Chapter 587: The Town Behind the Storm Seal

"Yes, yes! No merit, no contribution whatsoever, yet he wants a high official position and his own territory? This violates all propriety. It is completely inappropriate..."

Following the elderly official’s outcry, several others immediately shook their heads and joined the chorus of disapproval. Two military officers even shot Marcus contemptuous looks.

"He’s only a low-level knight, yet he wants to claim territory and become a lord? Never mind the demonic invasion. With abilities like his, he probably couldn’t even handle a few roaming bandits and outlaws. His territory would be overrun within days. Granting him land would be nothing more than a waste of the Dynasty’s territory."

’Damn.’ Marcus quickly counted the officials standing before him. There were nine high-ranking officials in total, and only three had remained silent, while the other six had already voiced their opposition.

The elderly scholar who had spoken first seemed emboldened by the support. Straightening his back, he continued in an even more righteous tone, "Your Majesty, he should certainly be rewarded with gold and treasure, and there can be no objection to making the reward generous. But under no circumstances should territory be granted to someone without sufficient merit or capability..."

’What’s he talking about? Do I really look that weak?’ Marcus was getting angry. He studied the elderly scholar, who looked every inch the upright and loyal pillar of the state, his expression so stern and righteous that he practically wore his integrity on his face. Unfortunately, that only made Marcus dislike him more.

If this were ancient times, he’d probably have been dragged out and beheaded nine times out of ten. ’Damn. I’ve got my eye on you.’

The thought darkened Marcus’s expression. If he ever happened to run into this old bastard outside the city walls, then even if he had to accept the consequences and risk damaging his reputation, he would make sure the man remembered exactly who he had offended.

Even so, Marcus had to admit that Alana’s advice had been sound. She had repeatedly urged him to raise his level and strengthen his abilities before turning in the Blood-Fiend Fruit, and he had listened. He simply hadn’t expected that even after reaching his current level and accumulating so many achievements, these old fossils would still find a way to look down on him.

"Haha..."

The Dragon Emperor seated upon the Dragon Throne suddenly laughed heartily. Looking toward the elderly scholar, he said, "Lord Chancellor, please don’t be so hasty. Do you really take me for a foolish ruler? Tell me, what exactly do you know about this Knight Stonehaven?"

With that, the Dragon Emperor turned toward a black-armored man who had remained silent throughout the dispute. He was the Minister of Military Affairs.

"Minister, enlighten everyone about Knight Stonehaven’s contributions to the Dragon Dynasty. Also, tell them whether you believe he is truly capable of becoming a lord and governing a territory."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The Minister of Military Affairs spoke without hesitation. "First, according to the contribution records submitted by the Chief of Newbie Village, Knight Stonehaven ranked first for his contribution to the successful completion of the Sacred Spring quest."

"Second, Stonehaven completed a mission assigned by Lord Leon Drake, allowing us to make preparations in advance and prevent the Half-Beast Leader, Sky-Shaker Beast, from being unsealed. Third, just a few days ago, the memorial submitted by Millbrook Village reported that Knight Stonehaven single-handedly saved the village from a massacre."

He paused briefly before continuing. "Most importantly, Knight Stonehaven retrieved the Divine Artifact Dragon-Horse Lyre from the sealed Mist Veil Palace, an achievement that significantly quieted the unrest among the demonic cavalry legions. He is also the mysterious knight to whom we awarded the Golden Wolf Badge and the Dragon Dynasty Command Flag."

"Ah!"

"It’s him!"

The officials immediately understood.

Everyone knew that unsealing Mist Veil Palace and retrieving the Dragon-Horse Lyre had been an extraordinary achievement. The proposal to award the Dragon Dynasty Command Flag to the person responsible had even come from the Lord Chancellor himself.

At the time, his words had been clear: whoever could unseal Mist Veil Palace and retrieve the Dragon-Horse Lyre must possess extraordinary talent and formidable strength.

Such a person deserved to be rewarded and encouraged, and the Dragon Dynasty Command Flag, which had remained unused for five hundred years, should be bestowed upon this brave and loyal warrior as an example to everyone who served the Dynasty.

Yet when Mist Veil Palace had been unsealed, the mysterious hero hadn’t revealed his name, so no one had known who he actually was.

Now, after hearing the Minister of Military Affairs identify Marcus, the officials instinctively craned their necks around Princess Phoenix to get a better look at him. Sure enough, the Golden Wolf Badge was clearly visible on his chest, while the emblem of the Dragon Dynasty Command Flag was displayed on his shoulder.

The moment they recognized the badges, the way they looked at Marcus changed completely. The Lord Chancellor himself had praised the unknown knight back then. He had called him a brave and upright warrior worthy of the Dynasty’s highest recognition.

Now that they knew who that warrior was, none of them could quite reconcile him with the low-level knight they had just dismissed.

