Chapter 73

Whitebone City, Whitebone Castle, Whitebone Palace. This book is originally published on Tiantian Kan Xiaoshuo -> ttks. tw, offering you a reading experience with no errors and no out-of-order chapters.

The 【Whitebone King】, before his desk, stared at the "Spirit Capture List" submitted by his subordinates, his face filled with worry.

He alternated between clutching his chest with one hand, cradling his own skull-like head in thought, and impatiently tapping the table.

After long contemplation, he began repeatedly revising and crossing out entries on the list.

But after only a few revisions, the 【Whitebone King】 furiously hurled the list into the air, letting it scatter everywhere.

At that moment, the 【Whitebone Queen】 walked in carrying a tray of hot tea.

Dressed in a black evening gown, she carried herself with grace and dignity; her gaze toward her husband brimmed with pity and helplessness.

"Darling, take a rest. No matter how anxious you are, there's nothing you can do."

The 【Whitebone King】 turned his head slightly.

"Aye, ga! I can't afford to be calm!"

"Only two days remain until the Ghost Princess's deadline…"

"Ahh~ ga."

Here, the 【Whitebone King】 sighed again.

The 【Whitebone Queen】 set down the tea tray and gathered the scattered lists from the floor.

【Whitebone King】: "This Ghost Princess has the strangest temper!"

"She's the one who ordered the capture of spirits, yet she imposes all these ridiculous restrictions! Ga!"

"Now, no matter how hard we scramble, we're still 800 spirits short!"

The 【Whitebone Queen】 listened silently to her husband's complaints, a trace of sorrow in her eyes.

"If there's no turning point, let's take the children and run away," the 【Whitebone Queen】 suddenly said.

"Ga! What?" The 【Whitebone King】 was startled by his wife's words.

"Ga! Wife, don't joke like that!"

【Whitebone Queen】: "Darling, I'm serious."

"Though we've gained higher status and greater power than before, we're forced to serve that princess."

Here, the 【Whitebone Queen】 covered her face and wept.

"You've surely seen what she's done since arriving here."

"Hades, and those bastards from the Ten Thousand Demon Caves!"

"Do you really think she'll let us go once we've captured the Soul Prisoner Quota?"

The 【Whitebone King】 remained silent.

He stepped forward and embraced his wife tightly, his face heavy with guilt.

"Ga! How I wish I could just take you all and flee!"

"But where could we run to?"

"Our realm is this small— the Ghost Princess could find us far too easily. Ga!"

The 【Whitebone Queen】 lifted her head, tears soaking her cheeks.

"But if we can't complete her task, won't we end up…?"

The 【Whitebone King】 gently stroked his wife's forehead.

"Don't worry—I already have a plan! Ga!"

"A few days ago, I deliberately had some useless fools lose their Duel Disks, letting those self-righteous Soul Warrior squads find them."

"Those Soul Warriors aren't covered by the princess's capture restrictions."

"Now, several squads have obtained Duel Disks, believing they've gained the power to defeat me, and are foolishly marching toward us. Ga!"

"Without fail, today, a Dimensional Squad and another Flame Team will arrive at Whitebone City."

"Ga! Once I capture those Soul Warriors, I'll nearly meet the princess's quota!"

"Then, the princess will leave the Elven Realm as promised."

"This world will then be ours alone!! Ga! Ga! Ga!"

Yet at that very moment, the Whitebone Castle's scout—【Bone Striker】—rushed into the palace in panic.

"Report! Your Majesty, the Dimensional Squad and Flame Team have arrived outside the city!"

"Excellent! Ga!" The 【Whitebone King】 was overjoyed.

"Immediately summon all warriors—I shall personally net them all!"

"Uh…" 【Bone Striker】 hesitated, not moving to deliver the order.

"What's wrong?" The 【Whitebone King】 frowned.

【Bone Striker】: "The two squads have indeed arrived outside the city, but they've suddenly stopped and aren't advancing toward us!"

"Nani! Ga!" The 【Whitebone King】 was startled by this news.

"Damn it! They've seen through my trap at such a critical moment?!"

"I was told Soul Warriors were all brave but foolish!"

The 【Whitebone King】 began pacing the palace, his face tense; the 【Whitebone Queen】 also looked anxious.

The atmosphere in the palace instantly grew dark again.

"Uh, it's not that, Your Majesty," said the scout 【Bone Striker】 again.

"I saw the two squads seem to be having an internal quarrel outside the city, so they didn't enter."

"Huh? Internal quarrel?"

The 【Whitebone King】 nearly laughed in disbelief.

"Ga! I'm the very culprit standing here, and they're about to deliver justice—yet they still have time for an internal feud?!"

【White Bone King】 shook his head, vexed that iron refused to become steel.

"The righteous atmosphere of the Elven Realm has been completely corrupted by guys like this!"

