Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

Since that's the case, then he no longer needs to know.

Given that the old man was relatively well-behaved in front of Raslaufer, Doble did not take any further action. He paid the old man the price and put the statue away again, but the antique dealer had to repay him for his kindness—the trick that had previously framed the three adventurers could not be used again.

After some negotiation, the old man finally agreed to use 50% of the amount he received to compensate everyone. After all, the distance from West Inasas and even north of Corazonde to here was not short, and he couldn't bear the risks of the journey alone.

As for those speculators who want to make another profit in the middle, the antique dealer can't afford to lose any more money. In his own words, when those people resold the items to their relatives and friends, they didn't even think about sharing some with him, so why should he bear this part of the risk?

As for how outsiders would react to this, Leslaufer didn't care. Surely no one would be so foolish as to cause him trouble over something like this.

That's definitely the right person.

The situation was pretty much as they had expected. Although the result was not satisfactory to everyone, it was at least acceptable to everyone. As for the three adventurers who had essentially completed the mission, the old man, under pressure from Raslaufer, did not break his promise and provided enough food for four people, just so that everyone could stay as far away from his home as possible.

Those nobles have been cursing for days, and what they've ruined isn't just their own reputation.

“Speaking of which,” Angelita suddenly stopped and looked at the antique dealer as she was leaving, “you’re quite professional when it comes to appraising antiques, aren’t you?”

"In the entire East Inasas, if not the most professional, then at least the most senior," the old man replied with a forced smile. "In other words, if anyone disagrees with me, my conclusion will prevail."

"Are you going to have me appraise this sword you're wearing? Or this ring on your hand? They're clearly old objects, and magical items at that."

“That’s true, but unfortunately, that’s not what I need your help with,” Angelita glanced at Leslaufer beside her. “There’s a painting I’d like you to take a look at.”

"A painting?" The antique dealer paused slightly. "Whose painting is it, or rather, whose do you think it is?"

"Franz Poussin." "That's probably a fake painting attributed to him. It's better to sell it sooner rather than later—but if I may add something, what did that forger paint?"

"Emperor Richard the Great is on the march."

The group, who were saying goodbye to Leconier and the three adventurers, hurriedly turned around. They heard a "crack" and the valuable crystal cane could no longer support the antique dealer's body—the old man had immediately collapsed after hearing Angelita's words!

Chapter 479 The Luxurious Visitor

Angelita never imagined what her casual remark would bring.

She was merely a little angry on behalf of the three adventurers and was just casually making a few sarcastic remarks to the antique dealer. Who knew that the old man would insist on going back with her to see the "fake painting" supposedly attributed to Franz Poussin?

If it had ended there, it would have been fine. After seeing the painting, the old man turned around and left without saying a word. Just a month and a half later, a high-class carriage that had never been seen before suddenly stopped at the entrance of this small village.

At that moment, Daisy was about to go out to continue her performance, but as soon as she stepped out of the courtyard gate and saw the carriage, she immediately shrank back. She didn't even have time to feel surprised until after she closed the door.

"This is truly bizarre!" the poet whispered to the devil hidden within the zither. "Did you see that carriage just now? What's it using to pull it?!"

"Earth element, and not just any ordinary kind—I can see it clearly." Zhengling's voice quickly echoed in Daisy's mind. "And if you pay closer attention, you should be able to notice that the carriage, from the wood to every single nail, is all carefully selected, and it's the kind that can be used in all planes!"

"Nouveau riche?"

"They're much better than nouveau riche. Even if they are nouveau riche, they must have powerful spellcasters backing them up! Daisy, think about it. You've traveled through several big cities along the way. Have you ever seen anyone so extravagant as to use earth element to drive their car?"

Daisy thought for a long time, but the only answer she could come up with was zero—there were at least two spellcasters who could summon earth elementals with the other party, and according to general logic, there must have been more than just two spellcasters in the carriage!

What are they here for?

Need I say more?! Could it be that they're here to give these old farmers in the village a magic education?!

Looking across the village, no, looking across the entire Zebrech, there is only one family that deserves such a grand mobilization!

But the question is, what exactly are they here for? It can't be that Anne's emperor father is missing his daughter and has abandoned his kingdom to travel incognito to Eastern Inassis!

“Zhengling… if all else fails, I feel like I really have to sell my soul to you,” Daisy said hesitantly in the telepathic link. “I’m afraid I’m not capable of dealing with so many high-level mages right now.”

