Chapter 153 Titian's Surprise
When Lin Qi led his men in invading Number One Saint Glory Avenue, Tixian was dancing inside his own detached private villa.
As the Walis family faintly stood as the premier noble house of the Empire, their mansion in Barlay was adjacent to the Palace of Victory, separated from the palace's western wall only by a two-lane carriage road. In fact, the main gate of the Walis family directly faced the west gate of the Palace of Victory across the street.
The massive estate was shaded by ancient trees, with over a dozen buildings of varying sizes scattered harmoniously across the grounds.
As the most valued member of the younger generation of the Walis family, and also the favored direct-line son of the elderly Walis, Tixian had an exquisite small villa in the southwest corner of the estate entirely for his own use. Not far from the villa stood a side gate. Entering or leaving the estate through this portal was extremely convenient, and it would absolute never disturb the elders in the main household.
This was a residence Tixian had meticulously chosen, because thanks to this side gate, whether he was sneaking out in the middle of the night to carouse or welcoming some delicate and lovely guests to secretly slip into his villa after dark, everything remained strictly concealed.
The interior decorations of Tixian's villa were just like those of any young noble scion in the Imperial Capital: messy and eclectic, yet radiating an aura of luxury everywhere one looked.
In the spacious drawing room, right in the center, sat a large square table holding a relief map of the Western Continent crafted from the bones of a solitary-horned ferocious whale. Master artisans had used various pigments on the sand table, measuring several meters in width and length, to meticulously paint mountains, rivers, swamps, and forests, marking the borders of dozens of empires and kingdoms across the Western Continent. Particularly around the North Sea, the Norman War Fortress and the North Sea Defense Line were highlighted in a pigment as intensely crimson as human blood.
Aside from this priceless large sand table, the eastern side of the room was piled with several sets of ancient armor, each piece mottled with age and bearing a weathered look. Furthermore, these suits of armor were lavishly inlaid with gold and silver. Judging by the heraldry upon them, the haphazardly stacked armor belonged to certain great noble houses that had long since perished from the continent, making every single set worth a king's ransom.
On the western side of the room stood a few sandalwood mannequins draped in several sets of custom-made, luxurious formal wear. Three of these outfits were men's styles, but two were magnificent women's court gowns. These two women's gowns were completely encrusted with pearls and diamonds, and their seams were adorned with numerous exceptionally precious peacock tail feathers, clearly costing an astronomical sum to manufacture.
Yet, these two women's outfits were covered in dust, having gone untouched for at least half a year. Tixian had prepared them a few months ago for an exquisite young woman from a fallen noble family whom he had recently set his sights on, desperately hoping to win her heart with these two gorgeous gowns. But now that Tixian's aged father had instead become the young woman's beloved, Tixian could only resentfully leave these enormously expensive dresses here to gather dust.
Perhaps one day in the future, Tixian would clean up these two court gowns and bestow them upon another young maiden. Who could say? In Barlay, a city of decadent extravagance and superficiality, anything was possible.
Besides these large items, Tixian's drawing room was also crammed with porcelain and lacquerware from the East, along with various art pieces from other continents placed together in a jumble. For instance, Elven textiles and Black-Spirit continent great axes rested side by side, while gemstone statues worshipped by goblins stood parallel to ogre crystal totem poles. These precious artworks were treated as nothing more than trash by Tixian.
The enormous drawing room was packed full of cluttered objects, leaving only a few square meters of empty space near the terrace. Tixian clutched a pale yellow sheet of letter paper tightly, dancing triumphantly within this tiny patch of floor.
The letter paper contained the latest news just brought to him by his personal bodyguard and spymaster chief, You, concerning the most recent intelligence on Lin Qi.
General Stane, the Iron-Flail General who controlled the supreme authority over the Imperial Capital's garrison, dubbed a "mad vulture" by other nations across the continent yet hailed as "His Majesty the Emperor's most loyal old hound" within the internal circles of the Gallic Empire, genuinely shared a suggestive and extraordinary relationship with Lin Qi's father, Lin Hu.
Toward the end of the century-long Land-Sea War, General Stane served as the frontline commander around the Dun'er River region. He had been surrounded by the allied forces of foreign races three times, yet on all three occasions, Lin Qi's elders led the Dun'er River militia to fight their way through and rescue him at the cost of their lives. It was during those three brutal battles that Lin Qi lost his grandfather and two uncles.
Stane had also sustained severe injuries in those three major conflicts, but his rendered achievements were truly astonishing—he completely shattered the northern alien races' plot to detour around the Dun'er River and launch a surprise attack on the Imperial Capital. Consequently, the Emperor specially bestowed upon him a bottle of life-saving secret medicine, but this bottle of secret medicine was ultimately used on Lin Qi's father, Lin Hu.
According to intelligence, for the thirty years following the war's conclusion, Stane would travel to the Dun'er River for vacation and recuperation every three years, invariably staying in the Dun'er River region for exactly seven days before returning to the Imperial Capital. The details of his earlier holiday trips were unknown, but during his most recent two visits, Stane had boarded fishing boats belonging to the Trident Whale-Hunting Company to go sea fishing. Notably, the Trident Whale-Hunting Company reportedly held massive shares owned by Lin Hu's family.
In other words, during both of those occasions, Stane had logically and smoothly met with Lin Hu!
What made Tixian even more triumphant was that You had carefully investigated the places of origin of the soldiers in Stane's elite guards regiment, the Bloodfang Battalion. Out of the total one thousand men in the Bloodfang Battalion, five hundred hailed from Stane's hometown, and the other five hundred unexpectedly originated entirely from the Dun'er River! Rumor had it that this was because Stane held a deep fondness for the bold, fierce, and valiant northern mainlanders of the Dun'er River!
Even among the Imperial Capital's Forbidden Guards, nearly three thousand men hailed from the Dun'er River! They were all elite troops transferred from the local garrisons of the Dun'er River.
What did this represent? The implications hidden within this fact made Tixian's heart blossom with joy!
Without a doubt, this general who controlled the most powerful military force within a radius of a thousand miles around the imperial capital shared a bond of life and death with Lin Hu's family, and this bond was an unknown, hidden relationship. Without a doubt, as long as Tixian successfully ingratiated himself with Lin Qi, one day in the future, Tixian could secure Stane's friendship through Lin Qi!
The Walis family was already at the pinnacle of the Empire's aristocratic houses. If the Walis family could also gain the friendship of a major military heavyweight—especially a general who held absolute control over all military forces in the Imperial Capital!
Oh, gods, this was absolute perfection!
No one knew that a behemoth like Stane stood behind Lin Qi, and not even Lin Qi himself was aware of it. But now, Tixian knew!
"Cunning old lion, that bottle of secret medicine of yours was actually omitted from the military archives and instead recorded in the usage logs of the Emperor's bestowed secret medicine. Goodness, who would ever pay attention to records detailing who consumed a secret medicine bestowed by His Majesty? Especially records from over thirty years ago!"
Tixian crumpled the letter paper in his hand into fine dust and let out a light sigh.
"Very well, I am even more interested in those two beauties now! This is simply too wonderful!"