At the start of May, there was a sky ship that was sailing in the sky. Ten sphinx knights were guarding both of its sides. On the ground, three hundred knights in magic armor marched neatly on their war horses. The ten at the front were all in the level of head knight commander. There were two family crests that they were waving on their flags: one was the unicorn crest that belonged to the Harvest City Harry Family, the other was the giant dragon crest that belonged to Abel, the king of the duchy of Carmel.
This was the first ceremony that Abel hosted as the king. To fully demonstrate the strength and might of the duchy of Carmel, he had to make sure that he was showing everything that the duchy of Carmel had. The sky ships and the sphinx knights were a must. With the three hundred knights marching at once, no one on the Holy Continent would dare to challenge the state that he ruled.
In fact, for this parade alone, the duchy of Carmel forced the duchy of Laka and the duchy of Koror to pull back from the border between it and the duchy of Keyen. It was fifty miles for both of them. The kings of these states were obviously very unpleasant, but they had no choice but to pave a wide enough road for the duchy of Carmel’s army to go through. That way, Abel could command his army to go right into the duchy of Keyen.
Abel was sitting in his sky ship 01. To intimidate the neighboring states’ intelligence agencies, he gave the order to dock the other two sky ships at Harvest City. Right now, he was reading a priest spellbook that he looted from an advanced orc priest that he killed. While reading it, he was interrupted by the offer that King Kenneth of the duchy of Keyen was making to him.
It was a shame, really. He was planning on finishing his quest in Ta Rasha, but that had to wait now. His level 12 wizard crystal body was almost full. With a little opportunity, he would’ve been able to promote himself by one rank. It was what he needed to get a little more chance to defeat Duriel, the dark-golden boss that resided deep in the region.
As for the duchy of Carmel, he planned on keeping the annexation of the duchy of Keyen as a secret, but the duchy of Carmel was sending out food supplies already. The other duchies were very jealous of it. If it weren’t for the overwhelming victory the duchy of Carmel gained in the last battle, they would’ve been scheming for another invasion already.
Once Abel’s army went inside the duchy of Keyen, a knight squad consisting of a hundred joined the patrol team. It was the last line of defense for the duchy of Keyen. By having them showing up, they were showing their utmost welcome to Abel’s presence. In a way, they were also saying their farewell to the past glory of the duchy of Keyen. The one hundred knights didn’t know about it, but they would also soon become soldiers of the duchy of Carmel.
On the way to Billy City, the capital of the duchy of Keyen, many commoners came to spectate Abel’s army in admiration. They felt fear when they saw the sky ships. To be specific, it was the fear of the unknown. It was the first time they had ever seen something massive and equipped flying in the sky.
Abel got what he was after. By showing the military might of the duchy of Carmel, the people of the duchy of Keyen grew more respectful of him. After that, if he could solve the problem of mass starvation by supplying food, they would feel a lot closer to the duchy of Carmel.
It was winter. It should be the period for harvesting crops, but most of the land was barren. The duchy of Keyen suffered greatly after the invasion of the four neighboring duchies. It was putting everyone into despair. The food Abel gave was like a bowl of water in the middle of the desert. It wasn’t a lot, but it gave the people hope to live on.
Once Abel’s army was outside Billy City, King Kenneth and his officials stood outside to welcome him. The attitude he displayed took every nobleman that lived here by surprise. The diplomats from other states were also confused with how humble the king was acting. No matter how grand Abel’s status was, a king should’ve never acted like this unless he was surrendering.
The duchy of Keyen might be very weak now, but it still had its pride. In this sense, no matter how strong Abel and Carmel’s duchy were, they must see King Kenneth as equals.
To give King Kennett the respect he deserved, the sky ship docked somewhere not far from the city gate. After it did, Abel went down by foot.
King Kenneth quickly bowed, “King Abel, your honor! I welcome your visit.”
“Thank you, King Kennett,” Abel bowed, even though Kenneth was already thinking of himself as a nobleman rather than a king.
The officials watching from behind weren’t too sure what to think. King Kenneth was very subtle about his surrender. In fact, many of them knew about it just then. There was something they all remembered, however. Abel was a nightmare to the duchy of Keyen. He was the one who made all its wizards disappear. Still, as atrocious as something his revenge was, they knew that it was their fault to have threatened his life in the first place.