“Although I am very eager, considering that signing the contract is not to kill you, I think our journey together will probably be long. So at least on this point, I think you can rest assured.” Zheng Ling sensed everything in this material world through the harp in Daisy’s hand, so even through the courtyard wall, she could observe the visiting carriage.

After carefully examining the carriage, the devilish boy slowly spoke: "First, I didn't see any insignia of the Matt royal family; second, none of the people sitting inside are related to Anne by blood; third, the person who brought them here is someone you just met recently."

Antique collector.

"Sir Schultz, you'd better not try to fool me."

Meanwhile, in the carriage, a well-dressed man in his thirties glanced indifferently at the old man beside him. At this moment, the antique dealer who used to be arrogant and domineering with his crystal cane in his home was nowhere to be seen. Only a hunchbacked old man remained, nervously smiling, afraid that he might do something wrong and offend the person in front of him.

“Mr. Dieter, I know that setting foot in such a remote and impoverished place will tarnish your boots, but please trust my eyes. Over the decades, I have identified hundreds of forgeries masquerading as Franz Poussin's paintings, but this one, I assert with one hundred and twenty percent certainty, is absolutely genuine!”

“If it weren’t for this, how could I dare to waste your precious time by inviting you to a place like this?”

“You had better take responsibility for your words, Mr. Schultz.”

The interior of the carriage was ornately and precisely divided into three sections: front, middle, and rear. The antique dealer, Schultz, and the middle-aged man sat in the middle, while the one speaking at this moment was someone from the rear section. He wore a typical wide-brimmed wizard's hat and a simple yet elegant robe, which highlighted his noble status as a spellcaster without overshadowing the middle-aged man in front.

"More than forty years ago, I went to the Empire with the former head of the Strongman family to pay homage to the then Emperor, and we also visited the City of the Anointed. Although the Emperor's voice and appearance have become blurred, I still vividly remember the famous 'The Coronation of the Emperor' on the dome of the palace, and I was also fortunate enough to see the 'Richard the Anointed' painting in the City of the Anointed."

Schultz cursed inwardly. This was clearly an attempt to use his position to put him at a disadvantage—even a spellcaster shouldn't have so much experience! The other person might have actually seen the painting of the Emperor's coronation, but who could say they'd seen the real painting of the City of Broken Vessels?!

It's just that he's of low status here, so he can't refute it!

“Very good,” said the man sitting in the central seat next to Schultz, clearly pleased. “Now that you are here, I can rest assured. Lord Schultz, what are you waiting for? Let’s go down now and not let the carriage enter the village, lest we disturb the villagers.”

Pretentious!

Schultz cursed inwardly at being humiliated by the other party's men, but dared not show it on his face. He knew very well who he was talking to; otherwise, he wouldn't have rushed off to visit them without even going home after leaving here.

However, the two sides were ultimately of vastly different statuses. While his actions certainly had the intention of making connections with someone of higher status, in doing so, his position became even lower than that of the two mage apprentices who controlled the earth element.

But it's still worth it.

The door on one side of the carriage was opened by the servants outside, and immediately a whole dozen servants came to serve their master. When the man stepped off the carriage, not even a speck of Zebrech's dust was on his boots.

A red carpet, five or six meters long, was laid out from the carriage door all the way into the village, as if its owner was so pampered that even a speck of dust in the countryside could not be touched.

All around the red carpet were servants, tense yet orderly, watching their master's every step and ready to respond to any possible situation.

The man named Dieter wore a smug smile. As the branches of the trees at the village entrance swayed slightly, he moved his left little finger, and a servant immediately handed him a fur coat from Corazonde. Others, disregarding the mud, lay down on the ground and wiped the leather of the eagle's rump as Dieter took each step.

However, the man's smile did not last long. As he stood at the entrance of the Reislauver courtyard, he found that he no longer needed to send someone to knock on the door—the gate was open, and opposite him, a girl with a distinctly Imperial face sat on a small stool, leaning on a green half-sword.

She coldly gazed at this uninvited barbarian, her words, colder and more ruthless than the winter of East Inasas, pounding with a particular cadence, each syllable striking Dieter's heart:

"This is rude. Go back and start over."

Chapter 480 Who do you think you are?

"Eagle-horse boots should not be used when visiting guests; the red carpet should be woven in a sixteen-circle loop; the number of servants should be eighteen, not twelve, and the number of steps from disembarking to stopping at the guest's door should be a multiple of eight..."

Angelita showed no respect for Dieter. Starting from the bottom up, she listed out the numerous undeniable errors and loopholes in Dieter's seemingly elegant etiquette, and explained the correct way to do it.

