In the year following the magical year 2002, the Kingdom of the Hamie people declared the day of the "Dragon War" as a national day of disgrace.
This particular holiday was only abolished after Amy became the true Mercenary King. Or more accurately, it was given a new name: "Festival of Jubilation."
"Amy, I've truly made a mistake," Yisu III said, looking at Amy's smiling face with utmost sincerity.
"Your Highness, you're too kind. It's nothing, really."
"I ask for your forgiveness for my error."
"As your subject, I wouldn't dare to presume such a thing. Your Highness honors me beyond my worth."
"Sigh, you know, seeing you reminds me of your father ten years ago. He was truly in his prime, graceful and handsome." Yisu III's words were abruptly interrupted by Amy: "Your Highness, if you have something to say, just say it. I'm really busy right now, as you can see." As Amy spoke, he waved the list he held in his hand at Yisu III. Seeing the names written in red ink, the muscles on Yisu III's face tensed up.
Amy was indeed very busy. To his left was a thick stack of lists written in red ink, and to his right, an equally thick stack written in black ink. Every few minutes, someone would run up to the stage to deliver new records to him.
"May I take a look at those lists?" Yisu III tried to negotiate.
"Your Highness, these are business secrets. It's not appropriate. Could you perhaps ask about something unrelated to business? I'd be happy to oblige." Amy smiled.
"Sigh, I had a very good impression of your father—kind, upright, embodying the typical knightly spirit. You look so much like him. You and Daqingshan came to Snowfield City, and since Daqingshan is Mr. Chi Hanfeng's prized pupil, I was always worried that Daqingshan might adopt his master's ways. So yesterday, I specifically sent someone to keep an eye on Daqingshan." Although it was late summer and early autumn, the weather in Snowfield City was still very cold, yet Yisu III's face was continuously sweating.
"Oh, please, go on." Amy politely replied.
"I couldn't sleep well last night, and at 4 a.m., I called the general on duty. When I learned that Daqingshan had stayed in his room asleep while you disappeared, I felt you were up to something."
"Later, I finally learned a few things. Could you tell me in detail?" After beating around the bush, Yisu III finally got to the point.
"You misunderstood. I just went to Snowfield City to have a look around yesterday." Amy smiled, his face showing a saintly expression.
"Really? From 4 p.m. yesterday to 6 a.m. today, you visited the two largest underground gambling dens."
"Your Highness, you're indeed insightful."
"I didn't do much, really. Last night, I just chatted with Old Locke. We divided the spoils from our fight against Yingfeng. Daqingshan and I got a total of 20,000 gold coins," Amy said casually.
"Is that all?" Yisu III squinted, not giving an inch.
"Oh, I've been a bit short on cash lately, so I borrowed 10,000 gold coins from him."
"And then?" Yisu III pressed on.
"After that, I remembered that you're hosting such a grand parade. What if no one comes to watch? I noticed there were many beggars on the streets, so pitiful. I gave each of them 10 gold coins and gave 200 gold coins to the city guards to open the gates and let the beggars go to nearby villages to spread the word about your celebration."
"Where did those newspapers on-site come from?"
"Your Highness, do you wish for the despicable Chi Hanfeng's disciple to defeat the brave national Dragon Warriors? We certainly can't let such a tragedy unfold, so I came up with a plan—we must mentally crush the opponent first. So, overnight, I wrote tens of thousands of words of exposure."
"Those exposés fetched a good price today." Yisu III stared at Amy.
"Everyone's making money, everyone's making money. It's actually quite modest. I printed 250,000 copies at 2 gold coins each, and 170,000 have already been sold. As for the 10 gold coin edition, to create a sense of demand, I only printed 7,000 copies, and sales are decent, with about 6,000 sold. But my investment was huge, printing alone cost 1,000 gold coins." Amy said, feeling the pinch.
"Have you already recouped your investment? If everything sells out, your net profit will be 100,000 gold coins. Why did you still go to those two underground gambling dens?"
"Yes, why did I go there? That's a difficult question to answer," Amy said, pressing his thumbs against his temples as Yisu III kept a close eye on him.
"The truth is, I felt my abilities were lacking, and I didn't have enough manpower to organize this large-scale gambling event, so I decided to hire professionals."
"Oh, and what's that in front of you?" Yisu III asked curiously.
Amy quickly covered it with his hand. "Hehe, these are the bets placed by the gamblers."
"Why are there two stacks?" Yisu III was relentless in his questioning.
"Oh, this stack is for unified bets—bet 10 to win 1, with a minimum wager of 10 gold coins. Later, I considered that some guests might not have that much money on hand, and they're people too. They have the right to gamble, don't they? So, I opened a smaller betting pool. In this pool, I placed 5,000 gold coins, and you can bet on anything, even on Daqingshan winning. However, it seems your country's people have great confidence in their Dragon Knights. So far, no one has bet on Daqingshan winning. Congratulations."
"If you win, how much will it be?"
"Sigh, Your Highness, gambling always involves winning and losing," Amy sighed deeply. "If I lose, including today's newspaper sales, I'd lose 100,000 gold coins. I'm a bit regretful," Amy's face showed genuine remorse, making Yisu III think he was truly repentant. But then Amy continued, "I shouldn't have bet so much. I should have saved the newspaper money to at least give myself a chance to recoup. Of course, if I win, after deducting the costs for hiring people, it would be nine times the return. This is thanks to your new policy, with low personal income tax; otherwise, I'd be at a loss."
