Chapter 17

As James listened to what his staff had to say, he could not hold back his bitter chuckle. “The Gods of Wars are way above our status, and they’re not easy to butter up,” he stated. “Not to mention, this is a female God of War. We don’t even know what she likes and dislikes!” He paused when that point was brought up. He continued, “I’m afraid all of the major powerhouses wanted nothing more than to sweet-talk to the God of War upon her return. Fortunately, we went through so much to learn of her flight today, and it seems the other powerhouses knew absolutely nothing.” The middle-aged man in front of him nodded his head and said, “The gift we sent for the God of War Lana, did she accept it?” “Hehe...still ain’t bad. She accepted the hospitality we arranged for her. It’s a different story for the money, though. She was quite disinterested with it!” James chuckled and said, “Lana seems to dislike it when people try to flatter her. Not to mention, we have no idea how exactly we can cajole her.” The middle-aged man remained silent for a brief moment. All of a sudden, his eyes lit up as he spoke, “Master, so what you meant was, since that Fane fellow shares quite the unique relationship with Lana, all we need to do is butter up to Fane. This, in turn, would be an indirect way of flattering the God of War. Thus, if the God of War only grants our Drake family her blessing in the future, wouldn’t this make our business more stable?” James nodded slowly and replied, “Yes. That little brat was able to sit in the same plane with Lana when they returned. All we need to do is help Fane, since that would mean we’re also wooing Lana!” “Bravo, Master!” The nickname for the middle-aged man was called Spectre Face, and he happened to be one of the Three Major Guardians in the Drake family. With a smile etched on his face, he then spoke, “Hmm. This God of War happens to be a female and, from how I see it, she isn’t young at all…” James frowned after hearing that statement. “Spectre Face,” he started, “you’re not thinking of making a move on her to make her your woman now, are you? You best keep that thought to yourself. Should you offend her and the God of War gets furious, not only is our Drake family, but the entire Middle Province will end up as a river of blood in a single night!” Spectre Face let out a bitter laugh as he said, “Master, how would I dare to even have that thought? Besides, I—Spectre Face—am not the kind of person to toy with a woman’s feelings just for my future benefit now, right? A man who uses a woman to further their reputation is someone I, Spectre Face, would be the first person to look down on!” Upon making that statement, Spectre Face explained, “What I mean is, Fane isn’t Lana’s man now, ia he? Perhaps there’s also a possibility of them sharing an intimate relationship! Besides, they’ve known each other for a very long period in the fields of war. And they see each other very often…” “Hehe...that’s very unlikely. Judging by how they both behaved, they seemed very cold to one another. They have quite the cold face on them; could that even spark any romance?” James chuckled and, after a brief pause, continued, “No matter what, just look into them. It doesn’t matter if he’s only a staff to Lana. We still have to butter them up; this will surely strengthen our bond with the God of War!” “No problem. Recently, numerous military veterans are coming out of retirement in our Middle Province. There are also many high-ranking and well-achieved soldiers among them. Go visit them and have someone look into that Fane fellow.” Spectre Face nodded as he beamed, “Now that Master has mentioned it, I’m starting to get interested in that brat! I hope he won’t disappoint me!” “Haha, good! I’ll await your good news!” James spoke with a chuckle. At this very moment, in a random room within the Clark family home, Ken was seething with rage. He stared furiously at Dan in front of him and barked, “What’s the meaning of this, Dan? Why didn’t you teach that brat, Fane, a lesson? Not only that, but you had someone carry me away. Do you have any idea how humiliating that was to me?” As he spoke, he pointed at his mouth and said, “Look, my teeth have been completely smashed. Goddamnit! When have I, Ken Clark, ever endured such humiliation!” “Young Master, that man isn’t as simple as you imagine. I’m no match for him!” Dan frowned and spoke in an all too serious tone, “He murdered the Black Dragon. I was told by witnesses present in that scene; they didn’t even notice him do much back then!” “That has to be impossible, right? Don’t we have surveillance cameras? Why can’t we get clear footage of how he made his move?” After Ken heard what he said, his expression was in disbelief. “I’ve already looked into it and have even slowed down the footage, all to no avail!” Dan let out a bitter laugh and added, “Still, we know that he was directly pierced in-between his brows. We found an extremely thin silver needle on top of a pillar from a distance. Moreover, the silver needle was completely pierced through the pillar. There are only one to two millimeters exposed from the pillar!” Young Master Ken took a deep breath and said, “You’re joking, right? You’re telling me that after a person’s head was pierced, it also pierced through a stone pillar, and all that’s left was a tiny bit exposed on the outside? Such an incredible speed and insane strength!” “This finger of mine, well, I lost a bet to him, and I chopped it off as a result! This person is way too terrifying! Young Master, don’t ever cross this Fane fellow, do you understand?” Dan raised his hand and said, “Arm-wrestling with him made me feel like I’m a mere ant compared to him with the strength he had.” “That’s got to be impossible, isn’t it? There’s someone that powerful in this world? You’re already incredibly powerful; how much more powerful can he be compared to you?” Ken was completely stunned. If that was the case, would it be that getting Selena was a mere dream? “Yeah, this was also the first time for me to have ever met someone this terrifyingly powerful!” Dan lamented as he left swiftly. Young Master Ken sat on the floor after Dan had left him be. The moment he thought about the beautiful Selena, his heart felt incredibly dissatisfied. “Goddamnit. I refuse to believe it. This is the Middle Province, and we Clarks happened to be a second-class aristocratic family. Is it that difficult for us to get one woman?” Ken clenched his fist while a glimmer of determination flashed across his eyes. He said, “Selena Taylor, I’ll do everything I can to get you to lay in my bed obediently!” At this moment, Fane, Selena and the others had all left the Taylor family home. “Fane, those things were words you spouted earlier on your own. I don’t care about anything else. If you don’t give me ten million bucks on the old man’s seventieth birthday, it won’t be easy for you to be our family’s son-in-law now!” When they had just got out the door, Fiona could not hold herself back from furiously saying, “You’ve already seen our Selena is up for grabs as usual. Even Young Master Wilson had said it himself; all Selena needs to do is nod and fifty million bucks won’t be a problem for him.” “Don’t you worry, Mom. Anything I, Fane Woods, say, I’ll pull it off with ease.” Fane let out a bitter laugh as he looked at the elderly couple. He then added, “That’s right, Mom and Dad. You’ve both been living frugally in these five years, so let me bring you guys out to shop for a few sets of new clothes now. It’s a little something from me, as a son-in-law!” “Forget it. I’m afraid that the clothes you’d buy would shame me in public. It’s better for you to not buy me anything than a good knock-off. I want to wear branded clothes!” Fiona noticed the clothes Selena had in her hands. She immediately snatched it before she walked to a nearby lake not far from there and immediately tossed it in. “You can’t undersell yourself this way, my girl,” she barked. “You happen to be the lady of the Taylor family. We have to maintain our pride, even though we’re poor. Such imitations aren’t something worthwhile to wear!”