconds; the man was still conscious but slumped against the wall and then slid down to sit dazed on the floor.

Both were down.

Deenlie looked at the staff member while pulling off his gloves. “No problem now. Send the meal.”

The staff member was still stunned, staring at the young man on the floor.

The man lay unconscious, the mecha that had partially covered his arm was retreating.

The staff member only then looked up at Deenlie blankly, uttered a confused “Huh?” then suddenly snapped out of it. “Wait, I’ll go deliver it right away.”

Nearby, back‑kitchen staff crowded in the doorway to watch.

Deenlie glanced at the two on the floor, tossed his gloves on the ground, and turned to Secretary-General Lin. “Let’s go.”

Secretary-General Lin adjusted his glasses. “Yes, Your Highness.”

As he left, he cast a sympathetic look at the young man who was still unconscious. That was Prince Deenlie’s chokehold and knee strike…

Deenlie and Secretary-General Lin followed the staff member pushing the cart as they crossed the hall and returned to Grath’s rest area.

Several watchful gazes that had been sweeping the hall quietly retreated. After exchanging a few glances, someone stood up and slipped toward the back kitchen.

On the other side, the delivery staff had already begun arranging the food.

The table was filled with dishes, just taken out of the warming unit, still steaming hot, placed in front of Ye Mo and Zener.

Jacob had already squeezed up to Ye Mo. “Let me have a taste too.”

Arnold was shoved aside. He kicked Jacob’s boot, but Jacob didn’t budge. Arnold snorted, didn’t press the issue, and looked at Deenlie. “That was fast. How’d it go?”

Beside them, Leisa also pricked up his ears. He was also curious how Deenlie had handled it so quickly.

Deenlie returned to stand behind Norton. At the question, he looked up. “Just two people. Laid them out and came back.”

Leisa took a moment to digest what Deenlie meant, then couldn’t help but glance at him. He was restrained, but Zener drew a sharp breath.

Beside them, Elia felt some relief. “Deenlie’s gotten a lot better-tempered. Looks like he didn’t even draw his sword.”

And he only knocked them out and came back. In the past, it wouldn’t have ended that easily. Deenlie would have tracked them all the way back to their base. He and Herli gave Elia the most headaches—Arnold was the one she worried about least.

Deenlie only replied to Elia, “There was no need.”

The Grath members knew what Deenlie meant: there was no need for the sword.

Jacob swallowed the pastry he’d gotten from Ye Mo, then turned to Secretary-General Lin. “This is good. I want two more—one for Cyril, one for me.”

As soon as he finished, Zener respectfully pushed his own portion over. “Please, help yourself.”

Jacob looked at him in slight surprise. “Thanks. I’ll trade you mine later.”

As he spoke, he divided most of it and gave it to Ye Mo.

Ye Mo’s pastry, which had only a small bite missing from the edge, now had a large chunk added.

Ye Mo pushed the big platter toward Zener, setting it between them. “Let’s share.”

Jacob thought for a moment, then swapped his plate with Ye Mo’s. “I’ll share a plate with Cyril. You’re the guest, after all.”

Before Ye Mo could answer, Zener immediately agreed. “It’s an honor,” he said earnestly.

Ye Mo looked between Zener and Jacob. Zener was already happily focused on eating. Finally, Ye Mo leaned close to Jacob and lowered his voice. “Zener’s kind of naive. Captain Leisa said he’s been fooled by scammers many times. Don’t pick on him.”

A big hand pressed down on Ye Mo’s head, pushing it down—it was Baide.

Ye Mo also caught a faint smell of alcohol.

Baide’s lazy voice came from above. “It’s fine. Getting scammed a few more times will be good for him.”

Ye Mo put a finger to his lips, then thought seriously. “Because if he gets scammed more, he won’t fall for it next time?”

“No, he’ll get used to it.”

On the other side, Zener looked up a bit dazedly, a smudge of pastry cream at the corner of his mouth. “What are you talking about? What ‘get used to it’? Oh, Mr. Baide, hello! And… Cyril, this is really good! No wonder everyone says the food here is delicious…”

Seeing Ye Mo and Zener huddle together again.

