Chapter 1222: Riddance
As Prince Monterey said that, the palace guards that came along with him also immediately got into formation to guard against the people of the Giant Shark Clan. Although Grina and the people of the Giant Shark Clan didn’t take the strength of the palace guards seriously, they would be completely falling out with the Gilded Kingdom if they fought the latter. No matter how arrogant Grina was, he had to consider the consequences. After all, he couldn’t be completely nonchalant about his relationship with the Gilded Kingdom like Lin Li.
“Okay, Prince Monterey, I’ll do you a favor today.” Grina was, of course, feeling indignant and reluctant because he had not only failed to obtain the seahorse slaves, he even ended up embarrassing himself in public. There was no way he could stomach it easily. However, there was nothing he could do. Just as Prince Monterey said, they were on the turf of the Gilded Kingdom, and not in the Crimson Sea where the Giant Shark Clan was. The prince of the Giant Shark Clan was not the master here, so how could he really fall out with the Gilded Kingdom?
However, Grina did not intend to just forget this matter. Since he couldn’t convince Prince Monterey, he could go straight to King Bradlor, and talk to him about this matter. The Giant Shark Clan needed the Gilded Kingdom as an ally and vice versa. Grina believed that Bradlor wouldn’t choose to give up the friendly relations between the kingdom and the Giant Shark Clan for the sake of the tiny Tower of Dusk!
Grina looked at the people of the Gilded Kingdom and the Tower of Dusk, and then at the embassy of the Tower of Dusk in the back. Although the prince didn’t get to meet Lin Li this time, he had obviously formed a grudge against the latter. It was no longer an issue of the seahorse slaves, but rather it concerned the pride of the Giant Shark Clan. Grina was the prince of the Giant Shark Clan. Yet, he and two of his Divine Generals were put to shame by the Tower of Dusk. That was not a feud that could be resolved easily.
Prince Monterey was actually feeling quite helpless because he had long heard about how difficult President Felic of the Tower of Dusk was to deal with, and this time, he really had a taste of it himself. In any case, Grina was still the prince of the Giant Shark Clan, and regardless of the reason he insisted on having the seahorse slaves, Prince Monterey felt that there was no need for Lin Li to refuse to see Grina at all.
The fact that Lin Li refused to meet Grina was already extremely disrespectful, let alone getting his subordinates to stop the Giant Shark Clan from entering. President Felic first embarrassed the Gilded Kingdom, and now he’s doing the same to the Giant Shark Clan. He must be good at this.
After humphing coldly, Grina left the embassy of the Tower of Dusk with his subordinates. He decided that he would first head to the palace Gilded Kingdom to confirm with Bradlor if his stand was the same as Monterey’s. If Monterey was just taking things into his own hands, Grina wouldn’t mind making Monterey his enemy too.
After all the people of the Giant Shark Clan left, Monterey turned to the people of the Tower of Dusk, and said to Connoris and the others, “I originally wanted to meet your president, but it seems that he should be very busy. In this case, I won’t trouble you.”
Although Monterey resolved the matter for the Tower of Dusk, he also bore great resentment towards Lin Li. If Lin Li hadn’t been so adamant, the Gilded Kingdom wouldn’t have been forced to make such a tough choice.
They were just some seahorse slaves, and the forces of the Endless Ocean had been researching the former for years. Yet, those researching still didn’t come to a conclusion, and they didn’t know what the slaves could do for the Giant Shark Clan. Anyone would probably be willing to give up a bunch of useless slaves to gain the favor of the Giant Shark Clan. However, Lin Li was unlike ordinary people because he would rather offend the Giant Shark Clan than swallow his pride.
What exactly is that President Felic thinking?! Prince Monterey shook his head helplessly, and he was no longer in the mood to meet Lin Li, so he left the embassy area together with the palace guards.
On the other hand, after Grina left the embassy of the Tower of Dusk, he took the Four Divine Generals with him to the palace of the Gilded Kingdom, and asked to see King Bradlor.
