Chapter 1126: Royal Duty
“Your Majesty, it would seem that the Death Knights have begun engaging mbers of the Verfolger in combat” Vilitomus projected multiple images of the battle, showing the city being slowly overrun, the enormous amount of dirt-bloods, and of course, the confrontation between the hunters of the battlefield and the king’s elite knights.
“They are rely probing at one another for now, once they begin fighting at full strength, losses will be quick”
“Losses?” repeated the archmage, uncertain whether the king ant ally or enemy losses.
“On both sides, of course, the smallest of mistakes will cost my Death Knights their lives, but the sa is also true for the enemy… At such high levels, one offensive power often far outclasses their overall durability”
“In this context, hesitation ans defeat” the king waved his hand, indicating for Vilitomus to stop projecting scenes of the battlefield.
“Is Vijudius safe?” he then asked, his tone lacking the worry that such a question should carry.
“Your Majesty, the crown prince safely arrived at a city much deeper within human territory” replied the old mage, having made sure that Vijudius would get as far as possible from the enormous dirt-blood army.
“Good, you may take your leave for now, Vilitomus, I have matters to attend to”
The old mage bowed and after paying his respect, imdiately walked out of the room.
‘Matters to attend to…’ he knew very well what that ant, but was now really the ti to call back a bunch of the won he had procreated with for another round of royal-blooded children? Were they not more pressing matters to attend to at the mont? Vilitomus simply did not get what the king was thinking about, he always seed so nonchalant and unbothered, like nothing could possibly be a threat…
Imdiately after the old mage left the room, the masked king rose from his throne and descended the steps leading up to it, walking to another room that Vilitomus had never even seen opened before, much less at the royal advisor ever being inside of it.
It led to the king’s private chambers, this was where he slept, where he trained, where maintained his armour and weapons, and the only place where he ever took off his mask.
It was also the place where he received his female guests, in a specific room that only served a single purpose, and that was to produce potential heirs to the throne.
As the king of the human domain, he had to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors and conduct the selection for a successor at all tis…The human domain could not be allowed to have a leader that was weak, cowardly or that did not place the domain above all else.
Such was it that none of his offsprings were allowed to know of their true origins, they were all placed within high-ranking noble families instead of being raised at the royal palace, they had to prove that they had the drive to beco strong and to defend the human domain.
That they were not the sort to simply lay back and enjoy the privileges they were born with.
From there, it was all about attitude and determination, whether they turned out to be a knight by awakening an affinity for fighting spirit, or a mage by awakening an affinity for mana, they had to keep going and demonstrate that they would be capable of carrying the weight of the crown upon their heads.
During his long ti as ruler, the king had sired countless offspring with countless won, and most of those offspring had not t his expectations at all, mostly due to the fact that they did not end up awakening any affinities at all, which was a sha, as many of them had demonstrated great skills that would have been of use as ruler, but unfortunately, the one who lead the human domain had to be strong, they had to be stronger than anyone else.
The human domain was founded through power, and power was what maintained it as well, allowing for even a few monts of weakness to spread through it would be spelling its doom.
Since the king had a long lifespan, he did not spare the efforts in producing as many potential heirs to the throne as possible, he had to do his best to find the most suitable candidate to take over his spot once he was no longer capable of bearing the crown.
He himself was a knight, but his father before him had been a mage, so he currently had multiple candidates that were about on par with one another hidden all throughout the human domain, all of them were participating in the war, and demonstrating their superior capabilities, none of those he had deed most worthy had t their demise yet.
With so many options, the king wasn’t exactly worried that much about Vijudius in particular when it ca to taking over the throne, but he still wanted the youth to live since he had untapped talent, especially with that special fighting spirit of his.
But the king wasn’t going to personally intervene to save him, that would go against the philosophy and tradition of not allowing the royal-blooded scions to benefit from their connection to the royal bloodline.
In any case, there was no point in thinking about such matters right now, King Andronicus needed to focus on producing more candidates, even if the domain was at war, it did not dispense him of this duty… Which was why he decided to call back the won who had given birth to the most promising offspring so far, each of them knights and mages of high talent.
It would have been difficult to gather them during a war normally, but due to the Verfolger getting involved whenever soone too strong got involved, they were perfectly free to perform duties for the future of the domain.
…Though, if there was one thing that slightly pushed Vijudius above the rest in the king’s mind… It was the supposed good relationship he had with an elf woman.
If Vilitomus was not just imagining things, then having his heir be one who seduced an elven woman was a clear bonus, especially if they could sohow manage to have children together, that would pretty much force the human domain and elven domain to beco allies.
Hopefully, he would still be alive to bear witness to such a historical event.
___
Unbeknownst to the king, but whilst he was busy with what he soon realised to be a bit too many won at once, a figure manifested within his throne room, a person doing their utmost to conceal their energy signature and not make noise.
‘He’s not here? That’s for the best…’
It was once again Griar, setting foot in a place he definitely shouldn’t be in, he had felt slight fluctuations coming from the throne room before, and even then, he had known that the king was not soone to be ssed with.
Griar did not think that he would stand a chance if this man decided to attack.
So it was for the best that the king seed montarily absent, he was just going to put down a ssage and whether or not it was believed would be left up to chance, but surely, the leader of such a vast territory would be able to discern the truth.
Griar silently approached the throne, intending to leave the ssage upon it, using his magic to conceal his presence and make himself utterly silent, he eyed his surroundings carefully, and soon put down the ssage upon the throne.
Now, he just needed to get out the sa he had gotten in, which was by performing a very difficult spell that montarily transford him into a gust of wind to slip through a small gap in the heavy doors.
‘Wait, what am I doing? I should just leave the realm entirely and let Fallael send back elsewhere’ he shook his head, it was hard to get used to the notion that he could just leave what was essentially a world of its own.
“Leaving already, are we?”
Griar felt a hand fall upon his shoulder, he hadn’t noticed anyone approaching, and he montarily froze.
He did not know what the king sounded like, but he was certain that he did not have a cold, bony hand-
Griar tried to leave the realm, but found it to be impossible, so he instead transford into a swift gust and placed so distance in between him and the unknown speaker.
When he saw the owner of the voice, instead of staring at him, the figure was rely looking down at their hand, but not the one that had just landed on my shoulder.
“How curious, that would have killed you, you know?”
But before the sentence could even be finished, Griar was gone from the realm entirely.
‘That one shall be moved up in the kill list, like father like son, I suppose…’
Carnifex had no idea what it was that had just acted to prevent him from ripping out Griar’s spine just now, but so sort of force had intervened and actually succeeded in completely thwarting his attack.
A way of power or energy he did not recognise? That was unexpected.
Especially since his fingers were running with cracks now, not only had it blocked his attack, but it had damaged him as well.
‘What could it have been?’
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