159. A Grand Wedding

Sweating profusely and looking thoroughly disheveled, Mo Fei finally managed to break away from the endless and complex etiquette of the Elven Kingdom, bringing Irene back to the City of Death as if fleeing for his life. All the way back, Irene sat in Mo Fei’s arms, giggling uncontrollably at his ruffled appearance. Meanwhile, Kane and Viter had to bite their lips hard, their mouths twitching constantly as they tried to suppress their laughter. Before they had departed, Mo Fei’s warning had kept the two of them from daring to make a sound: "From now on, both of you keep your mouths shut. If I see either of you open your traps to laugh, you'll regret it." Mo Fei had threatened them fiercely.

Amidst Irene’s uninhibited laughter, the group returned to the City of Death. A wedding procession, of course, could not use spatial magic teleportation arrays. Mo Fei’s return to the City of Death was merely to check on the soldiers stationed there, share a drink with them, and receive their blessings before heading back to the empire.

Once they left the City of Death, they turned onto the main road leading toward the empire. Mo Fei noticed that both sides of the road were already lined with Berserker infantrymen, looking majestic amidst the joyous atmosphere. No one knew when these Berserkers had arrived, but as soon as Mo Fei and Irene walked down the road, the Berserkers divided into sections, and whenever Mo Fei and Irene reached their stretch, every single one of them dropped to one knee and shouted, "Congratulations, Your Majesty! Congratulations, Imperial Consort!"

Along the entire way, the voices of the Berserkers rang out endlessly, making this quite substantial journey feel as though it had suddenly shortened by a lot.

Mo Fei sat atop the back of a clumsy bear, holding Irene just as he had before. Every time Irene heard the Berserker’s cry of "Congratulations, Imperial Consort," a blush would spread across her cheeks. Mo Fei was completely mesmerized, realizing only then how much more delicate and lovely Irene had grown over time.

Escorted by an ever-growing number of Berserkers behind them, Mo Fei’s party finally returned to the imperial capital.

The imperial capital was already an ocean of joy. As soon as Mo Fei brought his bride back, the citizens of the capital went wild. They tossed freshly picked flower petals from both sides of the street and followed closely behind, bursting into laughter from time to time. Mo Fei’s wedding was to be held in the city’s largest theological cathedral. Mars, the headmaster of the Imperial Capital Academy who had rushed over from the Dragon Rock Empire, would officiate the ceremony. Fifteen elders from the Dwarf and Berserker tribes, along with several monarchs of the empire, served as witnesses. Her Majesty the Queen had arrived in the imperial capital via the spatial magic teleportation array just as Mo Fei and his party were walking back.

Since Mo Fei had no family, the Queen sat in the seat of highest honor. During the ceremony, the couple would bow to her, and the event would conclude with a grand celebration across the entire city.

No one gave the couple any more trouble. Amidst the blessings of the elders, the brief wedding ceremony was concluded. Now, it was time to celebrate...

Just as the entire city was plunged into an ocean of revelry, the officer on duty at the Empire’s Intelligence Processing Center received news that brought Mo Fei even greater joy.

When Mo Fei saw the briefing handed over by the excited intelligence officer, a wave of immense relief washed over him. The dispatch had been sent back by Derdor: under the cover of the cavalry legion, the Bear tribe had successfully landed on the beaches near Napo City, a crucial military stronghold on the Dark Continent. With the cooperation of the cavalry legion, they captured an important military dock on the outskirts of the enemy stronghold. Subsequently, after the cavalry legion routed the enemy's left-wing counterattack of four hundred thousand troops, the Bear tribe’s main army—at the cost of over thirty thousand casualties—captured the enemy’s coastal military stronghold of Napo City. In this battle, the cavalry suffered only one thousand six hundred and twelve minor injuries, with zero severe injuries or combat fatalities. With the spoils of this battle alone, they respectfully wished His Imperial Majesty boundless joy!

