At this point at which Empress Diana paused briefly; Skylar willed, his interface going off. Then he dipped his hand into the cake he has been eating as he continue listening to her continuation.
"Then about the connection between these zones and a player's spawn point... My lord, the spawn point is the spot someone entering the simulation for the first time will find themselves..."
"I understand... Its the place your journey to find a safe zone where you will later register as a player or user will start. Its a literal spawn point."
Skylar who interjected her, smiled faintly at her, then he place the plate of cake on his lap and stretched his hand towards a bottle of milk on the table. However, Empress Diana who saw this also stretched her hand and grabbed it before he can as she is closer to it, then she proceed to open the bottle which she put on a thin wooden slab on the table that automatically levitate towards Skylar after she tapped a specific point on it.
So sophisticated.
As Skylar pick the bottle of milk on the slab floating in front of him, Empress Diana resumed:
"My lord..."
"?"
"Do you know there has never been a record of someone spawning in the red zone before. Even for those that chose the impossible difficulty, the worst place they can find themselve is a region marked the darkest shade of green and never anywhere in the red zone."
As she finish saying this, Skylar who has been looking at her raspberry eyes scrunched his left nostril, looking unsure of what to say.
This people must be joking with me, how could they have dropped me in the middle of a black zone, and at a place that crazy far...
"I was lucky, i guess."
Skylar finally said something. Then absentmindedly, he drank from the bottle in his hand, gulping a few mouthful of milk, and he placed the cake on his lap on the floating wooden slab.
"My lord..."
"Mm."
"How many times did you reset your vessel?"
"Eh?"
Skylar was puzzled by her question she asked hesitatingly like she did not want to offend him, probably she was thinking—he might find the question offensive.
"...What's that?"
Skylar who has no idea of what she asked, asked her as a response, and this made her atmosphere brightened up like a daughter seeing her lovely dad again after a very long time, especially her eyes seems to light up. However as she was about to stand up, Ling who has been sleeping beside Skylar suddenly sprang up and relocated to a spot on his lap almost at the same second Aya entered inside.
Another member of the family.
While Diana mood seems to have dimmed a little bit, Skylar watched as Aya who is wearing only a red lace thong under a red lace transparent night gown—through which her big round breasts and the outline of thier pointy peaks could be seen; stretched her long and pale legs, crossing over his legs and Ling who is now on them.
Ah! I see she is wearing her stuff. She definitely has the right to be angry.
As Aya with her eternal emotionless gaze sits very close beside Skylar, the heart-shaped face of Empress Diana as Skylar sees it, seems to hold an imperceptible frown as she slightly lowered her head and busied herself with cutting a chicken meat on a plate on the floating table into slices.
Why is everyone quiet?
Some seconds after Aya returned and a period of time in which Ling fell back asleep; Empress Diana who has been slicing the fried chicken dipped in spicy and pepper sauce, passed all the pieces she cut to Skylar, via another floating wooden slab just like earlier.
I really like this woman.
Skylar beams lovingly at Empress Diana as the wooden slab gets close to him.
"Diana, how is your faction doing?"
"My lord, i quit yesterday. I am a free person as of this moment."
Look at this one.
When Diana answered his question, Aya who sits very close beside him picked a piece of meat meant for him when the wooden slab reached in front of him, surprising him and making him a tiny little bit annoyed.
"Wait... You quit, why?"
Putting the matter behind him, Skylar raised his head after also picking a piece of meat, and his gaze met a peculiar gaze of Empress Diana who might also be displeased by what Aya did as her gaze is directed at her.
"Yes, my lord." Quickly hiding the peculiar gaze, Empress Diana replied. "Its just that... My lord, do you know what happened after you left the golden finch?"
"Eh! Something happened?"
*Swish
*Swish
Skylar was surprised by her reply, and at the same time, Aya reached for another piece of meat the second time, which by luck she got successfully, as Skylar aimed to slap her hand hard but failed, therefore making him grit his teeth, suppressing his displeasure.
This crazy woman is pissing me off, can't she get her own meat.
"My lord, if i may ask, do you know about a black feather in Lingyue's possession?"
"Mm!."
Ah, Goldie's feather. Did something happened. That midget of a bird didn't tell me anything.
Skylar picked a piece of meat and took a bite while Empress Diana patiently wait for a reply, and while Aya's emotionless unique eyes is watching his side profile intently.
"I gave her the feather. Its for protection from flying species... Were you guys attacked?" He asked.
"Yes, my lord..." Empress Diana responded.
