Silence returned after the dragon king left, and the Frostbloom Kingdom’s prince marched on their way ho. The normal lives of the people inside the palace continued afterward, and the night ca in just a blink.
The darkness enveloped the surroundings, and the moon began to rise above the imperial palace. The emperor was in his chamber and staring outside the window when soone knocked on the door.
"Co in," Augustus said.
Then a knight ca in as soon as the door opened, kneeling in the emperor’s presence.
"Your Majesty, the crown prince has arrived," he said while his eyes were staring on the floor.
"I know, tell him to co here before proceeding sowhere else," Augustus ordered.
Then the knight stood up and left, bearing the emperor’s command inside his mind.
Afterward, a few minutes passed, and a man who had the sa posture as the emperor arrived. He entered without bothering to knock.
"Father," he uttered, smiling.
"Your travel ti is quite fast," Augustus said before turning around to face the man. He looked into his eyes and spoke once again.
"So, how’s the festival?" He asked.
Kreigster walked towards the bed and lied there before answering his father’s query.
"The carriage was destroyed, so I left my guards and zipped my way all the way here," he chuckled.
"And regarding the festival, it’s amusing..." He paused and sighed before continuing.
"To be honest, I’ve t a lot of people, and there are those who I think are a lot stronger than ," he stated.
His words made the emperor caress his beard.
’Hmnn, to admit that soone is more powerful than him, I’m more curious now about what happened in there,’ Augustus thought.
"The Kingdom of Weapons is a very nice place, but due to bad luck, it was destroyed," Kreigster added.
"I already heard about the news, but would you tell more about how it all started?" The emperor asked.
"I was not in the city when it all began, so what I know is just from other people’s perspectives," he answered.
"What?" Augustus exclaid.
"That damn grand mage sent sowhere far outside the city; if I see him again, I’ll make sure to put him in his proper place," Kreigster said, gritting his teeth in anger.
"Seth? If it’s him you’re talking about, I believe there is a reason behind his action," the emperor replied.
"Are you for real? Siding with others against your own son?" Kreigster laughed while shaking his head.
"It just happens that I know both of you and that mage doesn’t do stupid things unlike you," the emperor giggled, teasing his son.
"Anyways, proceed with your story," he added.
Then, like his father wanted, Kreigster filled him with all his knowledge regarding the event that transpired a few days ago. He even made his father aware of the scenes from the tournant.
And the emperor listened to him with all his ears. He let Kreigster finish his story before asking a question.
"Stygian Loop," he uttered, wondering if he had heard the na before.
"I have no idea who they are," he added.
Then he sat down on the side of the bed while absorbing all the things that he had heard.
"Just a group of bandits aiming to get big," Kreigster comnted.
Then he stood up and was about to leave when his father spoke once again.
"I think I need to strengthen the security; even dark elves are passing right through the borders without knowing," he said.
"I’m more worried about the man who made all the knights kneel against their will than a bunch of creatures with long ears," Kreigster stated and walked outside of the room.
"A silver-haired man with a red dice as an earring, huh? Never heard about him as well," the emperor uttered as he laid down and stared at the ceiling. He tried to close his eyes afterward, but a scream made him stand up and leave without a second thought.
He was sure of it; the cry ca from his daughter’s room. The mont he got there, he noticed Kreigster entering the door.
Then, as he ca in, he saw his son helping a maid stand up.
"What happened?" He yelled while scanning the area, looking for her daughter.
’She’s not here!’ He thought upon failing to locate her and felt another presence inside the room, instead.
"T-there’s a p-person inside the princess’ c-closet," the maid stuttered while explaining.
As soon as Kreigster heard the maid, he went to the cabinet and opened it.
What he saw there was a man half naked with his arms and legs tied; even his mouth had a gag to keep him from making noise.
Sweat covered his entire body, especially the forehead, and seeing the crown prince’s eyes glaring at him caused him to gulp a few tis while shaking his head.
’N-no, I-I am the victim here,’ he thought.
. . . . .
"Young Lord, would you like to camp here for the ti being or proceed to continue until we see the village ahead? This path we are taking is extrely dangerous at night," one of the knights clad in white armor notified the man behind him.
"Is this the sa route we used to travel earlier?" Flynn asked while looking at the eerie-looking place.
"No, Sir. We changed our route to evade a bandit hideout. They are so tricky to deal with once the surroundings are covered with complete darkness," another knight answered.
"Then what are the dangers waiting for us here?" The prince asked again.
"Nocturnal monsters," said the knight, who seed to be the group’s leader.
"How long will it take if we stop right here and wait for the sunrise?" Flynn replied with a question.
"Without any unexpected hindrances, probably around three to four days," the leader answered, and the prince widened his eyes due to shock.
"What? That long? How co?" He couldn’t help but yell and bombard the knights with questions.
After all, it just took them one and a half days in their journey to go to the heart of the empire, and now his knights were telling him that it would take them longer to arrive ho just because they changed routes.
"Young Lord, we can’t do the sa thing we did before; traveling nonstop will be a burden to our horses. Even so of us now are basically riding in tandem due to the fact that their horses have already died," the leader of the knights explained their situation.
"I forgot about that; I apologized for my shortcomings." He nodded and asked for forgiveness upon hearing the reason.
Then so of the knights began to gather woods to set up a fire, while two of them acted as watchguards.
"Hey, Rio! Co and help prepare so food!" A knight shouted towards his comrade.
However, the man whom he called stayed at his position, making no response at all.
"Man, did you hear ? I said co here!" The knight repeated his words; irritation was now present in his voice.
However, the man he was calling just looked at him and pointed at himself, gesturing as if he were the one the knight was talking to.
Then the knight lost his patience and walked towards the man he called Rio to pull him.
"Why are you wearing a helt at a ti like this?" He said as he grabbed Rio’s hand and dragged him into the cooking area.
’Weird, did he lose weight? He’s kind of light right now,’ the knight thought.
The next second, they prepared the al for their whole group and finished it in no ti, but the knight nad Rio stayed silent in the whole process. No words or even a sound ca out from him.
His comrade turned a blind eye to this, even though he knew that his companion was talkative. He just thought that maybe he was not in the mood or sothing.
However, when the mont that they would eat as a group ca, his curiosity turned into suspicion, and he inford his other group mbers about it through a secret ssage.
"Rio, why are you not eating? Sit here and join us," he said.
The leader of the knight even nodded upon seeing that one of his comrades was standing a few distances away from him.
But Rio just shook his hands after raising them above his chest; he still kept his silence. anwhile, the prince paid no attention to them and just ate. His mood was too sour to worry about one of his people who refused to eat.
The next second, all of the knights glanced at each other and nodded. Then they put their food down and stood up. With the exception of their leader, they unsheathed their weapons before pointing them at Rio.
Afterward, they slowly scattered to surround the man, whom they deed a fraud.
"Who are you? Where’s our comrade?" One of the knights yelled.
"W-what’s happening?" Flynn stood up, panicking.
He felt surprised upon seeing the sudden actions of his knights.
"We’ve got an impostor among our ranks," the leader answered the prince’s query and walked to confront the fake knight.
’What?’ Flynn thought as he reached the grip of his sword.
Seconds passed, and the man just stayed still. With the crackling noises of the burning woods as the only sound echoing at the place, the leader shouted once more.
"Show us who you really are!" He said.
But as the fake knight kept his mouth shut, the leader tossed a dagger towards him, but as soon as it ca closer, it burned and lted to nothingness.
Then all of the knights, even the prince, widened their eyes, and their jaws dropped upon seeing the color of the flas.
’Purple,’ they thought.
. . . . .
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