Chapter 148: Aristocratic Garthering

As soon as they stepped through Emir’s teleportation portal, Kaelen found himself in the courtyard of a grand mansion crowded with people from all walks of life. Various races who were somewhat similar to humans, but had distinct features such as different shades of skin, hair, and eye color, strange mutations in one or more body parts, with some races possessing even leathered or feathered wings.

This bewildered Kaelen, because it was his first time seeing not only real people but also people who weren’t Evolution Online avatars possessing such bewildering features.

His awe was short-lived the moment people began spotting Emir. Compared to the aristocratic figures dressed like true-blooded nobles, she stuck out like a sore thumb riding on her wheelchair.

It began with glances, before it became even more obvious and intense as people began whispering amongst themselves and slowly backing away, making them stand out in the spotlight for even more people to notice.

"Milady, should we move to a quieter spot?" Valerie asked in concern.

"No. Here’s perfect. We won’t be staying long, after all." Emir replied calmly.

Meanwhile, Kaelen was still self-absorbed in taking in the sights of the strange aristocratic races surrounding him, when he felt someone’s gaze on him and immediately followed it to see who it was in the crowd.

The moment his eyes landed on the person, his eyes widened in surprise and disbelief.

It was none other than Felix, who he had just blown apart in the tutorial world, now all prepped in a white, luxurious tuxedo. But Kaelen noticed he stood slightly to the back of an older man from one of the many races present, and that man had his eyes on Emir. They were full of shock and disbelief, and his hands holding a glass of wine trembled slightly.

Kaelen shifted his face back to Felix, who looked as surprised as he was to see him there. But before either of them could speak to each other, a voice broke the tense atmosphere in the courtyard.

"Are my eyes deceiving me, or is Lady Emir on a wheelchair at the center of the courtyard?" Though the man’s voice was relatively calm, his expression had turned ashen, and so did everyone else’s surrounding the courtyard as they glared in naked hate and whispered loudly amongst themselves.

"Is that truly her? The witch who went against the Creator?"

"Has she come here to finish what she started ten thousand years ago?"

"On that wheelchair? She wouldn’t dare. Even my 200-year-old son can easily take her out."

Kaelen’s ears twitched. He was just reminded that he might as well be the youngest adult in the ballroom, and from the way the man said it, a 200-year-old should be relatively weak.

Kaelen was just 20 that year. Then again, he had solo cleared the tutorial world, which, according to the universal announcement, was a feat no one had ever accomplished. He had no reason to belittle himself here, but it was best to stick to Emir’s advice and stay low-key.

From the looks of it, Emir was the one taking all the negative energy, and no one had yet to recognize him—except Felix, of course.

"I heard she went into hiding after the Creator twisted her legs like glow sticks. It’ll be impossible to recover from that one."

"Who knows why she crawled out of her damn hole to ruin tonight’s garthering. What were the guards doing when they let such filth inside? Now I’ve lost my appetite."

Every whisper was subtle, yet loud enough to be heard by anyone who cared to listen. The ugly faces of the spectators twisting into something more dangerous.

"Hey, Emir. You seem to have grown some balls after killing my brother’s family. You dare to show your face here after tearing a lot of families apart. Everyone here is either a victim or knows a victim of your cruelty. You think you can still do anything you want because the Creator isn’t here right now? You have the guts to think we’ll let you walk in here without making you feel all the pain you caused all of us here, huh?" A man stepped forward to rant in fury, the spectators standing in for him with their gazes that sent chills running down Kaelen’s spine.

He could tell each and every one of them was a powerhouse, and he might as well be the weakest player there with his Tier 50 evolution realm. But with 12 quadrillion evolution points, enough to advance him 25 realms at a go, Kaelen wasn’t scared of anyone.

Emir had ignored them with a stoic expression up until this moment, when she finally chose to speak. She gave the man a chilling makeover with her eyes before she smiled faintly. "From the looks of it, you don’t seem to be from any important family, judging from your mediocre appearance. But you don’t have to soil yourself in fear; I’m only here to see Lord Albert."

The man was visibly stunned and turned red in embarrassment before gnashing his teeth in rage and grabbing a wine glass off a server’s tray and hauling it towards Emir.

Valerie immediately stepped forward to block its path, and the glass shattered against the tall woman’s body from the sheer force behind its momentum.

Everyone immediately froze for a moment to stare from the man that had bravely hauled the wine glass to Emir, still seated calmly on the wheelchair, while her servant was dripping in expensive wine.

Kaelen was also curious to see what might happen, but after Emir didn’t say a word, neither did she move from the spot, the spectators seemed to come to the realization that she was basically on a wheelchair and couldn’t do anything about it. The moment her one and only guardian left her side, she’d be vulnerable.

They sneered disdainfully as some grabbed the nearest object around them to haul at her. Once again, Valerie was in the way to block every attack while Emir barely reacted. Her incompetence gave quite the majority the courage to start throwing everything they could lay their hands upon at her while throwing vile words her way.

Kaelen was starting to get concerned after Emir still didn’t react to this while Valerie served as her meat shield, protecting her from every projectile flying her way even as they became more intense and brutal.

Luckily for Kaelen, he was at a slight safe distance that made the entire crowd overlook him completely, neither did he plan to jump in to save anyone.

He was curious to know how long Emir would keep up with it when he saw the woman suddenly pick up a glass shard that had dropped onto her legs after shattering on Valerie, and slowly brought it up to her palm to make a deep cut across it that immediately spilled blood down her arm.

He was in shock and disbelief at what she was trying to pull by hurting herself when Emir slightly raised her wounded hand up for everyone to see, and almost instantly every flying object was halted on the spot as everyone froze in their places, their faces turning pale, while some stumbled back in terror as the entire courtyard fell deadly silent.

"That was quite the reception, everyone. I wanted to see how long I could tolerate your BS before I bury y’all right here and now." Emir said with her signature smile that sent chills running down everyone’s spines.

From the looks of it, only Kaelen was confused about what she was about to do, but hearing her words, he couldn’t help but frown.

"Lady Emir, what do you think you’re doing?" A man asked calmly from the crowd. Amongst the aristocratic figures gathered, Kaelen noticed him and his people to be one of those who didn’t raise a hand but simply watched from the sidelines like it was beneath them.

But now, they all had serious expressions.

"Have you not learnt your lessons from ten thousand years ago? Do you have a death wish?" He asked, his voice raising slightly like he was scolding.

Emir looked at him in amusement. "A death wish, you say. I already lost my best men and my legs to that bitch. So I don’t exactly have anything to lose if I continued off where I stopped, right here with the big families. It’ll surely take the so-called Creator another 20% to get her lazy ass here, but by then... you’ll all be dead."