029. Eleindal's Royal Army

Everyone ran out of the bar carrying weapons. Zaltar followed after making the announcement. Alice was still crying and Nala waited for Zhen who was still munching on the pumpkin pie.

"Are you sure you want to be this calm, Mister Zhen?" Nala asked a little worried seeing all the townspeople preparing for war. 

"Don't worry, they're probably after me," Zhen replied as he took a sip of beer from his mug.

"Wouldn't that be more serious."

Zhen smiled at Nala. "You're right, I could get killed. Ahahahaha."

Nala sighed with a faint smile. She shook her head as she was well aware of Zhen's unusual brain processes.

Nala walked out of the counter and headed towards Alice who was still sobbing slightly. "Stand up Alice, your punishment will be replaced by helping the townspeople."

"Y... Ye... Yes Ma'am Nala," Alice replied while still sobbing. 

"You don't want to come out, Mister Zhen?" asked Nala.

"Take it easy, judging by the speed of their horses, I still have about 10 more minutes."

Nala sighed once more. "You can even sense such information. You're really something else."

Nala smiled at Zhen. "In that case, we'll go first. Come on Alice, come with me."

'There are probably only dozens of them. 60? No, 80. If they're really serious and don't underestimate the courier's report, it's likely that this place will be flattened.' Zhen thought sipping his beer.

"80? They must be really strong if they think 80 people are enough to fight me." Zhen stood up from his chair and walked out of the bar carrying the one piece of pumpkin pie left on the plate. 

Far in the distance, a cavalry troupe with knights in full metallic white armor. There was a blue lion symbol on the chest and all wore combat helmets that were metallic white with blue on the brim. 

The horses they rode wore body coverings with the same color contrast as the knights' armor. White with blue stripes. 

The cavalry could be seen approaching and the townspeople were ready with their weapons. 

The cavalry arrived and all of them stopped in front of the town gate. The cavalry leader came forward and dismounted from his horse. The knight was about 180 cm tall with a well-proportioned body shape for a knight.

All the townspeople were sweating and all gripped their weapons tightly. 

"You really intend to kill me that bad," Zhen said, walking out of the crowd and approaching the Eleindal knight. "Are you going to use Reginald as an excuse for war?"

The knight removed his combat helmet and revealed the face of a young man in his early 20s with short and straight black hair. He gaze upon the elf with his emerald-green eyes. His skin is fairly white and looked smooth. 

"Uncle Zhen?" asked the knight with a surprised look on his face. 

"Ethan?" asked Zhen with widened eyes.

"What are you doing here? And who is Reginald?"

"You weren't sent here to attack me?"

"I didn't even know you were here."

Zhen placed his palm on his face as he sighed. "Oh... Okay, I understand what happened."

"What exactly happened, uncle Zhen? And why did we have to start a war over someone named Reginald? Who is Reginald?" Ethan peppered Zhen with questions as he tried to digest the situation. 

"You know what? Forget it, just pretend you didn't hear anything. Let's talk about something more serious. Why are you guys here?"

"We actually -"

"Wait a minute, you two know each other?!" shouted three people in unison who interrupted the conversation, they were Zaltar, Alice, and Nala.

The crowd of bandits whispered to each other, and so did the cavalrymen.

"Mister Zhen, do you know Ethan? Ethan Baas who slaughtered the one demon general who tried to attack Eleindal?" asked Zaltar with admiration.

Zhen looked at Ethan. "Hey, Ethan, you're famous. You've really grown into a strong knight."

Ethan tried to keep his mouth from smiling, but being praised by Zhen seemed to make his soul fly off the roof. 

"Wait a minute, you seriously know Ethan? Ethan the lightning sword of Eleindal?" asked Alice admiringly with her sparkling eyes. 

"Huh? Eleindal's lightning sword? You mean Eleindal's lightning-phobe?"

Ethan's face instantly turned red with embarrassment. "Uncle Zhen! That was when I was 7 years old!"

"Hahahaha, back then you needed a doll every time there was a storm."

"Uncle Zhen, shut up!"

"So, how do you know each other?" Zaltar asked further. 

"I used to stop by and stay in Eleindal for 5 years. And I trained this lightning-phobe in magic sword techniques at the behest of the king of Eleindal of that time," Zhen replied casually.

"Uncle Zhen! Stop calling me by that name!" shouted Ethan filled with shame. 

As their conversation progressed, Nala just marveled in silence. 'Training a war general with sword techniques that can only be learned on the eastern continent, Mister Zhen, you really...'

Nala blushed while smiling at Zhen. "Mister Zhen, I like you more and more."

Zhen looked at Nala with a very flat gaze. "Nala, it seems you've misordered your information priorities."

Ethan sighed heavily. "The point is we didn't come here to fight you, uncle Zhen."

All the townspeople breathed a sigh of relief.

"But we're here to loot this town for supplies," Ethan continued. 

"EH?!" shouted all the suddenly worried townspeople. 

Ethan looked at Zhen, "We have no problem, right Uncle Zhen? You're not going to help them, are you?"

"I doubt they can make an equal contract for me to fight your army anyway, just kill them," Zhen replied without a care in the world. 

"EEEEHHHH??!!!" All the townspeople panicked instantly. 

"Hold on, young man." Nala stepped forward, approached Ethan with her arms crossed over her stomach then lifted them up slightly and made her breasts bulge forward.

"Who are you?" asked Ethan with a very serious look. 

Nala smiled slightly. "Ara... I'm Nala. the highest authority in this town, and I'm also Zhen's woman."

After that sentence came out of Nala's mouth, there was silence for a few moments before everyone gave a same reaction. 

"EEEEHHHHH?!!!"

Everyone was shocked except Zhen who burst out laughing. 

"Hahaha, you're really sneaky, Nala. You used my name to protect your place. Ahahah!" said Zhen as he continued to laugh.

"Ara... who's the sneaky one? Making a woman fall in love so you can get her body. Aren't you just as sneaky, Mister Zhen?"

Ethan was still gaping for a few moments then came back to reality.

"Is that true, Uncle Zhen?!" 

"Ahahaha... It's a bit complicated to explain," Zhen said, still laughing. 

Nala puffed out both cheeks then looked at the elf. "Mister Zhen, you must take responsibility."

Zhen stopped laughing and took a deep breath and let it out.

"Technically, in some way, yes it is. The strongest woman in this town is mine. What you gonna do, Ethan?" asked Zhen looking at Ethan seriously. 

Nala blushed and Ethan could only facepalming as he sighed heavily.

'If she's Uncle Zhen's woman, it means she's under his protection, which means I have to fight uncle Zhen if I want to loot this town,' Ethan thought as he try to measured the possibility.

Ethan raised his face and looked up at the bright blue sky while sighing once again. 

"Nope, we're not going to loot this place," Ethan said with such regret and making the townspeople cheer happily.

'Nope, I'm not gonna get my ass whooped in front of my men.' as Ethan thought.