Westminster Bank

Chapter 269: Chapter 166: I Love You, Kristen (2)

At least, that was her own opinion on the matter.

Isabella pushed away the clingy Lucy and said coldly, "If you keep messing around, we can settle this in the training arena."

"Sigh... You’re the same as ever."

As expected, Lucy let go of Isabella’s arm at these words, but her tone was full of meaning as she said:

"You’re thinking about Baron, aren’t you? I remember he gave you that black bow when he was a kid... He was my childhood friend, too. I never thought he’d end up as the Inner Side’s most infamous Lawbreaker... What a shame. He was so handsome even back then. I had a crush on him... Too bad his sister, Yelena, was so beautiful..."

"Yelena? Why?"

Isabella thought of the young woman in the wheelchair, momentarily confused by Lucy’s meaning.

"She was so beautiful... so of course he wouldn’t be interested in me. I was just a little kid back then, anyway. When I found out he had an early engagement with Lancelot’s Family, I cried myself to sleep. But who knew he’d end up having his engagement broken off and even get kicked out of the Constantine Family..."

She grabbed a glass of wine from a nearby Attendant’s hand, downed it in one gulp, and offered her review: "Erguotou is still better."

Then her eyes lit up again. "Isabella, I see his ex-fiancée, Freya, over there... Hmm, her chest isn’t as big as ours. By my calculations, she’s a C-cup at most... But she is very pretty. A shame that guy Jill got so lucky."

"Speaking of which, Jill used to pursue you, Isabella... Life is so unpredictable."

Lucy put on the airs of a wise old Daoist master.

Isabella figured she was probably imitating her master, Daoist Zhou.

Unfortunately, she gave off the impression of being a master schemer who couldn’t actually scheme her way out of a paper bag.

"The Dragon Hunting Ceremony is about to begin. Are you sure you’re not going to find a Dragon Guide?"

"I’m a Daoist. I can figure things out with a snap of my fingers. These masked phonies probably don’t know as much about guiding Dragons as I do," Lucy said, speaking in her usual strange mix of languages.

Isabella looked into the distance. Both Jose and Tune had a Silver Dragon Guide standing beside them, likely hired at a great expense.

Including the one she had hired, there were a total of three Silver Dragon Guides present.

’Compared to them, could the Silver Dragon Guide I just brushed past be the one I hired?’

’But his build is different from when we last met. Besides, the ceremony is about to start. Why hasn’t he come over yet?’

Her eyes scanned the crowd, but she couldn’t find any trace of the Dragon Guide from before.

She summoned Bass, asked him a few questions, and then frowned, taking out a badge.

Bass’s expression changed. "Miss, I’m afraid doing this will displease the Dragon Guide."

Isabella said coldly, "I’m already very displeased. I don’t have time to listen to his displeasure."

"Besides, this is what the badge is for."

She channeled her Spiritual Power into the badge.

In an instant, a massive, majestic dragon’s roar erupted from behind the manor. The attention of every guest was captured, and they all craned their necks to see.

A moment later, a Silver Dragon Guide and a Bronze Dragon Guide returned, surrounded by a crowd of Demon Hunters.

"Master Jack," Isabella said. "I trust you’ve been well."

Baron, who had been one step away from pulling it off: "..."

Jack, who wasn’t sure if he was the innocent bystander or the one causing all the trouble: "..."

...

On a land of intermingled red and white, a colossal black shadow stood at the edge of the earth, piercing the cloud-covered sky.

It was a section of a massive, verdant, and thick root of some kind of tree. It was gnarled, straight, and coiling. Even when the old man in the Daoist robe looked at it from a cliff tens of thousands of miles away, the root still resembled a giant Roman column holding up the heavens.

The World Tree Yggdrasil, a creation of Law formed from the condensation of one-third of the First Law, the Natural Law.

It represented the Extreme of life and harmony.

If one were to ignore the dark mass at the base of its roots.

It was a huge, sharply-angled Black Dragon. Its spine was as high as a mountain range, and the white mist it breathed out was like a blizzard cascading down a thousand-fathom cliff. It landed on the World Tree’s rootlets and condensed into thick ice, and within the ice lay the skeletons of humans and non-humans alike.

As the Giant Dragon gnawed on the roots, the icy skeletons shattered in an instant, scattering like diamond dust upon flowing lava, resembling the stars in a painting.

