After the Holy Spirit's first qualifier.
Joshua was invited by Queen Yekana to the embassy of the Iron Country for a banquet.
Originally, Joshua didn't like to attend the banquets of nobles, but Mrs. Marina said, "This may be a good opportunity to find craftsmen in the country of steel."
Qiao Xiu had no choice but to pull Ciri to eat together.
Coincidentally, at this banquet, Joshua met the enemies that the Iron Man met in the first game... the members of the Crowhill team.
"Is that queen taking you as prisoners and taking you back to the country of steel?"
Joshua took a glass of juice and came to the members of the Crosil team. They also seemed very restrained in this banquet of nobles.
Four of the five team members were of civilian origin, and the clothes on these four team members were also Crowhill-style robes, not some luxurious dresses.
Looking at it this way, their style of painting is the closest to Joshua and Ciri at this banquet.
"You are... the person you met in the Magic Arena."
Brera, the leader of the team, recognized the stranger who suddenly greeted them.
"My name is Qiao Xiu, and my identity can only be said to be someone who can help you."
Joshua looked at the three players next to Brera in turn. Their performance in the first game looked very miserable in front of the Iron Man's powerful strength.
But their talent in the game can be seen from the ladder scores to be very good.
"Brella."
She did not recognize Joshua's true identity, both the creator of the magic web and the director of the movie, only a few people will remember.
If Taelin stood in front of them, Brera would probably choose to ask for an autograph immediately.
"I'm here to introduce myself. Can you answer the question I just asked, were you kidnapped by Queen Yekana? If it's a nod, I can help you."
When Qiao Xiu said this, he glanced left and right, and many people at the banquet were paying attention to Qiao Xiu.
Because the temperament of Joshua and Ciri seemed out of place at this banquet, so did the four members of the Crowhill team.
"Kidnapped... We should have been kidnapped to... here."
Brera is also not sure whether the previous situation counts as kidnapping.
"Isn't this kind of forced recruitment that doesn't add up to the favorability level really not capturing slaves?"
Ciri looked at the girl named Brera, who looked like a rancher's daughter, wearing a pair of round glasses and a flaxen fishbone braid, with a simple temperament. Feel.
The same goes for the other members of the Crowhill team... This reminds Ciri of who she used to be, but she doesn't seem to have changed much now.
"Capturing slaves, that queen should not be such a person, no, she really seems to be able to do it. In short, can you tell me what happened?" Qiao Xiu asked.
Brera cooperated to tell Joshua what happened after the game.
"I rejected His Highness Yekana, but my parents just happened to find the magic arena. His Highness Yekana didn't know what conditions he offered, so my parents agreed..."
Brera's current mood probably feels as if she was sold by her parents.
"Well... I can take you back, but you seem hesitant to see your expression." Joshua said.
"Hesitating, this... I just don't think I'm qualified for this knight's position." Brera pondered for a while, but still spoke her true thoughts.
"The competition for cast iron players must be very fierce. If I get eliminated, I really don't know what to do. It's really difficult to survive in this world if I only play Holy Spirit, and I can't think of any other way to make money. ."
"What did you say before? This child will do great things in the future."
Ciri whispered to Joshua after listening to her narration silently beside her.
She was able to resist the temptation to take one step to the sky and seriously consider the gains and losses, which is really difficult for ordinary people to do.
"I don't know how to refute the three views." Qiao Xiu pondered for a while and then asked, "I guess you should have a lot of concerns."
When Joshua was answering Brera's question... An elderly nobleman quietly came to the table behind Brera with a glass of wine.
The nobleman sat in the audience seat in front of Joshua during the game.
He paid close attention to the conversation between Joshua and Brera, and did not hide the idea that he was eavesdropping.
"Your concerns and choices are all correct." Joshua didn't lower his voice, this is not a shameful topic. "It is indeed difficult for professional players of the Holy Spirit to survive in this world."
Joshua's affirmative answer made the old nobleman's hand shaking while holding the cup. It seemed that he should have a son who was a member of the cast iron, otherwise he would not appear on the field of this competition.
"With the Queen's character, she will eliminate those weak people without hesitation."
Joshua's words were very successful in scaring Brera and the children behind her, including the elderly aristocrat, who didn't look very good.