After sending Prince Monterey over, Bradlor had been waiting in the palace for Monterey to inform him of the outcome. When he heard the report from his subordinates that Grina, the prince of the Giant Shark Clan, had asked to see him, he knew that things should have ended as he had hoped. However, he soon felt troubled again. Although he no longer had to deal with the stubborn President Felic, Grina wasn’t that easy to deal with, either.
Of course, Bradlor couldn’t refuse to meet Grina like Lin Li did. After all, the king’s attitude represented the attitude of the Gilded Kingdom. Refusing to meet the prince of the Giant Shark Clan would be akin to declaring war on the Giant Shark Clan.
Besides, Bradlor knew that Grina had to be extremely displeased at this juncture, and needed him to think of a way to help him vent his dissatisfaction. Otherwise, it would have a bad impact on the relationship between the Gilded Kingdom and the Giant Shark Clan.
Soon, under the lead of the palace guards, Grina arrived in front of Bradlor alone. When Grina saw Bradlor, he bowed to him according to diplomatic etiquette before eagerly asking, “Your Majesty, there’s something that I’d like to ask you about, and I hope to get a clear answer from you. Did you give Prince Monterey the authority to do what he has done today? Is his stand representative of yours?”
Grina’s tone was a bit blunt, and he seemed to be questioning Bradlor as he asked if the other party had given Prince Monterey instructions to act that way today as soon as he met the king. In fact, he already had an answer after simmering down during the journey. However, that made him even more displeased as he thought that him going against the Tower of Dusk was considered standing up for the Gilded Kingdom, yet the Gilded Kingdom came over to stop him. He thought that they were really holding themselves cheap.
Bradlor could naturally tell how resentful Grina was, but there was nothing he could do. He could only smile calmly, and gesture for Grina to sit down. He then said, “Prince Grina, you’re the prince of the Giant Shark Clan and their future leader. Your status is preventing you from doing whatever you want. I believe that you’ve gained a slight understanding of the Tower of Dusk’s power just now, but that’s only a small portion of it.”
“So what? A mere Tower of Dusk can’t do anything to me even if they go all out. I heard that the Tower of Dusk doesn’t quite get along with the Gilded Kingdom, either. You may be able to tolerate their disrespectful attitude, or maybe you have other plans in mind, which I can’t interfere with as an outsider. However, I can’t tolerate the contempt that he has for the Giant Shark Clan. So, I hope you can give me an explanation as to why you allowed Prince Monterey to do that,” Grina said assertively with great displeasure as he revealed how the Tower of Dusk had been disrespectful to them.
One should not rub salt into others’ wounds and remind them of their unhappy past, but that was exactly what Grina was doing to Bradlor. Bradlor initially planned to persuade Grina not to provoke the Tower of Dusk, but he didn’t expect Grina to be that ignorant. His face immediately became a little sullen, and he indifferently said, “Prince Grina, you just need to know that I’m doing this not for the Tower of Dusk, but for you! Okay, regardless of whether you understand my intentions or not, that’s all I can say!”
Bradlor’s retort could be considered a cue for Grina to leave. After hearing those words, Grina immediately regretted his behavior, and when he heard that Bradlor no longer wanted to talk about this, he had no choice but to stand up and leave in displeasure.
Grina did not believe that Bradlor was really helping him as the other party claimed. However, he had some concerns, after all, so he didn’t want to fall out with the Gilded Kingdom here. Even though the seahorse slaves were very important to him, he couldn’t reveal the reason why, so he could only let it go for now. However, he had already decided that once he had an opportunity to meet with the Tower of Dusk again, he would definitely settle scores with them.
Grina left the palace in a huff, and was ready to take his subordinates back to the Red Sea Palace of the Giant Shark Clan, which was outside the city. However, before he could go far, he heard someone shouting at him. He turned around, only to see that it was Cantory, the elite of the younger generation of the Gilded Kingdom.
Cantory was close to Harquess, the prince of the Octopus Clan who did not have much interaction with Grina. However, Grina had some ties with Cantory. In short, Cantory and Harquess didn’t have many mutual friends, but there wasn’t much conflict, either, because it was just making friends.
