The Intern in the Room of Authority

As Lu Ye walked out of the examination hall, the sound of sobbing and wailing filled his ears.

Scratching his ear, he kicked several inconsiderate good-for-nothing relatives who were kneeling and crying in the middle of the road aside. For a moment, he felt as though he were at a college entrance examination.

The only difference was, back at my high school...

You weren't fucking allowed to have horns growing out of your head!

"Lord Saint Longinus, the Five Elders request your presence in the Room of Authority."

A masked agent in a white suit stopped Lu Ye.

Lu Ye obediently struck the embarrassing pose, spreading his arms and leaning forward slightly.

He was used to it. The child seat on the big CP plane was right in its armpit, and Lu Ye had ridden there several times already.

Bang!

He kicked the doors open.

As before, four of the five old men were seated and one was standing. Each held a book, and their covers struck Lu Ye as rather familiar.

"Old men, I'm here!"

Lu Ye strode in, grabbed a dessert from the small coffee table with his left hand and a random teacup with his right, then hopped into the only empty seat. Eating and drinking, he said:

"Tell me, old men, what did you want me for? I'm very busy right now. I make hundreds of kilograms of gold every minute."

All five old men closed their books, and this time Lu Ye saw them clearly-

Muscle Bat King's "Cook Street" ancestral grave defense series, the books Lu Ye had learned to read with.

Even the Five Elders had become fans of this lousy series?

"Little Longinus, I hear you have people call you Sixth Master?"

The balding Elder with a wavy beard looked quite affable as he said with a smile:

"Don't you know that the Path of the Strong leads into the ranks of the Holy Knights? Even if you're the foremost of all the chosen candidates, your rank would only be thirteenth."

With half a sweet cake between his teeth, Lu Ye raised an eyebrow disdainfully.

"My goal isn't to govern that bunch of good-for-nothing relatives. My goal is to pacify the entire sea and let the Celestial Dragons stand forever at the pinnacle of power.

I'm joining the Knights, and I'm joining the World Government too!

Nobody said the two were incompatible, did they?"

The blond Elder laced his hands together and asked calmly, "Why do you think you can do it?"

"Is this an interview?"

Lu Ye tapped his temple, his face full of confidence.

"Possess strength, possess everything. Possess wisdom, command everything!"

The bald Elder in a white kendo robe was leafing through Lu Ye's evaluation report. At those words, his expression grew complicated.

A perfect thousand points for martial strength.

At three years old, his Doriki Value was as high as six hundred, comparable to a humanoid Sea King hatchling and even a little higher than Garling's son.

A perfect thousand points for noble etiquette.

According to the CP Agent responsible for supervising, Lu Ye had earned five hundred points for his looks alone as soon as he walked through the door.

When it came time to assess his speech, Lu Ye had kicked over the judge's table, spat a mouthful of sugarcane pulp in the judge's face, and said the judge was dressed like a dung beetle and wasn't fit to judge his looks.

By rights, all five hundred points for speech should have been deducted. Unexpectedly, Garling had appeared in person, said Lu Ye's haughty noble manner of speaking had won him over, and insisted on awarding full marks.

The judges hadn't been angry about it. Instead, they'd taken some pleasure in Garling's misfortune, thinking he too couldn't wait to throw this evil brat into the turbulent sea.

For personal character, the last of the four assessments and widely considered the hardest subject in the examination, Lu Ye had scored another thousand points.

The Celestial Dragon elder whom the Five Elders had just appointed to grade the papers early was in the Room of Authority, his beard trembling with anger as he graded.

The evil brat was an utter hypocrite. He knew perfectly well what morality was, yet he chose to run wild in the Holy Land.

Only two days ago, Lu Ye had robbed this elder's own son of his residence.

He would rather show all his kindness to commoners than give any to his own people.

Little devil!

As for the wisdom assessment, in which Lu Ye was now supremely confident and the Five Elders had also assumed nothing could go wrong-

Against everyone's expectations, he had scored a mere hundred points.

When the score came out, the person on the Empty Throne had taken the exam paper and laughed until they shook.

After all, everyone in the Holy Land knew the Mad King's reputation: "He learned to read before he could walk, and studied books while still in diapers." His third proposal during the discussion in the Room of Authority had also been the fundamental reason for the Celestial Dragons' reform.

