Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 288: Chapter 288: Three Palatines

Chapter 288 – Three Palatines

The three Palatines spared each other glances, not quite knowing how to react to this unexpected order.

Cassandra didn’t want to go. She had already planned to visit the graveyard and stay there all day. She’d also planned to bring wine and snacks, counting how many dead bodies would be brought there.

She had already made a bet, with herself, of course, and now everything had changed because of an Emergency Mission in some Tier 3 city?

’Who cares about a Tier 3 city?’ She thought, deeply annoyed by the whole situation.

If there was one thing Drunken Widow hated, it was being kept from visiting his grave.

Copycat felt much the same. He’d just returned from a long mission and planned to laze around for a while, doing nothing except teach a few tough lessons to those who’d been up to something behind his back.

That was all.

And today there was a challenge he’d wanted to watch to properly start his day off right.

But of course, nothing ever went the way he wanted it to.

’This is getting irritating.’ He thought, gritting his teeth in sudden pain as his left, blind eye began to throb painfully.

He cursed and worked to calm himself. His blind eye always hurt when he was angry. And that pain only made him angrier, which in turn made the eye hurt more.

A never-ending cycle of pain and anger, spiraling until he lost his patience and did something unthinkable.

However, his anger wasn’t high enough for that, this time. So when he glanced at the tattoo on his forearm, his heart began to settle again, and the throbbing in his eye eased with it.

He let out a sigh of relief.

While Copycat and Drunken Widow were busy imagining ways to kill The Watcher’s Emergency Eye, Cassius found himself inwardly surprised that his neighbors were two other Palatines.

The mission itself didn’t bother him.

He had nothing else planned for today, aside from ragebaiting a few poor bastards into challenging him, only to remind them they didn’t even clear the requirements let alone stood a chance.

That would have been a fun enough way to spend the day.

But using his power in a real battle after so long wasn’t a bad option either.

’They don’t seem to share my enthusiasm, though.’ He thought, lips twitching, glancing at his two new companions.

The Watcher’s Eye couldn’t care less how any of them felt.

"Are you ready to go?" The Eye asked, blinking rapidly, "Not that it matters either way. Brace yourselves, Palatines. You’re being teleported to Bosi City."

At those words, a runic teleportation circle appeared beneath the three of them, glowing an intense white.

Copycat glanced at the Eye one last time, "You’d better hope I never find out what your real body looks like, Watcher. You won’t enjoy my fist punching that ugly hyena face of yours."

Cassandra followed, "I hope you like the graveyard. I could dig you a grave, myself. In fact, I will."

Cassius smiled, amused, "As for me, I’ll do nothing at all. I love peace. I strive for peace."

Copycat and Cassandra snapped their heads toward him, but before either could say anything, the teleportation completed and all three vanished, Copycat’s parting words trailing behind him.

"Look at this bloody sucker."

The Eye watched the empty scene, twitching,

"These fucking brats. No respect for their elders. And don’t think you can fool me, Angel, you’re the Bloody Devil too."

The Eye clicked its imaginary tongue before vanishing itself in a puff of smoke.

...

While the three Palatines were off elsewhere, Monday carried on largely undisturbed.

Challenges continued to be made, and people gathered to watch, entertaining themselves.

Quiet bets circulated, with students seizing the opportunity to earn some precious EP to fund a life of luxury within the Academy.

Teachers, too, were invested in their own way. One of the many requirements for advancing from simple Teacher to High Teacher was having a class produce a significant number of Named Men.

At least more than half of them.

That would prove every one of the Named capable of being certified Elite, both within and beyond the outside world.

That was the goal of Teacher Mustang, who was in charge of Monday’s class for the first year.

He handled anything related to battle, and had certainly been looking forward to guiding this generation everyone called the Golden Generation.

However, there were barely any students present that Monday. Out of the initial 23, only about 10 had shown up. Everyone else was off training and preparing.

Even Sky wasn’t there.

’I never learn, do I? I should move my class to some day other than Monday. This happens every single year.’

He sighed, a sound like a distant, rumbling earthquake.

Mustang was enormous. It would be more accurate to call him a little giant, given his height and the coiled muscle covering his frame.

He stood at the far end of the open, grassy training field, thick arms crossed over his chest, his bald head glinting under the morning sun, his brown eyes sweeping over the handful of students who’d bothered to show up.

He was grateful for them, but Mustang’s greatest weakness was that disappointment drained his motivation entirely, leaving him inclined to do nothing at all.

And today, he was disappointed. So he stood there, simply watching, barely holding back the urge to ask Mother Earth why him.

Meadow, meanwhile, was already regretting coming. She checked her watch, wondering how long Omm would take to return from the bathroom so they could slip away quickly.

But at that moment, someone approached her.

She lifted her head, narrowing her pink eyes behind her glasses at Jeanne.

"What do you want?" Meadow asked immediately, her tone unwelcoming.

Jeanne was unfazed. She stood beside her, looked straight ahead, and spoke: "I’m here to give you two choices, Meadow." She said, her voice cold, "Choose between leaving Omm alone, or being challenged by me for your 10th rank."

Meadow’s face twitched.

"I don’t need to tell you I’m far stronger than you. You wouldn’t last a minute against me." Jeanne continued, glancing at Meadow from the corner of her golden eyes, "So, what’s your decision? Lose your rank, or let Omm go?"

"So you like him that much, huh?" The young tycoon murmured.

"That’s not my question."

"And you think I care about your question?" Meadow chuckled, incredulous, "I think you’re severely underestimating me, Jeanne. And I honestly don’t know how to take that."

Meadow turned her head, meeting her golden eyes directly.

"You’re stronger than me, fine. But I’m infinitely wealthier than you." She stepped closer, as though worried someone might overhear, "If you can beat me, I can ruin your life. How many calls do you think it’d take me to make sure no one ever does business with your family again? How many calls do you think it’d take to freeze your family’s accounts at my family’s bank, over ’a suspicious amount of money, let’s freeze it and investigate, shall we?’ It’s remarkably easy to say, don’t you think?"

Jeanne’s eyes grew colder and colder the longer Meadow spoke, though fear lurked beneath the surface too.

Her father was already ready to kill her over failing to break into the top 10. What would happen if she cost the family their money, and left them with nothing at all?

She had no doubt she’d be killed for it.

After all...

’He killed my younger brother. Killed his own son, for being a disappointment. I’ll be dead. I’ll definitely be dead.’

But refusing to challenge Meadow — the easiest of the top 10 to beat — would make it nearly impossible to break into the top 10 herself and save her own life.

Jeanne was trapped, her heart aching, her mind slowly fracturing under the weight of depression and anxiety threatening to consume her before anyone else could.

"You hear me now?" Meadow said again, adjusting her glasses on her nose, "You challenge me, I make your family poor within the next few weeks, or months. You know what, let me show you it isn’t only you who can play this game."

She smiled coldly, though inwardly Meadow was startled by how coldly she’d just calculated all of this, unable to stop herself from tracing the shift back to Cassius.

She realized, in that moment, that he’d influenced her far more than she’d ever imagined.

But it was too late now.

"If you don’t stay away from Omm, I’ll make sure your family drowns in debt, coming from...well, we can always fabricate the specifics. Don’t forget, I’m a Wealth."

Her smile deepened, though its edges trembled faintly, while Jeanne’s expression crumbled.

"This Kingdom’s economy is in our hands."

—End of Chapter 288—