163 Wonderful Tea Part-1

Ryuu as he listened the quarrel between the Emperor and the Empress came to a conclusion, 'The Emperor is such a scum bag compared to his wife, she is very welcoming understanding and helpful.'

Unfortunately due to the telepathic link established by Shamiran she got a front row seat to his thoughts and what Ryuu received was a howling laughter from her, causing him to be totally confused.

Ryuu: 'Would you mind enlightening to me on the joke that made you laugh so uproariously.'

Shamiran replied back to him after controlling her laughter, 'Well brother you asked me what a cop is, well a cop how should I say it is a rough combination of knights and guardsman of a city, now there is an old practice in interrogation, the bad cop aka the Emperor in front of you and the good cop aka the Empress in front of you, the bad cop plays the bad guy trying to harm you while the good cop acts like the good guy fussing over you like he/she is your best friend, overtime the person in question starts despising the bad cop but starts treating the good cop as his most closest confident and friend, but the person forgets that at the end of the day both the bad or the goodcops wants the same they want your confession and in your case they want you to agree with terms favorable to them.'

Ryuu was stunned at what he heard as he messaged back to his sister, 'No way and I were thinking her to be a nice person.'

Shamiran: 'That is the beauty of the matter brother and before long she would have dangled a proverbial carrot in front of you and you would have been taken advantage of by her, moreover if you think the royal couple will argue in front of outsider is then you have other thing coming, no matter what people say they have an image to maintain if they show such side in front of others there severe political and social repercussions for them as such any argument they have will always begin and end inside the bedroom until and unless they serve a purpose just like now .'

Ryuu was stunned at that, 'Thank you big sister I do not know what I could have done if you were not here.'

Shamiran: 'Baby brother do not worry since I regard you as my little brother and family of course I will protect you, oh I think it is time for us to begin the show.'

Ryuu has not spoken much since he had arrived but under the assault of the 'friendly' and 'helpful' Empress and her helper Lady Brice with an occasional word or two from Samuel the 'angry' and 'stubborn' Emperor seemed to have been swayed from his stern position.

Emperor Broderick: "Fine fine if you all say so I will relent, but Ryuu I will only agree to allow you to accompany with my expedition team only if you follow the rules set by me, are we in agreement with that."

Ryuu simply nodded in agreement at his statement as the Emperor began laying down rules for him to follow, "Firstly you would be under command of my expedition leader you are not able to veto his decision until it relates to the survival of the team.

Second my team will always have the first preference of the loot.

Third you cannot hide any new discoveries you make.

Fourth I want my team intact as such you will help them to survive and help them to return back in one piece.

Is there anything you want to say but my offer is final and I will not change anything if you have problem you may leave."

Empress Michelle gave a scandalized expression at that as she spoke, "Please beloved be a little bit more merciful you are putting some very harsh conditions on him."

Emperor Broderick snorted at that as he spoke, "He is lucky that I have even allowed him to participate, he dares to seduce my daughter and you think I will let him leave after showing such insolence."

Lady Brice rubbed her forehead in exasperation sometimes she hated her brother, it was clearly Jayleen's fault not Ryuu and if he gives such unrealistic conditions he might opt not to join them after all the need Ryuu more than he needs them.

Ryuu let out a sigh as he spoke, "Senior Samuel do you remember the time we first made how you asked how I got my Xegraecium card."

Samuel raised his eyebrow unsure where this conversation was going as he spoke, "Yes you told me you got it from 'Her Majesty' I do not understand why you are asking me?"

Ryuu: "Senior do you remember how I told you that I do not know its function but I was told to solve its mystery and the only hint I had was to approach the nearest Shangri-la branch when I go out adventuring, but do you yourself know what this card signifies?"

Samuel spoke with a confused expression as others listened to their conversation intently, "I told you everything I was taught during my training days."

Ryuu nodded at that as he spoke, "I see, seems like the trainer forgot to mention to you about much more finer details, well let me enlighten you on this matter than, since the beginning of Shangri-la Pavilion there have been many card holders but amongst all of them the people who hold the Xegraecium card is less than 50, the people who hold has the card has the absolute trust and friendship of Her Majesty as such as her token of appreciation she gifts this card to the said person and she gave me this as a gift to me on my 15th birthday."

Samuel nodded at that but suddenly he began to feel a terrible foreboding as to what he will speak next.

Ryuu: "You see I am very close to her Majesty and her sisters the 1st princess and 2nd princess in fact I had a rather interesting conversation with her today as we had our breakfast together."

If Samuel had a terrible foreboding he was now downright terrified at what he heard the 2nd Princess had arrived here today and had breakfast today with Ryuu, no it is not possible Ryuu is bluffing yes it had to be.

Samuel gave a small smile as he spoke, "Daoist Sir, please do not joke like that I ...….."

What he was going to say was stopped by Ryuu who raised his hand to make him stop his speech as he spoke with anger lacing his voice, "How dare you accuse me of joking while you lied to me old man, I gave respect to since the first day, referred you as my senior yet you dare to lie to me on my face, you yourself said that it was not your turn but of other branch's turn to create a team."

Samuel: "Yes it is...."

Ryuu growled as he spoke, "You are still lying to me, no branch head has the authority to organize any expedition on ruins but the Planetary Head otherwise you boss who is responsible for all the 10 branches present on this planet is responsible and the maximum you can do is refer someone to him, you have no authority on creation of an expedition team, yet you tried to con me but also tried to make me work for an Empire I have no allegiance to."

Samuel gave a sigh as he spoke, "Anything else you found out."

Ryuu snorted as he spoke, "Of course I did the last expedition 10 years ago conducted by Kitopia was a horrendous loss you were betrayed by your allies", as he glanced at the Emperor he spoke, "On top of that your own finance minister betrayed you amassed a huge fortune and made himself untouchable using the laws of the land and whose son I made brain dead yesterday. Did I miss something?"

At that everyone sighed specially Samuel since the jig was up, suddenly Vicenzo spoke up, "Daoist Ryuu you should know that the man is extremely shrewd and crooked you killed his only son he will take revenge on you, but if you ally with us we will be able to protect you."

Ryuu snorted at that as he spoke, "Really General Vincenzo then when he insulted the Riyal family yesterday why did you not make a move against him, hmm."

Seeing Vincenzo speechless Ryuu pressed on, "If you think about Dominik's retaliation he already hired an group to assassinate me yesterday night a small group tried and they died and today another had the audacity to poison my breakfast unfortunately for him 2nd Princess was with me having breakfast and he had the honor to die by her hand and as for Dominik he is penniless beggar since the first assassination attempt and I think you might be interested in this file."

Ryuu pulled out a file from his space ring and watched with hidden glee as the people present were eyeing it like a piece of meat.

Ryuu chuckled as he spoke, "I see you recognize it and now Mr. Samuel care to tell me why you broke some serious laws on Shangri-la.", Ryuu decided to have some modicum of joy as he put the file inside his space ring again getting a murderous scowl to appear on the Royal family's face.

Samuel sighed as he spoke, "I owe my life to the Emperor I know what I have done is betrayal to the oath I took when I first joined Shangri-la and I will take any punishment that is meted out to me."

Ryuu sighed as he looked up while running his hands through his hair, "I see then..."