【Bone Striker】: …

【White Bone Lady】: …

Outside Whitebone City, just as the scout 【Bone Striker】 had said, the Dimensional Squad and Flame Team had started arguing.

More precisely, it was 【Fried the Invincible General】 and 【Flame Swordsman】 who had started arguing.

【Flame Swordsman】: "Yo, it's the old coot!"

【Fried the Invincible General】: "Old coot calling who?"

【Flame Swordsman】 gave a contemptuous snort.

"What, your ears aren't working either? Well, it's normal—getting on in years makes you a bit hard of hearing."

Fried crossed his arms over his chest, standing there and watching 【Flame Swordsman】 coldly.

"Say whatever you want. Anyway, the Divine Healer has long since taken a shine to this general, so just give up that idea!"

【Flame Swordsman】's gaze turned hostile, and he glared viciously at Fried.

"You old undying thing, and you think you're worthy? Damn you! At your age, one foot in the grave—what are you fighting me over?"

Fried glared back mockingly.

"Middle-aged men really do have short tempers—just a few words and you're riled up!"

"With a temper that big, why don't you go to the logistics unit and stoke the fire?"

Flame: "You shameless old coot"

Fried: "Who's shameless? You're the shameless one!"

"You!"

"You!"

"You!"

"You!"

……

The surrounding warriors merrily munched on melon, not a single one stepping forward to intervene.

"Why stop them? These two are like this every time they meet—we're long used to it."

"Don't worry, they won't actually fight."

【Warrior Laz】 said as much.

You Tian nodded.

He turned his head again toward the 【Rising Female Warrior】 beside him, whose face was alight with delight.

"Miss, you just said—what was the name of the Divine Healer, that old flame of these two?"

The girl turned around and produced a portrait.

On the portrait, a mature, sexy woman held a fan in her right hand and a handbag in her left, every inch of her brows exuding allure.

"Look, this is what the Divine Healer of the royal city looked like when she was young. The Divine Healer's name is Dean Kate."

Hiss—You Tian sucked in a sharp breath.

So the Elven Realm has photo trickery too, huh?

Is this really you?!

Others may not know, but I do—【Divine Healer Dean Kate】 doesn't look like this!

The real 【Divine Healer Dean Kate】 is an auntie!

"Uh, have these two actually met the Divine Healer in person?" You Tian asked, puzzled.

【Rising Female Warrior】 shook her head.

"No, the Divine Healer has been living in seclusion for many years."

"Both captains got to know Her Highness the Divine Healer through letters."

"And after seeing the Divine Healer's photo from her youth, they became her fanatical suitors."

6!

You Tian looked at the two warriors hurling insults at each other in the arena, and couldn't help giving them a mental thumbs-up.

Two ruthless characters on par with Hayato Maeda!

"What a pair of freaks!"

【Najeema】, who was behind, heard You Tian say this and her eyelid twitched slightly.

Looking at You Tian's bizarre appearance now that he was wearing the 【E-Suit】, she unconsciously shifted a few steps toward the edge of the arena.

【Najeema】 seemed to want to use this method to tell everyone that she wasn't familiar with her master.

That's right—after some deliberation, You Tian ultimately chose to wear the 【E-Suit】.

Although this made 【Najeema】 feel it was embarrassing, You Tian didn't think much of it.

"I'm kidding—the other three pieces, if worn, could very well put my life in danger."

"I'm not the kind of person who cares about face!" That was how You Tian explained it to 【Najeema】 at the time.

Of course, as for why he had now put on a 【Last Words Mask】 to cover his face…

You Tian didn't choose those three pieces because he wanted to stay alive. Now that his life was secured, putting on the 【Last Words Mask】 was naturally to save face.

【Najeema】 sighed inwardly.

Bearing the responsibility of saving this plane and finding her companions, the pressure on master alone was, after all, a bit much.

He now seemed to have put on a mask, hiding himself, but in reality he had taken off the most fragile mask in his heart!

In that case, should I tell him about the calamity of the Elven Realm that Father mentioned?

"Infuriating!"

Just at this moment, General Fried came stomping back.

"Yo, the General's back." You Tian greeted him.

General Fried looked at You Tian's current state and found it hard to adjust for the moment.

"Hmm! Lord You Tian, it seems our plan to strike directly at Whitebone Castle needs a bit of a change!"

General Fried said awkwardly the moment he returned.

You Tian: Heh.

"Out with it. What kind of grunt work do you want me to do this time?"

General Fried's old face reddened.

"Look at you, talking as if this General often makes you do grunt work."

You Tian's eyelid twitched.

"I've been with your squad for three days now."

"On the first day, under the pretext of weakening Whitebone City, you had me Duel three Undead generals on the outskirts, and seized the large stash of treasure they had hidden."

"On the second day, you tricked me into thinking the neighboring tribe had news of Jonouchi, had me wipe out those goblins, and then hauled off all their weapons and collections yourself."

