Bartholomew Kuma had not seen the master who had taken such good care of his family of three for several months, and he missed him greatly.
By all rights, as a slave, displaying such behavior and daring to take the initiative to speak with a Celestial Dragon was already a grave crime. Yet the servants of the Jaygarcia Family around them all turned a blind eye, without the slightest look of surprise.
Because they had long since grown accustomed to it over the past few years.
For some reason, Saint Vikengam seemed especially fond of Bartholomew Kuma, his fighting slave. Sometimes, when he was in a good mood, he even allowed Kuma to eat at the table with him. In Mary Geoise, that was simply unimaginable.
But Saint Vikengam was a Celestial Dragon, and one deeply favored by Saint Saturn. Naturally, no one would be foolish enough to offend him over such trivial matters.
"Oh, my loyal little bear, you seem even stronger than when I left. Very good. No one bullied you these past few months, did they?" Vikengam asked with a smile, his tone teasing.
Just as mentioned before, because Saint Saturn favored this younger member of his family, few in Mary Geoise dared to deny Vikengam respect. So even though he had been away from the Holy Land for several months, no one had deliberately come to trouble Bartholomew Kuma. After all, Kuma rarely left Vikengam's chambers.
After chatting briefly with Kuma, Vikengam finally turned to his family's butler, Alfred.
"Ah Fu, you contacted me a few days ago and said God's Knights had sent an invitation?" Vikengam asked.
Butler Ah Fu replied respectfully, "That's right, Young Master. You are eighteen this year. According to tradition, you have reached the age to participate in the study tour and hunting competition. This year happens to be the once-every-three-years event. God's Knights has already sent the relevant invitation to the family. To keep you from missing this grand occasion, I contacted you several days ago to inform you."
The head of the Jaygarcia Family was naturally the old man, Saint Saturn.
And the young master was, of course, Vikengam, whom Saint Saturn favored.
By bloodline, he belonged to the direct line of the Jaygarcia Family, making his status even more distinguished.
In terms of family standing, he ranked second within the Jaygarcia Family. The other Celestial Dragons in the family, even collateral uncles, held less status than he did and did not dare provoke him.
As for Vikengam's father, the previous direct-line heir, he had already croaked. The old bastard had apparently suffered from some unknown physical ailment and had never been able to father children. It was not until he was seventy-six, with his eighty-sixth "mortal" wife, that he had Vikengam as his first child.
Perhaps he had been too excited over it, because he croaked the following year. Then a whole group of wives with no special status were buried alongside him.
At that time, Vikengam had not yet transmigrated—or rather, his memories from a past life had not awakened. After all, he only gained his current consciousness at the age of three.
So, simply put, by the time his consciousness awakened, both his parents were already dead. Naturally, he felt nothing for them.
In comparison, he had formed a closer bond with Saint Saturn, who had favored him since childhood. Even though he knew Saint Saturn was no kindly old grandfather, but a ruthless, vicious figure who could be called an evil villain.
"I see." Vikengam nodded, a thoughtful look appearing in his eyes.
It was now Sea Circle Calendar 1484—thirty-eight years before the time people would later speak of. This was precisely the first year of the God Valley Incident!
Receiving an invitation to participate in the competition at this time was no different from receiving a ticket for a sightseeing trip to hell.
As Vikengam considered this, Butler Ah Fu spoke beside him with anticipation and longing in his voice. "With your talent, Young Master, and the head's support, if you perform even slightly well during this study tour, perhaps you will receive an invitation from God's Knights and become one of God's Blades. You may even enter the knights in the future and become a Blade Bearer!"
Vikengam's brow furrowed slightly at those words, but he said nothing.
Seeing this, Ah Fu immediately stopped himself from saying anything further. He did not dare speak out of turn.
Although he had served as the Jaygarcia Family's butler for many years and had once been deeply trusted by the family's Celestial Dragons, he knew full well that he was merely a servant of the Jaygarcia Family. If he displeased the young master, he could be executed at any moment, and no one would say a single good word for him.
Vikengam did not have some particularly extreme moral obsession. Otherwise, Mary Geoise would have twisted him into a lunatic long ago.
It could even be said that he did not stand out much in Mary Geoise. At least compared to Saint Homing of the Donquixote Family, he already possessed plenty of Celestial Dragon bearing.
