'Oh yeah. For all the scheming and strategizing I have been through, I still forgot that this is still a cultivation novel.'
Marcius thought as he glanced at the faces of the 'wannabe bullies.'
'Holier-than-thou attitude, check. Follower lackeys ready to support whatever sh*t their leader is going to say, check. Expensive clothing, check. This is really a typical bully situation from cultivation novels.'
He than looked directly at the leader of the group.
Arius Sergia. The first son of Sergia clan head. He was also the main heir of Sergia clan.
And according to original Marcius and Joseph's memories, he was a dumbass.
'He also has a very punch-able face.' Marcius silently criticized.
"Are you speaking to me?" He asked.
"Are there anyone else who is the heir of Aemilia clan? Of course, I'm talking to you. It seemed the coma has reduced your mental capacities." Arius haughtily replied as his lackeys snickered.
"It seemed you have a very poor luck. Not only were you born talentless, you even got into a stupid accident and have to be bedridden. How pathetic can you be?" He continued his berating of Marcius.
He was trying to get a rise out of Marcius. The original Marcius was a hot-blooded individual and this kind of situations always ended up in violence.
But since Arius always had some kind of bodyguard, the fighting never got too far.
So, even though Marcius was stronger than Arius who was at the peak of spirit elite realm, Arius almost always got away with it.
And Arius used the situation to paint Marius as a rude and mad individual who was always prone to violence. Since Marcius was the heir of a big clan, that kind of image was bad for him.
'So, even a dumbass has some level of cunning. Not bad.'
Marcius silently shook his head. If Arius was trying to get a rise out of him, he would be solely disappointed.
"Are you dumb or what?" Was Marcius's calm reply.
"What did you just say?" The Sergia clan heir questioned as his followers stopped laughing.
"I said 'are you dumb?'" He repeated.
"You have no right to question me, talentless." Arius hissed out the reply.
"Oh yes. This 'talentless' is questioning your intelligence. What are you going to do?" Marcius mocked his adversary.
"Let's be honest here. Almost everyone in this city knows that I could beat your ass every time, every day, everywhere. It won't even be a fight. If I am talentless, what does that make you?" Marcius continued.
"You!" Was Arius's angry reply. "You better watch your foul mouth."
"Or what? You are going to hide behind some bodyguard and continue throwing insults at me from the safe location?" Marcius smirked.
"Don't make me laugh. There is nothing you can do. You are just a coward who depends on his father's influence and throw his weight around."
By the end of Marcius's mockery, Arius was positively livid.
'Alright, here it comes.' Marcius thought.
A crowd was forming around Marcius and Arius's group.
And the whispers and gossips from the surrounding added more flame to Arius's temper.
He couldn't lose face. And for that, he had to show he was better than Marcius.
"You asked for it!"
Arius made a motion with his hand and a long green spear appeared in his hand. It was his spirit weapon.
"Emerald Song! Destroy!"
The heir of Sergia clan stepped backward to create some distance between him and Marcius as he thrust the spear towards his foe.
The spear had bigger range than most weapon and Arius took advantage of that. As his spear raced towards Marcius, the tip of Emerald Song shined in a blackish light.
But before the spear reached him, Marcius swiftly side-stepped and flicked his fingers. Obsidian Edge appeared in his hand.
With sword in hand, Marcius waited for the spear he dodged to get pass him. And then he cut down the spear from the middle, just right before Arius's hand gripping it.
Alas, Emerald Song was a spirit weapon and his sword was not. So, the sword didn't mange to cut Arius's spear.
But that was not Marcius intention.
As the sword made contact with the spear, the spear's tip was forced into the ground from the impact.
And Marcius quickly spun around and hit the head of Arius, who was still recovering from his missed attack, with his elbow.
The impact was hard because Marcius used quite a bit of strength in his attack. And the hit sent Arius flying, with the spear slipping out of his hand.
Marcius took out the spear from the ground and threw it after Arius.
Arius hit a wooden wall and was stopped. And his own spear lodged into the wall just a few distance away from his head.
The fight started and finished within seconds.