And yet... only a hundred points for wisdom!

The Five Elders all suspected the fellow was being deliberately absurd.

If Lu Ye knew they thought that, he would have been just as despairing.

The upward-rushing Knock Up Stream, mountains floating above the clouds, an inverted waterfall, an island made of chocolate, giants living in trees...

Did they exist, and where were they?

Lu Ye had badly wanted to answer, "They exist because this is a hot-blooded manga."

Sir Newton himself had jumped out of his coffin, slapped Lu Ye twice across the face, and asked if his blood was still hot, was it still hot...

He'd only managed a hundred points because there had also been a math problem about ships in pursuit.

Sure enough, even if the stars no longer shone, math would never betray you.

The Elder with an inverted trident-shaped beard took a sip of tea and said softly:

"Arrogant! Those who have never seen the waves of the sea are always quick to indulge in unrealistic fantasies."

Lu Ye spread his hands and said calmly:

"I don't need to experience it firsthand. With wisdom and a little simple deduction, I can see many things clearly.

I don't understand the sea, but I know the reins that hold it, just as I don't understand you...

But I know there must be reins hanging over your heads too!"

"Brat, do you know what you're saying?"

The Elder in the little black hat, with a fluffy white beard, spoke in an icy tone. It sounded like a threat, but the cold sweat seeping from his forehead betrayed him.

Lu Ye took a gold coin from his pocket and flicked it into the air. It spun and whirled, then, a moment later, landed securely in his palm with a clack.

His blue eyes swept over the five old men without restraint.

"When something that should have happened never does, there must be a reason stopping it from happening.

Just as, if a gold coin doesn't fall to the ground, someone must have caught it."

Lu Ye picked up Revenge: The Martin Family of Cook Street from the coffee table and waved it as he said:

"The Dark Queen Martin Jenny and her two uncles fought among themselves over a single street, and things only settled down when they were all dead. Yet the five of you can sit comfortably in the same room..."

The five exchanged glances, their expressions somewhat serious.

But Lu Ye abruptly changed tack, grinning mischievously.

"So, what dirt do you have on each other?

There isn't a bomb under this room, is there? Does each of you have a remote?

Why else would you always hold meetings in this room?"

The Elder in the little black hat, with a fluffy white beard, breathed a sigh of relief and said gravely:

"That's enough, little Longinus. Don't speak carelessly again. You still don't understand the significance of the World Government's existence!"

Lu Ye shrugged and held two fingers close together, saying indifferently:

"I only wanted to show that I can help you hold the reins on the sea, so I displayed a little of my wisdom."

The bald Elder in the kendo robe spoke gently:

"We've spoken with Garling. Since you wish to work for the World Government, once you complete the Path of the Strong, you can nominally hold the thirteenth seat in the Knights and assume your position after your work for the World Government is finished.

"You scored three thousand one hundred points in this assessment, meeting the standard for an outside posting, but the World Government currently has no suitable appointment for you.

"You understand, don't you? You're still too young, and your strength is too weak..."

After a pause, the old man said seriously:

"Little Longinus, starting tomorrow, come to the Room of Authority after you finish training and learn some of the truth about the sea.

"You are a lion cub of the Celestial Dragons. Once you have the ability to roar in all directions, you'll be free to go out to sea."

The Elder with short blond hair chuckled. "Don't learn from that little bastard Garling. You need to show us some respect.

"My position is Warrior God of Agriculture. You may call me Grandpa Jupiter."

The Elder in the little black hat, with a fluffy white beard, said coldly, "Warrior God of Science and Defense. Call me Grandpa Saturn."

The Elder with an inverted trident-shaped beard held a hand lightly over his chest. "Warrior God of Environment. Just call me Grandpa Mars."

The balding Elder with a wavy beard smiled. "Warrior God of Justice. Call me Grandpa Mercury."

The bald Elder in the kendo robe leaned on his long sword, his gaze sharp. "I am the Warrior God of Finance. You may call me Grandpa Venus."

Lu Ye stood and bowed gracefully, as Sullivan had done in the past.

"May the sea return to peace, and the stars... shine forever!"