Henry saw Nick talking with the Right Minister, and he even saw how close the two seemed to be, so he felt his hope reigniting. Maybe there was still a chance! He swore to take care of Linda if given a second chance.
He would be a good husband, a good prince, and an even greater Emperor, as he fantasized about these things his back straightened a little, from now on he wouldn't be a merchant, but royalty.
His confidence only increased when he saw Nick returning to the inn with a smile. He promised himself that he wouldn't forget this commoner when he wears the crown one day. He would make sure to give Nick some nobility title and even a few carriages of gold if he behaves well enough!
Nick had just returned to the inn when he saw Henry staring at him appreciatively, the same way one would look at a loyal subordinate. And even before Nick could get a word out, Henry walked up to him and patted his shoulder.
"You did well, don't worry, I won't forget you!" Henry said with a gracious smile.
Nick was really moved, he had just returned from selling off this guy, yet here he was telling him that he would never forget him...
Furthermore, if it were him that lost an opportunity to become an Emperor and stand on top of the world just because of one tiny error in judgment, he could not possibly be this calm, Nick really admired Henry.
Nick fiercely stopped his tears from falling as he patted Henry's shoulder in return and said, "You don't know what this means to me, thank you, buddy, besides, who needs women these days, just stay strong and don't think about the heavenly opportunity you missed out on, okay?"
And so, the two froze in that position for a few minutes, Henry felt like he had lost his soul, didn't he get a second chance, why did Nick say those things, did he perhaps...
Henry's eyes reddened as a realization hit him. Maybe he wasn’t given a second chance after all...
Nick was even more emotional now, who knew that just his consoling words would bring tears to Henry's eyes, and this was a man that didn't even cry when he lost such an amazing girl!
"Impossible, impossible, how could this happen?!!" Henry went mad. How was it possible for a person to run into such bad luck in one day?!
First, he lost his 'beautiful' wife, then he lost his source of money, after that, he lost the opportunity to become an Emperor?!!
Of course, he was just overthinking, the Lion Empire would never allow such a weak person to be their Emperor. At most he would be a glorified prince for a few years and then watch as his talented wife ran the kingdom while not holding any power himself.
"Now I understand, it's all a trick, everything is a trick, the uglier a girl is the more powerful she is, yes that makes sense, that makes sense!!!" Henry seemed to have uncovered the 'truth of the world as he ran out of the inn yelling.
Nick felt a little lost, weren't we having such a close brotherly moment, why did you have to ruin it? But Nick followed him nonetheless, in case the man decided to kill himself and needed someone to hand him the rope...
But he was wrong since Henry wasn't trying to kill himself and was looking for another wife instead! And using the formula of More Ugly= More Powerful he soon found one!
"You, yes you, you will be my wife from now on!!" Henry grabbed a hideous beggar from the street, demanding marriage.
"Brother Henry..." Before Nick could even say his piece, Henry interrupted him.
"Mr. Nick you don't understand. You really don't understand!! All we need to do is marry someone ugly for five years, then we will reach the top of the world in one step! And by this logic, the uglier they are, the more you will be rewarded five years later!!"
"Hey, who are you calling ugly?!!" The beggar snapped.
"Not you honey, you are as beautiful as the moon in the night sky, the waves in the blue ocean, and the shiny snow on the mountain peak!" After saying this, Henry fell down on one knee and stretched out his open palm asking for the beggar’s hand as a gesture of love.
The beggar blushed but reluctantly took Henry's hand as they walked off into the sunset.
Nick really didn't know what to say, he really wanted to tell Henry that the beggar was a man, not a woman, but upon thinking about it, Nick will find out sooner or later anyway, hopefully, sooner rather than later though...
Nick felt today was not only productive but also very entertaining, where else would a person get to enjoy such a dramatic scene so up close and personal.
Upon returning to the house, he didn't use the front door, fearing the two monstrous kids would force him to cook even before he had the chance to inspect his profits of the day.
Flying through the window wasn't anything difficult for an Origin realm expert, so Nick did it as silently as possible before he laid in his bed and took out the space stone first.
