The Herb King



Lark Whitmond snorted when he saw Aethelwolf. "You guys are too slow." He muttered.

Aethelwolf ignored this irritable ally of his and walked to where Eliazar was seated. The guy was chatting with someone so he didn't notice Aethelwolf's arrival. It was only when Aethelwolf was in front of him did he notice his presence. "Sir Aethelwolf!" He smiled lightly at him.

"You seem to be busy, Sir Eliazar." Aethelwolf chuckled as he shook hands with Eliazar. 

"Not really. By the way, this is Madam Kayu Baltazar. She is also a Holy General of our Mystic Island." Eliazar introduced the gray-haired woman beside him. She looked to be in her mid-thirties, but Aethelwolf was aware that this woman was more than sixty years old. Furthermore, she was ranked sixteenth in the Heavenly Might Rankings. She was also known by everyone as the Goddess of Fire because of her proficiency in fire techniques and Alchemy! 

"It's nice to meet you, Sir Aethelwolf!" Kayu smiled as she extended her arm toward him. Aethelwolf grabbed her hand and shook it lightly. "The pleasure is mine, Madam Kayu. I've heard a lot about you." He muttered.

Kayu was pleased by his words and she smiled in response. "You flatter me, Sir Aethelwolf. I'm just a normal woman with some talent in Alchemy and fire spells." 

They exchanged a few more words before their topic turned serious. "Sir Aethelwolf, how many soldiers did you bring with you?" Eliazar asked while sipping his tea.

Aethelwolf leaned on his chair and replied calmly. "The Leone Empire sent a hundred thousand soldiers while my Barden Territory sent a hundred and fifty thousand soldiers. I brought two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers with me and about two hundred thousand of them are Espers. This is excluding their magical beast mounts." 

Eliazar nodded his head upon hearing this. It was a sizable number for a small empire. Most big empires only sent four hundred thousand to five hundred thousand soldiers. At this moment, the allied army already had more than five million soldiers. Among them, over half are Espers, while the rest are just normal soldiers. "Have you contacted Argus?" He asked in a low voice. Everyone has already agreed that Argus would be the commander of the allied army. Without his presence, the others might feel restless.

Aethelwolf nodded his head. "He should be here in a few hours." 

"Good! We need him to reign in these prideful warriors. Only Argus would be able to do that." Eliazar muttered helplessly. Most of the experts in the Heavenly Might Rankings are prideful and arrogant so it would be difficult to control them. Only Argus who was first in the rankings would be able to tame those stubborn experts. 

Aethelwolf chuckled lightly at his words. "I'll call him again. Just give me a moment here." He grabbed his Communication Rune and contacted Argus. 

"Aethelwolf, why did you call me? I'm already on my way to the borders." Argus' tired voice echoed over the device. 

Eliazar and the others heaved sighs of relief when they heard his voice. 

"You should hurry up. Only you can subdue these people here." Aethelwolf said.

"Sounds troublesome. I'll be there in thirty minutes." Argus disconnected the call after uttering those words.

Aethelwolf turned his gaze to Eliazar and shrugged. "You heard the guy. 

***

More than twelve hours passed since the start of the group competition. Some teams were already eliminated from the competition after encountering dangers that forced them to forfeit. 

The rankings of the group competition were unstable, but the top ten rarely changed. However, a team suddenly shot up in the ranking and entered the top eight! It was the team of the Leone Empire and they were the undisputed dark horse of this group competition. 

At this moment, Alec and the others had just gotten out of the mountain where they last got a huge number of Keys. Among which were two Golden Keys. It was also because of these two Golden Keys that they managed to reach the top eight. 

"Man, I thought that Armored Silver Back Ape would slap me to death. Luckily, I barely escape on time." Michael wiped the sweat on his forehead as he recalled what happened moments ago. When they were escaping the mountain earlier, they encountered a large group of Armored Silver Back Apes. They fought with the apes and were barely able to escape their clutches. 

"Two teams were eliminated by those monkeys. We were indeed lucky." Grace muttered as she shook her head. 

