Chapter 86: Flowers and Dog Dung

Sun Fei paid attention to that golden-haired handsome young man, not because he suddenly had a twisted desire for same-sex relations. In fact, his sexual orientation was quite normal, and he had not the slightest interest in men. Rather, it was because the aura emanating from that mysterious handsome young man gave Sun Fei a very strange feeling—sometimes vast and mighty like a surging ocean, other times faint and weak like a dying, withered lamp wick. The aura fluctuated between strong and weak, incredibly peculiar.

One could say that in today’s conflict with the Church, aside from using Paladin Mode to intimidate Mazzola and Luciano, that wolf and badger duo, and inexplicably gaining the title of ‘Lord,’ what left the deepest impression on Sun Fei was that brief glance from the mysterious handsome young man.

Moreover, Sun Fei was quite sure that when the carriage passed by him earlier, that mysterious handsome young man was actually carefully observing him.

The crowd on the street began to disperse slowly.

Holding Angela and Gemma’s small hands on either side, Sun Fei listened to the two beautiful, snow-white girls chattering about the recent events, merely smiling without saying a word. The golden setting sun shone upon the three of them, casting three shadows of varying heights, with perfect outlines and a warm feeling behind them.

“Alexander, why did those two call you ‘Lord’? Did you join the Church at some point?” The little blonde-haired Lori Gemma, lively as a sparrow, hopped and chirped as she asked.

“I don’t know either. Probably they were confused for a moment and mistook me for someone else!” Sun Fei casually brushed it off.

“Mistaken for someone else? How is that possible… Hmph, fine, don’t tell me then!”

The little Lori got angry and tried to pull her hand away from Sun Fei’s. But somehow, she seemed reluctant to let go of the warmth from his big hand. After hesitating briefly, she ended up obediently letting Sun Fei hold her small hand, pouting angrily and making the classic “left hmph” expression often seen in emoticons.

Sun Fei smiled without replying.

There really was no way to explain this matter clearly, because that wolf and badger duo had indeed mistaken him for someone else.

However, what Mazzola said earlier had also given Sun Fei a sense of alertness.

He hadn’t expected the Holy Church to find out so quickly about the previous battles in Shampoo City, and to firmly assert that Necromancy had appeared during the fight at Stone Bridge. The implications behind this were immense.

First, Sun Fei could at least confirm that the death energy magic of the Necromancer was indeed unacceptable to the Holy Church in this world. It seemed that in the future, when he wanted to use Necromancer Mode, he would have to be extremely cautious and leave no traces. At least until he possessed the strength to directly confront the Holy Church, it was better to act humble and avoid being caught by those pyromaniac Divine Masters and having his little chicken roasted at the stake.

Second, the fact that the Holy Church learned about the Stone Bridge battle so quickly showed how terrifying their intelligence network was. The speed of information gathering and transmission in this world was almost on par with the telephone networks from his previous life. He suspected there was some special channel he wasn’t aware of yet. From this, it could be inferred that even if the intelligence capabilities of the predetermined enemy, the fourth-tier Sande Empire, were far inferior to the Holy Church’s, they would likely still manage to uncover the whereabouts of the Black Armored Army if they really put their minds to it. This would pose a grave threat to Shampoo City’s safety. If things went wrong, even the matter of the Divine-Demon Ruins map could leak out…

Sun Fei felt that being king was truly pitiful. After transmigrating, he hadn’t enjoyed a single day of being surrounded by followers and holding a beauty in his arms. Instead, he had become like a brick in the revolution, placed wherever needed—the typical firefighter, born to toil.

When they returned to the Royal Palace, the servants had already prepared dinner.

Sun Fei was very unaccustomed to this world’s eating habits—every day, besides roasted meat and fruits, there were only bland black bread and strongly pungent fresh milk from cows and sheep. Eating this way once or twice still had a bit of an exotic flavor, but after having it repeatedly, seeing the same unchanging food made Sun Fei feel almost like vomiting.

But seeing how Angela and Gemma were enjoying their meal with relish, Sun Fei had no choice but to pinch his nose, sit a bit farther away, and very innocently and pitifully nibble on an apple.

“It seems necessary to reform Champoo’s dietary habits again. At the very least, we should hire a couple of somewhat talented cooks and train them. A full imperial feast, KFC, McDonald’s—it’s likely the Azeroth Continent doesn’t have all the ingredients, and I don’t know the recipes anyway, so it’s impossible to make them. But surely, I can manage to whip up a few street snacks from my previous life like shredded pork with garlic sauce, Kung Pao chicken, or thousand-penis hotpot, right?”

