Chapter 460: Chapter 456: The Wandering Mage with Bad Taste Chapter 460: Chapter 456: The Wandering Mage with Bad Taste “That’s Queen Remilia? She looks so young – younger than my daughter!”

“Slap!” A thick, dirt-encrusted hand smacks the back of the mid-aged man’s head who spoke. “What the hell are you saying? This is queen. Can she even be compared to your daughter?”

The man who was slapped, his face flushing with anger, became very embarrassed upon hearing these words, but couldn’t hide his fury. Being slapped out of nowhere was something no one would take lightly. “I’m speaking my mind, why did you hit me?”

“Why are you so ungrateful?” said the old man who slapped him, looking truly wronged. “Twelve years ago, at the Duke Mureya’s inauguration ceremony, I saw Princess Remilia, and she hasn’t changed at all since then.

“You think you can judge such a noble being, drawing parallel with the great deity itself? Do you even know what would happen if you offend an entity as noble as a deity?”

In the eyes of lowly commoners, the rulers of the kingdom are no different from the deity they pray to in the church; both are high above and incredibly strong and mysterious. All they can see are their nearly impeccable faces.

“What’s gonna happen?” The now-petrified middle-aged man asked in shock. He happened to be one of the few who didn’t watch the grand ceremony held twelve years ago, which most people did.

“Heh heh, you know Viscount Loki who was hanged in the royal capital five months ago?”

“Of course I do.” Fear grew in the middle-aged man’s eyes. The man was their leader, his execution five months ago caused their entire clan to vanish, their territory was annexed by Royal authority and directly managed by the Royal court thereafter.

“Do you know why Viscount Loki was hanged?” The old man chuckled, loving to tease young ones in his old age.

“Why?”

“Because when Viscount Loki attended a banquet, he slandered Duke Mureya and spoke against his governance.”

“Slandering Duke Mureya? He deserved to be killed.” The middle-aged man immediately responded. In the hearts of common people, Duke Mureya has a very good reputation.

“No, Viscount Loki slandered…” After his rant about the nobility that once exploited them, the middle-aged man realized what he had said, “I didn’t slander Queen Remilia; I was just saying that the Queen looks too young.”

“Enough, this old man is messing with you. Who would listen to the words of someone as low-ranking as you?” Another person, unable to continue watching the old man play around with the middle-aged man, intervened.

“Oh, right!” For the first time in his life, the middle-aged man felt being low-ranking was a good thing, but then he shot an angry glance at the old man beside him.

“What are you staring at me for? Look at the magic screen above. What’s so appealing about an old man like me?” The old man looked puzzled at the furious middle-aged man, “You find me more attractive than Queen Remilia above?”

“Bah!” Looking at the weathered and wrinkled face of this old man, the middle-aged man felt like spitting on him.

“Don’t stare at me, look above. Look, Queen Remilia grew a pair of wings.” The old man said somewhat surprisingly, watching the scene broadcast on the magic screen above his head.

“Wings?” The mid-aged man immediately looked up, and he saw a pair of wings, even taller than her, spreading from the back of the blue-haired, crimson-eyed young girl in sumptuous clothes at the center of the screen. Black and gold mysterious patterns marked her wings, and they looked absolutely awe-inspiring.

“Wow, those wings are so big, so beautiful! I want wings just like that!” A little girl, who was being held by her parents watching Queen Remilia’s coronation ceremony, looked at the pretty lady on the screen very eagerly.

Hearing such innocent words, the surrounding people broke out into good-hearted laughter. No one expressed any objections to Queen Remilia growing an extra pair of wings, only praising how great the wings looked.

Those big figures have always been different from us since birth, whether they grow an extra pair of wings, an additional leg, or even an extra hand or any such thing, it’s nothing strange to them.

“Oh, our queen of the Lockman Kingdom is no longer human.” Unlike the complacent expression of the surrounding commoners, the old man looked rather gloomy and sighed lowly.

“Old man, did you just insult the queen? You’re finished, I tell you.” The already infuriated middle-aged man caught the old man’s coarse robe and looked pleased with himself upon hearing his words, “I’m going to report you to the patrol team.”

“Get your hands off me.” The old man turned slightly pale when his clothes are suddenly grabbed, “When did I insult the queen?”

“Just now, you claimed the queen isn’t a human, care to defend that?” The middle-aged man was somewhat excited.

“This lass is not a human at all, are you blind? With those massive wings, how can she be a human?” The old man replied, quite irate, “Pure-blooded rulers of the human kingdom are rare as it is, and now there’s one less. Although it was expected – having been raised by a dragon for over a decade, it’s impossible to retain a pure human bloodline, but seeing it has still been quite disappointing.”

“Aren’t those big figures always like this? You’re just nosy and bored, aren’t you?” The middle-aged man smirked, looking at the old man as one would a country bumpkin.

“I saw the princess with my own eyes when she was just born. She was a pure human.” The old man sighed.

“You’re quite the braggart, claiming to have seen the princess as a child.” The middle-aged man sneered.

“Do you know who I am? You’re an ignorant bumpkin without any manners.” The old man said with an air of superiority.

“A farmhand old man, who’d know you?”

“A farmhand.” The old man tugged at the corner of his mouth, touching the rough, weather-beaten dark skin on his face, “Now take another good look at me.”

“Uh, who are you?” The middle-aged man was somewhat puzzled because the appearance of the seemingly farmhand old man in front of him had undergone a significant change. From a weathered old farmer, he had transformed into a rosy-cheeked, well-dressed old man, his coarse clothing now a fine white robe.

“What do you think?” A simple wooden cane appeared in the old man’s hand, faint spirit light emanating from it, demonstrating his identity.

“A mage!”

“So now that you know, shouldn’t you step off?” A look of pride emerged on the old man’s face. Although he had experienced this many times before, the worship and awe in others’ eyes when his identity was recognized still felt really good. He never tired of it.

“Nah, with your poor getup, you’re probably one of those wandering mages who can only do a few tricks!”

“A wandering mage who can only do tricks?” The old man, now back to his real appearance, flushed red, a hint of anger on his face, “Why don’t you straight-out call me a conman?”

“Well, you’re somewhat capable, so you’re not a swindler.”

“My name is Mason.” The old mage grimaced and announced his name. He swore to himself that he would never play cool in front of such ignorant bumpkins again.

“Mason? Why not Merlin?”

“That’s my elder brother.” The old mage’s face darkened even further.

“Old swindler, you sure got some nerve! Merlin is one of the greatest mages in the history of the human race. To claim he’s your brother… Plus, Merlin was a big figure from tens of thousands of years ago.”

Being called a conman, the old mage only looked calmer. He looked at the middle-aged man benignly, “Ignorant lad, ever heard of a close-combat mage?”

“Old swindler, again with your nonsense. Trying to trick me? What close-combat mage?” The middle-aged man looked contemptuous. It was common knowledge that mages were not good at close-quarters combat.

“There are. You just don’t have enough exposure, so you’ve never heard of it.” Having said that, the aged mage Mason pointed to himself, “I am a close-combat mage.”

“Ha!” The middle-aged man sized up the slightly hunched and frail body of the old mage, a cold smile on his face.

“Want a taste of how a close-combat mage fights?”

“Sure!”

“Boom!” The large, old black wooden cane fell heavily on the back of the middle-aged man’s head…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read