But the Minister of Military Affairs wasn’t finished. "Although Knight Stonehaven’s individual contributions may appear modest when considered separately, accomplishing all of this before reaching level fifty is unprecedented in the history of the Dragon Dynasty. Moreover, Knight Stonehaven is the top-ranked Temple Knight on the Experts Leaderboard."

The Minister of Military Affairs clearly knew Marcus’s history in considerable detail.

Marcus immediately understood why. Pegasus Knight Mare had once told him that the various leaderboards of the Dreamland Continent were managed by the Dragon Dynasty. That meant the Minister of Military Affairs was likely the person who had overseen Marcus’s four first-place rankings and awarded him the Dragon’s Crest.

’No wonder the Emperor looked at me so strangely when he heard my name.’ The pieces finally fell into place.

The Dragon Emperor had already known who Marcus was. He had likely known about his achievements long before Marcus entered the throne hall. That was precisely why he had been willing to offer such a generous reward in the first place, even though he must have known his ministers would object.

Marcus felt a surge of anticipation. ’I get it now.’ The Emperor’s offer of a fiefdom and lordship was probably a much bigger concession than it had initially sounded. Otherwise, these ministers wouldn’t have reacted so strongly to the idea of granting him territory.

"Temple Knight..."

The words immediately stunned the ministers. Several of them couldn’t help gasping in surprise. Clearly, the Goddess of Dreams’ unique Temple Knight class carried an extraordinary level of prestige in their eyes.

One of the three officials who had remained silent during the dispute finally spoke. He was a high priest with long white hair and a long white beard, both of which gave him an air of solemn authority. He gripped a two-handed staff in his hands and looked at Marcus with barely concealed excitement.

"So he truly is the only Temple Knight on the entire Dreamland Continent! No wonder I sensed such a strong current of sacred energy coming from Knight Stonehaven..."

’Sacred energy? From me?’ Marcus instinctively glanced down at himself. All he could see was the dark demonic energy surrounding his body and the faint gray shadows of ghostly energy. There wasn’t anything remotely resembling the sacred energy the high priest had mentioned.

Still, judging by the astonished and impressed expressions surrounding him, nobody seemed inclined to question the high priest’s assessment.

Marcus couldn’t help feeling a little smug. ’Hah. You bastards were looking down on me just a moment ago. Look at you now. I bet you’re feeling pretty stupid.’ "Heh heh..."

He had clearly left a deep impression on these officials, and that was a good thing. At the very least, he had established some credibility with them. Future dealings would certainly be easier if these people understood that he wasn’t some ordinary low-level knight.

Marcus hadn’t expected the reward for the Blood-Fiend Fruit to be connected so closely to his previous achievements. If he hadn’t accumulated such an impressive record beforehand, these old fossils might really have rejected the Emperor’s proposal outright.

His gaze then shifted toward the third official who had remained silent. It was Lord Leon Drake himself, the City Guard Captain of Dragon’s Peak Citadel, and the man who had previously rewarded Marcus with the Royal Knight class change scroll. Lord Drake was grinning at him.

Seeing that the ministers had finally fallen silent, the Dragon Emperor’s expression became stern.

"Lord Chancellor, do you still oppose granting Temple Knight Stonehaven a fiefdom and lordship as his reward?"

He deliberately emphasized the words Temple Knight. The Lord Chancellor immediately understood what the Emperor was doing. He lowered his head and said, "This humble minister has erred. I defer entirely to Your Majesty’s wisdom. Long live the Emperor."

The other officials quickly followed. "Long live the Emperor!" The voices of the ministers echoed throughout the magnificent throne hall. With the ministers now won over, the Dragon Emperor turned his attention back to Marcus.

"Stonehaven, as I stated earlier, you shall first be promoted two ranks, becoming a Purple Eagle Guardian. Second, you shall be granted a fiefdom at the town level or below. Within your territory, you shall be its lord. Apart from paying ten percent of your daily income to the crown, everything else will be under your authority, and your territory shall receive the protection of the Dragon Dynasty."

The Emperor then turned toward the eunuch standing beside him. "Xaniel, prepare the rewards."

Boom! Marcus’s mind went blank. ’Such a reward!’ He barely registered the system notification that sounded in his ears.

Ding!

[Congratulations, player Stonehaven. You have earned the recognition of the Dragon Emperor and the assembled ministers, receiving the greatest possible reward for the Blood-Fiend Fruit.]

The promotion to Purple Eagle Guardian was already impressive, but the Emperor was actually granting him a system town and making him its lord.

On the surface, it sounded somewhat similar to owning a guild. Both involved holding authority over a territory and managing its affairs, but the difference was enormous. A guild was ultimately an organization established by players, and its authority extended primarily over players. Marcus, however, would be ruling over system NPCs.

There was an even more important distinction. Player-established guilds had to pay thirty percent of their income to the system every day, while his town would be protected by the system and would not be vulnerable to attacks from rival guilds and players in the same way.