"Don't be so nervous, if you are successful as professional players..." Joshua didn't go on after he said that.
Because on the stage of the main hall of the banquet, all the musicians who were playing music walked off the stage, and then came to the front of the stage were five cast iron men in jet-black armor.
They came to the front of the stage with their heads held high and took off their helmets.
These five cast irons are much younger than the nobles present imagined...
"Everyone present, I know that you all have a question in your heart."
Queen Yekana appeared beside the cast irons, and her gaze swept over everyone present in turn.
The nobles invited at the dinner are basically the pillars of the Iron Country.
"You are wondering whether these young people are qualified to have the status of cast iron."
Queen Yekana said loudly what they were thinking.
"What they did when they came to Nolan was just to participate in a few game competitions, and it was a virtual game in the magic net."
The queen's voice pierced into the hearts of these nobles like the tip of a needle.
All the nobles present basically have the same opinion about these young cast irons... They are not entitled to such a lofty status.
"But I'll tell you now..." Queen Yekana's voice was not loud, but everyone present could hear it clearly. "They are not standing on the arena today as their own, but as the country of steel. ...representing our country on that arena!"
"His Royal Highness Ye Kana is just playing a game. Why bet on the name of the country of steel, or even honor?"
A voice broke Queen Yekana's one-man show, and all the nobles turned around in horror to find who dared to ask such a deadly question.
But they didn't find it... Queen Yekana found it, and that was Joshua Arnorrod, who was standing in the last row of the entire dinner party.
Qiao Xiu knew the answer to the question he asked, and the reason why he asked this question was purely to give her a step to continue the conversation.
"Because the Country of Frost also participated in this game." Queen Yekana said here, with a killing intent in her voice.
"The Silver Frost Fox family in the Land of Frost also formed their own team to represent their country in this game, you want to be in this game... let Nolan and the whole world know that our country lost to Those guys?"
"Silver Frost Fox? This is absolutely impossible, Your Highness!"
Many of the nobles sitting here have hatred for this family. Back then, the friction between the Silver Frost Fox family and the Iron Country rose to the level of war.
"The Iron Man is a warrior who fights for the honor of the Iron Nation, and here... is the battlefield where the Iron Nation's honor is wagered!"
After Queen Yekana said these words, the five cast iron men beside her straightened their waists, and the eyes of two cast iron men began to turn red.
"You can bet on national glory by playing a game, do you still think it's absurd?"
Joshua took the juice and came to the aged nobleman and said.
"Absurd... I really can't imagine it." Count Cruz had long expected that Josius would take the initiative to talk to him.
"At present, there are more than 400,000 players of the Holy Spirit on the magic net. These players are from all over the world. You should go to the game section on the caster forum." Qiao Xiu shook the juice in his hand, and the ice cubes in it were released. The sound of the collision awakened Count Cruz, who was in deep thought.
"You should really see... a group of players from other countries, shouting the name of the cast iron and saying cheers, there are signs on the caster forum now."
Joshua took a look at the caster forum before coming to this dinner. The entire forum had been detonated by the day's game, and no matter which division was discussing posts related to today's game.
The cast iron man entered the sight of all Holy Spirit players with an absolutely powerful attitude.
Count Cruz stopped talking, and Josh took the juice and returned to Ciri's side.
"Ciri, do you think I'm not doing my job properly?"
Joshua leaned on the table and watched Brera and her other team members discuss whether or not to refuse Queen Yekana's invitation.
"Do you... have a proper job?"
Ciri thought about it for a long time before finally saying this. She has been with Qiao Xiu for so long. Qiao Xiu was still making movies the day before yesterday, and the day after tomorrow, he went to write novels and games, and there was no fixed career at all.
"Cough, well, I really don't have any formal occupation."
Joshua shifted his gaze to the scene where the cast irons were toasting and celebrating in the distance.
This time, with the establishment of the Nolan Open system, Qiao Xiu is also cultivating a large group of idols from all over the world.
As for the relationship between e-sports and cultural invasion... Qiao Xiu remembered a stalk he encountered when he was playing games before, that is, when he was hacking with foreign friends, they would use the four letters "Kale" to indicate the appearance of their game. The game needs to be paused in case of lag.