Chapter 017: Quested

Upon entering the gate, they saw a scene of joy and music in the hall. Prince Quested was lying on a reclining chair, holding a cup in one hand, his eyes slightly blurred from drink as he watched the geishas dancing gracefully.
He noticed Du Fan and Christopher entering and simply smiled, saying, “So the esteemed guests from the empire are here. My underlings were foolish and offended you—please forgive them!”
With that, he gave a signal to the guards standing nearby. The guards nodded, and someone quickly waved his hand, causing the dancing geishas to retreat. Then, someone poured wine from golden cups and placed them in front of Du Fan and Christopher.
“Count Christopher, this must be Duke Du Fan,” said Prince Quested, a faint smile on his face, though it seemed to hide a hint of hidden hostility. He sat up slowly and continued, “Duke, you have a great reputation in the Roland Continent. I’ve always admired you greatly. I never expected to meet you today… This is fine grape wine from our Lannian Empire. Your Gavin Empire doesn’t have such things. Please try it—it’s a rare opportunity!”
Before Du Fan could speak, a tall guard standing by the door said coldly, “Your Highness, this wine is meant as a reward from Her Majesty the Queen for true warriors, not for pretty faces! Please don’t distribute it casually!”
He emphasized the word “reward” tightly, implying that Prince Quested regarded Du Fan as a subordinate.
But Du Fan merely smiled slightly without saying anything, while Christopher’s eyes flickered with a playful smile.
“Shut up!” Prince Quested suddenly snapped. Then he bowed to Du Fan and said, “It’s all because of my reckless underlings. They’re always straightforward. Please, Duke Du Fan, don’t take it to heart.”
His words were extremely rude. If it were Du Fan’s usual temperament, he might not have stayed calm, but this time he just smiled slightly and said, “Your Highness Quested, you’re joking. If a dog barks at you, would you really retort? Of course, you’d just pretend not to hear it.”

Du Fan’s words indirectly insulted Prince Quested as well. He was also an irritable man; his expression changed slightly, and the smile on his face turned cold. But he seemed to have some reservations and remained silent for a moment before saying, with a hint of anger, “You wretched dogs! We are guests who have come from afar—be polite! This is not the Lani Empire; where is there room for you to act so arrogantly?” The guard who spoke let out a deep snort, fixing a fierce gaze on Du Fan, showing no sign of being intimidated by his scolding. Du Fan knew well that the person who spoke either had some status or had already received hints from Quested, otherwise he wouldn’t be so bold. But since he was here to gather information today, it wasn’t appropriate to kill someone to establish dominance. Otherwise… well, whatever it was, he could just kill them first… Over there, Count Christopher smiled and said calmly, “Your Highness, this time, His Majesty Fischer has ordered me and the Duke to discuss this peace treaty. Just now, we were drinking over there when we saw Your Highness arrive, so we couldn’t help but want to make friends. We will have many opportunities to interact in the future, so why not be friends first? It would allow us to talk more.” Prince Quested smiled slightly and said, “Of course, of course… It’s rare for the Count and the Duke to have such refined tastes. As Quested, I naturally must accompany such gentlemen at all costs.” With that, Prince Quested raised his glass. Du Fan and Christopher exchanged a glance, then also raised their glasses and toasted Prince Quested, saying calmly, “Your Highness, please!” As the three drank their drinks, the guard behind them couldn’t help but sneer and say, “Make friends? The guys from the Gavin Empire are nothing but dogs who only know how to run on the battlefield. Now, they want to be friends?” Saying such things in such a setting was clearly a provocation. Du Fan snorted, put down his golden cup, and turned to glare coldly at the guard. The guard met his gaze without flinching, his eyes filled with murderous intent. Count Christopher also frowned slightly. Even with his cunning nature, he couldn’t tolerate it any longer. He realized that with the Lani Empire’s arrogance at this point, if he didn’t suppress it first, he wouldn’t be able to gain any advantage from further negotiations.