Baide gave up teasing them. He found a spot, sat down comfortably, and stretched his arms over the back of the chairs. “The liquor here is passable.”

Beside him, Adrian clicked his tongue. “Too bad there are so many party poopers.”

“I think it’s pretty interesting. Your old man is still quite popular, huh?”

Arnold stared at him. He roughly understood what Baide meant, but still, “I’m telling Mom.”

Baide’s movement froze. “You know what I mean, my sweet little dummy.”

“I’m telling Mom.”

Baide looked completely unconcerned, not even glancing at Arnold. "Sylvia won't believe it. There are no secrets between us; she trusts me."

"I'm going to tell Mom."

"Arnold, you're losing your charm."

Secretary-General Lin thought to himself, Your Majesty, Princess Sylvia's trust in you has long since crumbled since you took the children to the bug nest when Prince Ano's arm was bitten off.

He pushed up his glasses again, but this was also a bad sign. Before the competition, he had anticipated that other countries would try to test the waters and poach talents, but he hadn't expected it to happen so soon—he thought it would be after the resource battle ended.

Even so, Secretary-General Lin wasn't too tense. Fortunately, the bonds among the Graths were unbreakable. This was the one thing he was certain of.

He looked at His Majesty and the other Graths, finally letting his gaze settle on Ye Mo, who was talking to Zener.

As long as Cyril of Grath was there...

...

That evening, the Graths gathered as usual in Norton's living room.

"Ye Mo went to bed so early."

"It's boring when he's asleep."

"How about waking him up?"

"Baide, even if you're the big brother and father combined, big brother would still kill you."

The door opened, and Norton and Secretary-General Lin entered from outside. The Graths, who had been talking animatedly a moment ago, fell silent.

Jacob, perched on a cabinet against the wall, spoke up first, which was rare for him. "The captain of a friend of Ye Mo's said that this year's top prize is a habitable planet. Except for a few special planets that cannot be given away, we can choose from the habitable planets that the Star Alliance owns."

Planets could be terraformed, but that required a huge investment of manpower and resources. Even planets that were naturally habitable required considerable effort to develop.

"If we pick the right location, this planet could be our first foothold, which would save us a lot of time."

It would serve as a foothold for them to step out of that barren land.

Arnold frowned. "What foothold?"

Herli said matter-of-factly, "A foothold for moving, of course. The Graths will relocate first. If others want to move, we'll charge a fee later, or they'll die. By then, we can clean up the wandering star territories. I've wanted to mess with them for a long time."

The universe was vast, with no shortage of planets. As long as one had time and resources, every planet could be built into a habitable one. In theory, a nation could expand its territory peacefully and limitlessly this way. The main challenges were cleaning up a star region and then continuously fending off insect invasions. The first step alone had already made many nations abandon this idea, opting instead to acquire ready-made planets from others.

But for the Graths, clearing a star region was nothing.

Arnold stood up, surprised. "We're moving? When did you all discuss this?"

Baide covered his mouth, feigning surprise. "Ah, I didn't tell you? My poor Nuo An."

Arnold raised his leg and kicked at him. "You jerk!"

Baide stood up calmly and dodged his attack. The two of them silently moved away to an open space.

Elia sighed and stood up. "Arnold, that's enough. We only started discussing this recently. We didn't mean to hide it from you. Mother planned it this way from the start. You know she doesn't like discussing these things with us."

Secretary-General Lin pushed up his glasses again, hiding his expression. That probably wasn't Queen Sylvia's fault.

Elia turned to Baide, "Baide, stop bullying Arnold. You're going too far..."

The others naturally ignored them and continued their conversation.

"The next matches are all commander battles, right?"

Secretary-General Lin, snapping back to reality, nodded. "Yes, because these matches require larger venues, the progress is slower than before. The official notice hasn't been released yet, but it's certain that this match is not an elimination round like the first. The following matches are all ranking rounds, and the final ranking will be determined by the total points earned from these matches."

Author's note:

Elia: Always on the way to breaking up fights.