Whatever the case was, the four duchies that invaded became a more dreaded enemy than Abel. Many knights and noblemen were lost. Their food and wealth were scavenged. The duchy of Keyen would’ve been scraped from the surface of this earth if more time had passed.
It was also at this time that Abel sent aid to the duchy of Keyen. Abel was the one who provided food to them. He was the one who helped the duchy of Keyen pass through its most difficult times. This was why the officials had such a complicated feeling for Abel. Nevertheless, Abel was going to become their king, and they had to pass their fate to this young man.
The officials all bowed, “King Abel, your honor.”
With that gesture, they put away their complicated feelings and started thinking about their next move. They were planning on having their families build connections with the new king. They were thinking about preserving the powers they once had, despite the fact that it wouldn’t be as much as before.
King Kenneth made a gesture, “Please, King Abel.”
At the same time, a luxurious carriage stopped next to Abel. This was the royal carriage that the royal family used. The golden frame was supposed to reveal how royal the blood of those riding it. The golden reins and laces on the white horses were also for the same purpose.
Just when a servant went to open the door, King Kenneth went and opened it for Abel to enter. Without saying much, Abel smiled and invited King Kenneth to ride with him. In the same way, King Kenneth demonstrated his absolute loyalty to him. He also demonstrated his absolute respect to him.
On the way, everyone in Billy City watched and cheered frantically. The duchy of Carmel was the one that saved them, and they felt the need to thank Abel from the bottom of their hearts. As for those who didn’t think the same, when they saw the sky ships and sphinx knights flying in the sky, ideas of harming Abel quickly disappeared. If that wasn’t enough to stop them from plotting something, three hundred knights from the duchy of Carmel marched behind the golden carriage, while one hundred knights from the duchy of Keyen were at the front.
The front curtain of the golden carriage was opened. From what the commoners could see, Abel and King Kenneth were smiling and chatting with each other. As safe and harmonized as this scene was, Abel could sense something that was coming. Suddenly, he went in front of King Kenneth and blocked something with the magic shield in his left hand.
He could feel that something was targeting him. Of course, the quickest way was the teleport to the aggressor with his “instantaneous movement” technique, but he didn’t want something dangerous to happen to King Kenneth.
Ding.
An armor-piercing arrow was shot out of a carriage elsewhere. At the same time, two white lights appeared right next to the carriage Abel was on. The wizards were attacking Abel at the same time. Abel couldn’t move. King Kenneth wasn’t even a knight. If he tried to launch any sort of attack, the man would’ve suffered injury fatal enough to die in an instance.
Abel could smell it. The armor-piercing arrow was poisoned. The two intermediate wizards that were coming to him were clearly experienced with combat. The fireballs in their hands were created almost in an instance. They finished drawing their spells runes as soon as they appeared next to the carriage.
Now, “fireball” was an area attack spell. Abel had no problem if protecting himself, but he also had King Kenneth to protect. The chance of a normal person surviving two fireballs was zero. Yet, as soon as the two intermediate wizards threw their fireballs, they were already preparing to throw the next one.
To dodge to hit, Abel tapped King Kennet and teleported from the carriage. He was much faster than the fireballs themselves. This way, they both got out of the carriage before it shattered into pieces. The white war horses were killed in the explosion. The two intermediate wizards didn’t think that Abel escaped. None of the information they were provided suggested that Abel was an intermediate wizard that could use the “instantaneous movement’ technique.
As the two intermediate wizards tried to locate Abel, two streaks of lightning struck them from above. If they came from Abel, they would’ve had the time to use their “instantaneous movement’ scroll to escape, but the attack came right from the sky. The sky ships sniped them despite being at high altitude. This was the price of underestimating the lightning spirals. Unlike the consecutive crossbows, the lightning spiral didn’t need someone to maneuver it. It was controlled by the sky ship 01 spirit. As long as someone was within its range, the attack could be launched at any time.
As expected, the two intermediate wizards had passive defensive magic items on them. The effects of the lightning attacks were reduced by a bit when they were activated, but the impact was still enough to both immobilize the wizards and to put them in severe injury.
