Pirate Kingship

Byron cut off her attempt to push him away:

"Since you call me cousin just like Saranthe does, that makes you one of us.

Saranthe’s this salted-fish can’t absorb it, so we’ll treat this Divine Position as a wedding present for you two.

Right now things inside the Divine Kingdom are murky; instead of chasing ’fair distribution’, we’re better off boosting our immediate combat strength."

[Protecting Women and Children] meshes best with Bast’s Authority; there’s no obstacle to her absorbing it, and it can be turned into battle strength on the spot.

Of course, this Divine Position also fits pretty well with Mother, the Little Mermaid Heather’s [Princess and Girls’ Guardian]; tweak it a bit and she could use it too.

If it were someone else here, the spoils would definitely be reserved for Mother—she already helped you get your life back, what more do you want, a free bike?

But since Bast is his younger female cousin, there’s no need to keep the accounts that clear.

Well, even if she is a younger cousin three hundred years older than him.

The Cat Goddess immediately cheered:

"Thank you, Cousin!"

Even though Byron’s age is only a fraction of hers, that one "Cousin" was called with real feeling.

If it were some other Fifth Order Pseudo-God here, faced with a Divine Position with zero hidden dangers, forget calling someone cousin, they’d be willing to call him daddy.

Out in the wider world, even if you priced this at a whole Kingdom, Wizards would still be scrambling to snatch it.

A pair of wild green eyes gave Saranthe beside her a long, deep look.

Other than being tender and handsome, this little fiancé had another outstanding merit—he had a generous, great cousin.

Only then did she step up and pick up the Divine Position.

Byron confirmed his younger cousin had no issues absorbing the Divine Position, then looked up to see Saranthe staring at him with puppy-dog eyes, practically a glowing "I want one too" written across his forehead.

If he didn’t serve as a voice-changer, he wouldn’t even qualify to meddle in battles at this level.

Now that Bast has a Divine Position on her, the gap between him and his own fiancée has widened even further; he’s firmly become the party’s "true small fry."

If he doesn’t work hard, he’s basically doomed to eat soft rice for the rest of his life.

Most crucially, as for fun things like filling up a Crystal Palace, he can forget even dreaming about it.

Byron knew exactly what he was thinking, patted his cousin’s shoulder, and offered heartfelt comfort:

"You’re only Fourth Order right now, you haven’t even awakened an Authority; even if you had a Divine Position, you couldn’t digest it.

But as everyone knows, every lawless man or woman Fairy is, in all likelihood, some great god’s Mount.

Since you’ve already become Miss [Cat God]’s Mount, are you really worried you won’t get a chance to run wild?

Serve your younger cousin well, strive to complete the ceremony early—advancing to Fifth Order is what really matters."

Saranthe understood his own situation, and he’d already heard from Bast about the political marriage between the two Great Empires, but he was still a bit resentful:

"Cousin, why didn’t you give me a heads-up? You let me be Bast’s slave for several days for nothing.

And I heard the Great Empire’s supposed to never do marriage alliances, never pay reparations, never cede territory, never pay tribute, right?

A grown man becoming someone’s Mount is seriously no face at all.

When we go back to the Mermaid Kingdom together, if Grandpa sees me bringing back the Goddess he failed to win in his youth, his heart might not be able to take it."

Byron gave this guy—who’d gotten a bargain and was still playing the victim—a sidelong glance:

"How about I talk to the Radiant Queen and get you a different candidate? Or just tack on two Fourth Order headliners for you?"

Saranthe was just about to say something when he suddenly felt killing intent from behind. He shuddered, shaking his head rapidly:

"What I meant was, Grandpa and the others will definitely be thrilled I found such a gentle, virtuous, capable fiancée.

They’ll think I’ve really made something of myself.

Outside, Bast still takes care of my dignity; she doesn’t hit me casually."

Then he twisted his head around with a fawning grin:

"Your Majesty the Queen, isn’t that right?"

Byron suspected that in just three short days, Saranthe had already developed some weird new traits under Bast’s training.

Still, one’s willing to hit and one’s willing to take it—as long as they’re happy.

Then he waved his hand and sent the two of them into the Flower Mountain Celestial Kingdom as well; this little whiplash-flavored "cat food" was better left for someone else to chew on.

"Young Lady, we..."

He was just about to call Violet to get moving again when his constantly-open [Divine Sight] suddenly picked up the sound of a massive explosion more than a hundred kilometers away.

He focused his senses and discovered that yet another Wizard School companion was locked in a fierce battle with a Divine Incarnation.

The Upper-level Wizard had gem rings on every finger, his whole body glittering with jewels; he hurled gemstone after gemstone without the slightest stinginess, unleashing all sorts of Elemental Magic with devastating power.

It wasn’t inferior at all to the Golden Deer’s artillery bombardment after it entered a stacked state.

"That looks like the Jade Record School’s [Amber Mentor] Robert?"

Byron had also seen this Upper-level Wizard at the banquet.

He knew Robert was the Jade Record School’s fourth seat, a Mage specializing in amber, yellow diamonds, yellow tourmaline, yellow crystal, and other yellow gemstones in Elemental Magic.

The Jade Record School specializes in all kinds of gemstone witchcraft, with a long History; its strength is second only to the Creation Nine Pillars School, a notch above the Fairy Town School.

Especially its Chief, [Gem Elder] Zelrich, who’s the founder of the entire gemstone witchcraft system—a freak who’s lived close to a thousand years.

Though the completion progress of the [Truth Embodiment·Jade Record] in his hands is far inferior to the [Creation Nine Pillars], his individual strength and that of the Corridor of Truth’s number-one Human powerhouse, the Radiant Queen, are roughly on par.

The fourth seat before him, [Amber Mentor] Robert, was nowhere near the level of Chief Zelrich and was currently being utterly thrashed by the opposing Divine Incarnation, fleeing for his life.