The Shadow Ninja Corps' part-time driver drove An Xora and Lappland toward Lungmen. As they neared the main road, they could already see a massive marching formation in the distance.
This was precisely the force accompanying Talulah—the person An Xora had come to find on this trip.
As the Emperor of the Holy Terra Empire, it was perfectly reasonable for Talulah to travel not only with an honor guard, but also with troops in tow, both for safety and for show.
Under normal circumstances, an unidentified vehicle like the one An Xora and Lappland were riding in would never be allowed anywhere near such a heavily guarded formation. Fortunately, An Xora had already contacted Talulah in advance. After prior notice had been given, once their vehicle stopped beside the formation, someone quickly came out and respectfully escorted An Xora and Lappland all the way to Talulah.
"An Xora, you're back. Did everything go smoothly?"
Seeing the two of them arrive, Talulah—who hadn't seen An Xora for over half a month—immediately asked with concern.
"Pretty smoothly, I'd say. At least all my objectives were achieved."
Because she was meeting An Xora, Talulah had deliberately dismissed the surrounding attendants ahead of time. With only An Xora, Talulah, and Lappland present, An Xora simply took out the card he'd used earlier to bestow Grace.
"This thing can grant a power called Grace. It helps people quickly realize their potential. I came back this time specifically to give Grace to you and the Doctor."
"Once you've been granted Grace, you'll truly count as one of us."
"So… I wasn't one of us before?"
Hearing this, Talulah scratched her head in confusion, then nodded slightly.
"Alright then. When are you planning to give me Grace?"
"The group's almost at Lungmen already. Let's do it at night."
"Oh, right—let me introduce someone. This is Lappland. My newly raised dog."
An Xora stepped aside and introduced Lappland to Talulah.
"Uh… hello, Miss Lappland."
An Xora's wording was admittedly ambiguous, sounding like he was treating a person as a pet. But based on the filter Talulah had developed after spending so much time with him, she didn't think An Xora was the sort of scumbag who genuinely treated people like animals. It was probably just a term of endearment.
"My name is Talulah, Emperor of the Holy Terra Empire. You've probably heard my name. Nice to meet you."
With that thought in mind, Talulah shook hands with Lappland, who looked rather dazed—as if she'd been shocked by something and hadn't yet come back to her senses.
Lappland's reaction was understandable. Just as Talulah said, she had heard of Talulah—not only heard, but heard of her like thunder.
Seizing the Grand Duke's position. Usurping control of the Ursus Third Army Group. Marching into the capital and ascending the throne as the Ursus Emperor. Slaughtering all nobles who refused to take her side. Suppressing all opposition with iron and blood. Ruling all of Ursus and holding an ascension ceremony and grand military parade in the capital.
That was all the intelligence Lappland knew.
Because she'd been roaming the wilderness with limited access to information, she didn't yet know that Talulah had already conquered Kazimierz and Victoria. She knew nothing of the Holy Terra Empire's founding ceremony, nor why Talulah now called herself its emperor.
Even so, the title of Ursus Emperor alone was enough to leave her utterly shaken.
"You… you actually have ties with the Emperor of Ursus?"
After mechanically completing the handshake and finishing the bare minimum of introductions, Lappland finally snapped back to reality and stared at An Xora in disbelief.
"What kind of outdated intel are you working with?" An Xora replied. "Talulah conquered Kazimierz a long time ago and brought Victoria under her rule as well. 'Ursus Emperor' is old news."
"Now you should call her the Emperor of the Holy Terra Empire."
"And my relationship with Ata isn't just 'having ties.' Whatever your relationship with me is—Ata's is the same."
"…She's your dog too?"
"You could understand it that way."
An Xora nodded.
"Hey, maybe consider my feelings before saying things like that so casually…"
Listening to their conversation, even the usually thick-skinned Talulah felt a bit overwhelmed.
People these days—do they not even bother hiding their kinks anymore? Not only did they not hide them, they even dragged her, an innocent bystander, into it with perfectly straight faces.
She admitted that her private relationship with An Xora did, in practice, resemble something like a master and his dog. With An Xora around, she'd long since stopped thinking for herself—basically just doing whatever he told her to do.
When An Xora had suddenly disappeared for half a month, Talulah had only just started to feel like her brain was coming back online. And now he was back—at the very first sight of him, her eyes cleared again, and she willingly tossed that newly recovered brain straight back out the window.
Even so, was this really something that could be said so openly?
Seeing that Talulah didn't refute it—on the contrary, she stood there lost in thought—Lappland leaned back instinctively.
At that moment, her understanding of An Xora's identity underwent a complete upgrade.
The new wolf king she had chosen to follow was terrifyingly absurd.
A ruthless figure who had unified Ursus, conquered Kazimierz, and taken Victoria in less than three months—someone like that—was also, just like her, someone else's dog.
And judging by appearances, she didn't even seem resistant to that identity.
"Alright, let's talk business," An Xora said, sitting down on a chair brought over by the Shadow Ninja Corps. "Ata, what kind of cooperation have you discussed with Yan?"
"Nothing unusual—just standard commercial cooperation. Reducing tariffs between our countries and rolling out policies to encourage the circulation of goods," Talulah replied.
"But An Xora, you were gone before. Without you, handling these matters myself made me nervous. I was worried something might go wrong, so I specifically came to Lungmen to inspect the situation."
Hearing this, An Xora nodded.
It really was exactly the sort of thing Talulah would do. On Terra—a place still largely leaning toward feudal systems—the ruler of an entire nation personally traveling to inspect a key cooperation site over a bit of trade.
If nothing unexpected happened, Wei Yenwu was probably close to wetting himself by now.
After all, Talulah's current status was far too terrifying.
With Ursus, Kazimierz, and Victoria effectively merged into one, the Holy Terra Empire was unquestionably the strongest nation on this land.
And with Talulah herself personally arriving in Lungmen—condescending to appear there as its emperor—Wei Yenwu, as Lungmen's Governor, had to host her properly.
Because if anything went wrong, no one knew how things would spiral afterward—but the first thing to explode would definitely be Lungmen.
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