224 Queen Noa?

"Please, give me another chance, I don't know what went wrong but"

"Shoosh, No more buts, darling"

Noa interrupted her and shushed her as she stopped talking before he sent the half-naked man to beat them again.

"How can you fail to concoct the pill even with the formula? Teru, didn't I give her the most high-grade herbs and not to mention, my grandma's finest pill furnace "

"You did, my queen"

Teru nodded.

"And don't tell me that no one can reach a hundred percent success rate, I heard you concocted complex pills than Weludin. Aren't you a three-star Alchemist for god sake? How can you fail unless you wanted to fail "

Even though Three Star might seem like the lower ranks of Alchemists within the Avelon continent, there were extremely few of them in existence. Hence, even the lowest ranking Alchemists held lofty statuses. But not a single Alchemist could guarantee a 100% success rate when it comes to refining pills. Even if they managed to reach six Star or even the highest level, Seven Star in the rankings, there would still be a chance that they might get distracted while refining the simplest pills and fail or create a low-quality pill.

For instance, Henkie Daams, the only Seven Star Alchemist in the continent was teaching and helping a disciple to refine a One Star Pill. But when he was busy at work, he made a small error while controlling the furnace. As a result, half the entire batch of pills were failures and went to waste. However, that didn't slightly affect his reputation but he was still widely revered and admired since everyone understood that mistakes happened and that nobody could achieve a 100% success rate.

Hence, with such an example, even Seven Star Alchemists like him wouldn't be able to confidently say that they can attain a hundred percent success rate when it came to refining pills.

Yet, King Noa expected Kayako to refine the Weludin pill in the first try.

"Don't you have nothing to say Ukita?"

King Noa asked the man beside Nanbu who looked older than Kayako and Nabu with white hair and beard.

"Failure is not the opposite of success, it's a part of success"

The old man, Ukita said, and even though he was bleeding and in pain, his voice was so calm and steady.

"For a scholar, you're pretty stupid"

"Peo"

"Shut up (cough) old man (cough)"

Nanbu stopped him before he could finish what he was saying.

"Your Highness"

A guard entered the throne hall

"What is it, darling?"

"Your Highness, we captured all the students"

"No"

Kayako mumbled in disbelief and clenched her fists against her chest as her heart began to ache.

"Any casualties?"

"A few of them, your highness, they tried to attack us"

"No biggie"

"Oh, stop whining, they are just peasants, you should be more worried about yourselves"

"You (cough)(cough) bastards, they were just kids"

The veins in his eyes popped in anger as he violently shook the shackles that bound his hands and legs.

"Hmm, What should I do with them?"

King Noa fiddled with the grapes and rubbed his chin for a moment before speaking,

"Alright, since you are failed your queen, deliberately wasted precious herbs and disrespected me again and again, I shall order the members of the Clear Lake Sect to be hanged "

"Your highness"

King Noa heard Teru and looked at him

"What is it darling? You have a better idea?"

"Your highness, considering they cost a significant loss to you, why don't you make coins using them? "

Teru picked one grape and gently put it into King Noa's mouth and said

"How?"

King Noa licked Teru's fingers and asked

"Sell them as slaves, your highness, the nobles would love to get their hands on them, especially, Kayako "

"Ooh, I like how you think"

Noa grinned ear to ear and sent a flying kiss to Teru while Nanbu kept struggling against the shackles.

"Send word to every noble and merchant in the kingdom, in two days from now, we'll hold a small auction and send them to the highest bidder"

********************************

(Present day)

At the moment, a group of half-naked men was applying cosmetics such as glittering powder, fragrant cream, and lipstick to King Noa.

"Your highness"

While King Noa was busy with savoring his look by looking at the mirror, he saw Teru in the mirror.

"What is it darling?"

"Your highness, a convoy from Agoria is coming towards the castle"

"King Don?"

"It doesn't seem like it, your highness, our men said that there's only a small group of black-armored men protecting the convoy"

Usually, a king would be protected by at least a group of thirty or fifty men when traveling outside their kingdoms, but the convoy approaching the castle was only protected by a small group of seven or eight soldiers, he could tell that it wasn't the King of Agoria.

"Then it might be that fatty, Clemo, anyways let him come, I'll meet him after I finish with this"

King Noa might have not even met Lord Clemo before but after knowing Don's cultivation level, King Noa decided to treat him with the respect an ambassador deserves from a king.

