The Medallion novel Chapter 50

"We personally wanted to welcome you on your visit here, General Marcia," Mia and the other ministers who had been waiting for a long time came up to the general to greet her.

"There's no need for ceremony. I planned to visit secretly, to patrol. How did the news of my visit spread so quickly?" Marcia sternly said, unimpressed by the ceremony. The attention everyone gave her and the salacious gazes that she was receiving from the men made her uncomfortable and ill at ease.

Marcia's displeased expression began to make all the ministers feel nervous, their stomachs tightening in fright. They stood still as they anxiously held their breaths, hoping to give her a good impression. Marcia was one of the most powerful people in the Holy Dragon Empire. They all knew that if she would want to punish them for their incompetence, she would be able to do it very easily.

"It is our great honour to welcome you here, General Marcia. That is why we did our best to prepare an extravagant ceremony. It is our responsibility to do so," came the hurried reply of a minister, a big smile plastered on his face.

"I don't care for the ceremony. I've been used to it by now. It's just the same every time," the general coldly stated. She then turned to Mia and said, "Master Mia, please call out all the royal spirit manipulators."

"General Marcia, why don't you take a rest first?" Mia insisted. She knew that Marcia went for a visit to observe the training, but she did not expect that she would actually do it, let alone do it right away just a few minutes after her arrival.

"I believe I have made it clear that I am here to see their exercises," Marcia emphasized. However, inside her mind, observing the exercises was just an excuse for her to find the man who had cheated her.

Marcia ordered her soldiers to find Rocky. They had looked for him everywhere, including the dragon field, but they did not find any useful clues. But unbeknownst to them, they had already ran into Rocky. They were not able to recognize him because his appearance had changed quite drastically since he last met Marcia.

Rocky would be able to finally get Marcia off his tail. However, she was unyielding and insisted on going to the dragon field to look for him. Hence, this was the reason for her visit to the dragon field.

Perhaps it was destined that they would meet again.

"Y-yes! Of course, General!" Mia stammered, reacting at once. She did not dare say anything else; she just bowed down before Marcia and then turned back around to order every young man to assemble at the field immediately.

All the young men then instantaneously marched up to Marcia and respectfully greeted her.

Marcia looked at each of the young men, but soon shook her head in disappointment, turned to Mia and asked, "Are these all the young men?"

"Yes, that's all of…" Mia stopped abruptly as she tried to remember something. She turned her gaze towards the group of young men. As she initially thought, Rocky was not among them.

"Where's Basil Long?" Mia hissed at the young men.

They all looked at each other, also clueless as to where Rocky was.

"I'm here," Rocky said from behind the crowd, watching. He overheard Mia asking the other young men about him and decided to show up. If he did not appear before Mia at once, he would most certainly get punished for it. Therefore, he reluctantly joined up with the rest of the young men. He unflinchingly looked at Marcia and smiled, not an ounce of terror on his face.

Marcia was not able to recognize him at first glance, but she was a bit suspicious that he looked somewhat familiar. After carefully watching Rocky for a while, she stared at him, pointed out, and bellowed, "It's you!"

Everyone was shocked at what had just happened. They had no idea what Marcia meant.

Rocky was also left shocked at seeing Marcia point at him. He anticipated that Marcia would pretend that she did not know him. However, she did in fact went there to find him. He did not realize it until he saw the spiteful look on Marcia's face. It was too late; he did not have the time to conceal himself.

In addition to the animosity that Marcia felt towards Rocky at that moment, she also felt very confused. Rocky had changed so much since the last time they saw each other that she was not able to recognize him at first glance. She also found his spiritual power extremely strange. It was not strong, but it was not weak either. Nevertheless, it didn't matter. What was important was that she had already found Rocky.

It was absolutely clear what she would do now.

"General Marcia, you know Basil Long?" Mia shot Marcia a puzzled look.

"Basil Long? That actually sounds really familiar..." Marcia's brows furrowed in concentration. The name was very familiar. Moreover, his family name was Long, the royal name.

"Basil is the youngest son of the emperor of the Holy Dragon Empire. He used to be a prince, but not anymore because he destroyed–" Mia started to explain, but was cut off by the general.

"He's the youngest son of the emperor?" Marcia exclaimed and then continued to ask, "Has he bonded with the Holy Dragon Bead?" She finally remembered why the name sounded familiar; when she returned, she heard that someone named Basil Long had bonded with the Holy Dragon Bead. Although she was curious about the news, she didn't really pay much attention on it.

"That's right," Mia confirmed, nodding her head.

Marcia stared at the young man in front of her. She had no idea that he was Basil who had bonded with the Holy Dragon Bead. Her animosity towards him suddenly dissipated. Everyone's eyes were fixated on every move as she approached Rocky. She scanned him up and down and said, "I want you to accompany me around the dragon field. Only you. No one else is allowed to follow us."

She then started to leave with Rocky. Everyone looked at each other in a mix of shock and confusion. Their curiosity was aroused and they could not stop thinking about what the nature of the relationship between the General Marcia and the exiled good-for-nothing prince was. 'Why did she ask him to show her around?' was what everyone thought.

Rocky had a bad feeling about the whole situation. However, once he saw the envious looks on everyone's faces, he felt quite smug. 'All of them are probably thinking that there's something going on between us, ' he thought.

Mia was terribly confused when she suddenly remembered that Marcia had once asked about a man called Rocky in the dragon field a little while back when she retrieved the colored pearl. But she was now even more confused. 'How did they meet each other?' she thought. Basil was the youngest prince and all the people knew that he had always been sickly since he was a child, often just staying inside his room. Marcia on the other hand had been fighting ever since she arrived at the Holy Dragon Empire. She rarely ever came back and hardly took part in any celebrations if it was not necessary. It was impossible that the two had met before. Even though Mia was very clever, she could not find out the relation between Marcia and Rocky.

"All right! General Marcia!" Rocky raised up the corner of his lips into a smile and openly cuddled Marcia around the waist, showing that they were indeed very close to each other.

Everyone's jaws dropped to the floor at Rocky's actions. Their envious eyes that were as sharp as knives were fixed on his hand. They all thought that he would definitely receive dangerous consequences from what he did

because they had never seen a man touch Marcia, not even her hands. The way they saw it, if a man dared to try even just a tiny bit of flirting with Marcia, he would most definitely be beaten to death by her incredible fighting strength.

They considered Marcia as a holy symbol in their minds and Rocky dared to—at least they thought so—violate her.

"How dare Basil do that?" Mia gasped. She immediately frowned, wanting Rocky to stop his unrefined behaviour.

However, to everyone's surprise, Marcia did not start violently beating Rocky. Instead, she brought her lips close to his ear. "Do you want to die now? How dare you flirt with me in the public?" she said in a low voice, almost growling.

"You came here to find me. It might not be good news for me, so why not flirt with a beauty while I have the chance?" Rocky brazenly teased.

Marcia was so furious and taken aback by what Rocky said that she was at a loss for words and all she could do was glower at him. She did not want to beat up a young spirit manipulator like him because she wanted to maintain her excellent public image as a well-respected general.

However, things had become different in everyone's eyes. What they saw was Marcia and Rocky talking intimately and cuddling with each other. It made them even more curious about many things regarding the nature of the two's relationship. The prudish nobles and aristocrats carefully watched them as they gossiped among themselves. The scene that was happening before their eyes was probably the most interesting thing that had happened in their boring uneventful lives. Five versions of the story quickly spread among the crowd.

"Let's go! There are too many people. We need to find a quiet place," Marcia urgently said as she calmly turned around and got rid of Rocky's hand on her waist. She then proceeded to directly walk forward.