Chapter 258: You Must Be Attentive When Pursuing a Girl

"We just wanted to help Brother Ras get rid of a rival..." Alexander Frederick was a curly-haired wizard, fifteen or sixteen years old, still very young, and completely unable to resist Murphy's Command Voice.

"Why me?" Murphy asked again.

There should be more than just himself among the suitors entering the city these days, and these two guys didn't seem to have made a move against that Frenchman.

"Because your name was added to the list by the Empress herself," George Frederick said.

"Originally, the work of selecting the Empress's fiancé was the responsibility of the protocol officer. The Empress hadn't asked about it before, but Lady Yaga personally added a name to the list not long ago. Everyone knows Lady Yaga only listens to the Empress, so this could only be the Empress's decree."

"So, you think I'm a threat?"

Murphy frowned. How could Sophia leave such a big loophole? Couldn't she have ordered Lady Yaga to add seventy or eighty people to the list?

This way, I'm very conspicuous.

However, thinking about it carefully, it seemed quite irrelevant. The mission he came to execute didn't actually count as "assassination," and even if his identity were exposed, it wouldn't be too much of a problem.

He was here to assassinate Ivan, that's true, but the reason the Empress needed him wasn't because his identity was hidden and unknown, but because he was strong enough to beat the Great Shaman.

The biggest obstacle to killing Ivan wasn't that he was on guard, but the two master wizards by his side.

The Empress hadn't intended for him to sneakily kill Ivan—even Vitaly Pizhegud, whom he had encountered at the time, had something like a substitute doll, so there was no reason Ivan wouldn't have something more effective.

To kill him, a non-replicable assassination wasn't enough. For a guy with resurrection coins, one could only win by brute force.

He had just used Legilimency on the two and basically confirmed that they knew nothing about his mission.

How should he deal with these two guys?

It would be troublesome if he didn't kill them, but if he did, he would have to move against Ivan immediately.

But he hadn't communicated with the Empress's side yet, and Lady Yaga hadn't lured away and blocked that "Song of the Earth." If he had to face two guys with combat power similar to Alexei at once, he might flip his car.

Hesitating for a moment, he asked: "You two, want to live, or want to die?"

"Want to live, want to live, sorry, spare us..." the two guys begged desperately.

"Want to live, then from now on, you must listen to me."

Half a minute later, when Lady Yaga appeared in the alley, the two young wizards had already taken their men away.

"Young man, I heard there was an attack here, but you look like you're still very healthy."

Lady Yaga was already very old, her whole body hunched. If he hadn't heard the description from Barty Jr., Murphy wouldn't have believed that the old lady in front of him, who looked like she could be blown over by a gust of wind, was a powerful wizard comparable to a Great Shaman.

"Health is such a wonderful thing, but unfortunately, some people just don't know how to cherish it," Murphy sighed. "However, I think they have learned their lesson and won't do it again."

The old woman raised her neck, her half-squinted eyes lifted slightly, and she glanced at him. "You are indeed a very good young man; Granny didn't misjudge you. However, Granny still wants to ask you one thing: will this affect your itinerary? If needed, I will make other arrangements."

"No, please keep everything as usual," Murphy said.

"Very well," the old woman nodded slightly. "Then prepare yourself, let's go see His Majesty. By the way, what gift have you prepared for the Empress?"

"Uh, I came in a hurry, only brought some local specialties, anti-aging potions, magic vision potions, etc., but they should still be considered rare..."

Lady Yaga glanced at him and shook her head. "Young man, you must be attentive when pursuing a girl."

"..."

Murphy was speechless. I'm not here to fall in love, for heaven's sake. This is a power grab, can you be serious?

Besides, presenting her country to Her Majesty the Empress, is there any gift more attentive than this?

In the afternoon, Murphy and envoys from over a dozen different countries or regions met the Queen.

Some of these people were indeed princes of some magical lords, and most of them had some noble titles. It was only then that Murphy realized that in Europe, not all magical governments were like the British Ministry of Magic.

Many were just small kingdoms, completely unaffected by the changes in Muggle society, and some were autonomous tribes from beginning to end, without even a government.

The ceremony was very formal. The envoys presented gifts one by one and introduced their family backgrounds. Watching them present ancestral treasures one by one, he quietly tucked a few bottles of potions into his pocket.

When it was his turn, Murphy stepped forward, bowed to the young girl on the throne, and said:

"Respected Her Majesty the Empress. I am the Emperor of the Mandalorians, Kree, Daxamites, Namekians, Saiyans, Kryptonians, and the First Men, Ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, Guardian of the M78 Nebula, Pioneer of the Grand Line, Prince of Avalon, the Unburnt, Father of Dragons, Messiah, Godfather, Black-Haired Emperor—Stormborn, Murphy Darkholm."

Hiss...

Everyone in the hall gasped.

What a long title!

Who exactly is this guy?

Seems to be an emperor of some country?

Why have I never heard of it?

Also, what are Mandalorians and Saiyans? Are there such ethnic groups?

On the throne, Sophia was also stunned for a moment. She couldn't help but stare straight at Murphy's serious face.

This guy...

How did he manage to tell such a big lie without laughing?!

And next, Murphy took a palm-sized gold nugget from his ring. "I present a small piece of gold to Her Majesty the Empress..."

Hmm?

Now all the princes, crown princes, dukes, and princes were stunned.

Just this?

But then they heard Murphy say: "This piece of gold is the magic gold that sank to the bottom of the Rhine, guarded by three water nymphs. At the time of the creation of heaven and earth, it was divided into three pieces by a god-king Wotan. One piece was cast into a ring, and it is called the Ring of the Nibelung."

"Later, it drifted to Middle-earth and was obtained by a demon god named Sauron, thereby causing world turmoil."

"The second piece of gold was obtained by a ranger, who forged an omnipotent treasure, the Golden Finger."

"It later drifted into the mortal world, and everyone who obtained it achieved a legend."

"And this last piece is right here."

"This object is called the Rhine Gold. It is an item that makes wishes come true. I present it to Your Majesty, hoping Your Majesty's wishes will be fulfilled."

What kind of bullshit prince or duke, in the end, they just took advantage of their ancestors and self-proclaimed it. Since that's the case, it's all bragging, can I be afraid of you guys?

As for the Rhine Gold, who knows what it is? I say it is, who can say it isn't?

Seeing the hall already starting to get noisy, Sophia suddenly felt a headache...

Am I crazy to find such a guy to carry out an assassination?

After Murphy brought out such a "heavyweight" gift, the few people behind him holding those gifts felt miserable to the extreme.

With Murphy's precedent, if they introduced them simply, they felt they couldn't take them out. If they exaggerated a bit, it might look more like bragging than Murphy's. As a result, they didn't even introduce their own gifts in the end, and they all just announced their names and stepped down.

Thus, the audience ended hastily.

The court shaman Azir lit a fire on the spot, performed a shaman dance, then plucked a few hairs from each suitor and took a few drops of blood, sprinkling them into the fire one by one, letting the ancestors judge whether anyone had unsuitable bloodlines. As it turned out, the ancestors seemed to have no objections to anyone.

After the ethnic-style ancestor-asking ceremony ended, the maids led the envoys to stay in their respective villas.

The little maid who led the way for Murphy slipped a note into Murphy's hand before leaving.

He opened it and saw it written in delicate handwriting: "Action tonight. Ps: Borrowing your good words, I hope we all get what we wish for."

Murphy rubbed the note into fine ash.

He was just about to sleep when suddenly, there was a knock on the door outside.

"Mr. Darkholm, Grand Duke Ivan invites all envoys to a banquet at the Duke's mansion."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 259 =====