"Hey, guys! I made some pills here. You should eat some to recover your stamina and strength." Christopher said as he grabbed a bunch of pills from his storage ring. He could already make 3rd-Grade Recovery Pellets. Although their efficiency couldn't compare to Aethelwolf's creation, it was still better than most of the 3rd-Grade recovery pills sold in the market.

"Thanks." Alec took one pill and threw it into his mouth. He used up a lot of world essence in their escape and it depleted almost half of his energy reserves. 

"We should get going. There is still half a day left before the competition ends. We can gather more Keys and increase our standings. If we manage to get the top spots, we might even be rewarded by Sir Aethelwolf." Janrose muttered before drinking water from a flask.

The rest nodded their head eagerly after hearing her words. They knew that Aethelwolf has a lot of good stuff and he was also not a stingy person. Even Christopher got a Divine-Rated cauldron from him as a reward. 

"Let's go!" Alec pinned a location on his Navigation Rune and led the group out of the area. 

***

"Sir Aethelwolf, who is that person?" Eliazar asked while pointing at someone in Aethelwolf's main army. It was a guy wearing gold battle armor with silver highlights. There was a huge golden sword and a diamond-shaped golden shield strapped on his back. Both artifacts were Divine-Rated weapons and they weighed several tons combined. However, that guy was still walking normally even with those heavy artifacts strapped behind him. Eliazar could tell that the guy was a Level 5 Esper. 

"You mean him? That is Ramiel. The commander of my army. Follow me. I'll introduce you guys to him." 

Eliazar and Kayu followed him with curious looks on their faces. 

Ramiel immediately noticed them and when he saw Aethelwolf, he lightly lowered his head and greeted respectfully. "King Aethelwolf." 

The Shadow Guards who were standing behind Ramiel also bowed and greeted him. "King Aethelwolf!" 

Looking at these experts, Eliazar and Kayu were shocked. Other than the guy who was wearing gold battle armor, the people behind him also looked strong. Their auras were fierce and filled with overwhelming power!

"At ease. Ramiel, these two are Holy Generals of the Mystic Island. This is Holy General Eliazar and this is Holy General Kayu." Aethelwolf introduced the two to Ramiel. 

"Greetings, Holy General Eliazar and Holy General Kayu." Ramiel cupped his fists while looking at them with a calm gaze. 

"It looks like Sir Ramiel is also one of Sir Aethelwolf's hidden aces. It's nice to meet you." Eliazar shook hands with Ramiel and exchanged pleasantries with him. Kayu wasn't as enthusiastic as him. She only nodded her head at Ramiel. 

While they were chatting, another group arrived. It was Empress Shiphra and the Azure Phoenix Empire! Their arrival caused quite a commotion in the allied army. This was because more than half of their soldiers were women and there were even some high-grade beauties among them! 

Empress Shiphra smiled at the Level 5 Espers who came to greet her. She looked around as if searching for someone and when she spotted Aethelwolf, she smiled and walked towards him. "Hello, Sir Aethelwolf!" 

Just as she was about to go near him, Empress Shiphra felt a grave sense of danger. "Hm?" 

A slim figure appeared in front of Aethelwolf. She stared coldly at Empress Shiphra as she muttered. "Back off!" 

It was Aenwyn. She was wearing a white battle armor and there was a short sword strapped behind her. 

"Oh? You actually have an elven maid, Sir Aethelwolf." Shiphra chuckled when she saw the icy gaze of Aenwyn.

"Aenwyn, step back. She is the empress of the Azure Phoenix Empire. Be more respectful to her." Aethelwolf quickly pulled Aenwyn to prevent things from escalating. He never thought that the usually calm Aenwyn would actually lose her composure in the presence of Shiphra. 

Aenwyn turned her head and glanced deeply at Aethelwolf before she walked behind him. She revealed a strong aura that was no weaker than Empress Shiphra! 

Sensing this, Eliazar and Kayu were both stunned. They thought that Ramiel was the only expert that Aethelwolf brought with him, but there was actually one more and she seemed to be stronger than Ramiel! Even Empress Shiphra was a bit surprised by her aura. She was ranked 4th in the Heavenly Might Rankings, but Aenwyn's aura actually threatened her! 'This woman is strong!' She thought in her heart.