“Protect King Kenneth!” Abel commanded ten of his head knight commanders. He was extremely angered by this public attempt to assassinate him. After leaving King Kenneth to the ten head knight commanders, he teleported next to the two intermediate wizards and slammed their heads with the shield in his hand.
“Shield attack.” He didn’t put in too much strength, but the effect of the technique made the two wizards lose consciousness for two seconds. He took two handcuffs from his portal bracelets and placed them on. Streaks of lightning struck at the carriage that was hiding the two archers. Once the knights went, they found out that they were turned into charcoal. These were very deadly assassins. They knew how to conceal their murderous presence before the final moment. Still, the lightning went through their bodies before they could do anything else.
While grabbing the two intermediate wizards, Abel became a white light that disappeared and reappeared in the sky ship. He threw the two intermediate wizards on the ground and made an inquiry to Head Commander Bodley.
“Have the intelligence agency do this for me. I want these two to tell me who sent them over.”
Head Commander Bodley raised his brow, “Intermediate wizards are usually handed to the Wizard Union. Should I go with the usual routine, your Majesty?”
“No need,” Abel said with a murderous look, “The Wizard Union isn’t going to come for these two. Actually, even if they were, just leave the person coming to me.”
This was supposed to be a happy day. Still, whether it was the intermediate wizards or the archers, someone was clearly sending out professional killers to go after him.
After being put in chains, the intermediate wizards became ordinary prisoners that couldn’t use their mana. Of course, their portal bags were snatched away, leaving them with no way of resisting. The intelligence agency had countless ways of making someone speak. As Abel would have it, he just needed to wait for a result.
Abel said as he teleported back to the ground, “Are you alright, King Kenneth?”
King Kenneth watched the carriage that turned into ash, “You saved my life, your honor. I would’ve died if it wasn’t for you.”
Abel smiled back, “I told the intelligence agency to deal with it. I’m so sorry for putting you through this.”
There was a minor panic. Luckily, the battle ended just as quickly as when it started. Two intermediate wizards were put under arrest. The people all cheered at how competent Abel’s army was.
After switching to a new carriage, Abel and Kenneth made their way to the royal palace. King Kenneth became a lot calmer when he arrived. Yet, the look he had clearly changed. Abel was a living legend. One would always hear rumors about him, but to see him doing the things that made him, so epic was different.
Inside the royal palace, many noblemen and powerful knights were assembled together. The war might have ended, but the marks it left were not gone at all. They had no choice but to remain in Billy City. They had no choice but to wait for Abel and King Kenneth to decide their new fate.
“Hmph!” King Kennett coughed. This way, everyone had their eyes on him.
“The duchy of Carmel is a powerful duchy. Under King Abel’s leadership, three hundred knights managed to defeat an alliance consisting of five duchies and fourteen thousand knights. What he created was a military miracle.”
Everyone started clapping and cheering.
King Kenneth continued, “The duchy of Carmel is a prosperous duchy. Now that the whole Holy Continent is under massive climate change, the duchy of Carmel is still willing to provide food to all of our citizens.”
Everyone clapped because they all benefited from the aid that was provided by the duchy of Carmel.
King Kenneth raised his voice, “Today, I’ll officially swear the loyalty of my royal family to his Majesty, King Abel. I’ll also hand over the right to rule the duchy of Keyen to him. The duchy of Keyen will become a part of the duchy of Carmel. This way, my beloved people will no longer have to starve, and they will enjoy a life that was full of peace and stability.”
That announcement silenced everyone. Most of them couldn’t digest what they were hearing. They understood the duchy of Carmel. They understood how powerful it was. Needless to say, they understood how sorry the state of the duchy of Keyen was in comparison. The duchy of Keyen was suffering this whole time. If the duchy of Carmel didn’t beat down its neighbors, they wouldn’t have survived to this day.
As the people would have it, joining the duchy of Carmel was a very acceptable choice. Apart from the duchy of Carmel, no other duchies were willing to take them in. There wasn’t enough food lying around. The duchy of Carmel was the only one that still had enough to provide aid. For them, there was only one problem that they had to worry about. They needed to think about whether they would be treated differently after changing their identity. They needed to make sure that they wouldn’t be marginalized again, that the noblemen would still get to keep their status and territory.