Hence, although Grina was enraged, he nevertheless stopped and looked at Cantory. He said, “Oh, it’s you. Why don’t I see you and that soft-bodied organism going round spilling ink today?”
Grina was actually referring to Harquess and the Octopus Clan with that derogatory term. It was just like how the Octopus Clan called the Giant Shark Clan “eyeless creatures” because of their beady eyes that didn’t seem to match their tall and burly bodies.
Drawing mageweaths was the forte of the Octopus Clan, who seemed to be the scholars of the Sea Clans. On the other hand, the Giant Shark Clan dominated the sea because of their natural strength. Hence, they could be considered the martial artists of the Sea Clans. Scholars and martial artists had always been rivals by nature, be it among humans or the Sea Clans.
Cantory smiled and ignored Grina’s words. Instead, he walked towards him, and said, “Grina, I’ve heard about what happened today.”
As soon as he heard Cantory’s words, Grina’s face immediately turned sullen. One should not insult others with something that would rake up their unhappy past. What happened today was quite humiliating for Grina, and now that Cantory suddenly mentioned this matter, it was blatantly rubbing salt into his wound. Grina was extremely displeased when he left the palace today, and now his mood worsened. He immediately snapped, “Cantory, are you here to make fun of me?”
Cantory quickly waved his hand and stopped smiling. “Please don’t be mistaken, I’m in no place to do that to you. You probably have no idea that I’ve experienced the haughtiness and arrogance of that President Felic more than you have.”
Grina was ready to fall out with Cantory, but after hearing his words, he couldn’t help but be stunned as he sized up Cantory, and said, “You mean those two incidents that happened in the Gilded Kingdom? Since your king doesn’t even care, what does it have to do with you?”
The shark prince was naturally referring to the attacks suffered by the Fifth Fleet and the royal guards of the Gilded Kingdom, which could definitely be considered disgraceful events for the Gilded Kingdom. However, the one who was truly humiliated was King Bradlor, even though Cantory had a high status too.
“You probably don’t know that Felic and I have dealt with each other many more times apart from when he was here in the Gilded Kingdom.” Cantory shook his head, and then told Bradlor about how rude Lin Li was during the negotiation. However, he didn’t talk about the matter regarding Cage Island, because that concerned a massive amount of his wealth, after all.
After listening to Cantory’s account, Grina immediately felt as if they were on the same boat, and his expression was less hostile. He said, “Oh, I see. I really wonder what Bradlor is thinking. How can he put up with such a person again and again?”
“Ultimately, His Majesty has to consider the interests of the entire kingdom, so there are some things that he can’t do even if he wants to.” Cantory sighed as if he understood perfectly. He had already told Grina what the so-called Gilded Kingdom’s interests were, and that was to expand to the Breezy Plains without waging a war.
That made Grina somewhat puzzled because according to what Cantory said, killing Lin Li would allow the Gilded Kingdom to do just what they wanted and reap the benefits from it. There was no reason for him to stop Grina. At the thought of this, Grina brought Cantory out of the city towards the Red Sea Palace. Along the way, he asked, “Since that’s the case, wouldn’t you guys get to expand to the Breezy Plains freely without any hindrance if we helped you get rid of Felic?”
“But this is the Gilded Kingdom, and they are His Majesty’s guests. If something happens to them here, the reputation of the Gilded Kingdom will definitely be affected. When the time comes, not only will the forces of the Breezy Plains lose trust in the Gilded Kingdom, they will even make a big deal out of this.” Cantory sighed helplessly, but he had given Grina a hint that the Gilded Kingdom wouldn’t stop him from dealing with the people of the Tower of Dusk as long as he chose to do it in the right place.
Cantory had initially wanted Harquess to help him deal with Lin Li, and thus had brought him to the Secret Merchant Market. However, even though he could not figure out what exactly had happened, he still had a vague feeling that Harquess seemed to be deliberately trying to avoid Lin Li.