Starting with One Piece, a Multiverse Simulation

"You didn't say that your so-called cup of black tea would cost three gold dragon coins, and I don't think I only said I would treat you to black tea, not that I would treat you to something to eat, did I?"

Looking at Priscilla, who had an enviable figure, sipping her tea from a cup, with an exquisitely beautiful cake on the table, Wood couldn't help but feel a toothache.

Wood had already figured out the price levels of this world in the town where he met Emilia.

To put it bluntly, the currency circulating among ordinary people and merchants was mostly copper dragon coins, with silver dragon coins used only in a few cases.

The most valuable gold dragon coins are rarely circulated in the market. Even poorer nobles probably only have a few dozen gold dragon coins in their possession.

But the woman in front of Wood had just led him to an extremely luxurious shop and spent three gold dragon coins on just one cup of black tea.

And that fruit cake on the table, which wasn't even big enough for Wood to eat in one bite, still cost at least two gold dragon coins!

In other words, the afternoon tea that Wood treated Priscilla to cost a full five gold dragon coins!

Just saying it like that might not make a lot of sense to many people, but if you exchange it in terms of currency ratio, five gold dragon coins are equivalent to fifty thousand copper dragon coins, which is enough for an ordinary family to live in a border town for ten years!

"What's so strange about that? This is the capital of the Dragon Kingdom, and almost all the kingdom's nobles live here."

And this is the best pastry shop in the capital, so isn't this price quite reasonable?

"Is it possible that a gentleman who tries to pick up a lady is so broke that he can't even afford to treat her to a meal?"

Otherwise, I can pay the bill, but the money you owe me..."

Before Priscilla could finish speaking, Wood interrupted her with a gesture, saying, "No need. Although I'm not a wealthy nobleman, I can still afford five gold dragons."

Wood was glad that when he killed "Mother" earlier, he had looted her secret stash of gold coins, which amounted to dozens of gold dragons.

Moreover, he only agreed to afternoon tea with Priscilla, not dinner; otherwise, given Priscilla's spending habits, he would have been stuck washing dishes...

Priscilla was slightly surprised to hear that Wood could actually produce five gold dragon coins.

In reality, Priscilla's usual life was somewhat extravagant, but it was far from this level. The reason she chose this place was to make things difficult for Wood and then make him work for her to pay off his debts.

But to her surprise, Wood was actually much wealthier than she had imagined.

"Thank you for your patronage. You have spent a total of five gold dragons and three silver dragons. Please follow me here to pay."

Wood was dumbfounded when the waitress handed him the bill with a smile. Pointing at the plain water on the bill, he said, "Is this a rip-off? Charging for plain water is one thing, but charging three silver dragons for it!"

Faced with Wood's questioning, the waitress maintained her friendly professional smile and patiently explained, "Sir, our water is not ordinary water, but melted snow from a towering iceberg."

Due to the substantial shipping and labor costs, the price of three silver dragons is quite reasonable.

Although Wood had the urge to smash the shop on the spot, in the end, he obediently paid the bill under the smiling face of the waitress, and cursed inwardly, "The life of the aristocracy is so damn decadent!"

"Actually, there's no need to force it. If you're willing to come to my side, I can give you a reward of twenty gold dragons a month."

The Royal Guard Knights are good, but their monthly salary is only five gold dragons.

Moreover, I am currently the head of the Baliel family, one of the five candidates for the throne, and I am still single…”

As Priscilla spoke, she opened her red folding fan and straightened her body to show Wood her incredibly alluring curves.

"Stop, stop! You are the famous 'Bloody Bride,' and I have no intention of dying young for the time being."

Now that we've had afternoon tea, I've fulfilled my promise to you. Madame Balière, wouldn't you also like to fulfill your own promise?

Priscilla has never shied away from her nickname "The Blood Bride," but for some reason, she looked extremely displeased when Wood said it like that.

Priscilla's obsession with Wood stemmed not only from her deep interest in him, but also from her trust in her intuition.

Or to be more precise, Priscilla believed in her own blessing, which would continue to bring her good luck.

Priscilla's original name was Priscenabedict, and she was one of the many princes and princesses of the Holy Flacian Empire.

He participated in the empire's "Election of the Emperor" when he was a teenager, but was defeated by his half-brother, the current emperor Vincent.

After her defeat, Priscilla was able to escape the pursuit mainly because she faked her death and had the help of her knight Al.

Priscilla had this feeling when she first encountered "Sword Slave" Al in the arena, which is why she ultimately saved him.

As it turned out, her intuition about the "blessing of the sun" was correct. Her ability to fake her death and escape the Holy Flacian Empire was thanks to Al's protection.

When Priscilla encountered Wood, that intuition resurfaced, and this time it felt even stronger than it had with Al!

With the upcoming selection ceremony for the 42nd generation of the Dragon Kingdom, Priscilla believed that Wood's existence might directly influence the outcome of the ceremony.

Unfortunately, compared to Al, who was a "sword slave" back then, Priscilla's recruitment of Wood was not as smooth as she had imagined.

Because of what happened before, Wood seemed to have a lot of opinions about her. If she went back on her word again this time, he might just turn against her.

So after some hesitation, Priscilla still followed the previous agreement and brought Wood to the Royal Guard of the Dragon Kingdom, and used her noble status to recommend him to Marcus.