"Good, good, excellent. This Derdor is really starting to shape up." Having seen the map of the Dark Continent, Mo Fei naturally understood the strategic value of this military dock. Once Napo, the nearby military stronghold, was seized by the Bear tribe, the dock would become the permanent base for the Empire's Invincible Fleet. For the Invincible Fleet, this meant they would no longer need to return to that somewhat distant small island for resupplying, nor would they have to encounter any sudden ocean gales.

"Wait, where is my bride?" Suddenly, Mo Fei realized Irene was no longer by his side.

"Hahahaha..." Unable to hold it in any longer, Viter, Kane, and Elder Oufu burst into loud laughter.

"This is certainly strange. The bride has vanished." Even Her Majesty the Queen, standing nearby, was left feeling helpless at Mo Fei's sudden confusion.

***

Irene was naturally a girl who loved lively festivities. Seeing that Mo Fei was absorbed in the battle report and had no idea when he would put it down, she simply informed the Queen and ran off to play with several elven maidens who had accompanied her.

She had shed her long, sweeping train and changed back into her usual attire, though the crown upon her head—the symbol of her status as Imperial Consort—remained. Leading the elven maidens, Irene bolted out of the imperial palace. Even though today was her own wedding, how could she possibly stay away from the lively crowds of revelers?

When the singing and dancing citizens of the imperial capital saw that the Imperial Consort had actually come out and joined them in their midst, the crowd grew even more ecstatic. The dancing and singing citizens accidentally squeezed the palace guards of the Berserker tribe out of the circle. Left standing there, the Berserker guards looked at one another in utter bewilderment, completely unable to figure out what Her Majesty was up to.

"You guys keep watch here; I'm going back to report to His Majesty." One of the Berserker guards in charge of protecting Irene turned and sprinted back toward the imperial palace.

The celebrating citizens of the imperial capital couldn't care less about such trifles. They only knew that their beloved Imperial Consort was right there in the middle of their singing and dancing, and that was more than enough.

Mo Fei was just then searching the imperial palace for Irene. Upon hearing the Berserker guard's report, he was dumbfounded for a moment. But on second thought, he let it go—how could Irene possibly resist such a lively and festive scene?

"Forget it, call the guards back. There's no harm done; don't hover around and get in her way, just let her play," Mo Fei said helplessly.

The Death Empire did not lower its guard simply because it was their Emperor's wedding day. On the contrary, security had been tightened considerably. Every person entering the city was meticulously interrogated by the city guards at least three or four times, and the attendants accompanying the monarchs of various empires were quietly targeted by elite assassins from the covert operations unit. Once the revelry began, the massive iron gates at all city gates were closed, leaving only a small side gate open through which people could leave, but no longer enter. Outside the city, patrols previously conducted by infantry were replaced by the empire's last remaining ten thousand cavalrymen, who continuously swept back and forth. A cavalry unit's operational range was far greater than that of infantry, to say nothing of their speed. On the city battlements, the excited guards kept their eyes fixed outward. Although the sounds of joyful celebration constantly drifted to their ears, their duty was to stand watch upon the walls and protect the merrymakers below. It was precisely because of their vigilant presence that such carefree revelry was even possible.

As for Mo Fei, he had fallen right into the drinking trap set by the monarchs of the various empires. After all, it was a rare occasion to share such a grand feast hosted by the Death Empire, so how could they possibly let the guest of honor off easily?

"Your Majesty!" Just as Mo Fei was being plied with drink by the various emperors until his head spun, the imperial steward appeared behind him.

"Steward, beat it! Don't you dare try to help your Emperor make a run for it at a time like this!" the Emperor of the Flying Dragon Empire joked, assuming the steward had come to whisk Mo Fei away.

"I wouldn't dream of it, Your Imperial Majesty. Two elders from the Magic Continent have arrived, and I am merely here to inform His Majesty. On a day like this, I would never help my master escape, please rest assured," the steward promptly betrayed Mo Fei without a second thought.