Best of all, he was free to choose his territory anywhere within the Dreamland Continent.

’I’m going to lose my mind.’ Marcus was practically bursting with excitement. This was incredible.

Eunuch Xaniel was already prepared. He approached Marcus, carefully removed the Golden Wolf Badge from his chest, and replaced it with a purple Purple Eagle Badge. He then unfolded a large map before Marcus and said respectfully, "My lord, please choose your desired territory."

Marcus lowered his eyes to the map. It was astonishingly detailed. Every unclaimed area, village, and town-level city within the Dragon Dynasty’s territory had been clearly marked, along with brief descriptions of each location, including its resources and notable specialties.

There couldn’t have been a more convenient way to choose a territory. ’This is great.’ Marcus’s eyes moved across the map, passing over the City of the East Sea and Blue Sea Citadel before stopping on a location far out in the middle of the ocean.

Dragon’s Roar Town was situated on Twin Wing Island. The town was indeed marked on the map, but unlike the detailed descriptions provided for other territories, its entry was strangely brief.

Dragon’s Roar Town: Sealed by the Storm Seal. Inaccessible. Marcus’s heart nearly leaped out of his chest. ’Yes! I’ve hit the jackpot!’ He immediately looked up and addressed the Dragon Emperor.

"Your Majesty, I choose Dragon’s Roar Town on Twin Wing Island."

The smiling Dragon Emperor froze. For a moment, he simply stared at Marcus as though he had misheard him. "Dragon’s Roar Town?" His expression changed. "Stonehaven, you mean Dragon’s Roar Town on Twin Wing Island?"

Marcus nodded firmly. "Yes. Dragon’s Roar Town on Twin Wing Island."

"Stonehaven, Dragon’s Roar Town is sealed by a powerful Storm Seal. Even Divine Beasts cannot pass through it. What possible use could that place have for you? Choose somewhere else."

The Emperor’s voice had become noticeably more urgent. He was clearly trying to persuade Marcus to change his choice, and judging from his expression, he was deeply reluctant to hand Dragon’s Roar Town over.

Marcus wasn’t about to let the opportunity slip away. "Your Majesty, I’ve already made up my mind. I want Dragon’s Roar Town."

"Dragon’s Roar Town..." The Dragon Emperor muttered the name under his breath. "Dragon’s Roar Town..." He seemed to weigh the matter for several moments before finally looking back at Marcus. "Stonehaven, Dragon’s Roar Town is out of the question. You may choose any other territory, and I will provide additional compensation."

’Additional compensation?’ At most, it would probably mean another Divine Artifact or some valuable treasures. None of that could compare with what Marcus knew Dragon’s Roar Town on Twin Wing Island could potentially offer.

"Your Majesty, I choose Dragon’s Roar Town."

Marcus’s voice remained firm. He hadn’t expected the system to make things this difficult, but he had already made his decision. There was no way he was going to back down now.

The Dragon Emperor was equally stubborn. "Stonehaven, Dragon’s Roar Town is absolutely impossible. Choose another territory. I will even allow you to select two additional territories below the town level."

’Damn.’ The Emperor’s firm refusal made the situation considerably more complicated. Marcus was beginning to worry when the elderly scholar who had opposed him earlier suddenly spoke.

"Your Majesty, the Emperor’s word is law. Since Knight Stonehaven was granted the right to freely choose his territory, his choice cannot simply be revoked. Otherwise, how are we to justify this decision to the realm?"

The Lord Chancellor’s words immediately placed the Dragon Emperor in an awkward position.

Marcus stared at him in surprise. ’Damn! That actually worked!’ He had never expected this Lord Chancellor, the same old man who had just been attacking him moments earlier, to become his greatest ally at the crucial moment. The man’s stubborn adherence to principle had suddenly become incredibly useful.

Marcus almost wanted to rush over and hug him.

Clearly, the Dragon Dynasty’s system had shaped the Dragon Emperor into a wise and just ruler, and the Lord Chancellor was the kind of official who would uphold the law even when doing so made things inconvenient for the Emperor himself. That probably explained why the Emperor couldn’t simply ignore his words.

Even so, the Dragon Emperor still looked deeply reluctant to hand Dragon’s Roar Town over. Seeing the Emperor caught in that awkward position, Lord Leon Drake stepped forward.

"Stonehaven, why would you choose Dragon’s Roar Town? Don’t you know that it is sealed by the Storm Seal and completely inaccessible?"

He exchanged a meaningful glance with the Minister of Military Affairs. Both men were familiar with Marcus’s abilities, and the more they thought about his choice, the more suspicious it seemed.

Lord Drake looked back at Marcus, his expression a mixture of disbelief and curiosity. "Stonehaven... just like with Mist Veil Palace, have you found a way through the Storm Seal?"