"On the third day, you deliberately waited up front for half the morning for Flame Team, making sure you arrived at Whitebone City at the same time as them. I don't suppose that was just to have a quarrel with that 【Flame Swordsman】, was it?"

General Fried lowered his head, a little embarrassed.

He stole a glance at You Tian and cleared his throat.

"Ahem!"

"Lord You Tian, actually, there really is one more thing to trouble you with."

You Tian's eyelid twitched again, and he turned to head into the mountains.

"Hey, hey, hey, no, no!" General Fried hurriedly grabbed You Tian.

"This General guarantees, this is the last time—"

You Tian looked at General Fried speechlessly.

"Well, actually, I just made a bet with 【Flame Swordsman】."

"That guy actually has designs on my Goddess Kate!"

"Now, since both of us have Duel Disks and both teams have Duelists, let's settle it with a Duel—who's worthy of pursuing the Goddess!"

"Um… so…"

At this point, General Fried's old face reddened again.

"Lord You Tian, could you… take the field?"

"Yes! Yes, I'll take the field! I'm more than happy! Don't worry, I swear I'll defeat them!"

Unexpectedly, this time You Tian accepted General Fried's request very readily.

General Fried froze for a moment, then was overjoyed!

"Really?! Wonderful!"

"With Lord You Tian taking the field, victory is surely in the bag!"

To think Lord You Tian could be so decisive for the sake of my love.

I swear, I'm crying my heart out!

And at this moment, You Tian's thoughts: You old fart! I'm definitely going to make sure you and Auntie Kate grow old together! Hehehe! Don't worry, I'll treat the opponent as Mutou Yugi and beat them down! If I hold back even a little, may I die a horrible death!

"One more thing." After a long pause, General Fried spoke again.

You Tian: "Hmm?"

"That 【Flame Swordsman】 guy says he brought a cousin from the countryside, and the guy's card skills are extraordinary."

"For this Duel, he'll be sending that cousin of his into the match."

"So… Lord You Tian, could you pretend to be my relative? That way, we won't have to worry about 【Flame Swordsman】 trying to settle the score after he loses."

"Oh, that's nothing." You Tian nodded indifferently.

General Fried: "That's great then. I've already thought up an identity for you…"

Meanwhile, over on the other side, within Flame Team, 【Flame Swordsman】 was also giving his "cousin" a pre-battle pep talk.

"Brother! You've got to help me out! Don't worry, whatever I promised you, I'll definitely get it done!"

The youth across from him, clad in the same style of armor as 【Flame Swordsman】, simply nodded solemnly.

"Leave it to me!"

Just then, another burly warrior walked over.

This warrior had a rather wild look about him, with three human-face masks on his chest and what appeared to be claw blades on his arms—a style that really clashed with the warriors around him.

"Go for it! Whether I can find my master and safely return to the Human Realm all depends on you!"

【Flame Swordsman】's "cousin" nodded solemnly once more.

Clank clank!

Once both sides had finished their discussions, they immediately cleared out a Soul Prison for the Duel.

As a match, of course, there had to be a referee.

Within the Dimensional Squad, the dashing 【Command Knight】 young lady was pushed forward by everyone to serve as both MC and referee.

【Command Knight】 truly lived up to being the people's choice—she slipped right into the MC role in no time.

"Alright! Warriors!"

"Whether General Fried or Lord 【Flame Swordsman】 is more worthy of pursuing the Goddess, will be decided through a Duel!"

"Then let us wait and see!"

*Clap clap clap clap! * "Ahhhhh!"

Thunderous applause erupted from the crowd, with cheers never ceasing.

The Command Knight pressed his hand down in a calming gesture.

"Of course, first, we must invite out our participating fighters."

"The first one is the fighter from the Dimensional Squad."

"She is General Fried's cousin, named Chu… ah no, named Frieda! Let us welcome her with applause!"

Then, everyone saw You Tian walk out wearing the E-Suit and the Mask of Last Words.

You Tian: Damn you, old fart! Just because I'm wearing women's clothes, you have to treat me as a cousin?!

If I were holding a cane, would you have to call me daddy too?

*Clap clap clap clap! * Another burst of applause erupted from the crowd.

Seeing this scene, the Sacrificial Demon behind the Dimensional Squad unconsciously took another step back.

The Command Knight pressed his hand down in a gesture once more.

"And the other one is the fighter from the Flame Team."

"He is the Sword of Flame's cousin, named the Orange Swordsman! Let us welcome him with applause!"

As soon as the words fell, the Orange Swordsman strode onto the stage with his firm steps.

Hmm? Why does that guy opposite feel so familiar?

Seeing the newcomer, this thought unconsciously arose in You Tian's heart.

Hmm? That cousin opposite me, why do I feel like I've seen her somewhere before?

The Orange Swordsman opposite also had this thought pop into his head.