The following afternoon.
The carriage Oscar had sent arrived as promised. It picked Richard up from the courtyard, traveled through the streets toward the very heart of Xia Ya, and finally entered an extremely magnificent complex of buildings—the Alliance Emperor's palace in Xia Ya.
In a palace hall as spacious as a warehouse, Richard met the so-called Alliance Emperor.
The Alliance Emperor sat in a specially made, oversized chair nearly a meter wide. Even so, parts of his bloated body inevitably "spilled" out over the chair. There was no noticeable mana fluctuation within him; he looked like an ordinary man. Yet his enormous body exerted an inexplicable pressure. He did not look like a human at all, but more like a bear wearing human skin.
In fact, one of his titles was Brown Bear.
Brown Bear Emperor Peter Romanov! His fan-like hands rested on the armrests, while his gray eyes stared into the air before him. His gaze was profound, and his expression lacked any imperial majesty. Rather than an emperor, he looked more like a thinker.
It was just that this thinker was far too fat, making one unable to help wondering whether he was contemplating what to eat for his next meal.
The attendant who had led Richard in saw this and called softly, "Your Majesty, the person you wished to receive has arrived."
Emperor Peter came back to himself from his thoughts and answered. He waved for the attendant to withdraw, then turned his gaze toward Richard and studied him with keen interest.
"Richard Austin, right? I've wanted to meet you for a long time." That was the emperor's first sentence.
Before Richard could respond, the second followed immediately.
"I already learned a great deal about you from Oscar. I admire you very much."
"Uh..."
"I believe