Priscilla is both the head of the Baliel family and one of the candidates for "Dragon Priestess," so she naturally has the qualifications to recommend knights.

However, Marcus, as the leader of the order, did not want the kingdom's most elite knightly order to become a dumping ground for nobles' gilded junk.

Wood had just been taken away for investigation because of his "thug" status, so Marks naturally didn't have much affection for him at the moment.

Given Priscilla's status, he couldn't directly refuse, so he could only say, "The Kingdom's Royal Guard Knights are the Kingdom's strongest fighting force, and the knights gathered here are all the best knights."

There's no problem with Baliel recommending this person, but the Knights also have their own rules.

"If you want to join our Royal Guard, you must at least pass our initiation test."

Priscilla showed her dissatisfaction with Marcus's statement, because the other party's request was clearly a questioning of her judgment.

However, Wood had no objection to this and expressed his willingness to cooperate with the Knights to complete the so-called test.

After all, they are the kingdom's royal guard knights. It would be strange if they could join so easily without proper testing.

Wood also wanted to know the exact level of the Royal Guard Knights of the Dragon Kingdom.

If he remembered correctly, Reinhard had mentioned before that he was also a member of the Royal Guard Knights. So surely not all the knights in this order were overpowered monsters.

Putting Reinhard aside, Wood had already met Marcus, the captain of the Royal Guard, twice.

To be honest, through the other party's every move, Wood realized that although the other party was a good fighter, he was far inferior to Reinhard.

"The test is simple: you must engage in a 'Knight Simulation Battle' against the knights of our Royal Guard. If you can remain undefeated, you will be qualified to join the Knights Order."

The so-called "Knight Simulation Battle" is a special scenario magic that the Royal Guard Knights usually use.

This magic is somewhat similar to PVP in RPG games, which is a one-on-one challenge in an environment.

Fighting in this environment, although you will feel pain if you are injured, you will not truly die even if you die.

Instead, they would be forcibly sent outside, where, apart from mental fatigue, their bodies would not suffer any damage. This facility was used by the Royal Guard Knights for their rigorous training.

“Julius, I’ll have you conduct a knight simulation battle with him this time. You know how to behave properly, which is why I trust you the most.”

After scanning the knights around, the captain of the Royal Guard, Marcus, finally called out a handsome purple-haired man named Julius.

"No way, no way! The captain actually sent Julius to test the new recruits! This is clearly an attempt to weld the gates of the Knights shut!"

"If the 'Sword of the Kingdom' is the opponent, that newcomer will definitely not have a chance."

As a young man with a dignified appearance and elegant demeanor walked out, the knights who were watching nearby were met with a commotion.

Seeing that Marcus had chosen Rius as Wood's initiation test candidate, Priscilla asked angrily, "Commander Marcus, are the initiation standards of your Royal Guard Knights this high now?"

Since one must be undefeated against the "best knight" to become a member of your knightly order?

As far as I know, the "best knight" is still the vice-commander of your knightly order, right? In your entire knightly order, are there more than two people who can reliably defeat him?

"If he were your opponent, even Commander Marcus himself probably wouldn't stand a chance, would he?"

Priscilla was genuinely angry at this moment, because she felt that Marcus was completely disrespecting her and even deliberately making things difficult for the person she had recommended.

She had heard of the kingdom's "best knight" even back when she was in the Flacchia Empire.

It's utterly absurd to suggest that the other party should be the person conducting the admissions assessment.

If the assessment were this difficult, the Royal Guard would not have so many members, and even the commander himself would not be qualified to be a knight.

"Of course, if Julius is the opponent in the simulation battle, the previous rules will naturally be appropriately lowered."

"In the knight simulation battle, if you can withstand Julius's attacks for five minutes without being sent off the field, you will pass the test."

Marcus knew that making Julius the test subject was too harsh, so he lowered the requirements for passing the test.

However, just as Priscilla was about to continue speaking and try to negotiate more favorable terms for Wood, Wood took the initiative to say, "There's no need to lower the standards; just stick to the original rules."

Another question I'd like to ask is, if I defeat this "best knight," what should I say? Is there any special reward?

After a brief silence upon hearing Wood's words, everyone present burst into laughter.

Especially those knights who had been Julius's colleagues for a long time, now directly mocked Wood's overestimation of his abilities.

They thought Wood was probably a country bumpkin from a remote area, who might be someone important in a remote and impoverished place, but once he arrived in the capital, he forgot who he was and even boasted that he would defeat Julius Jucleus!

"If you can defeat... no, as long as you can remain undefeated against Julius."

"Then I will not only admit you into the order, but I will also make you the captain of a detachment within the Knights."

Marcus did not mock Wood's arrogant words, but instead made a promise.

Marcus knew Julius's skill level quite well.

Like most of the people present, Marcus believed that Wood was the kind of ignorant and fearless small-town person who thought he was invincible because he had no rivals in his area.

With the arrival of Wood and Julius, the so-called "Knight Simulation Battle" began.

A light barrier, like a screen, separated Wood and Julius from the others, while Marcus, Priscilla, and the rest of the Knights watched the battle from higher ground.

"My name is Julius Jucrius. Please take care of me."