Cold war between Bradford and Bredia

"Teacher" Olivia was brimming with joy but soon, Michael noticed slight distress in her eyes.

"Or should I call you, your majesty?" Olivia joked,

Michael smiled and patted her gently on the back.

"I'm not into the king thing very much," he said while walking towards Claire's mansion which was buzzling with people,

"Teacher, I thought you'll be gone for eighteen months. Did you get expelled?"

She started at him curiously with her big round eyes,

"Jeesh, why did you think that? They just got impressed with your teacher's skills and gave him early holidays"

Somehow Oliva didn't think he was joking though he said like he was kidding.

"Arrhhmm" For a moment, Olvia dragged her voice as though she was searching for words in her mind,

"Teacher, how long will you be here?" Michael asked. At the same time talking to Olivia, he didn't fail to greet the students who were dying to talk to him. Everyone Michael smiled at was trembling in joy. They were over the moon.

A simple gesture like nodding and patting on the back raised Michael's image in their hearts to the next level. For Michael, it felt great to receive badass points just by walking and greeting students. He didn't even do anything badass yet he was receiving a lot of badass points.

"A month or so"

She halted her steps suddenly as Michael turned to see her looking at him with puppy eyes,

"Would you please come to the Alchemy tournament as a judge?" Michael was surprised by her requests. He creased his brows,

"Alchemy tournament? That was supposed to happen months ago right?"

Olivia nodded,

"Yes but they postponed it for some reason. It's starting next week and the guild has been sending me so many letters asking me if you can come to the tournament as one of the judges"

Michael couldn't help snicker,

"What changed? I recall they asked me to come to the tournament as a participant, not as a judge"

Michael resumed walking,

"They said there was some kind of mix-up and someone wrote a wrong invitation"

"Really?" Michael dragged the word as though he was laughing inside. Both of them knew it was nothing but a blatant lie. There was no mix-up or mistake, they were too arrogant to invite someone who was just a fraction of their age as their fellow judge. Now that they learned he got admitted into Mazeroth, they just wanted to curry favor.

"What's in it for me? And if my memory serves right, you were training a group of students"

"Yes I am still training them and the answer to your first question is Aqua auction token. That's what you will get teacher should you choose to come as a judge"

"What's that?" Michael asked. He had no idea what the heck is an Aqua token. But by the look on Olivia's face, he realized that it might be a big deal. Since auctions were places where he could find some really powerful artifacts, he was tempted to accept the Alchemy guild's request.

"Why am I not surprised?" She sighed thinking about her teacher's lack of knowledge of what's happening in the world.

"You heard about the Phoenix manor auction right teacher?"

Michael nodded. How could he forget that place? He met his vampire friend there and at that time, Lord Julius who was a Core Strengthening stage warrior threatened his life.

"Well the Phoenix manor auction is a beggar compared to the Aqua auction. It's one of the most prominent and if not the biggest auction in the world. If you want to actually bid for the items in the auction, the token is the only way. People will pay millions to get their hands on the tokens"

"So where will this auction take place exactly?"

"Kingdom Elara in Awor continent"

Until now Michael was only tempted to go as a judge but after hearing that the auction will take place in the Awor continent, he decided to accept the Alchemy guild's invitation. He always wanted to check out the most powerful and the richest continents of them all but he didn't get the chance till now.

"When?" asked Michael. If it was before Mazeroth, he wouldn't have worried about the time. Now he had to as he only got forty-five days of break.

"Two weeks from today and do not worry about the traveling time teacher. The token has a rune that will teleport you directly to one of the rooms assigned to that token in Elara. You can bring Aelia with you and speak of Aelia" Olivia looked around to locate Aelia. It was rare for Olivia or anyone to see Ghost alone without his other shadow.

"Stop looking, she is still in seclusion"

"Hehehe," Olivia giggled, squinting her eyes. She forgot the thing that's been bothering her for a moment. Both of them discussed Alchemy on their way to Clair's mansion and when they entered the mansion, they saw Claire sitting on a throne-like sofa and talking to several men and women in their middle ages. She had one leg over another and looked intimidating like a queen.

"That's your problem. I want the paddy seeds delivered on the agreed date" Claire's brows arched up as though they were a pair of swords. Her voice and demeanor were extremely dominating which made Michael appreciate her.

