Emiya didn't know if he just didn't react in time, or if he forgot to dodge. He simply stood there quietly, watching James's fist grow larger and larger in his vision.
"Return!" At the critical moment, Howard's stern voice rang out.
James instantly redirected his fist. It grazed past Emiya's ear, the violent force bursting out from his knuckles, creating a massive explosion a hundred meters behind Emiya, kicking up a sky-filling cloud of smoke and dust.
After a while, the smoke cleared, leaving behind a pitch-black crater over ten meters wide, bottomless.
"Mr. Emiya, my colleague didn't sleep well last night. Please don't take it to heart!"
Howard, wearing a warm spring-breeze smile, walked up slowly to Emiya and extended his hand in a friendly gesture.
In truth, James's ferocious display just now was all to set the stage for this handshake.
Howard wasn't just extremely powerful in combat, he also had a unique ability. As long as someone shook his hand with full force, he could record precise data about them.
With that data, once back on the battleship, they could analyze and deduce it. Within an hour, they would be able to calculate Emiya's exact strength.
Howard's abacus was clicking away, but Emiya didn't even look at him. He silently stepped back, standing behind Zoe, putting on the act of a bullied girl.
"The Company people are so scary, I'm afraid~"
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. With me, the King of Jarilo, backing you up, even if it's those ferocious and unreasonable Company monsters, they won't be able to hurt you!"
"Tch!" Watching Emiya and Zoe shamelessly put on their little two-man skit again, even Howard, who prided himself on never showing anger or joy on his face, couldn't help the twitch at the corner of his cheek, letting out a faint sound of displeasure.
"I'll say this again, I am Zoe, the King of Jarilo. If there's to be a handshake, it should be with me." Zoe also stretched out her little hand.
She had a detector built into it. Upon contact, the device would spring out, collecting Howard's blood and body data. After that, she could create a clone of Howard.
These people had dared to offend Emiya, so Zoe planned to use their own clones to commit all sorts of dirty deeds, making them infamous across the cosmos.
Howard was a shrewd old fox. Though he couldn't guess Zoe's full plan, he could tell this little girl wasn't easy to deal with, she was scheming something.
Out of caution, Howard didn't shake Zoe's hand. Instead, he bent forward and gave her a gentleman's bow.
"The Company's representative this time is Debt Collector Topaz, one of the Ten Stonehearts. It would be improper for me to overstep. Please forgive me."
"Hmph, if you're not in charge, then why are you butting in? The people from the Company really have no manners!"
Such arrogant words, coming from Zoe's tender little mouth, were especially infuriating. Howard, halfway back already, was so provoked he stumbled, nearly tripping flat on the ground.
He instinctively adjusted his glasses. Behind the reflective lenses, his eyes glinted with a vicious light.
'I'll remember this debt. Damn brat, I'll make you wish for death!'
To see Howard, always lofty, always proud, forced to silently swallow humiliation in front of these people...
Topaz couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh for quite a while, before finally clearing her throat under the murderous stares of the Pioneering Department, stepping forward to stand before Zoe.
Joking was one thing, fooling around was one thing, but Topaz knew the Company's face had to be saved. Otherwise, not only would she be implicated, but the Company would hold an especially bitter grudge against this struggling planet.
"Miss Zoe, this concerns the future of all Jarilo. Talking about it while standing on the plains like this isn't really appropriate, is it?"
Topaz pointed to her grand warship. "We've already prepared the proper documents, and refreshments for everyone as well. Let's go aboard to talk."
"Standing to talk really isn't good, but our grassland scenery is way better than your broken spaceship. Let's just talk here!"
Zoe snapped her fingers. A few breaths later, five Creation Engines as massive as mountains appeared silently over the grasslands, blocking out the glaring sunlight completely.
The sight was too overwhelming. Even the Interastral Peace Company, accustomed to great storms and waves, was thrown into a commotion.
It wasn't that they feared Zoe would suddenly lose her mind and attack, but rather that they were stunned by the sheer technological might behind these Creation Engines.
Not only could such gigantic machines fly silently, smoothly, skimming the ground without disturbing even the faintest airflow, the level of technology within was terrifying.
If such tech were applied to warships... it was unthinkable, unimaginable.
Amid the crowd's gasps and envious stares, one of the Creation Engines extended its huge palm, setting down a wide conference table between the two sides, along with nine solid-wood chairs carved with intricate patterns.
Not only that, the Creation Engine carefully pinched a teapot, finer than a hair in its grasp, and poured tea into all nine cups without spilling a single drop.
Topaz forced herself to walk calmly to her seat, lips tightening bitterly, before she drained her cup of hot tea in one gulp without hesitation.
The more knowledgeable a person was, the more they could see in the technological level Zoe had just displayed.
Even setting aside any enormous backing power she might have, Zoe alone could already assemble a mechanical army that would sweep everything before it.
At this point, trying to use the Company's size to pressure Zoe was meaningless. They could only try to push from other angles, to see if they could scrape out some benefits and save a shred of face for the Company.
"Zoe, on Jarilo there is a Stellaron. It's a world-corrupting tumor. Where have you taken it?"
"The Stellaron was destroyed by me."
"Don't joke with me!" Topaz slammed the table and shot to her feet, her face red, her neck bulging. "I represent the Company here to talk serious business. Can you stop being so flippant!"
Inside the Astral Express, everyone who heard Zoe's words also widened their eyes, staring hard at the only three people who might know the truth.
If it was really like Zoe said, that a Stellaron could just be casually destroyed, without polluting the world, then what the hell was the Antimatter Legion even for? Even the Aeon of Destruction would become a joke.
And yet, the people on the train couldn't help but believe Zoe's words, at least a little.
Ever since hearing that the Emiya family had dealt with the Stellaron, they had investigated everywhere, even searching in outer space.
Unsurprisingly, the results had shocked everyone.
Not only had the Stellaron really vanished from this star system, but even its effects had been erased. That so-called "Cancer of All Worlds" really did seem to have been casually destroyed by the Emiya family.
"Don't look at us, we don't know anything, okay!" Cocolia clutched her precious daughter tightly in her arms, putting on an innocent face as she pointed at Gepard.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.