It took King Noa several minutes to finish putting cosmetics and leave his bedroom. When he came to the throne hall with his royal guards, he saw Lord Clemo was waiting for him with a handsome young man who made King Noa's heart skip a beat.

Lord Clemo knew about King Noa's cross-dressing habit but every time he meets King Noa, he looked more and more feminine with his expensive wig and overwhelming cosmetics.

The last time he saw King Noa, he at least wore the men's robes but now he was wearing a long gown with breast holders.

"Welcome to Ishikara, Lord Clemo"

"Queen Noa"

Lord Clemo was informed by Joel that King Noa ordered everyone to address him like the queen instead of King.

Looking at Lord Clemo addressing him the way he liked, a smile appeared on Noa's face.

" who is this handsome fella?"

"Queen Noa, this is one of the Captains of His majesty Don's army, Captain Arwen"

"Queen Noa"

Arwen gave her a small bow as Noa licked his lips like he was looking at a tasty piece of meat.

Although Arwen was disgusted by Noa's reaction, he still had a smile on his face.

"Take a seat, darlings"

As he said, he went to his throne and rested on it keeping his knees and ankles tightly together and slanting his legs to the side, just like how the queens of Ishikara did sit.

"How's my darling, King Don?"

"He's fine, Queen Noa. Since the winter is nearing, he's completely occupied but his majesty send you a gift"

"Oh? What is it? Is it invisible because I don't see anything"

Queen Noa giggled as Arwen flicked his wrist and a box inlaid with gold and gems appeared in his hands. Queen Noa was surprised to see a space ring in Arwen's hands but the box drew most of her attention.

Queen Noa signaled one of his royal guards to retrieve the box from Arwen. Taking the box in his hands, the royal guard cast a spell on the box to make sure that there's no poison or anything that could attack King Noa when he opens the box.

Only after he made sure, the royal guard handed over the box to Noa.

"Hmm, feels heavy, I wonder what's inside?"

As he said, he slowly opened the box to see a shining blue dagger made of Edrum, one of the most expensive metals in the world.'

The handle of the dagger was ornate with various gems and jewels and the blue blade let out a low-pitched humming.

King Noa's eyes sparkled and he swallowed a mouth full of saliva as he gently lifted the dagger from the box.

"When his majesty heard you like to collect daggers and have already built a quite a collection, his majesty sent this humble gift to your collection "

Like Hedor who collected ancient fire-based spells, King Noa collected daggers and everyone among the kings and their subordinates knew about this.

And fortunately, Don did not lack any daggers, and the one he gifted to King Noa was the dagger he got in the dungeon.

"I would have given King Don a kiss, I love this gift, does he have any idea about its price?"

"It's not as valuable as Queen Noa's friendship"

"Of course, of course"

Lord Clemo said with a smile and Noa was brimming with joy and delight.

"So tell me, Lord Clemo, what made you come to Ishikara, all the way from Agoria? I assume there's a reason for your visit"

"Queen Noa is indeed a genius, we did come here for a reason"

Queen Noa might look harmless but Lord Clemo knew that Queen Noa is a vicious and heartless person who likes to do cruel things to whoever dares to mess with him.

"What is it?"

Queen Noa leaned towards Lord Clemo

"His majesty likes to buy the slaves from you, Queen Noa, the slaves of the Clear Lake Sect"

"Oh, you've heard, hmm"

It was not something Queen Noa could do as far as he was concerned, he would sell them to whoever pays the higher amount. Queen Noa had already received some huge bids from the nobles prior to the auction itself. Yet the question was, could Don match the price but after seeing the space ring and the valuable gift, Queen Noa got the answer to her question.

"Why does he want to buy them? He didn't tell you, did he?"

"His Majesty didn't, Queen Noa, but I can assure you that his majesty is willing to pay the price you ask, Queen Noa "

Queen Noa thought about it for a moment and said

"Alright, Considering he gave me this wonderful gift and he's my darling, I can give you a discount"

"That would be great, Queen Noa"

Lord Clemo grinned and looked forward to hearing the price.

"Five thousand, low-quality life stones and I'll throw in those peasant students as a small gift"

He almost fell from his seat when he heard Queen Noa as he couldn't believe what he just heard but Arwen quickly answered Queen Noa

"It's a deal, we'd like to buy them, Queen Noa"