A wagered duel

Yuan Shikai said, "Are you kidding me? You think you can poach someone from me for 50,000 Cosmic Coins? Who do you think you're insulting? Even if you offered 500,000, five million, or fifty million, I wouldn't sell her, because Mash is priceless."

"And don't put a price on my people. That really pisses me off, and when I'm pissed off, I feel like punching someone. I'll let it slide this time, but next time, I'll go straight to the punching."

His forceful yet dignified declaration made Mash blush where she stood behind the others, and she unconsciously stepped out from the back.

The reason Mash had tolerated him was that he wasn't a bad person. In fact, he was a good person.

During an escort battle, he had once saved someone from another mercenary corps.

The conflict afterward had merely started because he reprimanded the mercenary he had saved for failing to follow the tactics.

People of every race could be stubbornly argumentative. The other man had tried to justify himself, and Barucado had a fiery temper, so they had come to blows.

Barucado had taught that mercenary a lesson, though the beating had been rather severe. Many people had tried to break up the fight, only for Barucado to beat them up too. Mash had simply wanted to end the farce.

Unexpectedly, Barucado had gotten so carried away with fighting that he had tried to attack Mash too. Acting in self-defense, Mash had swung her shield once, and Barucado had gone down.

For some inexplicable reason, he had kept pursuing Mash ever since.

At first, everyone had thought he admired her talent and wanted to recruit her. Now it turned out that he actually wanted Mash as his wife.

Barucado said, "I challenge you to a duel. I'll