� Chapter: Slave or Master
Lucy lifted her eyes and smiled, looking radiant and charming. "My lord, rather than remain a free slave, I choose to rise up and become a master with power. Besides, if I join your faction and follow you, how could that be called losing my freedom? You may not be very old, my lord, but your reputation precedes you. Only a fool like Boteer, with no judgment at all, would think you were easy to bully. After all, before you granted him death, you killed a Chief Sovereign with your own hands—and one who possessed a Supreme Artifact, at that."
"Leaving everything else aside, if I can become a Chief Sovereign, how would those Four Divine Beasts dare bully me, those clowns who think they're so important!" Lucy spoke through gritted teeth.
Lincoln burst out laughing. Lucy not only shared his goal, she also happened to share his enemy. He had been worrying about how badly he needed Water Sovereign Sparks, and now a pie had practically fallen from the sky. "Looks like the Four Divine Beasts made things difficult for you when they went back today."
Lucy sighed helplessly and said, still a little shaken, "You know how the Four Divine Beasts have always run rampant and thrown their weight around. Even Lady Valeria has suffered plenty of indignities at their hands. The reason I gave for speaking up for you at the Sovereign Conference today sounded to them exactly like an indirect insult. And Lady Valeria kept making pointed remarks about them, too. So the moment I got back, they came looking for trouble. Old Sparrow was so furious he nearly charged over and killed me."
"Pfft. Old Sparrow—that does suit him. But since things were already so tense, how did you get