Behind her, Daisy, who had informed her in advance, and Bella and the others had obediently hidden themselves, secretly glancing at Annie, who was alone outside, always on guard against any unexpected events.

In front of Angelita, the group including Dieter and Schulz were dumbfounded. They listened blankly as Angelita pointed out the flaws one by one, without even having a chance to retort.

How are they supposed to talk back? How can they possibly talk back?! This girl's tone was so confident, her words so fluent! It was as if she had memorized these rules hundreds or thousands of times, making her naturally convincing.

She sat there, and although there were only some garden vegetables and flowers behind her, and a few flocks of poultry wandering around, she still seemed to be wearing a crown, like a queen in this little world.

“You can make fifty-six mistakes on something so simple,” Angelita’s statement ended with a cold laugh. “A barbarian is a barbarian.”

"Besides, who gave you permission to use a duke's entourage? Who do you think you are! Such rudeness! What are you waiting for if you don't go back!"

Angelita abruptly stood up, drew her sword, and pointed it at Dieter: "Get out of here immediately!"

Some people like rules, but Angreta Matt, with that surname, is the rule itself!

"Little brat, who do you think you are?" Having their master so humiliated, the subordinate couldn't remain silent. The old mage who had just berated Schultz immediately raised his staff, and a stream of grayish-green, highly acidic liquid instantly formed behind him. "How dare you speak to the current head of the Strongman family like that! You deserve to be punished—"

The spellcaster's aged voice contained surging magic power, and his magic was about to be unleashed. However, before he could actually put it into practice, a dark shadow crashed through half of the wall of the second floor of the house in front of him, carrying bricks and mud, and came crashing down on him like a mountain collapsing!

"A mere trick!" The mage quickly changed his spell, redirecting the original attack on Angelita into a giant acid sphere that hurtled towards the falling shadow.

But the dark figure seemed to disregard all rules and laws in an instant. In mid-air, it used the acid ball for leverage and turned at a huge angle at an even faster speed, once again swooping down on the spellcaster like a griffin!

Recalling the acid ball again was no longer feasible, so the spellcaster quickly erected several protective barriers for self-defense. Beside him, two other spellcasters also reacted, unleashing two bolts of lightning and frost like the breath of dragons from the left and right, almost completely engulfing the dark figure.

Unfortunately, at this distance, a dark red sharpness suddenly emerged from the shadows, accompanied by a sound like shattering glass. All four barriers in front of the spellcaster shattered in response. The head wearing the wizard's hat didn't even have time to scream before it took off as if it had cast a flight spell, heading straight for the second floor!

As an even heavier roar rolled in, the two spellcasters who had barely managed to cast the Dragon Breath spell didn't even have time to set up a defense. Compared to the shadow's extremely weak body, they were like two weeds in a hurricane. In an instant, they were uprooted and smashed towards the courtyard wall!

However, the two loud bangs that were expected did not occur. When the storm that had suddenly arrived and then stopped abruptly dissipated, two large hands covered in iron armor pressed down on the heads of the two spellcasters. The bones creaked and groaned, as if their skulls would be crushed at any moment!

Who else but Leslaufer could have made the move?

"Master Yalma!" Dieter, no longer caring about the two mages who weren't quite dead yet, stared wide-eyed in disbelief at the head that had just rolled to the ground and the body that had fallen backward. He still looked at Raslaufer with a dazed expression: "What...what did you do to Master Yalma?!"

"Death," Dopler replied succinctly.

"Wh...which kind?"

"The flesh and blood rot, and the soul returns to heaven."

Leslaufer ignored the seemingly terrified man and instead increased the pressure on his hands, as the two mages still appeared to be trying to resist.

"Your Majesty!"

The sound of bones shattering rang out unmistakably. Raslaufer had no intention of the two men bending their knees and kneeling down, so he simply rolled down and crushed the leg bones of the two mages, making them shorter than him from then on!

“Now, I’ll answer the question that head was just babbling about,” Reslaufer said, looking at Dieter and seemingly at Schulz at the same time. “This is my territory; if you want to fight, then you’ll all die here!”

"Misunderstanding! Your Excellency Raslaufer, it's all a misunderstanding!" The antique dealer was equally terrified. He had to admit that he felt a sense of satisfaction when he saw his enemy's head fly off—but he absolutely did not want to end up like that himself!

"This, this is Mr. Dieter Strongman. We came with good intentions! Although the process was somewhat..."