"If I heard one more bandit attack or out-of-stock excuse from any of you, I will personally bring down the wrath of the entire Sunrise sect on every single of you"

Michael could see the people shivering from where he was standing. In her furious state, Claire failed to notice Ghost standing in the hallway,

"What about you Lord Cyril?" Claire turned her gaze to the ones sitting right to her,

"What made you hand over the working contracts to Kethen instead of Bradford? As I recall, you always hired the people of Bradford, not Kethen. Your decision has cost hundreds of people losing their jobs"

Olivia began to shudder. Everyone in the sect was trying to fix the situation of Bradford before Ghost came back from Mazeroth. They all feared how Ghost would react if he knew what's going on in Bradford. Claire and the elders didn't try to hide the situation but they wanted to deal with the situation themselves instead of involving him or Aelia.

"Sect Leader Claire, can we address the elephant in the room? We are here because of the cold war between Bradford and Bredia. Our hands are tied Sect Leader Claire, we cannot make an enemy out of King Bredia and Ghost"

"That's King, King Ghost for you" Claire coldly corrected the brown-haired man,

"Pardon me Sect Leader, we cannot make an enemy out of King Bredia or King Ghost. We may have given the jobs to Kethen but we will give the mining contract to the people of Bradford, that would suffice right?"

The man tried his best to sound as polite and courteous as possible.

"People of Bradford are not miners, Lord Cyril. They are farmers and fishermen. Besides, the mines at the border between Bredia and Bradford. I don't have to remind you how many men and women Bredian soldiers arrested for some phony crimes they never committed in the first place"

Michael was listening to her words calmly. His calmness freaked Olive as she knew that there will always be calmness before a freakin storm.

"That's why we recommend you hold a peace talk with King Bredia and sort this out, Sect Leader Claire. We feel like we're stuck in a tug of war between Bredia and Bradford" the dark haired woman sitting next to Cyril pleaded to Claire as they all bobbed their heads,

"In three days, King Bredia will hold a gala celebrating the engagement between Princess Katherine and Andrew Winston. If you would" Lord Cyril didn't finish his sentence as his words trailed away. They were merchants who had several contacts in both kingdoms. Through those contacts, they learned that King Bredia hasn't invited anyone from Bradford, not even for a courtesy. Thus, they were practically asking Claire to go uninvited and hold a peace talk with him which had the highest possibility of her being humiliated or disrespected by King Bredia and his men regardless of her status.

"It's more appropriate for me to attend"

Before Claire could respond to Cyril, another voice reverberated in the hall. They all turned their heads in the direction where the voice came from and saw Ghost walking towards them. They felt chill running through their spines as they immediately stood up as though their seats were on fire.

"Ghost" Claire lost her domineering demeanor when she saw him. A wide grin from ear to ear emerged on her cold face. She almost hugged him but fortunately, she stopped herself with only squeezing his hands,

"King Ghost"

"Your Majesty"

Some addressed him by 'King' while some mumbled 'Your majesty' in shock and surprise. The pressure on their shoulders just multiplied by a thousand folds after he made his appearance. They thought Claire was exerting dominance until he appeared.

"Sect Leader Claire, you're looking good"

Before dealing with the situation at hand, Michael greeted Claire with a smile. He took Claire by her hand and made her sit on the sofa back. Olivia stood beside Claire waiting to see how is he going to deal with the merchants,

"I am sorry for the hardships you've been facing because of Bradford. Thank you for coming here, ladies and gentlemen. I will personally meet King Bredia and fix everything" Michael emphasized the word 'everything'. His words should have reassured them. Instead, they all shuddered because those words sounded more like a declaration of war.

"Olivia, please show these ladies and gentlemen the way out"

"Ladies and gentlemen" Olivia gestured at the merchants to follow her.

The merchants did not dare to linger any longer. They rushed outside leaving Claire and Ghost behind. Only when the merchants left the hall and Olviai returned, Michael sat on the sofa beside Claire.

"So King Bredia's been giving Bradford a hard time huh? Some people never let go of something they should, do they?" the smile on Michael's face disappeared and in its place, a cold murderous look arose.

Although you won't miss anything in HBS if you don't read Anti Hero With a Symbiote System(AHSS), I strongly recommend everyone to read it because AHSS is set in the parallel universe of HBS and you will see lots of references to Michael and insights of HBS universe as well as origins of the Badass System.