"The Elves wail and mourn. They say if Nidhogg is allowed to keep gnawing like this, the roots of the World Tree will be devoured in less than three thousand years. When that happens, Yafurheim, which rests upon the World Tree, will come crashing down."

Howard, the deputy governor of Westminster Bank, suddenly appeared beside the old man in the Daoist robe, walking down a staircase that had materialized out of thin air.

"But looking at the speed it’s chewing now, I’m afraid it won’t take three thousand years. The World Tree will fall in just a few decades."

"According to the massive insurance policy the Elf Race bought from Westminster Bank, the bank is contractually obligated to deal with the Black Dragon that has been infected with *Madness*..."

Howard looked cheerfully at the old Daoist—this legendary trader on the Inner Side had single-handedly caused a financial tsunami that rocked both the Inner and Outer Sides, forcing the European Court of the Old Race to issue the Westminster Act. He was also a Daoist by profession and the governor of Westminster People’s Bank, Hoover.

"This might be the worst deal you’ve ever made, Governor."

Governor Hoover, however, didn’t seem to care much. "There’s still some time... Nidhogg has been gnawing at the roots of the World Tree for thousands of years. In a few decades, I’ll be dead and buried. The trouble after that can be handled by the people who come after me. In any case, the bill won’t fall on my head."

Governor Hoover was very Zen about things; besides Gold and money, he wasn’t interested in or cared about anything else.

Howard said, "That’s one of the reasons I’m here. I heard the Elf Race privately made a deal with the London Tower, a contract worth ten million British Pounds. They’re willing to trade their ancestral Golden Tier Magic Card to get Golden Wizard Newton to act—to turn you into an undead creature after you die..."

Seeing Hoover’s face darken, Howard chuckled. "The Elves think much further ahead than you do."

He looked again toward the Black Dragon still gnawing on the World Tree’s root in the distance, his tone a mix of lament and reminiscence:

"To think that the once-glorious Dragon King now has to gnaw on the roots daily just to maintain his sanity because of *Madness*... The Mad Dragon beneath the Traitor’s Cliff is also about to break its shackles as its own *Madness* intensifies. The Inner Side has certainly entered a turbulent time."

"Davis, you didn’t come looking for me just to make sarcastic remarks, did you? Spit it out. And let me be clear, I can’t and don’t have the authority to approve a pay raise for the agents. That’s a matter for the board of directors to discuss."

Hoover preemptively gave his answer.

Howard rolled his eyes. "You’ve got it all figured out beforehand, haven’t you? But I’m not here about that. I’m here about a person."

Hoover nodded. "Baron Constantin. A descendant of the Constantine Clan, a Bloodless whose engagement was broken. He worked as a bank clerk for a while on the Outer Side. Suspected Dragon Knight...

However, his credit assessment is somewhat risky. The Prole Court has a warrant out for him. The Hestia Family, Lancelot’s Family, and the Frank Family all want him dead. His public charges are conspiring with the Dragon Witch, bombing King’s Cross Station, and attempting to assassinate his former fiancée.

His undisclosed crime is the assassination of Anthony, the commander of the Lion Eye Knight Order... You made him a temporary agent for Westminster, gave him an S Level on his interview, and his Destiny assessment was also S Level... Very promising potential."

Hoover said, "But he’s made too many enemies. If Westminster were to make his position permanent, it would probably draw the ire of the other Old Blood Clans and the Law Enforcement Organization."

***

[Work Diary of Baron Constantin (Original Body):

June 3, 1987 / Edinburgh / Overcast

Bought a ticket at New Street Station. The client was in Edinburgh. It was a long train ride. When I got off, I realized I’d forgotten my briefcase.

I was so dejected. Thankfully, the client was very open-minded. She said if I was willing to have a drink with her at a bar, she would buy my insurance and bonds.

The White Hart Inn. It wasn’t crowded. We ordered two Jack Daniel’s. As we talked, she started crying.

She wanted to leave. I didn’t let her.

She threw herself into my arms.

But really, I just didn’t have the money to pay.

By the way, Jack Daniel’s is really nothing special. In the end, she didn’t buy my insurance either.

It was raining in Edinburgh when I left. The view was nice. I’ll bring Kristen here someday if I get the chance.

I love you, Kristen.]