The antique dealer was about to say something more, but Dieter, who had been almost stunned into silence, suddenly seemed to snap out of it, shoving the hunchbacked old man aside and rushing to Dopler: "Reslaufer? You're His Excellency Reslaufer? R—"

Seeing that the other person was about to start spelling his name from the first letter, Raslaufer slapped down Dieter's raised arm: "Yes, it's me—what, have you decided how to trade your life for the bounty?"

"No, no, no, no! How could I dare to have such a delusion! You saved Ironforge! I got footage of you tearing the Soul Eater's spine apart alive!" Dieter hurriedly said, "But what I want to ask is, do you know Dahl! The Lion Dahl?"

“Uncle Raslaufer,” Angelita’s voice came from behind just as Raslaufer was about to answer, “he can’t just stand here like this.”

Doble turned around, looked at the somewhat bewildered Dieter again, and shrugged: "As you heard, go on, start over."

"Don't even think about running away or resisting; you've already missed those two opportunities. Now you only have two choices: surrender or die."

Chapter 481 The Pragmatist

Dieter's servants awaited their master's decision with trepidation. They knew they were no match for the man before them, a man even demons could not defeat, but their options were few and far between.

If they are destined to die, at least they can expect their families to receive adequate treatment.

But Dieter himself did not want to suffer the same fate as his men.

He didn't know how he turned and left the gate, nor how he got back to the car, but his boots were soon off his feet, and the red carpet on the ground was taken away, no longer able to protect him from the dust.

He once thought his family was the most proud existence in this land. From the East Sea to Inassus, the West, Corasund, the Empire, and even the tundra and the lands of the elves, the vast commercial empire extended its network to every place where civilization existed. Even Emperor Richard the Great had to consult with them before he could pay for the military expenses of his army.

Those were such glorious years... but when did everything begin to change?

He appeared to be the seventh head of the Strongman family, and Dieter's sixth-generation ancestor. He led the entire family behind the scenes, no longer flaunting their wealth in public. Dieter remembered this clearly; he couldn't possibly be mistaken.

Because he and his siblings all agreed that this approach was incredibly foolish—and he had held that belief until just now.

The Strongman family should be the most privileged, but...

Perhaps they are still far from being able to survive or save face.

The cold earth touched his soles, just as it had for most of their first patriarch's life. Dieter remembered his family's history: their first recorded ancestor had been abducted to Ampiri as a slave, and later, during a raid with his master, he was taken as a trophy by a witch. He didn't gain true freedom until he was forty-six years old. It seems that this was also the case at the beginning of his memoirs, where he stood barefoot on the cold and unfamiliar soil.

But can he be compared to his great ancestors?

Dieter didn't know, but perhaps... this was an opportunity.

A certain intuition, a businessman's intuition, told him so. Because he was not facing some unknown nobody, but the most feared man in all of Eastern Inassus, Dople!

As businessmen, the Strongman family maintained connections with most of the prominent mercenary groups. From Dahl the Lion to Duncan the Man-Stick, and even that lone beast roaming the human world, no matter how legendary a figure was, none of them had ever failed to express fear and awe of death.

Aside from "death" itself.

Since that's the case, he's just a candidate for family head who ranked third in the election, so what is there for him to be ashamed of?

It's not shameful at all, not at all... not shameful at all.

The courtyard walls and gates, freshly smeared with Master Yalma's blood, reappeared in his sight. Dieter paused for a moment, ultimately choosing a more "prudent" approach than striding in with his head held high:

The handle on the gate gradually rose above his head. Dieter raised his hands high, squatted on the ground, and slowly shuffled over the line that separated the inside and outside of the yard.

There was nothing to be ashamed of. Their family had been imitating the etiquette of the imperial nobility for decades, and it had just been thoroughly refuted by a girl who wasn't even twenty years old. They were just barbarians from Inasas, and there was nothing to be ashamed of.

If the devil, adept at reading people's minds, were eavesdropping right now, he would surely scoff at Dieter's thought process: the more unacceptable something is, the more it needs to be emphasized again and again.

but……

“He’s got the ability to bend and stretch to this extent, I really have to admire him,” Leslaufer said, supporting Angelita’s shoulder as he looked at Dieter, who crouched in like a captured slave on the battlefield, and then at the antique dealer who stood there like a statue. “If this is the backup you’ve found, then it’s really laughable—are you just going to stand there?”

With a loud thud, the antique dealer knelt down completely, not daring to hesitate even for a moment longer.