From an outsider's perspective, he was not exactly a good person either.
From the very beginning, he had known this was a world that devoured people. Even as one of the supposedly noble Celestial Dragons, without sufficient strength, he could still be devoured or killed.
During the coming God Valley Incident, quite a few Celestial Dragons would face mortal danger, and some would even die because of it.
Therefore, he understood very clearly that if he did not want to be devoured, he had to become a beast that devoured others. Killing was unavoidable.
So, when he was six, he had chosen to kill people himself as practice, tempering his mind so that he would not feel shaken when he had to kill in the future, revealing weakness or making a fool of himself.
Over that one week, he killed fourteen slaves in Mary Geoise, using different methods and weapons.
That said, he was not so deranged that he had no moral bottom line like the vast majority of Celestial Dragons. Every slave he used for practice was a genuine criminal—pirates who had slaughtered countless people, thugs, and the like.
Still, he had later killed several servants who displeased him. That was also one reason Ah Fu feared him.
At the same time, when he personally ended the first life he had ever taken across both his lives, he had already prepared himself for the possibility that one day he would fall short and be killed by someone else.
This world was beautiful and cruel. If he refused to become a lamb and wanted to become a beast, then he had to place his life upon the scales and gamble for the future he desired. Those who killed would eventually be killed themselves. That was only fair.
If he died, there would be nothing to say. He could only blame himself for not being good enough.
It was precisely because of this temperament, along with his other qualities, that Saint Saturn had taken notice of him.
As for this so-called study tour, it was a carnival for beasts, something Vikengam, who still possessed some morality, despised. But given his current circumstances, he was not qualified to stop it. He could not even properly refuse the invitation.
Moreover, Saint Saturn had mentioned the matter before, so Vikengam still had to attend.
It was not only the study tour. Just as Ah Fu had said, Saint Saturn also hoped he would take the path of joining God's Knights.
Of course, Vikengam had no intention of joining God's Knights. Once he joined, he would become a member of Imu's inner circle and would have to enter into a Deep-Sea Contract.
Once that contract was established, Vikengam could only obediently serve as Imu's dog for the rest of his life. If he showed even the slightest negligence, his life could be taken from him.
He had finally come to this world, not to become a dog Imu could kill or spare at will. So God's Knights was never among his options.
And if he remained in the Holy Land, Saint Saturn would inevitably continue pushing him in that direction. Saint Saturn might favor him to some extent, but in the end, Vikengam was merely a promising chess piece in his hand. Having him join God's Knights and seize a measure of authority for him was likely Saint Saturn's current "arrangement" for him.
But Vikengam currently had no way to resist Saint Saturn's will in the Holy Land.
So it was time to leave.
God Valley... that enormous mystery that has stirred my curiosity... the Void Century, tsk... the Roger Pirates. This is the perfect time, Vikengam thought.
Before long, the group escorted Vikengam to Pangaea Castle.
He was going to meet the old man of his family, Saint Saturn, and report on his experiences from this training excursion.
World Government officials had clearly been waiting inside Pangaea Castle for quite some time. They respectfully ushered Vikengam in.
As a younger relative favored by Saint Saturn, he had naturally met all five Five Elders.
But clearly, the other four had no intention of dealing with him today. Vikengam was not taken to the shared office of the Five Elders, known as the Room of Authority.
Instead, he was brought to Saint Saturn's private residence within Pangaea Castle.
Come to think of it, the old man rarely returned to the Jaygarcia Family's residence. Most of the time, he lived in Pangaea Castle.
Perhaps it was more convenient for serving Imu?
The other four Five Elders mostly did the same.
That was why most Celestial Dragons never had the chance to meet these five figures who held the highest authority on the surface.
After he lightly knocked on the door, a response soon came from within, telling him to enter.
It was not his first time here. Vikengam calmly stepped into the room and casually shut the door behind him.
Compared to the Room of Authority, this place was much smaller, yet its luxury was impossible to conceal. The finest luxuries from all over the world were utterly unremarkable here, as though they naturally belonged in this place.
At the same time, Vikengam saw the old man seated on the sofa, holding a cup of richly fragrant black tea and savoring it carefully—Jaygarcia Saturn Saint.
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