After the fight finished, a few things happened.
A powerful aura exploded from the crowd as an elderly man in blue robed jumped towards Marcius.
But he was quickly subdued onto the ground by the two Shadow Guards guarding Marcius.
'It must be his bodyguard. An elder from Sergia clan.'
"You know, I was going to let this attack on my dignity pass. But no, you just have to get physical."
Marcius said in a calm voice as he slowly and menacingly walked towards Arius, who was on the ground with an expression of extreme fear.
The previously laughing lackeys also had frightened and pale faces.
"Maybe Sergia clan forgets its place. They become so full of themselves that they forgets who rules this city."
Marcius stopped in front of Arius and gripped the end of the spear struck beside his head.
"My father governed this city. Aemilia clan owns this city." He pulled out the spear.
"And you just tried to kill the son of city lord and the heir to Aemilia clan in an unprovoked attack." At the end of the sentence, Marcius kept his voice loud to let the crowd heard him.
"Unless you publicly admit to your wrongdoings and apologize to the Aemilia clan as a whole for your slender, I will be keeping your spirit weapon."
Then he leaned down slightly to whisper into Arius's ear.
"You are nothing. And will always be nothing compared to me. Try this next time and I will end your life quicker than you can blink."
Then he stood up straight and ordered his men holding down Arius's bodyguard.
"Let him go. He is an elder from Sergia clan."
As he resumed his journey back to lord's keep as the crowd slowly thinned, Marcius couldn't help but had a feeling this would not be the end.
He had a feeling that Arius was going to arrange something in revenge.
But he was counting on it.
'Well, it is always good news when your enemy is dumb.'
*** *** ***
It had been two days since the encounter with Sergia clan heir.
There had been no movement or reply from Sergia clan. And Marcius was just waiting the other shoe to drop.
He was currently in his newly acquired office, reading through the papers regarding the expedition he was in charge of.
It was really tiring to arrange logistics for this type of affairs.
Titus allowed him to take 500 soldiers for this expedition. The 200 would be experienced clan guards. But Marcius had to personally conscript the last 300 and train them.
'I have around two months to train the newbies.'
Marcius idly thought as he played with the pen in his hand.
"Knock! Knock!"
"Come in!"
At Marcius's permission, the door opened and two individuals walked in.
They were Leon and Ser Janus. Marcius's grandfather had permitted him to take the pair as his assistants during the expedition.
"You call for us, young master?" Ser Janus questioned as both of them bowed.
"I did. I need your help in selecting clan guards for my expedition to Falvic forest."
"We are happy to be of assistance."
"I know you are." Marcius replied as he handed a document to Ser Janus.
"This is the official permission to recruit clan guards for my journey. I want the both of you to personally select the guards. Prioritize loyalty and diligence above all. It would be better if they have talent but do not use it as a deciding factor. Most of them are blank spirits after all, and it wouldn't matter."
Blank spirits were spirits which didn't have a specific form. The people who were born with blank spirit were only able to cultivate up to spirit elite realm because they didn't have a specific characteristic or attribute. But they were better then those born without spirit beasts, in a way that they could still cultivate and use spirit energy.
Out of all the citizens of Rubrum, 60 percent were born without spirit beasts, 30 percent were blank spirits and only the 10 percent were born with spirit beasts.
So, how did the big clans manage to maintain their lineage? Easy. If the two individuals who both have a spirit beast gave birth to a child, there was a 99.7 percent chance that the baby would have a spirit beast, 0.2 percent chance that he or she would be a blank and 0.1 percent chance that the baby would not have a spirit beast.
Yes, Marcius was that unlucky.
Marcius recovered from his depressing thoughts as Ser Janus replied.
"We will get to it immediately, young master!"
Then, Marcius allowed Ser Janus and Leon to get to work as he got back to reading documents.
After a few hours of working, there was another knock at the door and a servant came in.
"Young master, clan head has requested your immediate presence in the clan hall. A delegation from Sergia clan has arrived."
'Ah… there is it. It took them quite a while.'
*** *** ***
Author Notes
Hello again! It's MidnightMK!
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