Chapter 16 - What I Say Is the Truth

Chapter 16: 16 - What I Say Is the Truth

"My business is none of your concern. He is mine. This is a notice, not a negotiation."

Facing Adrian, Iris declared arrogantly. She was showing a firm attitude toward this matter, so she would not be polite to anyone else.

While the two of them were talking on the roof of the palace, Kenji had flown down from the sky right next to King.

"What do you want?"

Seeing Kenji grinning at him with a slightly perverted look, King frowned slightly. It was obvious that Kenji had some kind of intention, but it was unclear whether it was something good or bad.

"Don’t be so guarded. I’m sure that crazy woman pissed you off when she met you, right?"

With a friendly smile, Kenji moved closer as if he wanted to get closer to the relationship with this future strongest cultivator.

"Hmph, that’s none of your business."

King’s gaze toward Kenji changed slightly, but he still acted cold. Even if he was furious with Iris, he could not easily admit it in front of someone else.

King’s reaction was like confirmation of Kenji’s guess, making him even more confident as he approached and tried to recruit him.

"You don’t have to be embarrassed. To be honest, I also find her pretty annoying. I’m sure an arrogant woman like her wants to become your master, right? She really is blind. How could someone destined to become the strongest person in the future like you become her disciple?"

Kenji’s reasoning happened to make King feel extremely satisfied. Thus, from his initial wariness, he became more and more interested in Kenji.

"Oh, I finally met someone sensible. What exactly do you want?"

"It’s very simple. We train together and improve together. I’ll do my best to help you become stronger so that you can soon stomp all over her arrogance. This isn’t some special relationship.

It’s just mutually beneficial cooperation. In the future, when you become stronger than me, I won’t bother you anymore either because I’ll no longer have the right to do so."

As a middle-aged man, Kenji used every effort to lure a young talent less than half his age into becoming his ally.

Even though he was not happy about it, Kenji knew that he might not be able to defeat Iris fair and square in this lifetime, but he could train someone who could defeat her. That could also be considered an indirect victory over her.

"That’s fine. Working together toward a common goal really is the best choice for me."

Kenji’s thoughts had also been seen through almost completely by King. But this was not a problem. It was actually a good thing for King.

After witnessing the strength of Iris and Kenji, King knew clearly that this was not their limit yet. As for learning from others, he really wanted to, but as a ’reader’ with a status above this world, how could he lower his head?

Kenji’s proposal happened to be a way to have the best of both worlds, allowing King to learn while also protecting his arrogance.

King was about to nod when he was suddenly grabbed by the hair and pulled backward. It was already very cold in such a high place, but suddenly King felt like there was a raging fire burning behind him.

"What’s good about it? I already said that no matter who comes, they can’t take you away from me. You can only be mine. Got it?"

Iris pressed her mouth close to King’s ear, but instead of whispering, she spoke loudly enough for Kenji to hear clearly.

Her mouth was almost touching King’s ear, making him suddenly feel a little awkward. If she had directly bitten his ear off, he would not have had the strange feeling he was having right now.

"Hmph, your opinion doesn’t matter. We have to respect King’s opinion. What’s bad for him about practicing swordsmanship with me?"

"I’m the strongest."

"You..."

"You’re only number two."

These short sentences stating the brutal truth left Kenji angry but unable to argue back. He was about to open his mouth and reason with her when Iris added another sentence.

"Soon, you’ll be number three."

"You’re going too far! I am the grand elder of the Cultivation Academy. My noble status makes everyone respect and look up to me. You should at least let me finish what I have to say, shouldn’t you?"

The veins on Kenji’s forehead bulged. His head was now like a pressure cooker filled with negative emotions that was about to explode.

"I am invincible. What I say is the truth here."

Facing the furious Kenji roaring at her, Iris only chuckled lightly, showing an air of superiority far above him.

Just after shouting loudly, Kenji suddenly took a deep breath and breathed out. One breath seemed to blow away all his negative emotions, making him calm down.

As expected of the grand elder, being able to immediately calm down no matter how angry he was like this was not something easy to train.

"I’ve done everything I can. Take care of yourself."

Kenji patted King on the shoulder a few times before flying away. There was nothing he could do by staying any longer because Iris’s stubbornness was not something that could easily be shaken.

It took King several seconds to realize that he had never had a choice. Here, Iris had the biggest fist, so she was the truth.

As long as she did not do anything too crazy that caused major harm to humanity, the higher-ups of humanity would let her do whatever she wanted.

"What do you want to do?"

After wasting so much time and still being unable to escape Iris, King was very unhappy. As long as he stayed near her, she would find a way to piss him off anyway.

"What else? From now on, you’ll live with me until you become stronger than me. All objections are invalid. Here’s the key to my house. Now go find your own way there. You’d better not make me wait too long."

Iris stuffed a key into King’s hand and immediately flew away. She flew around several mountains, so he had no way of determining where her house was.

"You damn bastard... System, where is her house?"

[Master, I’m not a navigation system. I can’t find someone’s location, find somewhere, find lost items, or do many other things related to searching...]

The system’s answer made King’s expression even uglier. Iris did not tell him the way to her house, and the system was completely useless.