While pondering this to himself, Sun Fei saw that Angela and Gemma at the dining table had already happily put on the Caribbean pirate series women’s clothing he had designed earlier. Clearly, his earlier clothing reform plan had initially succeeded. This greatly encouraged Sun Fei, and he began confidently contemplating starting a culinary revolution.

“Angela, how do you like the new clothes?” Sun Fei asked with a grin while munching on his apple.

The future Queen wiped the enticing, greasy sheen from her pink lips with a white napkin. Hearing Sun Fei’s question, her face lit up with delight as she said with a sweet laugh, “It’s absolutely incredible! You know, now all the girls in the city consider it an honor to wear a dress set designed by King Alexander himself. Aunt Eliza and a few other skilled tailors are already overwhelmed with work. Some noblewomen have even placed orders for dozens of sets weeks in advance. Even the silk cloth merchants in the city have made a fortune, selling out of stock… Alexander, do you know what the people in the city call this series of new dresses?”

“What do they call them?”

“King Alexander’s Wisdom!” The little Lori Gemma, still struggling valiantly with a piece of roasted meat, hurriedly answered. “Everyone has named this dress series King Alexander’s Wisdom. Even Viscountess Louis, who has been to the Imperial Capital Saint Petersburg of the Zenit Empire and seen the world, claims that even the noblewomen in the imperial capital have never worn such exquisite dresses.”

Sun Fei’s face reddened unusually.

He hadn’t expected that plagiarizing a few dress designs from Caribbean pirates would create such a stir. Should he go ahead and copy those female pirates’ combat outfits as well? At that moment, a sudden flash of inspiration vaguely crossed his mind, but he couldn’t grasp it clearly. Shaking his head, Sun Fei then winked and smirked, adopting a “you know what I mean” expression as he asked mischievously, “Uh… by the way, Angela, hehe… that… the last set I designed… um, that set of undergarments, are they popular now?”

Angela’s face instantly flushed bright red.

But this time, the young lady didn’t run away blushing like last time. Instead, she pretended to be calm and remained seated, slowly replying with a smile, “That little thing you called the ‘Boob Armor’ is even more popular than the dresses. Aunt Eliza and the others made some modifications based on your design and created different color styles. It has already quietly spread among the women in the city.”

While saying this, the young lady tried her best to appear composed and not too flustered… but heaven knows her hands were already twisting her skirt under the table into a crumpled mess. Her heart pounded like a frantic little deer. She was only trying to display the calm and graceful demeanor befitting a future Queen in front of Alexander, just like those noblewomen in the city.

Sun Fei’s recent miraculous performances had not only put great pressure on subjects like Brook but also made this clever future Queen aware of the growing invisible distance between them. She, too, was quietly making efforts to appear more worthy of the great King Alexander.

Back when Alexander was still an idiot, many people felt it was a pity that a peerless snow lotus like Angela was stuck on a pile of dog dung. But now, the roles the two played had long since quietly reversed.

Nowadays, Alexander had not only returned to normal but was also growing stronger at an unbelievable, frantic pace. In less than a month, he had far surpassed Frank Lampard, the former top expert of Shampoo City, and became the undisputed number one expert in the entire kingdom, holding the lofty throne of king and winning the admiration of all the people within the country…

And what about Angela herself?

She felt she was still the same girl—somewhat kind, somewhat naive, somewhat weak, and somewhat muddled. Apart from handling various trivial matters, the young lady felt she was gradually falling behind this man’s footsteps. She could no longer care for and protect him like before, just like a delicate umbrella that can shield from wind and rain during a storm but becomes almost unnecessary once the rain stops and the sky clears.

Therefore, Angela had been striving to change herself during this period.

Earlier today, when the Church’s monks dragged innocent civilians from the crowd like wolves and tigers, accusing them of being associated with evil Necromancers, when Angela stood up to refute them, she was actually trembling with fear all over. She didn’t even know why she had stepped forward. Even though she was the future Queen of Shampoo City, facing a behemoth like the Holy Church, she was essentially no different from those commoners. With just one word from that “two-legged bald rattlesnake,” she could very well be sent to the stake… But, thinking that Alexander would undoubtedly step forward without hesitation to protect his people at such a time, Angela found herself inexplicably standing up. Then, suppressing her inner fear, she clearly and logically voiced her thoughts. Unfortunately, what disheartened Angela was that she still hadn’t been able to help in the end. If Uncle Lampard and Alexander hadn’t arrived in time, the situation might have turned much worse.