534 CH 494: COLD WELCOME
Out of the ten witches who came out to greet him, all clad in their black cloaks, one of them advanced further forward and came to give a slight bow of respect while she greeted him.
“Welcome to our city. We are honored to receive the Dragon Emperor.”
‘Dragon Emperor, huh?’
Sol grinned. Amused by the cute antics those old witches were using.
In an official setting, the names and titles used were extremely important. They determined how you would be treated and who would receive you.
The title also showed the relationship of power between the two groups.
The best example would be how a prince visiting the king of a foreign country and a king visiting the prince of a foreign country had very different meanings.
Currently, Sol visited this place, not as a hybrid or the grandson of Tiamat but as Sol Luxuria, the crown prince and future King of Lustburg.
But the one they greeted, was "the dragon Emperor" which not only was an unofficial nickname that he did not have shoulders large enough to bear but also was not an important title in this matter.
‘Are they insinuating that Sol Luxuria is beneath them? Or that the only reason, they accepted to discuss with me was because of my lineage?’
Either way, it was cute. As to why this was so?
Why would the hostility of someone so much weaker than him bring anything but compassion and pity in his heart?
“I am Sol Dragona Luxuria. Son of Mars Luxuria and Blaze Dragona. I come to this place as the representative and highest leader of Lustburg. To whom I am speaking?”
He looked at them squirm the way he ignored them had been not in the plan. They must have thought that he would try to correct them more overtly.
“Our traditions want us to keep our identity secret as members of the councils. Nevertheless, you can call me Miss Number 1 or Zero One. The choice is yours.”
“Very well, Miss Number One. I have come for official negotiations and discussions with the councils of wise women. But I must ask
Is that how Salem receives guests?”
The air became frigid but Sol keep his smile on his face while slowly pressuring them, not just with mana, but with the weight of his existence itself.
There were many things Sol could do now.
He could continue to press them, completely humiliate them, show them who was the boss, and so on.
But — He was tired.
Did he need to show off to people who did not want him?
Why?
"I am disappointed."
The aura around him vanished as if he had suddenly lost interest in all of this.
"I come to this place in good faith even though you guys are the ones that need me. It seems like this has caused you to have some kind of misunderstanding about the situation at hand. So let me tell you what I already said Numerous times to Ambrosia now."
Sol swept his hair while looking coldly at the witch,
"I do not need you. The witches are not essential in my plans. Whether you choose to fight for me or not will not change anything."
He had been trying to meet the witches at the other side of the road every step of the way.
All of this because he loved Medea and did not wish to make it hard for her races.
So he was quite disappointed that even when he came to their territories when they were the ones that should have come begging him, they were still trying to do wordplay instead of thanking him in tears and joy.
This showed once again that the lower you showed yourself, the more people would try to step on you.
Sol knew that he was making something huge out of most likely nothing.
It was a simple name. Perhaps there was no negative feeling behind them using this name and perhaps he was just thinking too much.
But Sol knew very well — The negotiations already began and he did not plan to lose out.
Since they wanted to play, he would play all the way.
"I am done playing nice."
He snorted and swirled before starting to walk away.
'3…2…1.'
"Wait your Highness!"
'Bingo.'
Keeping the grin out of his face, Sol stopped walking.
In the corner of his vision, he could see Ambrosia observing everything that was happening. But it seemed like the witches could not see her.
Ignoring the woman, Sol asked,
"Anything more to say?"
Number one bowed at an angle of nearly 90 Degrees.
"I apologize for my rudeness. I should have been more careful."
"Hum…"
Sol looked down at the witch that was bowing. He could see witches everywhere slowly coming out of their towers to take a look.
After all, the news about a man entering Salem in, any way possible, was a rumor that could travel faster than light
"I believe we should discuss further in more closed places where no one can disturb us."
The ugliness of the leaders should not be shown to the populace. He did not want to make the witches doubt their ruling system.
Number One seemed relieved after his answer and so showed him the way.
"It will be our honor. If you will, we would like you to observe and spend a day in our beautiful home before we come to the final discussion."
"Is that so?"
"Affirmative. We will bring you to The Witch of Time accommodations. Though she had been absent for a long time, we have been making sure to keep it clean. Even more so now that she is back."
Sol nodded and began to follow while waving at the witches that were observing them from afar.
His smile was genuine as those women had nothing to do with the situation at hand.
Though he had to admit, he felt like he was being watched by a bunch of middle school or high school students rather than a group of hundreds of Duke-ranked women who lived from decades at minimum to centuries.
He understood why they were called the eternal lilies and that this place was like a beautiful garden that was always in spring.
Though the way they looked at him with a thirsty gaze destroyed that belief pretty fast.
It seemed like news about what he could bring them had leaked a little and he could feel like the only reason they didn't pounce on him was because they were exercising a feeling of great restraint.
He laughed lightly, causing the leader of the council to look behind her,
"Anything the matter, your Highness?"
"No. Let's proceed."
His smile went away and they continued. At least, this was how it looked from the outside.
Closely though, Sol sent a simple whisper to her,
[I don't know what you are trying to do by antagonizing me. I don't want to know either and I don't care. Just — Do not piss me off.]
He had long since passed the level where he let other people use him as chess pieces in their plans without being able to do anything against it.
Now, he had enough strength to simply destroy the board most of the time and he would not hesitate in doing so if he judged it necessary.
[I do not understand what you mean.]
[Do as you wish. Only know that you have been warned.]
After those words, there was no more discussion until they finally reached Medea's place.
