Dawnless Sovereign-Chapter 113 (2): A Visit From the Pope

Starlight stared at his empty cup, then murmured to himself, "Shoot! You're supposed to deliver an address before you drink, but I ended up drinking first!"

This was met with a thunderous chorus of laughter that threatened to raise the roof!

Even in the eyes of all of the young women, Starlight was beginning to look a little adorable.

"Even though the wine has been drunk, an address must still be delivered. Honestly, I did that on purpose so this would be a memorable address for all of you."

Everyone erupted into laughter once again, and no one was convinced.

"I'll stand while I talk, but you can all sit back down. In the past, it's always been all of you standing while I sit, but let's switch things around today."

"Thank you, Head Escort!"

"Alright, I'll be honest, I genuinely forgot just now, but it's not a big deal. This first cup of wine I'll drink to all of you. I hope that even far in the future, you can all remember today and the time that you spent in the Unmatched Escort Agency."

Everyone fell silent at once, and they each poured themselves a cup of wine before downing it in silence.

Compared with their uneventful lives back in the main church, the time that they had spent in the branch helm had been nothing short of riveting.

They had witnessed many things that they had previously thought impossible, and they had experienced so much in their brief time here.

Never had they imagined that so many people from different clans of the main church would be able to band together in such a harmonious fashion.

They were improving and working every single day, and their lives had never felt so rich and fulfilling.

They felt like they had experienced more in the Unmatched Escort Agency than the rest of their lives combined, and they all knew that this was a place that they would never forget for as long as they lived.

How could they forget? They had created this place through their combined efforts!

The thought of the days ahead had everyone heaving lamenting sighs.

They had no confidence in how the future was going to pan out, and it felt like stepping into a murky swamp.

***

Starlight filled his cup again, but then set it down as he said, "I'll make sure to speak first before I drink this time."

The atmosphere of sorrow and uncertainty instantly gave way to one of amusement once again.

"I know you won't be able to stay here for long. After you've done what's required of you here, you'll all be returning to the main church. From there, you'll either be assigned positions in your clans, or be put in different workplaces. Ultimately, the Unmatched Escort Agency will only be a fleeting chapter in your lives."

The atmosphere of sorrow instantly returned.

Everyone was reluctant to accept this reality, and if they had a say in the matter, they would remain here forever!

"Due to the special nature of our escort agency, I've had to be very strict with the enforcement of my rules. Perhaps in the beginning, you were all really opposed to this, but over the past few months, I feel like all of you seem to have almost grown fond of these rules. We all know what type of people we are.

“I never imagined that the rules I put in place would work to such good effect, and I also never imagined that people like us could coexist in harmony like this in the same escort agency. In fact, in the past, I would've laughed at anyone who tried to suggest to me that this was possible."

This was a sentiment echoed by everyone else. It did indeed seem absurd, but it was now their reality.

"Once you go back to the main church, you'll no longer be with me, so I won't be able to help you in your future endeavors, nor will I be able to imagine what the future holds for you. As you kill more in the future, your personalities will become more ruthless and volatile, and that's simply unavoidable. However, I hope that you can continue to cherish the time that you spent here and help out one another in your times of need.

“There's not much place for sentimentality for people like us, but there will still be certain bonds and experiences in our lives that are unforgettable and irreplaceable. I genuinely hope that all of you will be able to live long and fruitful lives, so try to help each other out wherever you can. This cup I'll be drinking to all those who help out their fellow brothers and sisters in the future."

With that, he threw his head back and downed his cup of wine in one go.

Tears were beginning to well up in the eyes of a few of the female escorts, and everyone collectively expressed their gratitude to Starlight before downing their cups of wine as well.

The thought of their imminent departure from this place instantly filled them with a sense of sorrow, one that even the fine wine they were drinking was unable to drown out.

The entire hall had fallen completely silent, and everyone had sullen looks on their faces.

"This third cup of wine serves as a warning to you all. From this day forth, all the way until the day that you leave, I will be demanding an even faster rate of cultivation progression from all of you, and the punishments for those who fall behind will also become even more severe.

“As long as you're still here in the escort agency, don't even think about slacking off for a single second! I'm going to thoroughly torture you all before you leave so that you'll resent me instead of miss me once you go back! Here's to all of you!"

Starlight raised his third cup of wine and downed it once again, while everyone else followed suit with solemn expressions.

Even though Starlight had intentionally tried to frame himself in a negative light, they knew that he was only being so hard on them because he wanted to maximize their chances for survival in the future.