Abel smiled towards the unsettled crowd, “I, Abel, accept this offer from Duke Kenneth. I swear that as long as the noblemen of this land agree, you will all get to keep your territories and lands. In fact, to rebuild this land from its past trauma, much is needed from all of you.”
The duchy of Keyen was quite big. A lot of the noblemen left because of the war, leaving a lot of spaces vacant with no one to cultivate them. Talents of all fields were much needed. Abel wasn’t planning on giving them to the regular citizens. The duchies and knights were about the only ones he wanted to give the important positions to.
An old nobleman bowed, “I pledge my loyalty to you, my king.”
After the first one, many noblemen and knights continued to pledge their loyalty. There was not one person that wasn’t bowing on the ground.
The duchy of Keyen became a part of the duchy of Carmel. The news had the entire Holy Continent in shock. For the last millennium, not one duchy had been able to turn another duchy into its own part. This news was like a nightmare to the other five duchies of the Kingdom of St. Ellis. From a strategic perspective, ruling over the duchy of Keyen meant that the duchy of Carmel could threaten the other five neighboring states at any given point, and there wasn’t much that could be done.
Inside the royal palace of the Kingdom of St. Ellis, the atmosphere was tense. A weak ally was gone. In return, there was now a strong ally that was enough to threaten King Ambroses’s empire. The duchy of Carmel was as strong as the Kingdom of St. Ellis now. There were about twenty thousand knights under King Ambrose’s command, while the duchy of Carmel had about ten thousand. The Kingdom of St. Ellis still had one hundred sphinx knights, whereas the duchy of Carmel had fourteen. Still, with the help of better equipment and the sky ships, the Kingdom of St. Ellis had pretty much no advantage in the air.
For the intermediate wizards, Wizard Morton alone could deal with most of the wizards from the Kingdom of St. Ellis. The advanced wizards from the Kingdom of St. Ellis wouldn’t dare to go to Harry Castle because Harry Castle was where three-level seventeenth wizards once were killed. Still, the most frightening thing about the duchy of Carmel was its king. Abel was proven to have the ability to destroy whole cities. He alone was enough to overcome the difference between his own state and the entire army of the Kingdom of St. Ellis.
Prince Derek bowed, “Father! Derek Kenneth had no right of handing his duchy to Grandmaster Abel, right?”
Despite saying that, Prince Derek already used the word “Duke” to refer to Kenneth.
Duke Ernest spoke, “Your Majesty, we cannot simply watch as the duchy of Carmel becomes bigger and bigger. Without food around, Grandmaster Abel can just buy all the duchies with his storage. I don’t know how he gets so much produce, but we need them more than anyone else on the Holy Continent.”
There it was. Despite the friendship between Prince Derek and Abel or the relationship between Duke Ernest and Abel, out of the will to protect the empire’s interest, they had to ask King Ambrose to punish Abel.
King Ambrose said gloomily, “Pay a visit under my name, Derek. Bring the new map with you. Congratulate Abel for his efforts to have expanded his duchy.”
Prince Derek didn’t know what to say. King Ambrose was pretty much asking to legitimize the duchy of Carmel’s plan to expand itself.
Prince Derek sought for confirmation, “Father, you are permitting the duchy of Carmel to continue on as it is.”
King Ambrose replied, “If we don’t, Derek, is the duchy of Keyen just going to stop surrendering themselves to the duchy of Carmel?”
“No,” Prince Derek shook his head.
King Ambrose asked again, “Do you think we can wage war with the duchy of Carmel?”
Prince Derek shook his head again. When he tried to send out the twenty thousand knights last time, they came back without getting anything good in return. In fact, that mission drained them of everything they looted from the four duchies and the duchy of Keyen. Even if they wanted to wage war, there wouldn’t be enough to feed their soldiers.
King Ambrose said to Prince Derek, “So we can’t open war, and we can’t stop the duchy of Keyen from becoming a part of the duchy of Carmel. The duchy of Carmel is just going to get stronger no matter what our stance is. If we take a friendly stance, there is still the chance for us to ease down some tensions.”
“Yes, Father,” Prince Derek bowed obediently, “I’ll head to the duchy of Carmel now.”
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login