"Quickly, invite them in, invite them in!" Tipsy as he was, Mo Fei knew better than to neglect the two actual leaders of this newly subjugated continent.

Mo Fei had dispatched people to invite them to the wedding well beforehand, but the turnaround time had been so short that he hadn't expected them to arrive quite this fast.

"We pay our respects to Your Imperial Majesty! Congratulations to Your Majesty, and congratulations to the Imperial Consort..." Led by the steward, the two elders bowed and offered their congratulations. When they raised their heads, however, they were surprised not to see the Imperial Consort. Instead, they only saw a young man standing before them to receive their greetings. Neither elder had expected the emperor who had conquered them to be so remarkably young...

***

Noticing the strange looks on the elders' faces, the entire grand hall burst into hearty laughter.

"Ah, well, you see... the Imperial Consort went out into the imperial city to join the celebrations," Mo Fei said sheepishly.

"Oh? It seems our Imperial Consort is quite unlike ordinary people," the two elders remarked, far from being rigid traditionalists. "This is a small gift from us for Your Majesty and the Imperial Consort. Please accept it with our compliments." Although shocked by Mo Fei's youth, the worldly-wise elders maintained their composure as they presented their gifts to Mo Fei and Irene.

The two elders handed over a pair of delicately wrapped small packages. Mo Fei instructed the steward to accept them and said, "Thank you very much, esteemed elders. Come, let us sit and talk."

With that, Mo Fei instructed the steward to add two chairs right beside him. Seeing that Mo Fei was not as stiff and solemn as a typical emperor, the two elders exchanged polite gestures and took their seats. To arrive in time for the wedding, the two of them had traveled across the sea without a single pause. Fortunately, they were picked up by the empire's Invincible Fleet, otherwise, they feared they wouldn't have made it even by tomorrow.

The two elders from the Magic Continent quickly drew the attention of the monarchs from the other empires present. Come to think of it, an entire continent populated exclusively by mages was bound to command attention.

They all knew how formidable the Bear tribe's mages, trained by Mo Fei, had proven to be. Now that the Magic Continent had submitted to Mo Fei and was being led by him, it was impossible to imagine just how terrifyingly powerful it would become. This only further cemented Mo Fei's leadership position across the continental alliance. Besides, Mo Fei had always far outperformed them, and since they knew him relatively well, they were also aware that he harbored no ambitions of annexing their territories. Recognizing Mo Fei as the de facto leader of the empire actually saved them a great deal of trouble. Furthermore, the benefits they had reaped since the establishment of the Imperial Alliance only made them more steadfast in their belief that this arrangement would bring even greater advantages to the empire.

Although several empires still nominally existed across the continental mainland, the alliance system meant that the moment the Imperial Allied Forces were formed, they had completely withdrawn all troops from their mutual borders. Now, the continental mainland functioned much more like a single unified empire. The military was managed directly by the Death Empire, while the local monarchs only needed to handle internal administrative affairs. As for security, ever since the Imperial Allied Forces conducted military demonstrations across all the empires, they had never felt safer in their lives.

The activities and declarations of the Imperial Allied Forces had thoroughly quashed the hidden ambitions of any plotters within the various empires; they no longer dared harbor any ill intentions. On this continent, the Allied Forces were absolute authority. Without the legitimate authorization of their respective emperors, anyone attempting dissent would be purged by the continental mainland. And the current Imperial Allied Forces were certainly not a force to be trifled with lightly.

Inside the imperial hall, the sounds of toasts rang out continuously. Out in the imperial capital, lights blazed bright as day. Along both sides of the central plaza, Elder Oufu had gathered all the city's top chefs to prepare a feast of delicacies. Whenever the singing and dancing citizens grew tired or hungry, they would rest for a moment, grab a bite to eat, and then plunge right back into the sea of revelry.

Tonight was destined to be a night without sleep...