At that moment, Christopher also put down his glass, stared at Prince Quested, and said coldly, “Your Highness, if the dog you raised doesn’t take care of itself, I’m afraid we’ll have to step in to help!”
Prince Quested smiled slightly and said, “Count, my men are not convinced by the Gavin Empire, and there’s nothing I can do about it… I failed to discipline them properly. Please forgive me, Count.”
Count Christopher smirked coldly but glanced briefly at Du Fan.
Meanwhile, Du Fan had already decided that during this peace talks, Count Christopher would be the leader and he would be the subordinate. Now, having received Count Christopher’s hint, he smiled coldly, slowly stood up, walked over to the guard, and said calmly, “Sir, you seem to be a man of distinction, and since you’ve repeatedly made subtle insults toward me, you must be someone important. Why don’t you introduce yourself first?”
The guard sneered and said, “A true man never changes his name or surname. I am Edgar, the commander of the Imperial Guard.”
“Very well, Commander Edgar,” Du Fan said with a slight smile, though his eyes flashed with murderous intent. “What do you mean now?”
Seeing that Prince Quested remained silent, smiling faintly, Edgar shouted loudly, “This wine is for the Empire’s warriors, not for Gavin’s dogs… You don’t deserve to drink our wine!”
Du Fan still smiled gently, but this time his smile was filled with murderous intent. He sighed slightly and said, “Since General Edgar says so, you must think of yourself as a warrior? And I… am a dog?”
Edgar snorted and said, “I wouldn’t dare. But since the Duke says so, it’s your own problem.”
Du Fan nodded and said, “I see. Commander Edgar is indeed a true warrior. How about this—let’s have a fight to see who’s the real man and who’s the dog?”
Edgar glanced at Prince Quested and, seeing him nod slightly, sneered and said, “You? How dare you?”
Over there, Christopher snorted and said, “Duke Du Fan was able to defeat Francis, the Sword Saint of Silver Sheaths. You mere insignificant person certainly don’t deserve to fight him.”
Edgar only sneered and said nothing, showing that Du Fan wasn’t even worth his effort.

Du Fan smiled faintly, unhurried. He casually picked up the half-empty glass on the table, glanced at it a few times, then poured its contents onto Edgar’s face. Only then did he speak softly, “So now… am I worthy?”
Edgar’s face turned black instantly. Du Fan’s actions were a tremendous insult to him. Though he dared to provoke Du Fan, he would never dare to act without Prince Quested’s orders.
“You don’t dare to strike? Truly, you’re just a dog,” Du Fan said with a slight smile, turning to look at Prince Quested. “Your Highness, I’ve always heard that you are an unparalleled warrior, likely born into a martial family. It’s really boring to just drink this tasteless wine and talk about trivial matters. How about I and Commander Edgar have a little fight to liven things up? What do you say?”
Prince Quested’s eyes flickered briefly before he smiled faintly. “Originally, as guests, we shouldn’t be so presumptuous. But since the Duke has spoken thus, refusing would only make me, Quested, seem pretentious… In that case, I’ll go along with the Duke’s wishes. Edgar, learn a few moves from the Duke.”
Edgar snarled, his face filled with murderous intent. “Yes! Your Highness, I will definitely learn plenty from the Duke.”
Du Fan merely smiled without saying much.
Meanwhile, Count Christopher suddenly laughed heartily. “Your Highness Prince Quested, if this is just a simple fight… it probably won’t be very interesting. How about we add some stakes to make it more entertaining?”
Prince Quested’s eyes flashed slightly. “What do you mean, Count?”
Count Christopher smiled gently. “How about we all put some stakes in this little fight… If Your Highness wins, you can propose one more condition during the negotiations. No matter how tricky it is, we’ll try our best to fulfill it. Conversely, if we win, may I ask Your Highness Prince Quested to agree to one condition as well? What do you say?”