Hence, he was going to push everyone even harder in the short time that they had left together. Perhaps a breakthrough made here would be the difference between life and death for some of them at some point down the line.

With that in mind, everyone was filled with gratitude toward Starlight, and they were certainly not going to resent him as he suggested. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

He was vulgar, violent, hideous, and a demon among demons, but in their eyes, he was a brilliant leader who was worthy of their respect and veneration.

Everyone slowly downed their third cups of wine, and for some reason, as they did so, they felt the need to drink slowly, to truly savor this cup of wine, as if it held some type of special significance.

***

Starlight slammed his cup down as he yelled, "Fuck! I got all sappy there for a second! That's enough rambling from me, it's time to hand out your wages!"

Zhou Mei'er immediately stood up as she yelled, "You just swore, Head Escort! That's three cups of wine for you!"

Everyone immediately chimed in to support her.

"Surely that doesn't count!" Starlight protested with an indignant expression.

However, no one was willing to let him off the hook, so he could only drink three cups of wine in succession as punishment.

It was very amusing to everyone that the rule-maker was the first to be punished by the rule, and their amusement quickly turned to excitement as they prepared to receive their wages.

To everyone's surprise, Starlight was extremely generous.

The two deputy head escorts were each given ten thousand taels of silver, as well as five thousand taels of silver in bonuses, while everyone else was paid in accordance with the duration of their employment thus far, and they all received four-figure sums as well.

Even the lowest-paid escort received a thousand taels of silver.

This was met with thunderous cheers and applause.

"Long live the head escort!"

In total, everyone's wages amounted to several million taels of silver.

"Can you afford to hand out this much money, Head Escort?" Zhou Mei'er asked with a concerned expression. "This is more money than our agency has made so far!"

The cheering instantly died down.

"It's fine," Starlight said with a faint smile. "We can just keep earning money in the future. Once all of you are gone, the people that come after you won't receive the same treatment."

Everyone puffed out their chests in pride.

"Besides," Starlight continued. "At the rate we're handing out wages here, which has been once every three months, there's a good chance all of you will have left before you get your next set of wages. Hence, I'm handing out more this time, but once all of you are gone, I'll get to keep all of the agency's profits for myself.

“Now then, I have one more thing to declare before we can all focus on drinking and having a good time. All of you will get tomorrow off to go do whatever you want! If you want to buy something for your family members, then go right ahead, but you're not allowed to spend more than the wages you received today!"

This declaration was instantly met with resounding cheers.

"Alright, without further ado, let the show begin!"

The performance troupe on the stage that had been temporarily set up for the banquet had already been waiting for quite some time, and they immediately launched into their musical performance, while the festivities in the hall had also commenced.

Everyone was fully letting loose, eager to fully capitalize on this brief moment of respite before Starlight put them through an even more rigorous period of toil.

Many of them formed a long line, intending to toast Starlight one by one.

"I can't drink that much! You're going to kill me!"

Everyone laughed away his protests as they continued to toast him one after another. In the end, Starlight had to resort to cheating, such as only taking a small sip from his cup, or tipping out its contents behind himself as he pretended to drink, or forcing someone else to drink in his stead.

Once the wine began to flow, that was when the show truly began.

Zhao Wubai rushed onto the stage to sing with the performance troupe, while Jiang Bin was prancing around with his upper body completely bare, doing his best impression of a provocative dancer.

Tian Wanqing went even further, stripping down until all that was left was a pair of bright red underpans, then dropped down to the ground to imitate a walking toad.

All of a sudden, he grabbed Zhao Wushang as his performance partner to demonstrate toad mating.

Zhao Wushang resisted with all his might, so Tian Wanqing had to continue his solo performance, laying down on his back with his arms and legs raised to the sky to serve as a human spinning top.

"Kick me! The more you kick me, the faster I'll spin!"

Everyone was eager to take him up on that offer, and the entire scene had descended into a complete farce.

All of the girls were sitting far away, sipping on wine as they watched all the boys fooling around with a mix of exasperation and amusement in their eyes.

Looking at their sweet and innocent faces, no one could've imagined that they were a bunch of bloodthirsty demonesses.

A few of the girls were stealing occasional glances at Starlight, but were afraid of being caught, so their glances were always secretive and fleeting before they quickly looked away, only to sneak another glance at him shortly thereafter.

While Starlight had inspired tremendous loyalty from his subordinates, the feelings that some of them harbored toward him went beyond just loyalty, but at the moment, he was completely oblivious to this.

He was still thinking about whether it would be possible to further reaffirm their loyalty to him before they had to return to the main church.