"Is that 900,000?" Yisu III became anxious upon hearing this.
"Your Highness is indeed clever." Amy's words were sweet as honey.
"Do you know what our annual national treasury income is? Just 1.5 million!" Yisu III was almost losing his mind, inadvertently revealing his core financial secret. "Amy, can you declare this gambling event invalid? Otherwise, the people won't have enough grain to survive the winter."
"No, I must maintain good business ethics," Amy said, righteously. "However, I can return the money and lists from the small bettors to you, and you can refund them yourself later. It's not much, just about 100,000 gold coins."
Upon hearing this, Yisu III sighed in relief. "By the way, Amy, how can you be so sure that Daqingshan will win?"
"Business secret, no comment," Amy said with a mischievous grin at Yisu III.
While the farce played out between Amy and Yisu III, there were new developments on Daqingshan's side.
Seeing Lin Yushang in extreme anger, Daqingshan suddenly smiled brightly, "I think Amy wrote all of this. Who else would dare to measure Luer's three sizes?"
Lin Yushang, who was on the verge of an outburst, immediately realized, "Daqingshan, why do you associate with the wrong people?" Clearly, unable to find Amy, she took out her frustration on the honest Daqingshan.
Daqingshan slightly curled his lips—note this smiling expression: If Amy's subtle smile, with slightly upturned lips and squinted eyes, gave a sense of noble elegance, even if it was just an appearance, then Daqingshan's slightly split lips under the nose conveyed an exceedingly rare tolerance. This tolerant smile almost defined Daqingshan's life, especially when he took the blame for the Mercenary King.
Amidst the sea of people, they were at least 500 meters away from the parade platform, unable to squeeze in.
With no other choice, Daqingshan found the nearest soldier post, politely explained his intention, and asked the soldiers to take him to the parade platform.
Apparently, Amy's publicity campaign was very effective. Upon hearing it was Daqingshan and the Empire's envoy Lin Yushang, along with Sharuo, the soldiers at the post showed expressions of contempt, scorn, and disapproval simultaneously. However, due to their duty, they reluctantly led them through the official path to the parade platform.
Although Amy was busy calculating the large amounts of money floating before him, he kept an eye on the approaching visitors. Seeing Lin Yushang storming up in anger, he immediately sensed trouble and quickly rolled up his business secrets and tucked them into his coat, running down from the platform, exclaiming in surprise, "This is bad! This is bad!"
It was the first time Lin Yushang had seen Amy so flustered, and she was startled, her anger dissipating significantly, "What happened?" she anxiously asked.
"When I arrived this morning, I found many people selling our information on-site, and there were, uh..."
Seeing Amy's hesitant expression, Lin Yushang cooperatively asked, "What is it? Spit it out, I'm dying of curiosity."
"The report says you approached Daqingshan and even vied with Shaluo for attention," Amy said sheepishly.
"What? Didn't you write that?" Lin Yushang looked at Amy, then at Daqingshan, bewildered.
"How could it be me? Ah, the parade is starting now, let's watch it first and discuss this later. Our seats are right next to His Majesty—the King wants to chat with me, so he arranged the closest seats for us. We'll talk afterward." With that, Amy quickly made his exit. "Remember, Daqingshan, after the parade, it's competition time. Only victory is allowed, no defeat."
Lin Yushang was clearly fooled again, left in a daze. Daqingshan and Sharuo glanced at Amy's hurriedly fleeing figure, exchanging helpless looks, as Daqingshan cursed internally: He got away again, damn.
A long horn sounded, made from a special type of seal bone found on the icy continent's coastline, light, brittle, and resonant. In practice, seven small holes are often burned at the base of the horn, representing the seven notes: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, and ti. These horns are widely used among the Hamie people, especially in the military, where most only have holes burned for sol, la, and ti, producing a grand sound. Everyone hearing this horn's call would feel their blood boil—charging into battle was driven by its command.
On the east side of the parade ground, a thunderous roar erupted, and everyone held their breath, turning to watch: In the distance, a newly risen round sun emitted not-so-bright rays, and in its glow, a dense line of massive land dragon knights appeared.
Unlike all other Hamie knights, the traditional Hamie knights wore white war robes, while the land dragon knights donned black mystic iron armor. The land dragons wore dark green horse armor, and the knights held 37-meter long standard lances. The black lance shafts and silver lance tips sliced through the sunlight, flickering like silver stars.
As they approached, the entire knight formation was a standard 500-man squadron, arranged in 10 rows of 50 riders each.
Suddenly, the horn's pace quickened, and the knights immediately adjusted their formation. The front 10 riders quickly dispersed to the sides, and the next four rows of knights swiftly filled in, forming a 50-man charge formation in the shortest time.
From a 10-row, 50-column vertical formation, they rapidly transformed into a 50-row, 10-column horizontal formation. All the knights simultaneously lowered their black visors.
The horn's rhythm steadied, and the first row of 50 dragon knights waved their lances at the reviewing stand, urging their land dragons forward in a simulated combat charge formation.
Undoubtedly, the land dragons before them were rigorously trained, following the horn's tempo. The massive bodies of the land dragons pounded the ground in unison—boom, boom, boom—dust rising all around, yet each land dragon maintained the same charge stride.