I had no idea his condition had worsened so much
Klaus seed to have been in the dark about this, too, as he raised a voice of shock. He knew that Emperor Benedix had slowly been falling victim to his age, but the accurate situation has never been made public.
More accurately, they are trying to prolong the dying of his fla of life using holy magic or wondrous magic dicine, which is why he tends to sleep a long ti.
Trying to keep him alive to such an extentIt must be because of the succession, no? Kyle hesitated a mont before asking this question, but he had to know.
As expected, Angela nodded. There were rumors of him stepping down at so point, but Benedix was regarded as a great hero of the Empire and humanfolk as a whole, which is why many prayed for his return. Not only his strength but also his abundance of charisma helped in bringing the nearby countries together under a single banner. Granted, his death would be unavoidable, but to ease the chaos and confusion across the Empire, they wanted to prolong his life as much as possible so that he could na a successor.
Thats why Eldorands been proactively appearing in public, huhHowever, that was all ruined. All those idiots and their aningless acts!
Kyle ntally sighed and cursed. His ideal tiline would have been for Maizer to beco the next Emperor, but his biggest goal was for the Galgan Empire to maintain its military strength for the Great Invasion. If Eldorand had taken the throne, that would have worked out just fine.
Support Prince Konrad, support Prince Maizer, push the back of Nord, or just stay on the sidelines to observeThe nobles and influential ones of the Empire are shaken by all these choices. The ones who keep the thread from snapping are Court Mage Beadola and Pri Minister Korodes, but they must be reaching their limit.
Minagi retold what she had heard, ntioning the two individuals who had been here since the birth of the Empire. Court Mage Great Beadola was one of the three individuals in this world who could still use supre magic, so she was a vital point of the Empires military force. At the sa ti, Pri Minister Korodes had been at Benedixs side as his friend for many years, showing great accomplishnts as a politician.
Adding to that, its still unclear who even assassinated EldorandSo eventually, we may be reaching the boiling point and witnessing the start of a civil war, Seran comnted as if to sum up everything that has been said.
I have been invited in these rows myself, though I dont know where it ca from.
As youd expect from soone of Klaus level, who harbored influence everywhere inside the humanfolks territory.
HuhSo, whats the plan now? Seran asked this with his usual licentious grin, but his gaze was sharp.
I plan to move as quickly and efficiently as possible. However, as Ive shared this secret with all of you and had you act for my sake, I will repay you properly, so rest assured.
Thats good, Seran grinned as Klaus just shrugged his shoulders.
Did you figure out what Prince Konrad and Prince Maizer are currently doing? Kyle was mainly worried about these two.
Depending on their actions, this whole thing could be resolved peacefully or blow up to beco a war.
Prince Maizer has been stationary inside the palace. Surely, the security there must be top-classBut Prince Konrad has gone AWOL. So assu he must have fled the capital to hide or go back to his own territory. Minagi shook her head, evidently not able to filter out truth from rumors in such a short ti.
I seeThen to think one step ahead, what do you think is going to happen to the Empire now? Shildonia had been listening in silence, as she now asked Angela.
The Galgan Empire is young, and it was brought to life only recently, which makes it just as fragile. As Shildonia was knowledgeable about a countrys ups and downs, she asked this knowing full well about the worst-case scenario.
I do not know. Nobody could have imagined that the Empire would end up in such a dire state after just a few days, Angelas voice slowly faded of energy.
I swearif this is neither Konrads nor Maizers doing, then it must be soone with quite the resentnt toward Galgan. And I dare say, its working perfectly in their favor, Shildonia spoke with a bit of sarcasm in her voice, but she was not wrong.
The ones holding the key to the situation must be the army. We should be especially cautious of how the five generals move.
The Galgan Empires raw manpower was incomparable to another country, as even their regular army had several thousand soldiers. If a war were to break out, other countries may be able to send out these numbers, but their main force would only be regular citizens or city guards. The army of the Empire easily won against this in terms of experience and equipnt, as well as general availability. And as this was the greatest weapon the Empire possessed, this army was under the orders of several generals. How they move in this situation could be a crucial factor.
And with no orders from my father, if the generals disagree with each other and give contradictory orderswe may really end up with a civil war.
Only the Emperor had absolute word over the entirety of the army, but if he is not in a situation where he could give orders, then the generals would move according to their own ideals and what they believed would be for the sake of the Empire. When Angela said the two words civil war, tension ran through the room. Granted, the majority wished to be hopeful and assud that things most surely wouldnt go that far.
However, Kyle knew. He felt like this detrintal state was approachingthat civil war was on the horizon that could very well last a year and cause up to thousands of casualties. And as the room was already filled with a tense air, Minagi spoke up to deliver even worse news.
Theres one more problem right now. And this one is a tad bit more annoying.
What is it? Kyle asked with an exhausted expression.
Dont look at like thatAnyway, a certain individual is currently present here in the capital. Soone very important but quite botherso to have around, Minagi took out a map of the capital and pointed at a nobles quarter near the imperial palace. Princess Milena of the Kingdom of Zilgus is right here.
Hearing a familiar yet unexpected na, Kyle and his friends were flabbergasted.
Princess Milena possessed exquisite beauty to the point that the neighboring countries called her the Treasure of Zilgus. And she wasnt just beautiful, she was wise and understanding, possessing charm that made people gather around her. It wasnt an exaggeration to say that she was born to beco the queen. During their stay in Zilgus, Kyle and his friends got involved in the attempted assassination of said Princess Milena, so they knew each other personally. Although King Remonas has passed away, she has not yet officially been coronated as the queen, but it seems like that one incident wasnt the last of their troubles.
With Princess MilenaYou an that Princess Milena, right?
