The Indomitable Lord of the Big Stomach

Earl Leon slumped in his white tiger-skin chair. The distant vibrations reaching his ears made him frown slightly, his fleshy cheeks twitching.

But he quickly smoothed out his brow, picked up a grape, and stuffed it into his mouth, mumbling indistinctly,

"It's just the aftermath of the battle. Leah must be holding back her power on purpose, afraid of catching Valoran in the crossfire."

Right, that must be it.

There was no way that man was stronger than Leah.

In his mind, Leah was a seventh-tier battle aura master, the most powerful combatant in all of Valoran. She hadn't lost a single fight since her debut.

Those so-called strong enemies couldn't withstand a single strike from Leah's sword, let alone this spatial magician who had popped out of nowhere.

Everyone knew that magicians were terrified of warriors getting into close quarters with them.

"That brat must be hiding and dodging. Leah just hasn't found an opening yet, which is why she seems a bit passive."

Earl Leon comforted himself, his small, squinty eyes full of certainty.

"Once Leah gets serious, she'll finish that guy off with one sword strike! Then we'll drag him back here, interrogate him about that old geezer Kaiaolen's conspiracy, and squeeze him dry of his magic manuals. It's absolutely perfect!"

He even started to fantasize about Leah returning to report her success with Ye Chuan's head in hand. He couldn't help but curl his lips into a greasy smile, his fat bunching up in a way that looked exceptionally comical.

But right at that moment, Ye Chuan's figure appeared without any warning, holding Leah in his hand like a ragdoll.

He casually tossed her aside. Leah's body crashed onto the bluestone floor with a dull thud. Her silver armor was completely shattered, and a shocking trail of blood hung from the corner of her mouth. Her eyes were tightly shut; she was clearly unconscious.

"!!!"

Earl Leon's smile instantly froze on his face, and the grape in his mouth dropped to the floor.

He sprang up from his chair, his fat jiggling violently. His legs trembled uncontrollably as he pointed at Ye Chuan, his voice shaking:

"What... what did you do to Leah?! Impossible! How could Leah lose?!"

Ye Chuan dusted off his hands, his tone remaining flat:

"Nothing much, just knocked her out. Your strongest guard is nothing more than this."

He shook his head and slowly walked toward Earl Leon. With every step he took, an invisible pressure made it difficult for Earl Leon to breathe.

He subconsciously backed away until his back hit the cold wall, finally stopping in terror.

"Now, we can have a proper talk."

Ye Chuan leaned against a nearby stone pillar.

"I'll give you two choices. Either send Valoran's troops with me to the royal city to exterminate those disguised monsters, or I'll tear down this manor of yours and throw you to the monsters as monster feed."

"Impossible!" Earl Leon suddenly roared. Although his voice still carried fear, it now had a touch of resolution.

"Valoran's troops are meant to protect its people! Going to the royal city will only send my people to die in vain! I will absolutely not agree!"

Ye Chuan raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised.

He originally thought this was just a greasy fat man who only knew greed and scheming; he didn't expect him to actually act somewhat like a lord.

"Oh? I couldn't tell, but you actually care quite a bit about the people in your territory."

Ye Chuan's tone softened a bit.

"Then let me ask you, why did you send people to spy on me? We don't know each other at all, so it can't be because you were just bored, right?"

Earl Leon's face instantly turned pale. His eyes darted around, not daring to meet Ye Chuan's gaze directly.

Under Ye Chuan's sharp scrutiny, he finally broke down, slumping onto the floor with a crying tone in his voice:

"I... I didn't mean to spy on you... I wanted to seize Cohen's merchant guild!"

"That guy Cohen has been expanding his business lately, controlling half of Valoran's supply routes. I've been wanting to snatch his properties for a long time."

He wiped the cold sweat from his face and said intermittently,

"I had everything arranged. I had bandits ambush and kill him outside the city. Once he was dead, I would take over his business under the guise of protecting merchants... But who knew you guys would suddenly pop up and save him!"

"I was afraid you were helpers Cohen hired and that you would ruin my plans, so I sent people to spy on you to figure out your background... I really never thought about making a move against you!"

Earl Leon cried, his face covered in grease, looking like a wronged fat man.

"I just wanted to grab some properties to make Valoran's treasury a bit fuller, so the people could live a better life..."

Ye Chuan: "..."

Good grief, he really is an insatiably greedy glutton.

Ye Chuan looked at his pathetic state and let out a scoff.

This guy's greed was real, and his slight sense of responsibility toward his people was probably real too; he just wasn't very smart.

He kicked a piece of rubble nearby, his tone cold:

"Regardless of your original intentions, I'll give you one last chance now. Send the troops, or have your manor torn down?"

"Don't even think about forcing me!"

Earl Leon suddenly straightened his back. Even though his legs were still trembling uncontrollably and his face was as pale as paper, his eyes revealed an almost stubborn determination.

"I said it, Valoran's troops will absolutely not be sacrificed in vain for these fictitious monsters! Those so-called disguised monsters are nothing but Kaiaolen's excuse!"

He stared fixedly at Ye Chuan, his voice hoarse from fear but carrying a trace of desperate tragic heroism.

"If you want to kill me, then kill me! Even though I, Leon, am greedy for money, I will never gamble with the lives of my people! Rather than letting Valoran fall into the chaos of the royal city's war, I'd rather die right here. At least it can guarantee temporary peace!"

Ye Chuan was stunned for a moment. Looking at this trembling lump of fat in front of him who was stubbornly refusing to yield, he actually felt a bit surprised.

He had originally thought Earl Leon was just a cowardly, selfish nouveau riche lord, but he hadn't expected him to have such integrity when it came to the safety of his people.

He raised an eyebrow, no longer feeling as much contempt for the glutton, instead thinking a bit more highly of the man.

His originally tense aura relaxed a bit, and he withdrew the spiritual pressure he had been emitting:

"I didn't expect a fat guy like you to actually have some of the qualities of a lord."

Earl Leon froze, clearly not expecting Ye Chuan to suddenly change his attitude. For a moment, he even forgot to tremble, just looking at him warily:

"What do you mean?"

"Kaiaolen doesn't want to make things too tense with you either, and this wasn't my original goal anyway." Ye Chuan leaned back against the stone pillar, his tone flatter.

"I can understand why you don't believe in disguised monsters. After all, it's really hard to believe in such things without seeing them with your own eyes."

He paused, then continued,

"I won't force you to send troops right now. I'll go catch a few disguised monsters myself and bring them back, so you can see with your own eyes whether what Kaiaolen said is true."

"When the time comes, you can decide whether or not to deploy the troops."

Earl Leon's small eyes blinked, clearly a bit hesitant.

He was afraid that Ye Chuan was telling the truth and that those monsters would truly threaten Valoran;

but he was also afraid that this was just another one of Ye Chuan's traps to seize control of Valoran's military forces.

"Can you... can you really catch that kind of monster?" he asked hesitantly.

Did such monsters really exist?

Leon couldn't imagine the royal city—that the king and the others had all turned into monsters.

I simply didn't dare to think too deeply about this kind of thing.