19 Madam Zheng

Baron stepped out of the portal into a large room bustling with noise, there were many tables spread across the room where many people were seated. He lifted his eyebrows as he finally realized what was happening in the room. This room had many gorgeous fellows engaging in what seemed to be strategical prowess competitions. Seemingly out of the blue, a soft voice spoke from behind him.

Apprentice (A) "Hello there I am an apprentice here, how may I help you?"

(BM) "Ah, hello there sister, could I trouble you to take me to Madam Zheng's place?"

(A) "Do you have an invitation? Most elders don't allow just anyone to met h them, you have to get their consent first."

(BM) "I do actually have n invitation. It's actually Madam Zheng who wanted to see me."

(A) "Then may I know your name?"

(BM) "It's Baron Magellan"

(A) "Alright just wait here for a bit, and don't disturb disturb here. I'll go inform Madam Zheng of your arrival."

(BM) "What is it exactly they do here?"

(A) "I'm sorry? How new are you?"

(BM) "I've only been here a couple of weeks I believe."

(A) "Do you think I'm a fool?No way someone as new as you could have gotten an invitation from someone as high up as Madam Zheng. You must be lying."

(BM) "You have reason to doubt me, but I don't think you have the authority to do the same to Yue Fei's word. He told me personally that it was Madam Zheng who wanted to have a chat with me."

(A) "Now you are bringing more elders into this? You are so despicable, GUARDS throw him out"

(BM) "Wait a second...."

Li Xin (LX) "What's going on here" Li Xin was another apprentice here, but his reputation was far above the person that Baron was talking to. This was because he had an elder by his side, and not only that he had one of the two current great elders by his side. For this reason nobody dared to disrespect him, not even the top 20 elders would unless they absolutely had to.

(A) "This youngster here is trying to get an audience with the great Madam Zheng, but he's only been here for a few weeks. Many people don't even get an invitation after being here for centuries. Only a fool would believe him. Humph." She said ever so smugly.

(LX) "Haha, there is no need to be so anxious over such a trivial matter, we are all intelligent people let's resolve this matter peacefully. Young man, may I know your name?"

(BM) "Greetings elder I am Baron Magellan, may I know what your name is?"

(LX) "Good kid, I like him already. My name is Li Xin and I am also an apprentice here, though I am not very highly ranked myself, I have many ties with fairly strong individuals and even some elders."

(BM) "That's very impressive."

(LX) "You say you got an invitation from Madam Zheng? Who delivered this message to you?"

(BM) "This message was passed along to me by the likes of elder Yue Fei. He was the one who I first had a simulation match against when I got here."

(LX) "Now I remember who you are. One of the elders actually told me about how Madam Zheng practically declared her interest in you with all of the other elders around." Li Xin turned around to the female apprentice who was now visibly embarrassed. "What are you waiting for? Go inform Madam Zheng that her honoured guest has arrived."

The lady opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't manage to form any words. So she just turned and walked away to do her assigned task. Li Xin wanted to make Baron an ally, if he managed to attract someone as great as the naval genius then they surely can not be such an ordinary person. After all one can never have too much allies, with this in mind he once again turned to talk to Baron.

(LX) "Let's have a seat and chat while we wait for her to come back." Li Xin said to Baron and gestured him to sit down. "Do you know I am?"

(BM) "I do, yes. You are one of the Qin commanders of the warring states period who helped to usher in the very first unified China."

(LX) "Good, good. So how has your first few weeks been here?"

(BM) "You know what? I'm kind of alright. Dying didn't seem to effect my mental stability at all like I had imagined."

(LX) "You are quite an interesting lad. However, I do understand where you're coming from. Back when I was alive, the 7 states would vie for supremacy amongst themselves. Without a care for the humans slaughtered, the lives ruined, the cities sacked, all they cared about was being the strongest, the best, the greatest."

(BM) "In a way, that mentality continued long after your death. China had only recently managed to become united again."

(LX) "How long did it take after my death?"

(BM) "Close to another 2,00 years"

(LX) "It took us that long to become truly unified? Looks like old Ying Zheng hadn't managed to make much of an impact in China's history then."

(BM) "That's not true, if it weren't for you guys we would be a lot less better off than we are now."

(LX) "I'll have to take your word for it. I'm glad all the struggles I went through has helped the future generations."

The two immediately chatted each other up and became well acquainted within minutes, they continued to talk until the apprentice returned.

(A) "Madam Zheng is prepared to see you now Baron."

(BM) "Ah excellent, I'll see you around then, senior Li Xin."

(LX) "I haven't talked to anyone of the younger generation in a long time, let's talk later if we get the chance."

(BM) "Definitely, lead the way apprentice."

The two got up and left for their own respective tasks. The apprentice led Baron down many twisting corridors and pathways. Finally she stopped at at a grand looking door compared to every other door he had seen in this place. She knocked on the door and informed Madam Zheng that Baron had arrived. With Madam Zheng's approval Baron entered the room where 3 people were sitting at a huge table with many maps scattered across it.

Madam Zheng (MZ) "Ah, hello there, you must be Baron. I am Madam Zheng one of the pillars of the Chinese Alliance. And these two men beside me are my two husbands back when I was alive."

(BM) "Oh uh, greetings seniors." He said shocked at how straightforward she was and cupped his hands to greet them.

(MZ) "Oh my, well aren't you just respectful, if only there were more people who thought like you do." She said as she led Baron to another, more quiet room and the both of them sat down on chairs. "So, before we get to my questions do you have any questions for me?"

(BM) "Thank you senior I do indeed have a few questions for you. First of all where is this place and what are all those people out there scrambling for?"

(MZ) "Good question, this place is the central barracks of the Chinese strategists. As for those people outside, they are all your countrymen and they are madly preparing for the Strategists Death Match tournament that is occurring in a few years. Anything else?"

(BM) "Please tell me more about this tournament, it's a few years off, why are they acting so franticnow?"

(MZ) "Thats because even the slightest preparation can determine the outcome of a match. After all it is better to be prepared than to lose everything. Isn't it?"

(BM) "Yes, of course. Moving on, so the counter worker back there told me that I was lucky because I'm Chinese, she said that you guys were fairly highly ranked in the top 5 planets. My question is this, is there a ranking system on this planet, and if so who decides who is at the top?"

(MZ) "There is in fact a ranking system on this planet and that is decided by the tournament. The top five currently are the countries of Jordsand, UK, Chinese, Mongolian, and USA."

(BM) "Jordsand? Who are they? And how are they first?"

(MZ) "It is indeed a mystery of how they are first, even though they are no longer a country on Earth. We believe we have figured it out though, we believe that these Jordsand strategists are actually not representatives of the actual Jordsand people, but rather representatives of the...." She leaned in closer to Baron and whispered "game masters."