I wish it was sobody else Kyle realized the gravity of the situation as he answered Liezes question with a sight, massaging his temple. Why is she here? Could this be so sort of mistake? Kyle asked Minagi, praying that maybe she just happened to make a mistake, but she just shook her head.
I believe she ca to the capital for an official eting with Prince Eldorand. Their goal was to deepen the positive relationship between both countriesBut since she brought at least a thousand royal knights and guards with her, she was given an entire district to rest. And on the morning of the eting, Eldorand was found dead, so needless to say, the eting was canceled. Normally, she would have gone ho by now, but with the country on lockdown, shes caught in this ss.
The Empire isnt letting them go? That ans
Yes. Shes also under doubt that she may have been involved with the assassination. Minagi sighed in an exhausted one.
Seriously. My head is starting to hurt.
To Kyle, all of this sounded bogus. The Kingdom of Zilgus should have nothing to earn by starting a war with Galgan. And even if Zilgus happened to be the perpetrator, they had far more to lose by sacrificing Princess Milena as the pawn. It was quite the obvious conclusion, but nobody bothered to consider it.
The people from Zilgus must have realized this, as theyre starting to fight back. According to what I heard, the royal guards of Zilgus didnt even bother to grace the Imperial Guard with any respect. Minagi pressed how dire things were.
YeahIts a fire waiting to explode. And an extra spicy one. Approach it carelessly, and youre looking at a full-blown war.
Now Kyle felt a genuine headache slowly creep up his brain, as he massaged his temple yet again. For the past three years or so, war was on the brink between Zilgus and Galgan. Even a situation like this could imdiately bring everything south. Granted, the Galgan Empire was the greatest force in the current humanfolk, but Zilgus was not a country to be trifled with. In the event of a war, there would be countless sacrifices.
I understand whats going on. The question isHow do we proceed now? Kyle went through all the information in his head and crossed his arms to think.
What he wanted to avoid the most was that the Empire might get wrapped up in civil war. In the history he knew, Benedix chose Maizer as his successor in the event of his death. So people didnt take pleasure in this and sided with the Konrad side, which caused a power struggle that eventually exploded into a civil war. One year later, Maizer would be the winner of that and beco the next Emperor. However, the resources of the Empire were mostly exhausted at that point, leaving them almost defenseless when the Great Invasion began, bringing humanfolk to the brink of ruin. And in this scenario, it might even co to a war between Zilgus and the Empire.
I cant afford to let things play out the sa way. But how can I avoid this civil war altogether?
Kyle would have preferred Maizer to beco the Emperor, but even if that wasnt the result awaiting him, he wanted to at least avoid a civil war. That was his most prominent goal.
Anyway, I need so more accurate information. Preferably, soone who sits in the center of the Empire.
No matter how they may act, they needed soone at the source of it all to learn of their intentions and thoughts about all of this.
That sounds good. The problem is just eting soone like that Minagis expression grew tense but she couldnt think of anybody.
eting Konrad or Maizer would most likely be impossible. In this situation where you couldnt tell friend from foe, eting others was a risk in itself, and if you tried to force sothing, you could end up their enemy next.
Lets start with eting Beadola or Korodes. My father has great trust in them both.
Both nas brought up by Angela stood at the top of the Empire. Surely, they must have valuable information to share.
And out of those two, Beadola would probably be our best bet. The question is just how we could go about eting her. I dont want to stand out if possible.
Surely, bringing up Angelas na would make it easy to et them, but that would attract onlookers, and it heightened the risk of being attacked. Granted, it was Kyles goal to be as flashy as possible, but in this particular situation, any attention could prove fatal. However, eting soone as respectable as her wont be easy work otherwise. And the circumstances ask for this.
Lets go to Beadolas ho. If were lucky, we might even run into her there, Seran offered an idea, as he loved acting before thinking.
Yeah, thats all we got right now. Staying in here forever wont resolve anything.
Wasting ti was even worse than standing out. And with this only option left, they went on the active.
To make sure that Angela was safe, she was tasked to stay hidden and stayed behind. At the sa ti, since Kyle had made it to the semifinals of this years martial arts festival, he had to hide his face all the sa. Then again, he simply put on a hood to cover up most of it. But it was difficult to completely hide his bulky armor. In the end, it was pretty suspicious in itself, but he couldnt discard any preparation in the event of an unexpected battle.
I wouldnt call it a neverending battlefield, but I have to be ready.
Kyle rembered the last ti he was unprepared as he ran into Yuriga for the first ti.
Rember, we dont want to stand out right now. Just keep calm and be cool, Kyle turned around to warn his allies as they were about to leave the Business Association.
Yeah, yeah. You worry too much, Seran responded with a bothered tone, which made Kyle worried if he really understood.
Im saying this specifically to you. Be on your guard.
They werent on a strict enough lockdown that the capital issued the citizens to stay inside, but fewer people were walking the streets, and the sa was the case at their current location. So guards were especially ready to pick fights, so avoiding any kind of trouble was crucial.
I swearLets go. Kyle fixed his hood and stepped out of the storehouse, only for the tragedy to strike imdiately.
Oh? If it isnt Kyle.
One of the people passing by the store turned around and called out to Kyle.
Huh?!
Kyle was surprised because it was a familiar voice, and when he turned around, the man walked toward him with a big smile.
What a coincidence to run into you here. Im glad youre doing all right.
Um, wellI thinkyou have the wrong person.
However, Kyle was unable to deliver an imdiate answer, as he could only look at the mans face. It was your average middle-aged man, and he rembered eting him before. He didnt feel any hostility from the man, but he also wasnt sure why the man acted so friendly with him.
Uncle Roel?!
The one to clear up the situation was Lieze, who let out a shocked voice.
Dad?
Hearing that na, Kyle finally rembered that the other person was his own father.
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