"Oh!... i see."
Empress Diana carried on after Skylar's interjection, elaborating.
"My ex faction and some other top factions in lavender were on the ship at the time. We were there to ambush this bird that has been terrorizing that ship route for a long time now. But when it took our bait and attacked, that was after you left my lord... It was a complete disaster—the bird was far more powerful than we expected and it wasn't even alone— the person controlling it came with it, and I think his plan is to cripple the top factions in lavender. It was like he has been waiting for us to gather our elite forces in one place."
"Idiots." Aya raspy and boyish voice interjected. " i warned them... Gathering in one place is like becoming an easy target..."
What about you. Didn't you get captured after your reckless and stupid plan to get me trapped. If I haven't been in a good mood today, I would have leveled your place before...
*Slap
You thought you were smart...
Skylar being successful this time, though it was not hard, slapped away Aya's hand that was going for another piece of meat in front of him, and acting like nothing happened, he returned his focus to Empress Diana who seems to be happy, as a smile tugged at her cherry lips.
"So, did the feather repelled the bird?"
"Yes, and it wasn't just that." Empress Diana replied. "Because of the feather, another bird appeared that fought back the hooded man... My lord, the person attacked Lingyue after he apparently lost control of the bird, I think he was trying to obtain the feather..."
"Ah!"
What's her problem again.
Aya interrupted, drawing the attention of the two.
"If you say the man attacked Lingyue for her feather, what about your ex faction and the other factions that must have been watching... Didn't they help her after she practically saved their lives? Or were they also after her feather? They were waiting for her to exhaust the other idiot..." She said.
"Blood queen, i won't deny that..." A wry smile tugged at Express Diana's lips as she agreed with Aya's analysis. "That was exactly everyone's plan, including my faction, and its one of the several reasons I quit."
"Mmm, that's why grandpa say not to help people randomly—an help you give them might end up ruining their life. Maybe I shouldn't have given her that feather."
Skylar muttered like he is talking to no one in particular, then he tear into a piece of meat in his hand.
"Not in this case my lord." Empress Diana disagreed with a shake of the head. "For Lingyue the feather was a blessing."
"What do you mean?" Skylar asked.
"The bird that fought back the hooded man took the initiative and submitted to her... Although we haven't identified its specie yet, I can say with confidence that its as powerful as lady clara's mysterious pet—It should be as strong as an expert on the platinum list." Empress Diana explained.
"She sure is lucky." Aya remarked. *Slap* Then Skylar slapped away her hand the second time as she tried to steal a piece of meat from him.
"Now that i think about it, what is the deal between you and Lingyue." Skylar asked.
"My lord, if its about the rumors, they are not true." Empress Diana responded.
"Oh!"
She continued, "I wasn't oppressing her because we were in a love triangle... The rumor about me being hopelessly in love with the Golden king is something I fabricated... I was using it has a reason to get in her way so that people won't notice my original motive..."
"Oppressor. What's your original motive?"
Ignoring Aya who sounded like she is throwing a jab, Empress Diana continued.
"My lord, what do you know about Lingyue?"
"Practically nothing." Skylar answered.
"I thought as much. But my lord, what if I tell you Lingyue you know used to be a very ordinary woman—her beauty was below average, she couldn't even communicate well, she was a half wit. What if i tell you she was so weak she couldn't even hold a sword to defend herself."
"You are clearly lying." Aya interjected. *Slap* And like usual Skylar slapped her hand that is going for his meat. And the two ignoring her, Empress Diana continued.
"My lord, you might not know; at the beginning of the simulation, I was the second in command of a small hunting party, and I was the one that took her in even before she made it to lavender. It was also our party that helped her and some others reach the tower where they registered..."
"Is that hunting party female only?"
Skylar interjected with a question, then he stretched his hand for the bottle of milk while his other hand guard his plate of meat.
"No my lord, we were about twenty five in numbers and we had about twelve men. We can say the number of men and women were even."
Empress Diana who saw him put down the bottle paused, then she leaned forward, pour water from a glass kettle into a glass cup and as she was about to put it on another floating slab and send it to him, Skylar who is watching her pushed the slab with the bottle on top towards her, and after it reached her, she placed the glass of water on it after removing the now empty bottle, and like usual, she sent it to him.
"Thank you."
Skylar as he took the glass cup relaxed his guard, letting Aya take a piece of meat. However, she took two with her face still emotionless as ever, but not her unique voice that followed.
"You still haven't told us why you were bullying the poor girl."