Ding! The host has acquired a space stone (3/3) that can be used to activate the system's space storage!
Ding! The host has met the requirements to activate the system's space storage, activating...
A few moments later he got the notification from the system that the storage space was available for use.
Nick could see the inside of the space storage, and what he saw was an endless patch of darkness that seemed to be able to swallow all light, yet weirdly, there was an allocatable light source that managed to lighten up the place.
Itching to try it out, Nick got up and tried storing the bed into the storage space then not a second later a dark vortex appeared underneath the bed that swallowed it whole, and when he retrieved it, the dark vortex appeared on top and slowly placed the bed down.
Excited with his new play toy, Nick kept shoving things in and out of the space vigorously with gusto and only stopped when he heard the kids winning outside about how hungry they were.
But before he left, he decided to take a quick look at the parchment that the Right Minister gave him.
Ding! Found new skill 'Lion's Roar' does host want to cultivate it?
Curiosity and anticipation tugging on his nerves while he checked the description of the technique.
[Lion's Roar: This technique is a revised version of the original, the original is capable of releasing a Roar so fierce that it would drive fear into an enemy's heart leading to a drastic decrease in their fighting ability. The original is only practiced by the royalty of the Lion empire and is a well-guarded secret, but this is a watered-down version that is cultivated by most soldiers serving their country, making this the least valuable skill in the empire.] (Five domineering points to learn the original version!)
Nick felt his anticipation drop while reading the description, but the last part wiped away all his distress. Because it clearly stated that he could learn the original, which was the same technique used by the Lion Emperor himself, by only paying five domineering points!
Now the only thing missing was the domineering points. Because ever since he had gotten the main quest he had been distracted and neglected them, but the more he learned about the system the more he realized that they were the key to most of the system's functions.
But he also couldn't postpone his journey to the Imperial city, which meant that he would have to earn those points on his way there.
The kids were reluctant at first when they heard that they would be leaving their new home to travel outside, but it all went away once they heard they would be buying a better house in Imperial city.
Now with the kids onboard he decided to ask Peter if he would like to accompany them, and Peter didn't even hesitate and seemed extremely excited instead.
Peter was really weird. Anytime Nick asked him why he didn't want to return home to his wife, he would only sigh in depression, forcing Nick to stop asking.
All was set for tomorrow's travel, but everyone except Nick thought they were traveling by carriage, and Nick didn't correct them because he wanted to see the look of surprise, shock, and fear on their faces when he revealed Silver.
The only thing left was to buy some tents to sleep on when they rested, but the more he thought about it, the less he liked the idea. Maybe he should...
The Next day early in the morning a carriage departed from the city heading to the secluded mountains behind the city, this carriage obviously belonged to Nick and the gang, but everyone was confused about why they were heading towards the large mountains in the opposite direction of Imperial city.
And Nick didn't bother to explain as he simply just closed his eyes throughout the entire journey refusing to scratch their itching curiosity.
After twenty minutes or so the carriage arrived at the mountains, but before Peter could ask for further instructions Nick ran out of the carriage and into the mountains.
He did all this because he didn't want to reveal his pet storage space yet since it could serve as a trump card in future situations. And it was unheard of for a space to be able to keep a living creature inside.
So, after summoning Silver in the forest, he brought it back out to the carriage. And Nick was left satisfied with the terrified screams the kids and Peter were releasing upon seeing the adorable Dark Nightmare.
If Peter had heard Nick's thoughts on how the horrifying creature in front of him was adorable, he would have definitely turned the carriage around and drove off to keep as far away distance from this deranged lunatic as possible.
Maggy seemed like she wanted to say something, but Dean was holding her mouth with all his strength as if he knew what she was going to say, but alas, she bit him and yelled while pointing.
"Fatty beast! This Fatty beast is going to eat us!! Wuuu, I don’t want to die in the hands of this Fat and ugly beast!" Maggy Cried her eyes out as she body-shamed the poor beast.
Nick couldn't agree more about the weight problem the beast had. But appearance-wise the beast was really cute. Nick just couldn’t understand why Maggy would call it ugly.
"..." Silver wondered if little human girls were chewy when eaten…
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